any problem with chewing the poly?

A good healthy hive will have queen cells all over the frames not just the bottom. What you should do with a hive that has cells and an awesome queen still inside is immediately make a split with said queen so that she then doesn't fly off with half the work force and most importantly you don't lose the killer queen. I'd also suggest never using swarm cells unless your forced to. Who knows how well those cells were fed. In a cell builder hive you know for a fact the cells were fed ample amounts of royal jelly. If you use the jzbz cups you can even see just how full the cell is with royal jelly to insure they are fed correctly. Also man just because a hive is behind others doesn't mean it's the queen... your birtch hive looked like it was lacking resources compared to the maple hive. That could have been why the queen wasn't laying as much, or it could have had disease pressure. Pro tip, a virgin queen will be super skinny compared to a mated well fed queen, hopefully that makes it easier to spot a virgin compared to a mated queen. Also unless you've seen a top of queen cells its hard to tell wich is the best. If you ever see a really long cell it's bad, the larva falls down and for some reason the bees make the cell longer. The best cell is the one that looks identical to all the rest. Another reason why you shouldn't use a swarm cell unless your forced to, not that your a novice. Idk what you are. But I will say a queen made on purpose in a cell builder hive is best in 99% of cases. You can choose wich genetics you want, you can compare them to all the rest very easily, you can see how much the cell has been fed and you won't lose any hives or queens in the process. I choose wich hive I want to use, I then make a split with the queen , I then add bees and feed the cell builder heavily so that I know for a fact that it'll have what it needs to make my cells the very best cells I may note. Cells builders are the way to go. It's so easy to do. At the end of making the cells you can then put one of them into the cell builder and then you haven't lost a single asset in the process. You can even add bees from other hives to the cell builder if need be to make it bursting at the seems. Go watch Bob binnie and how he makes cell builder colonies. Bob is a treasure trove of knowledge!!

Anyone else sitting here waiting for version 3.0?

Put aluminum foil between a layer of cement blocks and put veggie oil & Loranns super strength cinnamon essential oil together on the underside of aluminum. I paint the top side of aluminum so it matches blocks. Tilt the foil downward. You’ll have ants nest under blocks and keep debris field clean, but not above the aluminum layer. It lasts about 6 months before you respray veggie oil (I use Pam) and cinnamon essential oil goes right under the bottom edge. Ants don’t chew aluminum foil. Thin packing sheet above foil helps if you have friction between blocks.

Miss your KZbin videos.

Ants… surround your legs with aluminum foil and oil them with veggie oil and Loranns super strength cinnamon essential oil. Lasts for 6 months. Line the bottom of your barn with aluminum and do it there too. The aluminum will get cold but foam keeps it from getting to hives. Wax moths.. they are going to chew styrofoam. It’s fine. Provides insulation on the bottom where their debris is. If you put thin wood inside, and foam outside, the bees will be able to do patrol the warm wood wall.

Peak a boo window for cheap.. use cake dessert plastic. It comes in a roll. It gets put around a dessert so you can see the layers. I wish I had thought of it sooner. I got a roll of it off Amazon for less than $15. You can use it with a foam layer for stability.

Put the wood back. Trust me. They do better with a surface that they can communicate static energy on through their legs. I do like foam too because they can chew gaps where they want it. But they use their limbs to communicate some type of thermal signatures electromagnetic type info. They will propolize the foam to create that surface over time.

Put a foam packing sheet over the frames. No condensation issues. The bees propolize it heavily to the frames. They are fine with small access holes away from the center. They will chew vent access holes themselves where they want them.. usually more towards the sides

Put a foam packing sheet over the frames. No condensation issues. The bees propolize it heavily to the frames. They are fine with small access holes away from the center. They will chew vent access holes themselves where they want them.. usually more towards the sides

Off center holes are ok. No holes over center.

Bees need to be able to create a suction to move air. So that’s why they only like a small entrance.

Full insulation works because they work from surface temp. The air temp isn’t as important as the surface temperatures.

Continuous comb works because wax can be heated by bees. When they move frames, they got to heat the comb

Bottom board temps got too warm consistently. Pay attention to the inner bottom board surface temp. You’ll see.

Water absorbing plant crystals handle moisture issue immediately.

Water absorbing plant crystals handle moisture issue immediately.

Jim, you were so right!! I built bee cabinets out of poly pro and put them around the insulated box. There’s a slight air gap between the cabinet and the tightly insulated box. The temp inside the cabinet stays comfy because the foil lining is facing an air gap. The bottom board interior stays about 55 despite cold temps outside. I was concerned about the warm days we get at time. It’s been a humid 90 at Christmas and then next week it’s 10- 20 degrees for a month. But no, the 4 ft tall poly pro bee cabinets are working! My bees are just veggies inside. So quiet. I did put a few layers of foam packing sheets over their frames with a few off centered holes for upper access in every other frame gap. Then I added a medium up there and left a syrup feeder. It stays 70 degrees up in the feeder box. The bees super propolised the soft foam packing sheets to their frames. When I changed the 12oz syrup feeder, I don’t take their heat away in the process. I only change the syrup feeder once a month. I also leave a container with water absorbing crystals in there so they would have a warm water supply. If condensation or moisture is an issue, put a mesh bag with water absorbing crystals in it. The bees can lick the water off the crystals and they don’t freeze. I miss your videos. I couldn’t do all the wood work. I just figured how to do it using your principles and dude these bees are just coasting. A tip.. keep the landing board dry and dark when you want them to veg out inside. If it’s gonna be warm, they will make their way out when the air at the entrance warms the bottom board area and they see light. The only time I see my bees is around 3pm on a nice day when sun hits their bottom board & they do entrance flights in mass amounts. So light on the landing board is important (keep it dark if you want them to stay inside). If your interior bottom board surface temp is 55, the bees are just fine in cold temps. They won’t cluster. They will just recycle heat. Wet bees… it’s important because wet bees can’t generate this heat signal from their limbs. I’ve got many examples on film. I suspect it’s why a death ball is so hot. I know the textbooks say it’s abdomal muscles vibrating, but I’m telling you I’ve watched bees walk on my warm hand and their legs light up on a thermal camera, even though their abdomen are cool. It may just be younger bees and this is a way they warm up. But the skin under that spot in my hand started lighting up. The bee wouldn’t do it on cool fatty tissue and when flipped over on its back, the limbs remained white hot. But if it touched even residual warm moisture, the limbs immediately cooled. So I believe this is what washboarding is about (static chatter), and also how bees spike the hive temp immediately before swarming. I also believe this is why they fly to their new home on humid days. I wouldn’t be shocked if the swarm bees had white hot limbs. And a cluster in a cold hive, it’s probably the bees limbs on the wax that are recycling thermal energy and how the heater bees know it’s time to heat up. If a bees tarsi is damaged, it is completely black. But the rest of limb is lit up.. anyways.. your philosophy aligns completely with this. I miss your videos. Check out water absorbing crystals… incredible way of resolving moisture. I throw the mesh bag full of em on the landing board to draw up and moisture that got on it from rain. Works incredible

Also please stop removing queen cups, the bees will instantly make them back, your waisting their resources. Empty cups are just a sign of a well off colony, a colony that has wealth to spare. Stop saying you fixed something that never had an issue, take the blame and move on. Keep mites under control, feed your bees, and you'll be set, no keep for insulation.

Supers in April are pretty normal my friend. Stop trying to act like it's your insulated hives. You said it yourself, you had mite issues then fixed them. Keep mites under control and the rest will be taken care of by the bees. Usually in my area brod leaf maples start blooming late March early April. Your hives are doing good because you learned how to take care of them. My hives look the same as yours with zero insulation. Just regular old langstroth hives.. the bad part about making your own hives is really having equipment that's inner changeable with everyone surrounding you. Can't make splits easily, can't sell bees easily. Drones are normal that time of yr as well, I get drones in early March sometimes even in February. If you put anything on top of your hives that absorbs moisture like a quilt box you'll will always have moisture problems. Lol. I challenge you to try a langstroth again. I'd bet you'd have the same results you now get. You didn't lose 11 of 12 hives from moisture or cold problems because you still have the moisture issues on your second yr but your bees were fine... that should have been the dead giveaway that it's mites that killed your bees not moisture or cold! I stand by that cold does not kill bees! Mites and disease weaken them and then they die. Control mites and youll be just fine.

Good God, this hive is like those trucks in Japan with all the mirrors and, millions of dash ornaments etc etc. Langstroth hives work just fine, a healthy hive doesn't die from cold this is insane!! The reason that Ian steppler puts his hives inside for the winter is due to the fact it hits like 25 below and colder where he lives. Holding your hives at 35-40 degrees F is because they burn the least amount of fuel at that temp thus giving him a better success rate. Commercial folks want the highest success rate possible. Theain reason is because of how many feet of snow he gets, putting his bees inside also males it much easier for him to maintain during the winter. Someone like this dude should have zero problem getting his jibes through the winter. No need for all this crap! So many poeple make beekeeping so much harder than it needs to be. How the heck do you harvest honey or put 5 supers on one hive?? How much does one of these hives cost? This is pure insanity! No offense my guy, anyone watching these videos needs to go watch Bob binnie or even Ian steppler. Really depends on where you live and how often your in your bees.. when you hive is above 40 degrees they will burn as much if not more energy than if it was 20 degrees. When it's 30-40 degrees bees stay mostly dormant and burn the least amount of energy. I use solid bottom board with zero insulation, no humidity problems at all and I live on the west or west side of Oregon at about 700ft elevation. Average winter temp is about 25 degrees. I do reduced entrance as well, bees need moisture, bees drink the moisture all winter long. It all comes down to having a healthy hive. Gotta stay 5 moves ahead of the bees at all times. I'd guess that 95% of bee loss is due to mite problems and crap like this that give poeple false hopes and distracts from the real issues. Mites and feeding. Treat for mites 3 times a yr and feed your bees at the proper time. You shouldn't be feeding in the fall, should all be done in August-september using the summer bees not the winter bees.

Can you built this in ethiopia how many usd need 500m2

From not sure how to build a bee frame into Making the Bee Barn, what an amazing progress you've gone through!

Hiveiqs, problem with heat and cold solved. A lot less work and expense.

What climate zone do you live in?

I have a queen bee as well was to have her she is Italian queen same as your queenless hive

I have a queen bee as well was to have her she is Italian queen same as your queenless hive

Hey man. You good?? Miss ya

This new queen is called replacement queen. She is a way better than an emergency queen!

Beautiful. Thanks for showiing how you did it. Such a lovely place for wildlife and raising a child to love the earth and it's beauty and mysteries.

Don't the bees chew on the polystyrene?

How successful were your Russian Bees as honey producers? Were they aggressive or calm to work with? Would you recommend them to those are interested in having Russian Bees? I am interested but heard they are very aggressive and hard to work with.

Love this! My one concern is with the box at the bottom of the panels ... could this retain water and be an issue?

Any one build in of these in the midwest ?? We have some stupid heat at times …

My wax still looks brownish. What can I do?

Miss your videos hope all is ok.

You are a genius. Don't question that. Thanks so much.

I'm curious to know if this ever came to fruition. Used the bee barn for the 1st time this year, and I love it. Never saw soo much brood all over the brood chamber like I have this year.

A bee frame made by someone who doesn't make splits successful, obvious!

In the UK, the normal standard is the National Hive. Typically, we overwinter on 'brood and a half' so this idea would work well for us too. The two biggest players in the UK beekeeping supply business are Maisemore and Thornes. If they took this idea up in the National frame format, then I'm sure it would be successful here!

Great videos! You're an excellent teacher 🙂

Do you still have Russian Bees?

Looking for a hoop house

Sweet, it bee even sweeter if you made a new video 😮

Great to learn from experience. You might want to read Lazutin.

Like what you did. Thought same way. Like European frames. Narrow but taller to mimic nature... about same thing... put those into top bar hive. Develop own barn. Looks good ... mostly important keep bees not to cold in winter ...

Upload new videos.......

Great stuff thank you.

Layens hive?!