I said it, regretted it and moved on 😂

I appreciate your comment and your opinion. I tend to do a short version of my inspections of something interesting that occurred and release it at the same time, but I've been super busy with the wee one and jarring recently so I've just not had the time. Thank you again for your comment, and I hope you have an awesome day

That's really interesting. My video from last week's inspections is currently not uploading properly for me, which is annoying, but I've only had one queen death out of the 11 colonies I treated. The one that died was pretty old as well. There was a lot of larval death, but the queens were all laying up a storm in response. I wonder if it was successful for me because I have more than one box per colony, and it's just about 14-16⁰C daytime temp here. I know the others who have had similar experiences to yourself that I've spoken to didn't pay attention to the weather. I have no idea if maybe I'm just lucky, though. 11 colonies isn't really a representative sample size on my end.

I really appreciate your concern 😅 The fumes from Formic Pro, although harmful in high doses, shouldn't cause much if any damage when out in the open air. If I was indoors, then I'd definitely be worried. I'm a chemist as my full-time job, so I deal with acids like formic acid all the time. If you're concerned, then you can get a respirator with a filter that can handle organic vapours such as N100, R100, or P100 rated 3M filters. As long as you're outdoors, though, it shouldn't cause you any harm.

Thank you, I really appreciate that🙂

Great question! I've only tried making a makeshift bag out of cheese cloth, and another time, I tried tights. In short, it didn't stop the smaller guff coming through and settling on the bottom of the wax. Granted, it removes the bigger bits but the best method is to just scrape it off and melt the wax again so it's a bit more concentrated. I'll be doing a vid on it soon

@@MystTreeHoney pillow cases are good, the fibers are closely woven compared to muslin. I did mine yesterday and had to shut all windows and doors, the buzzers were queueing up at the door to come in lol

I appreciate that. Thank you. So I used to stick to the 15⁰C rule for years, but the way the weather has been recently, I decided to just work as long as there are flying bees (so around 10⁰C ish minimum). I've not had any issues, and the bees are pretty good at heating their spaces up again quickly as long as they have a good supply of food. Don't worry too much about temperature anyway. It's humidity that kills bees. It's much safer to open up the colony on a dry but freezing day than a wet warm day.

@MystTreeHoney great, thanks. It's turned out quite nice here today so will get in there shortly. Hope your family issues have been sorted.

Raining sideways here, and thank you. We're just plodding along, trying to get back to whatever counts as normal these days

Langstroth can hold a lot more honey than nationals, and a lot of mine are on single national boxes, so don't worry. If you are really concerned, then swap a full frame with an empty frame of comb. You can then feed it back to them in spring.

@MystTreeHoney Ah that's good to know. I used to keep double broods and trialed single broods this year and much prefer it. There doesn't seem to be much honey stored (unlike double broods) once the supers are taken away though so needed to feed a little bit straight away until the Ivy came out.

I always feed any that seem light but only about 1 litre of 1:1 per week. Just a little trickle to keep the queen laying.

Thank you

Hello, and thank you! I fluctuate between 30 and 50 colonies throughout the year. I try to overwinter at least 20 strong hives and 15 nucs. But then in spring, the nucs that aren't sold are moved into hives, and the Overwintered hives are generally split in may to stop swarming. Hope that explains why I can't give a definitive number.

Hello, and thank you! I fluctuate between 30 and 50 colonies throughout the year. I try to overwinter at least 20 strong hives and 15 nucs. But then in spring, the nucs that aren't sold are moved into hives, and the Overwintered hives are generally split in may to stop swarming. Hope that explains why I can't give a definitive number.

@@MystTreeHoney fantastic I’m currently on 15 but want to build to 25-30 next season

My only advice is to buy twice as much equipment than you think you need. Honestly, it goes silly at swarm season.

@@MystTreeHoney That’s great, thank you. Is this your full time job now?

Fortunately, it isn't. It's a side business but isn't especially profitable. I mainly do it to help pay for my environmental projects really. I'm hoping to turn it into a full-time job, but for now, it just helps me improve the area around me

Thank you. There's a few different types of refractometer out there. Make sure you get the right type if you're trying to get one

@@MystTreeHoney cheers. Wanted to ask you, have you ever used benzaldehyde to clear the bees down into the lower boxes?

I haven't ever used any chemicals to clear the bees. I know there's some out there that are perfectly safe to use, but I try not to use anything extra unless I need to.

@@MystTreeHoney ah, OK. It is natural, almonds have it, I'm going to try chewing Almonds when I go in the hives to mask my breath, see how that works.

That's an idea. I brush my teeth just before I inspect. They don't like minty breath

My thoughts exactly when I first saw it. You have to be quick though or all the wax pours back out

It's worked for everything so far. I got battered by hornets once, and it helped out then. Not actually been stung by a wasp yet surprisingly so I'll let you know if I do

@@MystTreeHoney Thanks - hope you don't get stung to tell me!

I if didn't want to get stung I wouldn't be putting my hands in a box full of stinging insects on a weekly basis😂 thank you all the same!

It is another apiary of mine. I'm just moving the bees there while I have the new area prepared. I'd highly recommend making an apiary at a wildlife sanctuary. They really look after you!

Hello this is the one i bought. The price has gone up ridiculously. I bought it when it was £800 www.abelo.co.uk/shop/extractors/electric-20-frame-radial-extractor/

@@MystTreeHoney thankyou I was looking at the Premium line one. I wonder if there’s much difference

Think the premium has a conical bottom or heated sides, but I'm unsure. Mine works fine either way. Just tilt it at the end of the day with a block of wood to get the last of the honey out overnight.

What a bittersweet story. You're never too old to learn how to keep bees. Someone bought their first nuc off me a few weeks ago, and they were in their mid 70's.

I have a love-hate relationship with apivar. I think it's an excellent product, really easy to use and doesn't cause the bees any trouble. Unfortunately for me, I use brood boxes as supers sometimes if I'm running low or the bees have filled one of their broods with honey. Last I heard, the miticide in apivar permanently taints the comb, meaning any honey stored in it is also tainted. It means that a lot of frames I have can't be used for honey that I can sell, so instead, I have to use those frames to feed back to the bees at winter. You might notice that some of my frames have "APV" written on their lugs. This is so I know I used them with an apivar strip. The drone removal is an excellent way to keep the mites down. I'm thinking about buying a load of drone foundation so I can put one in each hive and easily scrape the wax and brood off with a spatula throughout the year.

I like to use a shaker box when I definitely need to find a particularly pesky queen. Fortunately, using the queen excluder method is usually a faster method of locating the queen to a specific box, which I can either comb in more detail or just remove. Time is something I have very little of these days sadly

Glad you think so!

Thank you for that. I really appreciate you watching and always love the comments. I'll try to get your order to pick'n'mixers today or tomorrow if I can. I'm born and bred Rainford. Been here all my life. Only reason I'd leave is if there was a smallholding nearby that I could afford. Not sure where you heard Kent from. I buy my wildflower seeds from a farmer down south. It could be the video I talk about my wildflowers, and I've either misspoke or you've misheard me. I talk without thinking so probably the prior. Sorry for the confusion.

Hello, I'm glad you're still enjoying them. Formic Pro will dissipate after a few weeks, so your frames will be fine to continue to use without worry. Still take your supers off to use the stuff, though. It doesn't affect the honey, supposedly, but it's good to be safe. Only reason to make a note on your frames is if you use apivar or apistan as these use a miticide that stays in the wax and makes the honey dangerous for human consumption. Hope that helps!

@@MystTreeHoney thats awesome news greg, thank you. i will indeed extract my few frames before treatment..but good to know next season, if they use those frames i can extract honey from them...this year as first year its all been about getting drawn out comb and while i did my own split and theyve done pretty well. i dont have that much as a resource to not use back in the hives... x

First year is always the toughest. Get them through winter, and you're onto a winner.

@@MystTreeHoney aww thanks greg. i appreciate the encouragemnt :)

My edits never work right😂

I don't shake the frames with cells I want to keep. Once I've found a good one, then I shake the others as I will destroy them anyway, and I don't want to miss any. You'd be surprised what size colonies will swarm. I've had a nuc swarm with a caste in a colony that was half this size. That was when I was experimenting in my early years trying to see how small swarms can get. Got to the stage where all that was left in the nuc was a fist size of bees. Fortunately, I managed to collect all the swarms.

Oh dear. Sometimes, a virgin has emerged and is in the process of getting mated. A friend of mine Alex bought 2 queens off me and realised as he put one of the queens in her new colony that it already had a laying queen randomly. Check for queen cells torn down unless you know why the queen died

@@MystTreeHoney yes, I'll get back in there tomorrow, I'm hoping that is the situation. Thanks

Fingers crossed for you

That's why you have to have at least two hives. Accidents happen and you have to be prepared. If you had a second hive you could take a frame with eggs and very young larvae and let them make a new queen. Or you can merge them if the weather is not ideal or the season passed for a queen to mate and have a very strong hive for the winter.

@chrishar110 I have 4 hives but my eyes won't let me see eggs.

That is a very good point. It's very easy for them to overheat, especially in hot weather, and if you've annoyed them before uniting. I've fortunately never had them die from it yet, but it's a good idea to maybe set up some ventilation holes in the side of the nuc or roof. Or maybe I could make some ekes that could fit on the nucs with holes drilled into them🤔 I might look into doing that this next time. I've just sold 2 queens, so I'll be combining 2 more nucs to this colony. Thanks for the heads up!

No, definetely not. Bees when they have a small gap on the top they seal it with propolis. If the gap is big they will leave the hive when they will feel that it is safe. Your bees died from another reason, they didn't have food, the queen died and they couldn't reqeeun the hive, or they were sick, not from heat. Bees survived for thousand years in cavities with no air circulation, with just a tiny entrance. They know how to do it themselves. They stand at critical places in front and inside the hive and they move their wings and they circulate the air inside the hive if it is too hot. Dont forget that larvae and brood need temps around 35°C or around 95F. So, you need temps over 40°C to see that. You won't see temps over 30-35°C iat Kent. Just dont leave the hive at a place that is in direct sun all day. It's good if they have the sun in the morning, that will help them to wake up faster after a chilly night, but under a shadow in the afternoon.

About 5-10mins... I'd just removed the queen because she hadn't expanded all year, and the bees had decided to swarm, which was silly. If the colony is queenless for an hour or more, then make sure to knock down any queen cells before combining.

@@MystTreeHoney I had the same problem a few weeks back. Queen was an excellent layer but the colony would not build the brood box for her to lay. Ended up swarming.

Funny you should mention that. I've just finished this weeks inspections, and that is what was happening to this hive. The issue is that the bees downstairs had decided they would prefer to make their own queen using the brood left over. I knocked the queen cells down and swapped the boxes, so the one with the queen is at the bottom. See next week if it works. I've had this a few times. It's because the queen is a few boxes away from the entrance. The bees either think she's trapped or the colony is too small to consider going into her box naturally. Swapping the boxes around tends to fix this problem.

I just bought a bulk lot of them because whenever I give someone a link, they seem to sell out or are discontinued for some reason. I'll pop them on my online store this week. As well as the queen cages and marking cage I use. It seems to be a common question. I'll let you know when they're up

@@MystTreeHoney good on ya, thanks for that.

Are you in the uk? I hope so because I don't do international post😅

@@MystTreeHoney yes I am, in Kent.

Brill I'll let you know when the items are on the store page?

👋

Wow amazing work! I'm very jealous!

From my experience, I've seen multiple laying workers in a single colony. The best way to deal with them is to shake the colony out in front of another. The guard bees will get rid of the laying workers and let the rest in.

No laying workers as the eggs I found were at the very bottom of the cells and only one of them per cell. Laying workers usually have lots of eggs around the middle to top of the cell.

Good question. I think there were about 12 languages there. It seems Vita supply all over Europe

Yeah I prefer it too, especially when my back is starting to ache. Well done! Nice work! Love it when people have a successful first attempt! One of the reasons I post all my failings is to prove that it's perfectly normal for things to go wrong🙂 Really glad it went well for you!

@MystTreeHoney thanks. BTW, maybe you should double up on those gloves, might save your hands a little.

Unfortunately, it doesn't help. Stingers can get through two gloves annoyingly. I once bought some proper (expensive) surgeons gloves and they were excellent. They were made to stop needles from getting through. When I got stung, it just felt like a pin prick rather than a sting. Unfortunately, you only got 50 gloves per pack and they were just too expensive to keep getting

@MystTreeHoney have you tried washing-up gloves, they seem to work for me and I like the pink ones lol

Haha, I started with some, and they're very good. I like the disposable aspect of surgical gloves for disease control, though. As I always say, if something works for me, it doesn't necessarily mean it will work for others.

Thank you for your question. I tend to leave queen excluders off until the end of July when I shake all of the bees into the bottom box. This means that until the last two-three weeks of the summer flow, the queen has no restrictions on where she can go, reducing the swarm response. Sometimes, the bees can reach a "critical mass" and want to swarm even though they have loads of space. When this happens in a massive colony with multiple boxes and no queen excluders, it's exceptionally hard to find the queen to remove. I put a queen excluder in between each box and wait for 3-5 days before my next inspection. It means that only the box with eggs has a queen in it as she is unable to venture elsewhere. It's easy enough to just remove that box, and then you've removed the queen. I hope that makes sense?

@@MystTreeHoney That could be very easy to do if you have same size boxes everywhere, brood boxes and honey supers. You just put the brood box, even if it is 1st, 2nd or even 3rd box at the bottom, put everything else on the top and wait till they cap the honey.

One of my biggest regrets is not just sticking to a single box size. If I could start again, I'd just get Brood boxes only.

Thank you very much. I really appreciate your comment

Thank you for your comment. If I need more land to put bees on, I usually put a post up on my local community Facebook page. I usually end up getting quite a few people getting in touch, which means I can go around and appraise the sites before choosing. This means I can look at the space, security, and how much work would be required to get it ready for the bees. The cost for keeping the hives there is a big point, too. Some people just want to help the bees and don't want anything (I spoil these amazing people with honey whenever they want it). Some want monetary payment, which I draw up a contract for, so there's no misunderstandings. Thank you for the tip. I bulk buy my queen excluders, and they don't really last longer than 4 years of heavy use, so after the 4 year mark, I give them away for free and buy brand new. Softening and flattening them makes sense for around 10 QE's, but I've got around 60 and very little time as it is, so I've decided to just get fresh ones.

Thank you🙂

I'm a font of random knowledge 😅 thank you for commenting