How to revive an abandoned beehive.

When Jade purchased his new home, he discovered a beehive in the undergrowth of the garden, so he decided to embrace the opportunity to become a beekeeper.
The first task was to clean up the long-neglected hive by replacing the rotting frames and making sure it colony was generally in good health.
We will never really know what the history of this hive was, but it appears it once contained a colony that died out. The old hive material was probably first destroyed by Small Hive Beetle and then attacked by Wax Moth, before attracting a new swarm.
Fortunately, the combs in the brood-box were in reasonable enough condition to revive by cutting out and placing in new frames. The alternative would have been to shake all the bees into new equipment and treat them like a swarm; however, this would have been highly disruptive and set the colony back many months.

[@junior1138]

They seem super chilled.

[@tobyoneal5594]

Love seeing videos like this people don't realize how important bees are

[@alias7844]

Thank tou for t’hospitalisa beautifull vidéo. In addition I love thé musique.

[@sometimesitjustbeesthatway3070]

They looked like a nice healthy hive.

[@Henryfreiburg]

What gentle bees and beekeeper! Great edit and patience when preserving combs... An alternative method for the time-poor: ditch all of those old black combs, give the colony a couple solid brood frames from another hive, plus some drawn frames. They will probably be at the same stage as yours after a month, and you would have "younger" combs carrying less disease.

[@israelbryce113]

i guess I am kind of off topic but does anybody know a good place to watch new series online?

[@user-yq2ej1jg9k]

1:55 W-w-was that a spider!!!!

[@tomlyon7605]

very impressive video, very nice bees

[@bradgoliphant]

Wow, I'm so impressed that you did all this with your bare hands. Seriously, I'm not there yet. I'm suppose those were italians.

[@HinterlandBees]

Hi Brad, I try to work all of my bees bare handed as there is less chance of squashing then and setting off their defence pheromones. These bees would be an Italian hybrid and were pretty gentle 😁

[@bradgoliphant]

@@HinterlandBees I'm just staring back this year after leaving for 20 so very nervous. I've at least decided NOT to start with the heavy bee gloves, and go with 15mil nitrile gloves. I hear it's great for a lot of beekeepers.

[@ashleysipes6923]

I have Russians, angry Russians, and gloveless is not an option for me 🤣🤣 When I had Italians several years ago they were so gentle. I got out of beekeeping for a few years and decided to go with Russians when I started back. They are very hardy bees, but just so pissy! Maybe they can tell I'm a little nervous around them....?

[@HinterlandBees]

@@ashleysipes6923 wow, we don’t have Russian bees in Australia, I didn’t know they were more defensive.

[@ashleysipes6923]

@@HinterlandBees yes they are more aggressive, but resistant to varroa mites, which is why I got them. I think I am just a little too rough with them, but I had cow hide gloves, which I found out bees dont like the scent. I'm going to find some white goat skin gloves and try those. 🤞

[@michelverilhac5927]

Petit pouce bleu depuis la France super interessant merci

[@lialos]

How is this hive doing now?

[@amayachannel4517]

Awesome I watched it at .5 speed Quality content👌

[@chickenwhisperer8410]

Very good video. I have recently found 2 abandoned bee hives. I don’t know how long they were unattended but I would guess over 10 years. I have no prior beekeeping experience but was wanting to get some anyway. My plan is to get new hive bodies and frames and remove them and then leave them where they were for a few days before I take them home. One is a deep with a medium super on top. The bottom board has rotted away and there is honeycomb hanging down beneath because they are suspended from the ground by a couple feet. The other is just a deep box with the lid loose so that the bees are entering all different ways. Any suggestions?

[@HinterlandBees]

Sounds like a huge job. Patience is the key. Start early so you don’t run out of daylight. It’s basically a cut-out job by the sounds. Make you have plenty of smoker fuel!

[@chickenwhisperer8410]

I’m also waiting for it to cool off a little bit. Bees don’t seem too bad but I haven’t tried to take apart their hive either. Too hot to be in a suit for a long time

[@billcatt8754]

They look new and healthy I think I would place a queen excluder on top and a honey shallow on top for a crop of honey. Too big a risk of killing the queen. Follow spring, shook swarm them in to hive with frames. End of year

[@886014]

Good video mate, looked like a good load of bees in there too. Weird question, but are you using an x-cab Hilux there? I have a single cab aluminium tray Hilux but it's only 2WD. Trying to get more hives/sites but can see I need 4x4 and thinking of X-cab, but wondered if I'd miss the bed length. Have couple of pre-teen kids so x-cab would give option of throwing them in the dickie seats. Just wondered how you find it as a compromise? Cheers

[@lauren42219]

The wax is to soft and to white. It’s a brand new hive.

[@HinterlandBees]

Did you watch the second half of the video? There was nothing new about the brood box. Old black comb and frames rotting and falling apart. The previous owner most likely extracted the honey supers before abandoning the hive and leaving a super with empty frames.

[@Makermook]

Excellent!

[@PaulHigginbothamSr]

Nice group of Italian bees good for lower latitude states but here the winter butchers them. Even though they go gangbusters on honey production. Don't have good lucky with the mites but they seem to handle oxalic acid well.

[@blaahster]

Great job!

[@iloveharrold]

How on Earth can you do that with only your head protected?

[@HinterlandBees]

If I handle them gently they are usually gentle in return. I have to be careful not to stress them, squeeze or squash them, otherwise they will sting. I also use a little smoke to hide their defensive pheromone which alerts other bees to a possible threat and possibly sting too.

[@andreafarias6612]

Que maravilla y que rico!!!!! 🐝🍯😋😋

[@BrianJMader54476]

👍

[@JoSeeFuss]

The comb if old and abandoned would be all nasty and dark. This was new comb, fake....

[@HinterlandBees]

When you fail to watch the whole video and make comments like this you look like a fool 😂