Really feel for you. Losing hives is the worst feeling. Hope you get back on your feet and glad to see the deep reflection. Shows strength and bravery to admit it to the world. Well done. After I lost my first hive, I turned the focus to a few things: - Recording when local tree species bloom. Finding their favorite food, but also trying to find feed gaps. - Trying to fill the gaps in production by growing my own flowering plants/trees. Planting those trees as a 5 year investment. - Feeding and insulating hives in the Fall, despite our mild climate. - Spreading my hives, to spread the risks. Good luck from Australia!
I feel for you. Last winter was my 3rd year beekeeping and I also lost all my hives. I did autopsy the 5 hives I lost and can only figure maybe, just maybe mite load was a contributing factor. All 5 (8 frame) hives had over a full medium super of honey and plenty of pollen stores. What I didn't do like I'd done in the past was to insulate the hives before winter. I live near the Canadian border in extreme NE Washington state so we get pretty cold winters and last winter came a bit early with an extreme cold spell. I have to believe that what ultimately killed my hives was the cold. As you say, lesson learned. I'll be better prepared to go into winter this year. I bought 2 nucs this spring and have already split one hive. I also captured my first ever swarm a little over a week ago so I'm now back up to 4 hives. I know the anguish of finding your hives dead in the spring and I hope to do better in the future to help my girls be better equipped to survive the coming year. Best wishes and thanks for sharing your experience.
I'm sorry to hear about your loss. There's nothing wrong with treating all your hives depending on what you're treating them with. There's really no downside except some extra expense if they don't need treatment. Mite testing is not infallible. I would stress nutrition and keeping the mites knocked down! It's not just the mites themselves but the viruses they carry which can wipe out a whole bee yard. You should probably be treating once in the spring and once in August and twice in the fall and early winter. If you want to follow someone who is a highly successful beekeeper on RUclips I would recommend Kamon Reynolds - Tennessee's Bees. Good luck in 2021!
1. Local bees - local bees are more adapted to your winters, honey flows and dearths. Get local stock via swarms or swarm trapping. 2. Raise your own queens - Learn to raise queens. It is not hard. Select your best over wintered hive, graft queen cells and use those for splits. 3. Expect and plan for losses - Nationally 30-40% of hives are lost each year. Some years are worse. Have a plan on how you will rebuild after a major loss like you had. 4. Learn to diagnose a dead hive - Hives die but if you don't know why you can never improve. Get with an inspector or commercial beekeeper that can teach you to autopsy a hive. Everyone is on the varroa bandwagon but there are still tracheal mites, nosema and foul brood out there along with starvation. Knowing the pathogen will help you make better decisions. 5. Put your big boy pants on... - In all animal husbandry, things go wrong and the livestock you are trusted to keep healthy and alive dies. Don't give up, mourn the loss, learn from the loss, improve and keep going. Good luck, don't give up.
I forgot moisture in hives during winter, but I assumed you had passed winter when you checked in March. Better to airflow for moisture control than totally seal them up. entrance reducer an inner cover with cutout for airflow.
Good luck and thanks for the info, im also from Missouri, NorthEast, and im just getting started. Installed my first NUC last weekend. Im so obsessed with succeeding and doing thing’s right that a failure even now would be devastating, so stick with it my man and good luck. Oh and where abouts from Mo are you?
That's how "all natural looks like on paper" ZERO hives on Spring, there is no beekeeping now days with out treatment , another thing is , your first inspection of the year is on the first warm day when they break the cluster, you go there and check if they have food or they need food till the Spring comes!!!
Chris from the UK. I feel so sorry for you loosing all your bees. I am a 1st year bee keeper, I had one hive A Vincent, a Long Top bar type hive which takes National frames, which i got in Aug 19. They came through winter really well. I kind of pampered them, feed them all through the winter. It was a monster by early April, bees covering all 24 frames, so I split 3 times. I now have 5 hives, 3 splits from the Vincent hive and a new Nuc i got early April and the old Vincent hive. I want 7 hives. I hope i never have to go through what you have, I know i will loose some hives as nature has a way, but i will try every thing not to. My problem is i can't leave the bees alone, i'm in to them all the time, as a result i think i'm losing one now. Only time will tell.
First I just sent you a video on a very easy way to check for mites. I feel your pain . I love working with my bees . And I get great pleasure sharing my honey with family and friends .I would even be happy to send you a jar to make you feel better ! I have sent my honey proudly across the country . And I gives me great satisfaction . I live in Florida and I have to register my hives with the Florida Dept. Of Agriculture . We have a regional inspector for my area. You said you live in Missouri . Do you need to register your colonies there ? I would call the Missouri Dept. of Agriculture about this spraying in your area . Because I don't buy this pesticide is not bad for bees , that's BS ! They will have more power over this , than you and hopefully can help get this stopped in your street and general area . I guess I am going to be long winded here sorry but your video got me worked up too . Next during the summer and before your winter you want to check for mites every month . Because if you have a high mite count before winter they will not survive plan and simple . I used formic acid MAQS and it killed my queen when I only had one colony . So I don't recommend that . Now I have 3 colonies . I was told by two commercial beekeepers one in Florida and the president of my association and one in Greece they use a fogger with food grade mineral oil between 2 weeks and 21 days so as to work with the brood cycle . Brand new fogger from Lowell's never having pesticides in it.And only food grade mineral oil . And you need to check how effective with alcohol wash after your treatment .If you find this treatment is not knocking down your count try something else . But keeping the mite count down will reduce stress big time on your girls . I had to replace my Queen and I ordered one from Big Island Queens in Hawaii . It happened at a bad time of year so I had no choice . By surprisingly it took just 2 days for them to send these queens, I have since ordered another one from Hawaii to Sarasota , Florida by UPS . They arrived healthy and ready for action ! Now there are more options much closer in the mainland . I did not want to make a walk away split . It takes too long , like the better part of a month to see if you have a laying queen . Too many things can happen in my mind to the queen , during this whole process . If you can ,start back with Nucs . And you are just going to have to feed them to help get them up to speed .My winters are not bad in Florida , but your bees will need maybe 35 lbs or more of honey or sugar syrup to make it through the winter . And pollen patties too , for the protein . But speak to people in your area they will know more about wintering in your part of the country . I started with one colony in late Oct and found out quick why people say have two or more . Because I can use my strong colonies to help boost the weaker split I made . Are you a member of a beekeeping association in your area ? If not you might want to join and find a mentor that you can bounce questions off of . I found a commercial beekeeper on FB that I ask questions to . She is a mentor for 1400 people in Greece . I hope some of this is helpful and I wish you luck ! Don't stop , the bees and this planet needs you especially now ! Take care , bee safe . Sorry again for being so long winded , but your video brought tears to my eyes . Take care brother !
I am going to guess, that there was plenty of honey when those bees died. I'm also going to guess that they were not in a cluster, unless you opened the hives up and it was too cold on the 4th of April, and they weren't dead, but dormant and still alive, until you opened the hive. I am going to guess that the fluctuations between warm and cold in the late Winter caused your bees to come out of the cluster, and they did not have enough bees to make it after that when it got cold again
More information. All natural? There’s nothing natural about beekeeping. Natural bees don’t live in boxes. If it was all natural, we’d have no honeybees in the US. Check your bees for mites, treat your bees for mites. You are responsible for thousands of creatures lives. You have to manage them.
![Felix "Unfair" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Oswujxm2Ag0/mqdefault.jpg)
Really feel for you. Losing hives is the worst feeling. Hope you get back on your feet and glad to see the deep reflection. Shows strength and bravery to admit it to the world. Well done.
After I lost my first hive, I turned the focus to a few things:
- Recording when local tree species bloom. Finding their favorite food, but also trying to find feed gaps.
- Trying to fill the gaps in production by growing my own flowering plants/trees. Planting those trees as a 5 year investment.
- Feeding and insulating hives in the Fall, despite our mild climate.
- Spreading my hives, to spread the risks.
Good luck from Australia!
I feel for you. Last winter was my 3rd year beekeeping and I also lost all my hives. I did autopsy the 5 hives I lost and can only figure maybe, just maybe mite load was a contributing factor. All 5 (8 frame) hives had over a full medium super of honey and plenty of pollen stores. What I didn't do like I'd done in the past was to insulate the hives before winter. I live near the Canadian border in extreme NE Washington state so we get pretty cold winters and last winter came a bit early with an extreme cold spell. I have to believe that what ultimately killed my hives was the cold. As you say, lesson learned. I'll be better prepared to go into winter this year.
I bought 2 nucs this spring and have already split one hive. I also captured my first ever swarm a little over a week ago so I'm now back up to 4 hives. I know the anguish of finding your hives dead in the spring and I hope to do better in the future to help my girls be better equipped to survive the coming year.
Best wishes and thanks for sharing your experience.
Outstanding video!
I'm sorry to hear about your loss. There's nothing wrong with treating all your hives depending on what you're treating them with. There's really no downside except some extra expense if they don't need treatment. Mite testing is not infallible. I would stress nutrition and keeping the mites knocked down! It's not just the mites themselves but the viruses they carry which can wipe out a whole bee yard. You should probably be treating once in the spring and once in August and twice in the fall and early winter. If you want to follow someone who is a highly successful beekeeper on RUclips I would recommend
Kamon Reynolds - Tennessee's Bees. Good luck in 2021!
1. Local bees - local bees are more adapted to your winters, honey flows and dearths. Get local stock via swarms or swarm trapping. 2. Raise your own queens - Learn to raise queens. It is not hard. Select your best over wintered hive, graft queen cells and use those for splits. 3. Expect and plan for losses - Nationally 30-40% of hives are lost each year. Some years are worse. Have a plan on how you will rebuild after a major loss like you had. 4. Learn to diagnose a dead hive - Hives die but if you don't know why you can never improve. Get with an inspector or commercial beekeeper that can teach you to autopsy a hive. Everyone is on the varroa bandwagon but there are still tracheal mites, nosema and foul brood out there along with starvation. Knowing the pathogen will help you make better decisions. 5. Put your big boy pants on... - In all animal husbandry, things go wrong and the livestock you are trusted to keep healthy and alive dies. Don't give up, mourn the loss, learn from the loss, improve and keep going. Good luck, don't give up.
I forgot moisture in hives during winter, but I assumed you had passed winter when you checked in March. Better to airflow for moisture control than totally seal them up. entrance reducer an inner cover with cutout for airflow.
Great observations! Thank you for your candid thoughts. I learned alot from your thoughts! Look forward to next video.
Good luck and thanks for the info, im also from Missouri, NorthEast, and im just getting started. Installed my first NUC last weekend. Im so obsessed with succeeding and doing thing’s right that a failure even now would be devastating, so stick with it my man and good luck. Oh and where abouts from Mo are you?
Don't be too hard on your self, lesson learned. I had losses as well. This year I will weigh my hives just to make sure they're okay for the winter.
That's how "all natural looks like on paper" ZERO hives on Spring, there is no beekeeping now days with out treatment , another thing is , your first inspection of the year is on the first warm day when they break the cluster, you go there and check if they have food or they need food till the Spring comes!!!
Sorry for your loss start catching swarms again and you will be back in the game. Good luck and keep us posted i like your videos
Chris from the UK.
I feel so sorry for you loosing all your bees. I am a 1st year bee keeper, I had one hive A Vincent, a Long Top bar type hive which takes National frames, which i got in Aug 19. They came through winter really well. I kind of pampered them, feed them all through the winter. It was a monster by early April, bees covering all 24 frames, so I split 3 times. I now have 5 hives, 3 splits from the Vincent hive and a new Nuc i got early April and the old Vincent hive. I want 7 hives. I hope i never have to go through what you have, I know i will loose some hives as nature has a way, but i will try every thing not to. My problem is i can't leave the bees alone, i'm in to them all the time, as a result i think i'm losing one now. Only time will tell.
First I just sent you a video on a very easy way to check for mites. I feel your pain . I love working with my bees . And I get great pleasure sharing my honey with family and friends .I would even be happy to send you a jar to make you feel better ! I have sent my honey proudly across the country . And I gives me great satisfaction . I live in Florida and I have to register my hives with the Florida Dept. Of Agriculture . We have a regional inspector for my area. You said you live in Missouri . Do you need to register your colonies there ? I would call the Missouri Dept. of Agriculture about this spraying in your area . Because I don't buy this pesticide is not bad for bees , that's BS ! They will have more power over this , than you and hopefully can help get this stopped in your street and general area . I guess I am going to be long winded here sorry but your video got me worked up too . Next during the summer and before your winter you want to check for mites every month . Because if you have a high mite count before winter they will not survive plan and simple . I used formic acid MAQS and it killed my queen when I only had one colony . So I don't recommend that . Now I have 3 colonies . I was told by two commercial beekeepers one in Florida and the president of my association and one in Greece they use a fogger with food grade mineral oil between 2 weeks and 21 days so as to work with the brood cycle . Brand new fogger from Lowell's never having pesticides in it.And only food grade mineral oil . And you need to check how effective with alcohol wash after your treatment .If you find this treatment is not knocking down your count try something else . But keeping the mite count down will reduce stress big time on your girls . I had to replace my Queen and I ordered one from Big Island Queens in Hawaii . It happened at a bad time of year so I had no choice . By surprisingly it took just 2 days for them to send these queens, I have since ordered another one from Hawaii to Sarasota , Florida by UPS . They arrived healthy and ready for action ! Now there are more options much closer in the mainland . I did not want to make a walk away split . It takes too long , like the better part of a month to see if you have a laying queen . Too many things can happen in my mind to the queen , during this whole process . If you can ,start back with Nucs . And you are just going to have to feed them to help get them up to speed .My winters are not bad in Florida , but your bees will need maybe 35 lbs or more of honey or sugar syrup to make it through the winter . And pollen patties too , for the protein . But speak to people in your area they will know more about wintering in your part of the country . I started with one colony in late Oct and found out quick why people say have two or more . Because I can use my strong colonies to help boost the weaker split I made . Are you a member of a beekeeping association in your area ? If not you might want to join and find a mentor that you can bounce questions off of . I found a commercial beekeeper on FB that I ask questions to . She is a mentor for 1400 people in Greece . I hope some of this is helpful and I wish you luck ! Don't stop , the bees and this planet needs you especially now ! Take care , bee safe . Sorry again for being so long winded , but your video brought tears to my eyes . Take care brother !
I am going to guess, that there was plenty of honey when those bees died. I'm also going to guess that they were not in a cluster, unless you opened the hives up and it was too cold on the 4th of April, and they weren't dead, but dormant and still alive, until you opened the hive. I am going to guess that the fluctuations between warm and cold in the late Winter caused your bees to come out of the cluster, and they did not have enough bees to make it after that when it got cold again
We have some good. We groups in Missouri. M as the thatll be a help
More information. All natural? There’s nothing natural about beekeeping. Natural bees don’t live in boxes. If it was all natural, we’d have no honeybees in the US. Check your bees for mites, treat your bees for mites. You are responsible for thousands of creatures lives. You have to manage them.