Mega Frames Filling UP! Fall Beehive Prep (PART 2)

Yesterday was bad. Today was great. (See Part ONE here: • Fall Hive Prep - ROBBI... ) I went into all the remaining hives to confirm they were queenright, condense the bees down to the brood boxes and test for mites. I started the day at around 9am and was very cautious to keep supers covered while I was inspecting. There were no serious problems with robbing. As of this day, the hives are looking great. The honey harvest looks to be smaller than I thought (since the bees ate a lot of the stores in August) but the brood boxes are filling up fast, so I probably won't need to feed too much. Things are really good!
Stay tuned for my mite treatment video coming up next.
00:00 - Welcome, OAK HIVE Queen Check, Stores Check, Mite Test
03:35 - BIRCH HIVE Queen Check, Stores Check, Mite Test
05:15 - BEECH HIVE Queen Check, Stores Check, Mite Test
07:35 - PINE HIVE Inspection
08:05 - Why I LOVE These XL Frames!
10:30 - CYANGE NUCS - Inspection and Feeding
15:16 - GRINK NUCS - Inspection and Feeding
18:30 - BLURPLE NUCS - Adrian Inspection
20:10 - Wrapping It Up
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[@jprob2443]

"Just like I PLANNED" ... It's such a satisfying feeling when a plan comes together. I admire your positive attitude and your innovative approach to beekeeping. Keep doing you, Jim!

[@debbiep99]

I love how you announce what you are doing to each hive like you are talking to the bees.

[@clarkkent7973]

You are one of the best story tellers on KZbin. Thanks for sharing another video!

[@vinofarm]

Thank you.

[@StaceyMayer]

He definitely is one of the best! I couldn't agree more!

[@scott1441]

love the design of the frames , you are truly innovative . Great naming individual hives , easy to follow the story lines

[@arendey4446]

I agree, its a really great design for a hobby beekeeper, highly insulated, raised and aesthetically pleasing, the extra bulk doesn't matter, since he doesn't have to lug the hives around like a commercial beekeeper would have to do.

[@LifeWithMatthew]

More and more my family likes to plant flowers to attract bees. We love to watch them busily fly around the flower bed. Hopefully next year you have some more wildflowers in the area for the ladies.

[@vinofarm]

I plant acres of flowers and dozens of trees every year. Unfortunately, the weather is the factor that affects what comes OUT of the flowers. No rain or oddly timed rain means less nectar. You can see a huge field of wildflowers but if there hasn’t been rain, it won’t help the bees.

[@beewize9982]

My bees didn’t do a good job on a fall harvest this year and I’m in New Jersey but the resources for the winter they have plenty so I’m on a same boat as you are …. I’m just glad that they are getting ready for the winter 🥶

[@donbearden1953]

Jim, they definitely acted better than in the previous video. Good luck with the mites! I use Apivar in the fall also and it’s always worked for me. You need some super long strips for the the Vino Farm frames! lol. Good luck!

[@vinofarm]

I thought about making long strips, but I just hung them a bit lower. Next video!

[@bluzervic]

Glad things are looking up this time around….you got some strong hives going into winter.

[@DreamyDuskywing]

I don't think I have ever noticed bees with their heads stuck in the comb cells before! Other than those ones from winter when they had buried inside. I thought it was odd the first nuc but I saw it on all of them! Those little bee butts stuck up caught my attention before I could even tell what it was I was seeing 🤣

[@amekku_]

"walking like a virgin" I WAS ON SPEAKER AND MY ENTIRE FAMILY LOOKED AT ME HAHAHAHAHHAHAHA IM DYING. i haven't commented a lot but man i love your channel, it's honestly become a comfort to watch your videos. I used to be hella scared of insects...I still am BUT now i have soft spot for bees huhuhu I went on a deep dive years ago to understand the terms you use cuz i got introduced to your channel with youre first re-queening vlog, then i got invested in the balboa updates, and was OBSSESSED with the laying worker scandal series HAHAHAHA Ive been hooked ever since. Now i forget that other people dont have extensive bee knowledge. ALSO bee barn 2.0 looks SO COOL !!!

[@BlanchardsBees]

Looking good my friend!!

[@Aldrahill]

Damn, the Cyange Adrian queen definitely seems to be a hygenic! Look at that brood removal at 11:30!

[@point305]

Excellent! I like that you're here for the Bees not the Honey. Great Job And your Narration is excellent

[@dagamerking]

It's my birthday and I get to watch a bee video! Wonderful! Thanks for the unintentional birthday gift!

[@beewize9982]

Happy Birthday 🎂

[@vinofarm]

Birthday!

[@freddieb3537]

Happy birthday

[@hyfy-tr2jy]

Jim, as for that one Nuc not making comb...just may not have enough young bees to make wax and/or just not the time of year for them to think about drawing comb. Making wax consumes a lot of energy and they feel it more important to use nectar for winter stores instead of wax. Bees are such an enigma at times

[@vinofarm]

Yeah, I was holding back on syrup because available space was being back filled, but as of the past week, they’re all getting syrup. I’ll have a look to see if any new comb has been drawn. I’ve seen them do it this late in the season before. But two of my nucs are pretty small. Not really worried.

[@christopherhandy9569]

The more I watch the better I like your new style hive I think I will make at least one next spring . You make more videos and I will keep watching.

[@vinofarm]

I’m going to be covering all aspects of these frames and hives with a build video this winter. It will be up in time for people to build for next season. Thanks.

[@jeffbragg1735]

If you have any wet honey you can extract it, cut it with 1 to 1 ( you can use honey just add a little more water). I did this after our spring flow and feed it back to my bees, they were drawing comb during our summer dearth. Which is not normal for bees to draw comb during our summer dearth here in Florida. Great video!

[@vinofarm]

Or just leave the frames outside the beeyard and the bees take the honey back to their hives. A lot of people seem to freak out over this, but it’s like ten steps simpler than extracting, remixing and refeeding. If it works for you, great!

[@mbgal7758]

It’s often pretty tough to get bees to draw comb in the fall, maybe that’s what’s wrong. Thank you for another great video.

[@vinofarm]

I’ve found they can draw comb pretty fast once the syrup goes on and the days are warm. Next couple weeks are prime conditions.

[@houssembenabdallah6599]

Right. From my humble experience, there is some kind of instinct for drawing comb. In some parts of the year, bees draw much comb with relatively less resources. In other parts of the year, it doesn't matter how much you feed, they get to the point where they are honeybound and they don't draw comb.

[@thatguy3456]

@@houssembenabdallah6599 I agree I have not been able to get my bees to draw comb in the fall, they just want to to backfill it seems. We’ll probably in the next video.

[@kmjsuperfly1]

Stripey bees are my new favorite.

[@rodneymiddleton9624]

Your bees are looking really good this year. Kill the mites and keep the girls healthy for a better spring 2022!! Thanks Jim!!

[@cluelessbeekeeping1322]

Awesome!

[@filipvernica258]

thanks again good Good lesson

[@johnkasprak5707]

Looking good - get on those mites. I think you're too late in the season to get them to draw comb, they will just take any excess syrup and backfill the broodnest.

[@Guldudden]

Looking good Jim! Thx for a great video🤘 One thing: I would try and get those high mite counts down ASAP if I where you. Hopefully your new boxes will help, but any mite count above 15 in October would cause me to really worry about whether that hive is going to make it through winter… (But what am I saying,? I know your bees are in good hands.😎👍) Already looking forward to your next video. Thx again for posting this one.

[@justinthibeault7212]

Strong hives have the most mouths to feed when the dearth hits. Right now my smaller hives are heavier than the bigger ones, but we're working on it. They're only mildly interested in feed, but the only thing I see in bloom right now is aster.

[@williamgray1263]

The concept of deep langstroth frames makes so much sense to me. What is the optimum space between top and bottom portion of foundation? Really enjoy your content. what is the best method of recording hive/colony history?

[@chrrmin1979]

Woot woot another Vino Farms video! This one gave me way more hope for your bees than the last video, that last one was crazy! Keep up the great work!

[@l...]

Thank you for chapters

[@vinofarm]

I LOVE chapters. This winter I want to go back and do all the old videos.

[@l...]

@@vinofarm thank you

[@lordmike9384]

if your bees don't use the bottom box in a standard double deep arrangement that is a sign that your nectar flow is very poor. there isn't enough pressure from workers storing honey above the brood nest to push the queen down. the queen and the bees prefer to keep the brood close to the freshest honey available so if a lot of new nectar doesn't come in the queen will move into the honey supers during the dearth.

[@vinofarm]

Interesting. I also used to have upper AND lower entrances so bees were bringing in resources to the top as well as the bottom. All these hives are bottom entrance only. These frames have brood to the very bottom cell on a lot of frames. I have never seen that before.

[@christianneguraieb6981]

Do you guys sell your beeswax? I love how sustainable and responsible you guys are with your bees

[@kevinforsyth1687]

I love your videos you are doing a great job. On your your med/deep set up why did you choose that vs a deep/deep. D/D set up would give a 17" x 17" foundation size vs 17" x 15" with the M/D set up. I am looking at building my own and curious on your thoughts. Keep op the great work on your whole farm.

[@jeffdopp4470]

Well some of those hives definitely have high mite loads. And some are lower. Looks like you have some more hygienic bees than others. Suggest breeding those more. Also looks like you need to treat more often or earlier. I've had high might counts in the full before like that. And by then it's too late even if you get the numbers down other diseases have already started to take over. Will be interesting to see if High number hives make it through the winter since you have some data wish it was better and you were able to include all hives in your study

[@2Stepzupp]

18:54 Wow that queen was zooming!

[@Obi1Classic]

I have never heard the sentence "she's walking around like a virgin" said so casually before.

[@jonathanswoboda]

Hives look good brood and mite wise but they dont have much stores. Will need a lot of feed before winter look very light.

[@vinofarm]

This was Sept 12. Things have changed. Stay tuned.

[@Rinahugo]

Do you remember where you purchased your high quality yard cart? Your new hives are the best ever made!

[@vinofarm]

Craigslist. It's a Garden Way Cart and it's probably 30 years old. (It's awesome!)

[@lagrangebees]

You might consider combining apivar and Oxalic acid vaporization on the Maple Hive, to really hammer down that 23 mite count. I don't know if your region allows for multiple treatment at once (bee legislation can be all over the place), but a heavy combo treatment might really help. If not at once, one immediately after the other is an option.

[@vinofarm]

Great minds think alike. Stay tuned for the next video…

[@MinnesotaBeekeeper]

Providing you can get an effective batch of apivar. We still don't know why their quality control is spotty at best.

[@driftingsoulsisters]

Thankyou for the new vlog, Have been watching your old vlogs about gardening, how are the high tunnels going these days?

[@vinofarm]

The original one is still standing tall with the original "4-year" plastic I put on in 2009. Hoophouse 2 was dismantled to make room for the barn!

[@driftingsoulsisters]

@@vinofarm hope you are all doing well. Thankyou for the reply 🥰

[@Razmaatazz]

@@vinofarm did you knock down the old rickety garage/barn too?

[@vinofarm]

@@Razmaatazz not yet. The stuff inside there has to move to the new barn which isn’t finished inside yet. Musical chairs.

[@bradgoliphant]

Hey Vino, what temp does it need to drop to to stop the robbing from wasp and ants? Is it 50 degrees? When we start having nights at 50s and lower, will it stop?

[@Max-po5sx]

To be honest here in California and I'm pretty much believe it around the world you shouldn't even test for mites just treat as soon as you get a hold on them and as soon as you stop treating they fire up again. Treat treat and then treat again I'm serious

[@justwinks1553]

Pine hive has a queen cup on bottom of frame.

[@Hill_Walker]

Questions, did you have your hose at the ready for these inspections? Also, did you feed 2:1 syrup to the nucs last week?

[@vinofarm]

Yes, yes.

[@budgiebreder]

Is there any reason you feed syrup instead of honey? Like surely you could just as easily feed honey? Like leave it somewhere for them to rob?

[@WestchesterhoneyBees]

My bees did well this year

[@julieenslow5915]

What is the plan regarding whether or not you test again after treating? (at least the ones that your count indicates a problem). It seems to me it would be too late to do a second treatment. Great video as always Jim but I am just so happy to see how your big brood boxes are being used this year! I doubt anyone failed to understand the advantages when you introduced these bigger boxes, but to see how the bees are working it is confirmation of your design!

[@vinofarm]

There won’t be an “after” test this time. Everyone is getting Apivar that will come out on the first warmish day in early November. Then I won’t be opening hives to test. I can always hit with OA at that point for “belt and suspenders” security. The real test is winter survival. If I have losses after this winter it will be because the bees tried really hard to die.

[@julieenslow5915]

@@vinofarm Good point. Thank you.

[@lordmike9384]

try thinner syrup. ive read studies that say a 1 to 2 or even 1 to 3 sugar to water mix is better to stimulate wax production than 1 to 1.

[@joer5627]

Feeding mine 2:1 syrup. They are bringing in goldenrod. Treated for mites. 2022 will be a year fro queen replacements. Sorry queenie but your times are coming to an end.

[@cbbees1468]

Varroa Mite counts for my 5 colonies after ApiGuard (Thymol) treatment in August is 0, 0, 1, 1, and 5 respectively. Waited one month after treatment to monitor the results but will treat the colony with 5 mites given how late it is in the year.

[@vinofarm]

Noice!

[@kyledaugherty2]

Looked like a swarm cell starting on frame three of Pine hive. Couldn’t tell if it had anything in it though.

[@vinofarm]

Just a cup.

[@bernhardleitner1784]

Nice video and interesting concept! 👍🏼 Why don't you use powderd suggar to check for mites? I feel pity for all these dead Bees😢

[@vinofarm]

Because I want an accurate test.

[@patrickedgington5827]

Jim, I don’t keep bees, never have, and at sixty I don’t think I ever will so what do I know? That said when you split your hives you take brood and nurse bees. When they swam that’s what they leave behind. Maybe you are not getting new comb because you have the wrong bees. I had made a comment previously after watching David at barnyard bees do an artificial swam. He removed and caged the queen left her outside the colony and in a little while she was covered in bees but the right kind of bees to makeup a swam. True I know little to nothing but Dave might. I do really like the new hives great job.

[@vinofarm]

That could be, but all my splits went onto frames more than 50% all drawn out. Some may build new comb, some might not. The splits in the nucs are reserve colonies. Storage banks. They are not meant to grow into full size hives. I’m not EXPECTING them all to survive the winter. Some will, and they will be used to replace any main hive losses or to build up weaker hives next spring. I have different goals than David.

[@zuban222]

There is stong discussion about using amitraz here in Czechia and as result I am trying to use as little as possible of it. Here we use treatment which is 6.2mg of amitraz (per one box). Two Apivar stips is 1000mg of amitraz! We don't know amitraz resistance here.

[@vinofarm]

I’m not a commercial beekeeper. I’m probably not going to breed mite resistance into my 10 backyard colonies. And if I follow up with OA, that will get stragglers.

[@hyfy-tr2jy]

Jim, I have been eagerly following these hives this year and have noticed one thing that is pretty consistent...the extra long frames aren't getting drawn out fully (particularly the most bottom part of the foundation). What do you think the reason is?? Just that they are first year frames?

[@vinofarm]

Remember that those brood boxes are the equivalent of 13 Langstroth deeps. That’s a LOT of space. Also, have you ever seen a cut out or natural bee hive with square bottoms to their drawn comb? They’re sort of oval shaped at the very bottom. If you look at the cross section of these boxes, they all have that natural hive comb design. Sort of rounded at the base. On the larger colonies, at least half the frames have fully drawn comb edge to edge. It’s the smaller nucs that haven’t finished pulling comb to the bottom. I think they will eventually fill the frames but my nucs are not huge this year. And again, my 4 frame “nucs” are the equivalent of 7 deeps, which is basically the space of one of my old hives.

[@hyfy-tr2jy]

@@vinofarm I was thinking the same thing about how they look like "natural comb". I find it very interesting :)

[@petrafischer6599]

I don’t understand how could they draw comb end of September?

[@fredlgibsonjr3067]

I believe you once mentioned that you might share the plans for your new beehive design, are you planning on do that? I really love the concept.

[@vinofarm]

I need a cut and paste response to this question. I feel like I’ve typed this about 1000 times… I have no drawn plans. I made these and wanted to use them for a season before telling everyone to go build them. I have tweaks to the design that will go into version 2.0. I will share more after the season ends. There will be a full build video over the winter. I have a lot to say about the hives but I’m still in testing and data collecting phase. Stay tuned. Thanks.

[@fredlgibsonjr3067]

@@vinofarm Sorry, I must have missed your previous comments. I have been fascinated right from the start on your new design, so much of it seems to make sense to me. I am looking forward to hearing more this winter. Thank you.

[@TaVolga]

👍

[@dagamerking]

What is at the bottom of that frame at 9:00? It looks like a queen cup but it's kind of small.

[@vinofarm]

Bees make cups all the time. They don't always get used.

[@bigjakeburke]

Hi Jim, pollen patties to encourage brood rearing in an effort to bump up bee numbers for winter?

[@vinofarm]

Are you asking if you should or suggesting I should? My large hive bees are still bringing in loads of pollen and I have Ultra Bee sub out right next to the bee yard and they are still flying past it. So they must be finding plenty of real stuff. The patties I put in the nucs are there because forager numbers are probably low in the nucs and they don’t have bee bread. The queens need to see pollen being stored or they won’t lay. So the nucs need a hand directly in the boxes. And yes, adding patties and syrup immediately gets the queen laying more.

[@bigjakeburke]

@@vinofarm Thanks! I have a nuc that I'm trying to prepare for winter and want to bump the bee numbers up a bit. I've been feeding syrup for a couple of weeks, I didn't think of putting a pollen patty in there. Makes sense, thank you for what you are doing

[@beckyfarmer9646]

How did you put your existing hive in the new bee barns

[@vinofarm]

Transition explained here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/d2qVgayCpZylgJY

[@adammiller2606]

I don't know what you have planted for the bees but have you tried knotweed? My sister in New Jersey has the same issues with a lack luster fall flow 3 years ago planted some knotweed (noninvasive kind) and hasn't had any issues since. even bee out producing honey from her neighbor who has 2 more hives. Even had her neighbor's bees swarm move into one of her hives this year. Different area I know but maybe it might help.

[@vinofarm]

There is knotweed in abundance within about 1/4 mile of our property. The bees know where it is, I’m sure. It lines the roads and highways around here. I’d prefer not having it ON my property, but it’s good that it’s nearby.

[@adammiller2606]

@@vinofarm Thanks for the reply! Glad it is there, can't say I blame you from what I understand alot of it out there is super invasive and annoying. Most of my knowledge about flowers and such for bees and such won't help where you live since I live in a desert.

[@timlee4195]

Curious; are your low mite colonies all the same breed?

[@vinofarm]

The lowest we’re my survivors that arrived as Italian mutts and have been propagated in my yard for 6 seasons. The highest count was a “VSH” Italian package installed in May.

[@AmandaTroutman]

Does Vino mark his Queens or nah? Seems like it'd be easier to find them if he did

[@vinofarm]

Vino used to but he got lazy and doesn't anymore. He should start again.

[@kich6172]

Do bees recognize people? Would they act differently, maybe more aggressive, if someone else opened their hive and went through them like you do?

[@vinofarm]

Good question. I would like to think they do, but their lives are really short. And every day there are thousands of new bees in the bee yard. So if I don’t go in there for a week, there are 10,000 bees that have never met me!

[@BondJamesBond79]

Hey there! What do you think of experimenting with leaving one of your barn hives unsupered? Seeley recommends exactly that size (deep and medium) for colonies. I think all the expanding and contracting is kind of difficult for bees considering their nest is getting rearranged. I’m curious what they’d do if left with a stable size most of the year. You could expand and contract with just the frames and followers. For more on Seeley’s spiel he has a ‘Darwinian Beekeeping’ lecture on youtube. Let me know what you think!

[@vinofarm]

I’m familiar with it. That’s a great lecture. I was literally listening to it while I was in the barn building these hives. Seeley says deep+medium is the general size of a wild colony, but what do wild colonies do?… They constantly swarm. If I restrict them to a box exactly that size they will just fill the space and swarm away. The supers are pressure relief valves. They allowed for just the right amount of expansion without swarming. Their nest is completely undisturbed. That’s the point of these hives. The brood box remains constant. The supers come and go as needed.

[@BondJamesBond79]

For sure I’ve crossed over into the swarmy side of life, but I get that’s not everyone’s cup of tea.

[@drrota]

Too bad you don't have some medium wax combs to replace the lower blank plastic foundation on the Hybrid frames.

[@vinofarm]

I do and was thinking about trying that. It would be a delicate operation with all that brood in the upper part.

[@Razmaatazz]

Hey Jim. It looks like the joints between the wood (top/sides etc) of you new hives would allow water to the insulated area. Did you do something to prevent this? Such as caulking I can't see? If not are you concerned with water building up in that area?

[@vinofarm]

100% silicone caulk.

[@ryannefcy3811]

That's a horrendous mite load with your winter bees being raised. I recommend treating earlier so that mites are not affecting your winter broods health. Good luck getting hives to draw comb into Sept and beyond. Also they are not honey bound they are backfilling cells in prep for winter. The brood nest should be contracting noticeably this time of year. I am on the opposite side of the country in close to Canada in Northern Washington state and my bees have 90+lbs back filled in their single deeps. Feed feed feed feed! I would be panicking if I saw so little stored in my hives this time of year.

[@vinofarm]

1. I tested all hives 4 weeks before this video. (First week of August) No hives had more than 2 mites in the sample. Several had zero. Not an urgent need to treat considering… 2. At that time, the supers were jammed but uncapped. We were having a rainy season and the largest flow event of our year was 2-3 weeks away. (Last week of August to mid September is our largest local flow.) 3 Hives were filled with brood, so OA would be ineffective anyway, temps were too hot for formic, Supers needed to be in place for the flow and timing was not right for Apivar. Again, highest mite count in the largest hive was 2. 4. Had the supers been capped I would have harvested in early August and put on Apivar and let it stay on through the fall flow and let the bees have that honey. But NONE of the supers were capped yet in mid August. So I left everything in place because mite loads were so low. 5. Four weeks later (when this video was shot 9/11-9/12) a lot happened and none of it was ideal… 5a. Despite what seemed like perfect weather conditions, there was a dearth through August and the bees consumed their supers. That may be why they were not capped a month earlier. They were using them. So it’s a good thing I hadn’t removed them. 5b. The fall flow of late August to Mid September was WAY lighter than it should have been. Again, perfect weather and an ABUNDANCE of flowers and supers just kept getting lighter, not heavier. Not a big deal to me: the bees were using it all and that’s fine. 5c. The mite load skyrocketed in those 4 weeks. 2->23, 2->10, 2->11 on the largest hives. That sucks, but it’s not apiary-wide (3 hives still at 2 or less in the same period.) And see above ☝️ points for reasons treatment 3 weeks ago would have been complicated/ineffective/impossible. 6. This video was recorded 14 days ago. My videos are not real-time. They are being treated now. 7. The hives that looked light in the video (shot 2 weeks ago) had a bountiful couple weeks and are currently filled with resources. 8. Not sure if you watched the entire video but 2 weeks ago when it was shot, the queens were all very actively laying and getting them honeybound was a very real worry. So that’s why they looked light. However forage was good enough that they were ok without added food. The brood boxes were glistening with nectar. So I’m not panicking. Treatments are in. Brood boxes are filled. Syrup is on. We still have over a month of active flying bees and feeding time. Populations look better than they usually do. Last year, at this point, everything was upside down. Disaster was lurking. This is the opposite of that. Keep in mind: Our area is different than yours. Feeding in October and treating for mites in late September are things that are done here and I have had years with 100% and 95% survival doing those things. My videos are not real-time but they are chronological. I always date the shooting day on the video when it is relevant. I do a careful job of editing to tell the story of what’s happening as concisely as possible. Skipping around the video or actually skipping episodes will be confusing. Thanks for watching.

[@pino_de_vogel]

Isn't it better to just leave the beas so they are a lot stronger going into winter seeing you will treat them all anyway ? Or are you checking if you need 1 or 2 strips ? No clue what the price of strips is but if it's cheap i am not sure why one would bother with offing that many bees when treatment is guaranteed anyway. So what is the reasoning? Long term patterns on species or other data ?

[@vinofarm]

I want to KNOW the numbers. Last year I did not test. I lost my bees. I had no data to look back on. Now I have data points.

[@khills]

Science! (I say that quite seriously. One of the reasons I enjoy watching Jim, even tho I’ll never keep bees-allergies-is his very scientific approach to the art of beekeeping. It’s very satisfying to see.)

[@pino_de_vogel]

@@vinofarm Ok clear. Either way i hope they get way better out of winter next year. It was a huge bummer to see that disaster unfolding in a already depressing year.

[@jonathanday5610]

What does honey bound mean?

[@vinofarm]

Bees backfill the cells so much the queen runs out of cells to lay into.

[@randyclinganfarms4806]

Apivar has not been working vary good i would use OA with apivar.

[@vinofarm]

Good idea. You’ll like the next video.

[@rstlr01]

My Russians queens always run for the dark just like that queen.

[@themerrigans2734]

Selling honey yet? Live close, will travel.

[@carlosestrada4138]

Those mite loads would totally freak me out this time of year... really any time because those are crazy high, but definitely this close to winter.. You need to treat today not wait and use apivar once. You should alternate a few different treatments between now and winter. Those are deady mite loads.... like seriously deady.

[@vinofarm]

I guess we’re all going to find out what happens. Stay tuned for the mite treatment.

[@rogerwilson6367]

Bees look like humbugs.

[@Hill_Walker]

Your hive design is showing an awful lot of potential. Makes me really think a lot of, mass produced hive design is far too focused on the commercial side of beekeeping. Your consideration of brood nest (and immediate surroundings i.e. winter stores and brood food) sizes, throughout the year, as core to the design, seems spot on. I wondering if there'd be a way to maximise heat retention in the brood box while still allow the workers to move as they please. Maybe a variation on a crown board, more holes and maybe even a couple of almost arches to funnel the hot air away from the bee passes. Might prevent a chimney effect. I'm probably over thinking it and the bees will do as bees do.

[@Hill_Walker]

Would need some CFD modelling to asses this idea. Might be a tad OTT for hobby beekeepers like us.

[@vinofarm]

It really did work as I hoped/expected it would. The main thing I learned was that the bees really like heat and really don't like upper vents. My redesigned inner covers are very convenient for feeding, but my planned "venting" option was not really needed and won't be included on future designs. When I was building these, I was thinking of my OLD ways of vivaldi boards and vented openings for winter but I've changed my mind. All hives are getting heavy top insulation and no openings this winter.

[@brendanmanning1959]

I don’t understand why beekeepers in area where it snows heavily for months do put shelters over the bees. It would prevent freezing the bees and moderate the temperature.

[@vinofarm]

What do you mean by “shelter”? These hives are meant to moderate the outside temperature.

[@carlotta4th]

Snow is a fantastic insulator and even in my home I can tell when it has snowed because it's suddenly warmer inside. You don't want to block your bees from that benefit.

[@frankspataro9714]

Healthy bees will do pretty good in winter un insulated in wooden boxes in sure of it mine don't get all the extra crap and they come out rocking and some don't come out at all only the strong survive here at my house that's how it's suppose to be at least at my house lol

[@heartstonecampground1081]

Newbe alert: What does “walk away” mean when referring to the queen?

[@vinofarm]

The queen was made by doing a “walk away split”. Basically, put a frame of eggs and bees and resources in a hive and “walk away” and in about a month you’ll have a laying queen. The bees raise a queen from eggs.

[@heartstonecampground1081]

@@vinofarm Thank you for replying! I'm in the research phase...I raised Bees when I was a kid, but it's been three or four decades LOLYour channel is very very helpful

[@RyanMcDonnough]

Looks to me like all of the colonies need to be fed heavily - including the Oak Hive. It’s a little late in the season to be doing alcohol washes and treating. Maybe consider pulling supers, doing alcohol washes, and treating earlier in the season? It’s generally a good idea to be finished treating before mid-September. Apiary works slowly. Putting it on in late September is (I think) too late. The colonies with high mite loads should receive something like formic or thymol ASAP. Likely reason why you rarely saw brood in the lower box with your previous hive configuration is because of the excessive ventilation. No heat well = cold lower box = no brood in lower box. I like the addition of the insulated feeder shim with insulated lid. Keeping the syrup warm will help them take it down.

[@vinofarm]

This was shot nearly 2 weeks ago. They have had a bountiful two weeks since then. My videos are not real time. I feel like I might have been a week or so late on treatments, but finishing by mid September is not a thing that happens around here. We have flows through mid September.

[@RyanMcDonnough]

@@vinofarm That’s good! We don’t have a fall flow in my area. Maybe consider formic or OAV. Or would it be possible to pull supers before the fall flow, treat, and then put supers back on to catch the goldenrod? Late September is awfully late to be putting Apivar on (it works very slowly). The colonies with high mite loads should be treated with something like formic or thymol ASAP.

[@vinofarm]

Temps are not right for Formic. Apivar is fine. It will be in all of October and come out on a warm day in November. October is a month with a good number of warm days. The bees are reducing nectar and clustering at night. The years when I had 100% and 95% winter survival (12/12, 12/13 hives) were years when they had Apivar through October. Last year I did only OA (and apparently not enough) and I had a disaster. I have had huge success with Apivar at this exact timing.

[@RyanMcDonnough]

@@vinofarm Very good! Looking forward to see how it goes. I agree that your 2020 OAV regime and timing was definitely not optimal. Have you figured out a plan for your upper hive configuration during winter?

[@vinofarm]

@@RyanMcDonnough Yes, all vents closed, insulation over the inner cover and insulated lids on top of everything. It will be about R-30+ up top. I totally changed my mind on venting last winter and will be making a video explaining everything in a couple weeks. Having temp sensors in my hives all summer have confirmed my thoughts on venting and insulation. Lots of change this year.

[@danielmartin4408]

Personally, I think the bee numbers are not particularly high in in any of your colonies. When ever I have watched any of your videos and you are amazed at how strong the hive is I say to myself “really?, that isn’t strong”. I foresee more tears and disappointment come spring. I hope I’m wrong, but pretty certain you’ll lose a number of hives just like last season.

[@vinofarm]

Some of the nucs are small. Yes, but you do realize that in the middle of the day when I film these videos, a huge percentage of the bees are out foraging, right? One thing I’ve noticed with these super insulated hives is that brood is often left uncovered. In my old hives, brood would be covered with a layer or two of bees keeping it warm and boxes would feel really packed with bees. These boxes are much warmer and it takes far fewer bees to keep brood at proper temp. That means more bees can forage.