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Beekeeping with Golden Fox Farms LLC
United States
เข้าร่วมเมื่อ 27 พ.ย. 2007
Golden Fox Farms LLC is an apicultural company located in Kentucky, between Louisville and Cincinnati. Our Chief Bee Wrangler, Jake Barker, is an EAS and Cornell Master Beekeeper. This channel will be used to share our education videos.
Hive Moving
In this video, we examine how to move hives safely and efficiently from one apiary to another.
Yes, I have a dashboard mounted camera holder!
I don't recall if I note this in the video, but I prefer to move hives when we have temperatures between 55º and the mid 80s. Any cooler and we risk chill kills if we have a booboo or disturb the cluster enough for them to disperse. Any warmer and pent-in colonies become troublesome without using shipping-specific kit, like screen tops that allow somewhat unlimited ventilation.
00:00 Introduction
00:50 Stapling in bees
04:14 Strapping hives and initial loading
07:50 Securing hives in vehicle
10:00 Rolling to the next apiary
10:07 Placing hives
10:51 Opening entrances
11:23 Summary
Yes, I have a dashboard mounted camera holder!
I don't recall if I note this in the video, but I prefer to move hives when we have temperatures between 55º and the mid 80s. Any cooler and we risk chill kills if we have a booboo or disturb the cluster enough for them to disperse. Any warmer and pent-in colonies become troublesome without using shipping-specific kit, like screen tops that allow somewhat unlimited ventilation.
00:00 Introduction
00:50 Stapling in bees
04:14 Strapping hives and initial loading
07:50 Securing hives in vehicle
10:00 Rolling to the next apiary
10:07 Placing hives
10:51 Opening entrances
11:23 Summary
มุมมอง: 133
วีดีโอ
Hive Trouble: Front Door Dead
มุมมอง 33221 วันที่ผ่านมา
A past mentee put out an inquiry about why he was having dead bees amassing in front of a hive. I went ahead and worked a site-visit into my schedule to look at the hive with him. This video examines our findings, or lack thereof! Yes, I have a hands-free phone mount on the dashboard! 00:00 Introduction 00:35 Possible causes of front-door dead 02:04 Initial yard walkthrough and visual inspectio...
EFB and Melissococcus Complex
มุมมอง 150หลายเดือนก่อน
This video examines Melissococcus, the bacteria behind European Foulbrood infections, and its related diseases Sacbrood and Snotty or cruddy brood. National Bee Unit: nationalbeeunit.com/home-2 Michigan State European Foulbrood Presentation: th-cam.com/video/Fr4A_bbisRI/w-d-xo.htmlsi=EJpkrgkGG5LWgVQo 00:00 Introduction 00:22 Presentation Start 01:24 Intro to Melissococcus plutonius 04:53 Dysbio...
Myth-Busting 1: Wax Color Indicates Brood Age
มุมมอง 162หลายเดือนก่อน
In this short video we examine the color of brood capping and if they indicate brood age or something else! As a bonus, the video ends with a quick bit on marking queens. Enjoy!
Winter Prep
มุมมอง 269หลายเดือนก่อน
This is my classroom presentation on preparing your bees for winter. This is based on my continued successful wintering of bees with 90% survival past 5 years in the greater Louisville KY area. I have several additional videos with related content. August Mite Control: th-cam.com/video/zqQxpKx4_dc/w-d-xo.html Preparing for Winter: Weighing Hives and Late Summer Feeding: th-cam.com/video/AS7esIg...
August Mite Control
มุมมอง 2452 หลายเดือนก่อน
In this video, we review the methods for mite control as we prepare to enter the fall. honeybeehealthcoalition.org honeybeehealthcoalition.org/resource_category/best-management-practices/ www.dadant.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/VitaApiguardFAQ201607a.pdf Apiguard 'very hot' instructions. Line item 14, 2nd paragraph: "When it is very hot, the thymol sublimes faster from the gel and the bees ar...
Educational Opportunities
มุมมอง 892 หลายเดือนก่อน
Beekeepers must always be working on their education. Best practices and our understanding about bees is always improving. In this video, we discuss the usefulness of attending a conference or taking on a mentoring opportunity. The Eastern Apicultural Society: easternapiculture.org Mike Palmer's "The Sustainable Apiary" presentation at the National Honey Show: th-cam.com/video/nznzpiWEI8A/w-d-x...
Headache Hives 1: Freestyle Comb
มุมมอง 1.3K3 หลายเดือนก่อน
In this video, we address a pair of hives with similar problems: bees building in a space where frames were omitted, in both cases into a feeder box. This is not a terribly uncommon event with top feeder boxes used to feed solid feeds over winter coming into spring. One hive built from the bottom up, and the other from the top down. The sooner these events are addressed, the sooner you can re-d...
Comb Storage
มุมมอง 3K3 หลายเดือนก่อน
In this video, we take a quick moment to review how to store combs to prevent damage from wax moths, small hive beetles, mice and weather. As it is only discussed in passing, the use of moth crystals also requires the comb be thoroughly ventilated before use.
Bearding: Hot Hives
มุมมอง 2773 หลายเดือนก่อน
In this video we examine bearding and related hive cooling behaviors, and how we can influence hive thermal management in the hot summer.
Smoker Mechanics
มุมมอง 1724 หลายเดือนก่อน
In this video, we explore how smokers work, and how to get your smoker well lit and loaded so it lasts several hours. This is my first video back after my swarm-season-hiatus. I'll be aiming to put up similar content on a biweekly/fortnight basis going forward. If you have any questions please chuck them into the comments. I will answer them here or in future videos. If you like my content plea...
Swarm Control
มุมมอง 5877 หลายเดือนก่อน
Swarming is a shocking challenge for newly successful beekeepers, and is a task that can dog us through our whole beekeeping experience. Colonies surviving winter can charge into spring with unparalleled strength. It takes some judicious beekeeping to keep those girls in their boxes! In this video, we'll examine how to understand swarming pressure within the hive, and how to control that swarmi...
Swarming and its Mimics
มุมมอง 6317 หลายเดือนก่อน
In this video, we have a quick examination of swarm types, and behaviors often confused with swarming, such as robbing and bearding. We will be publishing a related short 'Swarm Control' video to this account 3/23/24 00:00 Intro to Swarming and its Mimics 0:42 Guest Video Content 1:16 Reproductive Swarms 1:34 Primary Swarm 2:00 Bivouac 2:14 Relocation 2:57 Skirted Swarm Trap 3:21 Afterswarms 3:...
Apiary Adventures 5: Early Reversals and Frame Management
มุมมอง 3157 หลายเดือนก่อน
The first hive manipulations of spring call for balancing the hive's needs for food and brood space without risking chilling the bees. Colonies may be found starving, or being bogged down by incoming nectar. This early in the spring, the brood nest generally must be left intact. The goal of these manipulations are to encourage a large spring population build-up while deferring swarming. For col...
Apiary Adventures 4: Early Hive Inspections
มุมมอง 3767 หลายเดือนก่อน
In this video we examine some of the colonies I inspected in late February after hearing a neighboring beek had several colonies needing reversed, in support of my Early Spring Management video. Most of my colonies were in fine shape and for the most-part it was uneventful. A deadout was discovered and examined, along with several large hives, double nucs, and vertical double colonies that were...
Equipment Needs: Figuring Out Beekeeping Supplies for the Year Ahead.
มุมมอง 5698 หลายเดือนก่อน
Equipment Needs: Figuring Out Beekeeping Supplies for the Year Ahead.
The Beekeeping Calendar and Phenology
มุมมอง 8108 หลายเดือนก่อน
The Beekeeping Calendar and Phenology
Apiary Adventures 3: Should I Start Beekeeping
มุมมอง 3559 หลายเดือนก่อน
Apiary Adventures 3: Should I Start Beekeeping
Shop Series 1: Oxalic Gun Band Replacement
มุมมอง 14010 หลายเดือนก่อน
Shop Series 1: Oxalic Gun Band Replacement
Apiary Adventures 1: Varroa, Robbing, and Later Season Swarms.
มุมมอง 66910 หลายเดือนก่อน
Apiary Adventures 1: Varroa, Robbing, and Later Season Swarms.
Great work once again jake
Thanks for sharing, Blessed Days...
Nice work Jake! I would still bee too scared not to ware a jacket! I hate getting stung.
Grate video as always Jake! From what I saw, the way he has his feeders setup, it allows bees from other colonies to enter. He has extra vent holes in his inner cover, but he has left the oval hole in the inner cover wide open allowing bees from other colonies to be able to access the syrup too! Looks like he also had shims between the inner and outer cover which allows bees to enter through that gap to access the oval hole in the inner cover. VERY DANGEROUS from a robbing standpoint.
@@donches7637 good points for sure, and we saw some dead in a mannlake feeder from similar. He had gotten away with it thus far but it was concerning. The inners had open entrances too. That said, the dead weren’t resultant from robbing.
Is it possible without mixing another creamed honey?
@@MadhavDhruve it needs a seed stock. Some folks do use powdered sugar as the seed stock instead of a creamed honey or a set honey.
Very nice and thorough presentation Mr. Beeman! You are spot on! This is the best and most accurate winterization presentation ever.
Now, how to clean a smoker?
I feed my bees until they won’t take it anymore 😅
I use a 3/4 hole that’s i use solid bottom boards I insulate my tops very well on my wood hives I like to use poly hives my bees don’t burn threw food my bees don’t get wet I like Etienne tardif I follow his winter methods he has so much data to support It
I don’t like them boxes I don’t like top entrances I’m in Canada I plug the brood nest up as the brood gets less
I know I don’t like that wintering in barns I do outside wintering too I’m in Nova Scotia Canada my winters are bad
Yep it's that time of year, time to get the girls ready for Winter. Blessed Days...
Very informative video my friend
where do you get the tubs
@@madchefskills blue sky bee supply
Hello I just watched this and several other videos on making Creamed honey- Some of them start with a crystalized honey and you suggest not, Have you found a difference if you had crystalized honey that you heated and liquified vs honey that hasn't crystalized? I'm trying to simply save honey at home that has crystallized. .. some people also make whipped honey in a blender, without using any seed honey.. thanks Paula
@@paulabowden if you start with a crystalized honey (which ultimately is what the seed is), it tends to replicate similar sized crystals. If your crystallizing honey has a real nice texture sure, but a lot of honeys that crystallize on their own have a pretty squelchy (big goopy crystals) texture. By starting with liquid honey, you have a lot more control on crystal set because the only crystals in it are the ones you purposely introduced. I specifically take buckets of honey that have started to set, and reliquify them in my warmer, then use THAT honey for creaming (as it wants to recrystallize)! I don’t expect the blender whipping to actually be a shelf stable product without some seeding.
can u put it in the regular refrigerator instead of having to buy a wine cooler. where do u get the containers from and where did u get your seed from, Thanks
@@framcesmoore all of this is answered in prior comments, but: you need to hold it pretty much AT 55°, how you achieve that is up to you and what you can achieve with your appliances. The containers I used here are from Blue Sky Bee Supply, but all the bee suppliers tend to have some iteration of creamed honey tub available. The seed stock I used it the Kroger creamed honey, it has a decent texture (but admittedly imperfect texture if you’re looking for ribbons) that remains spreadable (which the perfect creamed honeys tend to set too tight to do).
How do you find out about those high value wild colonies?
@@sleepersix lots of channels so to speak. Directly informed about bee trees/known locations through swarm collecting. Successful swarm trap hits with high quality stock. Years ago I started a regional swarm reporting and capture program, it has been very informative.
Where did you get your plastic container
@@ericshipplett3517 that one is sold by Blue Sky Bee Supply in Ohio. Every bee-retail shop has some iteration of a creamed honey vessel.
i have a question plsss, after creamed honey settled 3 days on 55f, can we take it out on room temperature? what happened if we store that cream honey on room temperature? note : my country is hot aroiund 25 celcius in room and 32 celcius outside
@@MahyaqiaLana once the texture has set, it would be fine sitting at 25C, but you’d likely have it decrystalizing or melting at 32C. We run into that issue with farmers markets.
Great way of explaining the process.
Thank you so much!
YA 🤨Wonky comb is not allowed.😁
Great video, thank you!
Great info, thanks for sharing
nuby heer GrEaT INFO
What time of year is best?
@@bligon11 swarm season/spring. In my area I’d want my traps up by 3/15.
Good information. I personally freeze brood comb and then store it in air tight clear totebox I can fit just shy of 3 boxs of frames in them.
Hi, just found your channel and watched a few of your videos. Could you tell me where you got you scale to weigh the hives, never seen anyone really weigh there hives. thanks
@@leehillard2841 believe it or not, that is a luggage scale purchased off the shelf at my local Walmart. www.walmart.com/ip/559995509
Great video Jake, very informative.
@@danlieter5673 Thank you so much!
Very nice video Jake!
@@donches7637 TY!
thùng ong của bạn đông quân quá,bên bạn có vẻ ong rất phát triển nhỉ
I have a question please .after settle the cream honey 55'tempreturs for 3days what if the temperature go up for 15-18 c* is it going to be soft and running agaid?thanks
@@MiryamsApiary it won’t cause the amount of crystallization to reverse, but it WILL slow down the process significantly. 55°F/12.8°C is the ideal temperature because of rapid and UNIFORM crystal set relative to the seed stock. Anything that interrupts that process can also cause the crystal set to be distorted, might lose or pick up some different or unwanted textural properties.
Thank you, new beekeeper here. Trying to learn everything I can .
I like to give my hives some shade and upper venting, the upper venting helps loads. Thanks for sharing your time, Blessed Days...
Very nice Jake!
@@donches7637 thank you!
Great video, thanks. Trying to figure a way to keep the mixture at 55+/- degrees for days. The only way I can figure is, to set our small refridge at the lowest setting and unplug it as necessary, then plug it back in when necessary. I'm in SW Forida🥵, so there are not too many days when the temperature is at the 55 degree range.
Great Q! A small fridge is a pretty ideal option, but the average fridge uses a nebulous 1-10 dial to set temps, nor is the average fridge controller made to target a range with 55º in it! The options are either get an appliance that CAN hold that temperature out of the box, like a wine fridge, or modifying a more pedestrian fridge using a separate temperature controller. Along those lines: I use a bunch on Inkbird thermostat products for heating applications. I have found them reliable and seemingly long lived (my honey dryer and now my large incubator run off of Inkbird ITC-306 units: the Inkbird was less than any of the individual temperature controller components that my incubator needed replaced). That said, the ITC-306 units are heater controls only. While I haven't used one, I'd gamble their cooling capable ITC-308 would prove a reliable tool, ~$35. You'd place the thermocouple (the actual sensor) into the fridge, near the center of everything: it has a thin wire and you can just close the door on the wire, don't need to drill it in or anything. You'd then plug in the Inkbird to house current, and plug the fridge into the 'cooling' receptacle of the Inkbird. You'd set cooling temps, maybe 54º +2º: that means 'whenever temperature exceeds 56º cool it down to 54º', and let it run. It would ballpark 55º that way, but may need tweaking. You'd want to set it up and let it run a few days to let everything normalize before adding the mixed honey. There are other manufacturers of these types of units too. I don't have a professional relationship with Inkbird or anything, they've just been really reliable for me. This can be a pretty mission critical component (especially when I'm banking dozens and dozens of queen cells) and they haven't failed me yet. I actually was referred to them by another queen breeder. You DO want it pretty dang close to 55º for proper rapid-and-fine crystal set, and that can be an issue because a lot of thermal controllers, and thermostats for that matter, are NOT well calibrated. I have admittedly not had this issue with my two Inkbirds, but I've seen temperatures vary as much as 5º between non-calibrated units. In a perfect world you'd have a traceable reference thermometer with 55º in the middle of its range. Traceable means it is referenced back to NIST calibration thermometers, and these things are pretty dang accurate. That said, these are expensive things to just make sure you're at 55º! I found some by Thermco that would work (B60600-0700, actually a thermometer for blood bank work! Ranges -5ºC to 20ºC +- 0.75ºC, 55ºF is ~12,7ºC), but they're $47! There are a number of digital traceable units too. I've actually found digital thermal sensors tend to have a much wider range of temperatures where they remain accurate. The old traceable glass units would have small ranges because of how much the glass and spirit can deviate above and below its calibrated temperature ranges, hence why they'd only have a small band they were calibrated for. Good luck!
@@jakebark23 Thank you for your lengthy explanation and suggestions. I’m going to go with the wine cooler. I’m seeing there are plenty of used ones out there. Hopefully, we can make our first batch of creamed honey this week. Thanks again.
Thank you for this! I have had better luck recently, but still can't get more than 30-40 minutes. Now I see I am being too impatient and need to establish that fire and heat. It's always fun as my smoker dies because, of course, it's after I have been poking around in the hive, and the bees are done with me and overflowing everywhere! Good times! 😂 BTW a video on managing 5 frame resource hives and winter prep for resource hives would be awesome!
I’ve been flooded with resource hive questions, which I consider good news, because it means I FINALLY GOT PEOPLE TO MAKE RESOURCE HIVES!
You should do a video on how to clean your smoker!
For us construction nerds. What is the scale is your drawing? Lol.
14 twelfths
Thank you for doing this, Jake! A task seemingly so simple has given me great trouble so far. I am familiar with the tetrahedron of fire, but I can see where I need to do some things differently. Thank you again!
I use the ammo box too, which I stole from you. Works great!
Can you cream honey without the use of cream honey. What was the other ingredient you used.
I only used liquid honey and creamed honey in his one. You NEED a seed-stock to control crystal size. The most common alternative I know is doping the honey with powdered sugar. Several ‘bee stores’ sell kits that use powdered sugar as seed stocks.
Jake...have you ever used Swarm Commander?
I have seen it and have had peers use it. It absolutely works. I just use lemongrass oil out of cheapness and convenience! The manufactured lures are more ‘true’ to scenting smell, have some of the other compounds present that straight lemongrass lacks.
Great video. I will be referring to this often this season, so thank you! Also, great job editing! The visuals are so helpful!
Thank you so much!
For some new beeks . Can you clarify . A couple times you said boosting up( weak) colonies. Maybe you can explain the difference between weak colony compared to boosting up a small colony. Or maybe explain the difference between a weak colony, or a small colony
Great question/point. I don't really make a clear distinction between 'small' and 'weak' colonies, in my vernacular they are just different adjectives for the same condition: a colony that just isn't growing or with a smaller population that their neighbors. With these, you 'Robin-Hood' from the rich colonies and give resources to the poor. That said, we can and probably should note some distinctions among these colonies: WHY those colonies are weak, and if/how to address those problems, and certain contraindications for boosting! (I omitted these because this is a video about swarm control as opposed to being a video about boosting weak hives. Good subject for a future video though! Might literally be the next one I make, would be timely.) There are fundamentally 3 things that cause a weak colony with a small population in the spring: current disease, bad queens, and 'everything else.' We can call 'everything else' 'myriad population issues.' Lets work through that list backwards. 'Myriad population issues' are those caused by something OTHER THAN bad queens or current disease. These are colonies that respond really well to resource boosting. The colony might have just entered winter with a smaller population due to feed issues or a poorly-timed requeening late in the summer. They might have had higher overwinter-population-losses due to a disease vector that is no longer present, like a late bad varroa hit that was stopped with a winter oxalic application, but the past damage inflicted is still playing out. It might even just be a colony that was hit by winter weather worse than their neighbors: within any apiary, there are worser spots for weather exposure and colonies placed there will (to an extent) have worse winter losses. All of these are relics of PAST problems. The 'boost' these colonies receive is often enough for them to 'break out' and start growing independently and recover without further inputs. Weak colonies with bad queens respond well to resource boosting, but will start to go backwards again afterwards. Boosting these colonies doesn't lead to a permanent fix, because the fundamental cause (the bad queen) remains. To get these colonies on track and independently successful, the queen must be replaced. Lastly are colonies that are sick right now/currently. There are several potential disease conditions this time of year, particularly EFB and Vairimorpha (what we used to call Nosema). In my opinion these are colonies that shouldn't be boosted. The disease is either treatable and should be handled first, or it is terminal and you're throwing away resources. When a colony becomes sick enough to show Vairimorpha symptoms, they have a 100% mortality rate in my experience. Vairimorpha is here and killing colonies, but most beeks don't recognize it/it frequently goes undiagnosed. Around 1% of my colonies get Vairimorpha, so I expect similar for other apiaries in my region. That also means an apiary with 10 hives would on average see it once every 10 years, so it gives little opportunity for most beeks to become familiar with its signs (unlike Varroa kills, which are readily found in most apiaries in the spring). Theoretically a frame of capped brood will spike up this colony's population and buy them time to recover, but I just don't see it paying off. I think you're throwing good money after bad here. With EFB, the disease condition tends to persist until either treatment with increasingly-hard-to-source terramycin, or a brood break and/or requeening breaks the infection's reproductive cycle and the colony shakes off the disease. This is another case of throwing good money after bad: the colony is either weak enough it will fail, or the queen can be caged or something to instigate recovery from EFB FIRST. A colony in recovery is a fine candidate for boosting, but a colony that is still sick just ends up with more sick bees after boosting. You need to handle the disease first. I hope this hits the question you were asking! And if not, fire away!
@@jakebark23 . Well said Jake . Couldn’t have said it better myself. Lol. I think we have both seen people that keep dumping good brood frames on bad/weak colony’s
Minute 14:40 'these colonies are unreasonable large'. I love it! Thats just how i want mine before the nectar flow. Well done. Keep up the hood work.
WHY DIDN T YOU PREVEND THEM FROM SWARMING AND DID THE SPLIT BY HAND?
That is certainly an option, and is one I have done before. However, if they’re already heading out the door and you are still in your flipflops, sometimes it is easier just boxing them after! 😂 Balancing swarm control and colony strength is a rather difficult line to walk, and an apiary trying to maximize outputs always risks having some colonies getting away from them.
@@jakebark23Well said. We all make plans but they don't all play out perfectly. This was a cool video. Video and audio clarity are critical and you get perfect marks there, the content quality was on pint as well. Well played, Now your on my radar and ill be curious to see what comes next. Ty btw
I'd love to see your calendar but it won't let me in. I don't have permission. 😞
Give me a few days crack the whip at my webmaster, we'll get a copy available on my own website. Apologies for the access issues.
Good job Jake! This will be a good year for splits, hopefully honey too.
Great video. I agree with you on different areas making it hard to decide when to do what. Looks as though you have yours figured out. So I have a question. I'm on about 40 latitude in central Illinois. Should I wait until around the 1st of May to try making splits for increase. My bees just started to produce a little brood. Some hives more than others. The Soft(silver) Maple started blooming on Feb 25th and daytime temps mid 70s. Naturally we've had a cold snap. The blooms got nipped a little and high temps are in the 50s. Pollen is still coming in just not quit as much. Also wasn't able to get the calendar. Maybe it is because I don't have FB.
You are roughly 110 miles north of my latitude, so our schedules will be more similar than different. In a normal year I aim to do splits around 5/1, allowing me to send out my overwintered nucs and using the leftover parts to make my spring nucs. I would somewhat blindly assume you are about two weeks later in the spring and two weeks earlier in the fall. Even with the early spring, I'm still going to try and hit that 5/1 date for my splits. While the spring warmth is showing up early, it doesn't seem to negate risks for an extended cold blast somewhere in late April that chills brood and induces a virgin queen loss rate of 60%+. In a sense, speaking in terms of successful mating for your virgin queens, the longer you wait to split in the spring the more success you will have. IIRC queens need temps in the mid-60s for flight: it appears the workers can heat up their cores in ways queens cannot. Workers fly ~55, drones ~57 IIRC. They also need relatively good weather, no strong winds, rain systems, etc, or they are grounded. You are up near where Charles Linder operates. CL is a retired engineer who transitioned into commercial beekeeping, and is a VERY vocal representative of the ABF and has a related column in ABJ. I recall him saying there is a lot of sandy soil and melon pollination in central Illinois. Some of your key pollen and nectar flows may be very different than mine, though plants in the gourd family tend to offer starvation wages to their pollinators! And thank you for the reminder about the calendar! I need to get that on my own page still! Facebook had a major outage yesterday, you may find it accessible today.
Great video!! How many frames would you put in a 10 frame box ? Thanks!!
If using a single unmodified 10-frame as a swarm trap, 1 drawn comb in the middle, and the rest foundationless frames.
@@jakebark23 thanks for responding. Should I use ether wire or line in the empty frames?
@@glennmartin8949 I often use nothing but I am lazy and am used to unsupported foundation-less frames! I find wire is the better product of the two. Bees often chew out fishing line.
@@jakebark23 thanks for the info!! Much Appreciated!!