Dilemmas of Beekeeping

A brief look at some of my colonies awaiting the start of the next nectar flow. Chatting about why each region is so different and what you should be looking for in your colonies!

[@linoleumbonypart385]

One of the few beekeepers that talk common sense and that knowledge can be passed to us amateurs

[@richardnoel3141]

Thanks mate, hope you get something. its fun to be able to share what i couldn't find out!

[@lotusbloom_inGrace]

I agree. Well said, thanks.

[@aCanadianBeekeepersBlog]

I agree on the supering strategy I do the same

[@richardnoel3141]

Thanks, Ian, its certainly a headache deciding how to manage things week to week, in accordance with your experience, weather forecast and gut feeling!

[@konradrueb1567]

Hi Richard 👋👋.thanks for sharing. Its a bad year here in northern ky it was cold to long and lost blooms to frost.Having to feed the bees there should be flows but i think this years a bust.Theres always next year.🐝safe and keep your smoker lit! Konrad

[@richardnoel3141]

All huge variations in our weather systems again this year. I really can’t say why but it sure is looking that our behaviour as humans on this planet were changing the weather patterns to more extremes! Hope you have a better summer!

[@brigsy]

Another interesting film as usual.

[@richardnoel3141]

Thanks Dude 😃🐝🐝🐝

[@drewbardell7072]

Hi Richard, thanks for all the videos a true education. Just one quick question, what do you call the foil you use for the crownboard? Thank you

[@richardnoel3141]

hi, thank you. we call it an aluminium foil but its actually a thin insulation for the building trade. if you go to your local builders merchants they should be able to find you similar

[@Simon.Forrester]

Couldn’t agree more about space, it doesn’t take long for 5 or 6 frames of bees to fill a brood box with nectar and then swarm

[@richardnoel3141]

Hi Simon, yes exactly.! you get it! you can add space in high summer, if they don't use it, no big deal really!

[@dgoodhoney3000]

Sir do, be thankful you don't have Africanized bees to deal with. My flow is now over and is ready for the rainy season. Good luck thanks for sharing...

[@richardnoel3141]

I am thankful, but we have Asian Hornet, Varroa and probably small hive beetle soon, not to mention Tropylaylaps! 😱

[@FernvalleyFarm]

i thing the same as you about my bees

[@richardnoel3141]

We’re all doing what we can to keep them better and better

[@diarmuidcullen1865]

Hi Richard what temperature do you set your queen incubator at please??

[@richardnoel3141]

Around 34 degrees C.

[@diarmuidcullen1865]

Good video Richard 👍

[@richardnoel3141]

Thanks!!🐝🐝🐝

[@chethannk3741]

Hello , its rainy season here in India and colonies will be weak and I saw in one of my hive that wax moth started to develop can u tell me how can I save the weaker and wax moth affected hives

[@richardnoel3141]

you probably have already lost the colony, they never kill a colony, wax moth always move in after it cannot look after itself and is too weak! combine weaker colonies with stronger ones!.

[@route-249]

Hey Richard, I checked today and the queen is out of her cage so I removed the cage and closed everything back up. My understanding is the bees may turn on her assuming my intrusion is due to her. I plan to wait 7-10 days and then inspect to see if she's made it and laying. I still have a question, the queens from my grafts should emerge on Friday or Saturday. I planned to put the cells in a hive prior to that so that she comes out directly into the Nuc. Is there any way to tell if there is actually a living queen in the cell prior to her hatching out? I would like to know beforehand so I know if I actually have queens or not? Any ideas?

[@richardnoel3141]

Hi Mark, yes you can hold the cells up to the light on day 11/10( but not younger) and you may see the larvae starting to wriggle around. Most will hatch well if you have not handled them after the cells were capped over. i find any damage is usually done with knocking the cells between day 5 and 8, after grafting. i leave mine in the builders until day 9/10 now, just another thing less to worry about, providing i don't forget them! 😀

[@route-249]

@@richardnoel3141 Today is day 9 since grafting day, which probably makes them 13 days old and I don't see anything in them. It's like they're empty. I did nothing more than carry them very gently to the house and place them into the incubator and haven't touched them till yesterday & then I just held them up and shined a flashlight through them... So they probably didn't develop for whatever reason...

[@richardnoel3141]

@@route-249 have confidence in yourself, if thats all youve done that may well still hatch! send me a PM with the details and i will see what i can do re advice if they dont hatch out!

[@route-249]

@@richardnoel3141 Thank you, Richard!

[@route-249]

hey Richard, I have a question... Everyone talks about making a cell starter, but no one says the practice for re-queening one. here's my dilemma... I ordered a queen a couple of weeks ago that I wanted for re-queening a colony and it arrived today. It wasn't supposed to come until Sat. but it's here and she's doing fine. This year I caught a couple of swarms and they aren't doing well, so, I decided to try grafting some queens (you make it look so easy). Since I had a queen on the way, I decided to use the hive that I bought the queen for to start my grafts. I was going to put them in an incubator to finish them. well, I checked in on them after 1 day and they are definitely working on most of the grafts. My dilemma is... do I remove the grafts and then leave them queenless for 24 hours before introducing the queen, or do I put her in right away? I'm not sure if they will have a problem accepting a mated queen since they were working on queen cells. Thanks and any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks...

[@richardnoel3141]

mark dennis hi Mark it’s always a worry but they will accept her if she’s in a mailing cage, or a cage with a candy plug. Just put the whole cage in but don’t break the plug that lets the bees release the queen, leave her in there for at least three days. Then on day 4, release the plug and she will be released. But check the hell out of each frame for queen cells, if a virgin hatched whilst she’s just released she will swarm leaving the virgin, or the virgin will kill her! Otherwise she’s always accepted. Hope this helps!

[@route-249]

@@richardnoel3141 Thank you. So When I pull the grafts out, I can put the queen cage in immediately or should I wait 24 hours before putting her in there? It is a wooden queen cage and it has a candy end and a immediate release cork, There is no cork on the candy end so I just put her in and let the bees release her with the candy end?

[@richardnoel3141]

mark dennis no’ put her straight in, remove the cork in two days at least, check for queen cells..!!!

[@route-249]

@@richardnoel3141 Thank you Richard, This is my first year of beekeeping and your videos are very informative. I don't know what I would do without your help!

[@richardnoel3141]

mark dennis keep bees just fine!! But thanks!!😆

[@StephenBiggers]

I have come to the conclusion we should all charge more for honey. All the thinking and manipulating to get the best out of our bees is a difficult task. Even when we plan on something the minute you open the box.........

[@richardnoel3141]

yes without question, but until we can stop cheap fake imports the majority of the general public will plump for the cheapest on the supermarket shelves. We must educate to show how much quality and "genuine product" is the real deal!

[@chethannk3741]

How to increase to hive population my hives are very small compared to yours please tell me the method to increase the hive populations

[@richardnoel3141]

Hi, sorry not possible in a few words, you need to join your local club or work with your .ocal beekeeper to gain knowledge and experience. good luck!

[@linoleumbonypart385]

Is the AZ hive still running...

[@richardnoel3141]

Yes it is, I will do an update. I've not been organised and have just used both of them to give me bees, in other words I've harvested bees from them to stop them becoming too strong. its all good resources I can always use. I take a frame of brood from an adjacent colony and with the nuc box open, i just shake out a lot of nurse bees in to the open nuc, carry it to a new place leaving all the flying bees to go back to the original AZ Hive. a nuc nade for virtually nothing.

[@pluki1357]

Great video - as always :) Just a quick question: if that second colony had no stores in the supper and was being fed before honey flow - is there no risk of that (added) food being later mixed with the harvested honey?

[@richardnoel3141]

This is the question I always pose myself. In the video I didn’t feed that colony because there was a little in the super, but not much. If was used up I would remove the super temporarily and then feed say 3 litres of sirop,,whatever you calculate they will need. Then I put the super back on when it’s in the brood nest! You can feed and put an empty super above the feeder so if you can’t get there within a few days you can feel safe that if the flow starts they will go through the feeder! This isn’t the best solution but it’s one I’ve used from time to time!!

[@aCanadianBeekeepersBlog]

“WTF” ha ha ha ha yup

[@richardnoel3141]

a Canadian Beekeeper’s Blog how does this always happen just as a flow starts...... bees! Predictably unpredictable!!😆

[@beebruns2023]

merci richard pour toutes explication . c est bien d avoir parle du materiel j ai debute avec des ruches dadant 10, et j ai garde les ruches voirnot de mon beau pere et je suis ravi des voirnot , c est incroyable comme mes colonies ce porte mieux dans les voirnot surtout l hiver car mon ruché ce trouve a 800m altitude . merci a toi

[@richardnoel3141]

Merci pour votre sympathie, c'est intéressant, mon collègue adore utiliser les ruches Voirnot mais il convient que personne ne veut les acheter car on ne peut pas vendre d'essaims dans les Voirnot! mais ce sont certainement les meilleures ruches.

[@badassbees3680]

I have colonies that have 8 frames even 9 of brood no food, I Always think they must've used it to brood like that

[@richardnoel3141]

Yes I reckon they really start to burn a lot more than we think when a dearth is on, nothing becoming in through the door versus lots of bees needing feed!! 🤷🏼‍♂️

[@badassbees3680]

@@richardnoel3141 it seems to me that most people don't even know when their bees are starving or need fed, very few you tube videos look like healthy, thriving bees, because they never been taught how to identify how to tell or it hasn't dawned on them maybe..I been stressing it to them trying to help...

[@richardnoel3141]

Baddest Bees it’s hard work because it’s hard work. The technical level of beekeeping these days is at an all time level of “high” . Sadly many don’t want to further their husbandry skills, which is obviously their choice, but it reflects of their bees. You never hear about the ones that starved to death!!🤷🏼‍♂️

[@badassbees3680]

@@richardnoel3141 Exactly,that's one thing I LOVE about you Richard is your gift(it is a gift) to recognize the little details that are Sooo important and to convey it to us that have ears to hear,not to sound like a suck up lol but I'm just being Real,you are a great teacher and ive learned Soo much from you and I didn't just learn, I understand it and I do it because it's important and it works!!

[@richardnoel3141]

@@badassbees3680 thaks, although too much praise.

[@DuncanHeather]

Thanks Richard. Fingers crossed for a good flow

[@richardnoel3141]

Thanks Duncan, same to you and a Yours!!💥💯🐝🐝🐝

[@frankspataro9714]

I still think we would be better off with deeper dadant bee frames lol

[@richardnoel3141]

Frank Spataro it’s very tempting to change but as I say you have to adapt and be dynamic, Maintain what you have that makes it economical!

[@russellkoopman3004]

Great learning video Richard!! Thank you. It seems that you are recovered from this last winters loses. How much would have changed in your program if you would have only had 5-10% winter loss? Just less work and/or more honey?

[@richardnoel3141]

Very good question. I perhaps would still be similar to how I am right now but I would just have had more resources to use from an earlier time! But I would have had a huge amount more of work to do! Swings and roundabouts but certainly would have preferred lower losses! Thanks for the question!

[@capebee4839]

Can you please tell us more about the government Pollination contract

[@richardnoel3141]

yes we have the chance to have a little return for our hives places in designated areas. its a pollination contract with money coming from europe. it helps pay a few bills.

[@capebee4839]

@@richardnoel3141 Thanks

[@capebee4839]

I am interested to know how many colonies would a beekeeper in your part of France need to make a full time living off bees?

[@richardnoel3141]

HI, yes a person in france needs to have a minimum of 200 colonies to make a living, you need to rear queens, sell overwintered nuns and also sell honey.

[@capebee4839]

@@richardnoel3141 Thanks Here in the Western Cape province of South Africa, you need at least 600 colonies to make a very modest living

[@lotusbloom_inGrace]

Wow. Very interesting. Great question and Thanks for sharing.

[@mccombeesapiaries198]

It's always fascinating to see beekeepers in other parts of the world deal with the same issues I have. In the midwest United States your delema was the same as mine about 8 weeks ago. Great video.

[@richardnoel3141]

thanks, yes we all go through the same things sometime in the season!

[@campdavidsonfunctionaltrai8583]

How deep are the frames you were talking about? I make most if my stuff and was thinking of moving to a deeper hive. No foundation just wire.

[@richardnoel3141]

Their the standard Dadant size, deeper than langs by nearly 2 inches if my memory serves me right! Be careful with just the wires, you may bet lots of misshapen frames.

[@campdavidsonfunctionaltrai8583]

I saw a guy in Brazil that used 20 inch deeps. interesting idea.

[@brigsy]

Sometimes I wonder if ‘modern’ bees that have been bred are too prolific brood wise. The inevitable overcrowding and all that follows.

[@richardnoel3141]

it's getting a balance I suppose. That's why I think many people like the dark AMM bee or the back bee. Least maintenance and they always have enough food. I prefer lots of brood and calmer bees!😁

[@mikeries8549]

I run some single deeps with 4 medium supers above an excluder. It usually works and when I go thru one it's actually fun. I just move the honey aside and look thru ten frames. It's beautiful when it's working.

[@johnmorgan9435]

Richard, i do not agree with a lot of stuff you say, but your holding my interest with what your doing!

[@richardnoel3141]

would you like to tell me what you dont agree with? i like yo know what you feel is not right. were all learning all the time, your input is always valued??

[@johnmorgan9435]

@@richardnoel3141 My experiences have been different to yours, climate, plants and the type of bee have a good bit to do with that. Much of what you say could not help or apply to my situation or my bees. However i enjoy seeing how you run your bees your honesty and the good fortune( in recent times) you are having in climate of Northern France. I look forward to your future adventures. Thank you for sharing those experiences.