Incredibly helpful, Fred. Every RUclipsr likes to show their huge colonies with big honey production. But, your videotaped examples of real colony problems along with detailed explanation of causes and fixes demonstrates why you have taken beekeeping lessons far beyond your peers. Thank you for showing us the gritty side. It makes us all better beekeepers.
So happy for you it's not American foul brood. And thank you for one of the best videos I've seen on RUclips about dissecting a frame of diseased brood and then how to test. That first rope looking brood scared 😱 me for you.
WOW!!! I am blown away! SUCH AN AMAZING VIDEO! I don't have bees yet, but this knowledge is INVALUABLE!!! Thank you, thank you, Thank you for sharing with us, the good and the ugly! 10/10!
Thanks Fred, more excellent camera work, in fact that was the best show casing of live Varroa I've seen. OAV the remaining population and add some winter brood from donor hive and the long lang will surely make it til spring.....
Hello Frederick this was great information you can read an look at pictures all day long but you doing this video sure puts greater attention an information to what needs to be addressed. Thanks
Bravo. I want to thank you for these videos bc without them there would not be anyway for most of us to learn these things. Great job explaining and showing close up.
Hey Fred. Thanks for another great video. I have to say that that was the clearest and most close up example of bee brood issues I have ever seen. Thanks for putting yourself out there like that to help others. As a new bee keeper (2nd season but only a little over one full year) this type of video is invaluable for people like to me learn from. I do have one question not related to this video though. Earlier in the year I had a double story nuc colony that was growing fast. I moved It into a full size, 10 frame hive and ever since then they have been at a stand still. The other day I did an inspection on the colony and It set off a robbing event. Once I realized what was going on I quickly closed the hive up and put a brick in front of the reducer to close It off even more. That didn’t seem to work as the bees just started piling up on the front to get in. Is It possible for a hive to survive a major robbing event if given enough sugar water to replace the honey that was robbed from them or do you think the robbing bees would kill the Queen and all resident bees? Looking at the landing board there isn’t much activity and I’m not sure if what little I am seeing is robber bees or resident bees. I’m afraid to open the hive now out of fear that I would set off another robbing event. Thanks in advance David Shrewsberry Southern Va
@@MarcellaSmithVegan there were plenty of eggs (all placed in the bottom of the cell in a good pattern) but not much in the way of larvae or capped brood.
Thank you so much for this tutorial. It's been about 40 years since I had the pleasure to work with honey bees. So much has entered this country to destroy our industry. Watching your's and other's videos has given me new insights to operating an apery. So, God allowing, and to Bless me, I plan to start raising honey bees again. God has given me ideas for combating the Varrora mites without having to kill bees. Hope to he able to share with you my results this next year, and to grow my operation to 50 hives at the least by this time next year. My past experiences showed me how unproductive most bee- keeper's actually are. Hope I will make you a believer in what God has shown me through my years.
WOW Professor Fred, just WOW! So sorry that you and your bees have had this happen. But I do want you to know that out of the hundreds or thousands of you tube videos I have watched, this is unquestionably the very best video of all time. (Sorry, but that even includes your videos, which you know are all totally excellent.) There is so much important information presented in such a clear and excellent manner here it can not help but enhance everyone's knowledge of beekeeping. Further, personally it has been three weeks since I have checked my bees and I am on my way out to check them all right now! Thank you so much for helping us all.
Thank you, Walter, for such a fantastic comment :) I really do appreciate it. I'm hoping the visual of the mites will encourage others to do as you're doing. :)
Fred, this video was very educational. I'm a new beekeeper and have been very hesitant about treating varroa with chemicals. You have illustrated the need to treat! I thought I was doing right by my ladies...the natural route. Sadly, I'm doing more harm. Thanks for sharing.
Remember that varroa numbers concentrate on the smaller brood in fall, it can be dramatic, but in this case, the numbers are indeed high. This colony may still recover.
Sensational video with extremely important points on how devastating varroa can turn if miss out on diagnosing and treating in time. Thank you so much Frederick.
This Is Unbelievable. I have never seen any other videos similar to this. Definitely one for your future classroom. Their little hairs and legs clearly visible. This is a video that should be shared with all beekeepers. Sorry you have to deal with this so late in the year. I hope they make it through winter.
Thanks for sharing Fred! It takes guts to share your mistakes and not just your wins, but it's the path to constant improvement. And this way everyone learns and has a chance to improve. I truly dread the day when varroa sets up house in Australia.
Very informative. I have a Long Langstroth Hive in Queensland Australia. We have started checking for barrow in case it gets here. Very frightening. Thank you for your hard work and honesty. I needed it. So thorough.
An apiary without the varroa destructor mite would be fantastic. They are at the root of so many beekeeping issues. You are very fortunate to live there! :)
Fred, I want to thank you for doing all of the tests and experiments with the various equipment and bees, and recording and sharing them all with us out here thru your RUclips channel. You've got to be the most informative beekeeper when it comes to experiments on the internet. And I for one am grateful you're doing it. I don't know how I stumbled into your channel, but I am sure glad that I did! #hivgate
Today, I found my hive was without a queen and it has appeared the hive has been this way for at least a couple weeks. They have plenty of honey stored, but so late in the season, and no brood........ they're doomed. Even if I could find a queen she'd be trying to lay as winter rolled in. The varroa out here are so bad, I think I'm just going to start treating and not go off a load count. It never fails, I'll go from 1 mite to 30 mites in a month, and then be scrambling to treat. At least I'll be able to do 2-3 hives next year and try again. I'd have probably quit by now if it wasn't for your channel.
Thanks for sharing Fredrick. First time I’ve seen mites up close like that. So glad we don’t have them here in oz. All the best with your bees TrickyTrev 🇦🇺👍🐝🍯
Fantastic! Fred… even the pros have issues. Gr8 explanation of how thinks can rapidly change. Hope to see the OA treatment and subsequent counts… If weather allows. Hope this colony survives.
I installed the new frames of bettercomb today and did the OAV. I won't be making videos of that procedure since the ground is well covered. BUT, I will certainly post follow up inspections on this hive.
Extremely helpful? Same mite explosion happened this month to me. I had counts of zero, with an occasional 1, all through last year and until July this year, when they just ticked up to 1-2%. This month was the numbers jumped up 8-10% I have several books with photos of sacbrood, but your videography makes it so much easier to really see the pathology. Thank you!
Pete UK thanks Fred, your a good mentor. it's hard to look at but it's a good lesson, recognition of sac brood and infection that varroa can cause. : prevention worth a pound of cure
Those Varroa creep me out so much. Our last apartment had an infestation of bed bugs and they remind me of those. Gross. Yuck. Mites. Bleh. I really appreciate the look at what can go wrong, as we do hope to be able to have bees someday.
This is heartbreaking Fred. But, thanks for sharing. I've seen PowerPoint presentations and RUclips videos with photos. Nothing compares to this type of video visualization.
Thank you Jason, as soon as I noticed the brood I knew I wanted to get these frames out and document the conditions as presented. I don't want things to go wrong for the bees, but as an educator it's also a great opportunity to share. The opportunity to video mites on the brood frame was also a bonus in my opinion. Thanks as always for watching!
I started to notice larvae being pulled out to landing board, upon inspection notice some cells opened. Did a mite test and result was high mite count. Did a formicpro treatment hoping that will take care of the mites and cause no damage to Queen. I had to wait to use formicpro due to high temps. Bees seem to be doing good after first day exposure to treatment. Very little dead loss and they are actively doing their thing
@@FrederickDunn Thank you Sir, I have been paying attention to your approach/ knowledge as well as Kamon Reynolds and Dave Barns. I decided to get into beekeeping as I recently relocated to a 170 ac farm in Ky and have plenty of space to give this a try as an income source. Didn't realize the cost to get going on this. So this is my first year to see if it will work for me. I think if I can get through a winter and bees survive then I can expand. I just did an hour overview with the 5 top bee diseases. I think here mites and Hive beetles and wax moths are the ones to really keep an eye one. I did find that the powder sugar test for mites is just as effective for a true test on mite counts
Fred, After getting the mites in control I believe this hive will do very well through winter this year.🤞I had 2 Horizontal hives with 12% and 16% mite loads this year and there my strongest hives. Love your videos!!!
I got the willies out of watching this 😣. Besides that, I did learn a lot! Thank you so much for sharing how to the do the test, hope I never have to but good to know. My mite counts came up in the middle of Sept. so I’m doing thymol treatments right now. Hope all goes well in the long Lang. Can’t wait to see a clean bill of health on your bees soon and a strong Long Lang Hive make it through the winter ! Thanks again!
Excellent video ,being in Australia did not realise how rampant varroa mites can get. We have to practice sugar shakes on our bees in preparation for them hitting our shores one day. Thanks for the detailed video
Ha Fred sorry about your bees I hope they make it. I have treated 3 times so far this season I used mite away in the spring I put apivar in them then mite away again, or formic pro I have found Nothing works 100% no matter what u do any way this was a great video u did a wonderful job with it Thanks for doing it hope again your bees make it trough the winter and hope u have a wonderful week
Where are all the bees? Not a big population for all the honey that was produced. It's easy to tell from the onset of this inspection that so.ethong is off with this colony
Wow, thank you for making and sharing that Fred. I was planning to wait until the first weekend of October to test again (4 weeks from last check), but you've convinced me to check tomorrow instead. Yikes.
Following up on my inspection today. I did find 9 mites in one hive, after a count of 3 just three weeks ago. Since my two hives share one stand, I’m treating both with MAQS. Really glad I watched this video. Invaluable!
I'm so glad you were inspired to inspect your hives. I wish I'd done this inspection a week prior. I'll be following up on them in a week. I wish you all the best.
Yeah, that was pretty gross! Doesn't look like the Saskatraz line does as well as the Bee Weaver line in controlling the Varroa mite. Are you done with the Saskatraz line? Will you move them to your other location? Looks like you have a lot of work ahead of you. Great educational video though!
So treating for verroa this year got me thinking about parasites and viruses. Its a problem throughout the animal kingdom, and of course some are worse than others. I also found out 2 of 3 people have them and i just dont understand why we treat our livestock, and our pets, but not ourselves. I cant imagine they have absolutely zero effect... just a thought, thanks for this video!
At about 10:30 we can see white specks in the cells which is mite feces. There is some degree of hygienic behavior going on, explaining the uncapping. When I do mite counts in the fall, mid to late August to early September with reduced brood rearing in early to mid September I assume the next emerging brood will release mites increasing the previous count by 7 fold or higher. Ex 6x7=42. If it wasn't September I would put 3 frames of clean brood in and treat it for mites but it is late to waste resources on failing hives. This colony probably will abscond by December.
varroa walking around on left side at 11:55 and on the right side at 20:33. Proves how helpful it is to take pictures and/or video to study later and see what was missed during inspection or evaluations.
I think that is the second hive with this problem, in the Long Langstroth. Do you think that can be related with the type of hive? What do you thing about the Long Langstroth, is a good solution for professional beekeepers?
Very good video. As usual well structured and progressive in explaining the situation that you were facing. . It was obvious that the Varroa mites have weakened that colony. In the case of a bad case of Sac brood, have you requeened or ever considered requeening? Just wondering. Thank you.
HI Suzanne, I would consider requeening if this brood situation occurred with low mite loads, but given the challenges of the high mite presence, I'll give this queen some more time to prove herself. I've installed clean drawn frames of bettercomb and initiated the mite controls with OAV. We'll see how that goes. If she is still performing poorly, I'll combine one of my nucleus resource colonies after removing this queen.
Fred, Have you are you going to show the plans for your Horizontal hive? I want to start to put together a horizontal hive this coming winter. And I am a firm believer in not inventing something new but go with what someone has worked for them in the past. Craig Fr. VA / SML Bees
Frederick Dunn, thank you for your time and spending your money to help instruct us all who delight in learning more about our Passion. Hope to be able to send you a few dollars every so often. I can imagine how much time and money it takes to make these videos. May God bless you with all that you do and give Him praise and honor for all He Blesses you with.
Great video fred, i have been watching your videos for close to year now. I make a few videos myself but all with my cellphone. I want to upgrade to camera and mic setup. Your video's are so clear and amazing. Would you share what camera and mic setup that you use? Thank you.
This video was captured with two cameras, first a Sony AX100, the close ups at the end are with a Nikon Z7 II with the new macro lens. Rode Microphone on the Nikon. ECM-XYST1M on the Sony. Sony PXW-Z280 for the low-light sequences. The specs on the Nikon Macro lens: Nikon NIKKOR Z MC 105mm f/2.8 VR S Lens, it's exceptional. I hope that helps.
I think Admiral Halsey of WW2 had a good quote that can apply to Varroa Mites, "Hit hard and hit often" rotating treatments of course especially if synthetic in nature. What type of grease do you use for sealing the cracks between 2 deeps etc. during winter since the bees cannot use propolis as well this time of year?
@@FrederickDunn Thanks Fred! Our winters are mild but regulations require to inspect our colonies at least once a month even during winter, we have 11-12 months of brood in southern CA. Ag Zone 9B at 2,000 feet elevation.
@@FrederickDunn Я ВАШ подписщик, Снимайте почаще такие ролики, Который смотриш,размышляеш, Что сделал не так, И какие могут быть последствие, Для меня это очень интересно, Удачи ВАМ Здоровья
may be a dumb question but how are varroa mites introduced into the hive to begin with? are there wild alternate hosts that they wait on? are they present on flowers that foragers visit? if you only had one hive and no honey-robbing behavior, where would varroa be able to infiltrate?
That's a great question. Varroa destructor mites are easily transferred from hive to hive and bee to bee. They are species-specific, so they don't currently feed on other species. You only need one female varroa to make it into a colony and the cycle starts again. There are many treatment-free beekeepers who are not counting mites, it's important to know what the mite loads are, even if not treating. One loaded colony can infect all other colonies in the same apiary. Then they are only limited by how far honey bees fly to rob out a dying colony. If you were geographically isolated, no other beekeepers for 5 miles or more, then you would have some chance at having a mite-free zone. Australia is mite-free, Newfoundland has beekeepers cooperating (which is very rare) and they are also varroa mite free.
I'm curious what you will do with those frames? I understand not putting them back in the hive to spread viruses, but do you destroy them? Freeze to kill virus and then reuse?
He will dispose of all the infected equipment, with most if not all viruses are unaffected by cold which is why Scientist Are currently digging super deadly viruses out of perma frost and glaciers. Freezing is only done to kill SHB and wax moth larva.
Destroying the frames, rendering the wax into candles. The honey on these frames will go through the wax rendering process and separate from the wax and washed away.
Because many times I can't find the queen when I need it and that kept me from doing an alcohol wash. I wonder if I shake few open brood frames and put them above the queen excluder and get back later to collect the nurse bees will work? One other thing, how much is the volume of 300 bees? Because that washing kit is not available where I live and I'm thinking about doing a DIY one.
It's just half a cup, that equals 300 bees. I moved the queen over several frames before collecting my sample. If I can't find the queen, I use the sugar shake which takes quite a bit longer, but they all get returned un-harmed.
Oh boy that was scary. I’m glad you have the knowledge and gear to distinguish between afb and sac brood. For a minute I was expecting an educational conflagration. Will you incinerate those brood frames?
Hi Fred, don’t know if you will read this as it’s a few days old. I wonder if your bees robbed another weak hive out in the “wild”? I really suspect one of my hives did that because they jumped in numbers very similar to yours. Wouldn’t you know a wild hive in a neighbors barn is no longer around from a strong spring hive???
I would have no way of knowing if they robbed another colony. Unless I observed the colony being robbed and noticed the returning bees at the robbing colony. You can dump powdered sugar on robbing bees and see what landing boards they return to. Other than that it's guess work. :)
Removed the brood frames, treated the mites with OAV as the brood was minimal. Replaced the removed brood comb with fresh BetterComb so they can build back fast.
So here's a thing that I've been tempted to suggest but didn't want sound critical. See that "Hoover Hive" frame which stands out because it's clearly facing the opposite way from the other markings. That's because you choose to write with your left hand and when looking in from the right, appears upside down. Thus, your arrows, besides not saying whether they are facing front or back, are redundant. Simply numbering the frames will tell you which way they are facing. By the way, I am not convinced that you are left handed. Possibly ambidextrous but definitely gifted with good hands and adept on both hemispheres. You beat my ten thumbs, hands down. Enjoying my horizontal hives, immensely. This was the right move for me.
Was in lady's yard yesterday I've been looking in on her bees. Was very obvious yesterday she had AFB did a test and yes that was positive. 3 out 4 hives had obvious signs. Smell alone gave it away. Larva dies shortly after it's capped cells never swell up ether flat or sunken .. so we gassed the bees after dark then burned everything. Burned everything she's been going thru this for 7 years it's hard to say how long she kept buying new bees then they die. I could tell something was off when I first looked but seeing the comb had set out couple years with no bees thoughts were comb was dried out reason it looked off. Bees were just cleaning up the dead larva .. till they didn't like they tried getting rid of dead larva that didn't work so they tried just leaving it. Next time I'll spot it right off. Hopefully not next time
Incredibly helpful, Fred. Every RUclipsr likes to show their huge colonies with big honey production. But, your videotaped examples of real colony problems along with detailed explanation of causes and fixes demonstrates why you have taken beekeeping lessons far beyond your peers. Thank you for showing us the gritty side. It makes us all better beekeepers.
Thank you Gary!
Your level of responsibility to your viewers is surely evident in this video. I'm thankful to be one of your students.
WOW! Excellent video on just how quickly varroa can overrun a hive and the necessity to stay vigilant.
So happy for you it's not American foul brood. And thank you for one of the best videos I've seen on RUclips about dissecting a frame of diseased brood and then how to test.
That first rope looking brood scared 😱 me for you.
WOW!!! I am blown away! SUCH AN AMAZING VIDEO! I don't have bees yet, but this knowledge is INVALUABLE!!! Thank you, thank you, Thank you for sharing with us, the good and the ugly! 10/10!
Thanks Fred, more excellent camera work, in fact that was the best show casing of live Varroa I've seen. OAV the remaining population and add some winter brood from donor hive and the long lang will surely make it til spring.....
Hello Frederick this was great information you can read an look at pictures all day long but you doing this video sure puts greater attention an information to what needs to be addressed. Thanks
Thank you so much, Kathy!
Fred, I have one thing to say about this video, “OUTSTANDING”!!!!
Thank you, Don. :)
Thank you so much for another « teaching » video. I hope this hive makes it through the Winter with all your love and caring!🐝💕
I hope so too!
Bravo. I want to thank you for these videos bc without them there would not be anyway for most of us to learn these things. Great job explaining and showing close up.
Thanks Peter.
Hey Fred. Thanks for another great video. I have to say that that was the clearest and most close up example of bee brood issues I have ever seen. Thanks for putting yourself out there like that to help others. As a new bee keeper (2nd season but only a little over one full year) this type of video is invaluable for people like to me learn from.
I do have one question not related to this video though. Earlier in the year I had a double story nuc colony that was growing fast. I moved It into a full size, 10 frame hive and ever since then they have been at a stand still. The other day I did an inspection on the colony and It set off a robbing event. Once I realized what was going on I quickly closed the hive up and put a brick in front of the reducer to close It off even more. That didn’t seem to work as the bees just started piling up on the front to get in. Is It possible for a hive to survive a major robbing event if given enough sugar water to replace the honey that was robbed from them or do you think the robbing bees would kill the Queen and all resident bees? Looking at the landing board there isn’t much activity and I’m not sure if what little I am seeing is robber bees or resident bees. I’m afraid to open the hive now out of fear that I would set off another robbing event.
Thanks in advance
David Shrewsberry
Southern Va
I'll talk about this on Friday
You said it was at a stand still, do you mean there are no eggs being laid, had the queen died? Is there some sort of disease you saw?
@@MarcellaSmithVegan there were plenty of eggs (all placed in the bottom of the cell in a good pattern) but not much in the way of larvae or capped brood.
Thank you so much for this tutorial. It's been about 40 years since I had the pleasure to work with honey bees. So much has entered this country to destroy our industry. Watching your's and other's videos has given me new insights to operating an apery. So, God allowing, and to Bless me, I plan to start raising honey bees again. God has given me ideas for combating the Varrora mites without having to kill bees. Hope to he able to share with you my results this next year, and to grow my operation to 50 hives at the least by this time next year. My past experiences showed me how unproductive most bee- keeper's actually are. Hope I will make you a believer in what God has shown me through my years.
Wow, I had heard of Varroa mites, but since I don't keep bees, I didn't know how destructive and disgusting they are. A very informative video.
WOW Professor Fred, just WOW! So sorry that you and your bees have had this happen. But I do want you to know that out of the hundreds or thousands of you tube videos I have watched, this is unquestionably the very best video of all time. (Sorry, but that even includes your videos, which you know are all totally excellent.) There is so much important information presented in such a clear and excellent manner here it can not help but enhance everyone's knowledge of beekeeping. Further, personally it has been three weeks since I have checked my bees and I am on my way out to check them all right now! Thank you so much for helping us all.
Thank you, Walter, for such a fantastic comment :) I really do appreciate it. I'm hoping the visual of the mites will encourage others to do as you're doing. :)
Wow. Absolutely gross, but absolutely necessary! Thanks again Fred, informative, educational, brutally honest, a beekeeper's must watch.
Thanks MadDavo!
Fred, this video was very educational. I'm a new beekeeper and have been very hesitant about treating varroa with chemicals. You have illustrated the need to treat! I thought I was doing right by my ladies...the natural route. Sadly, I'm doing more harm. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you Carla :)
So helpful! Now i know what to look for when inspecting brood. It’s pretty scary how quickly the varroa can get out of hand. Thankyou Frederick!
Remember that varroa numbers concentrate on the smaller brood in fall, it can be dramatic, but in this case, the numbers are indeed high. This colony may still recover.
Wow Fred, that's one heck of an infestation on your hands. Please keep us updated on this hive.
Sensational video with extremely important points on how devastating varroa can turn if miss out on diagnosing and treating in time. Thank you so much Frederick.
Thank you for watching, and how nice to hear from you!
Mister Fred thank so much for another great information and sorry for you bees I wish you the best
Thank you so much, and I think I may be able to get this colony back on track. We do still have some time for a meager recovery if all goes well.
@@FrederickDunn yes you will. I watch and enjoy every single video of you thanks for sharing
This Is Unbelievable. I have never seen any other videos similar to this. Definitely one for your future classroom. Their little hairs and legs clearly visible. This is a video that should be shared with all beekeepers. Sorry you have to deal with this so late in the year. I hope they make it through winter.
Thank you, Lori. I appreciate it.
Thanks for sharing Fred! It takes guts to share your mistakes and not just your wins, but it's the path to constant improvement. And this way everyone learns and has a chance to improve. I truly dread the day when varroa sets up house in Australia.
Thank you, Keith! Enjoy the varroa-free environment while you have it :)
Very informative. I have a Long Langstroth Hive in Queensland Australia. We have started checking for barrow in case it gets here. Very frightening. Thank you for your hard work and honesty. I needed it. So thorough.
An apiary without the varroa destructor mite would be fantastic. They are at the root of so many beekeeping issues. You are very fortunate to live there! :)
Solom o‘zbekiston respublikasdan👍👍👍🐝🍯💯
Very informational video. I did not realize the VDmites were fuzzy. The VDmites gave me the chills worse than the sac brood.
THAT is exactly the message I was trying to get across with the close ups. Mites are serious honey bee parasites/predators. Thank you for watching.
Very good fred , I was a beekeeper in the United states, and now in italy, here is more difficult for beekeepers , very difficult..
Fred, I want to thank you for doing all of the tests and experiments with the various equipment and bees, and recording and sharing them all with us out here thru your RUclips channel.
You've got to be the most informative beekeeper when it comes to experiments on the internet. And I for one am grateful you're doing it.
I don't know how I stumbled into your channel, but I am sure glad that I did!
#hivgate
Thank you so much Scott, that's a wonderful compliment!
thanks for sharing and educating us Fred. gotta say, I was reluctant to give a thumbs up as, as you said, sac brood and varroa are really gross!
I agree it looks gross...but very educational.
The 'good video' , qood Quality and 'very educational ' is what the thumbs up is for not if you like the bees he's showing
@@MarcellaSmithVegan no kidding
Thank you. This was an amazingly informative video. So great to be able to watch your in depth video and listen to your expertise.
Today, I found my hive was without a queen and it has appeared the hive has been this way for at least a couple weeks. They have plenty of honey stored, but so late in the season, and no brood........ they're doomed. Even if I could find a queen she'd be trying to lay as winter rolled in.
The varroa out here are so bad, I think I'm just going to start treating and not go off a load count. It never fails, I'll go from 1 mite to 30 mites in a month, and then be scrambling to treat. At least I'll be able to do 2-3 hives next year and try again. I'd have probably quit by now if it wasn't for your channel.
Thanks for sharing Fredrick. First time I’ve seen mites up close like that. So glad we don’t have them here in oz. All the best with your bees TrickyTrev 🇦🇺👍🐝🍯
Fantastic! Fred… even the pros have issues. Gr8 explanation of how thinks can rapidly change. Hope to see the OA treatment and subsequent counts…
If weather allows. Hope this colony survives.
I installed the new frames of bettercomb today and did the OAV. I won't be making videos of that procedure since the ground is well covered. BUT, I will certainly post follow up inspections on this hive.
Omg I hate Verroa mites evil things , this is a fabulous video so detailed , thanks from the uk 🇬🇧
Extremely helpful? Same mite explosion happened this month to me. I had counts of zero, with an occasional 1, all through last year and until July this year, when they just ticked up to 1-2%. This month was the numbers jumped up 8-10% I have several books with photos of sacbrood, but your videography makes it so much easier to really see the pathology. Thank you!
I should talk more about this on Friday, there are reasons why the mite-counts get higher near the end of the season. Glad you enjoyed this video :)
Pete UK
thanks Fred, your a good mentor. it's hard to look at but it's a good lesson, recognition of sac brood and infection that varroa can cause.
: prevention worth a pound of cure
Wow, thanks for this lesson. Easy to see how things have gone south. Thanks.
I Like your Videos 😎👍🌎
You have extensive knowledge and you're a very intelligent man and I respect and admire your passion for bees
Thank you so much.
@@FrederickDunn 😁🌞
Those Varroa creep me out so much. Our last apartment had an infestation of bed bugs and they remind me of those. Gross. Yuck. Mites. Bleh. I really appreciate the look at what can go wrong, as we do hope to be able to have bees someday.
Great videos! I'm a vet med student, and I love bees. Your videos are helping me learn alot!
That's great! We really need good vets that also know about honey bees :)
This is heartbreaking Fred. But, thanks for sharing. I've seen PowerPoint presentations and RUclips videos with photos. Nothing compares to this type of video visualization.
Thank you Jason, as soon as I noticed the brood I knew I wanted to get these frames out and document the conditions as presented. I don't want things to go wrong for the bees, but as an educator it's also a great opportunity to share. The opportunity to video mites on the brood frame was also a bonus in my opinion. Thanks as always for watching!
I started to notice larvae being pulled out to landing board, upon inspection notice some cells opened. Did a mite test and result was high mite count. Did a formicpro treatment hoping that will take care of the mites and cause no damage to Queen. I had to wait to use formicpro due to high temps. Bees seem to be doing good after first day exposure to treatment. Very little dead loss and they are actively doing their thing
Glad you were paying such good attention. It's critical to get mites under control by this time of year.
@@FrederickDunn Thank you Sir, I have been paying attention to your approach/ knowledge as well as Kamon Reynolds and Dave Barns. I decided to get into beekeeping as I recently relocated to a 170 ac farm in Ky and have plenty of space to give this a try as an income source. Didn't realize the cost to get going on this. So this is my first year to see if it will work for me. I think if I can get through a winter and bees survive then I can expand. I just did an hour overview with the 5 top bee diseases. I think here mites and Hive beetles and wax moths are the ones to really keep an eye one. I did find that the powder sugar test for mites is just as effective for a true test on mite counts
Fred, After getting the mites in control I believe this hive will do very well through winter this year.🤞I had 2 Horizontal hives with 12% and 16% mite loads this year and there my strongest hives. Love your videos!!!
I agree, I think they will recover :)
I got the willies out of watching this 😣. Besides that, I did learn a lot! Thank you so much for sharing how to the do the test, hope I never have to but good to know. My mite counts came up in the middle of Sept. so I’m doing thymol treatments right now. Hope all goes well in the long Lang. Can’t wait to see a clean bill of health on your bees soon and a strong Long Lang Hive make it through the winter ! Thanks again!
Thank you!
Excellent video ,being in Australia did not realise how rampant varroa mites can get. We have to practice sugar shakes on our bees in preparation for them hitting our shores one day. Thanks for the detailed video
You are very welcome, and I'm glad you are not having to deal with them yet.
Ha Fred sorry about your bees I hope they make it. I have treated 3 times so far this season I used mite away in the spring I put apivar in them then mite away again, or formic pro I have found Nothing works 100% no matter what u do any way this was a great video u did a wonderful job with it Thanks for doing it hope again your bees make it trough the winter and hope u have a wonderful week
Thank you Frances, this colony just may still bounce back. Though I wish I'd inspected a week earlier.
Yeah,, That's my type of Videos,, Thanks Mr.Dunn,,🇱🇨👍🏿♥️
Great content as always! Good luck into winter! Thanks for your awesome videos!
Where are all the bees? Not a big population for all the honey that was produced. It's easy to tell from the onset of this inspection that so.ethong is off with this colony
That was so informative. Great filming. Hate those little bastards. They are the bane of beekeepers!
Thank you so much. 💓 what a great opportunity to learn about varroa mites . Eye opening. 👁 Thank you 😊
You're very welcome!
Thanks for your time and effort
Wow, thank you for making and sharing that Fred. I was planning to wait until the first weekend of October to test again (4 weeks from last check), but you've convinced me to check tomorrow instead. Yikes.
Following up on my inspection today. I did find 9 mites in one hive, after a count of 3 just three weeks ago. Since my two hives share one stand, I’m treating both with MAQS. Really glad I watched this video. Invaluable!
I'm so glad you were inspired to inspect your hives. I wish I'd done this inspection a week prior. I'll be following up on them in a week. I wish you all the best.
Thank you for sharing. This video will surely benefit others.
Great video. Extremely informative. Thanks so much for the great information.
Glad it was helpful!
Yeah, that was pretty gross! Doesn't look like the Saskatraz line does as well as the Bee Weaver line in controlling the Varroa mite. Are you done with the Saskatraz line? Will you move them to your other location? Looks like you have a lot of work ahead of you. Great educational video though!
Definitely finished with them. Beeweaver genetics continue to shine.
I would have been like a hysterical chook, but not Fred....he's a cool cucumber! Liked!
So treating for verroa this year got me thinking about parasites and viruses. Its a problem throughout the animal kingdom, and of course some are worse than others. I also found out 2 of 3 people have them and i just dont understand why we treat our livestock, and our pets, but not ourselves. I cant imagine they have absolutely zero effect... just a thought, thanks for this video!
scary stuff fred,i had a high count,and about to treat,thanks for all you do ,sack brood is nasty,i was unaware,glad i have oa.and formic pro ,to use
At about 10:30 we can see white specks in the cells which is mite feces. There is some degree of hygienic behavior going on, explaining the uncapping. When I do mite counts in the fall, mid to late August to early September with reduced brood rearing in early to mid September I assume the next emerging brood will release mites increasing the previous count by 7 fold or higher. Ex 6x7=42. If it wasn't September I would put 3 frames of clean brood in and treat it for mites but it is late to waste resources on failing hives. This colony probably will abscond by December.
You think this colony will abscond by December... I'll take that bet :)
Oh Mr. Dunn, sneaking in that dad joke. I spy on a couple of hives at a church down the street from me because of your channel.
:)
Wow, that was a really good video, thank you
varroa walking around on left side at 11:55 and on the right side at 20:33. Proves how helpful it is to take pictures and/or video to study later and see what was missed during inspection or evaluations.
Yes, it's often the case that I see much more once the video is being reviewed at my editing station :)
this is the best I have seen for a long time Fied feep it up
Very educational and Fred’s got jokes 😂
Great video Fred, very informative, thanks.
I think that is the second hive with this problem, in the Long Langstroth. Do you think that can be related with the type of hive? What do you thing about the Long Langstroth, is a good solution for professional beekeepers?
I don't think it has to do with the hive design but rather the genetics of the bees occupying it.
Good video and reminder. Can you say Mite BOMB 💣
If not controlled, it would most definitely serve as a mite-bomb. I'm onto them now.
Very good video. As usual well structured and progressive in explaining the situation that you were facing. . It was obvious that the Varroa mites have weakened that colony. In the case of a bad case of Sac brood, have you requeened or ever considered requeening? Just wondering. Thank you.
HI Suzanne, I would consider requeening if this brood situation occurred with low mite loads, but given the challenges of the high mite presence, I'll give this queen some more time to prove herself. I've installed clean drawn frames of bettercomb and initiated the mite controls with OAV. We'll see how that goes. If she is still performing poorly, I'll combine one of my nucleus resource colonies after removing this queen.
Great video but so sad to see it occur.
Thanks again for another great teaching video.
Fred, Have you are you going to show the plans for your Horizontal hive? I want to start to put together a horizontal hive this coming winter. And I am a firm believer in not inventing something new but go with what someone has worked for them in the past. Craig Fr. VA / SML Bees
What I lack is just plain the time to render and post those plans. It's on my to-do list.
Frederick Dunn, thank you for your time and spending your money to help instruct us all who delight in learning more about our Passion. Hope to be able to send you a few dollars every so often. I can imagine how much time and money it takes to make these videos. May God bless you with all that you do and give Him praise and honor for all He Blesses you with.
This was finally a very helpful video !
Glad you think so :)
How did i miss this vdo. Ty fred.
I don't know how you missed it either :)
Thanks for sharing valuable information. Two words, formic pro!
Formic Pro definitely IF there was a lot of brood still capped and present in the hive. Out-performed by OAV when brood is so reduced.
Great video fred, i have been watching your videos for close to year now. I make a few videos myself but all with my cellphone. I want to upgrade to camera and mic setup. Your video's are so clear and amazing. Would you share what camera and mic setup that you use? Thank you.
This video was captured with two cameras, first a Sony AX100, the close ups at the end are with a Nikon Z7 II with the new macro lens. Rode Microphone on the Nikon. ECM-XYST1M on the Sony. Sony PXW-Z280 for the low-light sequences. The specs on the Nikon Macro lens: Nikon NIKKOR Z MC 105mm f/2.8 VR S Lens, it's exceptional. I hope that helps.
Good morning.
Today I'm going to traitment varoise my hives....
Mus_Seghiri Missour Morocco.
Thanks for the lesson. Much appreciated
I think Admiral Halsey of WW2 had a good quote that can apply to Varroa Mites, "Hit hard and hit often" rotating treatments of course especially if synthetic in nature.
What type of grease do you use for sealing the cracks between 2 deeps etc. during winter since the bees cannot use propolis as well this time of year?
It's still warm enough for them to propolize joints.
@@FrederickDunn Thanks Fred! Our winters are mild but regulations require to inspect our colonies at least once a month even during winter, we have 11-12 months of brood in southern CA. Ag Zone 9B at 2,000 feet elevation.
I'm surprised to see you using rubbing alcohol. As I recall you were a strong advocate for powered sugar roll not to long ago.
I went with alcohol due to time constraints and the brood issues I was noticing. I do prefer sugar shakes if all else is well.
I also knew the location of the queen so no concerns about losing her in the test. Sugar leaves them all alive of course.
Поучительно, грамотно, доходчего, Просотрел с удовольствием, Удачи
Огромное спасибо за просмотр и за чудесный комплимент!
@@FrederickDunn Я ВАШ подписщик, Снимайте почаще такие ролики, Который смотриш,размышляеш, Что сделал не так, И какие могут быть последствие, Для меня это очень интересно, Удачи ВАМ Здоровья
Great content! Thanks for sharing
may be a dumb question but how are varroa mites introduced into the hive to begin with? are there wild alternate hosts that they wait on? are they present on flowers that foragers visit? if you only had one hive and no honey-robbing behavior, where would varroa be able to infiltrate?
That's a great question. Varroa destructor mites are easily transferred from hive to hive and bee to bee. They are species-specific, so they don't currently feed on other species. You only need one female varroa to make it into a colony and the cycle starts again. There are many treatment-free beekeepers who are not counting mites, it's important to know what the mite loads are, even if not treating. One loaded colony can infect all other colonies in the same apiary. Then they are only limited by how far honey bees fly to rob out a dying colony. If you were geographically isolated, no other beekeepers for 5 miles or more, then you would have some chance at having a mite-free zone. Australia is mite-free, Newfoundland has beekeepers cooperating (which is very rare) and they are also varroa mite free.
@@FrederickDunn thank you!!
I'm curious what you will do with those frames? I understand not putting them back in the hive to spread viruses, but do you destroy them? Freeze to kill virus and then reuse?
He will dispose of all the infected equipment, with most if not all viruses are unaffected by cold which is why Scientist Are currently digging super deadly viruses out of perma frost and glaciers. Freezing is only done to kill SHB and wax moth larva.
Destroying the frames, rendering the wax into candles. The honey on these frames will go through the wax rendering process and separate from the wax and washed away.
Very educational, thank you!
Great video but it would be a lot more helpful for us older beeks if your CC was turned on. Thanks.
Hi Robert, I often forget that... apologies, I'll do that now.
Because many times I can't find the queen when I need it and that kept me from doing an alcohol wash. I wonder if I shake few open brood frames and put them above the queen excluder and get back later to collect the nurse bees will work?
One other thing, how much is the volume of 300 bees? Because that washing kit is not available where I live and I'm thinking about doing a DIY one.
It's just half a cup, that equals 300 bees. I moved the queen over several frames before collecting my sample. If I can't find the queen, I use the sugar shake which takes quite a bit longer, but they all get returned un-harmed.
Gross but great video! Can or will you take any honey from this hive before you do the OAV treatment, or is it too contaminated?
Leaving it for the bees to winter with, but it's fine for human consumption.
Thanks you at this tutorial. I from Indonesian.
Oh boy that was scary. I’m glad you have the knowledge and gear to distinguish between afb and sac brood. For a minute I was expecting an educational conflagration. Will you incinerate those brood frames?
The wax can be rendered into candles.
Great video thanks for sharing.
Hi Fred, don’t know if you will read this as it’s a few days old. I wonder if your bees robbed another weak hive out in the “wild”? I really suspect one of my hives did that because they jumped in numbers very similar to yours. Wouldn’t you know a wild hive in a neighbors barn is no longer around from a strong spring hive???
I would have no way of knowing if they robbed another colony. Unless I observed the colony being robbed and noticed the returning bees at the robbing colony. You can dump powdered sugar on robbing bees and see what landing boards they return to. Other than that it's guess work. :)
Did you mention what you do or did with the infected brood frames with the mites? Destroy or treat?
Removed the brood frames, treated the mites with OAV as the brood was minimal. Replaced the removed brood comb with fresh BetterComb so they can build back fast.
My question is how do you clean those frames up - or do you just burn them?
I'll render the wax into candles and the wooden frames will be used to start our bonfire on Saturday. No reason to re-use them.
Thank you.
Amaizing explanation 🙏🏻👍
Thank you!
So here's a thing that I've been tempted to suggest but didn't want sound critical.
See that "Hoover Hive" frame which stands out because it's clearly facing the opposite way from the other markings. That's because you choose to write with your left hand and when looking in from the right, appears upside down.
Thus, your arrows, besides not saying whether they are facing front or back, are redundant.
Simply numbering the frames will tell you which way they are facing.
By the way, I am not convinced that you are left handed. Possibly ambidextrous but definitely gifted with good hands and adept on both hemispheres.
You beat my ten thumbs, hands down.
Enjoying my horizontal hives, immensely.
This was the right move for me.
Yes, if one were to want to economize marking time, even just dots would probably do just fine :) I'm a doodler :)
@@FrederickDunn … and a bloody good artist.
Bonus video!
Fantastic video. Thank you
Thank you, Susan! :)
Wow! I will be on those things!
Was in lady's yard yesterday I've been looking in on her bees. Was very obvious yesterday she had AFB did a test and yes that was positive. 3 out 4 hives had obvious signs. Smell alone gave it away. Larva dies shortly after it's capped cells never swell up ether flat or sunken .. so we gassed the bees after dark then burned everything. Burned everything she's been going thru this for 7 years it's hard to say how long she kept buying new bees then they die. I could tell something was off when I first looked but seeing the comb had set out couple years with no bees thoughts were comb was dried out reason it looked off. Bees were just cleaning up the dead larva .. till they didn't like they tried getting rid of dead larva that didn't work so they tried just leaving it. Next time I'll spot it right off. Hopefully not next time
I hope you reported that situation to the Dept. of Ag so other beekeepers in the vacinity would be notified. Thanks for sharing your story.
Thanks a lot 🙏
Thank you so much.
You're welcome!