1) I went to extract extra honey comb now that we are in spring. The problem is that the honey is "set" and can't be spun out. Any suggestions? 1:21 2) I'm receiving two packages from Mann Lake tomorrow. I was told to hold them and install at night to avoid the bees absconding. Would it be a bad idea to install them around noon? 6:05 3) Fred, do you know anything about on the spot queen rearing? (OTS) ? 9:16 4) Do queens do orientation flights? AND once you hive a swarm, does the 3-feet or 3-mile rule apply? 12:45 5) I removed a queen and frames from one hive and installed them in another as they were making queen cells. Then in less than 9 days, that same hive has a laying queen. Am I missing something? How is that possible? 19:06 6) I had a dead-out, and the honey frames have some mold on them. If I harvest the honey, will there be a health problem? 26:22
@@FrederickDunn Thanks! Exciting news for me. I should close on a 3 acre lot (that is right next to a 10 acre field) by the middle of this month. Hopefully I can make the jump from 2 to 5 hives this year. No idea when I'll try and build with construction cost what they are but I plan on setting up the long lang I built last year as soon as I can. I'm currently in a neighborhood with many houses and just don't have the room for more than 2 hives
Fred - at 85, l'm not going to keep bees, but find your videos so stimulating....excellent questions and answers and the interviews give me a chance to ''hang out'' with great minds ... all in hopes that my marbles keep rolling. From info learned, l was able to hold my end of a conversation with a young new keeper....not an everyday thing for me. Thanks, Fred.
You are never too old. Go for it. I got my bees last year in July. I've never had such fun in years. The bees are incredible and I live watching them. They are so therapeutic. I don't sit down often because there is so much to do and make but us old folks deserve to sit now and again and there is nothing better than to sit and observe the bees while you are having a well deserve coffee or whatever you fancy.
Mug up at the Dunn's. Good morning. Thanks for inviting us. 39 F and dark right now, cloudy, no northern lights. Bees will get to fly a bit today, not much pollen yet. The snow is going. White clover seeded last November just before the ground froze up just started sprouting yesterday. Getting swarm traps set, be careful on ladders. Peace
I really appreciate your comments about your surprise as to how often your bees supercede your queens. That's happened to me twice in a year where my purchased queens must have been superseded as the hive temperament totally changed to the point that I destroyed one hive, and will figure out how to requeen my remaining hive. That's just part of the business of having bees in Los Angeles, with Africanized genetics. I bought that who frame queen cage. Thank you for the suggestion, I've been looking for this type of cage as it's similar the system that I've hard used in Italy.
Frederick thank you for your advice as always. The earth might well be warming but I wish the UK would catch up with the warmer places such as Crete...... It's so changeable in many places such as beautiful last fortnight but horrible this month - April. I would suspect the bees have a hard time acclimatising.
Fred thank you for the ending, this is Deb again in Pensacola, Florida. Spring has started and everything is in full bloom, we are out in shorts and T-shirts. Have a wonderful and safe week.
Hi Fred, i like your answers to questions 3&4. I do walk away splits and let them make their own queen. As I’ve done this when I lost 1 of my queens, just gave that hive a frame of eggs and larvae from my other hive. Also noticed with my native Australian stingless bees when I put out a hive to catch a swarm. 2 days later another swarm turned up and I managed to catch it too. Took my native bee hives from 2 to now I have 5 of the Hockingsi species. I also split 1 of the original hives that’s how I ended up with 5. Once again awesome video today thanks for sharing TrickyTrev 🇦🇺👍🐝🍯
got my pre order in,even though i plan in building my own queen isolation cage,snowed here a tiny bit yesterday ,i did get the dead bee blue tool,too,have grest weekend fred n family
Nice teaser…I am pretty sure I know who is coming up next. He is fantastic. You are picking some really special beekeepers and I am loving your interviews. Great work!
Thank you for the reply Frederick. It's so complicated isn't it..... So do you like the idea of the RNA which one of the states seem to have embraced or rather researching. The operation does not seem to have approval as yet. The advert seems very professional and the commercial beekeeper had a tear in his eye (I thought)? There must be a lot of compassion to eradicate the varroa. I have a great deal to learn as yet and I am as green as grass but it is noticeable that Cameron Jack sited the 1 gram of oxalic acid in vaporizers as futile. This amount is widely advocated in the UK...... The mind boggles !
Hi Frederick... I am a new beekeeper. I just bought a Flow Hive 2+ (8 frame, 6 flow frame) and will be receiving my first package of Italians on April 23rd. Your channel has been invaluable to me as I learn as much as I can before the bees arrive. I have two questions...one about start up and one looking forward to when I need to prepare the colony for winter. For some context, I live in Sacramento. Summers are completely dry and average low to mid-90s most of the summer (with heatwaves that occasionally get us into the low 100s). Winter lows are high 30s to mid 40s with daytime highs reaching to mid to high 50s. On a good year in winter, we get 2-3 inches of rain per month. I have three goals as a beekeeper. 1) I find bees fascinating and want to learn more about them. 2) I want to support the continuing health of the bee population 3) I want to harvest honey. So here are my questions: 1) At startup, should I be putting a feeder in the hive? Or do you think the bees will be able to survive off of foraging. I live in an urban environment where there are alot of flowers etc. 2) Assuming a strong, healthy, thriving colony, should I put on the Flow Super once the brood box is full or would it be better to put on a medium super and then when that fills up add the Flow Super. I am asking because I want to make sure the bees have enough food to sustain them through the winter. Thanks in advance for your advice.
I'd have them build out the deep, then a medium super, and if they are still going strong, that's when I'd add the Flow-Super. At least they can work on the super for the following year if they don't actually fill the frames. The deep and medium boxes should carry them through winter for you. Pull the Flow Super for winter and restore in spring the following year. I wish you all the best with your bees :)
Hey Fred, I found numbering my queens was way more scientific and not any harder to do. Like you I was finding strange queen activity. Now I know my girls by their numbers
@@bj8342 I got mine from MANN Lake they were 12.00 for 100 numbers. All bee supply people sell them. You should check out vids of Doctor Seeley. He puts numbers on whole hives, Every bee gets a number. yikes!
Hello Fred, lots of great information. Mann Lake's equipment has gone to crap, it's been what, 3 years since their acquisition and apparently they don't plan on fixing the problem. Looks like the grandmonkeys are having fun! 😀
I was surprised by them as they have their own production from trees to mill to final products. There are inherent issues when an organization expands too rapidly I guess.
Feeling the pain in Pittsburgh living on the climate zone border, the best and worst of both. I'm planning on trying diatomaceous earth in the hive traps this year. Had an unfortunate oil spill when a trap was bridge-combed between vertical frames. Peppermint...tasty for us and nasty for beetles? Thoughts? I remember Micheal Palmer claiming up to 30% hives with multiple queens. I prime (Killz) the box joints with two coats before assembly to prevent moisture penetration.
I can't make any claims, nor confirmation regarding peppermint. I don't put DE in any of my hives or boxes or trays. But then, I have no small hive beetle issues. I'd present that question to Dr. Jamie Ellis.. :)
Last night I was observing a hive of mine bearding … I was wondering if I can use a bee vacuum to capture all those bees and move them to a new location 4 miles or more away and place a purchased caged queen with them in a new hive? Like a packaged colony.
you "could" do that, but would greatly reduce forager strength for the colony you take them from. But that's often how packages are made in the first place.
I watch every one of your videos and highly respect the information/teaching that you provide . However , when you speak about electric fence chargers and their power ratings ; I have to speak my mind . I have 30 acres in South Central Texas and have stood in disbelief while walking around my electric fence ; 10 wires about 1 1/2 inch apart , one positive the next ground and have observed wild pigs , bobcats , rabbits raccoons and mountain lions approach my fence and stand there waiting with their whiskers placed on the wire , flinching with every one second pulse and timing between the pulses and jumping through the fence in between the pulses . I have a 250 mile rated 60 joule fence charger at 10,000 volts . I don’t have bears in my area but I cannot understand how a bear could be repealed by a 0.6 joule fence charger . 🤷🏼
You are always welcome to "speak your mind" here. I also video the responses of wildlife here, bears are my only bee yard issue. Here is one study you may find interesting: digitalcommons.usu.edu/hwi/vol9/iss1/8/
Question on extracting honey. My lesson learned it that using the roller or fork cause lots of small wax pieces that end up clogging the filter screens. During a bee class I am retaking with my son, I recommended using a hot knife because of the clogging problem. The instructor said that the knife being hot changed the quality of the honey. I have found references stating what happens at various temperature but nothing stating uncapping with a hot knife damages the honey. Do you have any thoughts on this?
The Fondant is best, but dry sugar still on is fine. The bees will only access that when the wether warms up. Based on this past winter observations, I'll be shifting to Hive Alive Fondant as my emergency winter resource rather than the Rapid Round with dry sugar in it. BUT, both work.
questions for next time: do queens from swarm cells go around and kill the other swarm cells when they hatch? is there a difference between swarm cell queens and emergency cell queens? -Steve from Maryland
It's open combat, they try to kill the competing queens before they hatch, often chewing right into the side of the cell and stinging them at the wing joint.
Hey Frederick, I alway appreciate you video work at the beginning of your videos. And great episode--thanks as always. Question: I want to start using something twice a year for varroa but want to make sure it's super easy on the bees. Nothing like Formic Pro. UUUUG. What would you recommend? I was thinking of Oxsalic Acid Powder--I'm afraid of the vap OA because of my health. Thank you Frederick
Crystalized honey. Recently a friend of mine found a five-gallon container of "expired" honey at a deep discount and gave it to me as a present. It turned out to be crystalized. Now I know that it is still good, but I decided to perform an experiment. I know that raw honey is much more valuable than pasteurized honey, so I scraped the crystalized honey out, put it in my enameled cast iron pot, and heated it up until it melted back into liquid honey. I began to feed this honey into my hive. I wondered if the bees just used it to make more wax, or if they added some enzymes and packed it into comb. At any rate, I feel like I will get more valuable honey. Do you know if they transport it to new comb and pack it in or if it just gets turned into new wax?
You can heat it to 105 deg. F and not damage the RAW properties. Be careful about a pan that may generate some hot spots. I think I'd personally keep it for human consumption over trying to feed it back to the bees. You don't know the history of that honey.
I've looked at the OTS method, but just never felt it was for me. This really was April Fools, no hive tool to be found. Think of the Shrew. The ECO Wood, I'm considering that when I cant get my woodenware to Gregs to have them Wax dipped.
Ohhh, if Greg is setting that up, then well worth getting over there and having your boxes and bottom boards dipped :) it's a huge mess. If one of our bee-club members set up a dip tank and designated a weekend for dipping at a certain price point, everyone would be bringing their boxes over. Kamon had a huge mess on his hands :) OTS was funny among my class-mates, I recommended letting the bees elect an egg on their own, my class-mate did a perfect OTS demonstration and those rascals built out a queen cell from a completely different cell. The response was "well we should smash all other eggs to help the bees work the selected egg(s)" (';')( ';')... ok then.
@@FrederickDunn Greg has a tank set up already for dipping, I just need to get my boxes loaded and drive on down when he is dipping. I think his tank will do two at a time. I say we plan a day and all meet up at Nature's Image Farm. .
I think you answered this in the past but looking back, I can't find it. How long should I wait after I stop feeding 1:1, before I can put the Honey Supers on, and not have to worry about the bees putting the 1:1 in the supers?
Hi Fred. I am subscribed to your channel (excellent information, thank you) with all notifications set, but I never get notified about these upcoming Q&A sessions. Do I need to be on some email list? I have a couple of questions for next Q&A and I'll throw them your way now. I saw a video on solid bottom board entrances called "How to Build a Beehive - How to Build Underfloor Entrances - Best Beehive Floor" by Black Mountain Honey. I thought the entrance underneath was a very good idea and I wondered what you thought of this. I also asked BetterBee a question today about mixing HiveAlive supplement and Fumidil-B in the same gallon of 1:1. Do you have any thoughts on this? Thanks for all the work you do. Tom L
I got this from BetterBee Fred: Reply by Nick Zigich Hello Tom, Thank you for your inquiry! After speaking with our director of research and education, here is what Dr. David Peck had to say on the manner: "I don't know any definitive thing that would go wrong, but mixing medications with active ingredients with 'proprietary blended feed supplements' is not a great practice, because you can't really predict what (if any) chemical interactions there could be. Personally, I would feed by bees the medication if I was trying to medicate them, and only offer supplement if I was feeding and not also actively medicating them. There's too much opportunity for harmful synergistic reactions between a medicine and any other chemical, so it's usually best to just apply one thing at a time to a hive." I hope that this helps! Please let us know if you have any additional questions or concerns, and we will be happy to assist!"
Hi Thomas, I did take a moment to watch the video about the under-entrance. I'll simply say that it's not for me here. The mesh floor removes the resident bees ability to control venting as it's always open. I can see that pests would fall through the screen, but there would also be a strong honey smell through the open bottom during nectar flows that would likely get attention from robbers, bees are the number one robbing threat. I also wouldn't personally want the entrance then angle up into the hive as it would in theory reduce efficiency. Mice are easily blocked without a mouse guard by reducing the entrance to 3/8". Unless it's a pygmy shrew or baby/imature mouse, they can't get through that opening while the bees move freely. So that bottom board configuration would also require blocking up if OAV were the elected treatment choice for varroa mites. In short, not something I'd personally be interested in. Thanks for sharing.
Hello @Frederick Dunn. Thank you for the reply. I'm planning to continue to use regular screened bottom boards, but I'm going to swap to solid boards from late Sep to May. I also ordered an eight-pack of ProtectaBEE entrances and looking forward to using them. BTW, I'm relatively new at beekeeping. This is my 5th season and I live in southeast NH. I’ve had one colony and my first three seasons I mostly used a hands-off Darwinian approach. I just enjoyed watching them. My colony has consistently overwintered well with 100% survival. I insulate the hive and my property and surrounding structures offer excellent wind block and relatively dry conditions with as much sun as the weather allows. I am taking an active management strategy now with regular inspections, nutrition and varroa management. The nutrition has paid off big this early spring. I may need to split my double-deep. I have two nucs coming this May, I'll be putting up a few bait hives local to my property as a sort of insurance if I have a swarm (not a guarantee but better than nothing), I’m hoping to catch a native swarm from my sister’s property in southern Maine and I’ve offered to rescue local swams on Facebook and Nextdoor. Thank you for all you do with your Q&A discussions and amazing photography. My decision to become an active apiarist was actually inspired by your Q&A’s. I can also get lost watching your bees flying in slow motion around the UltraBee. Just sitting near my bees while they open-feed is the most peace I’ve ever felt. Thanks again. Tom
Thanks Fred! Here's a question, I've been debating myself (that brings up a whole other set of questions, but lets just move on....) if I should try a walk-a-way split if the opportunity presents itself in the next few weeks or so. You've provided enough information that I feel ready to try, but something I haven't seen/heard from beekeepers I follow is; Where to place the hive with the old Queen? I'm using the Lyson Hive Stand Brackets you reviewed about a year ago from BetterBee, which I do love by the way, and I only have one hive. So can I place the 'walk-a-way" hive next to the original hive on the same stand? They would be about 3 feet apart in my current configuration, but because of the flexibility of the stand, I could use longer 2x4s to increase this distance. Your opinion and advise is greatly appreciated! Thanks!!!
When I do walk away splits, I put them wherever I have an opening, even right next to the parant colony. Lots of the foragers will return to the original hive, but there will be enough to build the new colony when you make sure to transfer plenty of nurse bees with the frames into the new hive body. I think you'll enjoy that method :)
Anyone in youtube land happen to know of a possible source on the inner cup for a rapid round feeder, without buying a entire system? My daughter used two as paint cups and then discarded them!
Oh Man! I think you're going to have to make something there. If you look at those clear plastic party cups, you may find one that you can cut down to the right dimension.
@@FrederickDunn lol. I tried the bee's had trouble making the edge. I'm going to Savers ( a thrift store ) and see if I can find a cup or Tupperware to fit better. Next step is replacing. Thank you for trying Fred.
@@anthonyc9911 use sand paper to rough up the inner surface of the cup, give bees something to grab on. Also make sure there is no more then 1/4 inch of space between the bottom of the cup and the upper edge of the feeder ring when the cup is sitting in place.
Fred we had a nice warm day here in West Central Missouri today so I took the opportunity to inspect my hives. I am beginning my sixth year bee keeping and saw something new today that I haven't seen before in one of my hives it is configured with two deeps and a feeder turned upside down on top for a feeder shim. The bottom box contains 3+ frames of brood in all stages two frames of honey 1.5 frames of bee bread and 2 completely empty frames. The top box is still full of caped honey with the exception of about 2 inches on the center 5 frames. Now the puzzling part to me is in the feeder shim on top the bees have filled it over half full of new drone comb and it contains drone brood in all stages as well?? I didn't think the queen would cross that much caped honey to lay when she has space in the bottom box. Any thoughts? Sorry for being so long winded.
The bees should not have open access to the feeder shim, the feeder should cover the acces and allow the bees only to get to feed, not the entire space. I hope that helps.
Good point. I know that. I must have had my head somewhere it didn't belong when I set my hives up for winter. I setup that way so I would have the ability to apply sugar on top of the frames for emergency feed it needed. My biggest question has to do with the queen crossing over 7 inches of honey to lay there. I have not seen that before and have been told "The Queen will not cross the honey bridge" could there be something else I'm missing or is this just a fluke thing with this queen??
Are you suggesting that the surface of the earth isn't warming? Always go to the science, and avoid political sources if you can. Oceans are indeed warming, and the ice cover is profoundly reduced (at the poles), even places like Aspen, Colorado has business owners concerned about the future of tourism based on fewer snow events and a reduced snow-cap in the mountains.
1) I went to extract extra honey comb now that we are in spring. The problem is that the honey is "set" and can't be spun out. Any suggestions? 1:21
2) I'm receiving two packages from Mann Lake tomorrow. I was told to hold them and install at night to avoid the bees absconding. Would it be a bad idea to install them around noon? 6:05
3) Fred, do you know anything about on the spot queen rearing? (OTS) ? 9:16
4) Do queens do orientation flights? AND once you hive a swarm, does the 3-feet or 3-mile rule apply? 12:45
5) I removed a queen and frames from one hive and installed them in another as they were making queen cells. Then in less than 9 days, that same hive has a laying queen. Am I missing something? How is that possible? 19:06
6) I had a dead-out, and the honey frames have some mold on them. If I harvest the honey, will there be a health problem? 26:22
Thank you, Adam!!! :) I hope you have a GREAT weekend!
@@FrederickDunn Thanks! Exciting news for me. I should close on a 3 acre lot (that is right next to a 10 acre field) by the middle of this month. Hopefully I can make the jump from 2 to 5 hives this year. No idea when I'll try and build with construction cost what they are but I plan on setting up the long lang I built last year as soon as I can. I'm currently in a neighborhood with many houses and just don't have the room for more than 2 hives
Fred - at 85, l'm not going to keep bees, but find your videos so stimulating....excellent questions and answers and the interviews give me a chance to ''hang out'' with great minds ... all in hopes that my marbles keep rolling. From info learned, l was able to hold my end of a conversation with a young new keeper....not an everyday thing for me. Thanks, Fred.
Wow, thanks! And I'm so glad that I may have contributed to your bee-related conversation :)
I am the same… live in a HOA, violating some rules but keeping bees would push the boundaries.
You are never too old. Go for it. I got my bees last year in July. I've never had such fun in years. The bees are incredible and I live watching them. They are so therapeutic. I don't sit down often because there is so much to do and make but us old folks deserve to sit now and again and there is nothing better than to sit and observe the bees while you are having a well deserve coffee or whatever you fancy.
@@thegr8stm8 That ''push'' would make a great SNL skit!
@@barbaravickroy7563 … Barb, I have been thinking about it as an extension of
breathtaking film and music Mr. Dunn. Beautiful. Thank you.
Glad you enjoyed it, I put it at the end for those who only want bee content :)
Fred, thank you for the ending
Thank you for answering my question.I'll take your advice. It makes sense.
You are very welcome :)
Southwest VA, 49*f, very windy, Bees fighting the wind and still going out and collecting pollen. But looking for spring to finally show up. Craig
Here in Southeast VA, it's 61° and windy. Mine are out with like crazy collecting pollen. Hopefully we won't have any more cold snaps.
Mug up at the Dunn's. Good morning. Thanks for inviting us. 39 F and dark right now, cloudy, no northern lights. Bees will get to fly a bit today, not much pollen yet. The snow is going. White clover seeded last November just before the ground froze up just started sprouting yesterday. Getting swarm traps set, be careful on ladders. Peace
Thanks for that comment.. I need to seed more white clover this spring.
Loved the video. Great job.
Always a pleasure to be able to join the Q&A sessions. Sorry you are back in snow though.
I really appreciate your comments about your surprise as to how often your bees supercede your queens. That's happened to me twice in a year where my purchased queens must have been superseded as the hive temperament totally changed to the point that I destroyed one hive, and will figure out how to requeen my remaining hive. That's just part of the business of having bees in Los Angeles, with Africanized genetics. I bought that who frame queen cage. Thank you for the suggestion, I've been looking for this type of cage as it's similar the system that I've hard used in Italy.
Frederick thank you for your advice as always. The earth might well be warming but I wish the UK would catch up with the warmer places such as Crete...... It's so changeable in many places such as beautiful last fortnight but horrible this month - April. I would suspect the bees have a hard time acclimatising.
so nice to see quinn n eli doin gramps bees
Fred thank you for the ending, this is Deb again in Pensacola, Florida. Spring has started and everything is in full bloom, we are out in shorts and T-shirts. Have a wonderful and safe week.
I am looking forward to being able to go outside without needing a jacket :)
Great video Fred. Waiting for warm weather in SE PA so I can do my split.
You and me both!
Hi Fred, i like your answers to questions 3&4. I do walk away splits and let them make their own queen. As I’ve done this when I lost 1 of my queens, just gave that hive a frame of eggs and larvae from my other hive. Also noticed with my native Australian stingless bees when I put out a hive to catch a swarm. 2 days later another swarm turned up and I managed to catch it too. Took my native bee hives from 2 to now I have 5 of the Hockingsi species. I also split 1 of the original hives that’s how I ended up with 5. Once again awesome video today thanks for sharing TrickyTrev 🇦🇺👍🐝🍯
Sounds like your bees are on the rise, Trevor! Thanks for commenting and watching :)
The buzz is alive and well.
got my pre order in,even though i plan in building my own queen isolation cage,snowed here a tiny bit yesterday ,i did get the dead bee blue tool,too,have grest weekend fred n family
Nice teaser…I am pretty sure I know who is coming up next. He is fantastic. You are picking some really special beekeepers and I am loving your interviews. Great work!
Hi Thomas! Yep, that will be going up later on this evening :) had a great interview.
Terima kasih sudah berbagi teman 👍
Thank you for the reply Frederick. It's so complicated isn't it..... So do you like the idea of the RNA which one of the states seem to have embraced or rather researching. The operation does not seem to have approval as yet. The advert seems very professional and the commercial beekeeper had a tear in his eye (I thought)? There must be a lot of compassion to eradicate the varroa.
I have a great deal to learn as yet and I am as green as grass but it is noticeable that Cameron Jack sited the 1 gram of oxalic acid in vaporizers as futile. This amount is widely advocated in the UK......
The mind boggles !
Hi Fred, Happy April 1st - Super windy here today but 55°
Hi Frederick... I am a new beekeeper. I just bought a Flow Hive 2+ (8 frame, 6 flow frame) and will be receiving my first package of Italians on April 23rd. Your channel has been invaluable to me as I learn as much as I can before the bees arrive. I have two questions...one about start up and one looking forward to when I need to prepare the colony for winter.
For some context, I live in Sacramento. Summers are completely dry and average low to mid-90s most of the summer (with heatwaves that occasionally get us into the low 100s). Winter lows are high 30s to mid 40s with daytime highs reaching to mid to high 50s. On a good year in winter, we get 2-3 inches of rain per month.
I have three goals as a beekeeper. 1) I find bees fascinating and want to learn more about them. 2) I want to support the continuing health of the bee population 3) I want to harvest honey.
So here are my questions:
1) At startup, should I be putting a feeder in the hive? Or do you think the bees will be able to survive off of foraging. I live in an urban environment where there are alot of flowers etc.
2) Assuming a strong, healthy, thriving colony, should I put on the Flow Super once the brood box is full or would it be better to put on a medium super and then when that fills up add the Flow Super. I am asking because I want to make sure the bees have enough food to sustain them through the winter.
Thanks in advance for your advice.
I'd have them build out the deep, then a medium super, and if they are still going strong, that's when I'd add the Flow-Super. At least they can work on the super for the following year if they don't actually fill the frames. The deep and medium boxes should carry them through winter for you. Pull the Flow Super for winter and restore in spring the following year. I wish you all the best with your bees :)
@@FrederickDunn Thanks for the advice! Really appreciate it and greatly value your channel.
Preordered four excluder frame cages. Can’t wait to try them with Queen rearing.
Thanks for all you do!
Great! They do look good, I hope they work out well for your purposes!
Hi Fred
Hey Fred, I found numbering my queens was way more scientific and not any harder to do. Like you I was finding strange queen activity. Now I know my girls by their numbers
@Super Adam1313 So you glue small numbered tags to the Bee??
Where do you buy them from???
@@bj8342 I got mine from MANN Lake they were 12.00 for 100 numbers. All bee supply people sell them. You should check out vids of Doctor Seeley. He puts numbers on whole hives, Every bee gets a number. yikes!
Hello Fred, lots of great information. Mann Lake's equipment has gone to crap, it's been what, 3 years since their acquisition and apparently they don't plan on fixing the problem. Looks like the grandmonkeys are having fun! 😀
I was surprised by them as they have their own production from trees to mill to final products. There are inherent issues when an organization expands too rapidly I guess.
Feeling the pain in Pittsburgh living on the climate zone border, the best and worst of both. I'm planning on trying diatomaceous earth in the hive traps this year. Had an unfortunate oil spill when a trap was bridge-combed between vertical frames. Peppermint...tasty for us and nasty for beetles? Thoughts? I remember Micheal Palmer claiming up to 30% hives with multiple queens. I prime (Killz) the box joints with two coats before assembly to prevent moisture penetration.
I can't make any claims, nor confirmation regarding peppermint. I don't put DE in any of my hives or boxes or trays. But then, I have no small hive beetle issues. I'd present that question to Dr. Jamie Ellis.. :)
Great stuff , I’m very late this week with a comment as once again. I’m playing catch up 🤦♂️ ,
Last night I was observing a hive of mine bearding … I was wondering if I can use a bee vacuum to capture all those bees and move them to a new location 4 miles or more away and place a purchased caged queen with them in a new hive? Like a packaged colony.
you "could" do that, but would greatly reduce forager strength for the colony you take them from. But that's often how packages are made in the first place.
Hey Fred check out mite control using book scorpions.
3rd in!! 😁
I watch every one of your videos and highly respect the information/teaching that you provide . However , when you speak about electric fence chargers and their power ratings ; I have to speak my mind . I have 30 acres in South Central Texas and have stood in disbelief while walking around my electric fence ; 10 wires about 1 1/2 inch apart , one positive the next ground and have observed wild pigs , bobcats , rabbits raccoons and mountain lions approach my fence and stand there waiting with their whiskers placed on the wire , flinching with every one second pulse and timing between the pulses and jumping through the fence in between the pulses . I have a 250 mile rated 60 joule fence charger at 10,000 volts .
I don’t have bears in my area but I cannot understand how a bear could be repealed by a 0.6 joule fence charger . 🤷🏼
You are always welcome to "speak your mind" here. I also video the responses of wildlife here, bears are my only bee yard issue. Here is one study you may find interesting: digitalcommons.usu.edu/hwi/vol9/iss1/8/
Question on extracting honey. My lesson learned it that using the roller or fork cause lots of small wax pieces that end up clogging the filter screens. During a bee class I am retaking with my son, I recommended using a hot knife because of the clogging problem. The instructor said that the knife being hot changed the quality of the honey. I have found references stating what happens at various temperature but nothing stating uncapping with a hot knife damages the honey. Do you have any thoughts on this?
I'll talk about this tomorrow :) during the Friday Q&A
Fred just keeping dry sugar on for feed. Had temps last week in low very low 20 f. This week low 30. I hope this is rt move.
The Fondant is best, but dry sugar still on is fine. The bees will only access that when the wether warms up. Based on this past winter observations, I'll be shifting to Hive Alive Fondant as my emergency winter resource rather than the Rapid Round with dry sugar in it. BUT, both work.
Sorry I forgot to add to the extraction question. Jeff Hoffman, Mint Hill, NC
ok
I l😍Ve this 😍😍😍
questions for next time: do queens from swarm cells go around and kill the other swarm cells when they hatch? is there a difference between swarm cell queens and emergency cell queens? -Steve from Maryland
It's open combat, they try to kill the competing queens before they hatch, often chewing right into the side of the cell and stinging them at the wing joint.
Hey Frederick, I alway appreciate you video work at the beginning of your videos. And great episode--thanks as always.
Question: I want to start using something twice a year for varroa but want to make sure it's super easy on the bees. Nothing like Formic Pro. UUUUG. What would you recommend? I was thinking of Oxsalic Acid Powder--I'm afraid of the vap OA because of my health. Thank you Frederick
There isn't an approved OA Powder method at this time Brad, but you can opt for the OA Dribble method instead.
Crystalized honey. Recently a friend of mine found a five-gallon container of "expired" honey at a deep discount and gave it to me as a present. It turned out to be crystalized. Now I know that it is still good, but I decided to perform an experiment. I know that raw honey is much more valuable than pasteurized honey, so I scraped the crystalized honey out, put it in my enameled cast iron pot, and heated it up until it melted back into liquid honey. I began to feed this honey into my hive. I wondered if the bees just used it to make more wax, or if they added some enzymes and packed it into comb. At any rate, I feel like I will get more valuable honey. Do you know if they transport it to new comb and pack it in or if it just gets turned into new wax?
You can heat it to 105 deg. F and not damage the RAW properties. Be careful about a pan that may generate some hot spots. I think I'd personally keep it for human consumption over trying to feed it back to the bees. You don't know the history of that honey.
I've looked at the OTS method, but just never felt it was for me. This really was April Fools, no hive tool to be found. Think of the Shrew. The ECO Wood, I'm considering that when I cant get my woodenware to Gregs to have them Wax dipped.
Ohhh, if Greg is setting that up, then well worth getting over there and having your boxes and bottom boards dipped :) it's a huge mess. If one of our bee-club members set up a dip tank and designated a weekend for dipping at a certain price point, everyone would be bringing their boxes over. Kamon had a huge mess on his hands :) OTS was funny among my class-mates, I recommended letting the bees elect an egg on their own, my class-mate did a perfect OTS demonstration and those rascals built out a queen cell from a completely different cell. The response was "well we should smash all other eggs to help the bees work the selected egg(s)" (';')( ';')... ok then.
@@FrederickDunn Greg has a tank set up already for dipping, I just need to get my boxes loaded and drive on down when he is dipping. I think his tank will do two at a time. I say we plan a day and all meet up at Nature's Image Farm. .
Tis true ~ April is the cruelest month.
I think that should be on a T-shirt....
@@FrederickDunn And a sweatshirt, as one never knows. It’s April - the games’ a foot.
Any snow in April doesn't hang around for long...poor man's fertilizer
I think you answered this in the past but looking back, I can't find it. How long should I wait after I stop feeding 1:1, before I can put the Honey Supers on, and not have to worry about the bees putting the 1:1 in the supers?
No waiting, you can do that the same day.
@@FrederickDunn Thanks for replying so quickly. I'm enjoying this Bee thing so far. Starting my second year and both colonies are doing well.
Fred isnt this weather crazy 1.5 inches of snow today in Ohio and 50 deg tomorrow
Just hoping for a break soon :)
@@FrederickDunn Yes i had bees flying today 39 deg they are ready
Hi Fred. I am subscribed to your channel (excellent information, thank you) with all notifications set, but I never get notified about these upcoming Q&A sessions. Do I need to be on some email list? I have a couple of questions for next Q&A and I'll throw them your way now. I saw a video on solid bottom board entrances called "How to Build a Beehive - How to Build Underfloor Entrances - Best Beehive Floor" by Black Mountain Honey. I thought the entrance underneath was a very good idea and I wondered what you thought of this. I also asked BetterBee a question today about mixing HiveAlive supplement and Fumidil-B in the same gallon of 1:1. Do you have any thoughts on this? Thanks for all the work you do. Tom L
I got this from BetterBee Fred:
Reply by Nick Zigich
Hello Tom,
Thank you for your inquiry! After speaking with our director of research and education, here is what Dr. David Peck had to say on the manner:
"I don't know any definitive thing that would go wrong, but mixing medications with active ingredients with 'proprietary blended feed supplements' is not a great practice, because you can't really predict what (if any) chemical interactions there could be. Personally, I would feed by bees the medication if I was trying to medicate them, and only offer supplement if I was feeding and not also actively medicating them. There's too much opportunity for harmful synergistic reactions between a medicine and any other chemical, so it's usually best to just apply one thing at a time to a hive."
I hope that this helps! Please let us know if you have any additional questions or concerns, and we will be happy to assist!"
I absolutely agree with Dr. Peck's response here.
Hi Thomas, I did take a moment to watch the video about the under-entrance. I'll simply say that it's not for me here. The mesh floor removes the resident bees ability to control venting as it's always open. I can see that pests would fall through the screen, but there would also be a strong honey smell through the open bottom during nectar flows that would likely get attention from robbers, bees are the number one robbing threat. I also wouldn't personally want the entrance then angle up into the hive as it would in theory reduce efficiency. Mice are easily blocked without a mouse guard by reducing the entrance to 3/8". Unless it's a pygmy shrew or baby/imature mouse, they can't get through that opening while the bees move freely. So that bottom board configuration would also require blocking up if OAV were the elected treatment choice for varroa mites. In short, not something I'd personally be interested in. Thanks for sharing.
Hello @Frederick Dunn. Thank you for the reply. I'm planning to continue to use regular screened bottom boards, but I'm going to swap to solid boards from late Sep to May. I also ordered an eight-pack of ProtectaBEE entrances and looking forward to using them.
BTW, I'm relatively new at beekeeping. This is my 5th season and I live in southeast NH. I’ve had one colony and my first three seasons I mostly used a hands-off Darwinian approach. I just enjoyed watching them. My colony has consistently overwintered well with 100% survival. I insulate the hive and my property and surrounding structures offer excellent wind block and relatively dry conditions with as much sun as the weather allows. I am taking an active management strategy now with regular inspections, nutrition and varroa management. The nutrition has paid off big this early spring. I may need to split my double-deep. I have two nucs coming this May, I'll be putting up a few bait hives local to my property as a sort of insurance if I have a swarm (not a guarantee but better than nothing), I’m hoping to catch a native swarm from my sister’s property in southern Maine and I’ve offered to rescue local swams on Facebook and Nextdoor.
Thank you for all you do with your Q&A discussions and amazing photography. My decision to become an active apiarist was actually inspired by your Q&A’s. I can also get lost watching your bees flying in slow motion around the UltraBee. Just sitting near my bees while they open-feed is the most peace I’ve ever felt. Thanks again. Tom
Thanks Fred! Here's a question, I've been debating myself (that brings up a whole other set of questions, but lets just move on....) if I should try a walk-a-way split if the opportunity presents itself in the next few weeks or so. You've provided enough information that I feel ready to try, but something I haven't seen/heard from beekeepers I follow is; Where to place the hive with the old Queen? I'm using the Lyson Hive Stand Brackets you reviewed about a year ago from BetterBee, which I do love by the way, and I only have one hive. So can I place the 'walk-a-way" hive next to the original hive on the same stand? They would be about 3 feet apart in my current configuration, but because of the flexibility of the stand, I could use longer 2x4s to increase this distance. Your opinion and advise is greatly appreciated! Thanks!!!
When I do walk away splits, I put them wherever I have an opening, even right next to the parant colony. Lots of the foragers will return to the original hive, but there will be enough to build the new colony when you make sure to transfer plenty of nurse bees with the frames into the new hive body. I think you'll enjoy that method :)
@@FrederickDunn Thanks Fred, I'm sure I will.......Tomorrow is inspection day.......maybe Hive #2 is on the horizon! 😍
Anyone in youtube land happen to know of a possible source on the inner cup for a rapid round feeder, without buying a entire system?
My daughter used two as paint cups and then discarded them!
Oh Man! I think you're going to have to make something there. If you look at those clear plastic party cups, you may find one that you can cut down to the right dimension.
@@FrederickDunn lol. I tried the bee's had trouble making the edge. I'm going to Savers ( a thrift store ) and see if I can find a cup or Tupperware to fit better.
Next step is replacing.
Thank you for trying Fred.
How about the measuring cup for laundry detergent? Seems like it'd be about the right size.
@@Wilbur3 ty I'll give that a try.
@@anthonyc9911 use sand paper to rough up the inner surface of the cup, give bees something to grab on. Also make sure there is no more then 1/4 inch of space between the bottom of the cup and the upper edge of the feeder ring when the cup is sitting in place.
Fred we had a nice warm day here in West Central Missouri today so I took the opportunity to inspect my hives. I am beginning my sixth year bee keeping and saw something new today that I haven't seen before in one of my hives it is configured with two deeps and a feeder turned upside down on top for a feeder shim. The bottom box contains 3+ frames of brood in all stages two frames of honey 1.5 frames of bee bread and 2 completely empty frames. The top box is still full of caped honey with the exception of about 2 inches on the center 5 frames. Now the puzzling part to me is in the feeder shim on top the bees have filled it over half full of new drone comb and it contains drone brood in all stages as well?? I didn't think the queen would cross that much caped honey to lay when she has space in the bottom box. Any thoughts? Sorry for being so long winded.
The bees should not have open access to the feeder shim, the feeder should cover the acces and allow the bees only to get to feed, not the entire space. I hope that helps.
Good point. I know that. I must have had my head somewhere it didn't belong when I set my hives up for winter. I setup that way so I would have the ability to apply sugar on top of the frames for emergency feed it needed. My biggest question has to do with the queen crossing over 7 inches of honey to lay there. I have not seen that before and have been told "The Queen will not cross the honey bridge" could there be something else I'm missing or is this just a fluke thing with this queen??
@@rondanahy1380 I'll talk about this tomorrow during the Q&A. Winter dynamics are completely different.
Thanks I appreciate it!!
🇱🇨👍🏼♥️
Some would say the snow & cold is caused by global warming?
Are you suggesting that the surface of the earth isn't warming? Always go to the science, and avoid political sources if you can. Oceans are indeed warming, and the ice cover is profoundly reduced (at the poles), even places like Aspen, Colorado has business owners concerned about the future of tourism based on fewer snow events and a reduced snow-cap in the mountains.