Honey Bees in WINTER Record Cold Thermal Imaging Shows where the cluster is.
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 ก.ย. 2024
- Winter Honey Bee Hive Inspection
When it's cold, snowy and blowy, please try to resist opening your beehives out of curiosity. If you suspect that your honey bees have died, then opening before a warm day will not save them. However, leaving them covered and insulated against the cold without being disturbed may be just what they need to make it.
The camera shown in this video is the Flir C2 and it has many uses, you can find it by following this affiliate link: amzn.to/2C6k7Zo
Thermal imaging is the absolute best method of determining not only if your honey bee colony is making it, but where they are located within the hive.
Don't clear the snow off during sub-zero temps, do make sure they have some venting through the top or a secondary upper entrance.
When temps rise well above freezing and you get a warming trend, make sure to clean the landing board and scrape out the dead bees that may be blocking the entrance. This will facilitate those critical cleaning flights.
I wish you all great success in getting your honey bees through winter... I don't personally feed the colonies, other than to leave on plenty of resources they have gathered during the last nectar flow of the season.
Thank you for watching as always!
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Mr Dunn, whenever I see your name on a video, I know it's going to be EXCELLENT! Thank you for all the work you do and for keeping us informed. I never get tired of watching your educational videos. Thank you!!!!!!!!!!
Thank you Macro, it's always great to receive your comments! I appreciate that you watch so many of my videos!
@@FrederickDunn Why would a bee keeper want mason bees ?
this was actually of good help, now i know getting a thermal camera/ reader can be very useful during the winter, and since i live in Norway it can get as cold as -30c (-22f)
Thank you, I'm so glad it was helpful for you. Wishing you all the best in Norway!
Wow the snow is beautiful, but I’m glad I’m not having to deal with it. Erie always gets the brunt of the snow when it gets heavy in PA. I Was there in 2007 when you guys had another heavy snow year and remember coming over the hill on the interstate heading north into Erie and seeing the lake frozen over. Another Great video! Thanks for sharing!
Thanks, and yes Erie generally gets blasted with lake effect and where I live, 700 feet higher than Erie, we usually get more, but with this system, the heavy hit was nearer the lake so it's not so bad out here. :)
Glad you mentioned that the thermal camera won't work if the hive is insulated. I was tempted, but no more.
You're welcome :) It's a common misunderstanding that a thermal camera can detect interior temps and that just, as you already know, isn't the case. Are you currently using insulated hives? If you are, what kind? Thanks for watching and taking time to comment Marta.
Although I have no personal experience with the device, I understand that the Broodminder monitors internal temperature and humidity and relays the info to your smartphone.
Thank you for your impact video
We've had snow here in the south...stayed on the ground for almost 3 days! I wouldn't have given a single thought to snow here but glad you pointed out not messing around with the hive. Great video and another lesson learned!
Thanks Trixiegirl and one thing for sure with weather is that nothing is for sure :) Thanks for watching and commenting as always :)
Excellent video! I am only now discovering your channel and am actually a bit mind blown that we live in the same county! I've been watching a lot of bee videos on youtube over the last few months and have been filled with joy every time I see the bees at work. My Grandfather and Uncle used to have a few colony's down Spartansburg way when I was young, so I really feel I missed out on learning the process when they both passed away a few years apart. I'm not in any position to take care of any bees now, but I'm making it a long-term goal to do so! I always wanted to learn and I'm glad the magic of youtube has helped me rediscover my childhood fascination with honey bees. I look forward to watching older videos on your channel, and seeing content from a local creator!
I'm so glad you found my channel and am happy I can help you revisit honey bee keeping. Thank you for the nice compliments!
Fred, thanks for this education on a topic that has a wide spectrum of opinions. I have kept bees for a number of years. Clinging to the first knowledgeable advice on “How to” when I started and not deviating from it. Winterizing beehives is one of those opinions one will find themselves deciding on. I have for the most part wrapped the hives in roofing paper. Did it help? I don’t know. I ask myself how would bees survive without mans intervention. What is the difference between a hive in the hollow of a tree or an abandoned building compared to a Langstroth hive and survival thru winter? I have lost many hives over the years. Always went into winter with sufficient supplies. Insulated tops and wraps. But come March find the hive died while others survived. So it’s a conundrum. I like your knowledgable insight. I have seen other fellow Canadian beekeepers using FLIR to show the cluster position and their placements are as yours and that is reassuring.
Can't wait to see the future videos on Mason bees! I've always wondered about them. Thanks for another great and informative video. :)
Hi Eva, the mason/orchard bee study is going to be a lot of fun! I already have a log that they have placed their eggs in, so we will have hatching and "hopefully" lots of new residents laying eggs. Thanks for watching and commenting!
Fred it’s Friday here in Japan and I am looking forward to your broadcast. I also wanted to here your thoughts on the Layens hive. Thank you again for sharing.
Hi Timothy, I don't personally have an interest in the Layens hive just because I like the cross-hive compatibility of the Langstroth frame centered configurations. Every new hive design that requires unique frame dimensions requires me to store new single-purpose gear. This is why I stick with Observation hives, Langstroth, Flow, Long-lang and other configurations which still use the standard and widely available frames. Nothing against the Layens deep frames, but they just aren't for me. :)
Happy New Year To You and yours!
Frederick, Thank you for sharing your knowledge and experiences in beekeeping with us.
Thank you Duane and the same to you and your family :) !
Never expected to see anyone using FLIR on bees! I was a crew chief on one of the 3 FLIR gunships used in Viet Nam war. to operate in free fire zones at night.
Back in the day, we used Starlight scopes... early 80's and had to rest our eyes for 5 minutes after every 15 of viewing... happily, those days are long gone. FLIR still has lots of military contracts.
Great video! You always present in such a professional manner.
Thank you so much Gary! Much appreciated.
That snowfall is amazing. I was just reading the news about it. We're in arctic cold territory, but hardly any snow in Massachusetts so far. I have a question about FLIR... Do you have any experience with the FLIR One, iPhone camera? I've been shopping for a thermal camera and not quite ready to spend $500 on the C2. I'd love to hear your thoughts on the FLIR One. Great video!
Hi Vino Farm, always great to see your comments. I don't have any experience with the Flir One... know why? Because I don't own a cell phone... (';').. a sad truth. I use the C2 for lots of stuff, even found a short in my tractor with it. And I can find out where mice are nesting. It's actually a lot of fun, but I completely understand that it's pricey. There are several good reviews on TH-cam about the Cell Phone configuration... sorry I don't know more. I'm glad to have the heavy snow as it really does help protect from the crazy cold temps.
Ha ha... No cell phone. You might be the last person! I thought you might have some experience with it since you seem to have lots of toys. The FLIR One does have better reviews on the latest model (Earlier model reviews were mixed.). I'm waiting for a price drop. I am very curious to look at my hives. Stay warm over there.
I like to be unplugged from society (';') and I'm not "traceable" : ) I liked your solar wall.. I'll be following your progress on that!
@Vino Farm - check out the Flir TG165
@Vino Farm, I love your channel and I have a FLIR One non-Pro version Android that I use for work.
The image is a bit choppy when I move around, probably due to my crappy midrange smartphone, a Samsung On5.
It does work, and I can take pictures with it, and lock the temperature range, which is what I need it to do.
Battery life is my main concern. It has its own battery which is charged via a standard micro USB cable, and that drains pretty quickly, about 20-30 minutes of screen time tops.
Thanks for sharing your knowledge!
You're welcome Lewis, thanks for watching!
Beautiful, as usual!
Thank you so much!
Thanks!
You make me want a flir so so bad haha
It has endless uses Daniel :) finding hiding grandkids.... that mouse in the hen house, and yes, to see where the brood is located and even if they have brood or are just remaining in torper. Pretty endless in possibilities :) heat leaks in the house, or any structure... yadda yadda... pays for itself pretty fast.
A minor comment about your comment that flir wouldn't work with insulation. Insulation does NOT stop a "Flir" device from working. It will give different readings than w/o insulation, the readings will still be the temperatures being measured. Just saying. That said, I would think just like spending a winter in a home with just the roof insulated and not the walls in artic weather, it would be a warmer home if the walls were insulated too. Mr. Dunn, people would be better off learning what you have to teach than not (about anything), than not. Cheers
Hi SailingSolar, when I mention the Flir not working if hives were insulated, I was referring to seeing if colonies are alive inside and having the ability to see where they are located behind the hive walls. The Flir does work, just doesn't inform as well as it does with normal wooden hive walls. Thanks for clearing that up and I certainly welcome all perspectives. The Flir definitely has many uses, including locating mouse dens in winter :)
for me expensive $ 500 I for the price a friend booked hives 8 PCs Ruta 4 enclosure with roof and tray ,I'm from Russia Tatarstan ,but thanks for the info,I liked it
So glad you liked it!
Thank you for this video 👍👍👍👍
My pleasure
in toronto I wrapped it well, but my two boxes of bees were dead. I was very frustrated and distressed.
Wow, that's terrible news... I actually don't do anything for them other than leave insulated lids on and plenty of honey. I also vent through the cover or top box just in case the bottom fills with dead bees that they can't clear from the entry. I hope you have a better experience this year....
KAI CHEN mites not cold
Once again, I don't raise bees but enjoy learning about them, thanks.
You're very welcome and I always appreciate your comments!
nice video
Thank you!
Understood! I have entrances top and bottom. You are relying on top entrance for ventilation and bottom more do for the cleansing flight. I'm in NW Indiana on lake Michigan with lot of lake effect snow. Thank you
You're welcome.. if you look close at bottom boards that have not been cleared, you'll still find vent holes which are made by the bees, these are not apparent until you take a very close look.
You get almost as much snow as we do further north lol
Seems really placid out there... i bet the “neighbors” are friendly!
Hi Michael... yes, all the neighbors in this area are very supportive of each other... occasionally someone will buy a house and move out here from the city, then use their backyard as a shooting range (';') not my favorite... We are still receiving snowfall ar 3" per hour today...
Yikes, that doesn't sound very considerate
It isn't, and the immediate neighbors to them have a horse farm... the gunfire definitely impacts the horses and keeps them nervous. They are half a mile from me, but that's still too close. :) I'll still take that over city living any day :)
Very interesting! Regarding your Super Colony: Are they able to make use of the honey stored two or three boxes above the cluster? I'm new, so I'm just learning, but I've been hearing horror stories of colonies that starved to death when food was only one frame away from the cluster.
They do extremely well with stored honey above the cluster... they tend to fail to travel laterally to honey stores once they are centered. Their natural tendancy is to migrate up through winter, arriving just under the cover, then moving to other honey stores during warmer days. If they have brood, they will anchor in place... and that's the most frustrating aspect!
@@FrederickDunn -- Great news! My colony hasn't spread out to completely fill their two 10-frame brood boxes, so I'm going to consolidate them into a 6-over-6 or 7-over-7 arrangement with a spacer board blocking the unused portion of the hive. Brood low and centered, food stores above.
Olá Frederick Dunn
Teu local é lindo, que maravilha, quão sortudo tu és
Mas creio que as abelhas tem momentos difíceis nessa estação...
Thank you Pedro, what language is this?
Frederick, that's Portuguese! I bet Pedro is from Portugal.
Olá para você também e obrigado pelo bom elogio! Desejo tudo de bom! E graças a outros para identificar o idioma adequado para a minha resposta!
Thanks Akemi!
Akemi Mitsueda eu sou do Brazil... Você conhece?
I am new and got a swarm last may... They lived through the winter with me doing nothing with them, no feed no syrup... |I have 1000 maybe at best.. I have just gave them sugar water and have ordered some feed... Will they survive? a couple of eggs are there and some pollen but no sign of a queen.. Help..
Sounds like they are doing well, but I can't personally speculate as to if they will survive.
How do they survive without insulation?
Do you ever wrap insulation from outside or inside?
They survive by clustering and controlling their temperature. I don't wrap hives, just make sure they fit together well so the bees do not experience a draft.
@@FrederickDunn thank you for replying
I have 2 hives this year and just getting some information how to help them survive
I spoke to a friend who lives in Chicago and he told me they've been experiencing -20c weather, while here in the UK the coldest I believe as of yet has been -13c. What's caused this period of extremely cold weather? More specifically the US.
There is climate shift and arctic air is pushing south... or Dr Evil has a weather machine (';')
Appreciate it.
The centre of the polar vortex is currently situated just to west of Hudson Bay so that very cold air is flowing over the eastern 2/3 of N America whilst over the west and north-west of N America the winds are mild to warm having blown across the relatively warm Pacific Ocean. This circulation pattern is typical of the climate pattern that existed during the last ice age when contrary to media opinion, the western part of N America was dry and mild and the Bering Strait area(it was above sea-level during the times of major ice advance) was ice free as warmer air flowed into the Arctic regions to replace the cold air moving south. The driver of these conditions is low solar activity which can be easily detected in the Greenland ice cores where at times of low solar activity cosmic rays can more easily reach the earth (sun's magnetic field weakens so does not deflect cosmic rays away from the earth so easily). These cosmic rays which are very high energy charged particles from super nova in outer space, collide with atmospheric molecules and any molecules containing carbon can see the collision generating carbon14 isotopes in a small percentage of the collisions. Therefore by measuring C14 in ice cores we can see exactly when the sun was at a minimum. There are masses of paleo-climatological reports published by geological learned institutions but this valuable history of earth's changing climate cycles has been largely ignored by the media because it highlights the major flaws in the current climate debate which is based on political ambitions not facts.
Global warming. Just saying!
The exceptionally cold and snowy weather in the USA in 2018 is related to the position and intensity of the Polar Vortex and its effect on the position of the jet-stream over the USA. This year the position of the jet-stream has enhanced the movement of very cold air masses to move from the north of Canada into the eastern half of the USA. However when the jet-stream temporarily moved eastwards in the middle of February it introduced a warm moist south-westerly airflow to the south-eastern half of the USA and temperatures reached about 20C and the Pacific western side of the USA came under the North-West side of the jet-stream and cooled down dramatically with rain near the coast and snow over high ground.
This year the centre of the Arctic cold pool has been positioned around Hudson Bay instead of the North Pole so much colder air was available to invade the USA when the jet-stream allowed. This extreme weather is a feature of this year whereas climate is the average of annual weather over a 30yr continuous period as defined by the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO). This year is also only about 12-18 months before the predicted end of solar cycle 24 when the sun reaches solar minimum. Solar cycle 24 was the weakest cycle for 100yrs and hence we have seen weather records which in some cases have stood for about 100yrs being broken. Solar cycle 25 is expected to be even weaker than cycle 24 and is predicted to be similar to cycles 5 and 6 which occurred 200yrs ago in the early 1800's during the Dalton Minimum.
Astrophysicists studying the sun have noted that the measurements coming from NASA's satellites orbiting the sun are all showing that the electro-magnetic activity in the sun is going into a phase known as a Grand Solar Minimum and under such conditions the climate cools down as can be measured worldwide in proxy data such as ice-cores, lake-sediments, tree-rings, and human records of weather conditions such as those recorded in the Little Ice Age (LIA).
The weather over the next 30 years will tell us whether the solar activity predictions and resultant weather are borne out or not but the amount and quality of solar data being collected on a continuous basis strongly suggests that we will experience more extreme weather up till 2100 at least, with lower overall average temperatures across the globe.
This is a brief summary answer to your comment but you can find out more by looking for Grand Solar MInimum and solar cycles in Wikipedia and youTube where there are many reputable sites such as Oppenheimer Ranch Project and for pure science on the sun Prof.Valentina Zarkova who is a renowned astro-physicist.
I have 1 of these they work great but mine did not cost so much thanks for the video u do a great job Happy New Year to u
Glad you found a cheaper source Frances... I actually bought mine direct from Flir as they offered a veteran discount :)
Good video. Do you clean snow from bottom entrance for ventilation?
Hi Phil, not for ventilation, but I do clear the entry and landing board when the weather warms. Clearing out the dead bees at the bottom and allowing them access for cleansing flights. But when it's in the 30's or lower, I don't' clear bottom entrances. All of my hives are vented through the top.
Hi Frederick. I have a question for you. Last year was my first year with a hive, so I'm still learning. About a month ago, during a couple warm days here in South Central Pa I took a look at my hive, and was encouraged to see activity. With temps in the upper 60's today I looked again and there was nothing. I opened the hive to check my insulation box, and look for any signs of life, and the bees were all dead. They were scattered throughout, with clusters being largely in the lower box. It certainly wasn't from lack of food though. The hive consisted of two 10 frame deeps, the top of which has 8 full frames of capped honey. The other two were partially capped, with full but uncapped cells. All the frames in the lower box were either full but uncapped, or partially filled.
I said all that to ask this... What should I do now? Can I harvest the capped honey? Should I store the uncapped honey for later, to help a new colony get established?
I was really hoping they survived, as I'm not rolling in money to buy more, but at this point I'm too hooked to stop beekeeping. :-)
Hi Martain, I'm so sorry to read that you've lost your honey bees. Your situation is a common one I'm afraid, a cluster of honeybees clustered in place and starving out with plenty of resources just inches away. Often, the culprit can be that during a warmup, the queen began to lay eggs... when that happens, the cluster is reluctant to leave the larva and will, at times, starve in place. If there were dead bees with their heads buried deep in cells with abdomens shrunken and sticking out, they were cleaning out the last bit of resources in the cells. How was the humidity inside the hive? Was there a lot of condensation? Other than the cover, I don't insulate any of my hives. As for the remaining honey, there is evidence that putting frames of honey into other hives doesn't necessarily boost them, so I suggest that you remove the capped honey frames and use them for yourself. Then you'll have frames of drawn comb that is ready for your next colony of bees. Make sure the frames you remove are well-ventilated storage so that no mold grows on the comb. I'm glad you don't want to quit... it is frustrating when a cluster of bees just doesn't migrate to where the honey is. In cases like that, even inner cover feeding wouldn't work as they just don't go there.
Frederick Dunn - Thanks for the response. The humidity wasn't bad. I did have a candy board above the top box. It was in a frame with a wire bottom, and an upper entrance. Above that was a hive top feeder with bedding material for insulation. This bedding material was not very moisture, and there was no moisture dripping from the inner or telescoping cover. Both the candle board and feeder with insulation were things I saw from another beekeeper. The telescoping cover had small pieces of the honeycomb sign board stapled in the corners for moisture release.
I guess I'll be borrowing my friends extractor in the next couple of days.
Sounds like you had everything set up just fine. Did they ingest any of the candy? I'm headed to a beekeeper group next week and I'm sure there will be plenty of stories like this going around. Frustrating I know...
Frederick Dunn - They did go through some of the candy board. Also, unless I'm mistaken, there seemed to be more honey in the hive today then when I last checked it in the fall.
Martain Ferguson mites killed the bees
💚
Cant stop re-watching all of your videos. Love them all.
You mention predator protection on one of your hives. Do you mind describing it a little bit, please?
Just the predator guard flashing lights... we now have an electric fence around the entire apiary.
We've had no big snows yet really which worries me.
There is hope as winter has just begun!
So where do u live?
Subbed ... See ya later 😉
Thank you!
Welcome to the Grand solar minimum 😎... My bees were flying a week or so ago... during a mild spell here in goDs🐶 county ,,, Yorkshire. It’s quite mild today but very windy so they will stay home I imagine. You might 🐝 interested in youtube channel... Oppenheimer ranch project. Tell him B n T sent you. 👍🐶 thank you for the video... I shall troll LOL your channel this evening ❄️👊🐶
@@ContentConfessional
Update... forget Oppenheimer, too much shite.
Stick with suspiciousobservers. 👍👊🐕
@@ContentConfessional blink blink
Why don't just make a shed. N move all the hives in it during winter. It will prevent direct snow and wind. Probably will improves survival rate of hives.
Have you done that? How did it go?
Frederick Dunn : NO, Need 4 me to do that coz where i live, winter temperature NEVER drop to freezing let alone snow fall.