1:28 - Can honey bees instinctively know the weather is going to be bad and decide to swarm? 8:13 - Do you consider late season swarms to be caused by varroa mites? 13:51 - Is it possible for a hive/colony to survive a major robbing event? Would robbing bees kill the queen? 21:29 - Since the BeeSmart Design insulated inner cover doesn't fit the Flow-Brood Box Dimensions, what do you think of these feeder shim ideas? 26:40 - Can you tell us how to set up for winter and how to prepare for robbing season? 43:52 - You can see pollen on the legs of returning bees, but how do you tell if they have nectar? 47:53 - I think I have one colony with a laying queen and another that isn't productive. Should I combine them now, or wait it out? 51:40 - Will bees cap stored sugar syrup? 53:12- How do you push frames back after inspection when bees are in the way? If the normal Time-Stamper ever needs a night off please don't hesitate to tag or Email me. I always watch and I can timestamp if need be. Thanks! SageandStoneHomestead @ g mail . c o m
Awesome, just getting in around midnight my time and was about to start up the video. Now I don't feel guilty going to sleep tonight and enjoying the video in the morning!
For robbing, I use a basic office stapler to attach cheap window/ porch screen to my entrance. Just put a paint stirring stick vertical and create a small gap. You can widen the screen gap by twisting the paint stick as needed. Your bees know to go to stick at top of screen and walk down the gap. Robbers, wasps, and yellow jackets are sniffing the bottom. The greatest benefit is your hives can use the open screened entrance to evaporate and ventilate. They cant do this with the a closed entrance. I lay at large sheet of porch screen over my top bee box so I dont squish bees before I put lid on. I also tip the hive in cold weather and use hand vac (dust buster) to quickly suck dead bee winter debris off bottom board without disturbing bees.
Hey I watched a video alittle while ago and apparently a great way to stop robbing if a hive is under attack is to set up a water sprinkler to spray over the hive and within 20 mins it calms things down. Not everyone has a garden hose near the bee yard though
I placed a 30 gallon plastic drum underneath my air conditioner’s condesate drain . The drum has a “ rainwater hole “ drilled in the edge of the top’s rim that only allows for 1/4 inch of water to accumulate and all of the area’s bees use it as their common “ watering hole “ .
Thanks Frederick another fabulous video , always look forward to watching these on a Saturday morning in the uk 🇬🇧 , have a fantastic weekend everyone 👍🏻
Hi Fred most of us are new bee keepers. I love your vdo and i am sure others love these. I think you understand how tough it is to rase bees when you are new at this.
Hi Fred. Thanks for answering my question. I have a shark vac cant wait to try it. Pushing all the frames together at the same time will help too. I do inspect later 1:00. I dont do too late around 2 sometimes earlier my girls do orientation flights untill 7. Early this morning 50° I was doing an OAV treatment and saw a yellow jacket sneaking around. I was thinking the same as you. Little creep trying to get in my hive while my bees were too cold. Do have the beesmart robbing screen on. As always great video! Thank you Carolanne
Hi Carolanna, please remember that they often cluster at the temp you've described for the OAV treatment. I like it to be in the 60's so the OAV penetrates the cluster well and covers as much surface area as possible. They pack around the brood in particular with the lower temps.
@@FrederickDunn I did not know that. I knew they were probally clustered did not think of effectiveness. When we hit them around Thanksgiving with little or no brood do we wait till it's about 60 then? Thank you. I was trying to get them all in the hive.
This is only my second year my first year I lost them due to robbing so I’m not that far ahead I did not ask that question although it was a good question I’m learning a lot off your channel thank you
I use cheap slabs of foam insulation board over my shammy/metal wire/ sugar. You can buy large slabs of insulated foam board for next to nothing at hardware store. Use a razor blade or pocket knife to score or cut it. Weigh the foam board tops down with a brick, etc. Be sure to cut board larger than your deep. Shammy cloth is sold at auto parts store or walmart. It's that cloth they use to advertising on "as seen on tv"
just had a conversation w kentucky beek ,about upper vents,and how you discouraged that practice, and i think tom seely agrees,i shared images of tree nest examples, and image of circulation in a langstroth diagram,out the bottom, not the top...good info about the bee journal article
It's something that feels wrong to many old-time beekeepers as it's what they have always done. We definitely benefit from current science particularly with hive configuration and interior climate conditions.
@@FrederickDunn yes ,the guy seemed angry that i countered his beliefs on venting uppers,science ,people throw that word around ,but if i ask them the scientific method ,they dont want to listen, you know observe, repeat,document, test, i say theres good science, and poor science 😉 thank you sir
There is a church bell in Russia with open bottom that has no problem wintering in verry big cold even if the bell its made of metal.They can survive that cold because they dont have upper vents. For wintering i add a plastic sheet cover and i wrap my beehives to form an air tight seal ,then keep the completely open bottom with wire mesh all winter. My overwintering its trying to mimic that russian church bell conditions. Open bottom of the hive plus bell type insulation its perfect for the winter but the open bottom i think its bad in autumn when the robbing starts. Robbing its my only problem that let me without bees this year.
@@mihaiilie8808 seems cold drafts may kill them? through the bottoms ,my small entrance is the only opening ,and only insulated on top cover,also using slatted rack
@@sonofthunder. i winter all my beehives with completely open bottom ( usda zone 6).I have no problem with condensation wich is what kills the bees in winter,not the cold.
Tip for readers with Flow Hive Gabbled Roof for overwintering. I'm going to trying two layers of Reflectix inside my Gabbled Roof, along with a 3" shim stuffed with Alpaca wool.
Brad... Do you have Alpacas, grazing the Apiary !?! 😉 Or do you move your Hives to the Andean Mountains ?!? I'll see myself out... Here in Scotland. Years back, I had a Fleece 'Pimp', aka a Sheep Farmer down in the South of England, who had an 'Support Alpaca' for his Flock ! Woke Sheep. 😭 Before Bees (watch out, they are very addictive! A Hive at start of this Season turned into x9 Hives ! Splits, Bought Queens, Purchased Swarms, And Bred own Queen(s)..... ✔ Pre Beekeeping : I was an hooked on Spinning Yarn ! On a Traditional Wooden "Spinning Wheel", (to Spin DIY Yarn, and Knit stuff...It's cold here in Bonnie Scotland, we have a lot of Sheep ! And, I got lots of Holes in my Socks !?! A Crafting Yarn Bomber (term for those make way to much Yarn, 🤣) on the Homestead, said add 'Alpaca Fleece to your Wool', and you'll no more Holes ! Alpaca is strong Yarn big time...😊 Anyhow, back to this Comment, got a washed Fleece in my Shed, it's mine !! Sorry Girls, your getting "Chicken Grain Sacks," as Insulation / Anti Robbing Material...Got Chickens 🐔 and Runner Ducks here. 🦆 Surprised Fred "Fine Fowl" hasn't mentioned Feed Sacks, over that of the Shown Demo of thick Canvas !?! Waste not, want not... I do Bees, and Birds now... Over they other way said... Its a Family Friendly Show. 🤣 Happy Beekeeping 2021. 🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝 You think Beekeeping has odd terminology. Try working out a 'Niddy-Noddy' ? Or a 'Whirl' ? 1st for windy Yarn into Skeins, 2nd the thing that Spins Super Fast, that takes in the Yarn as its made... Maybe I might make me some Socks when Bee Season closes... Tip : Socks never fall down, if you have a Snug Fitting Heel ! Most store Socks fit Feet from say Adult Shoe Size 6 thru 8, so a heel is 'gapey'. OK... its Bee talk, not Flock talk. 🐝🐑🐝🐑🐝🐑🐝🐑🐝 😉
When I started beekeeping more than 10 years ago my mentor always told me that if I didn't know exactly why I was doing something my bees would probably be better of without me doing it. I still remind myself about this 10 years later and particularly when it comes to things like winter feeding. If you get this wrong you can easily do a lot more 'harm' than you do good. Overfeeding too early and your colonies can easily get honey bound, risking late swarming and lack of good winter bees, eventually leading to the likelihood of winter losses. Feed to little and too late and you will be forced to emergency feed your colonies through winter and spring, again risking winter losses. One thing is to understand the bees and their ways but equally important, or maybe even more important when it comes to winter feeding, is knowledge about the local flora and how even the best of knowledge can be thrown off by freak weather. Where I live we can get a quite hefty Ivy flow in September, which provides good nectar and some pollen too, so feeding too much before the Ivy flow can be disastrous and result in swarming colonies as late as October simply because they have run out of room. If the weather is terrible the Ivy flow will of course be minimised accordingly and a second round of feeding in late September or early October can be necessary. The bottom line is that nobody knows in advance and we beekeepers simply have to learn not just to read and understand our bees but also read and understand our local flora and how it is affected by the weather. There are no fixed recipes for success, no fixed amount of syrup to feed in any particular month, which is why is takes almost a lifetime to become an experienced beekeeper.......and in many ways that is a big part of the thrill of being a beekeeper.
I use both, the insulated inner cover and the BeeMax outer cover on that. Last winter, I had the feeder shims on and the BeeMax covers on and it made significant differences in consumption of resources. The insulated inner covers are indeed expensive at $31, but less expensive than the insulated telescoping wooden covers also on the market. I like the idea of the inner cover bringing that insulation directly over the winter cluster. We'll see how it goes, but yes indeed, it all runs into money.
Thanks for your reasoned response to questions, and thanks for the info regarding flowers, do you have any for trees? Do honey bees like Red sumac, or lilacs?
Trees area another powerful resource for the bees at different times of the year. Sumac is a great resource as are Linden trees and others. This is regional. The earliest pollen in my area is from trees.
Hi Freddrick, Thanks for sharing another great video! Question for you or other experts, "Is there any issue with honey bees feeding on watermelon rhine out in the compost pile? No honey is being harvested this fall.
Another great Friday session (though I caught it on Sunday after a weekend of bee work). Thanks, as always, Fred! Just a quick update on my laying worker nuc (Q&A episode 125 I think) - after adding 2 frames of open brood and eggs the nuc formed a queen cell and I spotted the virgin on the weekend. She may just have been mated or may still be yet to mate. Will check again in a week or so. So, a little patience and a couple of frames from a donor hive, and the laying workers were suppressed enough to raise a new queen. Very happy with that result, and keen to see how the new queen works out. She came from a very good-looking cell that was loaded with jelly.
ruclips.net/video/4HaL9vckKzU/видео.html this will show how I just pull a couple of frames, in this case with a new queen, and install them without preparation. It worked very well. This really depends on how far gone the colony you're supporting is, and how defensive they seem to be. Nurse bees are readily accepted by the resident bees. If you want to pace the combining, then you can put double screened boards in for a day or to, then remove them. Newsprint also works, but if it's going into a single deep that's when I just swap frames directly with no delayed mixing of the bees. There may be some initial tiny conflicts, but they quickly accept the incoming resources. Bringing brood into a broodless colony has an immediate calming impact. You can actually hear them calm down. People doing this for the first time, may want to put that newsprint on and use a feeder shim if it's a single deep brood box situation.
Frederick, you mentioned you don't use top entrances in winter. So what do you do? Do you go our ever month or so and pull of the reducers and clear about the dead bees? Your answer would of course be very helpful
@@SageandStoneHomestead I just ordered a dozen 20” wooden bbq sticks on Amazon. That’s should do it. And I would assume the plan is to try and clean it out when we get breaks above 40 degrees.
I keep the entrances cleared throughout winter. That's all that's needed. Last winter, I had no upper entrances and no venting other than the primary entrances on the landing boards.
@@FrederickDunn I appreciate that. Trying to find my happy medium because My hive is in a locked garden all winter that is 20 mins from my house. I guess I could go out ever few weeks and check up on them and clear dead bees.
Hello Mr. Dunn, thank you for your wonderful videos. The information you provide is invaluable to me as a beginner in beekeeping. I have a question about the Beesmart insulated inner covers. I hope you can help me with this. I have 8 frame sized hives. When trying out the insulated inner cover on some extra Medium Hoover hives I have, 8 frame size, to check out how this would work, I can’t fit the medium 8 frame Hoover box over the insulated cover. The intention is for it to fit over the insulated inner cover to act as a feeder shim. It won’t fit. There are lots of gaps. I would appreciate your advice. Thank you
Hi Fred - I tried getting into a few hives and move some frames around and before you know it there was robbing going on. I put everything back together and it calmed down after a bit. There isn't much nectar coming in even though there is a ton of golden rod around. I have drones around still by the way but I don't think they will be around much longer. I found the mouse hole experiments fascinating by Matthias Wandel :)
Matthias is a genius, and I enjoy his experiments. Robbing is on the rise this time of year, we need to be very active on that front :) It's amazing how quickly the raiders show up! Glad you still have drone resources if you end up needing them. Thanks for sharing.
Nature develops the need I think. Swarming is beneficial and necessary for the continuance of species. I just stepped on an anthill yesterday the ants had their wings.
Hi Frederick, don't know if you know or not, but your podcasts are now being carried on google podcasts. So they are probably popping up on lots of podcasting apps.... Congrats!
Hi Ken, I did that very thing on packages that arrived dead this spring. Since they are already dead, it's a great way assess the loading. The mites have no where to go. However, if there are live bees in the package, expect the mites to clamor onto the living workers.
Hi Fredrick, great video again. My walk away split last week is doing well. I believe I have 1 closed queen cell and 1 open. Will re-inspect in a couple of weeks which should give enough time for a queen to hatch and mate. If not I’ll put another frame of eggs/young larvae from my brother’s hive and introduce it to my hive for another try at raising my own queen. Thanks for all your help and information. Also it’s spring here in oz.TrickyTrev 🇦🇺👍🐝🍯
@@FrederickDunn unfortunately I inspected my brother’s bees today and found 9 queen cells.it appears they swarmed just before I split them. However as we have the resources with all the queen cells, I guess we’ll be ok. Thanks again TrickyTrev 🇦🇺👍🐝🍯
Fred, I am in San Antonio, TX....winters here are typically mild, although this past February there was a quite disastrous snowfall, a once in a lifetime event for here. What if anything should I be doing for my hive to insulate the hive or insure they have sufficient resources? Candy boards? Pollen patties?
I was feeding pollen patties so I put in some beetle traps that I poured mineral oil in. Another beekeeper told me to put a tiny amount of apple cider vinegar in the trap to attract the beetles, well now I have a teensy fly(gnat) problem. I have only caught 2 beetles and an ant on the swiffer sheets so I really didn't have much of a beetle problem but wanted to make sure I didn't get a beetle problem. I have noticed the gnats in the bottom of rapid round feeder when I changed it and on front on landing board. How do gnats affect the bees and how do I get rid of them. I'm in SE Wisconsin.
They die off in winter and do re-seed, but the birds are taking the seeds in record numbers as they are ready, so I'll be seeding again in 2022 and see how it goes. They are considered annuals.
The dissolved sugar into 8lbs if water would increase the volume to be greater than a gallon, maybe the 8lbs of sugar (not liquid so the volume would differ) dissolved into 4lbs water would be a gallon? 🤷♀️
I seriously think my brain falls out of my head when I discuss those ratios! I make that very same mistake over and over! Thank you StGermain, you're absolutely right. My mom raised a dullard... :)
Sage, it definitely makes more than a gallon of syrup. As StGermain mentioned, 2:1 requires 16 lbs of sugar to a gallon of HOT water. It's very heavy and is more than a gallon of finished syrup.
Thank you for all of your helpful videos! I'm a first year keeper and you've helped me so much! Can you tell me where I can purchase a HyfeGate? Thank you!
Minnesota here with the HiveGate how can it be placed in our flow hive? The flow hive has the white bottom board with two slits in back and sets below a screen. Placing the Hivegate entrance and hang above screen not flat. Thank you Jeri
For the Flow-Hive units, we have slatted racks on them also and that allows us to cut the slatted rack to accomodate the Hive-gate if it won't fit un-altered.
I’m confused, do you attach a HiveGate entrance to the bottom of the slatted rack? Upside down? I can’t see how modifications to a slatted rack will help placement of a HiveGate since the entrance is built in to the Flow Hive bottom board.
@@brown0621 go to BetterBee a d get their WHITE anti/robbing Screen-it’s like $20 max… 🔆I have a FlowHive.. the FlowHive entrance is too tight for the HyfeGate… 🔆I also used the HyfeGate on my Classic Hive… 🔆I’m in NorCal… it’s Wasp/robbing season… prior to getting your anti robbing Screen from BetterBee you can fold In some hardware cloth.. to narrow down your FlowHive entrance that your GuardBers can protect. Good luck🔱
Hi Fred. David here from Brisbane Australia. I have sort of flow hives. Have you had a case when after you drain honey from the frame, the bees don’t start to remove the capping. This is the first time this has happened on my hives. Any items Fred? David. KD Kurabees.
Hi David, I haven't had that issue yet. They most often begin chewing the cappings while the honey is being drained off. All I could say is to make certain that the frames are restored to the closed position and the bees "should" take care of the rest. A large number of Flow-Owners this year in particular, have forgotten to close the frames, or put new frames on without cycling them to the closed positions. I hope you'll give us an update as more time passes.
Hello Fred it's me again lol from Northern British Columbia, I want to ask what your temperature Celsius goes down to in your neck of the woods as it is my first winter coming up with horizontal hives ,I have insulated roof and bottom on my hives but wondering if I have to insulate sides to as we often get down to minus 20 or 25 in winter, and I also put in Apavar strips in my hive and will remove in another 20 days ,does this mean if there is a lot of resources left over in the spring that they cant be consumed by humans or do you just leave it for the bees,and yes my hives are from the Same thickness as you green horizontal, thanks Fred ,your advice is always appreciated.
You can leave that honey for the bees, orrrr, pull it in spring and store it for the colony it comes off of and feed it back to them during a period of dearth.
Researching oxalic acid so I can have the appropriate stuff on hand when I get my bees in spring, don't want to have a situation come up and not be prepared. Not seeing info on how long it lasts before expiring. Also, everything I'm seeing says to use in fall when the colony is broodless and not to use over 84 degrees F. What are you supposed to do if you have a high mite count at a different time of year when you're hive isn't broodless or when the temps are above 84? I live in Arizona and we spend a lot of the years well above 84...
Api-Bioxal has no shelf life, so no expiration date. It's distrubeted by Veto-Pharma in France. You may be confusing the temp restrictions with Formic. OAV is fine at those temps.
@@FrederickDunn Very strange. Thought I saw it on the same listing. The Api-Bioxal is the one that says to use late fall to early spring while broodless (description from the listing on the Dadant site) so that part of the question still remains. What if you find a high mite count mid summer when there's lots of brood? Glad to hear about the temp not being an issue...
@@FrederickDunn I had never seen it until this video (ruclips.net/video/wAjgbQKtcBY/видео.html&feature=share) on Kamon’s Chanel last week. I think I have an idea as to why. Would like to know hat you think of it???
I have a hive that went queen-less a month ago then when the virgin queen hatched she became a dragon fly meal they then made another queen but it being so late in the season should I capture the since the hive hasn’t had a chance to build up and combine it with another hive?
I use both. :) BeeSmart makes their ultimate hive cover, but I prefer the added insulation of the BeeMax covers but they definitely need to be painted.
Hi Fred, I am watching this video as I go through all your past videos and you mention using 1:1 sugar syrup in the Spring and 2:1 sugar syrup in the Fall. You then define 2:1 as 1-gallon water to 8-pounds of sugar. I have heard this same definition on many websites but if a gallon of water weighs 8.46 pounds wouldn’t mixing the gallon of water with 8 pounds of sugar result in a 1:1 ratio (by weight)? Thanks in advance for clarifying.
HI Brad, I tried to recover on that in the video description. My definition of 2:1 should have been 16 lbs of sugar to 1 gallon of water. I blew that one :) You are absolutely correct :)
I like u r video's very helpful but I am worried about yellow jackets n lots of big yellow hornets.i have long layens hive with 1/2 x4in entrance. Outside box is 2in rough cut pine
OA question for you.... I have the OA vaporizer from Blythewood and the last time I used it, it got deformed (metal melted) and one of my frames was burned. What did I do wrong?? I had used it before and never had that problem, but now, with fall/winter approaching, I need to do another OA treatment, but am very leery. Any suggestions/tips?? I do not want to set my hive on fire.
I would reach out to Blythewood to let them know what happened. Sounds like it was left on for too long and the pan melted. Aluminum has a relatively low melting point. BUT, if there is something wrong with the wiring, they need to know.
Hey Fred can we get a link to that vacuum you talked about for question 9. I’d really like to know which one you are using that doesn’t harm any bees thanks 🐝🐝🐝
Hello Frederick I have a question. I know you really can not legally say yes but on the OVA treatment now they say we can use it with our honey super on . Let’s say I have double deep brood and a medium honey super on . Before it would have been just the double deep brood. In both cases it would be the exact same amount of bees but with the honey super on you are treating more square inches of space with the same bees . SO to do you think it would look like you may need maybe a little more OVA to cover the extra square inches. I always follow the directions but it seems like it would take more to me . What is your thought 🤷♂️
Greetings Oh Mighty Magic Mister Dunn! :) I have a question! If you believe your Varroa Mite loads are sufficiently high for a long enough period -- despite regular/multiple OAV treatments (like a 1x per 7 day for 3 weeks to hit uncapped worker brood across 21-day worker brood cycle) when brood amounts are low to begin with -- is it possible to combine methods? (e.g. Formic Acid *and* OAV?) Even if it's possible, would that be a recommendable action, or should combining methods only be a 'nuclear' option? Thanks a million! Both for your regular advice and wisdom on RUclips for all of us out here on the innerwebnets! And for your entertainment of this question!
I would not combine methods, but rather alter methods for subsequential treatments if the numbers remain high. The current practice for the Oav increments is four treatments that are 5 days apart. The original 7 day cycle for three cycles proved less effective than the 5 day treatments. Always validate results with counts. The Api-Bioxal does have dosing but not periodicity anymore on the label.
I have 2 Hives and recently put a Hive Gate in each. I live in N Idaho. The yellow jackets destroyed my first hive 3 yrs ago--ground nesters. Didnt have a clue I needed to watch out for them. Ps. I dont, and never will, use Facebook so cant join your groups
Lots of people don't use facebook. No problem. I don't have another way to host a forum I'm sorry to say. How have the hive gate units impacted the yellow jackets this year?
Hello Fred, thank you for such an interesting channel. Yes, in Norway we use poly hives poly covers, but we do not have choices. All bee equipment is Norwegian standard and sold by a single company for commercial beekeepers. We have rapid round feeders, but as you already know, they differ from batch to batch, the initial batch was good and no dead bees in it, but the new ones are not good at all. The dimensions are wrong and the texture on the cone is very poor. I notice that you are using a sock on it to help with the problem. Does it really work and minimises the problem with drown bees? How do the bees react to it? I tried it but the bee space became very narrow, and my bees just leak the sock and take a very long time to get the feed into the hive. With 2 to 1 syrup, they do not get any at all. It is too thick do soak the sock. Would you mind talking about your experience? Thank you. Cheers from Oslo
Hi Rolando, I'll mention this on Friday. In the mean time, I'd suggest finding thinner socks if they are removing the opportunity for the bees to access the free surface of the sugar syrup. WE do need a well made Rapid Round that is well designed for honey bees. There are many copies being sold that are not coming from companies that understand beekeeping and beefeeding. Thanks for your question.
Hi fred, great vid as usual. I have a question sparked by a rather dictatorial opinion coming from my bee club (no bias here... ;) ) They are recommending we use Fumidil-B on all our hives as a prophylactic against Nosema. Fumidil-B is an antibiotic, and EVERYTHING I have read says to never use antibiotics unless there is an active infection that needs immediate treatment. Am I over reacting here? Is it safe to use this antibiotic in the fall even though there is no hint of nosema? Couldn't that just produce a resistant strain more quickly? They have " (... professionals with a proven track record).". I don't doubt it is effective, but is it safe?
Hi Greg, I can only speak for myself here. I would never treat for a condition that isn't proven to exist. I've never ever treated for nosema. Often what people think is nosema simply isn't. I'd ask who used the microscope and made the determination. I've done lots of nosema slides and only found a case in one of my colonies through the years. Just because the bees appear to have dysentery as they soil the front of a hive, doesn't demonstrate that they have nosema. HiveAlive has a proven track record in dealing with nosema and I'd use that before putting Fumidil in my hives. I'd advise strongly against using any medication without proving the conditions warrant its use. Many years ago it was just something you did as part of winter preparations and we need to, in my opinion, update our practices and treatments. Concentrate on healthy bees and if you suspect a problem, learn to use that microscope :)
Great question and there is only one way now and that's dna sequencing. However, they are becoming so hybridized that dna matching is less accurate. Temperment is key and any colony that is unreasonably aggressive and kills people or livestock needs no more identification that it's level of defensiveness.
It's the only currently available essential oil mix that has scientific studies demonstrating it's positive impact on colony health and build up. Excellent for reducing nosema.
I live in South Central Texas and the wild bee population is mostly African hybrids . Robbing can begin after only a minute or so . When a robbing event occurs , I close my domesticated bee hives completely with 1/4 inch hardware cloth and the “ robbers “ loose interest and go away in just a few minutes . After about 30 minutes , I remove my covers and the robbers don’t come back .
I just got blocked from Stewarts beekeeping over the description of small hive beetles. They bodily proclaimed they have no small hive beetles. They lose
I see manny people in North America have pet horses. Here the bees seem to kill a lot of horses as they are sensitive to bee stings due to their unusual immune sistem. When i had a horse plowing a little of my yard ,i had to close my bees in the morning to protect the horse. The horse didnt got stung but i could see verry angry and fast flying bees investigating him. At the end of the work,i toght to buy and adopt that horse to spare his life from hard work but i couldnt because i kept bees. Oddly ,that horse died last year and i suspect it was the bees( not my bees).He was tied between somme vineyard rows and had no escape. Hopefully soon we will have a law against using animals like bulls and horses for work in the EU .
Rev Langstroth included guidence about horses in his book The Hive and Honey Bee, cautioning that you should not approach hives on a sweaty horse. We have horses all around here, I've not heard of them being more sensitive to bee stings. Can you kindly provide supporting science on that cautionary tale? My Morgan Horse stomped on yellow jacket nests and would get stung with no detectable allergic response. I'm curious about the horse killing bee events. Thanks.
@@FrederickDunn Its soo common in Moldova region( slightly more northern than me) that the wealthier beekeepers in somme villages ,collect monney to buy another horse for the family that tgeir horse was killed by the bees. There was an incident when a single beehive killed 3 horse at once,a donkey,3 mens and put 5 kids into intensive care. They might have agresive bees like africanised bees or even more agressive,but still its a lot of damage from a single beehive. There is a big debate on local beekeepers club there ,discussing the idea to pay insurance if the bees kill a horse. In the comments they say that horses have an unusual immune system and that they are sensitive to bee stings.Horses have unusual allergy treatments,suited for them. But why the bees react like that to innocent horses its a mistery.Somme say that the horse slap the inspecting bee with their tail but that alone is impossible to cause such agresive behaviour. Im gonna look for a link .
@@FrederickDunn This man got 1100 plus stings.Horse dead plus 2 passers by that got to intensive care. Its in romanian language but a proof of how agresive they can get. ruclips.net/video/4Gs26rBBQ0k/видео.html
@@mihaiilie8808 Thank you, I look forward to learning more about this. I couldn't find many case studies in the U.S.. All very interesting! Thanks for bringing this up.
@@FrederickDunn Somme beekeeprs say it takes 5 bee stings to kill a horse but a single bee sting can kill the horse if its on his head. And they say that the fields of Canola there,make the bees extremely agressive .
1:28 - Can honey bees instinctively know the weather is going to be bad and decide to swarm?
8:13 - Do you consider late season swarms to be caused by varroa mites?
13:51 - Is it possible for a hive/colony to survive a major robbing event? Would robbing bees kill the queen?
21:29 - Since the BeeSmart Design insulated inner cover doesn't fit the Flow-Brood Box Dimensions, what do you think of these feeder shim ideas?
26:40 - Can you tell us how to set up for winter and how to prepare for robbing season?
43:52 - You can see pollen on the legs of returning bees, but how do you tell if they have nectar?
47:53 - I think I have one colony with a laying queen and another that isn't productive. Should I combine them now, or wait it out?
51:40 - Will bees cap stored sugar syrup?
53:12- How do you push frames back after inspection when bees are in the way?
If the normal Time-Stamper ever needs a night off please don't hesitate to tag or Email me. I always watch and I can timestamp if need be. Thanks!
SageandStoneHomestead @ g mail . c o m
Thank you! Much more useful having the time stamps!
@@RyanMcDonnough no problem. I've found them useful as well and came in the video early and noticed that the usual timestamper was busy!
Awesome, just getting in around midnight my time and was about to start up the video. Now I don't feel guilty going to sleep tonight and enjoying the video in the morning!
@@Adam.Holmes. I'm so glad!!
@@Adam.Holmes. l
Your dedication to uploading these videos is both impressive and appreciated.
Thank you, I appreciate that!
"Absconding is they hate you and they're gone" LOL!
Thanks for your time and effort
Thanks for the info on adapting the insulated inner cover to the Flow hives!
I don't keep bee's currently, but I always enjoy your knowledge.
Thank you.
For robbing, I use a basic office stapler to attach cheap window/ porch screen to my entrance. Just put a paint stirring stick vertical and create a small gap. You can widen the screen gap by twisting the paint stick as needed. Your bees know to go to stick at top of screen and walk down the gap. Robbers, wasps, and yellow jackets are sniffing the bottom. The greatest benefit is your hives can use the open screened entrance to evaporate and ventilate. They cant do this with the a closed entrance. I lay at large sheet of porch screen over my top bee box so I dont squish bees before I put lid on. I also tip the hive in cold weather and use hand vac (dust buster) to quickly suck dead bee winter debris off bottom board without disturbing bees.
Hey I watched a video alittle while ago and apparently a great way to stop robbing if a hive is under attack is to set up a water sprinkler to spray over the hive and within 20 mins it calms things down. Not everyone has a garden hose near the bee yard though
I placed a 30 gallon plastic drum underneath my air conditioner’s condesate drain . The drum has a “ rainwater hole “ drilled in the edge of the top’s rim that only allows for 1/4 inch of water to accumulate and all of the area’s bees use it as their common “ watering hole “ .
Thanks Frederick another fabulous video , always look forward to watching these on a Saturday morning in the uk 🇬🇧 , have a fantastic weekend everyone 👍🏻
Thank you so much!
Hi Fred most of us are new bee keepers. I love your vdo and i am sure others love these. I think you understand how tough it is to rase bees when you are new at this.
Hi Fred. Thanks for answering my question. I have a shark vac cant wait to try it. Pushing all the frames together at the same time will help too. I do inspect later 1:00. I dont do too late around 2 sometimes earlier my girls do orientation flights untill 7. Early this morning 50° I was doing an OAV treatment and saw a yellow jacket sneaking around. I was thinking the same as you. Little creep trying to get in my hive while my bees were too cold. Do have the beesmart robbing screen on. As always great video! Thank you Carolanne
Hi Carolanna, please remember that they often cluster at the temp you've described for the OAV treatment. I like it to be in the 60's so the OAV penetrates the cluster well and covers as much surface area as possible. They pack around the brood in particular with the lower temps.
@@FrederickDunn I did not know that. I knew they were probally clustered did not think of effectiveness. When we hit them around Thanksgiving with little or no brood do we wait till it's about 60 then? Thank you. I was trying to get them all in the hive.
This is only my second year my first year I lost them due to robbing so I’m not that far ahead I did not ask that question although it was a good question I’m learning a lot off your channel thank you
Another great q&a thank you
Thank you for watching! :)
Thanks so much Fred on the hive combine advice!
You're very welcome.
Great info. Thanks
I use cheap slabs of foam insulation board over my shammy/metal wire/ sugar. You can buy large slabs of insulated foam board for next to nothing at hardware store. Use a razor blade or pocket knife to score or cut it. Weigh the foam board tops down with a brick, etc. Be sure to cut board larger than your deep. Shammy cloth is sold at auto parts store or walmart. It's that cloth they use to advertising on "as seen on tv"
noticed a bunch of beetles yesterday,im using oil blasters and brawny h700 towels,to trap them
I haven't had a problem with Burr comb with the house I built only the ones I bought
just had a conversation w kentucky beek ,about upper vents,and how you discouraged that practice, and i think tom seely agrees,i shared images of tree nest examples, and image of circulation in a langstroth diagram,out the bottom, not the top...good info about the bee journal article
It's something that feels wrong to many old-time beekeepers as it's what they have always done. We definitely benefit from current science particularly with hive configuration and interior climate conditions.
@@FrederickDunn yes ,the guy seemed angry that i countered his beliefs on venting uppers,science ,people throw that word around ,but if i ask them the scientific method ,they dont want to listen, you know observe, repeat,document, test, i say theres good science, and poor science 😉 thank you sir
There is a church bell in Russia with open bottom that has no problem wintering in verry big cold even if the bell its made of metal.They can survive that cold because they dont have upper vents.
For wintering i add a plastic sheet cover and i wrap my beehives to form an air tight seal ,then keep the completely open bottom with wire mesh all winter.
My overwintering its trying to mimic that russian church bell conditions.
Open bottom of the hive plus bell type insulation its perfect for the winter but the open bottom i think its bad in autumn when the robbing starts.
Robbing its my only problem that let me without bees this year.
@@mihaiilie8808 seems cold drafts may kill them? through the bottoms ,my small entrance is the only opening ,and only insulated on top cover,also using slatted rack
@@sonofthunder. i winter all my beehives with completely open bottom ( usda zone 6).I have no problem with condensation wich is what kills the bees in winter,not the cold.
Tip for readers with Flow Hive Gabbled Roof for overwintering. I'm going to trying two layers of Reflectix inside my Gabbled Roof, along with a 3" shim stuffed with Alpaca wool.
Brad... Do you have Alpacas, grazing the Apiary !?! 😉
Or do you move your Hives to the Andean Mountains ?!?
I'll see myself out...
Here in Scotland.
Years back, I had a Fleece 'Pimp', aka a Sheep Farmer down in the South of England, who had an 'Support Alpaca' for his Flock ! Woke Sheep. 😭
Before Bees (watch out, they are very addictive! A Hive at start of this Season turned into x9 Hives ! Splits, Bought Queens, Purchased Swarms, And Bred own Queen(s)..... ✔
Pre Beekeeping :
I was an hooked on Spinning Yarn ! On a Traditional Wooden "Spinning Wheel",
(to Spin DIY Yarn, and Knit stuff...It's cold here in Bonnie Scotland, we have a lot of Sheep !
And, I got lots of Holes in my Socks !?! A Crafting Yarn Bomber (term for those make way to much Yarn, 🤣) on the Homestead, said add 'Alpaca Fleece to your Wool', and you'll no more Holes !
Alpaca is strong Yarn big time...😊
Anyhow, back to this Comment, got a washed Fleece in my Shed, it's mine !!
Sorry Girls, your getting "Chicken Grain Sacks," as Insulation / Anti Robbing Material...Got Chickens 🐔 and Runner Ducks here. 🦆
Surprised Fred "Fine Fowl" hasn't mentioned Feed Sacks, over that of the Shown Demo of thick Canvas !?!
Waste not, want not...
I do Bees, and Birds now... Over they other way said... Its a Family Friendly Show. 🤣
Happy Beekeeping 2021.
🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝
You think Beekeeping has odd terminology. Try working out a 'Niddy-Noddy' ? Or a 'Whirl' ? 1st for windy Yarn into Skeins, 2nd the thing that Spins Super Fast, that takes in the Yarn as its made...
Maybe I might make me some Socks when Bee Season closes...
Tip : Socks never fall down, if you have a Snug Fitting Heel !
Most store Socks fit Feet from say Adult Shoe Size 6 thru 8, so a heel is 'gapey'.
OK... its Bee talk, not Flock talk. 🐝🐑🐝🐑🐝🐑🐝🐑🐝
😉
@@ME_MeAndMyBees 🦋
Make sure to let us all know how that goes for you Brad :)
When I started beekeeping more than 10 years ago my mentor always told me that if I didn't know exactly why I was doing something my bees would probably be better of without me doing it. I still remind myself about this 10 years later and particularly when it comes to things like winter feeding. If you get this wrong you can easily do a lot more 'harm' than you do good. Overfeeding too early and your colonies can easily get honey bound, risking late swarming and lack of good winter bees, eventually leading to the likelihood of winter losses. Feed to little and too late and you will be forced to emergency feed your colonies through winter and spring, again risking winter losses. One thing is to understand the bees and their ways but equally important, or maybe even more important when it comes to winter feeding, is knowledge about the local flora and how even the best of knowledge can be thrown off by freak weather. Where I live we can get a quite hefty Ivy flow in September, which provides good nectar and some pollen too, so feeding too much before the Ivy flow can be disastrous and result in swarming colonies as late as October simply because they have run out of room. If the weather is terrible the Ivy flow will of course be minimised accordingly and a second round of feeding in late September or early October can be necessary. The bottom line is that nobody knows in advance and we beekeepers simply have to learn not just to read and understand our bees but also read and understand our local flora and how it is affected by the weather. There are no fixed recipes for success, no fixed amount of syrup to feed in any particular month, which is why is takes almost a lifetime to become an experienced beekeeper.......and in many ways that is a big part of the thrill of being a beekeeper.
Absolutely, it's a constantly moving target and remaing in tune with the bees is key.
yeah ultimate hive plastic tops are expensive comparedvto bee max foam,i have yet to try the beesmart insulated inner covers
I use both, the insulated inner cover and the BeeMax outer cover on that. Last winter, I had the feeder shims on and the BeeMax covers on and it made significant differences in consumption of resources. The insulated inner covers are indeed expensive at $31, but less expensive than the insulated telescoping wooden covers also on the market. I like the idea of the inner cover bringing that insulation directly over the winter cluster. We'll see how it goes, but yes indeed, it all runs into money.
Thanks for your reasoned response to questions, and thanks for the info regarding flowers, do you have any for trees? Do honey bees like Red sumac, or lilacs?
Trees area another powerful resource for the bees at different times of the year. Sumac is a great resource as are Linden trees and others. This is regional. The earliest pollen in my area is from trees.
Hi Freddrick, Thanks for sharing another great video! Question for you or other experts, "Is there any issue with honey bees feeding on watermelon rhine out in the compost pile? No honey is being harvested this fall.
No problems with that at all. Even if you had honey supers still on.
@@FrederickDunn Thank you!
Another great Friday session (though I caught it on Sunday after a weekend of bee work). Thanks, as always, Fred!
Just a quick update on my laying worker nuc (Q&A episode 125 I think) - after adding 2 frames of open brood and eggs the nuc formed a queen cell and I spotted the virgin on the weekend. She may just have been mated or may still be yet to mate. Will check again in a week or so.
So, a little patience and a couple of frames from a donor hive, and the laying workers were suppressed enough to raise a new queen. Very happy with that result, and keen to see how the new queen works out. She came from a very good-looking cell that was loaded with jelly.
That's great news, and thanks for sharing you update!
ruclips.net/video/4HaL9vckKzU/видео.html this will show how I just pull a couple of frames, in this case with a new queen, and install them without preparation. It worked very well. This really depends on how far gone the colony you're supporting is, and how defensive they seem to be. Nurse bees are readily accepted by the resident bees. If you want to pace the combining, then you can put double screened boards in for a day or to, then remove them. Newsprint also works, but if it's going into a single deep that's when I just swap frames directly with no delayed mixing of the bees. There may be some initial tiny conflicts, but they quickly accept the incoming resources. Bringing brood into a broodless colony has an immediate calming impact. You can actually hear them calm down. People doing this for the first time, may want to put that newsprint on and use a feeder shim if it's a single deep brood box situation.
The second question that’s the one I’m talking about I didn’t ask that one
Thanks for another informative video
Seen a lot about HiveGate giveaway
didn't get to try them yet,but intend to in spring
Until next time thanks
Frederick, you mentioned you don't use top entrances in winter. So what do you do? Do you go our ever month or so and pull of the reducers and clear about the dead bees? Your answer would of course be very helpful
He did mention a tool he has for scooping bees. I'd like to know how often it is done too.
@@SageandStoneHomestead I just ordered a dozen 20” wooden bbq sticks on Amazon. That’s should do it. And I would assume the plan is to try and clean it out when we get breaks above 40 degrees.
I keep the entrances cleared throughout winter. That's all that's needed. Last winter, I had no upper entrances and no venting other than the primary entrances on the landing boards.
@@FrederickDunn I appreciate that. Trying to find my happy medium because My hive is in a locked garden all winter that is 20 mins from my house. I guess I could go out ever few weeks and check up on them and clear dead bees.
Hello Mr. Dunn, thank you for your wonderful videos. The information you provide is invaluable to me as a beginner in beekeeping.
I have a question about the Beesmart insulated inner covers. I hope you can help me with this. I have 8 frame sized hives. When trying out the insulated inner cover on some extra Medium Hoover hives I have, 8 frame size, to check out how this would work, I can’t fit the medium 8 frame Hoover box over the insulated cover. The intention is for it to fit over the insulated inner cover to act as a feeder shim. It won’t fit. There are lots of gaps. I would appreciate your advice. Thank you
That's a great point, I'll talk about this on Friday!
Hi Fred - I tried getting into a few hives and move some frames around and before you know it there was robbing going on. I put everything back together and it calmed down after a bit. There isn't much nectar coming in even though there is a ton of golden rod around. I have drones around still by the way but I don't think they will be around much longer. I found the mouse hole experiments fascinating by Matthias Wandel :)
Matthias is a genius, and I enjoy his experiments. Robbing is on the rise this time of year, we need to be very active on that front :) It's amazing how quickly the raiders show up! Glad you still have drone resources if you end up needing them. Thanks for sharing.
Nature develops the need I think. Swarming is beneficial and necessary for the continuance of species. I just stepped on an anthill yesterday the ants had their wings.
Hi Frederick, don't know if you know or not, but your podcasts are now being carried on google podcasts. So they are probably popping up on lots of podcasting apps.... Congrats!
Howdy, Fred. Would a alcohol wash be beneficial to perform on the dead bees that would be found in a newly purchased package.
OOOhhh really? I have no idea how that even happens. Thank you for letting me know :)
Hi Ken, I did that very thing on packages that arrived dead this spring. Since they are already dead, it's a great way assess the loading. The mites have no where to go. However, if there are live bees in the package, expect the mites to clamor onto the living workers.
Hi Fredrick, great video again. My walk away split last week is doing well. I believe I have 1 closed queen cell and 1 open. Will re-inspect in a couple of weeks which should give enough time for a queen to hatch and mate. If not I’ll put another frame of eggs/young larvae from my brother’s hive and introduce it to my hive for another try at raising my own queen. Thanks for all your help and information. Also it’s spring here in oz.TrickyTrev 🇦🇺👍🐝🍯
Sounds like a good plan, glad you have your brother's bees as a resource. :)
@@FrederickDunn unfortunately I inspected my brother’s bees today and found 9 queen cells.it appears they swarmed just before I split them. However as we have the resources with all the queen cells, I guess we’ll be ok. Thanks again TrickyTrev 🇦🇺👍🐝🍯
Can you use 2 inch blue insulation foam in the telescoping cover along with the inner cover for winter?
You absolutely can, the bees can chew the insulation board, so seal off the opening in the inner cover.
To pre-empt robbing when it's necessary to get into hives, does it make sense to put robbing screens on those hives before even getting into them?
I'd rather provide reduced entrances and avoid robbing screens if at all possible. But you "could" put them on as a prevention.
@8:00- “they hate you and they’re gone.” 🤣🤣
It's a sad truth... (';')
Fred, I am in San Antonio, TX....winters here are typically mild, although this past February there was a quite disastrous snowfall, a once in a lifetime event for here. What if anything should I be doing for my hive to insulate the hive or insure they have sufficient resources? Candy boards? Pollen patties?
I'll talk about this preparation on Friday.
Frederick, Do you have a plan set for your long hive? Sounds like a good winter project
I hope to get those up soon! Sorry for the delay, they will be posted free on my website.
@@FrederickDunn Great can you give me your website ???
"They hate you and they're gone 🤷♂️" 🤣🤣🤣
I was feeding pollen patties so I put in some beetle traps that I poured mineral oil in. Another beekeeper told me to put a tiny amount of apple cider vinegar in the trap to attract the beetles, well now I have a teensy fly(gnat) problem. I have only caught 2 beetles and an ant on the swiffer sheets so I really didn't have much of a beetle problem but wanted to make sure I didn't get a beetle problem. I have noticed the gnats in the bottom of rapid round feeder when I changed it and on front on landing board. How do gnats affect the bees and how do I get rid of them. I'm in SE Wisconsin.
Those nats have no significant impact on the honey bees.
@@FrederickDunn thank you 😊
Does Cosmos reseed itself? Do they survive your winters?
They die off in winter and do re-seed, but the birds are taking the seeds in record numbers as they are ready, so I'll be seeding again in 2022 and see how it goes. They are considered annuals.
Won't be able to watch till late tomorrow night if someone wants to timestamp. If not I'll get it
Adam, I think you have earned a small vacation.
We'll wait for you Adam, you take your time :)
I'm about to watch it after I get coffee. 😇
A gallon is 8 lbs - you need 16 lbs of sugar for 2:1.
The dissolved sugar into 8lbs if water would increase the volume to be greater than a gallon, maybe the 8lbs of sugar (not liquid so the volume would differ) dissolved into 4lbs water would be a gallon? 🤷♀️
I seriously think my brain falls out of my head when I discuss those ratios! I make that very same mistake over and over! Thank you StGermain, you're absolutely right. My mom raised a dullard... :)
Sage, it definitely makes more than a gallon of syrup. As StGermain mentioned, 2:1 requires 16 lbs of sugar to a gallon of HOT water. It's very heavy and is more than a gallon of finished syrup.
@@FrederickDunn how could that be scaled down? Would it work to do 8lbs sugar and a half gallon of hot water?
@@SageandStoneHomestead yes you can scale down
Thank you for all of your helpful videos! I'm a first year keeper and you've helped me so much!
Can you tell me where I can purchase a HyfeGate?
Thank you!
www.fredsfinefowl.com/hyfegatetestingprogress.html the current link(s) will always be on this page.
@@FrederickDunn Thanks so much!
@Frederick Dunn Can you also let me know the brand of humidity sensor you use?
Minnesota here with the HiveGate how can it be placed in our flow hive? The flow hive has the white bottom board with two slits in back and sets below a screen. Placing the Hivegate entrance and hang above screen not flat. Thank you Jeri
For the Flow-Hive units, we have slatted racks on them also and that allows us to cut the slatted rack to accomodate the Hive-gate if it won't fit un-altered.
What are the “slatted racks”?
Where can I find a link to your Flow Hive videos.
I’m confused, do you attach a HiveGate entrance to the bottom of the slatted rack? Upside down? I can’t see how modifications to a slatted rack will help placement of a HiveGate since the entrance is built in to the Flow Hive bottom board.
@@brown0621 go to BetterBee a d get their WHITE anti/robbing Screen-it’s like $20 max…
🔆I have a FlowHive.. the FlowHive entrance is too tight for the HyfeGate…
🔆I also used the HyfeGate on my Classic Hive…
🔆I’m in NorCal… it’s Wasp/robbing season… prior to getting your anti robbing Screen from BetterBee you can fold In some hardware cloth.. to narrow down your FlowHive entrance that your GuardBers can protect. Good luck🔱
Hi Fred. David here from Brisbane Australia. I have sort of flow hives. Have you had a case when after you drain honey from the frame, the bees don’t start to remove the capping. This is the first time this has happened on my hives. Any items Fred?
David. KD Kurabees.
Hi David, I haven't had that issue yet. They most often begin chewing the cappings while the honey is being drained off. All I could say is to make certain that the frames are restored to the closed position and the bees "should" take care of the rest. A large number of Flow-Owners this year in particular, have forgotten to close the frames, or put new frames on without cycling them to the closed positions. I hope you'll give us an update as more time passes.
Hello Fred it's me again lol from Northern British Columbia, I want to ask what your temperature Celsius goes down to in your neck of the woods as it is my first winter coming up with horizontal hives ,I have insulated roof and bottom on my hives but wondering if I have to insulate sides to as we often get down to minus 20 or 25 in winter, and I also put in Apavar strips in my hive and will remove in another 20 days ,does this mean if there is a lot of resources left over in the spring that they cant be consumed by humans or do you just leave it for the bees,and yes my hives are from the Same thickness as you green horizontal, thanks Fred ,your advice is always appreciated.
You can leave that honey for the bees, orrrr, pull it in spring and store it for the colony it comes off of and feed it back to them during a period of dearth.
Researching oxalic acid so I can have the appropriate stuff on hand when I get my bees in spring, don't want to have a situation come up and not be prepared. Not seeing info on how long it lasts before expiring. Also, everything I'm seeing says to use in fall when the colony is broodless and not to use over 84 degrees F. What are you supposed to do if you have a high mite count at a different time of year when you're hive isn't broodless or when the temps are above 84? I live in Arizona and we spend a lot of the years well above 84...
Api-Bioxal has no shelf life, so no expiration date. It's distrubeted by Veto-Pharma in France. You may be confusing the temp restrictions with Formic. OAV is fine at those temps.
@@FrederickDunn Very strange. Thought I saw it on the same listing. The Api-Bioxal is the one that says to use late fall to early spring while broodless (description from the listing on the Dadant site) so that part of the question still remains. What if you find a high mite count mid summer when there's lots of brood? Glad to hear about the temp not being an issue...
Have you ever had issue with icicle forming at the entrance to the point of blocking it up? Thank you.
I can say that I've never had an icicle on or next to any of my hives, that's an interesting question.
@@FrederickDunn I had never seen it until this video (ruclips.net/video/wAjgbQKtcBY/видео.html&feature=share) on Kamon’s Chanel last week. I think I have an idea as to why. Would like to know hat you think of it???
I have a hive that went queen-less a month ago then when the virgin queen hatched she became a dragon fly meal they then made another queen but it being so late in the season should I capture the since the hive hasn’t had a chance to build up and combine it with another hive?
At least where I live, I would combine queenless colonies with queen-rite colonies. We're pretty much out of time.
i always get bee smart and bee max confused, i have a little of both,
I use both. :) BeeSmart makes their ultimate hive cover, but I prefer the added insulation of the BeeMax covers but they definitely need to be painted.
@@FrederickDunn yes thanks painted mine,holding up well
I'm having trouble finding the blue ones like you use on Google also
www.fredsfinefowl.com/hyfegatetestingprogress.html
Hi Fred, I am watching this video as I go through all your past videos and you mention using 1:1 sugar syrup in the Spring and 2:1 sugar syrup in the Fall. You then define 2:1 as 1-gallon water to 8-pounds of sugar. I have heard this same definition on many websites but if a gallon of water weighs 8.46 pounds wouldn’t mixing the gallon of water with 8 pounds of sugar result in a 1:1 ratio (by weight)? Thanks in advance for clarifying.
HI Brad, I tried to recover on that in the video description. My definition of 2:1 should have been 16 lbs of sugar to 1 gallon of water. I blew that one :) You are absolutely correct :)
I like u r video's very helpful but I am worried about yellow jackets n lots of big yellow hornets.i have long layens hive with 1/2 x4in entrance. Outside box is 2in rough cut pine
I have reduced my Long Langstroth entrance to 2" x 1/2" this time of year, down from 1/2" x 6" it should help a lot.
Have they quit making the blue gate reducer.i can't find anywere
Nope, they are making them and they are available via Bee IQ solutions. Takes a while since they ship from overseas.
I wonder why the glycerin is illegal? Is it bad or just not “officially “ tested?
Only being used under special permits for research. The testing and approval process is currently incomplete.
OA question for you....
I have the OA vaporizer from Blythewood and the last time I used it, it got deformed (metal melted) and one of my frames was burned. What did I do wrong?? I had used it before and never had that problem, but now, with fall/winter approaching, I need to do another OA treatment, but am very leery. Any suggestions/tips?? I do not want to set my hive on fire.
I would reach out to Blythewood to let them know what happened. Sounds like it was left on for too long and the pan melted. Aluminum has a relatively low melting point. BUT, if there is something wrong with the wiring, they need to know.
Vindicated!
Nice closing shots, Fred! I guess you are manually focusing. I think it might be pushing the auto focus on lens n camera.
All of my slow motion sequences are manual focus, no auto focus option there with that system.
Hey Fred can we get a link to that vacuum you talked about for question 9. I’d really like to know which one you are using that doesn’t harm any bees thanks 🐝🐝🐝
Tell them that Frederick Dunn sent you :) www.betterbee.com/pc_combined_results
Hello Frederick I have a question. I know you really can not legally say yes but on the OVA treatment now they say we can use it with our honey super on . Let’s say I have double deep brood and a medium honey super on . Before it would have been just the double deep brood. In both cases it would be the exact same amount of bees but with the honey super on you are treating more square inches of space with the same bees . SO to do you think it would look like you may need maybe a little more OVA to cover the extra square inches. I always follow the directions but it seems like it would take more to me . What is your thought 🤷♂️
The treatment amount is always for brood boxes,not honey supers.
Snowbees is correct, the dose is based on brood boxes.
Greetings Oh Mighty Magic Mister Dunn! :) I have a question!
If you believe your Varroa Mite loads are sufficiently high for a long enough period -- despite regular/multiple OAV treatments (like a 1x per 7 day for 3 weeks to hit uncapped worker brood across 21-day worker brood cycle) when brood amounts are low to begin with -- is it possible to combine methods? (e.g. Formic Acid *and* OAV?) Even if it's possible, would that be a recommendable action, or should combining methods only be a 'nuclear' option?
Thanks a million! Both for your regular advice and wisdom on RUclips for all of us out here on the innerwebnets! And for your entertainment of this question!
I would not combine methods, but rather alter methods for subsequential treatments if the numbers remain high. The current practice for the Oav increments is four treatments that are 5 days apart. The original 7 day cycle for three cycles proved less effective than the 5 day treatments. Always validate results with counts. The Api-Bioxal does have dosing but not periodicity anymore on the label.
I have 2 Hives and recently put a Hive Gate in each. I live in N Idaho. The yellow jackets destroyed my first hive 3 yrs ago--ground nesters. Didnt have a clue I needed to watch out for them. Ps. I dont, and never will, use Facebook so cant join your groups
Lots of people don't use facebook. No problem. I don't have another way to host a forum I'm sorry to say. How have the hive gate units impacted the yellow jackets this year?
I have a candy board (about 20 lbs of candy) I did not end up using last year. Can I use it this year?
Chuck Groth, St. Louis, MO
Hi Chuck, if it's still fresh looking (not soiled by last year's bees) I don't see why you can't put it back on the same colony.
Hello Fred, thank you for such an interesting channel.
Yes, in Norway we use poly hives poly covers, but we do not have choices.
All bee equipment is Norwegian standard and sold by a single company for commercial beekeepers.
We have rapid round feeders, but as you already know, they differ from batch to batch, the initial batch was good and no dead bees in it, but the new ones are not good at all. The dimensions are wrong and the texture on the cone is very poor.
I notice that you are using a sock on it to help with the problem. Does it really work and minimises the problem with drown bees? How do the bees react to it?
I tried it but the bee space became very narrow, and my bees just leak the sock and take a very long time to get the feed into the hive.
With 2 to 1 syrup, they do not get any at all. It is too thick do soak the sock.
Would you mind talking about your experience? Thank you.
Cheers from Oslo
Hi Rolando, I'll mention this on Friday. In the mean time, I'd suggest finding thinner socks if they are removing the opportunity for the bees to access the free surface of the sugar syrup. WE do need a well made Rapid Round that is well designed for honey bees. There are many copies being sold that are not coming from companies that understand beekeeping and beefeeding. Thanks for your question.
Thank you.
Hi fred, great vid as usual. I have a question sparked by a rather dictatorial opinion coming from my bee club (no bias here... ;) ) They are recommending we use Fumidil-B on all our hives as a prophylactic against Nosema. Fumidil-B is an antibiotic, and EVERYTHING I have read says to never use antibiotics unless there is an active infection that needs immediate treatment. Am I over reacting here? Is it safe to use this antibiotic in the fall even though there is no hint of nosema? Couldn't that just produce a resistant strain more quickly? They have " (... professionals with a proven track record).". I don't doubt it is effective, but is it safe?
Hi Greg, I can only speak for myself here. I would never treat for a condition that isn't proven to exist. I've never ever treated for nosema. Often what people think is nosema simply isn't. I'd ask who used the microscope and made the determination. I've done lots of nosema slides and only found a case in one of my colonies through the years. Just because the bees appear to have dysentery as they soil the front of a hive, doesn't demonstrate that they have nosema. HiveAlive has a proven track record in dealing with nosema and I'd use that before putting Fumidil in my hives. I'd advise strongly against using any medication without proving the conditions warrant its use. Many years ago it was just something you did as part of winter preparations and we need to, in my opinion, update our practices and treatments. Concentrate on healthy bees and if you suspect a problem, learn to use that microscope :)
Hi Fred how do you know what sort of bees you have if you get a swarm African or European?
I would guess by temperament.
Great question and there is only one way now and that's dna sequencing. However, they are becoming so hybridized that dna matching is less accurate. Temperment is key and any colony that is unreasonably aggressive and kills people or livestock needs no more identification that it's level of defensiveness.
European atck the beekeeper when checking the beehive ,10 bees.
African bees atack are around 100 bees.Those are dangerous.
How do you feel about hive alive
It's the only currently available essential oil mix that has scientific studies demonstrating it's positive impact on colony health and build up. Excellent for reducing nosema.
I live in South Central Texas and the wild bee population is mostly African hybrids . Robbing can begin after only a minute or so . When a robbing event occurs , I close my domesticated bee hives completely with 1/4 inch hardware cloth and the “ robbers “ loose interest and go away in just a few minutes . After about 30 minutes , I remove my covers and the robbers don’t come back .
I just got blocked from Stewarts beekeeping over the description of small hive beetles. They bodily proclaimed they have no small hive beetles. They lose
I have no idea who that is. If beekeepers don't permit discussions, then learning is possibly also greatly reduced.
🇱🇨👍🏿♥️
I see manny people in North America have pet horses.
Here the bees seem to kill a lot of horses as they are sensitive to bee stings due to their unusual immune sistem.
When i had a horse plowing a little of my yard ,i had to close my bees in the morning to protect the horse.
The horse didnt got stung but i could see verry angry and fast flying bees investigating him.
At the end of the work,i toght to buy and adopt that horse to spare his life from hard work but i couldnt because i kept bees.
Oddly ,that horse died last year and i suspect it was the bees( not my bees).He was tied between somme vineyard rows and had no escape.
Hopefully soon we will have a law against using animals like bulls and horses for work in the EU .
Rev Langstroth included guidence about horses in his book The Hive and Honey Bee, cautioning that you should not approach hives on a sweaty horse. We have horses all around here, I've not heard of them being more sensitive to bee stings. Can you kindly provide supporting science on that cautionary tale? My Morgan Horse stomped on yellow jacket nests and would get stung with no detectable allergic response. I'm curious about the horse killing bee events. Thanks.
@@FrederickDunn Its soo common in Moldova region( slightly more northern than me) that the wealthier beekeepers in somme villages ,collect monney to buy another horse for the family that tgeir horse was killed by the bees.
There was an incident when a single beehive killed 3 horse at once,a donkey,3 mens and put 5 kids into intensive care.
They might have agresive bees like africanised bees or even more agressive,but still its a lot of damage from a single beehive.
There is a big debate on local beekeepers club there ,discussing the idea to pay insurance if the bees kill a horse.
In the comments they say that horses have an unusual immune system and that they are sensitive to bee stings.Horses have unusual allergy treatments,suited for them.
But why the bees react like that to innocent horses its a mistery.Somme say that the horse slap the inspecting bee with their tail but that alone is impossible to cause such agresive behaviour.
Im gonna look for a link .
@@FrederickDunn This man got 1100 plus stings.Horse dead plus 2 passers by that got to intensive care.
Its in romanian language but a proof of how agresive they can get. ruclips.net/video/4Gs26rBBQ0k/видео.html
@@mihaiilie8808 Thank you, I look forward to learning more about this. I couldn't find many case studies in the U.S.. All very interesting! Thanks for bringing this up.
@@FrederickDunn Somme beekeeprs say it takes 5 bee stings to kill a horse but a single bee sting can kill the horse if its on his head.
And they say that the fields of Canola there,make the bees extremely agressive .
And put out traps to catch swarm