Is Your Hive TOO SMALL To Overwinter Successfully? Beekeeping 101

[@robertcampbell943]

Hi great video. I'm thinking that maybe you should do the sound this way more often. I noticed that your delivery was more informative and direct and I'm sure you were getting the work done faster. Thank you, well done.

[@seleneRichens]

I find the bees chew the foam if you don’t cover it with wood or bubble wrap

[@JamesCrouchX]

Found one of my colonies with not enough bees to cover brood and the poor queen. I decided she had enough. Moved all the wet frames to a strong colony. Took the frames that had capped honey and dry cells to harvest. Set three partial frames out for bees to rob/clean.

[@منحلبلادالرافدينمنداخلامريكا]

I have a problem last year when I put the insulation in the top of the box and the mites got to the box through the insulation be careful put some piece of plywood and put the insulation in the top to save the bees 100% they’ll go through it. It’s happening with multiple colonies.

[@ajjenga4316]

Mites dont crawl into the hive. They attach to bees and get flown in. They then spread in the hive by getting into the brood to eat the fat from the larva.

[@inharmonywithearth9982]

He means mice. The stupid spell checker thingies are really problematic

[@hootervillehoneybees8664]

They scribe the foam insulation because it's building material and it makes it simple to break it up 16" wide without cutting it ..

[@dcsblessedbees]

This season I am running singles and you might be surprised on what size bees can make it through Winter, a lot depends on space and food levels and always location. I'm in SW WA so our Winters are mild but I had 3 frames of bees make it in a single deep last year. Sure Surprised me, lol. We have to remember Location, Location, Location. Oh I'd have put the insulation on the exterior and drape plastic over the pallet wile leaving the entrances exposed, bees like to chew that stuff. If you want to put it inside, I'd put some of the rectex between it and the bees, that way they wont chew on the insulation, I'd also cut the insulation board to size so it slotted into the lid. Have a great week Emily, Blessed Days...

[@casmarykay8433]

Thank you for your comment. I lost my hive this year and just last week caught a small swarm. The queen's a big fat bottomed golden girl! (My last queen was a small dark girl.) They've already started drawing comb and filling it with the honey I gave them and some little pollen. On the advice of my mentor I've started feeding them sugar syrup to build comb faster. I'm hopeful that they'll survive. I'm in SE Texas and the Golden Rod in my yard has just started blooming, but I'll continue to feed them for at least a month. I used to staple bubble wrap type insulation/moisture barrier around my hive in winter and it worked quite well. But, we don't usually need much down here. That hive survived WS Uri when some people didn't. It was brutal. :(

[@heavymechanic2]

Emily, the Bug Farmer did a review on some Flair Gun that connects to your smart phone and its affordable to use.. My bees are sad this year after months of drought and the hurricane washing down all the goldenrod. I see nuc boxes swarm for no reason and the cluster is pitiful. Some are suffering from starvation and others get robbed out.. Its a bad year for me and nothing can fix my yard this late in the season. I lost 8 of 20 nucs and a few normal hives.. Some colonies I reduced today have a half super of honey and almost no brood.

[@inharmonywithearth9982]

We haven't had any measurable rainfall since June in the Ozarks. The goldenrod tried to bloom but shriveled away. The starving drones were all kicked out in August. Feeding both pollen substitute and sugar water were absolutely necessary to keep them alive. Every pound in the hives for winter is store-bought.Sugar is almost a dollar a pound. Worst forage year in my whole life.

[@Hayyou-n5x]

I retired 4 years ago and my income was suddenly cut in half so yes it hurts to by sugar these days, my biggest hives now are only 2 medium 8 frame boxes and i dont harvest more then one or two frames from any hive in a year.

[@inharmonywithearth9982]

@@Hayyou-n5x I switched to all mediums too. I was all deeps. I've been keeping bees all my life. This has been an extremely unnaturally dry year.

[@Hayyou-n5x]

@@inharmonywithearth9982 I have had bees since 2014 when I was mowing around the side of my garage I discovered bees going in and out of the wall so I ordered a bee box starter kit with the tools and suit it was around a month later when I took the boards off the garage and with the help of a friend and some rubber bands moved the hive into the box. The bees survived winter and here I am 10 years later I have never put poison on the bees I think not feeding them in July or August gives them a brood break easing the mite load for more healthy bees. I am in Wichita Falls TX.

[@inharmonywithearth9982]

@@Hayyou-n5x That's great you saved the bees and became a beekeeper because of that. I treat organically especially during brood breaks. Otherwise the mites hide under the wax in the brood and treating doesnt kill those mites. A brood break without treating weakens my bees and the mites get ahead of them. Your bees must be mite chewers or something special.

[@sidelinerbeekeeper]

Your first colony has so much brood because it had a brood break and now a brand new young ambitious queen. Young fresh queens in late summer will always give you more splits the following spring and usually be your faster growing colonies. Requeening in August is a good way to have stronger colonies next season to make an increase in colonies numbers or sell more nucs.

[@beefitbeekeeping]

Thank you for taking the time to explain this. I realize I never kept track of my late mated hives in the past on how they wintered. I’ll keep en eye on this one this year to see how they do, maybe that’ll be something that gets incorporated. July queens have so far been my favorite since after the summer solstice they lay like their life depends on it. Thank you!

[@antoniojosemanrique5179]

Excellent! For increase a bee wax production and avoid moth, could you, collect the wax on the teledcoping outer cover.

[@davidlance3023]

I'm in Michigan also Battle Creek. I help a guy when I was young take care of bee's 25 to 50 hives. But now I'm older love bees like to get back into one long hive in the City

[@jeffbickford9512]

Thank you for the video, you provided some good information. I agree with you on the angry people. In my opinion the last time America truly came together and broke the divide was 9/11.

[@gene-sloca]

Very nice video. Thank you

[@BoroBeeHoneyCo]

Try some of the APIs Tactical gloves. You’ll love them. Sting proof!

[@thehatcherranch4405]

I live northwest of central Missouri. I have 7 colonies all swarms and cutouts. All of them have shrank their brood cluster down to about the size of a baseball. This is my first season with multiple colonies going into winter. Wish me luck! 😅

[@hootervillehoneybees8664]

Won't the mice just chew in the foam on top .. think I'd put it on top of the cover

[@kathyswim9405]

What are you putting on top?

[@jamesbarron1202]

Foam board insulation

[@johngardner1898]

Are you going to leave those in-hive feeders in the hives all winter? I am not being critical. I am curious. (I have several double deep hives with feeders just like yours in this video.) Admittedly, I can only replace them with drawn, empty comb.

[@beefitbeekeeping]

Yes! I will be leaving these in hive frame feeders in all winter. It keeps them condensed down into an 8 over 8 set up.

[@johngardner1898]

@@beefitbeekeeping OK.

[@mrwonk]

Greetings! Can you elaborate as to what you mean by "this yard was pretty expensive this year"? Are you paying a rent for your yard? Are you talking about equipment costs, feed costs, or re-queening costs?

[@BoroBeeHoneyCo]

Flir brand thermal image cameras. Fairly inexpensive.

[@zipperhead101]

I am in north texas and about to do my third OA vapor treatment. I am also a rookie. I think I have a nuk that ain't gonna make it. I will have to decide soon, but the other hives are pretty loaded, so...

[@JimR61]

Bee space is 3/8". Mouse space is 7/16". Leave entrance at 3/8" and mice can't get in.

[@beefitbeekeeping]

Great to know!!! Thank you for this! I was just looking into this as we’ve been putting screens on as mouse guards

[@researcherAmateur]

You didn't clean enough the wax from the covers. There will come a time when wax moths will have a party and use that stirodur to burrow in it. At the same time the bees who naturally want to chew rotten wood will munch on the insulation from downstairs and you will call it an upper entrance. Wax moths love that material.. it will be full of larvas. I really don't get it.. is it so difficult to put a piece of plastic foil between the bees and the insulation. Once again, bees think it's soft rotten wood and naturally want to remove it