Killing Off the Queenless Colonies

a Canadian Beekeeper’s Blog

[@jasonseaward8506]

I very much appreciate your honesty and straight up appraoch to sharing information. You are such an asset to the community so i thank you. On a side note, i miss rural living. Im totally jealous lol

[@duanevonbargen7516]

I never even thought about checking a queenless hive for mites before transferring to another hive. Thanks for this tip. I'll be sure to do so in the future. Thanks!!

[@dcsblessedbees]

Most critical brood is Winter Brood, 2nd most critical brood all the rest.😁 I see the Logic in your chosen approach. 👍

[@benjamindejonge3624]

Love your sincerity what’s going on draws us in this Canadian world and make us think with it, greetings from southern Spain.

[@79PoisonBreaker]

Soon you will be able to go inside the camper/blind lol. It has been a nice summer this year IMO , glad it looks like all the farm business's are doing well. Hope you and whole family have a great harvest season.

[@MinnesotaBeekeeper]

Ian the constant Spring rains here and western Wisconsin cause more swarming than anyone here can remember. 50 percent swarms (and late Summer) were not unusual this year. Still loving your new drier!

[@vanderpoolfarmsl.l.c.9983]

Things are winding down in Oregon as well. While treatments are complete, we are following up with a few rounds of the crack-pipe (Provap100) and spot feeding. Later in November and early December as brood diminishes, we will vape single shots as weather allows to mop-up. We are looking forward to the off season!! Thank you for your excellent videos this year!!

[@Dm.Alex.]

Greetings from Russia. Have a good harvest.

[@radsk5]

Been a crazy year with the queens , I’ve been having my hives trying to make new queens like crazy this year, 3 I found today out of 25

[@carloscrenz9433]

Hola qué lindo de diez 👏👏💪☕😎

[@williambates6811]

Hopefully the farm can find niches for the next generation.

[@davidhunter1380]

I could use that rain here in North Middle Tennessee. We were forcast to get the remnants of Francine, but not really seeing much. A lot of crunch vegetation here. Having to feed the bees a ton.

[@davidryle1164]

We've got the heat down here in Wisconsin Ian 26C!!!!!

[@davidsachs4883]

After pulling honey, would it be a good idea to move many of the larger nucs to larger boxes when you start the syrup feeding ?

[@JamesLeesBees]

Yes. Never trust a forecaster

[@aCanadianBeekeepersBlog]

Lol

[@melaniejenkins109]

Especially if you live in Wales!!!!

[@markalan1501]

What happened to the header?😅

[@russellkoopman3004]

Looks like some old fence post got in the way. That was a big ouch!!

[@aaronparis4714]

It’s like that in Nova Scotia my doubles have 8 and 9 frames of heroes still 😅

[@toddknecht2106]

Just for your information I saw an article on Facebook from Rocky Mountain bee supply LLC that talked about using oxalic and apivar(Amitraz) together being a problem. I personally don’t use oxalic acid! I apologize for not copying link couldn’t figure it out! I also found an article in the American Bee Journal

[@aCanadianBeekeepersBlog]

Was he referring to the extended release pads?

[@Drewjober]

Are The bees in the bag summer bees and wouldn’t have lived past November anyway because the colony didn’t have brood for winter, it wouldn’t have made it so you took your loss now not during winter, and Those bees made you honey so it’s no loss and you know how you want to store the equipment. It’s got to help in every way and it’s less labor working on and feeding a 1/2 dead colony

[@kathyhathaway8823]

Hello Ian after you cut your fields do you use the rest of the plant cuttings for feed also .

[@robertstwalley3662]

Wow, that header looks rough, Did you eat a rock? I cut wheat West of Fargo ND, we had to watch out for bowling ball sized rocks up there.

[@tachedegraisse1303]

Do you cull with a bag every year, or is this your first time because of last winter's virus load?

[@aCanadianBeekeepersBlog]

First year doing this

[@JimLaddie]

Just started raining in Victoria. You should have it in a day or so.

[@heehaw8401]

We were supposed to get a lot of rain in Atlanta from that hurricane. Though it has rained a small amount and it’s cooler, the major rain that was predicted didn’t happen.

[@aaronparis4714]

lol we got some rain then it cleared of and was nice but still very good weather in Nova Scotia

[@hootervillehoneybees8664]

Zach research shows mite drift on drones .. by day 3 60 % of the drones drift into other units.. 70% of the mites are in the drone brood .. drone brood removal also prevents drift .. I just need to find a market for live drone larva they are worth big bucks in Asia

[@paulajones4999]

If you add thyme oil to your syrup it inhibits the varroa mite. We are trying to get the bees to develop their own resistance to the varroa. This means minimal disruption to them whilst collecting honey, and treating in the fall so they are going into winter with little varroa in the larva.

[@Manuherikiabeekeeping]

Sorry but I don't agree and I'm going to naysay you here. I live in central Otago southern New Zealand so my main honey crop is thyme honey and I still have mites in my bee's and have to treat and so do the other large commercial guys here. I think the thymol gel in the brood nest can be effective but I don't think the thyme oil naturally or artificially present in feed is very effective and I'd have a lot more of it in my nectar than you'll put in your syrup, it's literally all we have here for honey production unlike other parts of New Zealand.

[@lt35phila]

Lots of Canadian cornflakes

[@lt35phila]

Why are you getting high mite levels if every hive is treated the same?

[@judicorbett9401]

Why do some people, in the same house, same family... get sick and others don't? Why are some siblings so different than others?

[@86139]

​​@@judicorbett9401your question is not analogue. If you would like to transfer it must sound like Why some people continue to be sick after treatment. Then you will get correct reply: treatment is not one. The person before you asked very correct question.

[@joanneholinaty7325]

Just a thought about the bees having such large brewed at this time of year do you think they might be signalling to us that we are going to have a long Indian Summer food for thought just something to observe and think about

[@aCanadianBeekeepersBlog]

The winter forecast is for a long drawn out winter, cold spring. So as long as the bees are healthy, this brood nest is a blessing

[@TylerJSpry]

How do you determine queen right? Do you actually go through every colony? I know most of your tasks are done through spot checking but I’m curious on this

[@aCanadianBeekeepersBlog]

My rule of assessment is while stripping boxes, peer down and check for brood. If I see brood, check mark. That gets 95% accuracy, with assessment. Anything without brood, flag and then we dig deep in September

[@user-qn9hz4op7q]

Ha! Greetings from Russia

[@larrybanachowski2852]

Boy, I wish I was as rich as you. Why not do your mite treatments of Formic Pro and then add another queen when you have the treatments done? I guess if you have a problem with disease, then replace it, but you need to treat the woodwork to make sure you have no residual disease left to re-infect the new bees.

[@lomavistabeeco]

Was that like 5 mins of continuous thunder in the beginning or did an airport move in next door to you recently?

[@aCanadianBeekeepersBlog]

LOL , I know right ?!

[@deanmalkewich2366]

A very large commercialBeekeeper told me his nosema worries went way competently only when he stopped testing for it.

[@aCanadianBeekeepersBlog]

Except, the infection is still there. Last year it was the nosema that crippled my colonies. I had immediate response to the fumagillin and the bees turned the corner.

[@КонстантинУспенский]

@@aCanadianBeekeepersBlog можливо що справа не в ноземi . А в бджолах з теплих краïн .

[@inharmonywithearth9982]

The UV rays of the sun completely sterilized even nosema ceranae in peer reviewed experiments. Expose the interior parts of dead outs whenever possible to a little UV sunshine. Of course even the foragers won't be able to receive UV in Northern climates where they must stay completely dark indoors to survive winter.

[@shadowmancer7040]

I wish there was a way for you to link up with some big data and ai tech. High resolution cameras monitoring the landing boards should be able to gather quite a bit of data. Temperature sensors and maybe chemical sniffers? Should ... I don't know I just am in such awe of your management practices it frustrates me. I realize the cost (both monetarily and time/effort/manpower) would be prohibative... I wonder if beemade/the university could fund that type of research.

[@daleford5531]

You literally had to buy a buch of new packages last year? The year before?? And your exterminating ( not even high mitr loads) this year?

[@JeffreyPetersen-n3z]

You do a good job putting queens in boxes, they probably have a bee apathy. Why make a queen when the boss gives us one…….

[@aCanadianBeekeepersBlog]

Lots of dynamics at play. I had probably 50% queen replacement in my 1 year old stock .

[@RaysBeesandHoney]

Euthanizing the bees, how are you verifying the mites are dead as well? I understand the bees are dead and the viruses arent shared with other colonies but are you closing up the bags so the mites can’t get out and for sure will die?

[@blaahster]

The mites are on the bees, if you kill the bees the mites can't get to the other hives. And he is removing the hive body, frames from the apairy, so other hives dont rob out the frames and potentially get disease from them.

[@aCanadianBeekeepersBlog]

The mites will be dead

[@daleford5531]

Well if i remember right..the last video i watched you were going to run queenless hives for Honey Production..which is cool but your killing bees you could recoup..your tripping over a dime..to save a penny...i enjoy your info but with a crew of workers this should bee better

[@Draintheswamp2024]

I wonder if swarms winter better than shit manmade queens

[@aCanadianBeekeepersBlog]

Our man made queens are very good. It’s these swarmed queens that we are having trouble with

[@miloshoneybeevloggg]

Lolwtf