That was pretty neat to see. I don’t think I have ever seen the transfer after purchasing bees and bringing them “home”. Thanks for sharing! Enjoy that honey. We buy honey at the store that is from local folks (just up the road from us actually) and really enjoy it.
Hey, hey!! Thanks for watching the chaos unfold. LOL. Yeah it was a pretty cool process - now, like raising any other animal, comes the process of making sure they have food, water, nectar, a safe housing environment, and all the rest until they get established and can care for themselves! :-) I can't wait for the honey, but it probably won't be till next year.
Hi Bluedogron! Unfortunately not much hive updates... I sorta left them to do their thing and I took NO HONEY, leaving it all for them during the first year to build the colony. Unfortunately, I think toward mid-fall most of the colony vacated. There is still a healthy amount of bees, but nowhere near the amount there was during mid-summer. Regardless, I'm close to posting a new video of the new hive builds (I have 2 more) and I'm getting two more nucs this spring. They always say it's hard with one colony, as with multiple there's some resource sharing that can occur if one of the hives gets stressed. That's what I've hear, anyway. So we shall see! :-)
You will want to get an electric fence around that hive! Bears are not after the honey! They are after the brood (baby bees). the plastic will not mask the smell the bear is after. I have been a beekeeper for 43 years and still lost 4 colonies to a bear this last spring because the bear got under the electric fence. Loosing $1,000 dollars of bees will teach you a lesson for sure! Beautiful job on the hive build, paint job and decorating. Bummer about the bee stings giving your wife a bad experience. I would have used smoke as the bees had an established colony to defend as apposed to a 3 lb. package install. The stand looks good and sturdy as well. 18" from the ground to entrance will keep skunks from reaching up and eating your bees. Next year will be more exciting for you. Another hive or two will give you resources to share between the colonies and lesson the pain if you lose one. Welcome to the exciting world of beekeeping my friend!
Dale, thanks SO MUCH for watching and leaving such a great comment. Fortunately my neighbors have only encountered one small bear in the past 5 years. We're not really in bear area, so the appearance of a bear this far "south" in NY is odd. So, I'm going to be making an update video for the winter. I think I have lost a good portion of my bees. The overall population of bees in the hive in the spring and summer was incredible - every frame was packed. In late fall, they were all huddled in the center of the hive and it was only a small group (still a large number of bees, but smaller than what I started with). People have speculated that it could have been a partial swarm, that the queen may have departed or died, etc. I'm not sure. However, I have 2 more hives and Nucs lined up for this spring, so my train of thought was similar to yours... if there are more hives, then maybe that will mean less stress on a single hive? I hope that's the case. Stay tuned - more bee content to come! :-)
If i recall New York has a bear population. Not sure of the quantity but i do know they love honey. I'm thinking other varments like it as well. Had laugh again seeing her arms going all over the place trying to get those bee's off her. I'm thinking shes not going to trust going going out there with you again. I usually just try and walk away from them if i encounter any, most of the time that works. One of the things I hated to see when I was driving a semi was seeing all the bee's being killed by them. They were the worst thing to clean off the windshield. How's the tractor situation going? 🐝🐝🐝🐻
Hahaha, oh we sure do have a bear population, Lonnie. Last year (in the fall) one was caught on my property by a trail cam my neighbor placed on the side access road. It wasn't very big, but it was a bear nonetheless. This year we have had a fox, coyote, a very large grey wolf, and an assortment of smaller critters. I'm sure they would all love the honey. I'm curious how the AutoFlow hive is going to work - the innards are all plastic, so does that hide the smell of the honey at all? I'm not sure yet. Time will tell. And the tractor is not good - the input shaft is on long-term back order. Apparently TYM/Mahindra moved their manufacturing facility earlier in the spring, and are still trying to sort our their inventory. The repair shop said they have had tractors on the lot since January with parts on back order. He did say that the BOLTS for my part came in, but not the shaft itself. Things aren't looking good unfortunately. :-(
@@BuyingTheFarm Be curious to see what that shaft looks like. You'd think there'd be some way of coming up with something that would work. On bears. O' in about or around 2012-2016 I had just passed through Binghamton New York headed west. If I'm mistaken I had a load of dairy of some kind outta Walton. Got about 45 mile west and seen something laying on the roadway a ways ahead not sure what it was. Got closer and it didn't move. Got up closer and seen that it was a bear. I moved to the right side so I could get past it. But it just laid there and didn't move. I sure as the heck didn't stop let alone get out to look at it closer. That was the only wild bear I ever seen that close.
That was pretty neat to see. I don’t think I have ever seen the transfer after purchasing bees and bringing them “home”. Thanks for sharing! Enjoy that honey. We buy honey at the store that is from local folks (just up the road from us actually) and really enjoy it.
Hey, hey!! Thanks for watching the chaos unfold. LOL. Yeah it was a pretty cool process - now, like raising any other animal, comes the process of making sure they have food, water, nectar, a safe housing environment, and all the rest until they get established and can care for themselves! :-) I can't wait for the honey, but it probably won't be till next year.
This is my favorite way to get honey. Because it's clean and safe to use
This is about as pure and safe as you can get - local honey is supposed to be the best for you, so I'm looking forward to it!
Manually take honey but I love this. It will be safe and rich in nutritional value
You bet - I can't wait!!
That’s super cool that you have a hive , we have 2 , a lot of trial and error, maybe someday we can get together and talk bees😊
Seriously?? What a small world - I have 2 more hives (to make 3 total) but only setup one this year. How cool - I could definitely use the advice. :-)
This is called pure honey and no preservatives
You bet! You can say that again - I'm very much looking forward to tasting some local (VERY local) honey. :-)
New sub, can't wait for updates.
Thanks a ton for joining. Lots of content in the works, released every 2 weeks or so. :-)
Very nice video's, Thanks for sharing. Do you have an update on your hives, like did you get any honey this season and how well did the hive work?
Hi Bluedogron! Unfortunately not much hive updates... I sorta left them to do their thing and I took NO HONEY, leaving it all for them during the first year to build the colony. Unfortunately, I think toward mid-fall most of the colony vacated. There is still a healthy amount of bees, but nowhere near the amount there was during mid-summer. Regardless, I'm close to posting a new video of the new hive builds (I have 2 more) and I'm getting two more nucs this spring. They always say it's hard with one colony, as with multiple there's some resource sharing that can occur if one of the hives gets stressed. That's what I've hear, anyway. So we shall see! :-)
Clean of the shoulders of the frames, you will get some extra space. Nucs have propalis build up.
Good call - I actually just cleaned them yesterday. Everything is nice and clean now (for this week anyway). :-)
You will want to get an electric fence around that hive! Bears are not after the honey! They are after the brood (baby bees). the plastic will not mask the smell the bear is after. I have been a beekeeper for 43 years and still lost 4 colonies to a bear this last spring because the bear got under the electric fence. Loosing $1,000 dollars of bees will teach you a lesson for sure! Beautiful job on the hive build, paint job and decorating. Bummer about the bee stings giving your wife a bad experience. I would have used smoke as the bees had an established colony to defend as apposed to a 3 lb. package install. The stand looks good and sturdy as well. 18" from the ground to entrance will keep skunks from reaching up and eating your bees. Next year will be more exciting for you. Another hive or two will give you resources to share between the colonies and lesson the pain if you lose one. Welcome to the exciting world of beekeeping my friend!
Dale, thanks SO MUCH for watching and leaving such a great comment. Fortunately my neighbors have only encountered one small bear in the past 5 years. We're not really in bear area, so the appearance of a bear this far "south" in NY is odd. So, I'm going to be making an update video for the winter. I think I have lost a good portion of my bees. The overall population of bees in the hive in the spring and summer was incredible - every frame was packed. In late fall, they were all huddled in the center of the hive and it was only a small group (still a large number of bees, but smaller than what I started with). People have speculated that it could have been a partial swarm, that the queen may have departed or died, etc. I'm not sure. However, I have 2 more hives and Nucs lined up for this spring, so my train of thought was similar to yours... if there are more hives, then maybe that will mean less stress on a single hive? I hope that's the case. Stay tuned - more bee content to come! :-)
What part of NY state are you in?
Im from the city bronx, and Rockland county.😊
Hey! I'm in Central New York - several hours North of you :-)
If i recall New York has a bear population. Not sure of the quantity but i do know they love honey. I'm thinking other varments like it as well.
Had laugh again seeing her arms going all over the place trying to get those bee's off her. I'm thinking shes not going to trust going going out there with you again.
I usually just try and walk away from them if i encounter any, most of the time that works.
One of the things I hated to see when I was driving a semi was seeing all the bee's being killed by them.
They were the worst thing to clean off the windshield.
How's the tractor situation going?
🐝🐝🐝🐻
Hahaha, oh we sure do have a bear population, Lonnie. Last year (in the fall) one was caught on my property by a trail cam my neighbor placed on the side access road. It wasn't very big, but it was a bear nonetheless. This year we have had a fox, coyote, a very large grey wolf, and an assortment of smaller critters. I'm sure they would all love the honey. I'm curious how the AutoFlow hive is going to work - the innards are all plastic, so does that hide the smell of the honey at all? I'm not sure yet. Time will tell. And the tractor is not good - the input shaft is on long-term back order. Apparently TYM/Mahindra moved their manufacturing facility earlier in the spring, and are still trying to sort our their inventory. The repair shop said they have had tractors on the lot since January with parts on back order. He did say that the BOLTS for my part came in, but not the shaft itself. Things aren't looking good unfortunately. :-(
@@BuyingTheFarm Be curious to see what that shaft looks like. You'd think there'd be some way of coming up with something that would work.
On bears. O' in about or around 2012-2016 I had just passed through Binghamton New York headed west. If I'm mistaken I had a load of dairy of some kind outta Walton.
Got about 45 mile west and seen something laying on the roadway a ways ahead not sure what it was. Got closer and it didn't move.
Got up closer and seen that it was a bear. I moved to the right side so I could get past it. But it just laid there and didn't move. I sure as the heck didn't stop let alone get out to look at it closer.
That was the only wild bear I ever seen that close.
Hahahahahah - STAY IN THE TRUCK!!!! :-) Up close and personal is NOT where you want to be with any bear!!!