Beekeeping: Overwintering Bees On A Heated Porch?

[@rodkirt9273]

I found a good source of burlap sold for decorative table cloth use . It is food safe and very inexpensive . I cut the “ tablecloth “ into strips and rolled them up into cylinders that fit into my smoker . I use pine straw for a starter and this combination makes a great smoker fuel

[@beek]

Nice

[@natalielent748]

You’re such a kind person for doing videos like this. ❤love the content David. Thank you for all the time you give it does mean a lot to a lot of people

[@beek]

Wow, thank you. Sometimes I wonder if anyone really benefits from all my hard work to make free content. Over 800 videos and for 16 years.

[@prairiepinesranch]

I love my Dadant smoker like yours. Worth the money. The bellows are so smooth and easy, especially if you have any pain from arthritis.

[@beek]

I've found the bellows to be stiffer than what I was using, but certainly not bad.

[@scofieldfarm]

I have been eyeing the Dadant smoker and couldn't bring myself to the price, so really lookig forward to seeing your review of it! Thanks for all the answers today. Always helpful.

[@cindylovesy7037]

I want to thank you for all of your invaluable information. I'm in Northern California and started feeding 1-1 sugar water with your additives, queen just started laying like crazy again!

[@beek]

Great to hear, and thanks for watching.

[@jayglosser2014]

David GREAT VIDEO! This is interesting answering questions, finding out answers to situations that I might have in the future. Your nice weather has arrived, 3rd day in the row 80's with sunshine all day. Bees are being bees, busy and enjoying life. Have a Great Day 👍

[@beek]

Thanks Jay!

[@alexandraforrisi4353]

Great questions! Thx for sharing!

[@beek]

Thanks for watching!

[@banks8292]

I now keep track of the weekdays using David Burns' format. (Green Chair) =Friday!!!

[@beek]

That's a great one!

[@bigo2032]

Thank you, Dave for all you do for the beekeeping community, question, in the past, I’ve always used entrance feeders, this year I’m going to try frame feeders, so I will need to remove a frame, which frame should I remove? Probably 1 with Honey that I can set out for them to recoup, I am in Central Indiana.

[@beek]

Yes or one with bee bread.

[@frankiewuebblingbees]

Thanks for all the info.

[@beek]

Thank you so much for watching.

[@superiorvideoandphotograph375]

Thank you David for reading my question. Sorry I for got some major details about my porch is 16 x 24. Yes it is enclosed, currently not insulated. I did drill a whole in the wall to give the hive a 1/2 ID pvc tube to use for their cleansing flights. its never going to get too hot during the winter. maybe 45 to 50 degrees. This area doubles as my wood working shop. It will be airconditioned in the room sometimes, only while i work.

[@beek]

Be interesting to see how they do.

[@superiorvideoandphotograph375]

@@beek I got the idea from a you tube video I saw about bee houses in Denmark

[@djsbirds2430]

Maybe bag and seal the frames but replace the air in the bag with an inert gas such as argon and then store in a cool dry place. I haven't tried it yet myself.

[@jacksonheatcool]

Thanks

[@beek]

Welcome

[@charliegioe3158]

It’s very true did Thursday night video goes so fast great job by the way David

[@beek]

Thanks Charlie! Yes, I have to keep watching my clock and it goes so fast. I try to answer the questions as fast as I can to be more questions answered.

[@charliegioe3158]

@@beek it’s got to be rough David, but you do a great job at it but I do like the green chair. Excellent idea.

[@brianmcguirt2432]

How often should I be feeding in the fall? Should i keep a 1 gallon bucket on feeding 1:1 until first freeze? I don't want to over feed, but I want to have enough bees to make it thru spring and I'll be using your winter boards bc I've taken supers off. Trying to figure out should I just do 1 gal per week or supply 1:1 24/7. Hope the question makes sense. Thanks. Brian North Central indiana

[@beek]

I'm going to answer your question from the green answer chair tomorrow.

[@theresasowko3588]

I feel pretty lucky that where I live the humidity is sometimes so low that I don’t need to worry about the moisture level of uncapped honey. Average humidity is in the teens percentage wise. Sometimes even uncapped honey can be left out and dry by itself.

[@beek]

That is very dry air. Nice.

[@aaronparis4714]

I have great winters I put them in big plastic containers and leave them outside with a tarp over the containers

[@beek]

Your frames and supers? Great winters must mean really cold??

[@aaronparis4714]

@@beek yes -15 to -30 shitty old Nova Scotia weather

[@ralphjones5856]

First year beekeeper, If you leave a super on for winter, won’t the bees go into it as it gets cold since hot air rises, which would leave brood below in the cold. I live in Illinois cold winters so I was going to remove super, leaving double blood boxes. Is this the best option?

[@beek]

Some will go up into it, like the top of the cluster, but the bulk of the bees will continue to stay with their cluster and yes the cluster can get up into the super in winter, at least the top half of the cluster.

[@mikemcgilvray8558]

I put cardboard sticks a hand full of wood pellets some leafs and my smoker stays lit very long

[@beek]

Nice, I used to do that to but became concerned about what's in cardboard.

[@sherryday2062]

😂

[@DonnaLeRowKy]

2 is one 1 is none

[@beek]

I love that!

[@rocketcitymoto2883]

Is that mite treatment called "rocksand"? I am the one that has never heard of it!😅

[@beek]

It is VarroxSan.

[@rocketcitymoto2883]

​@@beekThanks David and thanks for all the helpful videos and advice.

[@blackft1]

First Commenter! I win!

[@rocketcitymoto2883]

Congrats! :)

[@markbara9198]

long question. I have collected some honey frames and pollan and put them in a box in storage shed , one day I leave the shed door open, then a large swarm of bees found my honey frames and filled the shed with bees, waited until night and closed the shed, next day those bee came back and found my 2 hives and they attacked them and I closed the hives but they actually moved the entrance reducer where they still can get in the hives, after 3 days i was able to come near my hives and open them, they took all the honey and damaged the frame to the plastic , these 2 hives i just introduced 2 queens for them , in one hive, the queen still in the cage and the second hive the queen just left the cage, i couldn't find it because there are so many dead bees in the hive , the amount of bees in my hive is very low , is there any way I can make them survive the winter, I am in north TX Dallas area, can I feed them 2:1 so they can store it for the winter, are they going to rebuild the damaged frames so the queen can lay eggs , even if I combined both hives I still don't have many bees , should I give up and start over next year, this is my first year I learned the hard way,,,,lol and I did get my robbing screen today

[@beek]

Sorry to hear this. It was not a swarm, but rather a large amount of robber bees. Many people have done this very same thing and it is amazing how many bees can be attracted to any frames or honey left out and then they go for the hives. You can try to feed them and hope for the best.

[@markbara9198]

@@beek yes that what I did yesterday i feed them 2:1 hoping they may store some as if it is honey , and this morning i found the robbers are back again so i put the robber screen on the hives

[@mitchellkantar9282]

Did you stop answering questions that aren't accompanied by a donation?

[@beek]

I never only answered questions that were accompanied by a donations. I try to answer as many questions as I can. Thanks for watching and have a great day.

[@framcesmoore]

ROCKET FUEL ANY KIND OF ADDITIVE i HAVE USED THEM ALL JUST FEED THEM i HAVE FOUND YOU CAN SPEND A LOT OF MONEY AND THE RESULTS IS ALL THE SAME. ENJOYED YOUR TALK HOPE U HAVE A GOOD WEEK.

[@beek]

Isn't that the truth.