Question: I cannot have or support bee boxes in my yard. There is a hive in the trunk of a tree though. How can I help to feed them without killing them by accident? If i place some bee food right outside of the opening, will the live long enough to come gather some and return to the hive?
Just checked out your red wax hive vid and had two thoughts on that experiment. Many of the first antibiotics were in fact food dyes. Would be interesting to test if some would help bees via treating the foundation coating on new frames. Second thought was while you were just using it to show the way the bees would use it, it might be fun for a beekeeper that also does candles to let the bees pre mix and grow the dyed wax as they add to the wax. You could even open a hive with fames that comb is in colors like red, white and blue comb. BTW red, orange, yellow and blue dyes were the first sulfur based or sulfa antibiotics. While I doubt it would impact the Moth, SHB or Mites it might help with the secondary infections that come with such stressors and carriers, while it could add some fun to the comb. Might also do a follow up check to see how it leaches into the honey as well. The normal color of honey being dictated by the nectars the contact with dyes might adjust that color as well. This might affect the ability to market it but could still be a fun thing to play with. Again just some side thoughts that might be worth exploring.
GREAT Video David, I like your explanation of clusters. Last 6 days all below freezing, today it was 15 and snowy, no end in sight of cold temperatures. I know one hive needs a WBK board change out, expecting 30 degrees on Sunday - it will be a fast process!
Bees have to cluster to survive winter. But feeding them can help them a bit more avoid a deep cluster. Some studies have shown bees can even move around as a cluster to go to where food is.
Great video topic David. Thank you for all your hard work on the channel. I run insulated hives. My colonies don't cluster. Temp under the top cover is 78℉, above the slatted rack is 55℉ when the outside temperature is only 6° (Massachusetts). Bottom entrance only. Very little resource consumption, ~1 pound per week.
That is very interesting, and a great point about insulated hives. I hope you can join us tonight at 7PM central time for our livestream. Here's the link: ruclips.net/user/liveCN7aym1G3AM
Hi David, great video. I really see your point about helping the bees so they are not clustering as much. If we can help them during this stressful time by giving them extra food and insulation then maybe they don’t need to feel like they are in defcon 4 mode.
Glad to hear that! Thanks for watching. I hope you can join us tonight at 7PM central time for our livestream. Here's the link: ruclips.net/user/liveCN7aym1G3AM
I left my bees outside this year, but the hive is wrapped in 2" of insulation. When I checked them in the fall after harvest, the top brood box was packed full of honey & pollen which explains why I only got 1 super's worth. I'm ok with that, as long as they have a good store of honey. They seemed to do this the previous year, when I had two brood boxes over the winter - I tried feeding them, but they weren't too interested.
Honey bees clustering is no different than a dog curling up to stay warm. A purely natural response. Cold doesn't automatically equal death IF they cluster....that's the purpose. "Forcing" brood in the Winter just gives the bees more problems to deal with when the temps drop. A loose cluster feeds on a warm Winter day....triggers brood production.....temp drops below freezing......MUST keep brood in the 90's to survive....need more food to do so....will not break cluster and abandon brood due to temps......dead bees. The bees have been clustering for millions of years for good reason. 😉
All good points. Thanks for watching. I hope you can join us tonight at 7PM central time for our livestream. Here's the link: ruclips.net/user/liveCN7aym1G3AM
Makes perfect sense to me, David! I have Winter Be Kinds on and it is forecasted to be 10 degrees F tonight. First year been so I will see how they do.
Completely newbie beek here just watching hives a mate keeps here in Sydney Australia. We do get frost on the ground in winter where we are. Aside from harvesting more honey but feed back a mix candy. I've not yet figured out why we don't "just" leave more honey on the hive??? Do the bees use as much as they can then tend to run out if we misjudged how much to leave? With the candy board / blocks not having liquid / moisture .... I'm also wondering how they convert dry candy into bee food liquid. Obviously they do.
You said bees "know they are going to die" and so they form a cluster to avoid freezing to death. I believe that they cluster in response to the cold, not because they know they are going to die. Am I missing something? Also, I have found no scientific papers that support your contention that feeding bees will prevent clustering in winter. Thank you for this video and all the excellent others you made. I watch all your videos.
I believe it is the concept to reduce cluster time and keep bees doing what they want to do all year along thus giving them a stronger start in spring. First time use of a candy board and my bees look like they do in summer activity inside hive at 38 degrees out, now I believe the cluster is not broke fully just rotating in and out of it and in you first line you say cluster to avoid freezing to death is a design by nature that all living things have sense or thought how to survive in certain scenarios, but by breaking the cycle the bees are in gives the colony a edge or insurance policy and Dave does say I believe not I know .
This doesn’t sound logical to me at all. Help me understand, as I’m new to beekeeping. I thought a cluster was an active, constantly cycling from the inside out survival state.. tighter when it’s colder, less regimented when less cold. What is this about the cluster being an impending, “dying” state. I agree with the need for supplemental feeding in the winter as it’s insurance against colony loss. This sounds more like a pitch to sell candy boards than a solid physiological breakdown of the winter hive. 🤔
Thanks for asking. I do not need to sell more candy boards, but I was afraid if I didn't mention it I would have people upset they can't find one. That is how a cluster works, but they not anywhere nearly as active as when they are not clustered. That's all I'm saying, so if I can help them not have to cluster so tightly, it makes things better.
What about just leaving a surplus of honey for them? Say 2 full 10 frame supers on a 4 tier hive? I know it would depend on location but in a general sense instead of feeding them....would bees still be as active as you set them up to be with feeding?
Far too much space for them to protect & keep warm. Due to their cluster nature they can sometimes die with food in the hive, as in not leaving the cluster even with supplement feed, sitting in an outside frame, in a single deep/brood chamber. It’s not the amount of food. He’s saying keeping their movement slows their default for a deep cluster, and eventual death
That is basically what I'm doing/trying. I have a two brood boxes and just one super, which I harvested. They basically filled the 2nd brood box full with honey and pollen, and that's equivalent to I guess two supers. I guess I could have had one brood box and three supers over the summer and harvested all three. But then I'd have to be feeding them constantly over the winter. So I just collected my single super, and let them have the rest in the second brood box. In the winter before this one, I had the same setup, and tried to feed them fondant, but they basically left nearly all of it. In the spring, they still had honey left over, so it looks like they had plenty and didn't need my help.
Well, I'm not saying clustering is bad for bees, but I'm just saying it is there way of not dying, and so I've found that if I can keep them from a deep cluster, I can keep them thriving a bit more in winter.
Hello from northern California. Where I'm located we have highs in the mid '60s this week with lows in the '40s this week. An hour drive east of me in the mountains the weather is in the '20s with lows in the teens. The northern Sacramento Valley produces more commercially produced queen bees than anywhere in the world.
Mr Rainmaker here you're half right the other part is keeping the Beehive insulated is the ski because then they don't have to use more resources to keep the hive warm and they have to have their real own honey not sugar water not be candy because the fake stuff can't generate enough heat for them I got a lot to tell you Mr Rainmaker here
We just keep agreeing! Thanks for watching. I hope you can join us tonight at 7PM central time for our livestream. Here's the link: ruclips.net/user/liveCN7aym1G3AM
Good here mate been a avg 29c deg here last 15 months do not see a winter any more. No mites here yet .so still have 6ft in hight 3 foot wide hives far better to this way full seal on box with one entrance with guardian fitted no beatles.😂🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉. 2 check per months let them go ape shit.😂
Great to hear no mites for you yet. Thanks for watching. I hope you can join us tonight at 7PM central time for our livestream. Here's the link: ruclips.net/user/liveCN7aym1G3AM
I can't see how someone wouldn't feed their bees in winter. Any livestock animal is taken care of during times of scarcity, why would bees be different from that?
Brilliant! Thanks for watching. I hope you can join us tonight at 7PM central time for our livestream. Here's the link: ruclips.net/user/liveCN7aym1G3AM
Hi David, nice video and I appreciate your inside. I apologize, but you need to go much deeper and understand why the bees need NOT to rise brood during the winter. I do not agree with your way of thinking. Sorry.
Very bad advice that doesn’t align with much of the recent research articles. Look up honey bee dispause and hypoxia. Bees exploit dispause/hibernation.
Well, I'm not saying clustering is bad for bees, but I'm just saying it is their way of not dying, and so I've found that if I can keep them more well feed it can keep them from a deep cluster, I can keep them thriving a bit more in winter.
Yes it is 100% clustering is not good for bees it’s stress on them and that’s why cold does kill bees Also and that’s why I use a well insulated hive so they don’t have to cluster as much to make heat ❤
Question: I cannot have or support bee boxes in my yard. There is a hive in the trunk of a tree though. How can I help to feed them without killing them by accident? If i place some bee food right outside of the opening, will the live long enough to come gather some and return to the hive?
David thanks so much for the video!!! And all you do to help us understand bees and their needs!!!
Just checked out your red wax hive vid and had two thoughts on that experiment. Many of the first antibiotics were in fact food dyes. Would be interesting to test if some would help bees via treating the foundation coating on new frames. Second thought was while you were just using it to show the way the bees would use it, it might be fun for a beekeeper that also does candles to let the bees pre mix and grow the dyed wax as they add to the wax. You could even open a hive with fames that comb is in colors like red, white and blue comb. BTW red, orange, yellow and blue dyes were the first sulfur based or sulfa antibiotics. While I doubt it would impact the Moth, SHB or Mites it might help with the secondary infections that come with such stressors and carriers, while it could add some fun to the comb. Might also do a follow up check to see how it leaches into the honey as well. The normal color of honey being dictated by the nectars the contact with dyes might adjust that color as well. This might affect the ability to market it but could still be a fun thing to play with. Again just some side thoughts that might be worth exploring.
GREAT Video David, I like your explanation of clusters. Last 6 days all below freezing, today it was 15 and snowy, no end in sight of cold temperatures. I know one hive needs a WBK board change out, expecting 30 degrees on Sunday - it will be a fast process!
Bees have to cluster to survive winter. But feeding them can help them a bit more avoid a deep cluster. Some studies have shown bees can even move around as a cluster to go to where food is.
Great video topic David. Thank you for all your hard work on the channel. I run insulated hives. My colonies don't cluster. Temp under the top cover is 78℉, above the slatted rack is 55℉ when the outside temperature is only 6° (Massachusetts). Bottom entrance only. Very little resource consumption, ~1 pound per week.
Hey Mark, how do you insulate you hive?/
That is very interesting, and a great point about insulated hives. I hope you can join us tonight at 7PM central time for our livestream. Here's the link: ruclips.net/user/liveCN7aym1G3AM
Hi David, great video. I really see your point about helping the bees so they are not clustering as much. If we can help them during this stressful time by giving them extra food and insulation
then maybe they don’t need to feel like they are in defcon 4 mode.
Exactly. Thanks for watching. I hope you can join us tonight at 7PM central time for our livestream. Here's the link: ruclips.net/user/liveCN7aym1G3AM
Great video David, Just added winter patties to my bees and it really has them moving around, I think you on to something.
Glad to hear that! Thanks for watching. I hope you can join us tonight at 7PM central time for our livestream. Here's the link: ruclips.net/user/liveCN7aym1G3AM
It's 65F in the CA Bay Area today and I did an inspection... I'm very lucky this week
Bring that luck and good weather to our livestream tonight at 7PM central time. Here's the link: ruclips.net/user/liveCN7aym1G3AM
Why are my bees leaving the hive to die in the snow?
I left my bees outside this year, but the hive is wrapped in 2" of insulation. When I checked them in the fall after harvest, the top brood box was packed full of honey & pollen which explains why I only got 1 super's worth. I'm ok with that, as long as they have a good store of honey. They seemed to do this the previous year, when I had two brood boxes over the winter - I tried feeding them, but they weren't too interested.
Honey bees clustering is no different than a dog curling up to stay warm. A purely natural response. Cold doesn't automatically equal death IF they cluster....that's the purpose. "Forcing" brood in the Winter just gives the bees more problems to deal with when the temps drop. A loose cluster feeds on a warm Winter day....triggers brood production.....temp drops below freezing......MUST keep brood in the 90's to survive....need more food to do so....will not break cluster and abandon brood due to temps......dead bees. The bees have been clustering for millions of years for good reason. 😉
All good points. Thanks for watching. I hope you can join us tonight at 7PM central time for our livestream. Here's the link: ruclips.net/user/liveCN7aym1G3AM
David an yes bees do kind of go into a state of hibernation. They go into a state of Torpor to also retain their heat . 🤷♂️🤷♂️
Makes perfect sense to me, David! I have Winter Be Kinds on and it is forecasted to be 10 degrees F tonight. First year been so I will see how they do.
Cool, Thanks for watching. I hope you can join us tonight at 7PM central time for our livestream. Here's the link: ruclips.net/user/liveCN7aym1G3AM
Completely newbie beek here just watching hives a mate keeps here in Sydney Australia. We do get frost on the ground in winter where we are. Aside from harvesting more honey but feed back a mix candy. I've not yet figured out why we don't "just" leave more honey on the hive??? Do the bees use as much as they can then tend to run out if we misjudged how much to leave? With the candy board / blocks not having liquid / moisture .... I'm also wondering how they convert dry candy into bee food liquid. Obviously they do.
About 12 inches of snow out by hives. Took thermal out today and so far they seem to be hanging in there.
Good to hear
You said bees "know they are going to die" and so they form a cluster to avoid freezing to death. I believe that they cluster in response to the cold, not because they know they are going to die. Am I missing something? Also, I have found no scientific papers that support your contention that feeding bees will prevent clustering in winter. Thank you for this video and all the excellent others you made. I watch all your videos.
I believe it is the concept to reduce cluster time and keep bees doing what they want to do all year along thus giving them a stronger start in spring. First time use of a candy board and my bees look like they do in summer activity inside hive at 38 degrees out, now I believe the cluster is not broke fully just rotating in and out of it and in you first line you say cluster to avoid freezing to death is a design by nature that all living things have sense or thought how to survive in certain scenarios, but by breaking the cycle the bees are in gives the colony a edge or insurance policy and Dave does say I believe not I know .
Well said.
This doesn’t sound logical to me at all. Help me understand, as I’m new to beekeeping. I thought a cluster was an active, constantly cycling from the inside out survival state.. tighter when it’s colder, less regimented when less cold. What is this about the cluster being an impending, “dying” state. I agree with the need for supplemental feeding in the winter as it’s insurance against colony loss. This sounds more like a pitch to sell candy boards than a solid physiological breakdown of the winter hive. 🤔
Thanks for asking. I do not need to sell more candy boards, but I was afraid if I didn't mention it I would have people upset they can't find one. That is how a cluster works, but they not anywhere nearly as active as when they are not clustered. That's all I'm saying, so if I can help them not have to cluster so tightly, it makes things better.
Bump 👊 that algorithm Beeks!!!
What about just leaving a surplus of honey for them? Say 2 full 10 frame supers on a 4 tier hive? I know it would depend on location but in a general sense instead of feeding them....would bees still be as active as you set them up to be with feeding?
Far too much space for them to protect & keep warm. Due to their cluster nature they can sometimes die with food in the hive, as in not leaving the cluster even with supplement feed, sitting in an outside frame, in a single deep/brood chamber. It’s not the amount of food. He’s saying keeping their movement slows their default for a deep cluster, and eventual death
That is basically what I'm doing/trying. I have a two brood boxes and just one super, which I harvested. They basically filled the 2nd brood box full with honey and pollen, and that's equivalent to I guess two supers. I guess I could have had one brood box and three supers over the summer and harvested all three. But then I'd have to be feeding them constantly over the winter. So I just collected my single super, and let them have the rest in the second brood box.
In the winter before this one, I had the same setup, and tried to feed them fondant, but they basically left nearly all of it. In the spring, they still had honey left over, so it looks like they had plenty and didn't need my help.
Literally makes no sense...until you really think about it. This may be the most logical thinking ever. Great video David.
Well, I'm not saying clustering is bad for bees, but I'm just saying it is there way of not dying, and so I've found that if I can keep them from a deep cluster, I can keep them thriving a bit more in winter.
Thanks for what you do sir. Generally learn something listening here
Thanks for watching.
Some bees do bumble bees do the queens will go under ground for winter
Hello from northern California. Where I'm located we have highs in the mid '60s this week with lows in the '40s this week. An hour drive east of me in the mountains the weather is in the '20s with lows in the teens. The northern Sacramento Valley produces more commercially produced queen bees than anywhere in the world.
Wow
Keep bees warm and provide enough food for them to make energy
Right on and I hope you'll be joining us on the livestream tonight at 7PM central time. Here's the link: ruclips.net/user/liveCN7aym1G3AM
Thank you David, good information as always
Thanks for watching!
In south Texas new beekeeper am feeding thanks for all the information!
Glad to help! I hope you can join us from south Texas on our livestream tonight at 7PM central time. Here's the link: ruclips.net/user/liveCN7aym1G3AM
I was told they go into Torper (sp?) but not hibernate.
Mr Rainmaker here you're half right the other part is keeping the Beehive insulated is the ski because then they don't have to use more resources to keep the hive warm and they have to have their real own honey not sugar water not be candy because the fake stuff can't generate enough heat for them I got a lot to tell you Mr Rainmaker here
Thanks for sharing. Everyone has different ways. I respect what you are saying.
Clustering is bad it’s a sign of stress
We just keep agreeing! Thanks for watching. I hope you can join us tonight at 7PM central time for our livestream. Here's the link: ruclips.net/user/liveCN7aym1G3AM
I've been wonder if a heat pad would help 😊
That is what extra feeding does. Heat from energy of the feeding
Hay thank you for the information.
Glad to help.
Your nice set of Park tools reveals your other hobby! 👌🚲
You're right, I am a cyclist!
Heated hives
Hey David 👋 Happy Wednesday
Thanks for watching!
Good here mate been a avg 29c deg here last 15 months do not see a winter any more. No mites here yet .so still have 6ft in hight 3 foot wide hives far better to this way full seal on box with one entrance with guardian fitted no beatles.😂🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉. 2 check per months let them go ape shit.😂
Great to hear no mites for you yet. Thanks for watching. I hope you can join us tonight at 7PM central time for our livestream. Here's the link: ruclips.net/user/liveCN7aym1G3AM
I can't see how someone wouldn't feed their bees in winter. Any livestock animal is taken care of during times of scarcity, why would bees be different from that?
Brilliant! Thanks for watching. I hope you can join us tonight at 7PM central time for our livestream. Here's the link: ruclips.net/user/liveCN7aym1G3AM
Its cold here in southern Ontario near Niagara Falls
I bet!
Hi David, nice video and I appreciate your inside. I apologize, but you need to go much deeper and understand why the bees need NOT to rise brood during the winter. I do not agree with your way of thinking. Sorry.
Very bad advice that doesn’t align with much of the recent research articles. Look up honey bee dispause and hypoxia. Bees exploit dispause/hibernation.
Well, I'm not saying clustering is bad for bees, but I'm just saying it is their way of not dying, and so I've found that if I can keep them more well feed it can keep them from a deep cluster, I can keep them thriving a bit more in winter.
Yes it is 100% clustering is not good for bees it’s stress on them and that’s why cold does kill bees Also and that’s why I use a well insulated hive so they don’t have to cluster as much to make heat ❤
DRIVING IS MPH
BEEKEEPING IS SPH😏