Another very helpful video, you are fast becoming my go to for all my bee keeping. As some one who is only in his second year off bee keeping, your content is like a bible for me.. Learning so much from them.
Hi Danny, Thanks for commenting. I remember clearly the first beehive I had, it gave me a lot of fun and satisfaction especially when I tasted my first honey crop. Good luck with the coming season. Stewart
Great video, amazing how they build up every space!! I dont use queen excluders. Just personal. Even tho the queen can't get up, I do notice that some bees struggle too. I give her free roaming and never had her using the supers fro brood.
Good video. I don't agree with an earlier post suggesting you are rough with your bees- you show good handling skills, good use of the smoker to move bees out of the way and you limit your inspections to what is necessary and adjust to the climate ot the time. My only concern is putting on too much extra space when the colony isn't really that strong. You put a new brood box (national) with foundation and a super on that commercial hive- I would have have considered one or the other. That second hive was weak with many frames not covered with bees, putting on a super was too early in my opinion it's only likely to slow the colony down with too much empty space- especially as you don't have any roof insulation. Keep up the good work
Eyeman, Thanks for getting stuck into watching my videos I really appreciate it. The OSR was packed away, we had a really good flow and the bees did really well at this site. I can't quite remember the outcome of the colonies you're talking about but overall the return on this site was very good. Do you use roof insulation on all your colonies? How many colonies do you have as a matter of interest? I don't use any insulation on any of my beehives but thinking about the implecations of your suggestion and whether it will benefit my bees. Thanks for the thought provoking comments. Stewart
Hi Adel, Thanks for the question, wait until there is a good nectar flow and the brood box is full to bursting, almost on the verge of swarming before you put the first super with foundation on them. If it is the very first super you could leave the queen excluder off for a few days or another option is to lightly spray the foundation with light sugar syrup. Make sure the wax is as fresh as it can be, the bees always prefer fresh wax to last years old, dry wax. If you are putting it on a colony that already has a super that is drawn and full of honey place the second super beneath the full super and this will encourage the bees to walk across it and use it. I hope that helps. Stewart
Hello Stewart again.I want to ask if u use an upper entrance above the queen excluder so that the bees wont have to travel through the bottom and through the excluder when they arrive with nectar and what is you're opinion in general about tyring bees or having smaller amounts of honey when using a queen excluder.Thank u.
Hi Panagiotis L, I've never used an entrance above the queen excluder or kept bees without a queen excluder. I think I might try a colony this year without a queen excluder and see what happens. Stewart
Thank u Stewart for answering because you see here in Greece every beekeeper that i have talked to, do not use a queen excluder and are against because they believe that it drops the quantity and the productivity at total of a hive.I used queen excluders last year on 60 beehives and was very glad about doing it so i'm starting to become a fun of using them. Thank u and keep up the good job.
Hi Stewart, you mention not needing to feed as you are in a honey flow. If this wasn't the case and you needed to feed, could you place a super of last years honey on top rather than feeding syrup please. Many thanks and regards. Gregg
Hi Gregg, The issue that sometimes arises is the bees seem stubborn about not going up into the super that has foundation in it, adding the super when there is a flow on means that they generally find themselves forced up into the super by the sheer weight of nectar coming in. If you felt the need to try to drag the bees up into the super then you could put an already filled super from the previous season on top but it's probably easier to just remove the queen excluder for a few days and let the queen move up, once she's walked up onto the foundation the workers generally move up as well. Stewart
Question about the wax in that super, that you put on: Do the bees 'demolish and rebuild' the entire thing, or do they refit it to match their own dealings ?
Hi, The bees use it as a template and build out from the embossed pattern that is already in the wax (most of the time!). Other times they just go ahead and do their own thing and we have to start over and try to encourage them into our way of thinking again! Stewart
Stewart, did you check that DRONE brood for mites, they love to hide with the Drones... longer in the cocoon, better chances I guess, but here in the states, it is a very common practice to check the drone cells for Varroa.
Hi Pamela, Thanks for commenting. There is a date shown on each video upload and each video is uploaded within a few days of being recorded. If you look at the video description the date is shown on the left-hand side. Stewart
Hi Neill, Glad you found the video interesting. The hives all have floors, are you referring to the bottom inspection boards not being in place? Stewart
great video Stewart....question. does it really matter if the slats on queen excluder run across the frames or with the frames. I cant seem to find metal frames that run across. --thanks
Hi, Not at all, I'm guessing you're on langstroth's? Our national and commercial hives are a square footprint so it's easy to switch them around. Stewart
What is pollen substitute? can you and would you eat a table spoon? why do your bees need a substitute? how long have your bees needed pollen substitute? are your bees local British bees if so how long have they been" local"? my friend is a wild bee and he wants to know your bees need you to feed them. Thank you
Hi Johnathan, Thanks for the question. Pollen substitute is a mix of protein and other supplements that allow the bees to grow in size earlier in the season before a lot of the natural pollens are available for the bees. Yes I have tried eating pollen substitute, most of the constituent parts are found in products that we all eat. My bees are from the local area but have a mix of genetics in them that means they are not Apis mellifera mellifera. I would like to have purely native bees but with so many other beekeepers importing other subspecies I don't think I will have much of a chance. I'm glad you are friends with the local wild bees, we need more people like you to help our wild bee populations. I do feed my bees sometimes when there is very little forage around for them such is the case right now and several of my colonies would die if I did not help them out with extra food before the Winter. Stewart
Thanks for the reply I understand now... you don't know whats in the "mix of protein and other supplements" thats okay ...I suggest you find out quick cos WILD bees don't need it and they are doing fine. I think beekeeper are un-knowingly breeding inferior weak bees that mate with local or infect wild bees and as "keepers of the bees" its your responsibility to make sure you have tough strong and resilient bees correct? that means no warm blanket no Monsanto sprinkled magic dust, Be a Keeper not a factory. if a hive dying let it and focus on the hive thats not and breed from them, if all your hives die over winter then 1 of 2 things have happened #1 you've brought a panda bear to the desert useless fucking things but yeah try keep a panda alive in a desert.. #2 you're over working or taking to much honey from the hives... and both solutions require you to do less work, it's hard to change but nature will find a way if you let it... just ask yourself what did bees do 100 years ago. Be safe be good have an awesome day. Johnathan
looks an awful lot like canola that is grown here. Are we calling the same thing different names or is this a different plant? likely just looks similar.
Hi, I think it is mostly the same plant, Brassica napus, but there are various cultivars of the plant ranging from organic to GM so although all from the brassica family I think there are some genetic differences. For me, our plants here in the UK normally give a good honey flow which produces a nice honey that granulates fast making it best suited to creamed honey. Stewart
yeah that is very similar. Canola is a strong summer flow and it will granulate even in the hive within a few weeks of being capped if one was to leave it. We need to remove it all, even from the brood nest , in fall before they stockpile for winter or they can starve on the granulated honey in our extreme cold. Do you mind me asking how many Lb's a good hive should conceivably produce in a season where you are? Scott
We suffer the same result if we leave the OSR honey in the hive but they seem to cope quite well with any that is in the brood box. Lb's is the honey box I'm guessing? I use a national super for my honey boxes as I have something of a bad back issue! I look to get 7-10 boxes from my producer colonies and if I get it right then they max out that amount. Usually split between Spring flow and Main Summer fairly equally if I get them on OSR and all the usual factors play ball (Weather, swarming, beekeeper incompetence!). A national super will hold around 25-30lbs of honey if that helps. Last year wasn't a great start so we lost a lot of the Spring flow, Summer was fantastic though :). Now if I could get all my producers colonies to work to my plan I could probably retire in a couple of years but you know how it goes..... Stewart
Neat, so you should pull close to 300 lbs, sounds exactly like our Canola. Each Deep will usually hold about 45 lbs of honey. A productive hive here will pull 300 lb's to 400+ lbs if comb is already drawn and depending on the year. Scott
Washing soda or soda crystals are basically a cleaning product that softens water so I imagine you need to look out for water softener? The actual ingredients of the washing soda are Sodium Carbonate Decahydrate, Magnesium Hydroxide, Silica I hope that helps
Another very helpful video, you are fast becoming my go to for all my bee keeping. As some one who is only in his second year off bee keeping, your content is like a bible for me.. Learning so much from them.
I'm glad you are finding the videos of use.
Your vids help me understand things so much. I'm a beginner have one hive in garden since end of sept 2016....
Hi Danny,
Thanks for commenting. I remember clearly the first beehive I had, it gave me a lot of fun and satisfaction especially when I tasted my first honey crop.
Good luck with the coming season.
Stewart
thanks Stewart for answering my question I'm almost one year old in beekeeping your videos are so useful and make it easier to understand
You are very welcome,
If you have any questions just put them in the comments and I will do my best to help.
Stewart
Great video, amazing how they build up every space!! I dont use queen excluders. Just personal. Even tho the queen can't get up, I do notice that some bees struggle too. I give her free roaming and never had her using the supers fro brood.
That's really interesting,
I might give it a try in a couple of my hives over the Summer and see what happens.
Stewart
An excluder trail video , nice one, thanks!
Thank you so much for a great video! Just subscribed and shared!
Hi Tracey,
Thanks for commenting, subscribing and sharing. Excellent work :)
Stewart
Oh I love those bee space surprises! I learned the hard way about bee space. Thanks again.
Hi Jeffrey,
Yes, the bees certainly fill up any gaps you leave for them!
Stewart
Good video. I don't agree with an earlier post suggesting you are rough with your bees- you show good handling skills, good use of the smoker to move bees out of the way and you limit your inspections to what is necessary and adjust to the climate ot the time.
My only concern is putting on too much extra space when the colony isn't really that strong. You put a new brood box (national) with foundation and a super on that commercial hive- I would have have considered one or the other.
That second hive was weak with many frames not covered with bees, putting on a super was too early in my opinion it's only likely to slow the colony down with too much empty space- especially as you don't have any roof insulation.
Keep up the good work
Eyeman,
Thanks for getting stuck into watching my videos I really appreciate it.
The OSR was packed away, we had a really good flow and the bees did really well at this site. I can't quite remember the outcome of the colonies you're talking about but overall the return on this site was very good.
Do you use roof insulation on all your colonies? How many colonies do you have as a matter of interest? I don't use any insulation on any of my beehives but thinking about the implecations of your suggestion and whether it will benefit my bees.
Thanks for the thought provoking comments.
Stewart
question about how to encourage Bees to build the super foundation frames
Hi Adel,
Thanks for the question, wait until there is a good nectar flow and the brood box is full to bursting, almost on the verge of swarming before you put the first super with foundation on them. If it is the very first super you could leave the queen excluder off for a few days or another option is to lightly spray the foundation with light sugar syrup. Make sure the wax is as fresh as it can be, the bees always prefer fresh wax to last years old, dry wax. If you are putting it on a colony that already has a super that is drawn and full of honey place the second super beneath the full super and this will encourage the bees to walk across it and use it.
I hope that helps.
Stewart
Hello Stewart again.I want to ask if u use an upper entrance above the queen excluder so that the bees wont have to travel through the bottom and through the excluder when they arrive with nectar and what is you're opinion in general about tyring bees or having smaller amounts of honey when using a queen excluder.Thank u.
Hi Panagiotis L,
I've never used an entrance above the queen excluder or kept bees without a queen excluder. I think I might try a colony this year without a queen excluder and see what happens.
Stewart
Thank u Stewart for answering because you see here in Greece every beekeeper that i have talked to, do not use a queen excluder and are against because they believe that it drops the quantity and the productivity at total of a hive.I used queen excluders last year on 60 beehives and was very glad about doing it so i'm starting to become a fun of using them. Thank u and keep up the good job.
Hi Stewart, you mention not needing to feed as you are in a honey flow. If this wasn't the case and you needed to feed, could you place a super of last years honey on top rather than feeding syrup please. Many thanks and regards. Gregg
Hi Gregg,
The issue that sometimes arises is the bees seem stubborn about not going up into the super that has foundation in it, adding the super when there is a flow on means that they generally find themselves forced up into the super by the sheer weight of nectar coming in. If you felt the need to try to drag the bees up into the super then you could put an already filled super from the previous season on top but it's probably easier to just remove the queen excluder for a few days and let the queen move up, once she's walked up onto the foundation the workers generally move up as well.
Stewart
Question about the wax in that super, that you put on: Do the bees 'demolish and rebuild' the entire thing, or do they refit it to match their own dealings ?
Hi,
The bees use it as a template and build out from the embossed pattern that is already in the wax (most of the time!). Other times they just go ahead and do their own thing and we have to start over and try to encourage them into our way of thinking again!
Stewart
Thanks !!
Stewart, did you check that DRONE brood for mites, they love to hide with the Drones... longer in the cocoon, better chances I guess, but here in the states, it is a very common practice to check the drone cells for Varroa.
Love your videos but would appreciate if you give the date your are inspecting hives or doing anything in the apiaries. Thank you.
Hi Pamela,
Thanks for commenting. There is a date shown on each video upload and each video is uploaded within a few days of being recorded. If you look at the video description the date is shown on the left-hand side.
Stewart
Very interesting Stewart. Is there a reason why the hive does not have a bottom?
Hi Neill,
Glad you found the video interesting. The hives all have floors, are you referring to the bottom inspection boards not being in place?
Stewart
As frames were removed, I could see the grass blowing in the wind through the bottom of the hive.
Hi Neil,
Yes, that's the open mesh floor, there is a floor but the grass grows up and through the mesh sometimes.
Stewart
great video Stewart....question. does it really matter if the slats on queen excluder run across the frames or with the frames. I cant seem to find metal frames that run across. --thanks
Hi,
Not at all, I'm guessing you're on langstroth's? Our national and commercial hives are a square footprint so it's easy to switch them around.
Stewart
thanks! love your videos....cant wait to see some on notching next year. OTS On The Spot queen breeding
did you fix the bottom hive by putting in a frame?
Hi Joe,
Sorry I should have said in the video, went back the following day and put in a dummy board.
Stewart
What is pollen substitute? can you and would you eat a table spoon? why do your bees need a substitute? how long have your bees needed pollen substitute? are your bees local British bees if so how long have they been" local"? my friend is a wild bee
and he wants to know your bees need you to feed them. Thank you
Hi Johnathan,
Thanks for the question. Pollen substitute is a mix of protein and other supplements that allow the bees to grow in size earlier in the season before a lot of the natural pollens are available for the bees. Yes I have tried eating pollen substitute, most of the constituent parts are found in products that we all eat. My bees are from the local area but have a mix of genetics in them that means they are not Apis mellifera mellifera. I would like to have purely native bees but with so many other beekeepers importing other subspecies I don't think I will have much of a chance.
I'm glad you are friends with the local wild bees, we need more people like you to help our wild bee populations. I do feed my bees sometimes when there is very little forage around for them such is the case right now and several of my colonies would die if I did not help them out with extra food before the Winter.
Stewart
Thanks for the reply I understand now... you don't know whats in the "mix of protein and other supplements" thats okay ...I suggest you find out quick cos WILD bees don't need it and they are doing fine. I think beekeeper are un-knowingly breeding inferior weak bees that mate with local or infect wild bees and as "keepers of the bees" its your responsibility to make sure you have tough strong and resilient bees correct?
that means no warm blanket no Monsanto sprinkled magic dust, Be a Keeper not a factory. if a hive dying let it and focus on the hive thats not and breed from them, if all your hives die over winter then 1 of 2 things have happened #1 you've brought a panda bear to the desert useless fucking things but yeah try keep a panda alive in a desert.. #2 you're over working or taking to much honey from the hives... and both solutions require you to do less work, it's hard to change but nature will find a way if you let it... just ask yourself what did bees do 100 years ago. Be safe be good have an awesome day.
Johnathan
looks an awful lot like canola that is grown here. Are we calling the same thing different names or is this a different plant? likely just looks similar.
Hi,
I think it is mostly the same plant, Brassica napus, but there are various cultivars of the plant ranging from organic to GM so although all from the brassica family I think there are some genetic differences. For me, our plants here in the UK normally give a good honey flow which produces a nice honey that granulates fast making it best suited to creamed honey.
Stewart
yeah that is very similar. Canola is a strong summer flow and it will granulate even in the hive within a few weeks of being capped if one was to leave it. We need to remove it all, even from the brood nest , in fall before they stockpile for winter or they can starve on the granulated honey in our extreme cold. Do you mind me asking how many Lb's a good hive should conceivably produce in a season where you are?
Scott
We suffer the same result if we leave the OSR honey in the hive but they seem to cope quite well with any that is in the brood box. Lb's is the honey box I'm guessing? I use a national super for my honey boxes as I have something of a bad back issue! I look to get 7-10 boxes from my producer colonies and if I get it right then they max out that amount. Usually split between Spring flow and Main Summer fairly equally if I get them on OSR and all the usual factors play ball (Weather, swarming, beekeeper incompetence!). A national super will hold around 25-30lbs of honey if that helps. Last year wasn't a great start so we lost a lot of the Spring flow, Summer was fantastic though :).
Now if I could get all my producers colonies to work to my plan I could probably retire in a couple of years but you know how it goes.....
Stewart
Neat, so you should pull close to 300 lbs, sounds exactly like our Canola. Each Deep will usually hold about 45 lbs of honey. A productive hive here will pull 300 lb's to 400+ lbs if comb is already drawn and depending on the year.
Scott
Hi Scott,
Yes around the 300lb mark if all the planets align!
Stewart
I'm not sure what this plant is?....
Hi nobama no way,
Oil Seed Rape is also known as canola in various parts of the world.
Stewart
washing soda?... is that like baking soda?
Washing soda or soda crystals are basically a cleaning product that softens water so I imagine you need to look out for water softener?
The actual ingredients of the washing soda are
Sodium Carbonate Decahydrate, Magnesium Hydroxide, Silica
I hope that helps
C