Summer beekeeping update - the honey is coming in and we now have 8 beehives!

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It's been a busy summer looking after the bees and despite the bad weather, the nectar flow finally started and it looks like we might have a honey crop in the next few weeks. This year my plan was to expand my apiary and my plan was to have 1 beehives by the end of summer. In this video I show my 8 hives and after this video was filmed I actually picked up 2 new colonies from a beekeeper in Devon so we now have a total of 10! If we can get them through the winter then next years honey crop should be much larger!
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[@txbirdman01]

Dude, 8 hives? Very proud of you for sticking with it. I've thoroughly enjoyed watching your journey. You have surpassed my expectations from this channel. I'm a 12 year beekeeper from texas. Notes are absolutely necessary. Good job, bud. You must have a good mentor.

[@jntd4160]

Couldn't have said it better myself! It feels like he just started beekeeping yesterday. I feel very proud too, and amazed.....he's brilliant! 👏👏👏 💞From Saline, Michigan🌼🐝🐝🐝

[@maxmichalik3538]

​@@jimbob2826why do you think hes lying

[@deepstatecia]

I got 9 hives.

[@CB-xr1eg]

@@jntd4160 Why would you be proud of Alex? It's not like you're related or anything. 🤷‍♂

[@txbirdman01]

CB-xr1eg has a point. As a fellow beekeeper it feels like a sort of pride, but to be clear, I do not know Alex personally. I'm joyfully impressed?

[@kalle9643]

You are beguining to look really confident around the bees. I’m proud and impressed of your progress!

[@just_alex]

Thanks Kalle! Still making lots of silly mistakes but learning with each one! Hope your season is going well in Sweden.

[@kalle9643]

That's the nature of beekeeping-there's always a new mistake to be made.😀 We're having a pretty terrible season here in Sweden. Unless a miracle happens, we're headed for a record-low honey harvest.

[@esthersanchez2264]

​@@just_alexWOULD LOVE TO KNOW HOW YOU KEEP A RECORD OF The goings on of each of your Box Stations. WHAT U FOUND, WHAT U DID, WHAT EVER!!! ? SO MANY PEOPLE ARE VIEWING YOUR CHANNEL 👍🏽. BEE 🐝CAUSE ❤

[@wow-roblox8370]

@@esthersanchez2264Please don’t shout, you will give us a headache

[@just_alex]

Ah that’s a shame. Is it the weather causing this? Or another factor?

[@mgharvey3657]

2 in a week? Thank you Sir!

[@benjamindejonge3624]

I’ve got also a bad memory , that’s why I use a QR on the every hive so I can see all the info on my phone

[@redwojak5182]

This is the best idea I've seen, thx mate

[@chester6343]

What app do you use for that?

[@hussanalrubayie3020]

For anyone that didn't know, those yellow masses on the sides of the bees are pockets. Bees have pockets that they fill with pollen to make pollen bread!

[@julieguleff8524]

BRAVO! 1st year beekeeper here. I started with 2 nucs. Then added 2 hives, and caught 7 swarms! Huge start with learning. 14 full colonies doing great,harvested 10 GALLONS of honey. Thanks Alex for your amazing, clear, and great videos...a huge help in learning for us new keepers! ❤

[@EliseiTr]

I started the year with 2 bee colonies, and today I have 10. Two of the colonies are smaller, but I believe they will grow by autumn. I follow you with great interest; I really like the way you tell stories-it's very relaxing.

[@ahmedbounce3053]

Because of Alex and his first video of beekeeping I got encouraged to start beekeeping i've always wanted to but thought it was impossible for me, right now i have 2 nice Beehives!

[@hamoostaffat]

Great work bro! 👏👏👏 You never fail when you try something new and make a mistake you just learn new tricks and techniques ✌️😊 Hopfully it will be you on here one day sharing your journey for the next lot of peeps 🤘😉👍

[@Pat6648]

Alex, the first hive you inspected looks like it may have American Foul Brood or European Foul Brood, as I thought I could see sunken brood capping's and what appeared to be 'melted' larvae. Of course, hopefully this isn't the case, but it may be worth doing some further investigation as it may be the reason that this particular hive is not going as well as your others. By the way, I love your videos and really look forward to them all the way from Australia!

[@Unislash]

Hmmm, doesn't seem like it to me. Of course it's hard to tell with just a few closeups of random brood, but I don't see any perforated caps, nor scales, and I don't see the 'melted' larvae that you do. Might still be something Alex should be looking for in his next inspection though. All that said, what I didn't see *any* of is pollen/bee bread. They should have plenty of access to pollen at this time of year, but if I wanted to boost that colony I would give it a pollen patty. You do have to be careful about when you increase population in the season though; it takes about a month to go from egg to effective worker, and if that puts you in the middle of a nectar dearth then there's no sense in it. Even so, I know that Alex gets a late nectar flow from english ivy so increasing population now seems like a fine thing to do. Good luck with the rest of your bee season, Alex!

[@kraken_egg6261]

23:12 "your grace" - "my queen" - "your highness" love the workers interacting with her 😁

[@rei7663]

Ended up super randomly on this channel when I was taking a nap and woke up mid a video of his and right away I went into a deep dive of his channel and watched all the bee vids. Now I want a bee hive too 🥲 never even thought ab bees like that before that nap🤣

[@lauraflores1650]

I am doing the same thing right now!!!! I wish I had the space for beekeeping!!!

[@jeahanandmelaniestipp8250]

Hey Alex. I am following you for a few months now. All the way from from Cape Town, South Africa> Really like your videos and all you help. With your videos I started beekeeping myself and really want to do big scale over time

[@BrightestBlessings7899]

Such an accomplished Beekeeper! Well done ,Alex!

[@Enderman0415]

the strategy you apply is genuinely insanely impressive, i feel so blessed to have such a cool guy making such amazing videos about such a wondrous hobby.

[@mason0914]

POST MORE VIDS! I look forward to your content more than any other youtube I follow. You are phenomenal at what you do.

[@ilikeit2ful]

High Alex. We are from South Africa and we eagerly awaits each new video your bring out. We like the enthusiasm your portray in your videos. The different between bee keeping and gardening that you touch is inspiring. Keep up the good videos and best of luck with your endeavors.

[@diagobenjamin6456]

hi im also from south africa and love the vids

[@ilikeit2ful]

@@diagobenjamin6456 Hay Diago. Good know. So interesting to see people from the same country, watching the same videos from an overseas guy. I see on your channel that you also like beekeeping. Are you also checking out the Black Mountain honey? Stay warm and keep up the beekeeping - we need you young people in this business. (No, I am not a beekeeper, just a fan of it.)

[@diagobenjamin6456]

@@ilikeit2ful yeah im also whatching Black Mountain honey`s videos and some people in south africa vids like bushvel bees and my mentor Garick Campbell`s videos im from the western cape in hamlet and now doing bee swarm removals near me.

[@crazieken7370]

Sending love from 🌲 ALASKA ❄️.. I found you only a week ago and fell in love with your vids (I rarely dig in YT) im glad your bees are keeping you busy, and your energy is just as thoroughly energetic ❤❤😅

[@just_alex]

Ta! :)

[@miriamsi-cx4tf]

The engagement with the audience makes it feel like a community.

[@jacksfacts20]

I would be cautious about the optimism about elephants being deterred by bees from crop raiding. I was with one of the first researchers who studied this in South Africa and they were trying to replicate the study by putting bee boxes around watering holes to see if they would be deterred. Needless to say, it was not working as the elephants were drinking water right next to the bee boxes. I even have a photos of the elephants next to the bee hives without reacting to it. Now, a paper in '16 suggested it was bee activity that helped as you need big, active hives to help deter elephants. Trust me, I want a way of deterring elephants from crop raiding more than anyone so there is less conflict between humans and elephants but I really don't know if bees are the answer.

[@tuvytuvemue]

Interesting input because I live in Namibia and we farm in an area where the elephants have recently made their new home 😭 they are so aggressive and have torn our yards and put their tusks through our water tanks multiple times🥲 we are literally competing with them for our boreholes. We had plans to expand into horticulture and use bees to deter the elephants, but given that your study I think we need to find a better way of getting rid of them.

[@jacksfacts20]

@@tuvytuvemue I feel for you, it's hard to deter elephants without harming them. I don't want to totally deter you from using honeybees against elephants as some studies suggest they do work, I just want to make it clear that it's not a silver bullet. Also, don't forget selling honey is a great supplement to your income as well! you may need a multi-layered approach like honeybees and spicy peppers grown around the area. Keep trying and don't give up!

[@Kyla94934]

Love planet wild, that's great that you're paying for the first month of membership for some people! I joined a few months ago, I love what they do

[@muhammadmustafotojimamatov1172]

Let's Hit 500K+ this month, way to go Alex :)

[@HomesteadAce]

In regards to moving frames: I thought maybe it makes sense to put a fresh frame every 2 frames; that way you increase the chance of survival for the isolated frames and still achieve your goal. I'm not a bee keeper at all; just something that popped in my mind.

[@neu_trino]

I knew nothing about bee keepers until I saw this channel - love it, fantastic to watch you at work on the hives.

[@lytieuanh1993]

I'm proud and impressed of your progress!!! Thank you sir!

[@MatthewLRothon]

This content is brilliant, I never thought I would be so interested in Bees! Thank you Alex

[@nilandic2036]

Hive at 17:16 I would recommend double brood boxes as you have an Italian strain it should elevate pressure and too ensures they don’t swarm place a queen excluder between floor and brood box hope this helps

[@PeterPanbe]

499k subs!!!!! Start prepping the cake 🙂- Congratz and so well deserved with this lovely content. Thanks!

[@just_alex]

Thanks so much! :)

[@officer3054]

Just a thought.. the big hive that had the 2 supers on it needed a second brood box a couple weeks ago and then they would not have started to create queen cells! Think of it as the bees swarm when the brood chamber is full and no more place for the queen to lay, space is not how many supers you have they dont count ! I usually have 2 deep brood boxes year round and make 4 splits a year for each double deep hive! And up to 6 supers for each colony" more workers the more honey is stored"!

[@petermcfadden9426]

Love your enthusiasm! Greetings from Conwy Honey Fair. 🤩

[@qwatta]

Hi Alex, your journey over the past year made me also become an beekeeper. This weekend I am in for my first harvest of honey ever !! thank you for the great explaination and motivating clips!

[@GrowCookPreserveWithKellyDawn]

I've been beekeeping for over a decade and I'm always learning something new! Great video, Alex!

[@shadowstrike3941]

I cant believe the growth. 8 hives in a few years?? your smashing it man

[@hrausss]

Hay mate. I love gardening ,self reliance, sustainability and more. Your videos have taught me a amazing amount about bees. What I love the most is you care for the bees for the bees sake . Money can do many things but money makes most humans bad . Your passion is bees life food and life. The bonus for you is income but not the main motivation of your content and story's keep safe thanks again from Australia 🌏🦘🎉

[@_Justin0305]

I have Italian bees ordered for next May. Watching your videos has helped relieve some anxiety on taking on the hobby and job of bee keeping. More excited about it now.

[@user-ke4ui3xn2l]

I really enjoy your videos, Entertaining and educational. I especially like the bees, Keep it up, Thanks, Phil.

[@brucklay227]

WOW Alex you’re one away from that magical 500k of subscribers; a tremendous feat, yet deservedly so for your content is full of interesting fact and it’s fun and entertaining to watch. Personally I would love to see you take on and master a long hive next. Its a challenge but a very good instrument for culturing brood to support weakening colonies.

[@lindadez5532]

Always look forward to your excellent videos on your bee colonies and the progress you continue to make. Thank you Alex. These are so well done and informative. Well done you!

[@GetOutMoreBlog]

Iam absolutely loving this channel my friend and i are just about to start our journey into beekeeping. Preparing an area and deciding our goals etc. its been great to follow along this channel and view the others that you recommend.

[@josephtyus6406]

Love your content. My Grand father had several hives. You have inspired me to try my hand at beekeeping also. Cheers mate!

[@kb1sxv]

I love the progress. Thank you. Your videos have helped me get started with my first year of bee keeping in CT USA. I'm very happy to see it's working out for you and I really enjoyed the new video.!

[@bobhond3976]

Hi Alex, I just wanted to say that your videos give me so much joy. The beekeeping and gardening is such inspiring! I love it. Thank you for making those videos!

[@Ambees_Honey_Farm]

Bees are looking good Alex! Hope your honey flow and harvest is good this year!!

[@stephenb5jones476]

Have been following Planet Wild since you first mentioned them some time ago. Love their ethic, their work, and their projects! Thanks for highlighting their work.

[@roybongalon475]

just found out ur channel randomly in yt, watching your in bee keeping + gardening makes a chilling vibe everynight when i watch ur vids, keep this up bro, more more gardening vids and bee keeping!!!

[@alisonvorster7946]

Sending love from South Africa 🇿🇦 it’s so cool to follow your journey!

[@AnjaMay433]

I don't think I've ever commented, but I knew I liked you for a reason other than your awesome content plant wild is amazing!

[@WoodsleeSummercraftwoodturning]

Congratulations on your success with your splits, this year ive gone from 2 hives to 5 hives, the honey flow has been slow so far this year but they have been busy building and growing . Great link to share!! Take care Rob (woodslee Bee’s)

[@XMarkxyz]

25:31 The nectar must flow: my bees, my clovers, my honeyyy!

[@manofonions]

YEAH ALEX UPLOADED!!

[@craigpartridge101]

Hi Alex. Got given a hive at Christmas and started watching your videos in preparation for getting a nuc, which i eventually got from Lawrence of Black Mountain Honey. Following your journey with its highs and lows, and watching how your confidence has grown over the past couple of years is truly inspiring. Please keep the videos coming, I learn something new each episode. That said, your beekeeping is better than your skiing!

[@davidmaloney2724]

You are doing so good. Just a wee tip. Start taking out two frames from the brood chamber to make it easy to go through and best two to take out are start three frames away from the cluster of bees. That way you never hurt the queen

[@izabelasiczek3547]

You an early bee Alex upload at 7am 😉 thank you what a lovely video to wake up to and drink my coffee to

[@Christhulhu]

Love Planet Wild. I'm supporting them since over a year now. :3

[@rovingrods]

You'll hit 500k today mate👌

[@just_alex]

yay, that's quite a lot of people!

[@robinfereday6562]

absolutely fantastic what you achieve with the bees throughly fascinating to watch thank you for keeping the planet alive 👍

[@dezmondw7927]

Great job Alex.. 8 hives!!! Less goooo! Love from Southern Oregon

[@Hargitasimplyliving]

wow wow wow! Not just the bees doing a god job!

[@Grumfuttocks]

All looking fantastic Alex and the bees doing some great work. Informative content as always and looking forward to the next update 🇬🇧👍

[@goldenegg1063]

I Really want a beehive one day but one of those bee friendly hives that allow you to extract honey without harming a single bee 🐝 :) . . Bees are one of my top favorite flying insect 😊

[@happysalt4857]

I dunno what it is with the pollen on bees’ hind legs but they’re so cute to me 🥹

[@TheLudwiga]

Wow that's a lot of bees! So cool seeing this grow

[@lesleyyoung5730]

Sir, you spoil us! 😊

[@257ersSupport]

Clover also is very good for the soil. It binds Co2 from the athmosphere in organic form right at it's roots. Enhancing soil structure while also fertilizing nearby plants!

[@CharlesLechmere_the_Ripper]

Your content has always been on point, absolutely love it. Very enjoyable and im learning tons! I even wanna keep bees myself some day, who knows, but you helped with that too! Last compliment.. Ofc no one likes ads but man you even nail those, must be the first ad i didnt skip and it actually fits perfectly in the content you are making. You deserve so much more imo, but for now thank you for everything so far!

[@karingran2629]

Haven't noticed many bees this year, i know they dont come out in rain and below certain temperature, alot ofmy fruit/ veg and flowers not being pollinated, its been a realy bad year so next year im getting a polly tunnel, let see if we get a better summer 🤞 i love your vids ive seen you grow and grow, thanks Alex .

[@LaplandYurts]

Wow! The colonies look great! 🐝🐝🐝

[@just_alex]

Thanks, hope you are keeping well in the north!

[@soniayoung7531]

Heyy Alex you're doing great with your bees keeping, the hives look so healthy you address your bees beautifully, awesome elephants thanks for sharing stay safe

[@rovingrods]

You've done it Alex.... Half a million subscribers... Well done!!!👏👏👏

[@nicholasnarcowich9163]

Thank you for your Hands On videos; bees have been an interest to me, mostly because I like to garden & bees are part of that :-) Thank you for sharing.

[@amosfour]

I can’t wait to watch the honey extraction already! Definitely buying some this year if possible!

[@ravchik_thor]

Congrats on 500k! Love your content😊

[@arno4482]

Greetings from Australia. Great video Alex! You’ve certainly come a long way since your first year of beekeeping video. I’m essentially at the same experience level as you, also in my 2nd year of beekeeping, however I use the FlowHive system. Keep up the great work!

[@iammeniece]

Love watching you videos I miss your longer ones I looked forward to those long videos from you.

[@thequeenmothermonarch1813]

Thanks Alex for the great relaxing content. I just joined Planet Wild. Thanks for the 1st month free. Now back to my Just Alex marathon. 😊

[@Thenomadpurr]

Great video Alex, 27 minutes of pure Bee Roll... 🤣

[@treehuggingbuddhist]

😂🤣🤪😆

[@daviddeane7293]

Nice one Alex it's nice to see your bee's doing so well and looking so healthy, amazing work, Alex, as always 🐝🐝🐝 😁👍

[@randym8963]

Hi Alex, its Randy from nwh. Love those full sized hives...

[@kb1sxv]

Alex, It's time for you to do zoom meetups with other beekeepers. If you do, I'll be there

[@stanvanhove5337]

love your vids they are very calming

[@OMGitsSleek]

Keep up the great work Alex!! Congrats on 500k 🎉

[@ChazG9]

I love these videos Alex, I love looking through the hives with you. Me and my mum joined Bedfordshire BKA this year and are hoping to get a hive or 2 this year or next year if not. I remember you talking about trying different gloves previously but what have you settled on. Do you have anything underneath your Purple gloves and are they super thin or slightly thicker? I got stung on my hand last week through my gloves that came with the suit and my hand got quite swollen so I'm looking at other options and would love your recommendation. **Edit** Just got later in the video to see you getting stung on your fingers... Maybe not the most protective gloves...

[@__Storyblocks__0]

Next harvest you should make some honey muffins with some berries from the garden!

[@SpanielshuntingtrialingNZ]

Always appreciate and enjoy your videos Alex, thank you.

[@bee_folk]

That 8, will quickly turn into 16-20 next year.

[@lenturtle7954]

I regulary switch frames of eggs and larvae with a hatching frame to boost the small one You dont have to take bees just the frames . Or give the small hive bees as well wet the hive with a bit of syrup and they dont fuss

[@carolinacruz0]

Breakfast with an amazing video!

[@Vgardener]

I enjoying watching your channel so much. I learnt a lot too. Thank you for sharing

[@AndrewAHayes]

I watched a few of your bee videos, I was sure I knew who you were and then it dawned on me, I used to read about you and your brothers fishing exploits in the angling press!

[@peggyday236]

Your bees look so healthy, great job!

[@user-ig5fm8ot4d]

Amazing how you are so different with keeping bees compared to when you started a year ago. Well done 👏🏻👏🏻

[@izaaksom]

I love this beekeeping videos. I don't have bees but I hope someday I can.

[@YippeePlopFork]

Fantastic job Alex! Well done.👏

[@feliciawhite7728]

Yay! So excited you posted. Its 1:30am, but im staying up to watch. I was wondering how the bees were doing.

[@anjafenk9207]

omg!!! so happy to see you uploaded! been waiting patiently for a new video! happy to see ur back :))

[@lardyman2]

Hey Alex, might be worth keeping an old ice cream tub or something up there, any time you scrape off some wax you can save it towards your candle making

[@ChazG9]

Or you can trade it in for new wax foundation

[@franblythman2957]

good to watch thanks , cant wait for next one

[@fleabag72]

Looking forward to seeing the harvest

[@randomtech9953]

Love you ALEX Nice work

[@garycasey991]

I have watched several folks that do the Demetrius and they leave the queen egg cells and they fix a way out and if a new queen hatches out and they go out and breed and comes back to the box on top and starts laying eggs you can take this box and you have made a new hive the original is still there.

[@JeremyFuller-nh7lt]

Well done Alex ,I really do learn alot with your videos.