Thanks for asking… We never clip queen wings - we don’t even mark them - they are 100% free to go… they just choose to stay smile😊 unlike most beekeepers we don’t put poisons or plastic in our beehives. We help our local pollinator and natives bees by giving them water sources and habitat We promote no pesticides and that helps all bees and pollinators How do you measure how honey bees possibly displace other bees, what are your methods? What are your results?

@@beemindful1027 it’s simply a numbers game. The more an invasive species thrives the more the native species suffer. Just from competing for resources.

@@JihouGijutsu haven't you heard? Colony losses are at an all time high, about 50% each year, so that should take care of your concerns....

The person who made these runs vertical stainless steel wires through the frame to supposedly provide some support (it really does not) so the screws are where those are securing the ends of the wires so they can be pulled tight

Bonjour Robert! Congratulations on your Winter survival, and thanks for your kind words.... Our Layens are doing well, although I will admit that the extra deep frames are not my favorite to manipulate, but then again I am self-admittedly very biased toward Les Crowder style horizontal top-bar hives, as I find them much easier to manage and economical. Did you check that your frames are respecting bee space (width edge to edge of 1-3/8 instead of 1-1/2) so you don't end up with cross combing and attachments? Most suppliers are using the wrong spacing and that creates problems overtime....

yes, I know, that was rather casual.... I guess I could have leaned them against the box instead... Maybe my dislike of frames got the best of me lol

Thank You 🙂

Somebody build those for us... we only build Top-Bar hives using the free easy DIY plans at www.Bee-Mindful.com/plans because they are so much easier to build and cheaper than frame beekeeping.

@@beemindful1027 Thanks will look at Bee_Mindful. Granted but i am wanting to TRY layen, so looking for experienced build plans.

Hello! The thick walls of the hive and bars (1.5in thick) make for built-in insulation and thermal mass around and above all above the brood's nest, so we typically do not do anything else than keep colonies strong enough and with enough honey. For smaller colonies we might worry about, we have placed pillows of wool on top of the brood's nest, but that's really it, if anything at all. We have a new wooden roof style that could be enclosed for Winter if needed in colder climates, as built by our Amish friends (see www.bee-mindful.com/product-page/shipped-kit-les-is-more-horizontal-top-bar-hives-amish-hand-crafted for pictures of the new roof - super simple to make) - let us know if we can help further, and excited to see you starting with a Top-Bar Hive!

You are a poor, rude , little ah

Thanks for the kind words on the paint, and for the constructive feedback! Yes, the rain cover overhangs quite a bit, and acts like a carport of sorts. Rain does not accumulate on the bars even in hard rains. The water on the metal roof drains on both ends, which is overhanging by 6in, so we find nothing gets onto those bars with this hinged, overhanging, carport like roof. Ambient humidity makes wood swell by the way, which tightens the bars and prevents any leaking between them either way. We have had incidents in our earlier days with hives in our out-yards where roofs were not attached properly and got blown away, exposed to rain for days, and even they did not leak. It works really well! For the conversion with the Lang attached, we actually typically use a longer roof to cover the Lang box (that's all I had that day as I retrofitted a regular top-bar hive) - alternatively, a slanted waterproof panel tucked under the corrugated roof and over the Lang would also work.

Great advice, thank you! This was a very small customer colony we are using to demo how to fix cross combing. We typically use either a bamboo skewer, a strip of wood, or better yet an already drawn comb or the remnant of a straight comb after honey harvest as a guide to get bees started straight. Yes, we put all our own colonies with entrances facing south!

any bees that are staying alive without being doused on a regular basis with toxic pesticides or caustic acids is survivor stock by definition, which means that the bees themselves do the selection work for the most part.... Nature itself selects all animals for survival... So yes, by definition, TF beekeepers only keep survivor stock in their apiary as they cull out those weak genetics others love to prop up with pesticides then propagate around, impoverishing the genetic pool in the process. TF beekeepers, however, are not the only ones managing to select for survivals. The bees do it themselves. That's what they do. There are entire countries of TF apiaries and TF beekeepers. In the end, there are only 2 kinds of honey bees. There are treated honey bees, and there are honey bees.

Yes Christy, that helps a lot! And LOL on thinking I was inspecting your hives ;-) Hope y'all are great!

Thank you very much, Timothy! I painted the Lang deep and a friend did the top-bar side....I am glad you like it my friend!

Thanks Bruce!!!! Yes, it works really well too.... Miss you my dear, it's been crazy with the bee season... managing (with Les's help) almost 400 in 50 yards this year so I have been running around like a headless chicken! I should resurface some time in July lol

Works like it's own carport in the sun, we're in Texas and love that feature.... In winter, you can put insulation on top of the bars if you would like to add to the 1.5in of wood from the bars.... we don't find it to make much of a difference, but need to do some research on it Thanks for watching!

@@beemindful1027 new question! I put the langs adaptor on as you have, how do I get them to move out of it into the main hive so I can re attach the trapezoidal side? It appears as if they are running their brood nest there and storing honey in the top bar portion.

Great idea! Thanks for the suggestions....I already was going to do a different cover - but my brain is looking for an even better solution.... I will think about the QE - although I do not think the queen would go up in supers if the brood's nest is expanding into the TBH....

good idea on the toothpicks... In the end I think it won't matter, but I could try! The only repair bars we use is by attaching the rabbit caging to skewer the comb, and it can be done to all bars/frames 🙂

It's bee season here - I want to post more but just spending all my time in the bees!

Pushed the wrong button! Thanks Barrett, glad you found it useful 🙂

Thanks Bruce! The hinged roof is my favorite: easy and lots of airflow for summer, and space for winter insulation material....

Thank you! I have used thumbtacks before, and that works well... except usually I don't have them with me lol I dropped it into the package box when I tapped it to drop the bees to the bottom without holding the queen...I regularly do it once a season and then never again.... I usually attach the cage under the bars or hook it (metal strap) over the edge of the wall...

Definitely around Central Texas where we are... free fuel! 🙂

I bought that Layens hives from a gentleman that branded the frames he built with his brand, and that's what the markings are...The ones wit the numbers are from Dr. Leo's swarm trap - not sure if they serve any purpose other than marking the batch.... the disc metals are for attaching the wires.... If you're making hives, you might also try these plans for simple, frameless horizontal beekeeping - you can make them in less than 2hrs from scratch: www.Bee-Mindful.com/plans Best with all your hive building!

Thanks James! I think I am going to try posting more recorded videos for now to keep you guys entertained until we find our alternate format :-) Good to see you here!

Hi Ashley, I forgot where you're at, but if you're seeing drone brood, I imagine you are seeing capped worker brood also... If so, your population should explode shortly, as soon as that capped brood emerges... which means they are going to feel congested and swarming preparations might start shortly after that... I would start monitoring weekly and look for swarm cells getting started if you're looking to split - or add drawn worker comb at the edge of the brood's nest if you don't want to split but give them room to delay swarming and grow into a bigger colony for more honey production or a later split...

Hi Timothy! We are taking a small break from our chats as we want to find a fresher format.... miss you guys, but hope to be back live soon... in the meantime, we are going to post some inspection videos..... hope you're well!!!! 🙂