Beekeeping Frequently Asked Questions 18, How To Keep Honey Bees, Cooling Hives, and more!
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- Опубликовано: 23 май 2019
- Welcome! To Beekeeping Frequently Asked Questions Episode 18!
Today we discuss the following topics relevant to small-scale backyard bee management practices.
1) Am I going to publish a Beekeeping Journal? If not, why? What do you use?
2) Is there a best beehive design for beginners? Look for an entire video dedicated to the Flow-Hive Options coming up this week!
3) Holly Bushes are great for an apiary wind break and they provide loads of nectar early in the nectar flow season. Spring nectar sources.
4) Is there a way of protecting landing boards from rain or snow when the hive is too tall for the roof to be effective?
5) Do you have any hives that have survived for many years? How to choose which hives to split or reproduce from?
Below are materials that you may find helpful based on today's topics:
What do FlowHives Cost? Find REAL FlowHives here:(50 dollar discount link) mbsy.co/hpFB2
AU - mbsy.co/zSDf9
EU - mbsy.co/zSDbm
Here is my favorite Bee Keeping Journal, and convenient document protectors, Pens, and Annual Assignment Book - perfect for storing your important papers, receipts, and honey-bee history.
Mead Zipper Binder: amzn.to/2VNeS5B
Avery Document Protectors: amzn.to/2VL51xb
Pilot Pens (four colors): amzn.to/2K4bJvZ
Student Planner (perfect for bee projects): amzn.to/2M3Z0w2
Flow Hive Discount Link for $50 off mbsy.co/hpFB2
Make your own landing board rain/snow shield:
1 and 1/2 inch 1/4-20 Thumb Screws: amzn.to/2M426jz
1/4-20 T-Nuts: amzn.to/2wkFOzm
and your own pine boards.
Glue used on rain shields: Tight Bond II: amzn.to/2YNoQWO
Beginner Beehive kit: Mann Lake: amzn.to/2whzJE7
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
1) Am I going to publish a Beekeeping Journal? 5:38
2) Is there a best beehive design for beginners? 10:11
3) Holly Bushes are great for an apiary wind break and they provide loads of nectar early in the nectar flow season.1:38
4) Is there a way of protecting landing boards from rain or snow when the hive is too tall for the roof to be effective? 22:11
5) Do you have any hives that have survived for many years? How to choose which hives to split or reproduce from? 29:59
UPDATE: Today, ahead of the storm front that is moving in, it's 87 degrees - the hives with the "Rain-Visors" on them are benefitting from the shade and there is a 15 degree drop on those landing board areas. It's looking GOOD so far!!!
Another great video Fred.....Thank you. Basic question what do you put on bee stings...one got my ear late yesterday! I'm not concerned, swollen a bit, just incase one of my grandchildren get hit. Thanks, Ron
@@ronadelman1312 I will address that in FAQ #19 on Friday! :) I highly recommend "Sting-Kill Wipes"... great for any sting or even mosquito bites.
Mr. Dunn, I really enjoyed your work on this production. I figure that RUclips has professional "I don't like anything" folks that don't do anything except give a thumbs down on whatever pops up. Good work...I have all the kids that come here to subscribe to your channel. You and Barnyard Bees are about all they focus on except a Fortnight thing...congrats!
Thank you so much Stan! :)
I'm glad you're making us new bee keepers successful. Thank you for the invaluable videos.
Thank YOU for watching, I'm glad the information is useful :)
Thanks for sharing the rain deflector/sun shade idea. I think I’ll make a couple along with feeder shims.
Also thanks for sharing your thoughts on keeping more than one hive. Earlier this year one of my hives was outperforming my other hive regarding landing board activity. I recently noticed that hive was now doing poorer as compared to my other hive. Did an investigation and found the poorer performer had lost their queen. Re-queened last week and am hoping for the best.
Thanks for putting together this series. I can only imagine how much effort is involved in the production of these videos. They are certainly appreciated.
Thank you so much Larry! People like you are exactly why I do these videos. Great feedback and much appreciated.
Im just starting. Bought a layen hive from Leo, and a swarm trap. I own a semi, and my phone, which is my gps map, sits in a cradle to the right of my steering wheel. I have a set of headphone on and listen to hours of videos a day. You, Leo, and jpthe beeman are the majority of my
Ohhh, that's cool Ray! Thanks for listening! I was asked to start a PodCast, but I think the Q&A vids serve that purpose for the most part? Thanks again!
Have to say that I find your presentations inspirational and very easy to understand. I really look forward to your weekly Q & A's as I find that many people have the same questions that are on my mind.
I live in Far North Queensland (Australia) and will be joining the local Bee Keeping Association and as you poited out we are heading into winter so a couple of questions I have are as follows:
When should I look at establishing a hive (or two after viewing this video)? and
How often would you inspect the hives throughout a calander year?
Side note: Will be having a go at making some OATH hives and trying to encourage some of our native stingless bees to help with polination around our home.
Keep up the awesome work and would like to see some more of your photo's and videos.
Thank you so much! The best time of year to establish new hives/colonies is always in the spring when nectar and pollen resources will be plentiful! Frequent hive inspections can backfire and cause your honeybees to actually abscond to another residence if they are not permitted to settle. Once a week is almost too much. Only open and inspect hives when you have a good reason and try to limit the amount of time the hive is open. Thanks for watching and I think you'll enjoy this Friday's FAQ - I take viewers inside the hive!
You have a winter in far North Queensland!!?? Coming from far south Victoria 😂
Thank you for showing how to make the landing board visor. I found stainless steel thumb screws & t-nuts in 1/4 size on amazon, so I ordered those ones today. Project coming! (I love working with wood now, and you're the one who gave me the courage to try those dusty power tools in my garage :-)
Those rain visors are super cool.
Thanks Carlos!
Fred you are so well organized. Love the bee keeping journal and all the information you share is very helpful. Thank you for sharing!
Hi Mary Ann, thank you for such a nice comment! You are very welcome, and thank you for watching!
MR Dunn you are a PLEASURE TO LISTEN TO!!! I'm not new to beekeeping but i alway smanage to learn something new thank you for all you do!!! amazing photos btw!!
Thanks, always nice to see your comments!
These faq sessions are outstanding! Thank you so much for sharing your experiences and observations. I'm not (yet) a beekeper; I'm learning as much as I can before making the leap. I find this video series immensely informative and accessible.
You are very welcome Simon, thank you for taking time to watch and comment!
“Just in case we were in danger of having good weather” I snorted my coffee and coughed for about 10 minutes... To funny... 🤣 So rewind, for take two... And then, Wait... What do you mean no more questions??? It’s only been 5 minutes... Nope... 40 minutes... How did that happen??? So caught up I didn’t even take notes, so immediately went back and watched a third time! Extremely great content once again Mr. Dunn!!! Love how you put together your bee journal!
That makes my day Larry :) I was also surprised because it seemed like I just got started :) Thanks for always watching and sharing your thoughts!
I really appreciate you furnishing a list of the topics to be covered.
Thanks Robert! I try not to waste anyone's time :)
thanks again for your informative video!!!
You're welcome Amy!
It's nice to work hard. thanks
I can't wait to see your visors in action. A 15 degree difference is pretty significant. Just when I thought I had everything for my hives. Just so you know, I'm not going to be very happy if you come out with a gold plated, wind deflector. Lol! Sound advice as always Fred, thank you.
Thanks Fred... Gr8 as always. I guess weather still sucks. Hope the new colonies are doing well and looking forward to progress videos. I am also looking forward to the separate Flow Hive videos. Australian inventions are driven be necessity and opportunity. If I get into bees it will be Flow Hives all the way. My gym m8 has these and well respected in bee community... so I have a mentor.
Take care and all the best.
Thanks John... yes, and I think it's obvious that I'm a huge Flow-Fan!
Fred! The picnic table hive swarmed today. I lost them. They flew over my house and way above a 100 foot tree and out into the woods. I tried to find them but no avail. Lol
It was soo many bees. I cannot believe all that came from the table.
What?! Did the completely abscond with none left behind? I think you must have expected that to happen :) Too bad you couldn't hive them as they definitely had "personality". Thanks for the update!
@@FrederickDunn It was so cool. Ive never seen a colony abscond before. My wife was like the bees are swarming out of the table.
By the time I got downstairs they were already into the forest. I went looking for them.
It was a very hot day today. 89 with humidity. That plus no room probably started it.
So now my patio table smells like honey. Not a total loss. Lol
Ive never been able to catch a swarm. My bait traps do not work and there are hundreds of hollow trees they can find and I am in the middle of a forest so I pretty much have to be outside when it happens.
Maybe next time. Man I wanted them. I walked like 2 miles out in the woods looking and listening.
Thanks for another great video ... A question for your consideration... ant barriers... eg., oil versus car grease. In California we have Argentinian ant, which love to invade man made hives.
Hi George, gel toothpaste on the support legs - ants hate it and will avoid it.
FYI, that pink zipper binder is currently 5 cents less expensive than the red & black :-)
Fred I've watched all your FAQ videos as well as a few others. I really appreciate your approach to beekeeping in that you really study behavior and base your designs and decisions on doing what's best for them and what they like, for example spritzing with sugar syrup instead of smoking.
I appreciate your no bias approach to different aspects of beekeeping and the questions that come up. U base every answer on observation and facts.
Couple questions... the perennial wild flower mix you planted... is that just a mix you bought or did you come up with it? Could you come up with a list by season of the best pollen producing plants/trees for your area? I'm in central Illinois so i'm not too much different of a climate(enjoying the wonderful rain we're getting just about every day)
So I'm a dairy herdsman and i understand the value of not only head knowledge of animal behavior but also a good visual understanding and a trained eye in what to look for quickly when you evaluate your livestock. As the weather gets a little more cooperative could you get into more video of the different activities good and bad of the bees and what to look for when opening up a hive so us newbees can do inspections quickly and act quickly. What does healthy versus not healthy brood look like? What does it look like when the queen is laying well versus not? What does it look like when you need to add another box? What does it look like when its time to harvest? In the spring what does it look like when you rotate boxes or take away winter resources?
Thanks! I already have alot of confidence in the basic head knowledge of keeping bees and i'm so excited to get started!
Fred, Thanks for your videos. I like you visor, I have some resource hives from Brushy Mt. that are 4 frame nucs in 10 frame box, with entrance on opposite sides, can't T tip and lost them due to moisture, so this year made visors from aluminum flashing to keep water off of landing board, hoping it helps.
Oh, that's an interesting point with entrances 180 degrees from one another! Let me know how that improves things for your bees!
thank you so much....your efforts are appreciated
Thank you!
So walking around my property few days ago. I discovered acres of wineberries full of bees. I also found atleast 4 acres of tulip poplar trees. And 9 mulberry trees. Picked the berries and made a crisp.
Don't even get me started on Mulberries!!!!! I LOVE them and we have more than we can possibly eat. They taste so sweet that it's astounding that they come from a tree! Sounds like you really have great bee resources!
@@FrederickDunn I do. I also found 6 black locust trees and 4 honey locust trees.
Thanks, J, for asking the flow hive questions...I am saving up for one so I am looking forward to Mr. Dunn's video in response to your questions!
You're welcome. I've had so many of my questions answered that I hadn't even needed to ask just watching Frederick's videos. I'm doing about as much research as I can on my free time before my first hive arrives in June. I don't expect to get honey until next year, but hopefully I can get a colony strong enough to get through winter, so I'm looking forward to the video as well.
tu for the much needed info
Another amazing video as usual and this is the first time I hear about the European holly bushes Ilex aquifolium as we do not have this plant at all in Egypt
Great informative videos as always! I have binge watched all of your FAQ series after recently buying my flow hive. Looking forward to seeing a video on your Saskatraz bees to help me decide on what type to buy for my Ohio weather.
We'll be updating the Saskatraz bees when they start hatching out and building up. I'll know more about their disposition after that. Thanks so much for watching and commenting :)
Fred two of my beeweavers tried to swarm already. Bringing in resources almost faster than they can build comb. Lol
They are definitely show-offs! I have to say that my early impression of the Saskatraz is also favorable, but remember, I still haven't seen their offspring yet! Looking forward to that! Always great to see your comments Carlos!
Thanks for answering the visor question. I'm interested to see how helpful it does or doesn't turn out to be. I especially like the modular design and simplicity of your prototype. I was going to screw something directly into the hive box, but the wing screws acting as a clamp is much more appealing.
Holly bushes sound great. Unfortunately my soil (by soil I mean clay and rock) here is so alkaline that any acidophilic plant I've tried dies without an awful lot of soil management.
That binder and student assignment notebook is a fantastic find. It's practically tailor made for annual projects and hobbies. Bee keeping, fruit tree and garden upkeep, you name it. Very nice.
If you have any footage of bee communication, that would be pretty cool. Various dances. Lick testing. I think I read something about singing or chirping somewhere.
Thanks for the future video answering some of the other questions as well. I laughed when you held up my list printed out and I realized how long it is. I actually had many, many more I had written down, but most of them got answered just watching your previous videos. So again, thank you for sharing what you've learned and your experiences.
HI Jay! It was a joy to answer your questions and of course that will continue with the upcoming flow-video.... yes, I have a video showing behaviors and vocalizations - here is the Queen Piping video - and look at my observation hive videos for internal behaviors ruclips.net/video/95TT-prUK2g/видео.html internal behaviors:
Hi Fred,
I am still keen on seeing how to make and operate a solar wax melter, that l asked about some time back.
Your weather has been pretty ordinary to say the least and you were holding off till it picked up.
Regards Sean
Still to come... warning, it's very basic... as seen in my uncapping fork video :)
Looking forward to the Flow Hive presentation. There seem to be a lot of look a likes appearing on various websites and would appreciate your thoughts (or feedback you may have received from others) on those products. Fred, have a good holiday weekend!
Very late,,but thank you for the info Mr Dunn..👊🇱🇨
Thank you as always Robert! :)
@@FrederickDunn Most welcome Sir...😁👍
i didn't watch the video but I ohave several qiuestions 1) what are bees 2) how do you feed the bees c) what do you do with the bees whe it's too wet outside 5) what if you have cherry trees and holly flowers but also want bees?
Fred how did your bird boxes work out? A sparrow started nesting in one of my mason bee hives. So its a nesting tray filled with bees with a bird nest on top. Lol
The bird boxes are great thanks! :)
I have spent the past year reading and watching everything bees. I have found your vlogs very superior and have learned a lot. I jumped in this year with the Saskatraz from Olivarez Bees. I live close enough to go to their Hobbie Day in April and picked them up. Here in Northers Nevada we have experienced cold rainy pour weather and I have only checked to see queen was released and last week I checked to see if brood was present. I did no see the queen nor did I see brood. Is it easy to miss those two things? and with the weather in the mid 40 degrees should I open the hive again? I am feeding 50/50 super mix in a hive top feeder
Hi Kathy, you should see eggs and open brood. If you don't see any of that, you may have lost the queen. It's important to replace one asap. Thank you for the wonderful compliment :)
Thank you for all the hard work and the great info!
I have a question about splitting hives. Is it possible to split a hive without getting a new queen? Will the bees raise their own queen to replace the missing one? From what I have learned so far, I believe this works, but I have not seen anyone go through all the steps in much detail. Any insight you could give would be much appreciated.
Once again, thanks for all the great videos, Fred!
Yes, so long as there is open brood to work with, the bees have pretty good success at making a new queen when the split takes place. It's just easier and more successful to split and install a new queen.
@@FrederickDunn Thanks for the quick reply! I'd love to hear more of your thoughts and details, if you have time in an upcomming video. You are a great resource! Thanks again.
@@Haijin72 I will talk about this in my upcoming FAQ 19 this coming Friday! Please help me pronounce your name? Thanks :)
@@FrederickDunn You are the best, Thanks! hi-jin
Even though it takes a great deal of blooms for a nectar to provide honey. I have found flowering trees make a great efficiency of space for bees.
Very true... flowering trees are indeed vertical gardens often with very high yields. Linden trees in particular can provide nectar flows that rival fields of clover.
love that new blue top feeder behind your right shoulder.... are you selling them here in the states?
Here is the review on that feeder and there is a link in the video description :) Thanks! ruclips.net/video/YzMRmRRNLoc/видео.html
lol.. "bee keeping furniture"... the "honey table" :) I didn't realize holly keeps producing so much nectar. I will have to add some of those at some point. I have heard a honey bee will only visit a flower if it is 7 brix or higher.. Can you confirm this? Another excellent video! Thank Fred!
I liked your rain shield. What are your thoughts on having rain shield made from clear plastic, that let light through but not rain. Do you think bees would see through it to see landing board?
I wouldn't want it to be clear as it's turning out to be a great way to cool the lower box face and landing board with the provided shade.
Thank you for answering my question. I wondered how many frames should be full in the main brood box before I add the second super?
If the frames are filling out and they begin working the outter most frames, then it's time to add that next box in my opinion.
G'day Fred great video again love your dry sense of humor lol. My hives are 2 8 frame brood boxes would it be best to push queen down to bottom box and place queen excluder and use 2nd box for splits and then place flow super on bottom brood box for hunny? Cheers Dan from Aussie land 🍻
Hi Danny, thanks so much! My personal preference would be to have the brood/queen in the bottom brood box, then once that's full, medium super for their honey, then when that's full, the Flow-Super. The medium super would be a honey barrier that the queen is unlikely to cross over up to the flow-super so you wouldn't need the Queen excluder in that case.
I would like to hear your observations of the differences between hybrid and native and heritage plants. I have heard that bees will choose heritage plants over hybrid.
Hi Elizabeth, it's been my experience that the bees go where the resources are. Many flowering plants have been "altered" to reduce pollen for example, as with some sunflowers. So the bees are apt to concentrate more on the pollen loaded varieties. Heritage/native flowering plants are generally more abundant in rural areas, so the bees do concentrate on those. If there is just a small "garden" offering of hybridized plants, the bees don't spend much time gathering those resources. I'll mention this a little more on Friday's FAQ 19
@@FrederickDunn thank you for the reply…! I will be looking forward to #19
Thanks for a great video. What species of holly are you planting? My holly bushes don't produce the nectar you are referring to.
Botanical Name Ilex x meserveae 'Blue Princess' I think this has been an extraordinary year for this species :)
Hi Mr Dunn: Thanx so much for the very informative videos. I'm a new beekeeper( 2nd year) and this morning notice bees in one of my hives bearding all over the front of the hive. I live in westchester, New York and today its cool, misty and cloudy. I've noticed this behavior on warm summer nights but not under these conditions.My question is do you think this may be a prelude to swarming. A medium honey super was added last week and they are drawing comb in it. Seems to be a strong hive. Appreciate your opinions.
Is there a specific feeding stimulant that you prefer to build up your bee hives? You have tried many stimulants/brood boosters...which one do you think works best? Or is plain 1:1 sugar syrup the #1 choice?
I have tested them ALL.... 1:1 sugar syrup with no essential oil mix is most favored by the bees. All the essential oil mixes do for sure, is extend the life of the sugar syrup while reducing the black mold development.
When I visited the BeeWeaver site, I saw that you could choose queens that were plain, clipped and marked in any combination. What are the advantages of each of these features? What advantages might there be that for a plain queen?
I'm adding this question to FAQ19 that will come out next week! Those are great questions that I think many will be interested in. Marked queens are just easier to spot annnd you'll know if she has been superseded. You'll also be able to keep tabs on years installed for your records based on color of the dot. Clipped wings keep the queen from being able to fly out, but that doesn't mean she won't still swarm, you'll just find her on the ground right in front of the hive needing rescuing. If you are frequently observing your bee yard, then clipped wings are a big advantage for collecting and re-hiving those swarms at ground level.
Mr. Dunn, are you comfortable with referring Don The Fat Bee Man as a source for commercial beekeeping information? I've been watching him a lot lately and really like him. He says he focuses on commercial beekeeping, not the basics. He seems to be eager to share information to help people succeed at commercial beekeeping!
They are not in Don's neck of the woods. Thanks Wendy :)
Fred, I've been meaning to tell you that I came across the perfect companion for the honey uncapping, fork scraper knife that you reviewed. It's called the "combcapper" and it's a plastic ledge that you put on a 5 gallon bucket to help hold the frames in place while you scrape them off. www.mannlakeltd.com/combcapper-sup-reg-sup.
I did get both because I'm not sure how much larger I want my apiary to grow, so I haven't gotten an extractor yet. I know the scrapper works well after watching your review. The combcapper is pretty stout and fits securely on the 5 gallon bucket.
Can you let me know when you’re going to have a video about flow hive 2. I started last year lost all my bees just trying to figure out what I did wrong
I have an entire flow-hive playlist if you go to my RUclips channel and click on it. Wow, I'm so sorry to learn of your lost bees. Beekeeping principals remain largely the same regardless of the hive configuration.
Can you do an update on the new Canadian packages ? Thanks
Yes! That will be in FAQ # 20 They are still building up and I want to video the progress which they are not ready for yet.
I am in SW Montana, could you reccomend a kind of holly bush, and where to sorce them
Because I'm not familiar with your zone, I would recommend checking in with your local garden center? There are sooo many varieties of holly bushes.
Do you tilt your hive 10% to allow water to flow out of your beehive? Or are they just leveled? Thanks
All of my hives are tilted slightly towards the landing board. The flowhives have tilted landing boards which compensate for the hive angle.
Mr. Fred (and other experienced bee keepers) do you know anything about mite away quick strips? I heard on another channel that they could be used with supers on. And i am worried about mites and dont want to wait to long to try and treat. Back story on my situation is i bought my hive from a local bee keeper by my military base in germany, he treated last fall with some type of acid but not oxalic (spelled wrong probably) he had to many hives to manage and sold me 2 brood box hive packed with bees. I put a third box on and ended up splitting it. So i have one big hive and a small one. I see mites on bees when i inspect. Between being able to see them during normal inspection and being a new bee keeper, i havent done any powdered sugar tests
Yes, those are also good.
I just did a quick search for holly bushes and there are quite a few for sale, but I didn't see any hardy down to zone 4. Do you have the scientific name of the ones you have on your property?
www.walmart.com/ip/Blue-Princess-Holly-Ilex-Hardy-Broadleaf-Evergreen-4-Pot/702274070?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=581&adid=22222222227071502282&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=c&wl3=181872692775&wl4=pla-286982703028&wl5=9006415&wl6=&wl7=&wl8=&wl9=pla&wl10=112343781&wl11=online&wl12=702274070&veh=sem&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIs7Taloez4wIVAp6fCh21mgNiEAQYAyABEgJdLPD_BwE These are zone 4
Fred if I made a journal/checklist/calendar would you peer review it?
Hmmmm I might? What's the format going to be?
Thisnyear..despite have over 90 percent more flowers everyplace i have had les bees visit me and less butterflies.
That's not good news, what part of the world are you living in?