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Thanks 😆

Thanks

👍

Cheers. All the best with your winter prep

Thanks

Beeco. Australian made. I wouldn’t say it’s that small, average size. I used to have a small Lega one. It was a nifty little smoker.

@@bennybeekeeperjust bought one of them, yet to light it. Design must have changed a bit , no heat shield on mine. Currently using a small Penders, the smaller ones seem hard to come by now days.

I liked the small lega I used to use. I would happily buy another one. I think ecrotek sell them.

There was a broken comb stored in this box over winter and some honey leaked out of it. I left it for the bees to clean up

Thanks for the support

Thanks for stopping by

I don’t know the exact number but I would estimate around 75%. Some of them dwindled away and got robbed out by the bigger colonies.

That’s great to hear. Glad to know your minis are doing well. Mine are too. They’re building up nicely. I’m very happy with how they’ve come through winter.

Good for you. How far is it from where you live? For me it’s about a 4 hour drive

@@bennybeekeeper mine is about a 13 hour drive

Will you send yours along with someone else’s hives?

@@bennybeekeeper yes myself and 2 of my mates will send some with me. We only send about 30 colonies or so not a whole bunch

The almonds certainly gets them going. Plenty of pollen nectar and warm weather. Unfortunately not much flowering here yet.

I much prefer the combs with sidebars for a number of reasons. The comb is a lot easier to handle, you can safely hold it at any angle, and also put it down and lean it against the wall while inspecting other combs. The comb is a lot stronger with the sidebars. I’ve had a number of combs break about half an inch below the skewer through the honey band which is a shame and an inconvenience. Also I’ve realised the hive can be worked a lot quicker when the combs have sidebars which is a factor the more of these hives you have. If you only run a small number time is not a factor but to work a hive like this on a larger scale then the sidebars become essential

Italian

Most of mine have made it through to this point. Winter isn’t over yet but there’s plenty of flowers around and starting to get some good foraging weather. Lack of rain is the main concern for me here

Yes she’s still at it. I was glad to see her too!

Yes SouthEast SA. Yourself?

@@bennybeekeeper copper coast Yorke peninsula, doing some first inspections for the season tomorrow. I’d say we are about 5-6 weeks later here than last year.

We usually have canola flowering here by now, not this year due to late sowing. It’s pretty dry here so I really hope we get spring rain

@@bennybeekeeper we had canola flowering here mid July last year, I’d say still 2-3 weeks due to late start.

Yes I did feed them sugar water in the autumn to build up their stores but they really haven’t eaten through much

@@bennybeekeeper thanks

Thank you! 😃

I doesn’t snow here. It’s between 10 and 15 degrees C during the day at the moment in the middle of winter. Frost in the morning every other day. Pretty mild winter really. Most hives have been raising some brood all the way through. And I usually get at least one day per weekend that is nice enough to do bee work.

It should be kept the same. It was just too convenient for me to put it in the frame like I did. They won’t abandon that comb because it already has their brood in it. Bees are very versatile and adaptive. They will make it work. I have seen before a tree fall over with a hive in it. The comb orientation gets all messed up but the bees just roll with it and keep using it.

Glad you liked it!

I requeened some of the other hives at this site that I wasn’t happy with. Cheers

😂

Thanks for stopping by

I’m taking 55 hives. The poly boxes are 9 frames. I’ve also got 8 frame doubles out at my main bee site. They don’t really want single but if you’ve got some strong doubles it evens out the load

Thanks

Thanks. About 2 or 3 weeks I’ll be taking the bees into the almond orchard. Thanks for asking that, it made me look at the calendar 😳

I would just buy a little packet of the plastic ones off eBay and try those. They all the same

Cheers

Well I went into winter with about 20 of these 6 framers. I’m down to about 15. Of the 5 that have died I think 2 simply got robbed out. The other 3 just dwindled in numbers to a point where they just aren’t a viable size anymore. I suppose they need a certain number of bees to cluster and function normally. I put it down to a poor quality queen or going into winter with too few bees. These little hives really require a certain type of management. I’m learning a lot from them. I honestly haven’t paid them enough attention in the later part of the season. I’m sure they can make it through winter but I’ve definitely dropped the ball with some of them. But with a new season approaching there’s an opportunity to start again and rebuild.

@bennybeekeeper at least it sounds like you're aware of the circumstances that determined the success or failure of those 5 minis that didn't make it. I'm a bit the opposite because I added a frame or two of bees across three of my four minis, plus added a heavy sugar syrup in all four feeders. It's a bit fun checking in on them every few weeks, but my main objective is to bring these fresh 2024 queens through winter & use them to replace older queens in my main hives. Your videos are incredibly helpful. Thanks so much.

I think it’s a good test for the queen to see if she can get through the winter in one of these. Thanks for the support

Generally not. The syrup I used in this video actually had Mineral Bee added, it’s the very first time Ive used it so I can’t comment on it yet. I have used hivealive a bit in the past but I find the bees drown in the syrup more readily with hivealive added. It makes the syrup kind of oily so the bees get covered in it and drown. Really I think no additives is probably best.

@@bennybeekeeper just ordered mineral bee today for a try cheaper than hivealive but they seam to do well on hivealive in cap and ladder feeders.

Cheers mate

Yes I have got one foot in each camp when it comes to the excluders. I understand the theory that the queen can get left behind as the cluster moves up, but I’ve just never seen it as a problem here. The bees are still active, flying, raising a bit of brood. I just can’t see it happening. They’re not a more typical winter cluster you would see in a colder climate. The reason to leave the excluder there is I know where the queen is. If I want to take the second box off I don’t have a brood nest split between two boxes. It can only be down the bottom so I can take the top box away easily. For example I will reduce some of these hives down to singles to take to almonds simply because it’s less weight to transport around

Thank you for that explanation. I’m also in a climate that doesn’t get cold for very long and I’m going to try it this coming winter. It’s good to challenge common practices and see what happens. Like you, I can check on my hives practically all through winter.

That’s the other I can check on them regularly. It’s not like they are wrapped up and covered in snow

Very cold mornings, frosts. Fairly mild afternoons. We haven’t had much of what I would call winter weather

I have some HiveIQ gear already and some other brand polystyrene hives. I really like how the bees do in poly hives. So I am going in that direction. I’m not entirely happy with the hiveIQ gear and it’s pretty expensive so I can’t afford much at the moment. So I’m not buying any of their gear at the moment but I definitely will be buying more poly hives. How about yourself?

@@bennybeekeeper I bought one so far, happy with how it all connects, only issue I have found is if you want to feed your bees, there is no space for fondant. I emailed them and they told me a feeder will be out in July. I agree with you they are expensive, but well made. If you could let me know which brand of poly hive you use, that would great. Thanks again for posting your videos, great viewing.

I have some Paradise Bee Box gear but they’re not much cheaper. I’ve also got some boxes from iWooHoo. The 9 frame gear from all 3 brands is interchangeable.

Hi Jo. Yes that’s my impression. They basically used the fondant as a fuel source to get out foraging over the last two weeks. They definitely look good and are on an upward trajectory. Cheers

Yep. There is quite often nectar available during winter, it’s just a question of whether the bees can get out and get it. We’ve been having a couple of hours foraging weather each afternoon recently.

I think they are going to make it through at this stage. Still a bit of winter to go

Bees can’t live in a mini hive such as this long term. They will most likely abscond and find somewhere bigger to live. The purpose of these mini hives is solely as a queen mating nuc.

Yes I am pleased I got her

Yes they are doing well. Going to hit spring at a canter at this rate.

Thanks for watching!