You are the reason backyard beekeepers are improving. Thank you for sharing all your knowledge and answering the same questions repeatedly. I truly appreciate all the work you put into your channel.
Need to add here that I learned about your videos and great pointers too late! I do enjoy then, now that I find this channel! I am a 1st year backyard beekeeper with 2 hives that came to me in April 2024 as nukes . I got them through early Oct 2024, and even harvested 40. lbs of honey in Sepr, so I thought my bees were doing well. However, in the middle of an outdoor birthday party mid Oct, we realized that we had a bee and wasp battle going on - I didn't know that I should have added a robbing screen in August. I lost one complete colony from that Oct robbing. The other colony ended up dying off in November with another robber event. I will get 2 nukes in the spring. I learned a lot this year - Many lessons learned!
David, your enthusiasm inspires me and gives me hope that the first winter of my backyard bee keeping career has a good chance to be successful. Better than 50 50 that my girls will make it thru the Michigan winter into the spring. Fingers crossed, thanks for beeing there for husband and me!
It would be fun to have a Beek Squad meeting by Zoom sometime where we could see everyone, say hi 👋 cross-country, exchange contact info, etc. Weekly you see a camera & lights, we see you & chat text. Once in a while it'd be great to see all of the beek squad members in little thumbnail pics waving at each other. 😃
Hi David! Thanks for another great vid! I think the quote you referred to is from the 1986 film 'Aliens', and is from the Colonial Marines' Sergeant Apone: "A day in the Marine Corps is like a day on the farm. Every meal is a banquet. Every paycheck a fortune. Every formation a parade. I LOVE the corps!" Keep up the great work and happy holidays!
Amazing words David, thank you. Enjoying the little things in life it’s what makes true happiness. God bless you and your family and a very happy Merry Christmas.
I am moving to MT Olivet soon and I ordered my first package of bees, learning a lot from David, other channels and books. Best of wishes and Merry Christmas! 🎄
A lot of good points, particularly about the need for critical thinking and problem-solving skills in beekeeping & everyday life... Btw, the Calif. Dept. Of Agriculture Apiary Board classifies hobbyists/backyard beekeepers as those with 1-9 hives.
I have a different result this year. I had the worse losses due to pesticides in my neighborhood this year. Lost 10 strong colonies in October after strong mite treatments schedule. Colony dropped dead in 2 days. From 30 to 20 and still think some are too weak to make it this winter.
Awesome video David. Thanks for your time. We share a lot of the same values, so it’s great to hear someone trying to spread that word. Keep them coming.
GREAT Video and coffee time. Yesterday was a good weather day, 45 degrees, sunny, and no wind, so placed a WBK board on each hive and it took only one minute on each hive. Bees were humming! Todays weather it's snowing with thunder snow, windy and much colder. Like the hat 👍
I think commercial beekeepers feel they have seen it all and don't worry about increasing knowledge and updating knowledge as the new beekeeper would. There have been a lot of discoveries lately that commercial keepers may not have seen or heard about. Learning NEVER stops !!! PS: Backyard beekeepers listen to David Burns !
That strikes me as seriously odd if it's true. I know businesses that aren't constantly looking for new new information, ways to retain or create product more/better product, or more educated employees leading to better results overall. I'd be absolutely floored if commercial beekeepers think they already know everything about it and there's nothing new to learn. It would take an exceptionally dim person to have that worldview, and if they did I highly doubt they'd be able to handle basic beekeeping tasks and remain employed or in business.
Hi David, commercial beekeepers operate differently. The side liner and backyard beekeeper have more time and resources to closely monitor their hives. They are passionate, not driven by the bottom line and have a voracious appetite to learn because of your videos and constant encouragement. Thank you!
I love using the phrase Small Scale Beekeeper instead of hobbyist. Small scale more defines the scale of my operation. The report regarding lost colonies, I was floored.
Think your spot on I just got into keeping bees for honey for myself found out there a whole lot more to it than purchase bees and hive and take the honey but it's been a very interesting journey thanks for all your essential information that made my journey possible 🤝
Totally agree with your comments on "hobby beekeeper". Terrible notion that beekeeping is a "hobby" you can just start and stop at your leisure. I think the commercial #'s should be higher because there is no way they can properly tend to that many colonies. They usually treat based on averages, and we all know each hive is different. I also think the loses for backyard beekeepers are way too high. Too many folks are buying bees before realizing the commitment and knowledge required to keep these bugs alive. The past few years, I've gone from 1 to 2 to 4 to 9 to 17 to currently 25 with loses in the single digits. I'm certainly no "master beekeeper", but I do understand low mites, good queens and good nutrition. Keep preaching David....spend time learning about bees BEFORE you spend money buying bees!!!
And anytime you commercialize anything it's about the money backyard beekeepers it's not about the money at all it's about the passion and the love that you have for it
Beehives are like prisons I was a correction officer and I'm a beekeeper and I noticed that there's a huge similarity prisons are ran a certain way ... parameters must be followed to keep a healthy population ...hives are ran a certain way if one inmate gets sick they all get sick.. when one bee has a virus they could all get it in my prison they're all stuck in the same hive but when it comes to commercialized maybe it's because they have more bees which attributes to more losses mixed with my prison Theory if one of their hives get sick they lose the whole entire hive non-commercial people seem to check on their hives more they seem to be more nitpicky they have the time to be more nitpicky and more thorough.. one thing I've noticed from having my own business is that anytime you commercialize anything the quality suffers
I had four hives this year and lost 2. One to a mystery, the other was a deadout/starvation thanks to the fall not getting cold enough to force my ladies to cluster (and yes, I should have fed them, just missed it).
I treat ALL of my colonies as if they have mites, because I assume they all do. I don't do mite checks beyond visual with the twin optical sensors, I VAP them all with OA every other week in the early spring till warmer weather hits and again late summer into the fall season, I also have essential oils I use on strips, a green drone frame in each hive that I check on every other week and freeze when needed, and screen bottom boards in the late spring - summer heading into fall. I normally replace the screen bottom boards with non screened bottom boards before the REALLY COLD temps hit and right before I would need to wrap the hives with foam boards and put on the quilt boxes. I feed in the winter, and I have wireless - WiFi temp-humidity sensors in each hive for temp / moisture monitoring with custom parameters setup in the app to alert me of lows and extreme high temps not ideal for the bees. Maybe I go overboard, but I have so much time, energy, and money wrapped up in my ladies, So I do everything I can to avoid having having a lot of losses compared to other keepers I know, but we all do some things differently. I just do what works for me. Of course things change season to season, and new ideas I always welcome. Great video David, you are the GOAT.
My thoughts are that commercial bee keepers have a higher bee mortality rate due to the inherent higher amount of risks in their bees environment. I would think that also the volume of honey being produced in these high loss colonies may not have actually decreased. Yes, the lost alot of bees overall, but if the flow is consistent with previous years, then it's not much of a loss. It's like having a large family. It always feels like there's always a funeral to go to.
David can you tell or show us how to make a hive and super and the other parts like the frames what the parts details like how long and every else to make hive and super ready to work ? I did try to look everywhere for one to buy but all I find is just 500+ Dollars 😢
Great video and I came to many of the same conclusions...at first. No doubt the wonderful resource that is youtube is helping a ton with beekeeper education. However, this was one year with a historically mild winter in 2013-2014. Weaker, poorly prepped hives, still made it through winter. Comparing these numbers on such an atypical year is going to skew the data. Also, not all loses are the same. Commerical beekeepers generally "take their loses in the fall". By that, I mean any weak hives are assumed loses and the beekeepers don't put the effort or invest resources in reviving hives that aren't worth it. So that's going to skew the data as well. Hives are weaker this year as a result of older queens and higher mite numbers resulting from the mild winter. I too was tempted to cheer for beekeeper education when I saw the numbers, and there is something there. But we have to remember that this is a relatively unreliable survey and the improvement against commercial beekeepers may simply be a result of operational differences and elderly queens following the historically mild winter. Many small scale beekeepers are hoping to get weak colonies through this winter...whereas those same weak colonies would've already been counted as loses by commercial guys.
HI David, Very interesting! There isa risk of your (or they) are making a conclusion from 1 data point.... Need a more critical review of the data presented. Just my nature to be skeptical on conclusions from limited data.
I think you are totally off base. Commercial beekeepers spend heavily to feed their colonies for winter. They also spend multiple thousands of dollars to treat for mites. At the heart of the issues is that commercial hives live in a constant state of stress. To many bees for the amount of forage. Pollinating for monoculture (almonds). Being moved across the country( loss of foragers). Cross contamination from drift due to high colony density. These are all things that back yard beekeepers don’t have to deal with. Commercial beekeepers want healthy bees and try very hard to accomplish that, their livelihood depends on it. They just have way more to deal with than backyard beekeepers. It is easy to feed 3 or 4 colonies in a drought. It is much harder to feed 1000 or more spread across the country when there is widespread drought.
You are the reason backyard beekeepers are improving. Thank you for sharing all your knowledge and answering the same questions repeatedly. I truly appreciate all the work you put into your channel.
Need to add here that I learned about your videos and great pointers too late! I do enjoy then, now that I find this channel! I am a 1st year backyard beekeeper with 2 hives that came to me in April 2024 as nukes . I got them through early Oct 2024, and even harvested 40. lbs of honey in Sepr, so I thought my bees were doing well. However, in the middle of an outdoor birthday party mid Oct, we realized that we had a bee and wasp battle going on - I didn't know that I should have added a robbing screen in August. I lost one complete colony from that Oct robbing. The other colony ended up dying off in November with another robber event. I will get 2 nukes in the spring. I learned a lot this year - Many lessons learned!
Great content David , loved every thing you said . Thank you for being YOU !!!!
U need a AT A BOY David..U have helped me more than anyone i watch SIR ..THANK U for putting the hours in to Help peps who dont know what to do..
David, your enthusiasm inspires me and gives me hope that the first winter of my backyard bee keeping career has a good chance to be successful. Better than 50 50 that my girls will make it thru the Michigan winter into the spring. Fingers crossed, thanks for beeing there for husband and me!
I attribute it to us backyard beekeepers watching and learning from David Burns.
Very, very cool love the card love the cookies.
It would be fun to have a Beek Squad meeting by Zoom sometime where we could see everyone, say hi 👋 cross-country, exchange contact info, etc. Weekly you see a camera & lights, we see you & chat text. Once in a while it'd be great to see all of the beek squad members in little thumbnail pics waving at each other. 😃
Hi David! Thanks for another great vid! I think the quote you referred to is from the 1986 film 'Aliens', and is from the Colonial Marines' Sergeant Apone: "A day in the Marine Corps is like a day on the farm. Every meal is a banquet. Every paycheck a fortune. Every formation a parade. I LOVE the corps!"
Keep up the great work and happy holidays!
Amazing words David, thank you. Enjoying the little things in life it’s what makes true happiness. God bless you and your family and a very happy Merry Christmas.
Merry Xmas David. Thanks for all your informative videos, and your great personality!😁👍
Had 6 colonies coming out of last winter. Have lost all but 2 going into the winter despite my best efforts here in eastern KY.
I am moving to MT Olivet soon and I ordered my first package of bees, learning a lot from David, other channels and books. Best of wishes and Merry Christmas! 🎄
I love this video so much! So much joyful energy! ❤
A lot of good points, particularly about the need for critical thinking and problem-solving skills in beekeeping & everyday life...
Btw, the Calif. Dept. Of Agriculture Apiary Board classifies hobbyists/backyard beekeepers as those with 1-9 hives.
I have a different result this year. I had the worse losses due to pesticides in my neighborhood this year. Lost 10 strong colonies in October after strong mite treatments schedule. Colony dropped dead in 2 days. From 30 to 20 and still think some are too weak to make it this winter.
Mind sharing your strong mite treatment schedule?
I had heavy losses in the pollination area of my operation
Awesome video David. Thanks for your time. We share a lot of the same values, so it’s great to hear someone trying to spread that word. Keep them coming.
GREAT Video and coffee time. Yesterday was a good weather day, 45 degrees, sunny, and no wind, so placed a WBK board on each hive and it took only one minute on each hive. Bees were humming! Todays weather it's snowing with thunder snow, windy and much colder. Like the hat 👍
I think commercial beekeepers feel they have seen it all and don't worry about increasing knowledge and updating knowledge as the new beekeeper would. There have been a lot of discoveries lately that commercial keepers may not have seen or heard about. Learning NEVER stops !!!
PS: Backyard beekeepers listen to David Burns !
That strikes me as seriously odd if it's true. I know businesses that aren't constantly looking for new new information, ways to retain or create product more/better product, or more educated employees leading to better results overall.
I'd be absolutely floored if commercial beekeepers think they already know everything about it and there's nothing new to learn.
It would take an exceptionally dim person to have that worldview, and if they did I highly doubt they'd be able to handle basic beekeeping tasks and remain employed or in business.
Great info sir. Ive learned a ton from you and a few others. Thanks for all you do buddy
Hi David, commercial beekeepers operate differently. The side liner and backyard beekeeper have more time and resources to closely monitor their hives. They are passionate, not driven by the bottom line and have a voracious appetite to learn because of your videos and constant encouragement. Thank you!
I love using the phrase Small Scale Beekeeper instead of hobbyist. Small scale more defines the scale of my operation. The report regarding lost colonies, I was floored.
yes David, it is all about people treating their hives for mites finally!!🙏🙏🙌🙌. if you have bees, you have mites! treat, treat, treat
Think your spot on I just got into keeping bees for honey for myself found out there a whole lot more to it than purchase bees and hive and take the honey but it's been a very interesting journey thanks for all your essential information that made my journey possible 🤝
Love u dave, my wife and I feel the same about gifts. I will watch u till u retire. (That would be the bitter honey day) thank you for your videos
I’ll keep making videos as long as people want to watch them!
Totally agree with your comments on "hobby beekeeper". Terrible notion that beekeeping is a "hobby" you can just start and stop at your leisure. I think the commercial #'s should be higher because there is no way they can properly tend to that many colonies. They usually treat based on averages, and we all know each hive is different. I also think the loses for backyard beekeepers are way too high. Too many folks are buying bees before realizing the commitment and knowledge required to keep these bugs alive. The past few years, I've gone from 1 to 2 to 4 to 9 to 17 to currently 25 with loses in the single digits. I'm certainly no "master beekeeper", but I do understand low mites, good queens and good nutrition. Keep preaching David....spend time learning about bees BEFORE you spend money buying bees!!!
And anytime you commercialize anything it's about the money backyard beekeepers it's not about the money at all it's about the passion and the love that you have for it
Beehives are like prisons I was a correction officer and I'm a beekeeper and I noticed that there's a huge similarity prisons are ran a certain way ... parameters must be followed to keep a healthy population ...hives are ran a certain way if one inmate gets sick they all get sick.. when one bee has a virus they could all get it in my prison they're all stuck in the same hive but when it comes to commercialized maybe it's because they have more bees which attributes to more losses mixed with my prison Theory if one of their hives get sick they lose the whole entire hive non-commercial people seem to check on their hives more they seem to be more nitpicky they have the time to be more nitpicky and more thorough.. one thing I've noticed from having my own business is that anytime you commercialize anything the quality suffers
I had four hives this year and lost 2. One to a mystery, the other was a deadout/starvation thanks to the fall not getting cold enough to force my ladies to cluster (and yes, I should have fed them, just missed it).
I treat ALL of my colonies as if they have mites, because I assume they all do. I don't do mite checks beyond visual with the twin optical sensors, I VAP them all with OA every other week in the early spring till warmer weather hits and again late summer into the fall season, I also have essential oils I use on strips, a green drone frame in each hive that I check on every other week and freeze when needed, and screen bottom boards in the late spring - summer heading into fall. I normally replace the screen bottom boards with non screened bottom boards before the REALLY COLD temps hit and right before I would need to wrap the hives with foam boards and put on the quilt boxes. I feed in the winter, and I have wireless - WiFi temp-humidity sensors in each hive for temp / moisture monitoring with custom parameters setup in the app to alert me of lows and extreme high temps not ideal for the bees. Maybe I go overboard, but I have so much time, energy, and money wrapped up in my ladies, So I do everything I can to avoid having having a lot of losses compared to other keepers I know, but we all do some things differently. I just do what works for me. Of course things change season to season, and new ideas I always welcome. Great video David, you are the GOAT.
Please tell me the address of which journal I can publish an article on apitherapy, thank you.
I was taught Christmas is any time!
My thoughts are that commercial bee keepers have a higher bee mortality rate due to the inherent higher amount of risks in their bees environment. I would think that also the volume of honey being produced in these high loss colonies may not have actually decreased. Yes, the lost alot of bees overall, but if the flow is consistent with previous years, then it's not much of a loss.
It's like having a large family. It always feels like there's always a funeral to go to.
David can you tell or show us how to make a hive and super and the other parts like the frames what the parts details like how long and every else to make hive and super ready to work ?
I did try to look everywhere for one to buy but all I find is just 500+ Dollars 😢
And what sizes there is around for the hives and super🤔
Great video and I came to many of the same conclusions...at first. No doubt the wonderful resource that is youtube is helping a ton with beekeeper education. However, this was one year with a historically mild winter in 2013-2014. Weaker, poorly prepped hives, still made it through winter. Comparing these numbers on such an atypical year is going to skew the data. Also, not all loses are the same.
Commerical beekeepers generally "take their loses in the fall". By that, I mean any weak hives are assumed loses and the beekeepers don't put the effort or invest resources in reviving hives that aren't worth it. So that's going to skew the data as well. Hives are weaker this year as a result of older queens and higher mite numbers resulting from the mild winter.
I too was tempted to cheer for beekeeper education when I saw the numbers, and there is something there. But we have to remember that this is a relatively unreliable survey and the improvement against commercial beekeepers may simply be a result of operational differences and elderly queens following the historically mild winter. Many small scale beekeepers are hoping to get weak colonies through this winter...whereas those same weak colonies would've already been counted as loses by commercial guys.
🐝 🐝 🐝 👍
Way more exposure with 1000 hives vs 25
Would be interesting to know how many Beek Squad folks completed the survey.
HI David, Very interesting! There isa risk of your (or they) are making a conclusion from 1 data point.... Need a more critical review of the data presented. Just my nature to be skeptical on conclusions from limited data.
It’s true, it would be nice to see more data.
Commercials beekeepers bees are exsposed to so many chemicals
It’s mostly beekeepers that have loss are the ones doing this pollination its sad really
I think you are totally off base. Commercial beekeepers spend heavily to feed their colonies for winter. They also spend multiple thousands of dollars to treat for mites. At the heart of the issues is that commercial hives live in a constant state of stress. To many bees for the amount of forage. Pollinating for monoculture (almonds). Being moved across the country( loss of foragers). Cross contamination from drift due to high colony density. These are all things that back yard beekeepers don’t have to deal with. Commercial beekeepers want healthy bees and try very hard to accomplish that, their livelihood depends on it. They just have way more to deal with than backyard beekeepers. It is easy to feed 3 or 4 colonies in a drought. It is much harder to feed 1000 or more spread across the country when there is widespread drought.
How are you a beekeeper with 0 colonies? 🤣😅 I would think the 0-50 should be 1-50..