A few years ago we had the 'deep freeze' here in TX, and I lost 20% of my hives in 2 weeks. It was the best thing that ever happened to my beekeeping, all my weak/wimpy hives died. And when Spring hit, every single hive I had exploded in population. No babying, no Intensive Care required. Patience and Faith.
@@CastleHives time to become a packer and buying in bulk! It was a rough year for queens for sure. I don’t usually split till June unless I find swarm cells. Some of my splits three tries to successfully get a mated queen back and one lady I mentor had both her hives swarm and they ended up becoming laying worker when the queen failed to return.
Truly this is my favorite part about beekeeping, you learn more about yourself in the tough years than you do in the good years. We’ve had our worse year ever this year too up in southern Michigan. But, that is just a reminder that we are not in control, you can do everything right and still not do well. What matters is what you take away from it and what you do next. Great video thanks Brian!
I am feeling your pain this season. The rain really had an impact on our honey production. 50 lbs, but I still feel blessed to interact with these amazing creatures.
This is why I love your channel…you don’t hold back and call it as you see it. As real as you can get, not all rainbows and unicorns. We’ve had a similarly challenging year here in Kansas, but ours was a lack of rain and nectar, and what rain we did get washed the nectar out. But we were blessed with a similar quantity of honey thus far, and we will keep moving forward. Hang in there brother, I think you are doing great and am reminded of your success each time I see a QRD on a hive.
The wet weather this spring here in MN gave the same effects. If I get 1/2 of last years crop I'll be surprised. SUGGESTION: - On one of your live chats with Bruce and Greg could you bring some experienced beek that would give us ideas on how to handle our hives during those monsoon season?? I had young queens and they built up for the flow, put on supers, they filled one or two max and then they swarmed or I had to split. Have a good week Brian.
@@CastleHives Bob Binnie talked a bit about it this last week. It would have to be someone with decades of experience. These weather patterns aren't new but I have never ran across this in my 6 years.
Similar here in South Central, Ontario. Struggles with colonies and honey harvest will be low to say the least. Last season harvested 1200lbs in summer. Won't be even close this season.
Here in MN I had the same issues. Did your bees want to swarm like mine? I have never had so many problems keeping them in the box. I had all kinds of drawn comb and supers, I pulled brood in early May to make splits and it didn't make a difference.
@russellkoopman3004 everything was early this season. No swarming at all, though. I think mainly the rain is to blame. We got hammered with rain this spring.
Right there with ya buddy. Queens this year were challenging. I really wish I knew why. A buddy of ours seems to have over come these struggles. Would love to have a sit down with him and see what is different😊
All of my hives overwintered, but I got only 2/3 of last year's honey. Plants bloomed too early this year and bees missed the first part of nectar flow.
Very positive video, thanks so much. Here in the UK we have had challenging weather conditions, so you are not alone. I only have a few colonies, but try to be positive about things that go wrong, you never know with bees. Keep enjoying your bees and best wishes from us in the UK 😊
Here in NJ by me anyway, the spring flow was fast and furious. I have a full super on every colony for winter and will be under supering for hopefully a fall honey crop. All the colonies are requeened and busting at the seams. Mites are almost zero in July, I think that makes a huge difference. It's amazing how a little different regions have such different results. Good luck moving forward. Hoping for some fall honey for you.
Hey let the tears flow. :) We have all been there hoping you are doing the right thing to help your bees out. They are mostly all the time going to do what's been genetically breed into their own instincts leaving us with what the world happened and having unanswered questions in the moment. Faith forbearance, and patience. Don't ever ask God for that because he will test you with it before you give up and suffer to persevere. All things work out for those that believe in Him. Our honeybees are of the same mind I believe, sometimes if we wait a little they will most often work it out themselves one way or the other. Thanks for the vid. 🐝
My highest mite wash, just like 2 weeks ago, was 2. So mites are under control. They are getting OAV though just to control numbers. In April, it was tough. We had twice the normal rainfall, so that created mating flight issues, which caused colonies to lag behind. All across Ohio it was the same, I know a guy with 30+ colonies and pulled no honey. It has been a horrible year in Ohio.
Hi Brian, bad year for queens here in Pittsburgh too! I was running 50% and usually never below 90%. One thing I did notice this year across the hives in my area was VERY low drone counts. Maybe chalk this up to "If it was easy, everyone would be doing it" ;) I'm a toy guy too, and see that new one. Price point is a bit high and something about the nostalgia of Beekeeping. The smoke smell in the air... Looking forward to EXPO!
Hear you. Monsoon rain here too. How the hell do we keep them from swarming with the huge nectar flow delay? Half the hives swarming per yard has been common here in central Minnesota, Western Wisconsin.
It has been tough, that's for sure. We started with swarms 2nd week of April, that is a month early for Ohio. Then the rain hit and well, here we are. Challenging.
I would have had the same problem with swarms being early this year too, but I sold nucleus hives this year and it really cut them back. It probably saved me from the most swarming ever. We also here in South Central PA had problems with a lot of rain early on, then it went to bone dry all summer and intense heat for our area.
@@CastleHives it really varied, I have different yards some did better than others. One that usually doesn’t do much did the best this year. Half an hour away the difference was rain and when during our black locust flow.
Yup. Same here. Rained here every 2 or 3 days in April and May. Harvest is half what it was last year. I bought a 20 frame Lyson extractor that won't come out of the plastic this year. Bees are healthy for the most part. Im going to try and focus on selling some nucs next Spring. Try to diversify a bit.
We already have goldenrod and asters blooming here in southern York County PA way too early for the start of the fall flow and we've been very hot and dry for months so will there even be any nectar in those flowers! Makes me wonder how this will set up the winter brood nest if the fall flow ends very early... will the queen shut down without a flow in Sept Oct?? How to work this? How will it play out? Gotta provide/protect that winter brood nest and assure it has what it needs.
I'm not looking forward to this fall. We have goldenrod that I figure is a month earlier than normal here. We'll have to either adjust and adapt or fall behind and colonies will suffer you know.
@@CastleHives I've saved back a lot of honey and still have full supers on the hives that I didn't take so they had something for the dearth. With 18 production hives I've already made just shy of 400 pounds. So in spite of the spring challenges (too much rain and cold for long period during peak spring flow of locust and poplar) my hives brought in the honey. Tentative plan is to feed a weak 1:1 to keep the queen stimulated if the fall flow comes early and finishes quickly. I'll put on excluders to keep the queen below (bottom two mediums - overwinter in three 8-framed mediums) then remove the excluders first week of October so the brood nest ends up in the bottom box with nothing but food stores above which works best for this area.
We had a lower harvest than last year too but our mite counts so far are low. Hopefully your bees will overwinter just fine and bring you lots of honey next year.
Very frustrating to say the least. But, what fun would it be if everything worked out all the time. The challenges define us you know. Appreciate you watching.
Brian, thanks for sharing the painful part of your journey. This farming thing is hard work and when we don’t get a return on the time, money and energy we invested, it is an even more bitter pill to swallow. But there is time to prepare for next year and hopefully the bees, weather and nectar flow will provide an abundant honey crop. As for this year, if only you knew a guy that just harvested a bunch of honey in Dothan 😉
Brian, sorry that you had such a bad season! The new season starts next month and I hope that it’s much better for you. Last year was my bad year as far as producing honey but I never got in it for making money although it’s nice not to have to spend every year.
I hear you on the queen issues. I've had supersedures take place this year with the queen laying from side to side on numerous frames and the queen still actively laying. A swarm early that I have had a dickens of at time getting them to make a new queen. This week will be a time to see if i need to purchase a bunch of queens Add to all this, my apiary is several miles north from where it was prior (I moved my life). Learning new nectar flows and such. It's been a frustrating year and hopefully I'll get a few pounds of honey for personal use.
@@CastleHives And it just keeps getting better Brian.....LOL. Did full inspections today. Good news, I was down to only two hives queenless of the six that were without a queen. But, that is now three. While attempting to capture on of the new queens to mark her, she escaped from the catcher and started crawling up my sleeve, under my arm and.......gone. Now down to three hives queenless. Somedays.......some days. But its better than the guy I bought my nucs from. Range fires have most likely taken out 280 of his colonies and all the honey in them today. OUCH!!!
Are you feeding 1:1 syrup? Ive seen several studies that if you feed a 1:2 it can help clean up the brood area and put alot of Hydrogen peroxide into the brood nest and help with bacteria and other issues.
I have some with a 1:2 and some with Prosweet. I used up the Pro and then the others got 1:2. Each has Hive Alive in it, so they're getting the benefit from HA. Haven't had any bacteria issues, just queens and mother nature. It has been across Ohio like this.
Brian, Same in north central Indiana. I also had over 50% losses over winter. This year is 1/2 the honey as last year. Hoping for a large fall flow. Good luck
Same here in NE Indiana. Way below average honey storage so far. I'm guessing half of last year. I think it is a combination of weather and beekeeper errors. Lots of swarming. Found a trap yesterday with a swarm that had yo have shown up in the last week. Almost never happens this time of year. Usually I have my traps in storage by now.
same for me in arkansas, i bought a 24 frame extractor from hillco and even a honey pump for this year. but i didnt get enough honey to use honey pump. very discouraging for sure. i am building back up for next year and doing mite washes and treatments hoping for better year next year. hope to see ya at expo in January.
Got to love a heated bottling tank! Got to love HillCo customer service. I got a call from the man himself, John, this morning. I got 3.72" rain in April as a comparison. This month, we lost power, so I also lost the data during that period. Just a reminder that I followed you in getting the weather station too. I got through winter with zero losses but not so with spring, lost a queen and a colony to starvation. 😢
FYI; I could be wrong, do your own research, but the Super DMF should not go on the middle of the frames. Very hard on brood. Everyone I see us that, put is on the ends out at the frame rest area away from brood.
I'll have to look that up. When I saw John put some on a colony as a demo he just put it on like I did, so thats why I did that. I'll have to look that up, appreciate the tip.
😢Ohhhh.. Brian …I’m feeling your pain- I’m sorry… I didn’t even take any Spring 🍯 honey. Ridiculously-I’m in “sunny California 😅”- but in reality-I’m along the Coast and my temps are 58-62- weather like this is Not getting bees to fly. My season has been “3 steps forward 2 steps back “🤦🏻♀️…But.. #WeKnowThisIsBeekeeping 🥰- Hang in there… this year was u-g-l-y… but that means “hang on…2024-2025 Season Starts now 👍” I’ll see you in January at the Expo 😊
Afternoon Brian, good to see ya buddy. Real sorry you are having these Queen issues and have had to readjust. It sounds like you are having my last years season, so much of what you are mention I could have said the same thing about last year. Yep I think that's you best plan get them fattened up during the Fall for Winter, spend the rest of the season grading them and go into Winter with your best healthiest fattiest colonies. Some times the season is a bust and all we can do is push though it and build strong for that next year. You have some nice looking hives to build from. Could you maybe buy local honey to cover your markets?
Hey DC. . That is my plan. I have found someone not that far from me who I can get semi local honey from. I won't sign up ahead of time for markets next year, lesson learned. Appreciate you watching. .
We will all F sometimes I don’t think your bees died from you not looking after them it’s life it’s gonna happen only thing that sucks is when you depend on shit if brings ya down when things don’t work out but I don’t think it’s you
My problem the past 2 years was the quantity I had harvested, 2 years ago I had 500 pounds and last year 600. So,, that made it challenging to sell by word of mouth. I had 12 buckets in the basement and had to do something. So it was start markets. I thought I'd pull around the same and well, I was wrong. . .
Say what 140 lbs . My observation is your trying to turn an endeavor into a profit. Any thing , any thing in life you try an turn into a profit you will fail. You continually promote others. Natures Image, Bruce Bees. Queen right dials. This tells me your interests are not in the best interest of the bees. Watching this video and the fast talking tells me your not in it for self satisfaction. Purely monitory.
While you are partially correct, yes I want to make a profit, that is only so that I do not have to use money from the household to fund my beekeeping hobby. If I solely wanted profit, why would I have cut back on my numbers? I would keep expanding to make more cash. Nature's Image is a great friend and so is Bruce, so yes I am going to promote them. I make the dials, so yes I am going to promote those as well. And if you could watch me sometimes, I sit in a chair and just watch the Bees, so yes it is very satisfying to me. I have a bad day, I'll go watch the bees.
A few years ago we had the 'deep freeze' here in TX, and I lost 20% of my hives in 2 weeks. It was the best thing that ever happened to my beekeeping, all my weak/wimpy hives died. And when Spring hit, every single hive I had exploded in population. No babying, no Intensive Care required. Patience and Faith.
Great lesson learned there. Out of a dark time there is a reward. Appreciate you sharing that.
I like to make splits in late June-July. Better weather and more drones. Good luck getting the hives ready for winter.
Thanks. .
@@CastleHives time to become a packer and buying in bulk! It was a rough year for queens for sure. I don’t usually split till June unless I find swarm cells. Some of my splits three tries to successfully get a mated queen back and one lady I mentor had both her hives swarm and they ended up becoming laying worker when the queen failed to return.
Truly this is my favorite part about beekeeping, you learn more about yourself in the tough years than you do in the good years. We’ve had our worse year ever this year too up in southern Michigan. But, that is just a reminder that we are not in control, you can do everything right and still not do well. What matters is what you take away from it and what you do next. Great video thanks Brian!
So true! I learned more last year than any.
That is so true. It defines your character you know. Appreciate the kind words Emily, and thanks for watching.
I am feeling your pain this season. The rain really had an impact on our honey production. 50 lbs, but I still feel blessed to interact with these amazing creatures.
Same. . I enjoy every day I get to work the colonies. Appreciate you watching. .
Wow what a great video Brian. Enjoyed it. Lots of good advice there. Good to see your bees doing well. Hate you didn’t get more honey.
Thanks Bruce. This year definitely has been a challenge, but that's ok. Live and learn you know.
This is why I love your channel…you don’t hold back and call it as you see it. As real as you can get, not all rainbows and unicorns. We’ve had a similarly challenging year here in Kansas, but ours was a lack of rain and nectar, and what rain we did get washed the nectar out. But we were blessed with a similar quantity of honey thus far, and we will keep moving forward. Hang in there brother, I think you are doing great and am reminded of your success each time I see a QRD on a hive.
I appreciate that, more than you know. It seems like everyone not in the south has had a challenging year. Appreciate the support.
The wet weather this spring here in MN gave the same effects. If I get 1/2 of last years crop I'll be surprised.
SUGGESTION: - On one of your live chats with Bruce and Greg could you bring some experienced beek that would give us ideas on how to handle our hives during those monsoon season??
I had young queens and they built up for the flow, put on supers, they filled one or two max and then they swarmed or I had to split. Have a good week Brian.
Do you have anyone in particular in mind to bring on? That'd be a great talk. Appreciate you watching Russell. Hope you have a great week as well.
@@CastleHives Bob Binnie talked a bit about it this last week. It would have to be someone with decades of experience. These weather patterns aren't new but I have never ran across this in my 6 years.
Had a rough season also Brian ! The challenges with this hobby is what keeps us going. Hope for a better season next year
You and me both! But, time will tell you know. Appreciate you watching.
Similar here in South Central, Ontario. Struggles with colonies and honey harvest will be low to say the least. Last season harvested 1200lbs in summer. Won't be even close this season.
Here in MN I had the same issues. Did your bees want to swarm like mine? I have never had so many problems keeping them in the box. I had all kinds of drawn comb and supers, I pulled brood in early May to make splits and it didn't make a difference.
@russellkoopman3004 everything was early this season. No swarming at all, though. I think mainly the rain is to blame. We got hammered with rain this spring.
This year has been a challenge you know. Appreciate you watching 86. .
Great video Brian!
Thanks Lisa. .
Right there with ya buddy. Queens this year were challenging. I really wish I knew why. A buddy of ours seems to have over come these struggles. Would love to have a sit down with him and see what is different😊
This year has made me shake my head more than once. .
All of my hives overwintered, but I got only 2/3 of last year's honey. Plants bloomed too early this year and bees missed the first part of nectar flow.
Its been a challenging year that is for sure. Appreciate you watching.
Very positive video, thanks so much. Here in the UK we have had challenging weather conditions, so you are not alone. I only have a few colonies, but try to be positive about things that go wrong, you never know with bees. Keep enjoying your bees and best wishes from us in the UK 😊
You truly never know. Appreciate you watching. And all the way from the UK, wow. .
Great video with a very positive message!
Thanks Jason. . Appreciate that.
Here in NJ by me anyway, the spring flow was fast and furious. I have a full super on every colony for winter and will be under supering for hopefully a fall honey crop. All the colonies are requeened and busting at the seams. Mites are almost zero in July, I think that makes a huge difference. It's amazing how a little different regions have such different results. Good luck moving forward. Hoping for some fall honey for you.
Sounds like you are having a great season. And yeah, crazy how much it varies from one area to the other. Appreciate you watching. .
Hey let the tears flow. :) We have all been there hoping you are doing the right thing to help your bees out. They are mostly all the time going to do what's been genetically breed into their own instincts leaving us with what the world happened and having unanswered questions in the moment. Faith forbearance, and patience. Don't ever ask God for that because he will test you with it before you give up and suffer to persevere. All things work out for those that believe in Him. Our honeybees are of the same mind I believe, sometimes if we wait a little they will most often work it out themselves one way or the other. Thanks for the vid. 🐝
Great comment. . We will be tested that is sure. Appreciate you watching.
Good luck this winter with the Bees.
Thanks Brad. .
I would treat for mites. Try to get clean winter bees. Low honey usually means not enough bees, so how did your nest look in April?
My highest mite wash, just like 2 weeks ago, was 2. So mites are under control. They are getting OAV though just to control numbers. In April, it was tough. We had twice the normal rainfall, so that created mating flight issues, which caused colonies to lag behind. All across Ohio it was the same, I know a guy with 30+ colonies and pulled no honey. It has been a horrible year in Ohio.
Very challenging season in central Ohio as well. Some years are great and some years you just focus on getting them into winter healthy.
That is so true. . I'm hoping I can get 20 or so pounds of fall honey and thats it for my honey this year. Hope 2025 is better for Ohio.
Hi Brian, bad year for queens here in Pittsburgh too! I was running 50% and usually never below 90%. One thing I did notice this year across the hives in my area was VERY low drone counts. Maybe chalk this up to "If it was easy, everyone would be doing it" ;) I'm a toy guy too, and see that new one. Price point is a bit high and something about the nostalgia of Beekeeping. The smoke smell in the air... Looking forward to EXPO!
Thanks Craig. We definitely need to chalk this season up to something.
Hear you. Monsoon rain here too. How the hell do we keep them from swarming with the huge nectar flow delay? Half the hives swarming per yard has been common here in central Minnesota, Western Wisconsin.
It has been tough, that's for sure. We started with swarms 2nd week of April, that is a month early for Ohio. Then the rain hit and well, here we are. Challenging.
I would have had the same problem with swarms being early this year too, but I sold nucleus hives this year and it really cut them back. It probably saved me from the most swarming ever. We also here in South Central PA had problems with a lot of rain early on, then it went to bone dry all summer and intense heat for our area.
It sounds like most beekeepers from your area clear over into Illinois had the same problems, just a lousy year in the north.
@@CastleHives it really varied, I have different yards some did better than others. One that usually doesn’t do much did the best this year. Half an hour away the difference was rain and when during our black locust flow.
Yup. Same here. Rained here every 2 or 3 days in April and May. Harvest is half what it was last year. I bought a 20 frame Lyson extractor that won't come out of the plastic this year. Bees are healthy for the most part. Im going to try and focus on selling some nucs next Spring. Try to diversify a bit.
Oh man, that stinks. Kind of like my heated tank, sitting there. Good luck with the NUCs. .
We already have goldenrod and asters blooming here in southern York County PA way too early for the start of the fall flow and we've been very hot and dry for months so will there even be any nectar in those flowers! Makes me wonder how this will set up the winter brood nest if the fall flow ends very early... will the queen shut down without a flow in Sept Oct?? How to work this? How will it play out? Gotta provide/protect that winter brood nest and assure it has what it needs.
I'm not looking forward to this fall. We have goldenrod that I figure is a month earlier than normal here. We'll have to either adjust and adapt or fall behind and colonies will suffer you know.
@@CastleHives I've saved back a lot of honey and still have full supers on the hives that I didn't take so they had something for the dearth. With 18 production hives I've already made just shy of 400 pounds. So in spite of the spring challenges (too much rain and cold for long period during peak spring flow of locust and poplar) my hives brought in the honey. Tentative plan is to feed a weak 1:1 to keep the queen stimulated if the fall flow comes early and finishes quickly. I'll put on excluders to keep the queen below (bottom two mediums - overwinter in three 8-framed mediums) then remove the excluders first week of October so the brood nest ends up in the bottom box with nothing but food stores above which works best for this area.
We had a lower harvest than last year too but our mite counts so far are low. Hopefully your bees will overwinter just fine and bring you lots of honey next year.
That is my plan as of now. Make sure they are healthy and overwinter strong colonies.
I can sympathize as well. It's been a weird season. I've had trouble with splits failing, queens vanishing...it can be frustrating.
Very frustrating to say the least. But, what fun would it be if everything worked out all the time. The challenges define us you know. Appreciate you watching.
Brian, thanks for sharing the painful part of your journey. This farming thing is hard work and when we don’t get a return on the time, money and energy we invested, it is an even more bitter pill to swallow. But there is time to prepare for next year and hopefully the bees, weather and nectar flow will provide an abundant honey crop. As for this year, if only you knew a guy that just harvested a bunch of honey in Dothan 😉
Haha. . If only we knew a guy in Dothan with 155 or so buckets. . Thats funny.
Brian, sorry that you had such a bad season! The new season starts next month and I hope that it’s much better for you. Last year was my bad year as far as producing honey but I never got in it for making money although it’s nice not to have to spend every year.
Thank Don, I appreciate that. That is my end goal really, not spend money form the house and have my beekeeping sustain itself. We'll see. .
I hear you on the queen issues. I've had supersedures take place this year with the queen laying from side to side on numerous frames and the queen still actively laying. A swarm early that I have had a dickens of at time getting them to make a new queen. This week will be a time to see if i need to purchase a bunch of queens
Add to all this, my apiary is several miles north from where it was prior (I moved my life). Learning new nectar flows and such.
It's been a frustrating year and hopefully I'll get a few pounds of honey for personal use.
Oh man, on top of a challenging year, learning a new area would be tough. Hopefully you get a harvest. Appreciate you watching.
@@CastleHives And it just keeps getting better Brian.....LOL. Did full inspections today. Good news, I was down to only two hives queenless of the six that were without a queen. But, that is now three. While attempting to capture on of the new queens to mark her, she escaped from the catcher and started crawling up my sleeve, under my arm and.......gone. Now down to three hives queenless. Somedays.......some days.
But its better than the guy I bought my nucs from. Range fires have most likely taken out 280 of his colonies and all the honey in them today. OUCH!!!
Are you feeding 1:1 syrup? Ive seen several studies that if you feed a 1:2 it can help clean up the brood area and put alot of Hydrogen peroxide into the brood nest and help with bacteria and other issues.
I have some with a 1:2 and some with Prosweet. I used up the Pro and then the others got 1:2. Each has Hive Alive in it, so they're getting the benefit from HA. Haven't had any bacteria issues, just queens and mother nature. It has been across Ohio like this.
@@CastleHives I really hope it goes well for you getting them into winter.
@@hamburghoney Thank you
Brian,
Same in north central Indiana. I also had over 50% losses over winter. This year is 1/2 the honey as last year. Hoping for a large fall flow. Good luck
I'm pretty much done with this season as far as Honey. I'll toss a few supers on yeah, but not looking to harvest much.
Same here in NE Indiana. Way below average honey storage so far. I'm guessing half of last year. I think it is a combination of weather and beekeeper errors. Lots of swarming. Found a trap yesterday with a swarm that had yo have shown up in the last week. Almost never happens this time of year. Usually I have my traps in storage by now.
Just when you think you have it all figured out, the Bees say hold my beer. Always a challenge and always learning you know.
I’m with you Brian tough weather year here as well rain then heat and Drought destroyed our flow
Mother nature needs to get into shape you know.
same for me in arkansas, i bought a 24 frame extractor from hillco and even a honey pump for this year. but i didnt get enough honey to use honey pump. very discouraging for sure. i am building back up for next year and doing mite washes and treatments hoping for better year next year. hope to see ya at expo in January.
Seems like a lot of folks bought equipment and it is gathering dust this season.
Got to love a heated bottling tank! Got to love HillCo customer service. I got a call from the man himself, John, this morning.
I got 3.72" rain in April as a comparison. This month, we lost power, so I also lost the data during that period. Just a reminder that I followed you in getting the weather station too.
I got through winter with zero losses but not so with spring, lost a queen and a colony to starvation. 😢
This year has been something you know David. I need to get my weather station connected online so I can share that data.
FYI; I could be wrong, do your own research, but the Super DMF should not go on the middle of the frames. Very hard on brood. Everyone I see us that, put is on the ends out at the frame rest area away from brood.
I'll have to look that up. When I saw John put some on a colony as a demo he just put it on like I did, so thats why I did that. I'll have to look that up, appreciate the tip.
Reading the comments, seems many had subpar sucess,myself included,a few losses, and struggles,be the lighthouse
It has been challenging for a lot of folks this year, that's for sure.
Sometimes you get the bear and sometimes the bear gets you. Hang in there! Tough times don’t last but tough people do….
That is so true. . Appreciate that.
I'm in south central Pennsylvania and have had a similar year to yours.
This year has been one for the books. Kept us on our toes.
Looks great. It's been a year al right! Next one will be better.
I hope so. . Two years in a row like this would be tough.
😢Ohhhh.. Brian …I’m feeling your pain- I’m sorry… I didn’t even take any Spring 🍯 honey.
Ridiculously-I’m in “sunny California 😅”- but in reality-I’m along the Coast and my temps are 58-62- weather like this is Not getting bees to fly. My season has been “3 steps forward 2 steps back “🤦🏻♀️…But.. #WeKnowThisIsBeekeeping 🥰-
Hang in there… this year was u-g-l-y… but that means “hang on…2024-2025 Season Starts now 👍”
I’ll see you in January at the Expo 😊
Beekeeping tries your patience you know. But, i'm just looking forward to next season. Appreciate you watching and cya there.
I think weather has made it hard this year !
It definitely has made it challenging.
Afternoon Brian, good to see ya buddy. Real sorry you are having these Queen issues and have had to readjust. It sounds like you are having my last years season, so much of what you are mention I could have said the same thing about last year.
Yep I think that's you best plan get them fattened up during the Fall for Winter, spend the rest of the season grading them and go into Winter with your best healthiest fattiest colonies. Some times the season is a bust and all we can do is push though it and build strong for that next year. You have some nice looking hives to build from.
Could you maybe buy local honey to cover your markets?
Hey DC. . That is my plan. I have found someone not that far from me who I can get semi local honey from. I won't sign up ahead of time for markets next year, lesson learned. Appreciate you watching. .
Sounds like you and I had the same kind of year so far.
It has been a challenging one that's for sure.
Make sure your bees nest stays open late so they can lay out lots of winter bees
Thats the plan.
In SE Michigan, honey was gang busters 2 years ago; last year and this year not as much. Typical farming…
That's the truth, farming. . Hope next season is better for you.
I had a queen not get accepted
This year too
This year has been a Queen challenge.
I love the sounds when you say somthing
LOL
I feel very sorry for your losses I’m very sorry you never got much honey
We will all F sometimes I don’t think your bees died from you not looking after them it’s life it’s gonna happen only thing that sucks is when you depend on shit if brings ya down when things don’t work out but I don’t think it’s you
Thanks. .
my bees did the same as you very very bad year
It stinks. .
Stop using them Queen excluders 😅
I've not used them and had brood all over supers.
can't you do better than pay those rip off markets to sell your honey?
My problem the past 2 years was the quantity I had harvested, 2 years ago I had 500 pounds and last year 600. So,, that made it challenging to sell by word of mouth. I had 12 buckets in the basement and had to do something. So it was start markets. I thought I'd pull around the same and well, I was wrong. . .
Say what 140 lbs . My observation is your trying to turn an endeavor into a profit. Any thing , any thing in life you try an turn into a profit you will fail. You continually promote others. Natures Image, Bruce Bees. Queen right dials. This tells me your interests are not in the best interest of the bees. Watching this video and the fast talking tells me your not in it for self satisfaction. Purely monitory.
While you are partially correct, yes I want to make a profit, that is only so that I do not have to use money from the household to fund my beekeeping hobby. If I solely wanted profit, why would I have cut back on my numbers? I would keep expanding to make more cash. Nature's Image is a great friend and so is Bruce, so yes I am going to promote them. I make the dials, so yes I am going to promote those as well. And if you could watch me sometimes, I sit in a chair and just watch the Bees, so yes it is very satisfying to me. I have a bad day, I'll go watch the bees.