How Do I Know When My Hive Is Ready For Winter? | When Should I Stop Feeding?

[@mosquitoswat1]

Hope your move is settled and you’re set for winter...thank you for your passion and your vids.

[@BKBees]

Thanks brother.

[@sidelinerbeekeeper]

Dont sweat it, 1:1 does not trick the bees instinct to raise brood and delay preparation for winter. Just like the "certain swarm in June" comment; they don't swarm with shorter days late summer Once that brood nest starts shrinking with the lost of daylight there is no changing their minds. The bees have survived millions of years without humans.

[@SecureStrategies]

I'm a new "single brood box" beekeeper; been using two brood boxes for years. My question: when you are feeding 2:1 in the fall to the single brood box hive, do you have a medium or deep super above the brood box so the bees fill that up as well, and they go into winter with essentially two boxes (the bottom brood box and the upper sugar-water box)? It seems that would have to be the case, as the bees have to move up for more food when they are out of food in the brood box.

[@particle7246]

Thank you for sharing all the useful information...🐝 I wish you healthy hives, vibrant queens and a fountain full of honey...😁

[@bzhoneyalanb8613]

In Scotland we should (according to the text book) have our feeding done by the end of this month which is when the Ivy blooms which is the bees last feed. Great video again love a rant it cuts through the bullsh1t cheers

[@savethebees-sacuvajmopcele]

Nice to see how you work in Michigan. Greeting from Serbia. 🐝

[@eliinthewolverinestate6729]

Do you ever ice fish? Can you imagine spending a winter in an ice shanty r2 on cold ice. First get a thermal break under the floor. Ever go out and set your feet on the cold ground. Bees want to work from bottom up. But if your floor is freezing what happens. Ever bring something cold indoors in the winter. You can feel the cold radiating off of it. The roof should be well insulated. That's where bees loose most of the heat. Condensation zone must be outside the hive. Or it will condensate. The first place that condensation forms is where the cold is. At the entrances. I use well insulated Lazutin hives. I use divider broads to shrink hive and add insulation. Naturally bee's would have lots of thermal mass above and below them. I won't get up to U.P. till mid June. I hope they have swarmed. Brood breaks are key to wild bees survival. I just give them a good home. Fixed super strong stands with nail boards. The nail boards keep the foam insulation in place. Mine are made from 2 by lumber. I noticed so many friendly bees on property. That's how I got into bee keeping. Have a few bumble trees too.

[@JasonEmery9]

What if you have 'extra' full or partial frames of honey from strong hives, deadouts, failed splits, laying worker hives, etc.? Can't you beef up light hives just by removing empty frames and replacing them with full or partially full frames of honey?

[@sherryortiz6791]

I've been feeding 1:1 and getting my brood numbers up. I can use extra brood for smaller younger colonies since I'm into raising bees and queens. Wintering over some nucs. They've been storing and capping some of the 1:1 as well. Starting 2:1 in Oct when my goldenrod blooms. My bees will be out flying over the winter on warmer days bringing in pollen from plants in the city or the local garden center

[@byronlarson227]

I bought some of your honey today from Heritage Farm Market. Right after I harvested 18 gallons of my own honey lol.

[@BKBees]

That's our last remaining lower peninsula store, I believe. We just delivered that honey a couple of months ago. Thanks for purchasing, but I'm sure you're going to prefer your own. :)

[@justforfun4623]

Each of my large colonies as of Friday had at least 6 frames of brood.

[@donbearden1953]

@justforfun - where are you located? I’m in central AL and mine are the same way here. I’ve never seen any of mine completely brood less in any of the winter months and we have days in every month that my bees are flying.

[@justforfun4623]

@@donbearden1953 I am in central Pennsylvania. My bees will stop brooding probably in a month.

[@BKBees]

Sounds great.

[@fishmut]

Great stuff , we all can learn something from each other , I made the mistake of pushing splits late and some colonies didn’t build up strong like they should have , to top it off couldn’t get to the paddocks to feed them because of so much rain and mud so lost colonies and that hurt , lesson learned not makeing that mistake this year , like you said make them packed and plenty food on them , thumbs up , love your videos. 👍

[@BKBees]

I've made very similar mistakes. Thanks for watching.

[@cjs4300]

What are the risks of late season swarming in a single deep that is full of honey and pollen a few weeks early? I am in NM with temps in the 50s overnight and mid 80s-90 during the day. Getting colder but I'm afraid I may have jumped the gun a few weeks

[@BKBees]

Low, but not zero. Think about adding more space to be safe.

[@russellkoopman3004]

Thanks for the video. Lacking a lot of years of experience these questions arise how much and when. I've been feeding for a couple of weeks now at a moderate rate. Every week I look in the upper box and check a couple of frames in the middle top box to see if it is honey or brood. Most of my hives have 2 or 3 partial frames with some brood in the top box and several are all capped honey. Question: if the top box is all capped honey I can slow down to maintenance feeding? I live in central MN just south of you a bit.

[@rstlr01]

Got a couple hives I'm going to throw sugar on top and hope for the best.

[@kathyhathaway8823]

Thanks for all your video’s an great information. Before you moved up north what state did you live in . Also do you run any screen bottom boards

[@SageandStoneHomestead]

REALLY appreciate it. At the time of this filming, what were your high and low temps? We are in ultra-south KY (TN is a stone's throw away), and queens are still laying lots of brood. Some backfilling starting to happen.

[@ricksutton2902]

The bee in clubs in Marquette Escanaba Iron Mountain. Have your own little click. You have a few know-it-alls in them clubs. That don't like Outsiders afraid that you will take therapy customers. I noticed they just repeat somebody Elsa said.

[@BKBees]

Yeah I have little desire to insert myself where I'm not welcome. I enjoy working with beginners, but actively avoid situations where egos and competition make stuff awkward. I am active in their FB group, but, until I'm asked to take part in some sense I will just stick to making videos and helping those who seek it.

[@SageandStoneHomestead]

@@BKBees the beginners (me) really appreciate the help! I've been going to a bee club and it is very intimidating. And I'm a confident person lol

[@donbearden1953]

Brett, the fall flow has just beginning in my area. I normally don’t pull any fall honey unless it’s a frame or two. I will check them around the end of October just to make sure they have enough resources and I will put a round top hive feeder one each one with granulated sugar just as insurance. I normally end up removing the sugar and making 1 to 1 with it for feeding early spring splits. Did you get all of your honey extracted?

[@justforfun4623]

I am feeding 6 gallons of 2:1 syrup to each colony. I can only feed a few colonies at a time. But I have until closer to the end of October here in pa. I just know every year during our archery season we normally can sit all of October in shorts and a t-shirt lol.

[@justforfun4623]

Or until they stop taking the syrup, I have one colony that since yesterday took 3 gallons and the other barely took a gallon and a half, but they are bringing goldenrod, it is very yellow around my area never knew how much golden rod grew until I started paying attention, I also have 3 farms with in 3 miles of me growing sunflowers.

[@BKBees]

You certainly won't have a rush getting everything up to weight. Sounds awesome.

[@noahriding5780]

Nice bee yard. Thanks for the video, and they are fun to watch. I'd been busy lately, but hope to comment more on your videos, just because bees are fun. I do also understand wanting to stay away from really loud or pushy people. This is one of the things I don't like in any business. ... Had 2 things wanted to see what you thought about; Is it possible that bees with more propolis ability would have more comb building time later in the fall than other bees? (If so that might be some advantage...) Having a rough time with yellow jackets right now, killing them by the hundreds daily for the last week. Is this going to stay all winter? At what point as winter approaches will the yellow jacket population tend to go away? And I'm curious how much colony deaths are actually caused by yellow jackets. Even right now with reduced entrances, they are going after the hives non-stop so much that its worrying, about how much their dmg is going to sum up to with all their day to day preying.

[@BKBees]

Sorry for the late reply. I do value your input on this channel. I'm not sure about the propolis question... There are advantages and disadvantages, but I don't think the added propolis would reliably give quantifiably more comb building time... I could very well be wrong about that. If I had it my way my bees would chill the hell out with the propolis, but of course I see the benefits, glue, antibacterial, all of that. I bet, depending on where you're located, that the yellow jacket problem dissipated since you commented. If not, it will. If it's really bad think about putting out a yellow jacket trap next year, or hunting the nests. I don't usually spend too much time thinking about this stuff though.

[@noahriding5780]

@@BKBees Thanks for the reply! I don't mind that its late, as I get that you are very busy and growing so fast. Its actually cool that you still can reply and talk to us since you re achieving such fast growth, which would tie up a lot of your time. Thumbs up.

[@Theoldman62]

Hi Brett saginaw mich here. Brood nests looking good. Question on mites. I've been using OA towels all summer. Mite counts mostly 0's with a few 1's and 2s per 300 on a alcohol wash .roughly two weeks ago I washed some 5's, 6's, and even a 9 . So I treated with OA vapor 3 times 4 days apart . Washed again getting 2,3 and a five. Interesting part is all bUt one mite is young . IE HALF THE SIZE OF THE ONES I VE BEEN FINDING. any thoughts? Trying to deside between another round of OA vapor same as last time or OA dribble. Your option would be appreciated. Tia I do my best to catch your vidoes.

[@SageandStoneHomestead]

Have you tried switching up the chemical to make it a broader kill?

[@aprilbatley9265]

Now that makes commen sense

[@melvinlantz9572]

I'm in mio michigan and the Golden rod is pretty much done here. I've already started feeding. The brood is shrinking down also. Our weather is cooling down. Around 60s here shortly. Thank you for all your great advice.

[@BKBees]

Thanks for watching, Melvin!

[@melvinlantz9572]

Being from Michigan also I'm learning a lot from you. This is my first year getting back into bee's. I look forward to seeing your videos. I have 8 hives. All of them have good weight to them. But 1 is still on the light side. Should I be heavier syrup? I'm giving 2 to 1 right now.

[@BKBees]

@@melvinlantz9572 Nah, no reason to try to make it thicker syrup than 2:1. Just keep it on 'em, and be prepared to combine them if you think they won't make it.

[@melvinlantz9572]

Ok. Thank you so very much.

[@Gregwisconsin]

Thank you for the information. I have a single hive of 4 Med-8 frame boxes. The bottom 2 are the brood chamber and separated with a queen excluder. The top 2 boxes are HEAVY! Bottoms packed with bees. Should I remove excluder? Should I remove the two top boxes or let them stay the winter? Most appreciated.

[@BKBees]

Never go into winter with an excluder. In general, you'd like to remove those honey boxes and get the weight right in just the brood area. For me I always do this before the goldenrod flow so that weight contributes. If you don't think you can get that brood area up to weight, its fine to leave one or both of those honey boxes, just make sure to remove the excluder.

[@Gregwisconsin]

@@BKBees Thank you so much.

[@SageandStoneHomestead]

How are you guys doing? Miss seeing your content!

[@BKBees]

We are doing well, I have a stack of videos that are shot and ready to edit, just not enough time to get to it. The end of the bee year is always a crazy time for us. I'm hoping to have a video out soon though, thanks for checking on us!

[@dedogs]

Living in Paavola, Michigan. Do you reduce your entry? When goldenrod dries up, would robbing increase? Today was extremely unusually warm, when would be the last hive inspection.

[@BKBees]

No I don't mess around with the hive entrances but I do try to keep evenly matched hives in a yard together. Keep the nucs and singles away from the big production colonies and even though tensions rise, no damage is usually done. I did my last inspection in August. I don't mess around inside the hives after I take off the honey boxes.

[@86offroad]

My doubles are easy to judge as they get a 100% full 10frame deep of their own honey. The singles on the other hand are a bit more of a juggle as I want them to still brood but dont want to take all the queens space. Im in sourh central Ontario Canada close lake Ontario. In my 3rd season with bees.

[@BKBees]

If you time the removal of the supers well, for me in the lower peninsula it was mid to late August, they'll have a mostly brood box that will contribute all of the winter bees necessary, and have enough time to pack in goldenrod honey and the syrup you offer them. I always did that and had robust populations coming out of winter. I think pushing for brood to persist beyond that mark is a risky game.

[@86offroad]

@@BKBees I agree. Our golden rod is just finishing here. I have been feeding the last few weeks to the light colonies.

[@jodygucwa8892]

Hi Brett Jody from Fowlerville Mi, Will you be selling any Queens next summer? I have two daughters from the Queen I bought from you. They are very great bees.

[@BKBees]

Yep, we should be back on track next year for queen sales.

[@Melaniealsoomse072]

Hey Brett, so I did a inspection of my hives yesterday my first original hive is not doing so good the other hive is robbing them blind I am not quite sure how to keep that from happening anymore I've closed them up and the other Hive comes back for them, I also noticed the hive that's been robbed is cleanless but it had to be within the last 2 weeks because there is larvae not capped yet any suggestions because it keep going like this they are not going to be ready for winter. Thanks in advance.

[@BKBees]

Minimize the entrance space, close up any cracks. You can try to take the lid off of the culprit hive, but, this is a temporary fix. Just give them a smaller entrance, and offer feed for both hives.

[@Melaniealsoomse072]

@@BKBees I've made all of the hives entrance less than half of the reducer smallest opening and they are still getting in there these yellow jackets are hulk like killing so many of these summer bees I will be glad to show you pictures I've tried to send it to the link you've given me before maybe a regular email might work better I've tried the local ber club around here crickets all day long 😔

[@BKBees]

@@Melaniealsoomse072 What address did I give you before? Shoot anything you want me to look at to [e-mail]

[@mikedarkow7788]

are you makeing any more videos

[@BKBees]

Just uploaded one, Mike! More to come in the coming days.

[@RyanMcDonnough]

I’m in Zone 8b (Portland, OR). Most people in my area are able to feed until the end of October. As I’m feeding, how much risk is there of over-feeding and causing my colonies to swarm?

[@BKBees]

You won't overfeed, don't worry about it.

[@Melaniealsoomse072]

Ugh, help. I have three hives as you know I'm down in the gr /Muskegon area, prepping my bees for the last few weeks for winter something has robbed one of my hives blind which I'm sure it is the yellow jackets and it don't even matter what I put out for everybody to eat for community feeder now I am having to debate on combining the hive with another because I know that it will not make it through the winter I've went from over 400,000 bees to a lousy maybe 120,000 bees . And none of my hives have Queens I'm in a situation what do I do it's too late to try to make a queen and they don't have any Queen cells it is the end of October and only with a miracle will I be able to acquire at least two B's what do I do in this situation and how can I send you pictures to show you how bad my hives have gotten 😭 Thanks ahead of time

[@BKBees]

I wouldn't assume you don't have a queen. Queens slow down laying in July, practically cease altogether at this time of year. I would consider combining the weakened hive, but wouldn't suggest any more interjection than that. If you want to shoot me some pics you can send 'em to [e-mail]

[@timothymeuleners6589]

Smash that Like button

[@BKBees]

Hell yes.

[@noahriding5780]

So something came up that I wanted to see what you thought about. I was listening to some guy talk about brood problems. And he mentions that its probably a good idea to throw away brood frames on a dead out. But the way he worded it sounded like a lot of people are throwing them out even when they don't know its a brood disease that killed the hive. I don't really have any brood problems right now. Knock on wood. But it made me want to see ...do others throw away the brood comb even if they don't know for sure its brood disease on dead outs? If you don't have a brood disease then I'm not sure it would be necessary to throw away stuff. I'm not sure what r the chances you are exposing a new colony to disease, given that you don't think there was a brood disease but given that a frame came from a dead out? But it also looks like the economy is totally messed up and it seems like people won't be as able to buy new equipment as they used to also. I'm expecting to have to save more and keep old stuff, just because even if the economy doesn't dive it does look like the price inflation now is getting there....

[@BKBees]

I don't think it's a normal course of action to throw away deadout brood frames. Now, frames with dead brood in them, yes, just throw it away, scrape it off, the bees will build it back in no time. Brood area frames with no dead brood, reuse them and don't think twice about it. I don't like dead brood in hives at all. The idea that a colony died with brood in the hive is a situation that shouldn't happen, so it's my rule that I scrape off all dead brood frames from dead outs. At least the vast majority of them.

[@BKBees]

And the only brood disease that I'd be worried about surviving the winter on a frame with no dead brood in it would be AFB. If you didn't see signs of that, reuse the frames. EFB won't stick around, nor will chalkbrood or sacbrood or any of that stuff. Once again, rule of thumb, no dead brood, reuse 'em, with dead brood, scrape 'em.

[@nszucs1]

I've noticed my queen is still laying a substantial brood nest. It's an Italian queen in a double deep, I'm guessing 8 frames of brood (I got hives from two different nuc producers). Should I consider a carni queen for next year or just a queen from a different producer? How many frames of brood are ideal for this time of year?

[@BKBees]

Package Italians are notorious for overbrooding in the fall and early spring. I think they'll be fine, they'll just have a bit less insurance food come next spring. It can be advantageous to search out queens from your local area, but like I said, the Georgia bees can do just fine as well, given that they're happy, heavy and healthy.

[@nszucs1]

@@BKBees I treated with formic pro, just finished that up about a week ago. I plan to re-test this week to guide whether I treat with OA in October. They are definitely heavy enough - I don't have a scale but they pass the one arm lift test. I plan to requeen next year or at least retire this queen to a nuc in the spring.

[@citrumpet1]

That's why I never joined a bee club and never will. It's not rocket science so I figure it out myself. Got into beekeeping to do something away from people's big egos, not to be exposed to more of it.

[@BKBees]

Most in person bee clubs that I've been a part of are nice. It's the online ones that have the loud, big egos.