Enjoyed your video. I don't recall anyone showing that in their videos. Great idea with scale. I would like to add one very important caution. Lifting a hive is difficult, however sometimes a hive is super light. I had one hive nearly slide off the rails, as it had been robbed. (they survived on sugar block). So we need to be careful not to actually move the boxes. Also your heft difference is about 1/2 the stores since you're not lifting the whole box.

Looks like my luggage scale! Genius!

what size is your shim/furring strip?

Where did you get the stand/table from?

ingenious. hope your channel catches on this is all fantastic stuff.

Well explained, this is the way to manage your beehives not only in the winter but also in summer, believe me it works.

As always Awesome video, I just purchased one myself. Using next week. Happy Holidays ❤ 🐝

Team Insulation one entrance👍🏻 leaving my top insulation on this summer.

It's a good time of year to treat! I like your setup! I failed to plan for treating with my hive wraps too I have to undo the back to treat. Thanks for sharing!

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These warm days in Dec. the bees are very active. The down side of the warm days is they are going through resources quickly. Already most of my hives have gone through a full deep box of resources. I fed them heavily in Oct and they are eating their resources up. I seen mite levels were increasing and don't have a vaporizer so I put in OA strips. I was impressed how well the strips have been knocking down the mite loads and was glad I didn't wait to treat these hives. I think my results were just as effective as vaporizing. Some would say the strips are not cost effective. But in the long run not losing population and having healthier bees, not having a colony collapse should compensate the cost

Northern WI, pack it down

Good idea.

Nice looking hives . A suggestion might be to reduce the entrance size to keep out mice.

Totally agree that location is a major consideration as to how to winterize. An observation. I'd be interested to see what happened in your home if you taped shut all the soffits around the lower roof line above the insulation. Also interesting is that safety experts recommend CO2 detectors in home even with opening doors and air exchange through soffits. Another tidbit is that 1" of wood shavings has an average R2 insulating factor.

Awesome video! I’m about to start my beekeeping adventure this year, and your videos are a great help! Quick question, how do the bees get to the sugar from the bottom if you spread the sugar over the entire surface? Do they eat it up from the bottom of the screen?

I found a small pitcher that holds 4 pounds of sugar because I also buy 25 and 50 lb bags of sugar.

In East Texas we mash it down 😂

13:24 Dave, when do you put candy board in the hive, on Jan-Feb in MI?

I'll pank now

I would "tamp" it down!😂

Sorry, new here. Do you leave any opening anywhere so they can get out to relieve themselves when needed?

thanks for the nice video. I appreciate your sharing. I have a little different process for cleaning. I first soak my wax cappings in a bucket of water over night to clean out the honey and small dirt before the first melt. I skim out the washed wax cappings and melt them in a pan with water, not using a bag. I use a cone filter on Amazon that are used for cleaning deep fryer oil to filter my wax. I pour the hot water/wax from the pan through the cone filter into a 3 gallon bucket to filter to separate out the slum gum. I have a heat gun to warm the cone and cooled wax to squeeze out the last of the wax from the cone filter. Then I cover the bucket to allow the wax to slowly cool and better separate out any small particles of dirt as wax cools on the hot water. I pour the bucket water outside and remove a clean wax sheet.

I'm in Southern Maine , I have my hives 90% covered with 2 inch foam Top and sides. Not insulating a hive is like trying to heat a tarpaper shack, You can do it but it takes a LOT of energy.

I’m a fourth year hobby beekeeper in Minnesota. The past two winters I’ve covered my two hives with 3” pink rigid insulation. I built a top cover that also has 3” insulation. No upper vent. My ladies have survived and thrived through two harsh Minnesota winters, now going into their third. Insulation, mite control, and plenty of food are the keys. I’m familiar with your part of the country, lived in Greenville, Illinois for a couple years long ago.

Thank you for the support and shout out! Looking forward to seeing you at the big bee expo!

Sous vide cooker should work well.

I use the 14MM gloves.

Did Jim invent "the waggle dance" the bees use to communicate? 😀

Probably more of a queen issue or another cause not your PPB. Glad you caught them when you did so you can reuse the frames next year. Thanks for sharing!

Thank you for sharing your experience. I hope to start a beehive next year. I'm learning as much as I can. It's good to learn from others' mistakes. I learned to not procrastinate when treating the hive.

You need a couple of “Hive Butler’s.” They are the best totes to prevent damaging comb and moving bees. Because they have slips in them for the frames, you won’t have them falling over in your truck. I use them for everything. Good luck and enjoy freezing those nasty hive beetles.

I’m a fairly new beekeeper and wondering if there is any reason why we don’t keep robbing screens on all the time.

I used oxalic acid vapouriser wand this morning on my 2 hives. Easy to use. I'll do another treatment in 5 days time and so on for 5 or 6 treatment s. Clear videos with safety uppermost. Thanks

Not approved in Australia yet but hopefully soon. Good to get information on how to use it.

Sugar cane is much more domesically available than you say. From Wikipedia: Between the mid-2000s and 2019, sugarcane accounted for between 40 and 45 percent of the total sugar produced domestically and sugar beet for between 55 and 60 percent of production.

I built something similar, with a large landscape wall block between the legs and no more wobble.

It is very interesting to see how people do things in different parts or the country. When I make a two to one sugar syrup, I use the same one gallon jug as you but, I fill it with hot water from the tap. Then I pour it into a 5 gallon food grade bucket. Next I pour in the sixteen pounds of sugar, insert my drywall mixing paddle into my hand drill and mix the sugar and water together for a few minutes and let it sit overnight. I find it is almost always completely dissolved and if not, I simply stir it again for a minute. I also add the recommended amount of Hive Alive or like product and I can keep the solution for a year if necessary with no mold. I find this saves me a lot of time. I use round top feeders like you use jars inside the hive. I can check on the solution as necessary without disturbing the bees and add more when needed and I never disturb my “Queen Bee” by using her stove. Thanks for showing your method.

What area of the country are you in?

That was brilliant. Thank you so much. Greetings from us in the UK

awesome! You are a genius!

thank you.

very impressive are you an engineer?

The only short clip of your board actually on a extractor the machine was wobbling like crazy....why don't you actually demonstrate it

Good idea. Would have liked to see it working.

Thanks for the great tips!

Your next video should be demonstration and prove results.

At 7:58 you mention the wax siting on water. What water?

Good video. I handle the problem a little differently but I appreciate the strategy. I love my hillco 18.