There was a study from Ohio State University on wintering singles and doubles and they found there was a 3% difference in the results and there was a +-3% variance so they claimed they wintered equally. Consider singles only require 1/2 the mite treatments so 1/2 the cost. We are in Ontario Canada and currently winter 10 frame singles, 6 frame singles, and 5 frame single nucs. 6 frame colonies setup like Ian Stepplers setup where they are all side by side. 5 frame are 10 frame boxes with a divider. We have found the 6 frames colonies over 10 yrs have had near 0 losses each year. 10 frames vary from 1-15% losses. 5 frames colonies winter well by starve out in early April so that's something that needs to be dealt with when possible to provide feed. Beekeepers in western Canada mentioned many years ago that they attempted to winter 4 frame colonies and had bad results. They then tried 5 frame and slightly better. Then they tried 6 frame and found great results and 6's seem to be the sweet spot for wintering.

Best hive beetle video I’ve found thank you so much!

Run 8 frame double deep boxes in nebraska. In 2 weeks i will push all of the brood to the bottom box and make sure the top deep is full of feed. I push them into pairs wrap them with fiberglass batted insulation and 5 incjes of ridged foam on top. Out of 18 hives always end up with 14 or 15 survivors. Winters are harsh in nebraska. Also make sure you get your mites knocked down right after you remove the honey supers.

Good information

pls try this: exchange those leather gloves by white latex gloves (put 2 on one hand if insecure) and use more sturdy rubber working gloves for the very stingy ones. Your bees are rather ok. I wouldn't mind to work them bare handed. BUT you must work from the long side! from behind (small side is ugly for you and your bees). Put the Nucs into 4-square config not row! them you can work 2 from the long side and switch to the opposite side and work the other two in the 4-sqaure thermo config.. make it mor easy for you and less stressful for your bees :)

these low sample numbers in addition to high loss rates overall makes any conlusion difficult, could be multiple systematic errors involved - because she set the nucs up in a succession over some weeks not at a single point in time , so :: .. this 'study' leaves us without any solid information

We have a neighbour who has been only 15feet from our wall of 6'10" and our pool happens to be right behind this wall. And as soon as wetry to use the pool they attack us. We offeredto place the bées at the other end ô our three âcre properityin ô tobre, the place I accessible by car, but she refused. And, I'm allergic to beesti gs. What ça we do to keep the bées out of our pool and stop them from attacking us if we do some cleaning work around the areas where they are place.

Very nice. Did it survive the winter?

Is that pressure-treated wood?

What was the result of the them cleaning the moldy frames? I just took mine out from last year and have mold, but I’ve seen some info about a light brine solution cleaning and then letting the hive do the cleanup.

Where do new cinder blocks cost $1.25 ?!! They are like four times that much at my Lowe's.

Thank you for sharing. I’m also needing to transfer nucs from Langstroth to Layens. In retrospect would you do it this way again? Any advice?

That was a very comprehensive talk about hive Beatles. I love the swiffer on top of the pollen patty idea.

So do you plan on running single deep all year? Or condensing your hives down to single deep for winter? And if your going to run a single deep how many frames of honey in that single box? Because if you can't feed do to weather,your bees will starve

Your videos are amazing! If you like farming or harvesting videos, I look forward to having you visit my channel to have relaxing moments together!

I'm from Canada and I do most singles also how were your results?

When you say single deep you mean no supers at all just 8 or 10 deep frames?

I have had tremendous success with double-stacked 5 frame nucs. I was surprised that her results were so poor. Generally, it seems that the 5 frame nucs overwinter quite well.

Let's consider where bees naturally choose and how they behave during winter clustering. Bees move UPWARD (typically not laterally) during winter. The distance they travel is a variable of 1.6mm- to 2.1mm... Let's call it 2mm/day to err on "better safe than sorry". So where I live (zone 7B in SE TN) if I count the days of the years that average below 57F (the temperature where bees seem to emerge), and calculate out how much vertical space above the cluster is needed; Then add 10" for a ballpark cluster size, I get around 24" total of vertical space needed for the bees to travel to get them through winter. Now let us look at a cutout of a 2×4 wall space; which is 3.5"×14.5"×96" with a total volune of 4,670in³ or 76.5L (about 15L more than Dr. Seeley's 40-60L). Bees seem to love their wall cavities since most hollow old growth trees don't exist anynore. The 2×4 wall cavity is around 76L... this would be only a deep an a medium. But a deep and a medium doesn't have the total vertical space. They'll have food stores off to the sides, that, while they do act as insulation or thermal mass for temperature stability, they dont provide accessible food stores. A 5-frane Nuc, IF one were to leave the bridge/burr comb connectibg the franes below to the frames above, woukd be 81.3L volume if stacked 4 5-frame deeps on top if eachother. If stacked 3 5-frame deeps high, that brings the total volume down to 60.99L which us right there at Dr. Seeley's 40-60L. However, you do have to consider top and bottom bars. If bees ar moving up ar a pace of 2mm/day, a bottom bar would be 9.25 days without food (.75in = 19.05mm) which would come after a top bar, which would be an additional 9.25 days without food. So IF they filled the entire gap between frames with food stores. They woukd be just over a week and a half without food, have food for about 5-6 days, then be another 10 days without food. They woukd either have to cross this expanse more rapidly (burning more energy) or be lacking food and energy at a time when it's most crucial. The 1/2" gap between franes is almost impossible for them to traverse without some form of burr comb.p However. The major issue isn't just the configuration. Look at a natural tree hollow or even common characteristics of cutouts. Tall continuos comb (no top or bottom bars and certaily no large gaps to cross), well insulated (not always but typically. When looking at photos of Bee trees that were cut down, there's almost always 5-6" of solid wood surroundibg the cavity. This would be around an R7-R10 depending on the type of wood), generally one small entrance and no ventillation aside from the entrance. They'll propolize or comb-pack any other exit or place where something could intrude. And something that most everyone neglects to acknowledge; SHADE. Bees are a forest dwelling species. They would have total shade in summer, and part shade in winter after the leaves fall. But thats not how we keep them. We do direct sunlight, max ventilation, no insulation, separated comb... and wonder why we're unsuccessful. Try a some 3× 5-frame nucs wrapped in R10 foam board. Put 2 layers on top for an R20 (if insulation on top exceeds insulation on sides by 50%, or 1.5× the side insulation. Then moisture condeces on walls and collects at the bottom. If insulation on top is equal or lesser than side insulation, then moisture condensated up too and drips on bees), and compare that to pretty much anything else. In this exoeriment she did; the styrofoam nuc apoear to be 6-frame nucs (based on width) and are the ONLY hives that were insulated by any means. Why would shade and insulation be so important? Because we think they need heat, because we like to be warm. But in reality, they need cold and temperature stability. What do I mean by needing cold? Optimal wintering temperature for the minimal energy usage is 41-42F. I have a theory about "cleansing flights" being a misnomer of an observed behavior that is an artificial behavior caused by man made environmental changes. They are very concious of conserving energy, conserving space etc. Especially when every extra calorie burned, every wasted milliwatt or millijoul etc brings them closer to starvation and dying out. So these "cleansing flights" are just that, they're wasted energy at a time when there is no forage or source of energy aside from their precious food stores. Honey is NOT "liquid gold" maybe to us. To them, it's liquid coal; coal being a readily available energy source that is very efficient in terms of energy output. You want an example of how concious vmbees are of conserving calories? Why is it that they use invertase enzymes to convert sucrose from nectar into honey which is 70-80% monosaccarides in the form of glucose (~36%) and fructose (~36-40%)? And why do they seem to favor gkucose heavy nectar sources? Why not store it as sucrose, which is the same as sugar or sugar syrup? Because the invertase enzymes 1- requires a higher temperature to split the sucrose molecule. 2- it takes energy and nutrition to produce the invertase and to digest the sucrose. If you make batches of kilju and a batch if mead. You add no nutrients, just granulated sugar, yeast, and water; invert sugar syrup, yeast, and water; and honey, yeast, and water. The honey will be very slightly better than the others. And the granulated augar will be by far the worst. Why? The sucrose in the honey is already split into glucose and fructose and has some trace minerals and nutrients for the yeast. The invert sugar has no nutrients and the sucrose is split into fructose and gkucose, less work and strss on the yeast, but no nutrients. But the granulated sugar or simple syrup is the most work and stress on the yeast and provides no nutrients. And a glucose heavy honey woukd make a better mead, because ut is the easiest for the yeast to convert to alcohol. Just like ut's the easiest in our bodies, and the bees, to digest and convert to energy I know that's a lot of unneeded information. But thats why bees store honey, and not sugar or sugar syrup. Because it's less and less stress to digest the honey for a quick, easy to burn, calorically dense energy source. So if they're that concious of energy useage and energy availability... why would they go flying about in winter when there's no forage during winter? Why don't dandilions start germinating on those warm days mid winter, only to be killed off by frost? The answer is AVERAGE tempersture and thermal mass. The ground us a great thermal mass. The seeds from last spring are lying in wait for the soil tenperature average to reach a certain average temperature minimum (50F) before they germinate and sprout. In a well insulate hive with lots of overhead honey storage and shade or part shade, the internal hive temperature maintains a very close constant, even during the short warm spells, and doesnt come up to that 56-58F average until after the dandelions are starting to bloom; thus prividing some means of fress food and sustanance. That's at least my theory anyway. That the bees are not naturally intended or inclined to leave the hive until the average soil temperature comes up to 57-58F. And they use excessive honey stores, more than they could possibly consume, as a means of thermal mass that will average the hive tenoersture to more closely correlate with the soil temperature. But we take all that honey off thinking "it'll kill the bees and be like ice blocks in the hive"... when we do, and we have thin, uninsulated hives in direct sunlight; then when those warm spells and warm days come, the hive heats up, they exit, fly around and waste energy when there's no source of energy other than food stores.

What’s the separator for between the nuc and roof? Is it to help reduce condensation and increase air circulation?

That was great! I appreciate it, i was really hoping to harvest honey this year, but I think I added my super too late, now they arent even active, so Ill have to wait till next year.

I have a question, my broader is full now i have install super but frames direction are not the same like broader. now after two month i have check super honey bees not working. please quide me

These type of videos annoy me. You have a clear question in your title, but you start answering it at 4:40. I have nothing against you and you do have good solutions but if you want the likes, edit your videos with sense.

Hello, Recently watched your video about overwintering single deep. I am planning to do same thing this year. I live in Pacific Northwest where our winter is not stable like in Michigan. The lowest it can get is 20F for couple of days. Do you think it is possible to overwinter with single box in warmer winter climates?

Do u have any videos regarding “checker boarding”? Thx Ds

A lot of info, Thank you👍

Lol in canada thats 100$ 😆 🤣

It’s not the size of the HIVE, it’s the size of the FRAME! Bees don’t like to cross between boxes in the cold. That would be like we humans walking across our backyards stark naked when it’s 2 degrees outside -not fun! For more evidence, read Fedor Lazutin’s book, “Keeping Bees With A Smile.” If the Russians, who have some of the most brutal winters on earth, can get their bees to survive the cold, the rest of us should pay attention how they do it. Double deep frames offer the bees a size of comb about what they would reate in nature in a tree, a barn, a wall, etc. it’s about 18” and evidence of that is the circular pattern of brood and honey formed on the frame. Interestingly, a single deep only allows HALF of that circle to form. Pay attention to nature and it will give you the answer. Another alternative to the double deep langstroth fram is the layens hive and frame -again, abouy 18” in depth. Has nothing to do with the size of the colony.

I would flip the medium under the deep. Then in the spring they will be in the deep.

Nice video. I'll bet you seldom get stung being as gentle as you are and going slow motion. Fantastic, well done.

Looks like she is loving it ❤️

There is a German University (I believe it is a University) that adds about 4" gap below their hive to allow for more circulation. It's a hard to find link but they use a green/ OD color for their hive bodies. (just in case you go looking). They seem to have a pretty good over winter survival rate.. In England they have a Honey Show and in 2015 a Guy Ben Harden did a talk "Bees in Winter" 2015. That does a fairly deep expose on winter brood rearing and hive dynamics (air flow and thermal rotation) showing some bees thought to die from moisture are actually dying from dehydration because they cannot control the thermal and hydro dynamics. The German practice of adding a space below the frames makes sense to me as large population hives I have had died because dead bees blocked the entrance. I am trying spacers below my bottom box frames this year. Wild bees have a structure similar to the extended bottom box. Devin Raun in Canada uses single deeps and last I saw he kept his bees outside all winter.

i took the Queen rearing Class with her at MSU. She is very good and well versed.

Very interesting and useful food for thought.

My brother and I experienced a couple of my bees coming after us an hour after we inspected them. He was stung and I somehow avoided a sting.The bees in the upper brood box were not real grumpy but when I took it off the bees in the lower brood box went crazy. They have been more aggressive the last few inspections. I tend to think it's the genetics of the queen now. I may need to replace her. Anyway, thank you for the video. It was very helpful.

I'm in Utah it gets kinda hot for a little in the summer and does snow in the winter, any suggestions? And if I use the screen bottom board can I just wrap the bottom like insulating an irrigation box? Should I build a door where you pull the board under the screen so the junk doesn't scrape off?

Interesting, would have been helpful to see the data for overwintering in a single medium, and in a double medium

Is there anything in powdered sugar that will hurt bees? Just a question. Also, do you have any other natural methods up your sleeve you might want to share?

I really like doing these. I use 5 frame nucs. But one of the problems I'm having is that they are so tight and with 5 frames all together it can get really hard pulling them out without messing up a comb. Is there a fix for this? Thanks for your video. Michigan seems to be a good state for bees.

I have a question. We are new to beekeeping and are very much learning as we are going. We have 7 hives (not our choice to start with so many) and all currently have 2 deeps and one medium which was added several weeks ago. Our bees haven't touched the mediums at all but the second deeps are full of honey a lot of which is capped. There is no brood in the second deeps. We are seeing brood in the first deep with all the stages and seeing the queen. We are being patient and thinking they will eventually move up into the mediums because they are out of room in the deeps for more honey. We have been afraid they will swarm without room for more brood and are checking the hives weekly but nothing seems to be changing. What are your thoughts? What should we do?

Great video ☺️

This is very helpful. This is my second year overwintering with double deeps. My first year my bees did not make it, and there was huge amounts of honey left over. I'm still learning what is best for me.

You make very well explaining video’s. Keep it up.

Lol they seem just like a hive I look at yesterday that are quenelles but your nuc seem a bit feisty or was it the weather or are they a bit aggressive my queen less hive was really p*** of with me bouncing of me all over but not trying to sting me

Hi! Did you leave making video. I read your story 350 lbs good record 👍

Are they bukfast

O no!!!! Mine aren’t unscented! Do I need to remove them!?

Some people say that a screened bottom board encourages robbing since the honey smell is not contained... others say the screen can act like a robbing screen confusing potential robbers as to where the entrance it...

Good information man thanks

when u talk u seems u dont to talk