Confessions Of A Forgetful Beekeeper...

Bees don’t need any frames in a hive - they’ll happily build combs anyway - but it does make things a bit tricky for the beekeeper…
Ok, here are some important website links. Please check them out..
Here's Tim's amazing guitar machine..
www.chordelia.com
here's our online store where you can see some of the craft things we make and sell..
www.wayoutwestemporium.com/
and here's our Patreon page where you can see more of our plans and dreams. (Remember even 5 dollars would make a BIG difference to us and we'd be very grateful.)
www.patreon.com/user?u=276131...
and finally our FaceBook page / way.outwest.524 (Not quite sure what to do with this but we put photos and extra comments when we get around to it..)
Thank you!
Sandra & Tim
[e-mail]
Copyright WayOutWest. All rights reserved. Please share if you like, but don’t copy or use without permission. Just get in touch via email blowinblog @ gmail.com
Don’t steal our stuff!

[@mikeries8549]

WOWBIG You are one of a kind. Most every beekeeper in the world would never in a million years admit that they made any mistakes and for sure would not be posting them online. I'm another beekeeper that will share the do's and do not's of the hobby. I often wonder how beekeepers keep from falling over from the weight of their giant noggins. Thanks for sharing!

[@drmkiwi]

Your forgetfulness (and willingness to share interesting stuff) provided a great window into what the bees actually do in the wild. Apart from the beautiful hexagons for the honey, they are amazing at stacking those hexagons together. Thanks and cheers, David.

[@RoseThistleArtworks]

That really IS AMAZING how they build such honey holding structures.

[@hughbrackett343]

They build the comb curved on purpose too. It's much stronger that way.

[@WayOutWestx2]

You're right - it's all amazing. I've been working with bees for more than 40 years and I'm still in awe of them

[@paulwyleciol3459]

when I started with bees, there was this very old beeskeeper, when he saw parts with drones-breed, he did not wait a second, before he ate the wax plus the drones. When he saw my shocked face, he shouted at me: "You silly! You will not find any better food on this planet". Not been used to it, I still gave it to the chicken later on ... these fluffy(thyranno)saurus-raptors exactly knew what to do about in seconds it was gone ...

[@WayOutWestx2]

I still think I'd rather cook mine first though

[@paulwyleciol3459]

Way Out West Blow-in blog - chacun à son goût ;-)

[@WayOutWestx2]

Ha! Too right!

[@RamiJames]

i get a happy feeling every time you guys upload a new movie.

[@WayOutWestx2]

Aw, thanks, Rami : - )

[@skattin1238]

Okay???????

[@gloxiniee]

Rami James it’s called video not a movie like seriously 😐

[@RamiJames]

@@gloxiniee i like to think of youtube like lots of little movies

[@bobbymancini9069]

@@RamiJames me to

[@Fikrikool]

When the bees fly to the camera and I hear them buzz it makes me tingle.

[@gooberbeans7972]

Another wonderful peek into your lovely lives, thank you.

[@RoseThistleArtworks]

"the carnage"! That looks so good at the end of the video, though! Poor, sweet, hard working bees set to work as soon as you put the first frame in there. :)

[@Kirmeins]

Ohh the sight of that fresh golden honey running out at the end - GORGEOUS!

[@cluelessbeekeeping1322]

That huge lump of honey is SOooOOOOoo beautiful!

[@beebob1279]

That comb honey could be sold in my area as wild drawn comb honey. It would bring beyond a premium price at the farm where my bees are kept

[@dallasmandy]

That was wonderful! Thank you for sharing

[@thuffman44]

Nicely done! Great effort. Nicely edited video. Thank you very much for sharing your story. A fantastic beekeepers folly to encounter. LOL. I enjoyed watching 🐝🐝🐝☮️☯️

[@f.demascio1857]

I've left boxes on without frames as well (too many times.) I usually re-frame them with rubber bands & let the ladies fix it all. Of course I take the good stuff with me. Thanks for sharing the vid.

[@Hurricanehamo]

Drooling! Thank you for posting. Keeping a couple of hives is on my bucketlist!

[@piedolo]

oh man, I understand the feeling. I made nucs sometime ago, and i forgot to add 2 frames with foundation. Well I have about 15 nucs now with two beautiful natural combs, I guess I'll winter them like this and we'll see next spring.

[@jamesboyle1038]

Oh that comb looks so good 😊

[@FrederickDunn]

Some of the most beautiful natural honeycomb I've ever seen and what a bonus! Also a great opportunity to observe the thickness of the comb that the bees would construct on their own, informing us as to what our preferred frame spacing should be for those bees. Six "natural" comb thickness over Eight "man-made" frames demonstrates to me, that possibly you should space your frames out more to their preferences? Are they telling us something? What you've actually demonstrated, is how bees were kept and honey removed prior to the Langstroth system of frames. I really enjoyed this, thank YOU! My only tiny criticism is that I personally would have packaged it as chunk honey and would not have crush strained it as chunk honey is fabulous for sore throats and chewing honey snacks. What a treat!

[@WayOutWestx2]

The spacings between combs depends on what the bees intend using it for - where brood will raised, enough space is left for two workers to pass each other back to back. Where it's intended for honey, that space is reduced by half. Also the honey cells are longer (and therefore the combs are thicker). It's all so interesting, isn't it. I learn something everytime I open a hive.

[@FrederickDunn]

Thank you for taking your valuable time to reply. :)

[@jayb9117]

@@FrederickDunn that is awesome thanks for sharing

[@jayb9117]

@@FrederickDunn thanks for sharing

[@FrederickDunn]

You're welcome Jay B :)

[@PeUrmeleMantuitorului]

Wonderful! 💗 Thank you very much, dear friend! 💗 Greetings from London! 😉

[@HomesteadingWays]

What an interesting video! I had no idea that bees would make such orderly combs 😊

[@jeremiahkirby6552]

So jolly! Contagious jolly. Unpretentious jolly. Jolly for the joy of jolly. I wish I lived down the street from you.

[@springwoodcottage4248]

In the UK we regularly get asked for comb honey, except for when we have it & then we can't sell it. I used to put in wooden boards with a 4 inch hole & the bees would make lovely round comb, but it would sit in its little plastic pot for months before selling & then as soon as it was sold folk would come & ask for it. So I took to cutting up frames too make square & rectangular comb honey till I gave up as we could easily sell 100 jars to one piece of comb. Strange how people think about honey. Thank for sharing!

[@kme]

Springwood Cottage funnily enough, the only way I will eat honey is if it's on the comb, but I can't find it for trying. It's not like there aren't beekeepers here where I live (in the Moselle wine region, you bet there's gotta be bees lol) but I haven't seen any selling it anywhere.

[@WayOutWestx2]

I found that comb honey was worth doing - though it's messier and has to be perfect it sold for twice the price. Not that I worry about that any more - now I can just produce enough for us and friends..

[@ranyaahmed2575]

Springwood Co agency

[@kme]

Siggesatan I actually managed to find some last week, in a Turkish shop. It was expensive (especially for what it was, a large jar of honey syrup (not actually honey) with honeycomb inside), but since it was imported... I haven't tried it yet (no time) but it seems to be relevant to what you were saying.

[@shevaspshojai6483]

Please don’t call me crazy!!!! ---but I love to watch those ,,wild’’ combs 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤓

[@marcusm4271]

I wish you would share some of your amazing bee knowledge. Your books are fantastic but you have a wealth of knowledge and experience to share. Love the Beek videos.

[@WayOutWestx2]

Thanks, Marcus. If only we had consistant summers I would be quite happy being a full-time beekeeper again. But I take your point and will try harder : - )

[@robnicolson2747]

Absolutely loved this vid, your bees look great and your an asset to beekeeping

[@jediwarrior9347]

Nature's bounty is such a Beautiful thing to behold.

[@latui7350]

You have a very unique voice that is a pleasure to listen to.

[@RS-lv2lk]

Yay! More beekeeping videos! That was how I originally found your channel. 🐝

[@scottmaschino1927]

Same

[@MrFergusferret]

me too

[@vega1356]

I actually miss doing this with my grandmother I enjoy your your videos but my grandma than I used to do this a lot nice and fresh honey brings me back to the good days

[@berrybuena]

So happy for a new video! Can we see the pigs eat the drone brood?

[@WayOutWestx2]

Oops - too late. Maybe next time

[@khiljinagor8976]

OMG the honey looks absolutely gorgeous so pure.

[@fisheatinweasel]

OMG! Touched my soul!

[@spaaggetii]

You make the world seem so Icky and stucky! God Bless the bees and the silly people that want and love them to combes! One day I will eat a honey comb straight out of the hive. It will be the best moment in my life!

[@bren106]

Bees must have amazingly small combination squares to make those hexagons so accurately.

[@paulwyleciol3459]

bren106 , yeah, each one got at least one, plus one of those luminous bubble levels, so they can see, if they are doing well in the dark. They also tried this chinese laser-distance-things, but hence someone lost the charger, they dumped it after a not even a week ... (When they found a "firefly", they knew instantly who got the charger)

[@jessicadirkis7567]

I think they actually make circles that melt together from the heat of the hive and that forms the hexagons. Kind of like a group of bubbles on top of some water

[@paulwyleciol3459]

Jessica Dirkis - very good theory though ... I'm very impressed! Thank you, never thought about that!!! It's all about building principles of the universe again, (and maybe also a bit, why religious people could never believe, that beauty could just come by lucky incidents ... and that it is just ok with that ...) So possibly in the last second they tear on it, to get more length, like with the old automated chapeau claque ... Tim (and 'bran 106' as well) would never have suggested to start this kind of 'deep edit' and thorrow contemplation of their important information, did they?

[@YourIQDoesntMeanShitToMe]

What?

[@kristopheroconnell5112]

Absolutely love video of mistakes, this helps people who've made a very human mistake

[@kabirsharma17]

The honey dripping completed my soul. Thank you!

[@PixieLove5]

Only 20 seconds and have a new subscriber! That was very cool and informative. Thank you!

[@WayOutWestx2]

Thanks! Welcome aboard..

[@victoriadelosangeles6623]

Lovely video! I watched it to take a break from writing a paper... I really enjoy your channel. Maybe you could film a What I Eat in a Day video. I'm sure we would all love to see a typical day of Irish eating! Sending lots of love

[@WayOutWestx2]

I'm not sure many people would be interested - but thanks for the idea!

[@tropifiori]

Lovely. I have had colony collapse twice am almost ready to give up. However, I have planted a field of clover and will press on one more try.

[@WayOutWestx2]

Good luck. I know how frustrating it can be, Frank - but when it goes well there's nothing like it..

[@louradelaney69]

I spread two types of clover seed for the bees, then got to watch from my house as every damn bird for miles around came and ate nearly all of it 😏

[@solidwoods6999]

A natural art work that's num num num .I guess the brood is put back into a frame .

[@LadyJennivieve]

That is amusing and amazing!

[@samdumaquis2033]

Hello there, it was a really nice video to watch, always nice to see how other people work their hives. Best wishes from a French Beekeeper

[@WayOutWestx2]

Thanks, Samuel

[@trollforge]

Oops. At least this oops has a sweet ending.

[@oshanethompson9190]

TrollForge that a good one. are you one of us or just some who like to see whats going on here.

[@reubenwest8364]

@@oshanethompson9190 youve been waiting 2 years for a response🤣

[@matkin]

I love to watch your channel! I have been subscribed to you for a long time and you are in my favorites. Thank you for what I have! Greetings from northern Belarus. City Novopolotsk. Your friend Andrew, gardener, grower, beekeeper.

[@WayOutWestx2]

Thanks, Andrew. I have subscribed to your channel to try to understand what you are up to : - )

[@MrNandelin8]

I think "num num num," sums it up nicely.

[@MadMulberry]

I was sitting down to breakfast having honey on toast while watching. Quite appropriate. 😁

[@benspatoisgarden5982]

Thia has happened to me a few times. A pain but still I'm happy for the harvest.

[@samantharyan4811]

Her: “honeyyyyy” Him: “num num num” Her: “can you think of anything but num num num”

[@MegaMindyLou]

Your bees were quite cranky despite the smoker. Beautification comb. Congrats.

[@WayOutWestx2]

These are native Irish bees with a ferocious reputation - that's why I wear all the gear

[@63256325N]

Sweet.....thanks for the video.

[@goatgal7884]

Duncan MacKenzie-LOL, Very sweet :)

[@NiklasPrescher]

Very cool video!

[@scottmaschino1927]

About the time you lifted the box, I could smell fresh honey lol. Just did our first extraction for the year last Saturday.

[@manbearpig5907]

Mmmmm Fire roasted drone brood. That's good stuff!!!

[@fuzzzeballs]

it looks soooo nice

[@1charlastar886]

The brood is best eaten raw. When I am framing up brood from feral bees I capture, I usually eat some of the capped brood on the edges that has to be cut away when fitting brood into the frames. VERY high quality protein.

[@darnbunny1]

Thank you for your wonderful videos. I did exactly the same thing in one of my hives and had no idea how to remove the crazy comb. Will use your technique before judgmental fellow beekeepers see my mess.

[@JakeBeesos]

Lol 😂

[@bratbabyp9370]

DroolinG ADDED you to my 🐝playlist

[@kevinbyrne4538]

Gorgeous honey comb.

[@johncourtneidge]

Thank-you!

[@melissakramer-sarrett2591]

I love this man's accent!!!

[@juliejay5436]

Beautiful! Bees are impressive engineers/arquitects! Best of luck to you and your bees and thank you for sharing this with us.

[@bijilbabu4823]

Thanks for sharing this with us. .. Attlest now I know what happened if I forget to keep the frame's.....😅

[@georgegarcia5052]

Lovely comb! I’ll have to make a similar mistake!

[@loganv0410]

My definition of a great breakfast: a nice (Southern US-style) whole wheat biscuit fresh from the oven slathered with comb honey (mix the wax and honey together with a fork is best)

[@kwhatten]

Logan, and some good quality butter on that biscuit!

[@zestoslife]

Suspect that the Irish would call a biscuit a scone. Did my head in, until figured out that a US biscuit is a scone. What we call biscuits in NZ, the US calls cookies.

[@irondasgr]

Do you actually eat that wax? And how much of it can you eat in a seating? Can it be dangerous after a certain point?

[@MsMesem]

Biscuits do not taste like scones because of the use of buttermilk and are not presented at all in the same manner (with butter or cream and jam). Cookies (US) and biscuits (UK) manage to co-habitate in NZ! I usually think of cookies as being rather soft and biscuits as being crisp.

[@ruthannjones5873]

American style biscuits are unique in the baking world. I'm going to put a link to a video demonstrating how they're made, but there are a couple options not addressed in the video. First of all this guy used butter, while most old-time southern cooks use lard. Also if you pack the biscuits closer together before baking they will rise higher. kzbin.info/www/bejne/p33SZ6VsatWBqdU

[@praiseworthy]

Well done 👌🏽

[@alvinlanglais3643]

I love this.

[@samatri0112]

I'm watching this late at night and now I'm really hungry.....always wonder what it taste like to bite into a fresh comb.

[@earlymorninggray8646]

atheo L it’s like eating honey and wax together

[@scottmaschino1927]

It is delicious! The wax has little flavor, but adds texture. Nothing like it.

[@paulwyleciol3459]

sometimes you have good luck (and the beekeper not), when through strange conditions the honey consists of melezitose, so it is impossible to get the honey from the combs. Then it is packed in small portions and selled as is with the wax (that is hopefully new! A responsible beekeeper would never sell it if the wax is brown with rests of the bread e.g.). Melzitose-honey is way hard and crystallized and melts in your mouth with exorbitant taste! No honey but a filled freezer ... ;-)

[@caraame]

Its a taste of heaven. I chew the wax 365 days a year and it’s probably why I still have good teeth. The medications I take dry my mouth and rot my teeth I enjoy the texture of the wax as much as the taste of the honey. Good ole bees.

[@paulwyleciol3459]

LeeFree70 - Dear Lee: You are too young to die - if you throw the medications as far as you could, maybe you will, for quite a time, as you have good humor ;-) ! But of course they do help: The companies who sell them .... And if you brush your teeth after using C6H12O6(=honey) you will keep your teeth. Some say, if you but Xylit on your teeth, you could stop and even revert caries. Not natural actually ... but is the dentist after all ... ?

[@brothyr]

Augh, my tooth cavities ache but I'd so drink an entire mug. So light and pure looking. Is there a primary flower they get pollen from?

[@WayOutWestx2]

Nectar? Probably blackberry and clover for this honey..

[@MLucyLuna]

My mouth waters!! Yum yum!!

[@MsMesem]

Wow, those are some industrious bees!

[@2011klausesbees]

nicely done ~ our comb we cut and place into small square clear boxes so that the boxes are comb FILLED with honey and none taken off ~ klausesbees llc fb

[@monicafelan531]

That looks so good. Yum

[@bikerseychelles]

Very nice 👌🏽

[@AllisonReece]

Wow!

[@GrammyVulture]

Num num num sums it up perfectly I think. 👍

[@melodyt4165]

Maybe try a small metal wine press. I've seen people do it and get much more honey while also crushing comb so it would be easier to process into wax

[@shawnzilla83]

I can’t believe you did a video on beekeeping!!! It’s been way way too long.

[@WayOutWestx2]

You're right - but most years lately it's been a struggle in the rain. This year though, it's been a pleasure. I should do more...

[@zoebailey4052]

This was so therapeutic

[@ralpha679]

Oh I miss beekeeping. Unfortunately about the only thing I was good at was collecting swarms!

[@OhGodAVelociraptor]

That intro is so wholesome

[@danschneider9219]

You need to do more beekeeping videos, I miss them

[@readysetsleep]

That night Tim probably woke up twice, to eat toast and honey!!

[@jimmerseiber]

This is more interesting then if you had the frames haha

[@TheShadeTreeFixitMan]

Num, num, num. num, YUMMY!

[@socalbeeguy8041]

That was some FAST production. Nice bees, too. Things are not nearly so pleasant here in the desert.

[@Alkaris]

I've kinda considered having hives of bees that make lots of honey, if I had stacks and stacks of boxes of them I'd have plenty honey to put into jars and make wax candles out of. you can eat the wax honeycombs, but I know some people like to chew on them instead. The one thing about keeping bees though is having to keep checking on them every once in a while to see how they're doing, and then extracting what they've made, and filling jars with honey. I see some people use a Queen Excluder in some of their boxes so that it separates the half that you want all honey to be in, while the other half being the area for the brood. Also some people use wax sheets in the frames for the bees to use, even though it's not really needed since the bee's can make their own wax sheet in the frame itself. One thing I'd to do is have a bunch of beehives and then forget about them, to only come back to a big mess of honey everywhere or no bees at all.

[@FloryJohann]

If you have bees they became livestock like a cow or a pig, you have to take care of them. It takes bees about 8 to 10 lbs of honey to make 1lbs of wax. My bees will draw out a deep frame in the spring in about 2-3 days, but in the summer this will not happen. Another issue you will have with bee drawn comb is ,that you can not put it in the centrifuge to extract honey, most likely the comb will break. On the other hand, those bee drawn combs can still be used for brood rearing.

[@blacksheep_1971]

i could taste that through my laptop

[@silaata]

wow!

[@drawvenmusket]

a nice bees wax finish on your trivets would a great idea too

[@denis77777777]

Nothing like fresh bee berf.

[@markfrellips5633]

The bee-nality of it all!

[@araskhalil4756]

Sehr schön ich liebe es

[@RIHussey]

Beautiful light colored stuff! Do you know what flowers were predominantly in bloom when the bees were collecting?

[@WayOutWestx2]

It's mostly blackberry around here now, but it's been warm enough for clover too (and a lot of other flowers too) so it's a very flavoursome mix!

[@CharlieRocRevolution]

Wow, look at that comb!! People will pay top dollar for honey comb like that. Minus the larvae, of course 🐻 🐻🐻

[@joshuahull9982]

Nice video

[@stuartcoyle1626]

I will admit to having done something like this too. You are not the only forgetful beekeeper in the world.

[@JoseOrtiz-im5wu]

How did you get 33 trolls. Did they not understand that the video was about what happens when you make a mistake. DON'T FORGET THE FRAMES! Lol very good information, ty

[@101Cecilia]

You guys are adorable

[@maggus3127]

Tolle Videos, immer interessant und abwechslungsreich. So viel Honig, enorm was die kleinen Bienen im Team erreichen! Von dieser Einstellung könnten sich die Menschen ruhig eine "Waabe" abschneiden. Euch noch einen schönen Sommer viel Erfolg im hohen Norden . Bei uns in Bayern haben wir derzeit sehr viel Sonne. ...

[@WayOutWestx2]

Vielen Dank. Du auch!

[@arianeshelton2667]

I feel your pain, I did this twice this year.

[@ragimundvonwallat8961]

did they build perfect thick comb as these?

[@rubygray7749]

So glad you fessed up to this! I fear I have a situation somewhat like this awaiting me, and I wasn't sure how to begin tackling it. Of course it is still winter here, so no opening boxes yet for some weeks. Will it be easier do you think, after winter when the combs should be somewhat depleted of honey? The hives still feel very heavy.

[@WayOutWestx2]

Hi Ruby, any honey that makes it through the winter will be less runny - and often set solid - by spring. I usually don't try to harvest it because it's too difficult - I just keep it aside for the next winter. Good luck!

[@rubygray7749]

It's the wall-to-wall-to-ceiling fixage that has got me beat! I don't mind about them having all the honey to eat, runny or candied. I just need to be able to get this hive apart! Not using a crown board means the hive lid (telescoping) is welded to the whole deal, and trying to remove that just makes them cross! They are only in 1 box at present. I wonder whether lifting the whole box & lid off the floor and putting another box of empty frames beneath when the weather warms up, would be the best - and only - solution?

[@WayOutWestx2]

Yes, worth a try anyway. Did you forget to use a crownboard? Or was that part of a plan? (I use them all the time and consider them essential..)

[@rubygray7749]

I've never had any crownboards. Will have to rethink that obviously! I had hivetop feeders under the lid of a couple of hives which seemed to serve a similar purpose, provide some ventilation space and insulation. Plus the lid was siimple to remove, and I can get a hive tool in between the top boxes. Which I can't in the single box! Here in Oz there are many times when bees do need feeding! Our flora is very fickle and mainly consists of eucalypts near me, which may only flower every 7 years, or in the middle of winter. Farmers spray off every flowering plant in their fields, and the council sprays the roadsides. We do need bees in the rural district where I live, but often there just isn't enough forage to sustain them. Also the recently introduced bumble bees rob the hives. Do you use top bar space or bottom bar? What are the dimensions of your crownboards? Maybe you could do an informational video on hive components? I've watched your box building video many times, but of course there are many other components that need to be fitted together precisely for things to run smoothly.

[@rubygray7749]

We have just begun to get the odd warmish day after a late, wet, cold blustery winter. Amos the goat got loose (I know, you warned me) and went on a spree through the hives. His rope caught around some and turned them about 180 degrees. One lost its lid. Seemed like the perfect reason to open them for the first time. The bees were suspiciously quiet. Maybe all the mean older winter bees have died off and left the young workers who don't yet know about defense tactics. So I put a box of frames beneath that hive, no problems at all. I figure that if I keep adding new boxes beneath the one where the combs are welded to the roof and walls, they will have to progressively move downstairs, and eventually there will be only honey or empty comb in the top storey, no baby bees to be disturbed. I really can't think of any other way to fix this, can you Tim? I also added a new box to the other hives, 3 of which were full to the brim, and one needs building up. Then today was glorious mild sunshine, and all the hives were humming. From about 30 metres away it sounded as though they were swarming, and there was much activity in front of the hives. But I figured - am I correct? - that they were just full of the joys of spring at last, as there seemed to be as many bees going back into the hives as rushing out and buzzing around. Would this be the new young bees taking their first flight? Orienting themselves? They did start swarming last year at the end of October, so they should not be swarming yet surely? I haven't heard any piping queens yet, which is always a precursor to swarming activity. It's an amazing phenomenon, and not often remarked upon, but it sounds for all the world like a tiny little quacking duck farm inside the hive in the evenings, when queens are getting ready to hatch!