I sued your method last year, Rasing bees for winter physiology, with your winter be kind on top of the hive. I had 100% survival in the spring. Now to do this again this year to see if I get the same results. Maybe I was just lucky who knows, we will see come springtime. Thank you for the great videos.
Great video as always!! Thanks so much treating and feeding now! Just ordered your Winter Bee Kind Boards, too. As a new beekeeper, here in IL, I really appreciate your advice and monthly videos. Thanks, Dave!
David speaks a lot of sense here. I have years of knowledge but im only keeping my own bees for the past 2 years. I cant put it differently David speaks to the point and not rubbish like many others on here. I do the 1:1 syrup but just before winter i change over to 3:2 syrup as im based in Poland Europe seems to work well over here. Thanks for the video David
After watching this video I installed a communal feeder made of chicken water feeder. 4 lb sugar bag takes half of the bottle and the other half is water with 1 tblsp of MegaBee. It took bees 10 minutes to discover it. I placed it in the center of the backyard with hives in different corners. I added a pinch of honey on top of the feeder:-). Great video.
Ha David great video Thanks, feeding and treating started in July when the dearth hit. Hoping and praying that I have great success. Have a Blessed week.
Xcellent instruction and timing Sir for this 4 yr "novice" trying to get over the bee keeper hump of healthy wintering! Your line diagramming was most helpful in "seeing" and memory plotting calendar timing to bee aging and feed needs. This is a lot of info to manage for best timing...even to figure out on your own! The September timing you teach is spot on for here in The Ozark Mtns as we are now drying up considerably and dearth is upon us. Thanks for connecting the Dots!
Hi David watched your video and has helped me understand why I'm having a hard time getting my bees through the winter and will combine my hives to make sure their hives have a minimum of 40,000 bees in them .
Wow! I like the idea of braking the mites breeding cycle and a hive fairly clear of them. So we get nice healthy bees that will allow them to go strong enough to get thru the winter. Chemical treatments I always feel sketchy about.
I really like that this video was available in mid August because it helps me see a strategy for a whole lot of things happening simultaneously and how feeding/treating can boost spring time survival. My greatest consistency for loss is just after the first thaw and the real break of spring. I am about to do the fall Formic Pro treatment and Goldenrod is just breaking.. Thank you!
The round flying saucers is what we use. Mannlake has the actual boxes that they fit in. During the winter months we use dry sugar without the clear plastic insert. The boxes with screen wire I n the front and the back allow the cool air to come across the feeder and it helps control condensation. During the summer months when you want to feed liquid sugar you can do as you said. It’s dual purpose
I really appreciate the monthly updates. This is our first year of beekeeping and it seems I am second guessing myself part of the time. Your reference to a community feeder was reassuring to me As tonight I noticed I had several dead bees on the ground around the feeder. It makes me wonder if they are being attacked by other hives or if that’s normal I see several dead bees near a community feeder. We will try to get the push in cage you showed. Thank you for taking all the time to put these videos together.
Well David I tell you one thing you're talking about where you're located you're not talking about Southeast Texas we're having totally different Arrangement down here
Can I trap the queen for a brood break at the same time as using Apigard? I feel like I'm running out of time. It's already cooling down but still over 50 at night for now. My mites are very high and I'm desperate to get them under control asap.
I love these month to month videos. Unfortunately all beekeeping is local. Would love to have these videos for SoCal. Our busiest month starts in January.
One thing to keep In mind with your " feeding recomnedation .. Doing so will crank up mite production also. Need to stay on board with washes to monitor numbers. As per caging the queen. It may cause the bees to wish to supeecede her. Seen it happen way to often .
Great info! So it seems like using Apiguard (thymol) to treat mites in the late summer/early fall would do well to not only treat mites, but it also suppresses egg laying in the queen. A win/win! Then pick back up with OAV in November or early December when there is no more brood.
Hi i have just binging to watch your tips on feeding bees i would like to know if am living in one of the Caribbean island like dominica do i must feed my bees In September and all through the up coming mouths??
David, I'm going to let my bees have all the honey they have produced, a full honey super. Do you suggest I still supplement feeding? Will apivar treatment harm the honey for them to eat? Thank you.
Are these methods of building up the winter population as important for a beekeeper like me who lives in the deep south (South Louisiana) where the winters are fairly mild?
I wanted to ask..if the bee complete liquid would be as good as using honey bee healthy and amino bee booster? Or what complete products contain what I need for fall feeding?
Hi David, I appreciate your videos, wisdom and enthusiasm so very much. I am a first time beekeeper in Michigan and every time I watch your videos my husband ends up watching with me. Your teaching style is excellent. I have loads to learn, thank you for sharing. Push in queen cage?? How cool is that? I look forward to feeling more comfortable working my bees. I am not scared but I am cautious and handling frames with bees all over feels so very awkward. Thanks a million!
This makes a lot of sense to me. I experimented with the feeding in a community feeder. I saw great boost in brood production. I counted frame faces of brood in my hives 2 weeks after treating with Formic Pro for mites. Then I started feeding 1:1 sugar water with protein and Honey Bee Healthy type mix. I rechecked some of the hives today after 12 days of feeding. All had significant increases in brood present. Minimum of twice as much brood today vs. before feeding and at a time when they "should" have been decreasing brood production. Lots of bees of winter physiology. The proof will come in the spring, but looks good at this point. Thanks. Did you come up with this theory of stimulating production of winter physiology bees or learn it from someone else? Either way, thanks for sharing it.
Ain't nothing new under the sun. We've know of bees of winter physiology, but I think I just decided to experiment with 1:1 to see if I could extend brood rearing, but I may have heard or read it from something else...dunno.
Speaking of coffee, Im a home roasting new beekeeper too, using 2qt saucepan over gas burner and a harbor freight’s heat gun. Smokin beans Guatemalan beans my favorite, yours?
Yirgacheffe coffee is by far my favorite. I have also started roasting mine on the stove too. I enjoy it! I like Smokin Beans Company and I do enjoy Guatemalan beans. Good for you.
Won’t the yellow jackets take over the communal feeder? How far from the hives would you recommend placing a feeder? Thank you for all of the informative videos
Ive had my hive 2 months but when I bought the colony the queen was not marked 😢. I have been looking for her several times to mark her bit I still can't find her. I can't do a mite test or anything so I jist treated for mites anyhow. Whats your advise on finding her? I can't see well and can't see eggs. Did I do the right thing about treating with apivar although I can't test?
David why are my bees just under the inner cover. I can see honey in the honey super below them. I wanted to put on a suger board. They look like they are clustered in about an eight inch circle. I did put on the suger board.
This is my first year at beekeeping. Does it make sense to treat for mites preventatively? If you use a chemical strip what do you do with the super which you have removed?
Hi Terry, it is best to plan treatments around supers. For example, treat in the spring before you super and in late summer after you harvest. But I have taken supers off and placed them on other colonies so I could treat.
Outstanding instructions, many thanks! I'm in NE Ohio and the bees are pulling in ALOT of pollen right now from the goldenrod. Going to start the community feeder. Is there any risk to the hive from the yellow jackets if I put the feeder too close? Say, within 5-10 meters?
I treated with formic pro and pulled treatment Sunday the 3rd. Upon inspection I saw a pretty good amount of uncapped brood on my small colony. However I didn't spy my queen, and honestly I didn't see eggs. I'm concerned obviously that the treatment cost me my queen. I'll check again next weekend but we're into September here in Michigan. Should I be prepared to find a mated queen?
@@beek thank you David, for your advice. I need to get my final 10 day treatment into my hives - so I can get to feeding. Just worried by waiting till mid September I’m missing key time for feeding here in northern Virginia.
Great video David, I’m a new beekeeper and we were instructed to feed our bees 1:1 from the start back. I’ve been using a mason jar and feeding from inside at top of the hive. Question: was feeding from day one a mistake and should I also do a community feeder outside of the hive in addition to the internal feeder for the month of September? Thanks again for your awesome videos
This is my first year. Just learned about mite treatment so I feel behind. Will be giving first treatment of OA this week. Took off 3 honey supers but hesitated if I should have. Still working on harvesting it. I want to start feeding but I had read to feed a 2 to 1 in the fall for storage. If the 1 to 1 promotes more brood will they also store it? I'm in Colorado btw.
I understand. I explained that in one of my recent videos. The old paradigm was to feed 2:1 as it is more thicker so the bees can dry it down sooner before cold weather. But my thought is what good is more stored "sugar honey" IF you do not have enough bees to make heat in the winter. So I like to extend my "Brood Season" by feeding 1:1. Also, often, the bees do not have time to dry it down before they cluster, and it turns into crystalized sugar which they can no longer consume.
Thanks for the video...I took your advice in August...put out a community feeder ..about 50 yards away...but have not noticed the bees using it. I think there is some fall nectar flow. Is 50 yards too far away? Thanks Gene
@@beek love your video, first time beekeeper and learn every day. Remind older seniors (I'm 72) NOT to get 10 frame hives. Go for 8 frames/lighter, unless you have an 18 yr old grandson willing to help. Q. NOT to use entrance sugar water feeder .distance away from hive, please. Q. What kind of protein powder, special blend for bees??? Thanks, phyllis
I know you are saying add protein to sugar syrup so the queen lays lots eggs, well I run 8 frames and I was just in the hives yesterday and I have one that was just a split off a nuc in July and they are now filling two deeps, and there was 6 full frames of brood in the bottom box and two full frames in the top, so 8 total frames of nothing but brood just a tiny bit of sugar syrup, so really the protein added is not needed, every hive I am feeding sugar syrup are thriving, packed so full of bees I am probably going to be able to have those hives produce lots of honey once the golden rod flowers open, it's getting close there is about a acre beside my house that the power company cleared last year and it looks yellow across there. I am running mostly singles right now because I had to take them down due to population in some. Can not feed them all, I did put 50 total gallons of 1-1 out in the middle of my yard once I saw they was not bringing anything in. The ones truly thriving are ones I was feeding to get comb drawn since they was splits.
I was reading that something like only one quarter of the mites that hatch are able to mature enough to lay more mites. Are there ever as many mites as bees in a hive? That's scary.
First question....will only 1-1 sugar water stimulate brood or will 2-1 as well if you need them to pack stores away for winter? Second question...how do you balance raising lots of winter bees with breaking brood cycles or is that 5-7 days enough to put a dent in the varroa population? If you treat with OA is the brood break still needed as much?
Hi Torrey, 1:1 stimulates brood just fine as I explain in tomorrow's video, 2:1 is more for storage as you mentioned. Breaking the brood cycle in a strong colony just for one week a month for mite control is worth limiting building up in July, August and Sept. Regarding breaking the brood cycle and OA, always do a mite check first. Find out what your numbers are then decide how it is best to reduce those numbers based on your personal philosophy.
I have a question about getting an extremely small colony through winter. If I don't have the option of combining them with another colony could I keep them inside? And if so how do you think I could go about doing that? Obviously it doesn't get too cold in my house so I will likely have to feed them so they don't starve. Any suggestions would be great thanks!
You are sold out of the queen cage and it takes two weeks to get it from Amazon as of now. Would it be safe to use the clip style queen catcher and just leave it in the hive for a week?
I heard the staff talking about that this morning. Wow! A hot item I guess. If you use the catcher thingy, it might leave too much space and cause extra comb somewhere. Do you have a queen cage you could per her in? I do that sometimes.
@@beek I’m a new beekeeper so I may be complicating something easy..I guess my question is in terms of days…. It seems that it would be best to wait 25 days to ensure all brood has emerged. Does that seem right?
Why am I not seeing a lot of eggs/brood now? I have 6 hives and have been through all of them but am finding very little sign of eggs or brood. I have been feeding 1:1 sugar syrup for a couple weeks.
Do a mite check if you are over the threshold then treat. If you have to treat I would use something different. I used hopguard as well. I’m moving forward with OVA treatment there should be very little brood in the hive now.
I'm curious what you might say about how bee population tends to respond to going cold turkey on feed compared to feeding as long as possible until you can't before winter?
I've kinda picked up my feeding habits from commercial beekeepers that seem to keep feeding to build up bees. If the weather was great and flowers always bloomed bees would never stop.
1. If virus loads have been reduced by controlling mites all year. 2. If they are raising 4-8 frames of bees of winter physiology. 3. If they have plenty of stored honey. 4. If they do not have residue from pesticides in their stored food.
Wow, I didn't see what you were talking about but now I do. I'm feeding my bees but my queen has almost completely stopped laying. I've treated for mites with apivar. But according to your chart I will not have winter bees. I live in Texas a and it's very hot and dry. I keep a water supply available and feed. Any suggestions.
I been following you first year beekeeper, Im in connecticut I check my hive every 2 weeks and have yet to see a mite. am I missing them or is it just because I'm in a cold climate so they arn't that bad? Thanks for your information its so helpful to us newbees!!, Also I put the honey super on. The bottom 2 supers are almost completely full but they arn't making comb on the honey super am I doing something wrong?
What mite check method did you use. Some colonies have low populations due to the queen or a queen event and that may slow down the supers being drawn out or filled.
As I said in the video, your populations are highest in July. Break the brood cycle once in July, once in Aug and Once in Sept when the population is at its highest. It will prevent the queen from laying 7,000 egg a month but she is laying 30,000 so it is worth it to control mites, in my opinion.
Well, good question. There are the chemical beekeepers, then there are those who are anti-chemical and most of us fall in the middle. So whatever I can do without chemical treatment, I'll also go there first.
I just ordered the queen cages and am going to give the brood break a try. I've been feeding now. Should I continue feeding as you suggested, even though we have a short nectar flow in the fall here in NC? (I'm not going for fall honey but would like to get some supers with drawn comb.)
What do you mean that winter bees have different genetic makeup??? Do they really? I thought they lived longer just because they stopped working. Please explain.
There are behavioral changes, BUT there are also physiological changes found in winter bees such as in the levels of juvenile hormone, and vitellogenesis, and the proteins in the hemolymph and size of the hypopharyngeal glands.
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I sued your method last year, Rasing bees for winter physiology, with your winter be kind on top of the hive. I had 100% survival in the spring. Now to do this again this year to see if I get the same results. Maybe I was just lucky who knows, we will see come springtime. Thank you for the great videos.
Thanks for sharing your success Ken!
See, you sued David and he still gave you a thumbs up. What a guy😉
Thank you David
We had a wonderful year because of your exlecent teaching
I've been keeping bees for 3 yrs and have 30 colonies. The month to month videos are the best even for people with experience
Glad you enjoy them Tyler
Great video as always!! Thanks so much treating and feeding now! Just ordered your Winter Bee Kind Boards, too. As a new beekeeper, here in IL, I really appreciate your advice and monthly videos. Thanks, Dave!
David speaks a lot of sense here. I have years of knowledge but im only keeping my own bees for the past 2 years. I cant put it differently David speaks to the point and not rubbish like many others on here. I do the 1:1 syrup but just before winter i change over to 3:2 syrup as im based in Poland Europe seems to work well over here. Thanks for the video David
After watching this video I installed a communal feeder made of chicken water feeder. 4 lb sugar bag takes half of the bottle and the other half is water with 1 tblsp of MegaBee. It took bees 10 minutes to discover it. I placed it in the center of the backyard with hives in different corners. I added a pinch of honey on top of the feeder:-).
Great video.
Ha David great video Thanks, feeding and treating started in July when the dearth hit. Hoping and praying that I have great success. Have a Blessed week.
Thank you David for your talk on feeding bees and the elimination of mites in the hive. I need to be more aggressive in the caring of my bees.
Great teaching and presentation. Thanks David.
Xcellent instruction and timing Sir for this 4 yr "novice" trying to get over the bee keeper hump of healthy wintering! Your line diagramming was most helpful in "seeing" and memory plotting calendar timing to bee aging and feed needs. This is a lot of info to manage for best timing...even to figure out on your own! The September timing you teach is spot on for here in The Ozark Mtns as we are now drying up considerably and dearth is upon us. Thanks for connecting the Dots!
Hi David watched your video and has helped me understand why I'm having a hard time getting my bees through the winter and will combine my hives to make sure their hives have a minimum of 40,000 bees in them .
I usually leave a super of honey. It's healthy then sugar water .
Thank you
Wow! I like the idea of braking the mites breeding cycle and a hive fairly clear of them. So we get nice healthy bees that will allow them to go strong enough to get thru the winter. Chemical treatments I always feel sketchy about.
So true!!
Really like the monthly videos!! Thank you David!!
I really like that this video was available in mid August because it helps me see a strategy for a whole lot of things happening simultaneously and how feeding/treating can boost spring time survival. My greatest consistency for loss is just after the first thaw and the real break of spring. I am about to do the fall Formic Pro treatment and Goldenrod is just breaking.. Thank you!
Brilliant presentation
Thank you kindly!
The round flying saucers is what we use. Mannlake has the actual boxes that they fit in. During the winter months we use dry sugar without the clear plastic insert. The boxes with screen wire I n the front and the back allow the cool air to come across the feeder and it helps control condensation. During the summer months when you want to feed liquid sugar you can do as you said. It’s dual purpose
Excellent video. Great info for the new beekeeper. Thanks!
SO glad you are eager to learn Josh!
I really appreciate the monthly updates. This is our first year of beekeeping and it seems I am second guessing myself part of the time. Your reference to a community feeder was reassuring to me As tonight I noticed I had several dead bees on the ground around the feeder. It makes me wonder if they are being attacked by other hives or if that’s normal I see several dead bees near a community feeder. We will try to get the push in cage you showed. Thank you for taking all the time to put these videos together.
Great video Dave, Thank you!
Ultimate online beekeeping course ✅
Great video! Thanks for sharing . I always take your vids as advice and sometimes I make a suttle change! You've always been right ✅😁👍👍🏴☠️
Good value information, I learn something from each video you upload. Many thanks.
Thank you David
Glad you liked my video, thanks
Thanks again David. Awesome video again. Very helpful
Thank you Bryan and thank you for being a subscriber for 5 months
Well David I tell you one thing you're talking about where you're located you're not talking about Southeast Texas we're having totally different Arrangement down here
I would like to see a test for microbials to see whether they are really worth using.
Can I trap the queen for a brood break at the same time as using Apigard? I feel like I'm running out of time. It's already cooling down but still over 50 at night for now. My mites are very high and I'm desperate to get them under control asap.
Thanks Dave!
My bees are bring in massive amounts of pollen right now still plenty of. Flowers everywhere
I love these month to month videos. Unfortunately all beekeeping is local. Would love to have these videos for SoCal. Our busiest month starts in January.
Thank you for information
So nice of you to say, I appreciate it
One thing to keep In mind with your " feeding recomnedation .. Doing so will crank up mite production also. Need to stay on board with washes to monitor numbers.
As per caging the queen. It may cause the bees to wish to supeecede her. Seen it happen way to often .
In my online courses I do explain that you need to check for queen cells after you break the queen's brood cycle.
Awesome
Great info! So it seems like using Apiguard (thymol) to treat mites in the late summer/early fall would do well to not only treat mites, but it also suppresses egg laying in the queen. A win/win! Then pick back up with OAV in November or early December when there is no more brood.
Good video David.
Hi i have just binging to watch your tips on feeding bees i would like to know if am living in one of the Caribbean island like dominica do i must feed my bees In September and all through the up coming mouths??
David,
I'm going to let my bees have all the honey they have produced, a full honey super.
Do you suggest I still supplement feeding?
Will apivar treatment harm the honey for them to eat?
Thank you.
Are these methods of building up the winter population as important for a beekeeper like me who lives in the deep south (South Louisiana) where the winters are fairly mild?
I wanted to ask..if the bee complete liquid would be as good as using honey bee healthy and amino bee booster? Or what complete products contain what I need for fall feeding?
I put in a queen cage and does it also help with swarming a little bit
Thank you, this makes total sense.!!!
Hi David, I appreciate your videos, wisdom and enthusiasm so very much. I am a first time beekeeper in Michigan and every time I watch your videos my husband ends up watching with me. Your teaching style is excellent. I have loads to learn, thank you for sharing. Push in queen cage?? How cool is that? I look forward to feeling more comfortable working my bees. I am not scared but I am cautious and handling frames with bees all over feels so very awkward.
Thanks a million!
So common for new beekeepers to be cautious. It takes a few years. Hang in there.
This makes a lot of sense to me. I experimented with the feeding in a community feeder. I saw great boost in brood production. I counted frame faces of brood in my hives 2 weeks after treating with Formic Pro for mites. Then I started feeding 1:1 sugar water with protein and Honey Bee Healthy type mix. I rechecked some of the hives today after 12 days of feeding. All had significant increases in brood present. Minimum of twice as much brood today vs. before feeding and at a time when they "should" have been decreasing brood production. Lots of bees of winter physiology. The proof will come in the spring, but looks good at this point. Thanks. Did you come up with this theory of stimulating production of winter physiology bees or learn it from someone else? Either way, thanks for sharing it.
Ain't nothing new under the sun. We've know of bees of winter physiology, but I think I just decided to experiment with 1:1 to see if I could extend brood rearing, but I may have heard or read it from something else...dunno.
Feeding in July? FUNNY HONEY!
Speaking of coffee, Im a home roasting new beekeeper too, using 2qt saucepan over gas burner and a harbor freight’s heat gun. Smokin beans Guatemalan beans my favorite, yours?
Yirgacheffe coffee is by far my favorite. I have also started roasting mine on the stove too. I enjoy it! I like Smokin Beans Company and I do enjoy Guatemalan beans. Good for you.
Won’t the yellow jackets take over the communal feeder? How far from the hives would you recommend placing a feeder? Thank you for all of the informative videos
Keep it 30 yards away from your hive and yes it attracts everything
Ive had my hive 2 months but when I bought the colony the queen was not marked 😢. I have been looking for her several times to mark her bit I still can't find her. I can't do a mite test or anything so I jist treated for mites anyhow. Whats your advise on finding her? I can't see well and can't see eggs. Did I do the right thing about treating with apivar although I can't test?
David why are my bees just under the inner cover. I can see honey in the honey super below them. I wanted to put on a suger board. They look like they are clustered in about an eight inch circle. I did put on the suger board.
This is my first year at beekeeping. Does it make sense to treat for mites preventatively? If you use a chemical strip what do you do with the super which you have removed?
Hi Terry, it is best to plan treatments around supers. For example, treat in the spring before you super and in late summer after you harvest. But I have taken supers off and placed them on other colonies so I could treat.
Very informative video!! May i ask,what are your colony losses. I know you have quite a few colonies. What do you contribute the losses to.
I’m open community feeding Ultra Bee pollen but the bees won’t use it .I’m so confused should I add another feed to it ?
Is it too late to break the brood cycle towards the end of september?
Should you keep feed on them constantly or so much a week or so many days. Could it cause them to swarm if they get over populated.?
I can feed feed feed in the fall, as bees in Illinois rarely swarm in the fall or get overpopulated.
Outstanding instructions, many thanks! I'm in NE Ohio and the bees are pulling in ALOT of pollen right now from the goldenrod. Going to start the community feeder. Is there any risk to the hive from the yellow jackets if I put the feeder too close? Say, within 5-10 meters?
Yes, keep it 30 yards away
I treated with formic pro and pulled treatment Sunday the 3rd. Upon inspection I saw a pretty good amount of uncapped brood on my small colony. However I didn't spy my queen, and honestly I didn't see eggs. I'm concerned obviously that the treatment cost me my queen. I'll check again next weekend but we're into September here in Michigan. Should I be prepared to find a mated queen?
I've never had a bad experience. Yes, maybe have a place picked out in case you need a queen.
Can you feed while treating for mites?
Not really, but always go by what the label says.
@@beek thank you David, for your advice. I need to get my final 10 day treatment into my hives - so I can get to feeding. Just worried by waiting till mid September I’m missing key time for feeding here in northern Virginia.
Great video David, I’m a new beekeeper and we were instructed to feed our bees 1:1 from the start back. I’ve been using a mason jar and feeding from inside at top of the hive. Question: was feeding from day one a mistake and should I also do a community feeder outside of the hive in addition to the internal feeder for the month of September? Thanks again for your awesome videos
If you eliminate all the mites. How and where do they come from?
This is my first year. Just learned about mite treatment so I feel behind. Will be giving first treatment of OA this week. Took off 3 honey supers but hesitated if I should have. Still working on harvesting it. I want to start feeding but I had read to feed a 2 to 1 in the fall for storage. If the 1 to 1 promotes more brood will they also store it? I'm in Colorado btw.
I understand. I explained that in one of my recent videos. The old paradigm was to feed 2:1 as it is more thicker so the bees can dry it down sooner before cold weather. But my thought is what good is more stored "sugar honey" IF you do not have enough bees to make heat in the winter. So I like to extend my "Brood Season" by feeding 1:1. Also, often, the bees do not have time to dry it down before they cluster, and it turns into crystalized sugar which they can no longer consume.
Living in a Mediterranean climate would this method of preparation for winter also apply. I am a first year beekeeper, so all new to me. Thanks!
I'm not familiar with your climate, but never a bad idea to feed bees and prepare for whatever kind of winter you face.
I have a question , after you break the queens brood cycle do you treat the hive for mites?
Run a mite test first to make that decision
Oh, one more question David, do you use Reflectix on your hives tops, and if so, do you keep in on for winter?
I don't
Thanks for the video...I took your advice in August...put out a community feeder ..about 50 yards away...but have not noticed the bees using it. I think there is some fall nectar flow. Is 50 yards too far away? Thanks Gene
Hard to say....in a real dearth they will easily find it after a day or two
@@beek love your video, first time beekeeper and learn every day. Remind older seniors (I'm 72) NOT to get 10 frame hives. Go for 8 frames/lighter, unless you have an 18 yr old grandson willing to help.
Q. NOT to use entrance sugar water feeder .distance away from hive, please.
Q. What kind of protein powder, special blend for bees??? Thanks, phyllis
Great video!! To be safe, should I simply treat my hives with applications of oxalic acid over the next 3 weeks?
Best to take a mite sample first
I know you are saying add protein to sugar syrup so the queen lays lots eggs, well I run 8 frames and I was just in the hives yesterday and I have one that was just a split off a nuc in July and they are now filling two deeps, and there was 6 full frames of brood in the bottom box and two full frames in the top, so 8 total frames of nothing but brood just a tiny bit of sugar syrup, so really the protein added is not needed, every hive I am feeding sugar syrup are thriving, packed so full of bees I am probably going to be able to have those hives produce lots of honey once the golden rod flowers open, it's getting close there is about a acre beside my house that the power company cleared last year and it looks yellow across there. I am running mostly singles right now because I had to take them down due to population in some. Can not feed them all, I did put 50 total gallons of 1-1 out in the middle of my yard once I saw they was not bringing anything in. The ones truly thriving are ones I was feeding to get comb drawn since they was splits.
I was reading that something like only one quarter of the mites that hatch are able to mature enough to lay more mites. Are there ever as many mites as bees in a hive? That's scary.
The potential exists.
Be my first winter beekeeping when temp keeps water froze how do bees get water ?
First question....will only 1-1 sugar water stimulate brood or will 2-1 as well if you need them to pack stores away for winter?
Second question...how do you balance raising lots of winter bees with breaking brood cycles or is that 5-7 days enough to put a dent in the varroa population? If you treat with OA is the brood break still needed as much?
Hi Torrey, 1:1 stimulates brood just fine as I explain in tomorrow's video, 2:1 is more for storage as you mentioned. Breaking the brood cycle in a strong colony just for one week a month for mite control is worth limiting building up in July, August and Sept. Regarding breaking the brood cycle and OA, always do a mite check first. Find out what your numbers are then decide how it is best to reduce those numbers based on your personal philosophy.
So when you say protein powder what exactly do you mean? Like can I use my protein powder I use?
No, needs to be protein powder made just for bees
I have a question about getting an extremely small colony through winter. If I don't have the option of combining them with another colony could I keep them inside? And if so how do you think I could go about doing that? Obviously it doesn't get too cold in my house so I will likely have to feed them so they don't starve. Any suggestions would be great thanks!
You are sold out of the queen cage and it takes two weeks to get it from Amazon as of now. Would it be safe to use the clip style queen catcher and just leave it in the hive for a week?
I heard the staff talking about that this morning. Wow! A hot item I guess. If you use the catcher thingy, it might leave too much space and cause extra comb somewhere. Do you have a queen cage you could per her in? I do that sometimes.
After caging the queen to break the brood cycle, what would be the optimal day to treat with OAV?
Follow the label
@@beek I’m a new beekeeper so I may be complicating something easy..I guess my question is in terms of days…. It seems that it would be best to wait 25 days to ensure all brood has emerged. Does that seem right?
Why am I not seeing a lot of eggs/brood now? I have 6 hives and have been through all of them but am finding very little sign of eggs or brood. I have been feeding 1:1 sugar syrup for a couple weeks.
I treated in Aug with hopguard. Will Sept require treatment as well in most cases?
Follow the label and what the manufacture recommends on their website
Do a mite check if you are over the threshold then treat. If you have to treat I would use something different. I used hopguard as well. I’m moving forward with OVA treatment there should be very little brood in the hive now.
I'm curious what you might say about how bee population tends to respond to going cold turkey on feed compared to feeding as long as possible until you can't before winter?
I've kinda picked up my feeding habits from commercial beekeepers that seem to keep feeding to build up bees. If the weather was great and flowers always bloomed bees would never stop.
@@beek I'm getting tons of dead bees at feeders right now. But its from them fighting over the food and not from drowning. :(
Some of my hives have loads of bees .can they go through the winter with 3 deeps ?
1. If virus loads have been reduced by controlling mites all year.
2. If they are raising 4-8 frames of bees of winter physiology.
3. If they have plenty of stored honey.
4. If they do not have residue from pesticides in their stored food.
Wow, I didn't see what you were talking about but now I do. I'm feeding my bees but my queen has almost completely stopped laying. I've treated for mites with apivar. But according to your chart I will not have winter bees. I live in Texas a and it's very hot and dry. I keep a water supply available and feed. Any suggestions.
Fortunately in Texas your winters are nothing like Illinois on the plains so I'm sure your bees have some bees that will be of winter physiology.
I been following you first year beekeeper, Im in connecticut I check my hive every 2 weeks and have yet to see a mite. am I missing them or is it just because I'm in a cold climate so they arn't that bad? Thanks for your information its so helpful to us newbees!!, Also I put the honey super on. The bottom 2 supers are almost completely full but they arn't making comb on the honey super am I doing something wrong?
What mite check method did you use. Some colonies have low populations due to the queen or a queen event and that may slow down the supers being drawn out or filled.
So when I break the brood cycle right now when she is supposed to lay winter physiology brood, isn't that going to set my winter bee population back?
Also, what is the pro and con of queen caging versus something like Formic Pro in September?
As I said in the video, your populations are highest in July. Break the brood cycle once in July, once in Aug and Once in Sept when the population is at its highest. It will prevent the queen from laying 7,000 egg a month but she is laying 30,000 so it is worth it to control mites, in my opinion.
Well, good question. There are the chemical beekeepers, then there are those who are anti-chemical and most of us fall in the middle. So whatever I can do without chemical treatment, I'll also go there first.
HOW OFTEN DO YOU TEST FOR MITS. YOU SUPPOSE TEST THEM JUST TIME IN SEPT ONLY
Test every two weeks and treat as needed.
David burns new beekeeper here im in middle Wisconsin and would love to join your mentorship if possible please if u can send me some info
Thank you for your interest in my mentorship program. Here is the link: www.honeybeesonline.com/beekeeping-mentor/
I just ordered the queen cages and am going to give the brood break a try. I've been feeding now. Should I continue feeding as you suggested, even though we have a short nectar flow in the fall here in NC? (I'm not going for fall honey but would like to get some supers with drawn comb.)
Make sure your bees are raising brood for winter. If not, then feeding might help.
What do you mean that winter bees have different genetic makeup??? Do they really? I thought they lived longer just because they stopped working. Please explain.
There are behavioral changes, BUT there are also physiological changes found in winter bees such as in the levels of juvenile hormone, and vitellogenesis, and the proteins in the hemolymph and size of the hypopharyngeal glands.
@@beek I had no idea. wow, thank you.
Interesting math problem. Have you ever had a mitectest that showed 75 mites per hundred?
Wouldn't 14,000 mites per 7,000 eggs be a 200% mite infestation? If you are at that level you are doing something wrong.
But doesn't open feeding encourage robbing? 🤨