PROTECTING the QUEEN Bee is VITAL! | Beginner Hive Inspection

In this video, Bee expert Peter and I inspect our new bee hive for the second time since getting them and we catch the queen bee to protect her because the whole hive depends on the Queen's survival.
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Self Sufficient Me is based on our small 3-acre property/homestead in SE Queensland, Australia, about 45kms north of Brisbane - the climate is subtropical (similar to Florida). I started Self Sufficient Me in 2011 as a blog website project where I document and write about backyard food growing, self-sufficiency, and urban farming in general. I love sharing my foodie and DIY adventures online, so come along with me and let's get into it! Cheers, Mark :)
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#beekeeping #tips #bees

[@RoslynYoungBouclans]

Peter is a great coach! Cool, calm and collected. You're a lucky man, Mark, having him for your coach for a bee-ginner.

[@johnshue8082]

Level 1 bee keeper: full armor body suit. Level 100: polo shirt. LOL such is life. It's ok, you are Level 100 in your domain. Always good to keep adding new skills. And by the time you are old, you can be Level 100 in a dozen disciplines.

[@ladysafari01]

I guess at Level 100; you're considered a "Bee whisperer" 😅 I'm still at Level 1 even though bees have always followed my family wherever we lived and finally 10 years ago at age 65 my mom decided to get them into beehives.

[@CatariaNigra]

May I ask, where had they lived before? (If the answer is in the video, I read the comments first x,D)@@ladysafari01

[@brandylynne]

This is great. I had in my brain last night, that I wanna look up how hard it is to have bees in the morning. I open the laptop and a bee video from my favorite creator!!! Thanks for doing all you do. I absolutely love your work.

[@Selfsufficientme]

Thank you for the lovely feedback. Fav creator is a BIG call! I'm bee-side myself 😉👍

[@lolame323]

Great work, nothing more satisfying than being a beekeeper, we do good for the environment and get liquid gold as our reward 👍

[@jerryhoefs5803]

Great video Mark! You're the bee's knees!

[@mDi54me]

My family and I just moved from a Toronto suburb to rural Niagara region in Ontario Canada 🇨🇦 . I love watching your videos Mark -- thank you for sharing your heart and wisdom ❤ Your sense of humour reminds me of my dad too -- you are a gift!

[@williammaxwell1919]

Yeah, Mark does have a gift; the "Gift of the gab" of an Antipodean larrikin.

[@Selfsufficientme]

All the best with your move! Thank you and cheers 👍🙂

[@autumnwest5854]

I'm learning more each time with you. There is a lot more to Bee keeping than I thought. Like you I'd be slow and learn hands on.

[@T-BEEZY]

This will help your garden pollination for you and your neighbors! Glad to see it!

[@elisaangel9789]

Get a big feather to push the bees around some. In my experience brushing them with a brush or your hand irritated them, but brushing them off frames or off the box edges with a feather did not bother them. I used a vulture feather I found in the yard. A friend of mine uses a turkey feather.

[@ericv00]

clever

[@kele1264]

You are certainly doing good things for your bees. It's nice to see you having a bee expert look over your hive with you and teach you things- very reassuring. Also great to see you using protective gear - a little scary that Peter wasn't wearing a bee suit. I could never keep bees - highly allergic to their stings, and terrified of them. I appreciate learning about them, so thank you for sharing this inspection with us! Have a great week!

[@gabbyb7342]

It's ok Mark you will bee-fine 😁It very rewarding to have beehives in your garden, they are interesting little creatures to watch.

[@turtlegaby]

That sounds really complicated. But once you have learned all the bells and whistles, you 'll get the best raw honey.

[@Alexander_Alexander]

i honestly really like these videos where us viewers are kind of "learning with you", very interesting

[@lindayoungartist]

Loving watching you tend your bees

[@bbull789]

I hope you share each time you work with the bees. I love watching.

[@WollongongSkyWatch]

What a fascinating process! Bees surely are the master builders!

[@RobnDi]

Great video. I worked for a bee farmer as an 18 year old. Fascinating business/hobby/creature. 50 years later I am allergic to bees.

[@elisaangel9789]

I have a friend with 30 hives. He has only ever seen one queen. You don't have to find her if you notice you have lots of brood. If there is a lot of brood, there is a queen.

[@snowstrobe]

I think the main reason they were trying to find her was to ensure they didn't hurt her.

[@elisaangel9789]

​@@snowstrobeMy point is it isn't necessary, and it means you leave the hive open longer than necessary. You are better off moving faster through the hive and closing it back up. Unless you're a brut, you won't hurt the queen. I dropped a frame that had the queen on it. She bounced off. I only knew she was there because the other bees balled around her to protect her. I picked them all up and put them back. They're tougher than you think. You just can't smash them, so you have to be careful if you are rough with the frames or when you put the boxes back together. If you leave the box open too long, the queen could fly off. That would be bad.

[@davethekiwibloke]

If you are actively 'managing' your bees, you need to be able to find the queen so you can at the very least remove and replace her. I'd say your friend is basically free-ranging them which is fine in the right climate and location if there are enough hives to fall back on. But if your queen is starting to fail she'll need replacing, especially where there are colder winters, otherwise you won't have enough population to make it through. Where there are parasites like varroa mite you need to do accurate mite counts and it's vital to know where your queen is so you don't accidentally kill her. So yes, you can limp along and let them do their thing in the rare ideal conditions, but as a rule queen-awareness is vital to managing colony health.

[@elisaangel9789]

​@@davethekiwiblokeMy friend may have some trouble with his eyesight or not using his reading glasses when he checks his bees, but he has never had any issues by not finding the queen bees. Maybe he's lucky like you say, but he's been lucky for about 15 years. Knock wood. Our winters aren't the worst.

[@brycemoser5466]

Finally a actually informative beekeeping video I learned alot from this thank to both of you

[@observationistdave]

A high stand is great in the beginning to reduce stooping, then you realize the issue as you keep stacking boxes higher and higher. 😅 Great looking bees, keep at it and you'll be a pro in no time!

[@catiepower3550]

I had no idea bees measured. That’s awesome

[@Bobko98BG]

Peter is such a professional. Such a lovely person and teacher! Keep them bee videos comming, Mark! We love them :)

[@ericv00]

Good info, but the space-measuring bees were easily the neatest thing I didn't know they did.

[@BadarTVTrends]

You are great, always successful doing special work 🇮🇩🙏

[@betterlivingonabudget]

This was absolutely fascinating! Thank you for sharing your bee-keeping adventures with us. Quite brave of you, Mark!

[@kerryshultz9766]

That was awesome 😀. Thank you Pete 👌.

[@davidlough3842]

Wow, bee keeping is WORK!

[@laylah4710]

Fascinating. Thank you

[@thesquirrelyprepperlifesty5523]

Sometimes I just need some Self Sufficient Me. I have been busting ice in water dishes this morning.

[@cathymontgomery7295]

Mark, you're doing great. I hope you're ready for lifelong learning.Bees will do that for you. It was great to see the queen

[@imafan26]

It's going to get better over time. You do have to move slow with bees so they are not agitated. Peter is giving you great coaching advice. It would be nice to have two people work a hive. The short supers can weigh 40 lbs when they are full and the deeps can weigh 70 lbs. Some people don't use deeps, they only use supers that way the frames are all the same size and can be rotated between deeps and supers. If you use all deeps, the frames are bigger, but it is also much heavier to lift. There are other hive designs to make it simpler to work. One person I know built his hive like a set of drawers so that he would not have to lift off the boxes but could instead pull out a drawer of frames to work on it and just slide it back in afterwards. I like the ventilated slat instead of a bottom board. It is useful in a hot climate. To reduce disease the hive is better in the sun than in the shade. The bees will keep the hive at a constant temperature, a balmy 97 degrees. If it is too hot the bees will be fanning their wings away at the entrance to cool off the hive. When the weather is cooler, bees will not appreciate you opening the hive and will glue the lid down more firmly. In cooler weather, you need to try to do the inspection faster so the hive won't lose too much heat. Most beekeepers like to work early in the morning because the suit is a sauna, but there are fewer bees in the hive once it warms up and the workers go foraging. My favorite named queen was called crazy queen. She was so small that excluders meant nothing to her and she built her brood like a wild hive with the brood on top and honey below. She made good brood so we decided to accommodate her and removed the excluder since it did not matter anyway, she could get through it and we put the brood box on the top. One time we collected frames for honey, but the queen was not located first by the beekeepers collecting the frames. The queen ended up going for a spin in the extractor. We did find her just in time, she was a bit shocked and did not move much, so we did not want to stress her more by putting her in a cage, so we just took the whole box back to the hive and made sure she was still secure before closing the hive. She was a good queen she lived about a year and a half.

[@Selfsufficientme]

Thanks for sharing your experience in bee keeping and feedback. That's a very good and informative read! 👍🙂

[@eddieandjulieklysz458]

Thanks Mark good job. 🐝🐝

[@lisas5913]

Bees are smart creatures 🧐🤓

[@aaax9410]

Bee's are amazing 💌

[@wvhdogg]

Nice video, that was the bee's knees!

[@ianbell5611]

Thanks Mark. Great video I learnt a lot about keeping bees, sure there's definitely a lot more involved though. Loving the humour. Thanks for posting Cheers

[@user-jt8kr2zh8r]

I love watching bee's. The whole social order.

[@trujustice8628]

Having had to get nusiance bees by a beekeeper I learned some things I did not know. Like disease is huge problem and he is always looking for healthy bees. One sign of wild bees was my irregular hives made by the bees. Bees in developed neighborhoods are effected by lawn sprays, insecticides and lack of food etc. Also one should know if they are alergic. Going to a VA medical appointment my work buddy was stung and immediately dropped. Fortunately the medical people were able to bring him back. Why wearing a suit is so important. I was stung by everything growing up in Florida as a short kid. My mum found out she was senstive so she had to lay low and carry a epi. I would clear the area of all stinging insects before mum came out to garden. I was very good at finding all stinging insects nests.

[@bethb8276]

My father nearly died too, and had to carry an epipen at all times. I have no idea if I'm allergic, I've never been stung by a bee, but I have been stung by paperwasps. I'm always working in my garden. I live in S. FL. year around gardening. There was a wild hive here up in a dead palm tree, but the Red Bellied woodpeckers raided it for larvae and now it's gone.

[@johnlord8337]

A bee stand is not about height for fly-outs and fly-ins (of the female scouts and guards). It is about keeping the hive off the ground, against wax moths, hive beetles, varroa throat and body mites (micro spiders), ants, and weeds/grass around the hive entrance that then brings in molds, mildews, fungus, (rain bounced) soil blight (single celled plant virus), and other yeasts, pollens wafting on the air into the hive. Hive height up; hive health up !

[@sophiecharlotte8314]

So cool to watch you learn Mark!

[@ShortbusMooner]

How wonderful to have a bee tutor! Looking forward to seeing you progress! 🐝🍯

[@multicoloredwiz]

i appreciate your willingness to do a video going "i do not know what i'm doing and am going to get help because it's the best thing to do". too many people go on youtube and social media and act confidently wrong lmaoo. by the way, the shirt looks GREAT!!!!

[@AlleyCat-1]

I love the bee shirt. The blue board thing for the beetles is cool. I haven't seen those in the state's, looks cool.

[@FunGuyKawhi]

Good luck with the Bee keeping brother! Hope you have a great time

[@limeybonesjones7395]

Peter is an excellent teacher

[@_Myriad_]

Theres a big old gum tree with a knot that i see wild bees coming in and out of all the time on my walk to the shops, i always wonder how many of them there are in that huge tree space and how their hive is functioning 🐝 its really sweet to see this journey of yours i hope your hives continue to be healthy and you start to feel a bit less nervous every time you check up on them!

[@LDhusky]

Bee good! Bee seein you

[@tammy707]

🐝 I enjoyed the video, I’m interested in them. Thank you for sharing

[@jimblankman8396]

Wow…just got to the bee measuring part of your video and WOW! Incredible

[@unclebubbaknowseverything9143]

Great video Boss. As always. Wish I had enough land to keep bees... Howdy from Texas 🤠

[@charmainemrtnz]

You are doing fine !! 😊😊😊

[@kristindr31]

This came at the best tim... I just installed my first hive last week!

[@kajsjoqvist5274]

Thanks Russel Crowe for making another great video.

[@SA-zb2gt]

It's a year now since I set up my hive too, it's so exciting, lots of honey, huge amount.

[@MickyBellRoberts]

I love the level 100 hahaha.

[@Simple.Bible.Mission]

do I have a garden? no. do I have poultry? no. do I keep bees? no. do I keep coming back to watch your videos? yes!

[@kath-phlox]

Well done.

[@darrendean21]

Fair play to you mate ...

[@ronhopwood1955]

Well done Mark.

[@myurbangarden7695]

Bees are amazing. But I dont think I could manage an apiary. I am glad tou have support 😊

[@tash6132]

You're such a geek..🐝 I just love you! 💖🐝

[@ESPSJ]

I love bees

[@tinabloomfield7228]

Nice work Marc!!! I'm terrified of bees and getting stung....but watching you....now I want bees 😂😂😂

[@DreamStudioTracks]

Amazing detail on how to handle nest, loved it thank you so much😊

[@stevennicholas5472]

Great video. Keep the bees free.

[@williampolk8009]

Great bee job

[@sylviahufer7019]

Great video , I really enjoy this

[@billgolcher2537]

GREAT JOB

[@jaredmccutcheon5496]

Great job inspecting your hive Mark. I’ve been a beekeeper for about 12 years, it’s always good to see new keepers learning how to do it. You’ll get faster as your confidence builds. I can do an inspection in probably 5 minutes or less if I take my time, lol. Maintenance inspections obviously take a little longer. One trick if you don’t want to smash bees when pushing your frames back together is to pop them with the smoke, they’ll run down where the frames don’t touch and you can push them together without worrying about squishing too many. You will also probably like using medium or even shallow supers for honey supers because even with an 8 frame those deeps are really heavy when they’re full of honey. I run a 2 deep brood box setup and mediums for honey above the excluder. I even have a few that are all mediums because it’s so much easier working them but it does take longer to work a hive when you’ve got 5-6 or more boxes stacked up.

[@aaronhopkins6697]

G'day Mark, the bee's look happy and seem they are doing great. The bee shirt is cool too. You'll bee harvesting your own happy honey in no time. Awesome 👍.

[@cartoon80s90s]

Always happy wo see one of your videos. Doubly so if it has bees in it. :)

[@jweaver7170]

First frost here in NE Texas this morning. Bees staying inside till later. Thanks so much

[@_JanetLouise]

Mahalo Mark & Peter! Excellent info & demo!

[@markferguson8075]

Great vid Mark, we want to get our own bees at some time, whatching you do it and the enjoyment your getting and the honey must bee so tasty

[@francesmingo7623]

This is interesting. My fist time seeing a queen bee. I wish my area allowed for bee keeping. I live in a townhouse and can’t have bees or any farm animals in the county.

[@zashisouthpaw69]

Bro beekeeping is a delight keep it up man and thabks for the fantastic videos

[@Jan6750]

My dad had over 30 bee hives, some he could open without protective gear and other species (italian blacks) used to get into his protective suit and sting like mad!

[@kathleendavis2008]

Love the Bees!!!

[@chadbehre4343]

That was great. You are very inspirational.

[@nancyrea3863]

No cc so I was lost. Anyway good luck with your bees.

[@Doc1855]

Hey Mark, I see that you’re in shorts… We’ve got snow on the ground here in north central Washington state USA.

[@MickyBellRoberts]

I am definitely going to invest in acouple of hives in the Spring. Have wanted to do this for two years now but have just been to busy.

[@thetackroomeu]

Great video! We just got our first 2 hives this spring so we're learning along with you. Having a mentor is a must! Do you have Africanized bees like we do in Arizona?

[@AwesomeFish12]

When I first started I was very slow, it took me ages to get any inspection done but after a while it just becomes second nature and you can breeze through pretty quickly and efficiently. The new stand looks good. Too high and it's an issue to get the full supers on and off, too low and the toads go to town feasting every night and you get water and dirt splashing into the entrance when it rains.

[@cinderella1295]

Fantastic video and it is so interesting - i Love Bees, they are very important for the blooming nature.You have my fullest respect for making such great experience with a stunning professional helper 👍my friend, she is a professional Bee expertise as well and she brings us many times Honey in the Hospital for breakfast, i`m a nurse and she is as well but only few days per month. My best wishes to you and thanks a lot for your work, very appreciated ❤!❤🙏👍

[@hkschubert9938]

In my newly built home this coming Feb 2024, I will bee living in a tract home development so I can't do bees . (Pun.) Wish I could. They're great pollinators & I love honey. I will start growing potatoes & onions & carrots & tomatoes so I will be watching your videos carefully !!!

[@craigsudman4556]

I'll have to give you a...B+...only because you're a bee ginner Mark, BUT I bee leve you're getting the hang of it. Great video thumbs up.

[@rohantherockwiththerocketh7871]

Good video mate, I am actually very interested in trying to learn from these videos having never learnt about apiary.. Have a ripper mate!

[@snowstrobe]

Loving this adventure, you're learning lots. Would love to try this too some day.

[@johnfreeman70]

Very interesting. Cheers.

[@Ifitallfails]

That was cool, I learned a bunch, I literally had no knowledge at all about bee keeping before this and it's nice to see you get the hang of it too

[@gmaws.7492]

Bees are fun! I had raised them for a minute!

[@sokolyslager8860]

Peter is freaking me out. Standing there without suit. 😅

[@elisaangel9789]

The dot fades. It won't stay forever.

[@luisvictorf]

That's cool shirt! I want one =D; and good job with your beekeeping learning, it's not the speed at which you learn but the quality of the knowledge you acquire. Cheers

[@wardrobelion8300]

Beatrice 👍

[@user-pc2jp2yr3c]

Wow. Bee keeping is so complicated. There is a lot to learn how to manage the hive.

[@jogriffiths4797]

The higher stand can be used in the future to put the super on while inspecting the brood box ... instead of lifting that super off the ground, especially when it's heavy with honey.

[@JamesLeesBees]

It is interesting how different the first time inspecting is from the last time many years later - you can interpret so much more - but still never quite know the "whole" story!

[@HDXFH]

More bees please