A Year In The Bee Yard

[@mrwonk]

"Ya'll are really good customers too". That's the polite way of telling people they are foolishly killing their bees. Love it!

[@kevinj.monfelt9760]

Since I have begun to employ the practices I've learned in these videos I've seen a tremendous improvement in our colonies.

[@danpry6548]

Bob I appreciate The knowledge and the skills that you so freely give to us. I can’t wait to see you again at the hive life conference in January. Best regards : Dan P. Slippery rock Pennsylvania

[@bobbinnie9872]

Thank you. I'm looking forward to Hive Life.

[@beebob1279]

You are spot on with the Amitraz. I used it two summers ago and found my mite populations went up. This summer (skipped a year) it had no affect on my bees. Luckily, I had Formic Acid quick strips and put them on in late August (weather allowed it) and it just destroyed the mites. Now with the winter months upon us and we have no brood right now, I'm going to be treating with Oxalic Acid. I may do two or even three treatments just to decimate the remaining mites. Great presentation. Please keep doing your videos.

[@bobbinnie9872]

Your plan sounds a lot like mine. Thanks.

[@beebob1279]

@@bobbinnie9872 Off topic, I've been looking for caucasians and can't find any breeders. It seems as though they don't exist. I'd like to raise a few queen from a caucasian mother. Suggestions where to purchase one of two in the spring? Any suggestion is appreciated.

[@bobbinnie9872]

@@beebob1279 Try Shibu Raj at [e-mail]

[@keithfaithful3989]

I have not found one video you have released that has not benefited me. Thanks for sharing!

[@BellsBees]

Bob, thanks for all the effort you put into your videos. Your passion for beekeeping and teaching others about beekeeping is very clear. I've learned an enormous amount from you. Keep it up and God bless!

[@30633stan]

Thanks for a great meeting Bob! As always, you are a wealth of practical and useful information. God bless!

[@NicolausNemeth]

Bob, I first heard the "beekeeping year starts in August" advice from you. Since then I have done a lot of thinking about it and I really agree that this is the case. It dawned on me one day that I could think of beekeeping as analogous to, say, farming grain. In this analogy, August is when you sow your "seeds", you "water and fertilize" them through October or so, let them "grow" through the winter, "cultivating" (weeding) in the early Spring, and then harvest in the late Spring and/or Summer.

[@randallcarter-carterhillho2277]

This is great information which i started doing last year. Major turning point for my sideliner operation for the better. Thank you so much Bob!!

[@MrBeachbums5]

Bob you are my hero! Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge! You will never know how much I appreciate you!

[@trevor311264]

I spent much time trying to persuade people to use 2 parts water to one part sucrose to stimulate drawing comb and brood production, but no one wanted to listen. They were all adamant that there was 2:1 and 1:1 and anything else was an abomination! I am glad Bob has pointed it out in this video.

[@thehappycamper5575]

First year bee keeper here. This video really explained the year of bee keeping for me. Thank you Bob for posting this video

[@user-mi4fj9rq7v]

Awesome presentation Bob!

[@welchkoservices4200]

Didn't include Q&A ? Always dig what others ask. Thanks Bob... You've been really putting out great content. Bee well.

[@CoffeeNo0b0514]

Agreed, was looking forward to the Q&A as well.

[@bobbinnie9872]

Q & A coming soon.

[@CoffeeNo0b0514]

@@bobbinnie9872 thank you sir, appreciate it. Love listening to your insight on the Q&A. Thank you for sharing your knowledge. It has been helpful to me and many others.

[@natserog]

thanks Bob.....i put your video on Texas Friendly Beekeepers Facebook page....5,000 members. ....We quote you all the time!! blessings!

[@micksbeesstephens5327]

Thanks Bob for a great presentation packed with GREAT and proven info. Now let's get started on next years calendar.

[@dianetaylor6751]

The right word are" Mites serve as a vector to spread viruses throughout and between hives". No mites....no worries. One taught me that long ago! Proly the single most important lesson for new beekeepers!

[@wishicouldspel]

Although you need to keep on top of mite numbers. Constantly. As neighboring bees collapse around you they drift into healthy ones. Potentially yours. Neighboring bees are often not your friends. Not even close. Especially ones that are not under diligent mite control.

[@richardgragg5092]

The master keeper speaks again 🙌!! Thanks Mr Binnie. God bless you 🙏

[@bobbinnie9872]

Just a spokesman, Thanks.

[@richardgragg5092]

I'm a new bee keeper here in texas and wish there was someone here willing to teach, guide and share the way you do. I study your every word and try my best to do exactly what you advise because of your wisdom. You are the artist of bee keeping. The neat time I go to NC I'm coming by your store and hopefully I'm lucky enough to catch you there. Thanks again!!

[@toprakanaciftligi8037]

Hi Bob these are very very helpfull videos, if there are more would you share. Even the raw vidoes Will be great for us. Thanks again 👏👏

[@vanderpoolfarmsl.l.c.9983]

MUCH appreciation from your friends back in Oregon!

[@bobbinnie9872]

Thank you.

[@Josephstang]

Absolutely right with the Dakotas. I’m in South Dakota and the droughts have ended our honey flow quite early this year. Can only hope that next year is better.

[@bobbinnie9872]

Sorry to hear it. Better luck next year.

[@ke6gwf]

For everyone wishing the Q&A was included, hang on! Bob says it's coming soon! Lol

[@saeedsalimbamerdah3594]

August is the beginning of the bee year. September and October: Pay attention to thin feeding for the winter. November and October, bee rest and fumigation with oxalic acid. January begins preparing for the spring start. February Screening cells to start. Practice swarm awareness and cell hunger. April deal with retaining and adding more super. May, June and July are the months of interest for honey

[@so_cal_mom]

Such great information! Thank you.

[@jeffsea6490]

*Thx 4 sharing valuable content Bob* 👍🇺🇲

[@tomfuller9010]

Thanks for information makes sence

[@jhulin9018]

You comments about fall versus spring re-queen reminded me of (analogous to) the classic struggle of financial investing....The higher the potential return (fall re-queen for max brood) the higher the associated risk (for swarming) and the lower the potential return (spring re-queen) the more secure the investment or lower the risk (for swarming). So just like investing, you have to decide what your "risk tolerance" is.

[@bobbinnie9872]

That's a very interesting comparison. Sounds about right.

[@jmblakeney1]

Love your work, Bob!

[@noureddinemekdad6705]

Excellent information, thank you doctor. Bob Binnie

[@anibis485]

Thank Bob very good info!

[@rodneymiddleton9624]

Thanks for the information Bob!!!!

[@pirateprospecting707]

Great information as always ✅😁👍🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️

[@andreasrohe8562]

Eye opening

[@maherelachkar4470]

thank you

[@jeanli9412]

Hi Bob, Thank you for these great information. I'm in the tropical island of Mauritius. When does the beekeeping year starts? Last flow ends mid April. Winter is June, July Jean Li

[@SuperAdam1313]

Thanks Bob!

[@donovancoughlin]

Thank you again for such great info to give the overview of the year. You touched on queen replacement and this is something that I would love if you could expound on. It seems to be such an important part of the overall plan. Could you give us a more in depth explanation of your practices/ tips on this subject? It seems to be a complicated subject with lots of opinions out there. I am just interested in your approach as I think yours is solid. Thanks

[@bobbinnie9872]

I hope to talk more about queens this fall. Thanks.

[@ke6gwf]

Just remember, all other opinions on a subject other than your own, are wrong! It simplifies life SO much... Lol Or you can be like me and wade through the other opinions and consider the context, and learn from all of them, but that's so much more complicated... On the subject of queen replacement, what I have gathered is it depends on how you are going to work with your hives. For instance, Ian Steppler does frequent colony assessment as part of his yearly template, and so he can see multiple times throughout the year if a queen is not Brilliant, at which point he replaces the queen or shakes the hive out, so a colony might go years without a queen replacement if the supercedure queens are excellent queens, and he's actually likely to use those superceded queens for breeding purposes because they have shown good genes. On the other hand, if you don't want to, or don't have a crew that can do assessments, or if you don't raise your own queens, replacing them all periodically may make sense, simply because you have no other way of knowing when a queen needs replacement, or it's hard to get more queens mid season. I think that doing it only when a queen starts having problems is the most efficient way, simply because if you buy or produce a new queen, and the existing one could have continued performing just as well for years more, it's a waste of time and money replacing a good queen. It's kind of like replacing all your boxes every 5 years, no matter the condition. Yes, some may get damaged in 5 years, but some can last 20 years, so it's better to assess each box individually and only replace what actually needs it. But again, if you can only get queens part of the season, or are not able to assess their performance and replace as needed, there are business cases for global queen replacement.

[@climb315]

Thank you so much for your great videos! About treating mites in 1st.august...what if there is in the middle of August still honey flow?

[@bobbinnie9872]

As long as the mite counts don't get too high you can wait.

[@climb315]

@@bobbinnie9872 thank you wery much! Im still processing the informations in your videos....i admire your work and i hope i will learn some of your great methods... wery pleased to gain your knoledge ...simply dont know anyone who would share the informations like that....all the best to you from Europe

[@tmcuevs7988]

Hi Bob i have few question. You did not mention feeding patties, only sugar water.. ? and what month do you make queens?

[@bobbinnie9872]

We rarely feed patties which probably needs a longer explanation that I can give here. Our first queen cell grafts are in the last week of March and our last graft was yesterday (July 18).

[@tmcuevs7988]

@@bobbinnie9872 would be precious to know why Bob. Thanks for all the knowledge you gave us.

[@woodlandharvesthoneycompanyllc]

Bob this is in reference to some advice you gave me on treatment for varroa mites about a week ago. If you remember, after doing alcohol washes on 2 of my 6 colonies I found no mites. My question was should I check the other hives or and wait a couple of weeks and check again. You answer was to go ahead and treat for the mites because just because I didn't find any mites there was a really good chance they were there. Well thank you, thank you, thank you. After a full treatment of Formic Pro yesterday, I checked the sticky boards. There was an average of 20 dead mites per colony in 24 hours. Who knows how many didn't make it all the way down to the boards. This was a case where your knowledge and experience has saved my hives from ruin. Please feel free to pass this story on in your videos or talks at bee clubs. My next question is should I treat again anytime soon or would it be ok to wait until December and do the OAV when there is little to no brood. Thanks again your help is much appreciated.

[@bobbinnie9872]

Where do you live?

[@woodlandharvesthoneycompanyllc]

@@bobbinnie9872 I live in central Illinois, sort of west central. The closest town of any size to me is Peoria to the east or Galesburg to the north or Macomb straight west. I'm out inthe country between Lewistown and Cuba.

[@dlawrence7826]

Thanks Bob

[@saeedsalimbamerdah3594]

In our country, the months for dealing with honey are September, October and November. Have you heard of Sidr honey?

[@bobbinnie9872]

I have not heard of that. What country?

[@saeedsalimbamerdah3594]

@@bobbinnie9872 Yemen, Hadhramaut valleys

[@mindylabean8363]

I once heard you recommend to split a hive 4 to 6 weeks before the major honey flow. So...when is the major honey flow? I'm close to your area...around Chattanooga.

[@bobbinnie9872]

Chattanooga is probably a bit earlier than us. Perhaps the first or second week in April. The first major surplus nectar flows could come from things like crimson clover and black locust trees.

[@shrekpower]

Bob, I am wondering why not use 5 gallon buckets on the beehive instead of small pails that I commonly see to feed? I mean it'S less work to fill a 5 gallon once in a while than smaller ones so I am not sure if I am missing something important here. I'm in Canada and we feed roughly 20-25 L 2:1 sugar syrup. Thanks in advance! :)

[@bobbinnie9872]

Five gallon pails may work fine in your cooler weather, I've not tried them. In our area, if the feed isn't finished in a timely manner it may ferment. Let me know how it works for you. I know a few people that use three gallon with decent results.

[@shrekpower]

@@bobbinnie9872 Oh I see, I didn't think of that! So far so good to be honest, I've looked at the syrup in the pails last week and it was all good, no fermentation. SO FAR, I've had great results with my 5 gallons, I like it a lot since I can fill it up quite heavy and leave it for a while. I'm not sure for smaller pails, but I do have to leave the pail upside down a good 20 seconds before it stop dripping. The gap to fill with the void is bigger so I think that's a disadvantage over smaller pails! Again, thanks for your generous help my friend you rock.

[@mindylabean8363]

You said that the ideal temperature for OA treatment is 42 to 48 degrees. What about higher temperatures as long as they are broodless? I'm near Chattanooga, TN. We get such a range of temperatures during winter. Is 42 to 48 ideal?

[@bobbinnie9872]

The reasons I think that range is good is because it's cool enough for almost all the bees to not be flying and warm enough so they're not clustering too tight for the vapors to penetrate the cluster. Warmer will work, just not as completely. A bit warmer or cooler works, just not as completely.

[@raleighsistrunk7123]

Thank you for such great info. As a newbie in North Florida. I need all I can get. Can you clarify the sugar syrup schedule? I understand it as thicker (1,5-2 :1) syrup in late summer/fall. When should I feed the 1:1.25-1.5 and 1:1 ??

[@bobbinnie9872]

We use the thinner syrup all year unless it is late in the season and we have to gain weight quickly.

[@barrackndegwa9097]

Bob is there a beekeeping calendar for Africa. We don’t have winter seasons here.

[@bobbinnie9872]

I'm afraid I wouldn't know much about that or your region. You are very different than our area.

[@barrackndegwa9097]

@@bobbinnie9872 thanks for reply. I’ll try and collect data and make out how our beekeeping calendar look like in the region i practice beekeeping in Kenya.

[@lrdishman8692]

Thank you for the calendar. I made a summary calendar for myself. I do have a question though, if you find you have a high mite count after Aug. treatment what do you do then.?

[@bobbinnie9872]

Oxalic acid vaporization.

[@lrdishman8692]

Thanks for the reply. I’m in my second year will bee keeping and only have 3 hives. OA seems out of reach at this time.

[@natserog]

hey bob....im thinking of switching to Apivar for some of my outyards. Ive used OA but the Apivar sure seems pretty easy and effective. Serious question....if i have a double deep and most of brood is in bottom deep can i get way with 2 hangers in bottom deep instead of 2 in bottom and 2 in top....gets expensive. ...thanks so much!

[@bobbinnie9872]

It depends on the total bee numbers. If you have two boxes with bees I would recommend a full dose. Apivar is not a strong dosage treatment and it's easy to underdose which leads to resistance in my view.

[@natserog]

@@bobbinnie9872 gotcha...thanks Bob

[@davidlewis4179]

I want one of those Beekeepers of Madison County t-shirts! I live in Madison County NY.

[@bobbinnie9872]

This the clubs email, maybe they sell them. [e-mail]

[@graphicdesign7133]

Best recipes for alternatives to pollen

[@bobbinnie9872]

We use "Ultra Bee" from Mann Lake. I've also heard that AP23 from Dadant is good but I've never used it.

[@graphicdesign7133]

@@bobbinnie9872 Thank you!

[@andywhite9932]

Thanks Mr Binnie. Is it necessary to feed in August if the colony is full of golden rod honey by mid September? Ive always let the bees have the golden rod for winter food

[@bobbinnie9872]

Feeding is not needed if there is a good fall pollen and nectar flow. The golden rod in our area gives us pollen but not much nectar. You're lucky to have that.

[@andywhite9932]

@@bobbinnie9872 im not certain it’s golden rod or aster. Whatever it is, it smells like a wet dog. Lol.

[@ronblack2404]

Does anyone have a copy of bobs a year in the beeyard calendar that could be emailed, put on a website for download. thanks

[@dennisbarney869]

What is your opinion about catching bee swarms, as a starting point. I live west of Dallas and was wondering about Africanized bees here, Does anyone have info on them. Yes i am a newbee lol. I don't even have a hive yet I have the equipment just no bees yet. Going tomorrow to look at two hives. Friends of mine leased me the gear and boxes for a jar of honey .when mixing sugar water is that by weight or volume. sorry if that's a dumb question. Thanks all.

[@bobbinnie9872]

I don't know the status of africanized bees near Dallas but I would certainly be careful. Catching swarms is a legitimate way to start new colonies. Sugar and water weigh nearly the same so volume or weight works. Good luck on your new adventure!!

[@framcesmoore]

Ha Bob I watched this video again and it made me come up with some questions I wanted to ask u hope u see this and have time to respond, Question 1, When u say u need to re-queen your hive in the fall if the hives re queen them selves this past summer do i still need to re-queen them. question 2, Do u over winter in 2 deeps and do u have a video link to your overwinter procedure that I can watch. Question 3, when u feed are u trying to get them to fill up the hole hive 1 box 2 box what ever they have with stores I ask that question because I have been told that they need the open comb they stick there little bodies in the comb to get warm plus u need to make sure they are not so packed with stores she can not lay. at this time that is the 3 questions I have in my head I really thank u for all the videos u put on y-tube they are great. I live in virginia Hampton road area so u will now the weather Thanks again and have a blessed week

[@bobbinnie9872]

If a colony requeens itself by swarming or supersedure we consider that a new queen and leave it unless there is a problem. We prefer overwintering in double deeps but singles work very well as long as they have plenty of food. Although we feed very heavily, probably more than most, we are careful not to plug colonies out 100%. We don't have a dedicated video about overwintering but I'll be talking about some of the things we do in upcoming videos.

[@framcesmoore]

@@bobbinnie9872 You know I think u are wonderful and thank you for answering all my questions

[@leiaburt659]

Is there somewhere can we find the information about the enzymes and wound care properties of raw honey?

[@bobbinnie9872]

"Honey, The Gourmet Medicine" by Joe Traynor. page 10.

[@MrTrackTrash]

Syrup ratios, is that by volume or weight?

[@bobbinnie9872]

Oddly enough, it doesn't matter. A quart of granulated cane sugar weighs close to same as a quart of water. So mixing by weight or by volume gives you very close to the same results.

[@MrTrackTrash]

@@bobbinnie9872 Thank you Bob

[@wishicouldspel]

One and the same..

[@justinneal6004]

Bob when you say you treat with half dose of api guard when it's hot. do you do the two treatments or are you doing 4 half treatments 7 days apart.

[@bobbinnie9872]

I've usually had good enough results with three in a row, five to seven days apart, but of course we'll do mite checks to make sure.

[@justinneal6004]

@@bobbinnie9872 thanks Bob! All the information is great

[@freekinfishin4323]

Hi I’m a young teenage beekeeper and I’m not sure I quite understand the relationship between honey and sugar syrup. I know it’s important to feed your bees and help stimulate them but when do you know how to stop and when to start as to not contaminate your honey crop. Should I be worried if my bees have a lot of sugar syrup stored before a honey flow, when should I start and stop feeding them; right before a flow, a couple weeks before? Also I live in southern Virginia and only have one hive right now ( I know it’s recommended too have more but I don’t have the money) anyways it a double deep hive right now and I’m not sure whether or not to split it and put the split in a nuc box I made and downsize the colony to one brood box or to just leave it as a double deep? Or maybe not split it but downsize the colony anyway. Any help or suggestions would be much appreciated.

[@bobbinnie9872]

If you stop feeding sugar syrup a week before putting honey supers on you shouldn't have any trouble with sugar in your honey. I often use feeding as a tool to get desired results and it is not something that absolutely has to be done if the colony has plenty of stores. I would advise against splitting this time of year until you have a little more experience. We stopped splitting a few weeks ago. Better to get your good colony through the winter with all of its assets and split in the spring when it will help keep the colony from swarming. Good luck.

[@freekinfishin4323]

Thank you so much. Greatly appreciated, and when you say keep all your assets does that mean let them stay in the double deep. Also, I’ve watched a lot of your videos and they’ve really helped answer all of the questions I’ve had that other bee KZbinrs hadn’t answered or talked about really appreciate it.

[@bobbinnie9872]

@@freekinfishin4323 Thanks. Yes, I like to leave them in a double deep as long as there is a good population. That's just my preference. Singles work too and many people prefer that.

[@freekinfishin4323]

Thank you so much. I really appreciate you taking the time to help, I could ask you a million questions but the answers would probably be in the few videos of yours I haven’t watched. You have a great channel and I wish you the best. It was also super cool coming back and seeing you had replied so thank you for that as well.

[@smitt76]

That video did come out good! I’m glad it made it to KZbin. Do you feed while you’re treating with Apigaurd?

[@bobbinnie9872]

Thanks. Yes, we do feed and treat at the same time.

[@toprakanaciftligi8037]

Wisdow 👏👏👏

[@framcesmoore]

Great video Thanks for this you sure talked fast.. wish u would had encluded the questions u are great thanks.

[@bobbinnie9872]

Hi Frances. Question segment will come soon. Thanks.

[@peterlightbody8443]

From what I have learnt from others , mites have been around for close to 40 years in 🇺🇸, in all that time , with research etc , do you personally think in your lifetime , they will find a cure to eradicate them , we don't have varroa in Australia , I just think it's a matter of time ,New Zealand has them , I think I would give up beekeeping , watching all that you have to do, just to keep on top of it .

[@bobbinnie9872]

I am not a scientist but my guess is the answer will come in the form of genetics. I've had mixed success with a couple of yards that I ran with no treatment for seven years. The problems I had came from surrounding beeyards belonging to others.

[@danielbailey201]

Could you cover checker boarding at some point? I’m sure it’s too labor intensive for commercial outfits, but may be useful for hobbyists and side-liners. I’ve read the ABJ articles by Walt Wright, but can’t get my head around how to break up the honey dome without splitting the broodnest.

[@downunderfulla6001]

🍺🍺

[@rodneymiddleton9624]

Hey Bradley!!!

[@downunderfulla6001]

Gidday Rodney, hope you and your family are well👍

[@rodneymiddleton9624]

@@downunderfulla6001 We are doing well. It's spring there by now?

[@downunderfulla6001]

1st of September is our first day of spring. Not long now👍

[@stufarnham]

Great, informative video, Bob, as always. I have a question that is only tangentially related to this video. I live in a hot, dry climate. Because I had back surgery pending I started out to pull honey prior to surgery, much of the honey was uncapped, so I left the supers on. This weekend it was still uncapped after a hot, dry month, so I pulled out my refractometer to check it. I could tell when I took my samples that it was thick, and it tested out consistently at between 12 and 13 percent. My question is whether this is too dry to extract (ignoring any mechanical issues related to extracting such thick honey), do I need to put this in a humid environment so it can absorb a coupl percent of moisture? Stu

[@bobbinnie9872]

That could be a problem to extract. I once had that problem and I put the supers in the extracting room and sprayed them down with a misty stream from the water hose a few times over a couple of days until I was satisfied it was good. In my experience, and with our equipment, anything below 14 can be to tough to extract properly. Good luck.

[@moebees3060]

I'm willing to bet that treating will never get you to the point where you can stop treating.

[@bobbinnie9872]

I wouldn't bet against you.