Helping a Concerned New Beekeeper | LONG HIVE Inspection

I love bees. I love sharing my experiences with bees through this channel here ‪@brucesbees‬. But it's even better when I can work with bees and also meet others and help them along the way. In this video I was able to meet a new beekeeper, Kim. She and her husband have built a long Langstroth Beehive. They then remove a colony of bees from a water meter box and placed them in the hive. I am impressed!
Kim however noticed some activity during a recent turn in the weather that had her concerned and reached out for help. Unfortunately folks on some of the most popular FB groups have been less than nice and so she was discouraged. I stopped by one evening after work and we took a look. It was a great experience. We were able to check the bees and fix a few problems. Hopefully the bees are now set up for success. Enjoy!
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Link to Lorobbees vaporizer (Instantvap):
#brucesbees #beekeeping #beesarecool

[@lagrangebees]

I love seeing beekeepers taking to time to help those that are just starting 🙂. Not everyone is so helpful.

[@brucesbees]

I love this kind of stuff! Wish I had the time to do more of it.

[@carlsledge3868]

Yes you got good shot of the queen, nice one too. 😊

[@brucesbees]

Yeah I’m glad I got that but wish I could have kept her in the shot longer. She was minding her own business until I touched her and then she got real shy. Not sure where she ran off to but could not find her.

[@wittencreekbeez9384]

Your teaching and encouragement while fixing up a challenging hive is wonderful example of how to bee 😊

[@brucesbees]

Thanks for the kind words. Enjoyed it.

[@horizontalbees3480]

Great video Bruce!!! This shows how most beekeepers are willing to help others in need. That is a nice horizontal hive with some beautiful artwork.

[@brucesbees]

Yes this was a fun experience. Thanks for checking in Rickey!

[@dcsblessedbees]

Welcome to the wonderful world of beekeeping Kimberly.🥳A bit of wonky comb but they look good she has some nice bees. Great video Bruce.👍

[@brucesbees]

Thanks my friend. Good times.

[@GrammyMidwife]

She did good with getting them out of a water meter for a beginner. She should be proud! Nice looking bees!

[@brucesbees]

Absolutely! She is going to do well.

[@Peter_Gunn]

I think she did an outstanding job. Definitely impressive if she hasn't ever messed with bees. They looked good.

[@brucesbees]

Yes I agree. She is set up for success. Gonna do fine.

[@GaryManess]

It's amazing how a sick bee will throw itself out off the hive. You can tell alot about a hive by looking in front of it in the morning. Great video. You done a great job with the wonkie comb.

[@brucesbees]

Hey thanks for checking in. Yes bees are amazing! It was a good day.

[@theboonecountybeekeeper]

That was great Bruce. Very nice to help her out, you have a friend for life now.

[@brucesbees]

Yep. Lots of fun. It was a good day.

[@melvinyoder1954]

I think you did a great job of fixing it. You make a good mentor.

[@brucesbees]

Thanks you. Good times…

[@gene-sloca]

Really enjoyed this video. That is great helping out a New Beekeeper. Keep it up.

[@brucesbees]

Thanks for watching. I really enjoy this kind of stuff. Wish I could do more of it

[@glennsnaturalhoney4571]

INice hive. I've found the orientation isn't all that critical. Great job for a first cut out. I have one horizontal hive just to play with and I do find it a little more challenging to overwinter up north. They don't seem to be as inclined to move across the frames to.get.honey as they do up in a vertical hive. Thanks for helping Bruce.

[@brucesbees]

Hey good stuff thanks for checking in. It was a fun experience!

[@UltFrizz]

I would start moving the wonky comb to the outside and add fresh foundation in the middle.

[@brucesbees]

Not a bad idea. I like it! Thanks for checking in!

[@Coolness59]

Excellent work, Bruce. You’re a true professional and very helpful to a new beekeeper. So many on social media are judgmental. I’ve been “keeping” bees for a few years and have had some success and many failures…. I learn every time I watch your channel. Thank you!! 🐝

[@brucesbees]

Yep. No reason to be judge-mental. I am still trying to figure things out myself. Sometimes things work out. Sometimes they don’t. I appreciate you checking in and sharing those kind words.

[@Coolness59]

@@brucesbees You are so correct concerning figuring things out. One of my two hives swarmed a couple weeks ago. They gathered in a tree above the hive, moving once to an even higher branch. I believe they returned later as the hive didn’t seem to lose many if any. Yesterday my son saw them swarm again, at least he thought so. I checked on them later when I returned and the hive is as busy as ever. It could be they were having orientation flights. I’ll have to ask if they were bunched up in the tree again….. Bees are rewarding and frustrating!! 😁

[@brucesbees]

Absolutely.

[@seedsandarrowsfrontier9224]

Great job to both of you! Bruce, you did great, cleaning up the wild comb. They seem to be pretty calm too. Congrats and God bless, melt down the wax that Bruce pulled out to put on the other top bars or foundation.

[@brucesbees]

Fun experience. Thanks for checking in!

[@jenniferdeghuee1615]

Very nice video. You asked for comments about long hive inspections, I only remove 2 covers at a time when inspecting my horizonal hives. When it's time to move to the next set of frames I just slide the next inner cover to the right. This way there are only a few frames exposed at any time during the inspection. The gas meters bees were really calm so it didn't matter but I found it difficult to get in the habit of doing it since it's different then a standard hive. For the mite treatment of this hive, formic pro would not be the right treatment. You need to have a full entrance for the bees to ventilate and circulate the vapors. If her entrance was the full width of the hive she could use it.

[@brucesbees]

Hopefully it will workout ok. There was a fair amount of space to the side of the colony inside the hive so hopefully that will help. I think it will but I am also new to Formic Pro. Thanks for checking in.

[@WVHILLBILLYHONEY]

Awesome job Bruce

[@brucesbees]

Thanks for checking in Charlie!

[@donbearden1953]

Bruce, that was very nice of you to go help the lady out with her bees! She built a very nice looking long lang, I especially like the design on the side.

[@brucesbees]

Yes they have done a great job. Such a fun experience. Thanks for checking in Don!

[@MikeBarryBees]

Great job helping out Bruce!! Best teaching is right there at the hive.

[@brucesbees]

Yes it was a lot of fun. I love this kind of thing. Wish I had the time to do this kind of stuff more often. Thanks for checking in Mike!

[@donstanley8514]

You don’t know what you don’t know. That hive would have been a mess without your help. We need more teachers like you. I’m sure she learned a lot.

[@brucesbees]

Yes. Glad I was able to help her out. Good times. Thanks for checking in!

[@QuigleysBees]

The one thing that stands out about beekeepers I have met since beginning my journey caring for bees is how generous the community of beekeepers is in offering help and advice. Sometimes you need that example of a confident hand to manage a problem and to show it's not as scarry as we make it. Great job you two.

[@brucesbees]

Hey thanks for the kind words. It was a fun experience.

[@carlsledge3868]

Great job for a first cut-out ❤, I see you moved up to the 9 mil black gloves. 😂

[@brucesbees]

Yeah I think they did a great job for their first experience with bees. And I think they are going to be successful beekeepers. Kim is open minded and eager to learn. And obviously not afraod to try things. All key ingredients to a successful beekeeping experience. I think these are actually 6 mil gloves but double layered. kzbin.info/www/bejne/jZCoq6mKZs56jbM

[@walterhiegel3020]

Great video. I like to see beekeepers giving back to their communities and helping new beekeepers. Nice hive and great build.

[@brucesbees]

Yes it was a lot of fun. Wish I had time to do more of this kind of thing.

[@jeffreyhoskins8955]

It’s good to that there’s people helping people out there you don’t see that much anymore but that was great Very inspiring video thanks

[@brucesbees]

I love this kind of stuff. Wish I had time to do more of it.

[@hootervillehoneybees8664]

Nice looking colony.. looks like strain leaning towards Italian .. drones tell alot about health of a colony.. Ian says need to keep eye on the drones

[@brucesbees]

Yeah we will see how it turns out. I am not sure anything around here is really pure bred. But they seem like really nice bees.

[@jamestownsendjrtbees3226]

Great job Bruce, that was a mess and a real nice thing to do. Beekeepers are mostly great.

[@brucesbees]

Yes it was fun. It wasn’t too bad. Just needed to be cleaned up a bit. I think overall Kim and her family had done an amazing job. Especially since it was their first ever experience with bees. Good times!

[@davidlewis4179]

I know up here in New York State it doesn't get as hot as it does down south. That being said put some insulation in that top! Disclaimer: I'm a one entrance solid bottom LLH beekeeper. First thing I noticed was the inner cover boards are sitting on the frames. As I recall from Dr Leo's plans they were lacking in some aspects. And the accommodation of inner cover boards was one such lack. On my first LLH I lined the top edge of the box with a ¾x¾ frame so that the inner cover boards sat of the top edge of the box. On my second LLH I used 1x3 to frame the top of the box. On LLHs 3 through 6 the inner cover rest was dadoed into the top edge of the box. My first LLH has the three entrances but now 2 are closed off. The second LLH has a slot on the end side the same dimensions of an eight frame box. 3 through 6 just have a 4" opening on left of one side. What I've observed is the bees keep the brood section near the entrance and the honey is away from the entrance. Natural queen excluder without the excluder. I only had the queen lay in the honey section the first year when I had a second entrance open. This is the beginning of my 5th year of beekeeping and keeping bees in a LLH. Good luck with your LLHs. A couple hinges and a short length of chain will make your life with a LLH more enjoyable. I posted a couple videos today of cleaning out 2 of my LLHs of dead bees. Not sure why they failed but I'm assuming I lost the queens earlier in the fall. Also included a 2 minute video walking around my apiary. You will see my 6 LLHs there. When I started keeping bees in LLHs I got a lot of comments about LLHs being bee coffins. Bees move up not sideways in the winter. Not to my experience. With thicker walls and 2" foam insulation on top I haven't found my LLHs to be bee coffins. So they must be moving sideways.

[@brucesbees]

Hey good stuff. Thanks for sharing. We really don’t have the issues with cold temps here so can probably get away with lack of insulation. Other than some bee space issues these bees seem to be doing extremely well. I am new to LLHs as well. Feel free to share the link to our video here in the comment so others can watch.

[@davidlewis4179]

@@brucesbees the insulation works for heat reduction in the hive during the summer also. Makes it easier for the bees to maintain the proper conditions in the brood nest. This may be over kill: think parked car in the Walmart parking lot on a sunny day. I know with the insulation in the top I have less bearding during the summer with my insulated LLHs versus my vertical hives.

[@brucesbees]

Ok good to know. Will see how things work out. Thanks for the input!

[@jenniferdeghuee1615]

@@davidlewis4179 Great comments. I'm in California and built insulation into my LLH, no coffin or difficulty with the bees moving horizontally. I have never seen my LLH hives beard, never. I've never had a swarming issue with those hives either. I think it's because they are really easy to manipulate and if the hive doesn't occupy the whole box you can store extra equipment in the hive to be added as needed. One thing I found very helpful was to write frame #'s on the frame rest to be able to return to a specific spot when needed.

[@brucesbees]

I like this. Thanks for the tips!

[@josephrawls]

That is a great looking colony. They did a good job on the hive also.

[@brucesbees]

I think so too! Just needed a little guidance. Will be fun to see how they do.

[@howardperson6341]

Wonderful mentorship, Bruce.

[@brucesbees]

Yep. Lots of fun. Good times…

[@jimmysneighborhoodbees]

They look good. Can't wait to get my Horizontal Hive up and going too.

[@brucesbees]

Yeah it was fun. Good luck with your bees!

[@KajunHomestead]

Great video Bruce👍🏻👍🏻

[@brucesbees]

Thanks! Fun experience!

[@aCanadianBeekeepersBlog]

Beautiful long box hive!

[@brucesbees]

Yes! Will be interesting to see how they do moving forward! Thanks for checking in Ian!

[@adamsoutdoors]

Glad those bees were pretty calm. Could have been bad for you getting in there with just scrubs on Bruce. Lol. I’m working on building a long lang now. Good job helping her out, she will surely be hooked soon. Just have to get her on the right path.

[@brucesbees]

Yeah they were nice. I had my jacket ready and would have put it on if needed but never had to. It was fun!

[@lynnannandbenji]

Bruce-, when trying to decide "which way is up"when orienting comb, look at the edge of the comb. You will see the slight tilt of the cells pretty easily. I have top bar hives, & I can easily see the comb edges, and the definite slight slant upwards of the cells.

[@brucesbees]

Yeah some were pretty obvious but the ones that were a solid sheet of brood were more difficult. But I like the tip. Will keep it in mind. Thanks!

[@CMPearrow]

Formic Pro in the ideal conditions works good !

[@brucesbees]

I think it will work well for them. Conditions are right. They think they applied it the next day.

[@sonofthunder.]

i dealt with deformed wing virus ,treated 5 tounds of oa vapor and they seemed to recover ,and over wintered, good job walking her thru the frames,she'll pick up all the tricks of sucess

[@brucesbees]

Yeah I think she will do well and should be set up for success once the mites are under control. I just hate that I didn’t have my mite wash kit with me.

[@vytbbb7146]

nice italian bees. do an update about this hive in some time :)

[@brucesbees]

Hopefully will be able to

[@mouhsinnnahale4544]

Hello

[@localdestinhoney]

Rotate natural comb frames vertically not horizontally so it doesn't flip out of the frame , appreciate all your work.

[@brucesbees]

Not a bad idea. Overall went well. Thanks for the tip!

[@acestrezo5321]

Great job, please can you tell me what was your treatment for microbial, I am from Alaska and my honeybee are 7 months in the beehive, so probably they need some help with that, thanks and God bless,

[@brucesbees]

I put a link in the description. strongmicrobials.com. Put Code Bruce2023 for a 10% discount on your first purchase. I think it’s worth a shot.

[@ShineKelly]

At timecode 10:20 to 10:30 I am pretty sure I see a well developed queen cell right between your thumb and finger at the bottom corner of the frame - did you see it and remove? Hard to notice with all that was going on with the recovered comb. I think you did an excellent first sweep of tidying it up!

[@brucesbees]

I see what you are talking about! Hmm. Not sure. I went back and looked at about the 10:11 mark and zoomed in and I don’t think it was. Maybe juts some but comb but honestly not sure. I can’t believe I would miss it if it were that obvious right there. But stranger things have happened lol. Thanks for checking in. Great observation.

[@nszucs1]

I did a cutout and dealt with comb like that before. I had a low threshold for having them start over. Especially in the spring when they are strong enough to draw a whole box of foundation. That cross comb isn't worth saving.

[@brucesbees]

I hope they attach it all back together. I think we had them lined up pretty good. Time will tell. Thanks for checking in!

[@kennith.]

Great job Bruce. I would appreciate / love to see a follow up to see how the bees repaired the comb. Kimberly, perhaps for the next cut out you could try a different method of attaching the rubber bands. I wish you well on your journey. The video below shows "Mr Ed" (Jeff Horchoff) doing a cut out. @ the 19:10 mark of "A honey shower is so sweet!", you can see how they setup the rubber bands. kzbin.info/www/bejne/aKW2g2dte9tnis0

[@rodrigogabrecht7945]

💪👍🤗💝

[@brucesbees]

Thanks for watching. It was a good day!

[@khatpaufridaytalks2670]

Mites disease symtom

[@brucesbees]

She treated for mites. Overall the colony looked good. She just needed a little guidance.

[@markespich8574]

Hey,you lost your left hand booger picker!

[@brucesbees]

Yep. The table saw will win every time!

[@grantjackson3951]

Dr Leos plans

[@brucesbees]

Makes sense. Have never really liked at his plans. But this thing was well built. Just need to cut that once board down about 1/2”

[@aldensmith1102]

What a mess!

[@brucesbees]

I think she did quite well for the first time. Really turned out just fine.

[@hamansgapper9755]

Remember people.. Drones dont have stingers they have a reproductive part instead. Unless you are a virgin you are safe lol

[@brucesbees]

Yep haha.