Long Langstroth Hive Update Inspection Saskatraz Honey Bees Horizontal Hive with Better Comb

[@jjiacobucci]

Professor Dunn’s channel is where I go to chill out

[@donstor1]

I really enjoy the close up views of the bees in their home doing their thing. I also get a lot out of your narration of what's going on as I watch. Thank's again

[@shanetallon427]

Your videos are so completely fascinating and your voice is that very therapeutic I love watching these B videos because it’s truly fascinating in a work of art and it’s wondrous to behold but then I constantly think about how dangerous bee stings are for those people who have allergies with them and it’s kind of crazy psychotic how interesting intricate nature is

[@FrederickDunn]

Thank you very much!

[@joelleschachter2867]

I am not a bee keeper but I love insects since I am a little child studied them and paint a few I really enjoy your divers documentaries I learn a lot with awe and joy thank you

[@FrederickDunn]

Glad you like them!

[@josephdavis556]

Honey bees never get old, thanks UDAMAN

[@joelhumphreys915]

Very nice job Mr. Dunn That’s a beautiful home of bees and a beautiful job at the end with the fresh comb slow Mo beautiful beaches

[@FrederickDunn]

Thank you so much, Joel!

[@lknanml]

One of my favorite boxes on the web right now. Thanks for sharing.

[@cajuntc74]

I am getting my first hive in 2 days. I'm trying to learn all about the hive and what to look for and Everything! I have a horizontal bee box like yours and I'm so excited to get my bees! Thank you for the excellent video. I'm only half way through the video but wanted to say thank you! I'm wanting to learn how to tell the difference between the larvae of worker bees verses drones, verse queen cells and what is honey and what is just wax and just everything in the hive that these tiny artists have made.

[@FrederickDunn]

This video will go a long way in helping you know what you're looking at when you see hive frames and more: kzbin.info/www/bejne/jWO6kGqqmt9sqNE

[@cajuntc74]

@@FrederickDunn Thank you!

[@nathanokun8801]

I noticed that in the natural bee-created hexagonal cell comb structure, the hexagon cells on the back side are offset exactly half a cell diameter in both directions so that a corner of it is exactly in the center of the near-side cell bottom, fully reinforcing the entire back-to-back hexagon comb thickness. Bees are good engineers!

[@danskisbees7348]

Tremble dance, I always learn something new. Thanks Fred!

[@FrederickDunn]

Thanks Dan.... yep, I used to think they were just having a spaz attack.... I just learned about the tremble dance last year :)

[@MANJUMANJU-jk8tm]

@@FrederickDunn yr

[@jackantonson3928]

I didn't realize the video was 30 minutes till I finished it, love your videos, keep it up!

[@FrederickDunn]

Great comment, thank you Jack!

[@LarryLeesBees]

Very Cool Fred! Love seeing the progress of that hive. Thank you for sharing Sir!!!

[@FrederickDunn]

Always great to see you Larry! Glad you enjoyed it. I'm going to enjoy visiting this hive through the year.

[@dcam1760]

Bro. I must say, I've never been very fond of bees/wasps/hornets just due to bad experiences as a child. I started my KZbin algorithm journey more or less watching wasp nest removals and by chance found my way onto one of your videos(one of you assisting another couple with a hot hive) and bro you are just really amazing at what you do. I can tell that you are actually fully immersed in not just the lifestyle but also extremely well read and an amazing narrator for bees! Really has made me find a lot more of a soft spot for those honeybees 🤣 Keep doing what you do! The world definitely needs more humans like you.

[@FrederickDunn]

Thank you for such a great comment :)

[@dcam1760]

Anytime my friend! Hope all is well and that your channel continues growing. I'm sure anybody with any exposure to your content is sure to become a supporter!

[@lornafinch8855]

Very happy little bees. I like the style of this long hive, it looks easier to view than the top stacking ones, not that I know anything about beekeeping, only going by observation. Thank you for these informative videos, think your calm manner rubs off on your bees

[@FrederickDunn]

Thank you Lorna, yes, very easy to access the frames and tend a hive which is why it's so popular with elderly, or handicapped individuals who otherwise could not tend bees due to heavy lifting requirements.

[@michaelgeiss741]

Possible queen upper right edge 16:07-16:09. Different shaped slightly larger Abdomen. 3-4 workers loosely following. Abdomen size varies with laying rate but I'm not a mellifera expert. Compliments for exploring foundationless!

[@FrederickDunn]

I think that's just another worker Michael...

[@michaelgeiss741]

@@FrederickDunn They're your bees. As I said, I'm not a mellifera expert. I keep cerana honeybees in Asia. Cerana don't like foundation, so everything is foundationless, which is why I found your horizontal hive with some foundationless frames so interesting! In our hives we add empty unwaxed foundationless frames between two large fairly straight drawn combs in the middle of the brood box. The bees quickly fill up the gap in the brood nest with nice, straight foundationless comb, which moves older less straight comb toward the outsides to become honey stores. In a dearth, we remove empty comb from the outsides to reduce wax moths and SHBs.

[@cnevett6854]

Loved this video so much. The slow mode photography really gave me time to watch and learn. Please do more. Your bees have well thought out hive box... thanks so much, Fred!!

[@FrederickDunn]

Thank you! Will do!

[@gordonmaurer5236]

Another wonderful video Fred. Thanks for sharing.

[@FrederickDunn]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@yvonnewagner5322]

Thanks

[@FrederickDunn]

Wow, thank you Yvonne :) I do appreciate it!

[@roystheboy]

Very nice hive you made did you do a video of making it

[@FrederickDunn]

No, it's very basic, I may do one if I make another version after evaluating this one for a year.

[@kmo6085]

Hello Fred! Great video as always. As a new bee keeper I have learned so much from your content. I looked for the link that you have spoke about on your web page to be able to join in chat. I have four colony's this year, two overwintered, one split(my first attempt) and one new nuc. If your queen is marked with white she might be center frame at 10:07 Please keep up the great work. Hopefully I can find that link and send you some pictures of my long hives. Have a bee fantastic day!

[@georgegarcia5052]

Put a cork inside of it ... I didn’t know you had a mischievous side. LOL. I loved your video and it was worth the wait. The last frame that the bees had drawn crooked was followed by a strait frame of BetterCome. That’s a great solution, but because how the frame is drawn against the BetterCome, it then becomes like a puzzle piece where they would always have to be next to each other. A very simple solution, and I’m just trying to understand if that’s the solution that you desired ... don’t overcomplicate things, is what can deduce. Next to the new swarm video, this is my second favorite!

[@FrederickDunn]

I'm letting them free-form things a little George... just to see what they do with it. I may peform some corrections later on and we'll just wait and see. :)

[@omarualpacafarm]

😂 I’ve noticed Fred’s mischievous side quietly dotted all over his videos... sometimes I just chuckle all the way through. You have to note the little twitch his eyes do when he says something mildly outrageous. Watch his hive visor video.sometimes it’s what he doesn’t say 😂

[@FrederickDunn]

@@omarualpacafarm I am so happy that you are here :) !

[@JK-dj1zj]

Very good video Fred. Please, do show more videos like this. Thank you.

[@FrederickDunn]

Thanks, will do!

[@voodooqueen322]

Loved it! Just purchased my wood to start the build this fall! Very excited how this works! Thank you for the update! God Bless

[@FrederickDunn]

You're welcome and I wish you the best with your own!

[@donbearden1953]

Fred, that’s one nice hive

[@FrederickDunn]

Agreed and so easy to observe and photograph :)

[@danskisbees7348]

Hello Don! I really like this hive, the bees too.😀

[@keithrozairo8295]

Thank you for this video . I am about to embark on my long langstroth and gained useful information .

[@FrederickDunn]

I'm glad you enjoyed it! Check in on the FredsFineFowl.com website in the next few days, I'll be posting the finalized plans for free.

[@masterbeekeeper30years18]

Remarkably clean such an excellent presentation Mr. Dunn enjoyed every minute and hope you remain healthy along with your bees!

[@FrederickDunn]

Always nice to see your comments and I agree, they are doing a great job of keeping the interior clean. Thank you for watching and taking time to comment!

[@kb5hxt]

Thank you for an educational video. My sister keeps bees. I am leaning towards keeping them, but live in a city/area where people poison the "weeds" and might not be a good place for bees. I have had some bees visit my back yard's "flower weeds" that I let grow just for the bees. The horizontal method looks more natural with less disturbing of the order the bees put brood and honey in. Very nice videography, the macro shots are over the top. I'm just a city fella'. thanks again.

[@FrederickDunn]

Thanks Michael, I hope you do find your way to beekeeping some day.

[@glogyorfi5709]

We are hoping to get bees this year and found this video so helpful thank you 🙏

[@FrederickDunn]

I'm so glad, and hope everything goes well for you and the bees :)

[@HisWayHomestead]

nice video! thanks! I'm a newbie and have a horizontal langstroth I built.

[@curiouscoy492]

I had not known how to replace/space a frame by wonky brood comb. Watched with interest your placement: snug but not squishy. Betsy

[@peterfletcher8951]

When you put in the extra frames did you, or should you, have kept the extra space that was there from the follower board being too far away originally? It looked like you made the new frames sit right up next to the burr comb with all the brood and that would negate the bee space that they created, would it not? I hope the question is understandable. It all sounded good in my head!

[@FrederickDunn]

You're very keen Peter! I'm wanting to see if they will chew into the bettercomb around that burr comb outcropping. I wasn't going to mention that until the next video, in case it failed :) You are the first to notice that I did that! :) and as for the added frames, I am keeping bee-space between those and the follower/divider board.

[@peterfletcher8951]

@@FrederickDunn So, you DID place those new frames tightly against the burr comb? Also, if it were natural bee comb, would they chew it down to create bee space for themselves? I always wonder what I should do when I have a frame that's a bit overdrawn.

[@georgegoertzen4723]

Loved the video, still not sold on the hive but a much better option for an aging beekeeper. How could you guarantee that you have a frame of honey filled comb that has never been laid up with eggs?

[@FrederickDunn]

The only way to gaurantee that George, is to install a queen excluder. I'll just let them do what they do and observe how they use the space unrestrained.

[@linr7342]

Vents in the cover board help , I find heat rises along with humidity and putting 3 screened vents there let it escape and then out the gable vents? Cross ventilation is needed where we live at 100F at least 60 days sometimes 90 days. We love our LL and double deeps. Far easier to use. Is synthetic comb safe? With bee escapes you don't have to stand around and wait for the bees to all get out.

[@FrederickDunn]

Thanks for your thoughts. you are in a much hotter climate than we are. Upper, or cross venting isn't something bees would do or select when seeing a natural cavity. They have an extraordinary ability to move air through a single opening. You are welcome to go to Better Bee and read about the composition of BetterComb, it's safe, and you can also research it as Hexacell. It may NOT hold up to your heat extremes unless the hive is populated enough to control interior temperature extremes.

[@linr7342]

@@FrederickDunn I wish human hives were more like natrual tree RH with the cooling factor would make life easier for sure. We just cannot replicate the cooling effect water moving through the fibers of the tree in an evaporative type cooling effect. :( Thanks for info on the better combs!

[@jbeebuchanan2136]

Fabulous video Mr Dunn. Thank you for talking the time. A quick question. I bought 10 of the better combs last winter just to try them out. I have them in several different hives . Although the bees readily store honey in them I can't get the queens to lay in them.. Ill checkerboard them into the brood nest and come back a week later to find them full off nectar. They all have honey supers and have plenty of room to store nectar. Anyways I'm wondering if any one else has seen this or if I'm doing something wrong. Thanks in advance

[@FrederickDunn]

I've not had that problem, but hopefully they will use them soon or someone else may offer some options/reasons?

[@jbeebuchanan2136]

@@FrederickDunn . Thanks for the response. I've noticed that many of the cells are warping.I live in the desert so maybe its a bit hotter in the hive than most other places These better combs are held in place with the toothpicks not the wire

[@OG-Everthing]

Simply the best beekeeping KZbin channel ...the quality is amazing. Thank you so much Fred for this good job. Impatient for the next hive inspection (Flow hive 2 ) ?

[@FrederickDunn]

Many thanks!

[@ronfults3844]

Looks like the long Langstroth is working out really well. Plus it's extremely convenient. "Put a cork in it". Lol!😂🤣

[@FrederickDunn]

I have to say that inspecting a horizontal hive is an absolute pleasure! Like standing at a counter, with a nice place to stage everything. I'm liking it.

[@ronfults3844]

@@FrederickDunn I don't have any of my hives at my house except for a couple small queen rearing colonies. But I am hoping to build one of these and put permanent colony in my backyard.

[@marilyncarey7957]

How, and when, will you remove that double comb where you think the queen is now? How will it fit between the bars/frames without getting squashed? Won’t it result in cross combing? Have a lot of trouble with that in my top bar hive. Looking to make the next one a long langstroth.

[@FrederickDunn]

We'll talk about that in the follow up video... we'll see what they do.

[@thegr8stm8]

Fantastic, Fred... kinda looking forward to their brood movement. I hope they are able to move laterally in winter to get honey reserves. Will you head sensor camera follow their movement?

[@FrederickDunn]

The thermal imaging should show some variance in temps, but that is yet to be seen and we'll track them through winter for sure.

[@thegr8stm8]

Frederick Dunn ... good luck. I know it defeats the purpose but you may have to be able to fit a medium super over the brood at some point down the track. The LL in current configuration is probably good in Cedar’s neck of the woods or SoCal where they just get dirts but no freezing weather.

[@rickneils3322]

Hay Fred if you take a small peace of bur comb and put it on top of the botembar they will connect it. it works for me.

[@FrederickDunn]

Great Advice, thanks Rick. We'll just see what they do.

[@dannywilson5732]

Does the divider board go all the way to the floor? How deep did you route out the frame rabbit cuts and the cover board cuts? Thanks! Really like your demeanor while working the bees.

[@FrederickDunn]

Hi Danny, if you watch this video you'll see better how low the divider board goes... bees were actually getting through and that's not a problem apparently. As for the frame support rabbit cuts... the cover boards are let-in .75" and then their ends shaved to match. The top bars of the frames have 3/16 clearance above, so also that rabbit is circa- .75" deep. I built from the deep Langstroth frames out... with bee-space in mind. In my next version, I'll also add 3/16" to the frame end spacing so the bees can also travel down the sides. As it is now, they are tending to propolize those ends to the inner side wall and then travel over or through the comb.

[@danielwagner6290]

I think you could incorporate the flowhive frames in a longhive and cut a door like the vertical flowhive has to work the frames for harvesting honey. ????

[@FrederickDunn]

I won't be doing that, you would still have to tilt the frames back for harvesting and I'd rather use the vertical Langstroth hives for Flow-Supers.

[@linr7342]

You can many on the FB group Long Langstroth hives have done it and you can see how.

[@noahzegart5190]

Will you do a video about removing old comb

[@FrederickDunn]

I may, but videos really slow my work in the bee yard. I always recommend removing the darkest comb each year, about 3-4 frames per hive.

[@aikiemarais6676]

Hi Frederick, just now found your channel. I like the way you present your bees, very calm and collected. I mean, the bees still keep on working, though they are outside the hive in the sunlight. The question I have is that I noticed some of the bee's wings seems shorter, more of the abdomen shows from under the wings. What am I looking at?

[@FrederickDunn]

When they are full of nectar, their abdomens distend. That's all, the wings remain the same length for all workers :) Thanks for watching!

[@elizabethrogers1152]

Fantastic commentary,great update on the hive ,loved the close-up watching the🐝's do what they do👍

[@FrederickDunn]

Thank you Elizabeth!

[@RalfsR_LV]

Hi. I am from Latvia and in our contry we have winter Up to -14 celsius. How Cold Gets in your aria. Thanks!

[@chicagojoe5659]

Thank You Fred. Again I learned something as always. Be safe

[@FrederickDunn]

Very welcome

[@58Kym]

Thanks Fred, well worth the wait! They look great.

[@FrederickDunn]

Thanks Kym :)

[@robertdillon9989]

Awesome presentation!

[@FrederickDunn]

Glad you liked it!

[@richardkuhn8115]

Very enjoyable video Fred. thank you for sharing. Blessings.

[@FrederickDunn]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@Tara-ti2ge]

Hi Fred, I reaaly love the design of your hive. I am wondering if you have the plans for how you built it? Thanks

[@FrederickDunn]

Thanks Tara, I won't be posting plans until spring of 2021 when I know what works and what doesn't. Thank you for your patience on that. :)

[@mad.stellasonsfarm2922]

@@FrederickDunn I'm interested as well

[@chemdogog8782]

throw some happy little mistakes in there and you've got the bob ross of beekeeping.

[@FrederickDunn]

Always a great compliment to be compared to Bob :)

[@hubertpounall1323]

@@FrederickDunn aq

[@yaddahaysmarmalite4059]

Well there was the dead bee at the end. comb that fell to the bottom.

[@johnfleming7879]

I like this lesson- you help me develop my doctrine of bee husbandry are Shashkatraz naturally cooperative

[@ThelaziaCafe]

Very nice. Actually got my hands on a layens hive and swarm trap earlier this season. Havent had a chance to put em to use yet though. Ever had an experience with slovenian az hives? Id love your opinion on them if you have

[@FrederickDunn]

Sounds great! I have no plans to use teh Slovenian hive setup due to the close context of the boxes and drift issues here. BUT, in extremely cold regions I see how they would offer an advantage to the beekeeper and bees.

[@omarualpacafarm]

What an interesting concept the Slovenian hive idea. Now if it could just be combined with a Flow super... hmmmm! I love the idea of the bookshelf concept, no lift design. If you could just open up the back of the brood box, slide the frame out to inspect and close the back door after inspection... no lifting off the super would be required. I wonder...

[@ThelaziaCafe]

@@omarualpacafarm im sure you could rig a flow frame to work in the slovenian system, problem with tht would be crushing bees with the plastic since they slide very tightly together unlike a regular frame which is more narrow below the top bar. Either way im sure it could be done, im gonna try anyway

[@donstor1]

Hi Fred, do you give feedback to the guy you got your bees from? Maybe tell him the queen is a great layer and that the bees are good natured? It seems like your other bees are pretty calm also. Great report.

[@FrederickDunn]

The organization is too large for feedback, they can take sales, but aren't really interested in feedack that I've noticed.

[@bernadettegrisham676]

What type of honey bees are they? What type would you suggest for Western Kentucky area new bee keepers? Great video as always. Lots of wonderful information. I love how detailed you are.

[@FrederickDunn]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/bmjOhpauiM99aM0

[@nancynolton6079]

Was that the queen at 16:09 top right corner?

[@FrederickDunn]

Just a worker with a full abdomen :)

[@chuckh8800]

I saw some miss shaped honeycomb what did the bees do about

[@gregr5]

Hi Frederick, just rewatching this and I'm curious if you considered doing a "shook swarm" to rstart you new dr leo long hive t rather than wait for a swarm catch? It would seem to me the advantage is you get your preferred b-weaver bees and queen in the box, and the old brood comb could go to a colony in need. Just curious if you considered this ......

[@FrederickDunn]

I consider all potenatials and methods :) we'll see, thanks Greg!

[@ShortBeakBudapest]

Mr Dunn, I have been following you and appreciate your videos and expertise. I have a question for you about BetterBee Comb. I am using it. I have a hard time getting the queens to lay eggs in it. The workers pack it with nectar, bee bread, pollen and honey. I am using the deep frames. Can you have mixed frames in the hive or must it be 100% BetterBee. They do repair it. Anchor it. But not using it for brood. I bought it to help some hives that swarmed out and I didn’t have drawn out comb to help them. I thought this was the perfect answer. I got surprised. I have the comb pointing upward. Thanks for your help. Mike Seiler

[@FrederickDunn]

You can definitely mix it up with other frames and foundations. Some of my bees use it for brood, others use it exclusively for nectar/honey. It's a toss up at this time.

[@ShortBeakBudapest]

Frederick Dunn Thank you.

[@shaunroberts9361]

This was amazing. Fred. Thank you for sharing.

[@FrederickDunn]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@framcesmoore]

Ha this was great thanks I was able to get into 7 yesterday my self, have 2 not so good queens are not doing great, so thinking combining them with a better colony I have a question about the better comb do u have to rotate/get rid of it as well as the regular comb after so many years. the bee weaver breed just want to swarm all the time no matter what I do all the other breeds are just as content I sent 2 email to the bee weaver family asking them to tell me what there management is on this breed I am just wasting my money to buy these queens if they just swarm all the time, I get no bees no honey I have nothing to show for it. . they have not responded yet. even the swarm, swarmed I split the swarm into 4 very small nucs each with 2 cells 2 frames of bees each I do not use queen excluders they had 3 deeps a med the flow is on but is over this month here they should not be swarming none of my other breeds are doing this. I know u don't try to stop them and your swarmed to but here I live in a city I don't like to lose my bees they really have no place to go either any ideas. One more question what did u find out on the deformed wing dease Thanks again for the great video how u have a wonderful day

[@FrederickDunn]

Bettercomb has to be rotated out just like regular honey comb when it gets darkened and toxins build up in it. The DWV isn't much of a problem, there were only a few bees with some issues, the bulk fo the population is fine, so no action at the moment.

[@frozeneternity93]

Have you considered looking into fungi to help with the dwv? Lookup BeeMushroomed feeder and Paul Stamets

[@FrederickDunn]

Yes, and that feeder is still not available yet, it's in pre-production :)

[@frozeneternity93]

@@FrederickDunn oh what a pity. Hopefully soon then

[@noneofurbizniz933]

Hi Fred, Love your videos. Could you please tell me the name of the those latches you have to close the top cover. @4:07 and where did you get them from. Thank you!

[@FrederickDunn]

They are listed in the video description.

[@garydungelman6530]

Very nice fred looks good best wishes to you and yours😉 Staten Island NYC

[@FrederickDunn]

Same to you!

[@LivingtheNorthernLife]

Hi Frederick, My Stepfather has been raising bees for the last 2 years and he is 81 now. He is interested in building these beehives but was wondering what the wintering would be like. We get days if -40C here in Northern Ontario and he had built them a bit of a trapped shed to help regulate the wind and some of the cold; however, they don't do well and "barely make it" as they say. He is concerned that in these hives that the bees have no top frame to go to in the winter like on his stackable hives. We are just wondering if you have any information about this. Thank you Andrew

[@FrederickDunn]

He would definitely want the deeper layens hive. :)

[@ShortBeakBudapest]

In addition to a double deep super hive, you can insulate the hives themselves. There are several ways to accomplish this. My friends use styrofoam sheets wrapped with tar paper. There is an insulator that goes on top as well but they have sugar feeders on top of the hive with a vent hole in front over the entrance hole for ventilation. I am going to use the cozy bee wrap sold by Betterbee. This unit will cover 2 deep supers and one medium super. Everything is covered except the entrance and vent hole. The unit is kept free of the openings with nails or screws. This unit is easy to store. I read and have heard that there needs to be about 40,000 bees in the hive to winter over well.

[@jeannecourter6349]

I recommend you look in KZbin for videos by Ian Steppler and Etienne Tardiff - both work in cold Canadian situations - Ian Steppler has a commercial operation and winters the hives in a shed and Etienne Tardiff has small numbers of hives, but does a lot of carefully considered and documented insulation.

[@woodsfriendlygarden2190]

Hi Fred. Love your videos. I have learned a lot from your videos and a new BEEK. What feeder you suggest I use that will fit under my FH 2 7 frame roof without modifications?

[@FrederickDunn]

The rapid round feeders do fit under the FH2 7-frame units, but the roof does rest lightly on the edges of the feeder. Cedar Anderson did a video showing some jar options, but it really needs to be deeper to accomodate decent sized feeders.

[@dvwoods9]

Frederick Dunn thank you so much. I made a homemade feeder for my bees and used the super without the frames. Greatly appreciated. Please view my channel, Woods Friendly Garden. Again, greatly appreciated. I also signed up for your livestream question that will be airing soon.

[@rockallred658]

You do the best videos. Thanks!

[@FrederickDunn]

Glad you like them!

[@danskisbees7348]

"Put a cork in it." 🤣

[@DonaldRogersBaldEagle]

Another great video, thanks.

[@citrumpet1]

Thanks for the video. I'm in Michigan and built a few of these myself with 2x12s. Would you recommend putting any extra insulation in for the winter? I was considering sandwiching the frames between inch and a half foam insulation covered with foil tape, and insulating above the upper boards as well. Any thoughts? Best.

[@FrederickDunn]

I won't be adding insulation since they are propolizing the oak covers and there is a thick roof above that space. I'd rather not trap any moist air that rises into that space. They are creating their own enclosure within the enclosure. We'll see how that goes. IF you have a thin roof/cover, then maybe put some insulation? As is, this hive is far more insulated (by thickness alone) than any of my other hives.

[@gigiis526]

Triune Gods creation never ceases to amaze me! Thank you for the wonderful educational video. Blessings to you........

[@yoopermann7942]

i have a feeling that smoking and shaking the bees are what makes them upset enough to sting or swarm? i noticed when " robbing honey " from wild bees that if i didnt smoke them and just moved slowly i didnt get stung a lot,,, how is that swarm doing? are they ferral or some of your bees? great video thank you for sharing

[@polvotierno]

What theory do you have for why they did not build comb near the entrance?

[@FrederickDunn]

Started during very cold weather, so went towards the interior... as things warm up, I predict they will move brood back towards the entrance.

[@StrangerInAStrange]

Frederick, could you share information on your latches? I need to find a couple of those, or something like them, for my Layens Hive. Thanks! John

[@FrederickDunn]

Tension latches: (Lockable) amzn.to/2KxHZXA

[@omarualpacafarm]

Could you add these to the side of a flow system to hold it all together to stop the wind blowing things off? I plan to put a wind screen on the South (Southern Hemisphere) which will slow the prevailing winds but we do get unpredictable strong gusts from any angle.

[@alphaxanon]

I was expecting you to cut off and reframe that large piece of burr comb to take care of the spacing issues. After seeing that burr comb built, I am thinking that the follower board should have a couple of spacers that matches standard frames to maintain bee space at the end and avoid future burr comb.

[@FrederickDunn]

I was tempted to remove all of the extra comb bits as well as that leading frame. I've decided to simply observe and not re-arrange anything over the next 12 months. If this were a production hive, I'd clean it up for sure!

[@mikeries8549]

@@FrederickDunn good plan. The long hives don't work for me. They were a lot of fun and if you're ready they'll provide you with voo coo queen cells one day. It's a matter of time.

[@lknanml]

I learned they don't compartmentalize the hive all the much. (For the the most part) Seems a brood here and some pollen there will do just fine. Thanks. Do any bees break everything up? Eggs in one frame or section and so on?

[@ke6gwf]

That queen looked very disorganized, which is probably why the resources were mixed in everywhere. A good queen generally will create a brood nest roughly like a sphere in the center of the hive (spanning across multiple frames), and then around the edge of that will be a ring of pollen, with honey outside of that. It looks like she just randomly wanders and lays eggs, instead of laying out entire sections at a time, and isn't leaving that space around the edges for pollen, and so the bees have been backfilling in whatever areas she leaves vacant with pollen. Then the larva hatch in that area, and all you see are the scattered pollen. I suspect that she won't be a very efficient queen, and the hive will be a lower productivity hive, but if you aren't a commercial operation, that may not be a hardship. I would still keep an eye on her, because she may have underlying issues, and the bees may get tired of the disorganization and supercede her. Lol

[@BESHYSBEES]

ke6gwf nice observation though I don’t think the hive was that badly disorganised that the bees will over throw her, once she’s had some more cycles through the comb it may become better, it’s only been in there 40 something days give her a chance 👍

[@2kings3queens]

BESHY’S BEE’S this is why I asked about checkering the better comb, was wondering if Fred was happy with the way it performed or if he thought the Queen maybe bounced around a bit. We also noticed that Fred installed 4 consecutive frames of better comb into the hive for expansion. I am curious to see what they do with that?

[@FrederickDunn]

Currently, this queen seem to be laying eggs in every available cell and though it may not appear organized, I see a concentration of resources around her eggs and larvae which will certainly show a more definitely pattern as time passes. We've had a very rough start this spring with lingering cold temps and inconsistent floral resources. As the clover really kicks in and the weather stabilizes a bit, I think we'll see more defined patterns of brood, pollen stores, and nectar/honey. This is my first horizontal hive, so I'll be enjoying following their organization and arrangement of resources as the year continues. Thanks for commenting!

[@rickabrams3422]

Who has the link for honey bee healthy spray? First year bee keeper, totally onboard with that concept. So far smoke works well. I think this is a better solution and want to test results. Please advise.

[@FrederickDunn]

It's just 1:1 sugar syrup with 2 tsp of Honey-B-Healthy and that's available at all bee supply companies and on Amazon of course :) only when it's hot outside, you still need a smoker for those cooler days or if the hive is angsty. :)

[@rickabrams3422]

@@FrederickDunn roger that, wilco.

[@tonyfox5422]

Used the varroa app. My eyes saw none, but I expected some. The app found 2 and that made 1.5%. That’s ok but will treat this week as we are approaching peak season for varroa growth. I am not taking honey. But have mixed brood, a little bit of drone cell.

[@nigelmoore9657]

What is a "foundation less" frame? Is it one with no artificial comb in??? Nigel Moore.

[@FrederickDunn]

I'll talkabout this tomorrow during the next Q&A... I hope you'll watch :)

[@nigelmoore9657]

@@FrederickDunn I will. Thank you very much!! Nigel Moore.

[@pomeroyi]

what model is the AcuRite weather station please Frederick?

[@FrederickDunn]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/ZojKiKaso8x0jsU

[@thingsbywings7536]

Hey Fred, Love your videos and Q&A 10 year veteran Beekeeper here in SW PA - Question for ya... We recently moved to new area with acres of Autumn Olive. Do you have any experience with it, or know anything about it? As a Honey Crop? Thanks a million - Doug

[@FrederickDunn]

Thank you, I'm so glad you're benefitting from my videos :) now I will disappoint you, the Autumn Olive isn't on any of my nectar or pollen plant lists for honey bees. This doesn't mean the pollinators don't, or won't visit them, but it's just not generating enough to make the "bee list". :)

[@StandardLand]

Hey group, I’m in Dallas with 3 hives. I put better comb in each hive and all three queens avoid it. Workers won’t store nectar or pollen in the cells either. Anyone else seen similar results? Frames have been in for 6 weeks. Each hive has 3 bc frames.

[@FrederickDunn]

That must be something to do with the heat down there? Up here, they take to it right away. Check in with Dan Ski's Bees, he's been working with it for almost a year in Texas.

[@fredrikmudas]

2:16 what is that thing on bee legs?

[@FrederickDunn]

Pollen.

[@kenthompson6539]

Is it true that generally the egg on the first day it is laid it stands straight up in the cell and second day a little bent over and third day a larvie??

[@FrederickDunn]

Yes... exactly right Ken!

[@dandevaul1224]

Great video thank you Fred

[@FrederickDunn]

thanks Dan

[@davidwarren3893]

Most excellent. Question: For the hobbies, would it even be necessary to “clean up” that end frame, ie…cut off and secure to a new frame or any other thing one might do for it?? I would think that if it stayed there in the brood chamber it could stay like it is. What negative issues would it cause? Thanks.

[@FrederickDunn]

We're leaving it to see what happens. The detriment is that you don't have access to all comb surfaces for observation.

[@Enzo21701]

Fred, I've only used the bee scanning app once, but I did get a false positive off of a reddish-brown tailed worker. Can't seem to find a way to pass that back to the developers though.

[@FrederickDunn]

They are active on my Fred's Fine Fowl facebook page, you can sent then a note there I think :)

[@BESHYSBEES]

Hey Fred, question for you why don’t you cut off the extra comb and rubber band the comb into a new frame? Is the wax too soft to move? Or You just let em do what they want?

[@FrederickDunn]

I just decided to see where this hive goes. You're right that cutting it away and organizing it would have been a good move, but with all of the eggs and early stage larvae on it, I decided to leave it alone for now. We'll see what the future brings and as they build towards the newly installed comb, I may revisit that section and close up that space a little. The fun here is just watching them do whatever they do on their own. It's definitely soft and still in progress. It was very cold when the package was installed, so they started their brood away from the entrance and built towards the divider board, now that it's warming, they are building back towards the entrance and I expect to see the brood rearing head that way also.

[@JosiScholes]

thank you so much for all your videos!! they have helped me so much! My bees have drawn out 6 out of 8 frames and have started building on the 7th frame within the past day. My beekeeping book says to add more room once they only have 2 frames left to build, is that true? should I add more room now or wait a little longer? Also I've seen a lot of people like to use a queen excluder and keep the brood in one box to keep inspections a little shorter and the hive more manageable, do you recommend that?

[@FrederickDunn]

Yes, expand before a hive body is actually full, particularly if you are headed into a productive growing period. At the end of the year, when things are declining, it wouldn't be necessary. I personally don't use queen excluders, but those who want pristine honey supers that the bees are definitely not reproducing in, will need to put one in.

[@conservativecoffee]

I purchased saskatraz in the spring, boy are they more aggressive than Italians. I wasn't even going into the hive and they came after me....lol

[@FrederickDunn]

The stock may not be consistent yet here in the U.S. as they are semi-open mated in California.

[@conservativecoffee]

@@FrederickDunn soooo...They maybe africanized?

[@gary5172]

Fred...I'm going to build a Layens hive, however, the Layens doesn't have cover boards so that I can feed the Bees with a Rapid Round Feeder-How can I solve this problem?

[@FrederickDunn]

It doesn't? I'll have to unbox mine one of these days very soon!

[@LthrWrstlr1]

How can they verify the data from the pictures uploaded to the mite app without doing an orthogonal measurement?

[@FrederickDunn]

You'll have to go to the website and read about how it works.

[@villainousssb533]

Just an odd question. Can you get queen excluders for horizontal hives

[@timashton1353]

I've used a standard Plastic queen excluder and created a vertical QE by cutting the sides to fit.

[@BESHYSBEES]

Villainous SSB as tim said, I cut a groove in the box to accomodate the excluder, I cut it down to size and use a thick plastic inner cover so the queen can’t get over it, the only time this is done is to exclude the queen onto one frame for 3 days so I can harvest larvae of the correct age for grafting new queens

[@FrederickDunn]

I don't know if you can "get them" since the sizing is variable, but you can certainly build a divider board that is just a frame with a queen excluder much like a window screen. I don't plan to do that with this colony as part of my observation is to see how they organize the space. I'm not a fan of queen excluders at all. In backyard small-scale beekeeping, you can select frames of honey that are free of brood for extraction. Queen excluders slow honey production and restrict lots of workers. With some bee stock, queen excluders get heavily propolized which further restricts worker movement.

[@ericharper5445]

Hey Fred, I’m on my first season as a keeper and am having a bought of chalk brood. I don’t have any drawn comb to replace the affected frames of brood, I have added more ventilation in my long-lang but it still seems to be an issue after a couple of weeks. Any recommendations on what else I can try?

[@FrederickDunn]

As their numbers increase, the bees "should" clear it up and cut it out. I would personally order in some BetterComb and replace them if your hive is struggling with that issue. Increasing ventilation was a good move.

[@danieltaylor8113]

A week straight of rain coming here in Germany. Back down in the high 40s and 50s for temperatures. I am jealous mr. Fred. Out of curiosity, why not slice the extra comb off and rubberband it to a new frame? Is it because you mentioned the queen might be on it?

[@FrederickDunn]

Hi Daniel! I'd rather leave that comb there to simply observe how the bees manage that area in coming weeks. YES, it would have been wise to remove it and place it in a foundationless frame and move on with adding frames, but I'm just curious how they work around the bettercomb that is up against it.

[@brianschmitz3950]

Why are you using the frame holder when the hive is that empty?

[@FrederickDunn]

So I could video the frame better. :)

[@edgreywolf]

Mr Dunn where did you get those clamps? i would like to find some

[@FrederickDunn]

I linked them in the original Long Lang inroduction video description. They are very handy for swarm boxes also... 3- Tension latches: (Lockable) amzn.to/2KxHZXA

[@edgreywolf]

@@FrederickDunn thank you i need to watch the intro video

[@errcl65]

How much time do you have to lock up robber bees in a colony before they rehome to the colony they are robbing?

[@FrederickDunn]

Their memories are as long as their foraging lives, so it takes weeks if that's the method of getting them to stop visiting a known source of honey.

[@jayweddle7993]

Nice video Fred ! I've had a long lang for awhile now and have found that when you expand with new frames you do have options. Frames added close to the entrance will more than not be brood frames. Frames added to the end will more than likely be honey. I just split mine into two nucs and still have 20 frames in long lang. I think I learned this from a Phil Chandler video. Have a great weekend !!!

[@saleh67]

Hi mr Fred Thank you so much for this great video as usual... That package looks great ..I installed mine of saskatraz at the same time and it's already looking very good .. I recently just added a 2nd deep .. I wanted to ask you when will be a good time to stop feeding sugar syrup and how would we know about having a good nectar flow ? Thanks again Mohamed Saleh NYC

[@FrederickDunn]

When your floral resources really kick in, you'll smell the nectar and that's a good time to stop feeding. They will begin taking less of the provided sugar syrup as the foragers bring in more.

[@saleh67]

@@FrederickDunn Thank you..I really appreciate it