I have allways been fasinated by bees and as a young boy I used to follow a beekeeper around his hives, but now I'm too old to do that so I just watch on youtube instead.
You’re never too old! I bet if you looked up some beekeeping communities near you, you’d find people willing to let you shadow them and help out with hives. If you have a local allotment/farm/community garden, they might have beehives and be grateful for experienced help managing the hives, if you ask. We’re only too old when we’re dead, and not a second before :)
Same here. As a kid got a little peek with the class at the local beekeeper. Thinking that is for me. But apearantly never ment to be. Little I knew did come on handy though. Meeting some amateurs, professionals and scientist that went to Hawaii to let the bees find a solution to the vario mite. I mean they have found out a seven layer antibiotics system and others managed to swarm and overheat their predatory big cousin. We breeding them to our liking and understsnding, productive and non agresive, then monoculaire that, we was the weak link. Not seeing the strength in diversity and traits not of use to our limited insight.
Ergo we made them vulnerable by our selection and steering their evolution into a monoculture. Like with bananas. One fungus and all bananas are in danger. Luckily there people also started searching for new species, and hopefully some more diversity. For that is a strength in survival. Monoculture is considered a pest that a pest will deal with. Or we with pesticides. Not the way imo.
Enjoyed watching and following your comments. I'm a fourth year beekeeper and sometimes feel like I know less than I knew four years ago. Hilary,Washington St. USA.
That’s a great question. It doesn’t mean the bees are sick. It’s probably due to the fact that the honey has sat untouched for so long. Sometimes it can ferment like wine.
It's a shame the Top box is a right off. That's a lot of lost honey. I'm what's called a Bee Buddy for our local group and help less experienced Beeks with problems. Last week, I helped a guy with a similar Lid and Super to your example. I ended up harvesting the way wood comb for him, which fortunately is not bad in taste. He will get 7kg, when I take it back later this week. I love the idea of your blower. I think I will invest in one in the next few days.
Yeah I was really looking forward to the honey. Knowing how fat the comb was it was going to be an enjoyable crash and strain. My blower is a bit weak. If you can get a good one.
I thought honey never went bad. Just what I’ve heard. By no means do I know anything about bees and or honey except it’s always tastes phenomenal to me. Love the vids mate!
i heard on a bee relocator channel that honey in old comb can have a bad taste because of the dirt and stuff coating the old comb from years of bees walking on it - so the honey itself is fine but it's coated in whatever bees have been walking through for the past several years because of the old reused comb
Even with the honey tasting foul, were you able to harvest anything from this? I know as a woodworker that beeswax is a great base for non-toxic finishes.
Fascinated by bees, new to your channel. So does the honey taste depend on what they’ve been eating or is there something wrong with the bees or something else. Never thought they’d be bad tasting honey.
Honey suckle honey mate, think about it ..... where was the traditional place to grow honeysuckle? The answer is of course over the old dunny down the back of the yard so consequently the honey tastes like shit, and this is how a bee keeper to this time describes off tasting honey ............ she's honeysuckle mate!! But still good to feed back over winter, but it must all be gone before you add any honey supers lol. Oh by the way I would have left the hives as doubles until the bud swell on nectarine trees (very early spring) then done a switcheroonie and switched the by now empty bottom boxes by just removing them and adding a new brood box with a few combs and the rest just foundation, or starter strips, to the top. If you winter with two boxes like this you can switch out full boxes every year and your wax can be a max of two seasons old.
To be honest I’m not driven for honey crops or queen performance so I don’t worry about how old the queens are. Just happy to see them if they are marked.
I saw on your next video you mentioned “let’s look for the queen I marked from 4 weeks ago” so you do at certain points I guess. All goods. Love bee content regardless 🤘❤️
Not even good honey out of that! Oh, what a horrible disappointment. At least you know things are looking up, and all that mess of comb is out of the way, though I'm surprised you didn't take a spare box and frames down with you after your previous inspection of those hives. (But I'm not a bee keeper, not by any stretch of the imagination.)
I'm betting that they aren't swarming. My guess that they don't like her and want to replace her. If they were swarming there would be more queen cups. I've never seen a colony that only made 1 queen cell.
If you want to get a frame empty of brood so you can replace it you should shake the bees off to ensure your Queen is down the bottom. Then move the frame up top above the Queen excluder. The nurse bees will come up and to cover it and keep it warm. The Queen won't be able to access it and in a few weeks they will have all hatched out and you can replace the frame.
In Australia there isn't much of a winter except down south of Queensland. Beeks can keep going almost year round once you get up to North Queensland. Of course that means veroa and small hive beetle are a constant problem. Southern Queensland gets cold enough to warrant a break but only a small one.
@kiaya007 I find this comment perplexing. It sounds like you are saying (most of Australia) can keep beekeeping all year round but more that 70% of Australias population IS below Queensland and experiences actual winters. mccrindle.com.au/app/uploads/infographics/Australia-Population-Map-Infographic.pdf
That's what I've heard as well. All I can tell you is I was sick all last year and wasn't able to work the bees. I had an awful lot of problems with beetles this year because of that and the Honey does taste funny. I do feed some back to the bees.
Another person here that knows nothing about beekeeping, quick question. If you allow other bees to rob rotten honey, does it taint the receiving hives honey?
Yes and no. There's two likely reasons for the honey tasting bad. Honey made by different nectar will taste different. Some flowers produce rather tart honey. And second is that old honey is just dirty. Bees have been walking on it for potentially years. It's old and dirty. That said it's highly unlikely that this honey is bad, in that it will make you sick. It just tastes bad...
Good morning everyone, I have just started watching videos on bee keeping and know nothing about it. I am finding it very interesting, So it’s a genuine Question. Please don’t “Bee” nasty in response. in the video approx. 0910 min I saw that it was described as a new frame, wood and wire and some honey come structure that the bees made - but there are no backing wax/plastic sheets on this frame, as I have seen in other videos and for sale everywhere - can a person use just the supported frames with wire, no wax sheet or plastic and the bees do all the work? to build the honey come structures. It seems like its obvious question to me as yes…. but why then is backing or starter wax / plastic sheets for sale everywhere I look.
Hey there. Welcome to the fascinating would have beekeeping. To answer your question. It is a lot quicker to gain full drawn out comb if you start with a foundation sheet. And it also ensures straight comb once the bees draw it out but it is also a standard practice for beekeepers to place empty frames with a small amount of wax at the top of the frame to get the bees started. They really don’t need us but we like to think we make their job easier.
This late in the season the new queen probably wouldn’t mate. It’s a better bet to try and get the original queen to push through the winter if she is there.
Jeez the second hive mate, no drone comb = no swarm it was simple supercedure and the queen is failing, unfortunately in my opinion you needed that cell, there is tons of room, but little space to lay. so in my humble opinion swarming instinct should not have kicked in quite yet. But just wait a little because they always make us mere humans look stupid.
We love your clear close up videos, keep the videos coming, Regards anton
Thanks man
I also have an extra lid and QE, which I take on my inspections, so that I can substitute, if they are gummed up, and then clean at my leisure.
Excellent video mate. It is a shame about the honey. They are coming along nicely compared to where they were initially.
Thanks
I have allways been fasinated by bees and as a young boy I used to follow a beekeeper around his hives, but now I'm too old to do that so I just watch on youtube instead.
Never too old. Thanks for watching.
You’re never too old! I bet if you looked up some beekeeping communities near you, you’d find people willing to let you shadow them and help out with hives. If you have a local allotment/farm/community garden, they might have beehives and be grateful for experienced help managing the hives, if you ask. We’re only too old when we’re dead, and not a second before :)
Same here. As a kid got a little peek with the class at the local beekeeper. Thinking that is for me. But apearantly never ment to be. Little I knew did come on handy though. Meeting some amateurs, professionals and scientist that went to Hawaii to let the bees find a solution to the vario mite. I mean they have found out a seven layer antibiotics system and others managed to swarm and overheat their predatory big cousin. We breeding them to our liking and understsnding, productive and non agresive, then monoculaire that, we was the weak link. Not seeing the strength in diversity and traits not of use to our limited insight.
Ergo we made them vulnerable by our selection and steering their evolution into a monoculture. Like with bananas. One fungus and all bananas are in danger. Luckily there people also started searching for new species, and hopefully some more diversity. For that is a strength in survival. Monoculture is considered a pest that a pest will deal with. Or we with pesticides. Not the way imo.
Enjoyed watching and following your comments. I'm a fourth year beekeeper and sometimes feel like I know less than I knew four years ago. Hilary,Washington St. USA.
That’s beekeeping. Just when you think you know, you realize you don’t.
Not knowing anything about bees but being fascinated by the rescue of these hives, does it mean the bees are sick if the honey is bad I hope not?!
That’s a great question. It doesn’t mean the bees are sick. It’s probably due to the fact that the honey has sat untouched for so long. Sometimes it can ferment like wine.
Thank you for your quick response, that’s good news! Wishing you all the best.
@@aussiebeekeeping If "honey" ferments, it isn't honey yet.
@@apveening if honey ferments, I think we call it mead then.
@@TheDanlovejoy Correct, but you first have to dilute it before it can start fermenting.
It's a shame the Top box is a right off. That's a lot of lost honey. I'm what's called a Bee Buddy for our local group and help less experienced Beeks with problems. Last week, I helped a guy with a similar Lid and Super to your example. I ended up harvesting the way wood comb for him, which fortunately is not bad in taste. He will get 7kg, when I take it back later this week. I love the idea of your blower. I think I will invest in one in the next few days.
Yeah I was really looking forward to the honey. Knowing how fat the comb was it was going to be an enjoyable crash and strain.
My blower is a bit weak. If you can get a good one.
Love watching videos about bees but low key have an irrational fear/anxiety of them because I’ve never been stung 🙈
Thanks. It’s understandable. It can hurt a lot.
I thought honey never went bad. Just what I’ve heard. By no means do I know anything about bees and or honey except it’s always tastes phenomenal to me.
Love the vids mate!
Thanks man!
Yeah that’s true. I just wonder what happens after a few years in a hive. It also could have been some odd forage that made it taste bad.
could they have been pollinating lemons?
@fireballfilms lemon flowers smell incredible. Wouldn't they make good honey?
i heard on a bee relocator channel that honey in old comb can have a bad taste because of the dirt and stuff coating the old comb from years of bees walking on it - so the honey itself is fine but it's coated in whatever bees have been walking through for the past several years because of the old reused comb
Is there a queen for each box or all 3 boxes part of one hive?
Even with the honey tasting foul, were you able to harvest anything from this? I know as a woodworker that beeswax is a great base for non-toxic finishes.
Plenty of wax to process out of that comb at the end
I need it too
Sounds like the last owners just gave up on bee's,but good for you as you can got healthy hives.
100%
@@marksmith-ew7ir l felt that it was outstanding, that you rescued not only good and healthy hives, but gentle ones, also 😊
Very good ❤❤❤
I see why you didn't take the frames out of that one box the come is all knarralled about in there.
Fascinated by bees, new to your channel. So does the honey taste depend on what they’ve been eating or is there something wrong with the bees or something else. Never thought they’d be bad tasting honey.
Honey suckle honey mate, think about it ..... where was the traditional place to grow honeysuckle? The answer is of course over the old dunny down the back of the yard so consequently the honey tastes like shit, and this is how a bee keeper to this time describes off tasting honey ............ she's honeysuckle mate!! But still good to feed back over winter, but it must all be gone before you add any honey supers lol. Oh by the way I would have left the hives as doubles until the bud swell on nectarine trees (very early spring) then done a switcheroonie and switched the by now empty bottom boxes by just removing them and adding a new brood box with a few combs and the rest just foundation, or starter strips, to the top. If you winter with two boxes like this you can switch out full boxes every year and your wax can be a max of two seasons old.
Loved the video
To be honest I’m not driven for honey crops or queen performance so I don’t worry about how old the queens are. Just happy to see them if they are marked.
I saw on your next video you mentioned “let’s look for the queen I marked from 4 weeks ago” so you do at certain points I guess. All goods. Love bee content regardless 🤘❤️
Not even good honey out of that! Oh, what a horrible disappointment. At least you know things are looking up, and all that mess of comb is out of the way, though I'm surprised you didn't take a spare box and frames down with you after your previous inspection of those hives. (But I'm not a bee keeper, not by any stretch of the imagination.)
Awesome work, as always. Shame about the honey flavour.
Thank you! Cheers!
At 7:58, is that a queen at the end of your hive tool. Looks like you touch her at 8:00 and she turns around.
Unfortunately not.
I'm betting that they aren't swarming. My guess that they don't like her and want to replace her. If they were swarming there would be more queen cups. I've never seen a colony that only made 1 queen cell.
If you want to get a frame empty of brood so you can replace it you should shake the bees off to ensure your Queen is down the bottom. Then move the frame up top above the Queen excluder. The nurse bees will come up and to cover it and keep it warm. The Queen won't be able to access it and in a few weeks they will have all hatched out and you can replace the frame.
I know
Newbie here but how come your opening up the queen cups?
You must still have good conditions, putting foundation in , splitting the brood nest this time of year ?
In Australia there isn't much of a winter except down south of Queensland. Beeks can keep going almost year round once you get up to North Queensland. Of course that means veroa and small hive beetle are a constant problem. Southern Queensland gets cold enough to warrant a break but only a small one.
@kiaya007 I find this comment perplexing. It sounds like you are saying (most of Australia) can keep beekeeping all year round but more that 70% of Australias population IS below Queensland and experiences actual winters.
mccrindle.com.au/app/uploads/infographics/Australia-Population-Map-Infographic.pdf
Couldn't you feed that honey back for the winter though? I mean it was still capped... Maybe tasted bad from the small hive beetles?
That's what I've heard as well. All I can tell you is I was sick all last year and wasn't able to work the bees. I had an awful lot of problems with beetles this year because of that and the Honey does taste funny. I do feed some back to the bees.
It would take me ages doing this... trying not to squash the bee's like he does....
Did you do all that without a puff of smoke? What was the reason?
Yeah. I just lit the smoker and had it sitting next to the hives for fun.
Another person here that knows nothing about beekeeping, quick question. If you allow other bees to rob rotten honey, does it taint the receiving hives honey?
I use to get honey from a bee keeper was always nice and fresh and he showed me 😅were he processed the honey to
Did the foul taste come from the honey being left so long … rotten frames?
I’m really new at this and learning.
I really don’t know. It’s possible that it was an odd flavor from the flowers. It’s also possible for that honey has the hive for years.
@@aussiebeekeeping thanks for the videos. You’re very clear the way you point out everything going on in the hive.
Yes and no.
There's two likely reasons for the honey tasting bad.
Honey made by different nectar will taste different. Some flowers produce rather tart honey.
And second is that old honey is just dirty. Bees have been walking on it for potentially years. It's old and dirty.
That said it's highly unlikely that this honey is bad, in that it will make you sick. It just tastes bad...
What do you suppose caused the odd taste?
Couldn't you shake them into new box with new frames and couple old ones so you know the state they are in?
I could. But being 4 weeks out from winter I doubt they would survive
There are some eucalyptus honey tasted rotten
Good morning everyone, I have just started watching videos on bee keeping and know nothing about it. I am finding it very interesting, So it’s a genuine Question. Please don’t “Bee” nasty in response.
in the video approx. 0910 min I saw that it was described as a new frame, wood and wire and some honey come structure that the bees made - but there are no backing wax/plastic sheets on this frame, as I have seen in other videos and for sale everywhere - can a person use just the supported frames with wire, no wax sheet or plastic and the bees do all the work? to build the honey come structures. It seems like its obvious question to me as yes…. but why then is backing or starter wax / plastic sheets for sale everywhere I look.
Hey there. Welcome to the fascinating would have beekeeping.
To answer your question. It is a lot quicker to gain full drawn out comb if you start with a foundation sheet. And it also ensures straight comb once the bees draw it out but it is also a standard practice for beekeepers to place empty frames with a small amount of wax at the top of the frame to get the bees started.
They really don’t need us but we like to think we make their job easier.
@@aussiebeekeeping thanks for getting back to me -I appreciate it- more question to come as I binge on your channel. regards David.
Oi mate why do ya take out the charged queen cell what does it do if a new queen hatches
This late in the season the new queen probably wouldn’t mate.
It’s a better bet to try and get the original queen to push through the winter if she is there.
Where those deep frames?
Yep
Jeez the second hive mate, no drone comb = no swarm it was simple supercedure and the queen is failing, unfortunately in my opinion you needed that cell, there is tons of room, but little space to lay. so in my humble opinion swarming instinct should not have kicked in quite yet. But just wait a little because they always make us mere humans look stupid.
You’re probably correct. Time will tell
Why does the honey taste bad ??
It has fermented in the hive.
@@aussiebeekeeping for keeping it too long ??
Yep.
@@aussiebeekeeping interesting........ Thank you
Wait...wait..fermented?....you have mead making bees?
20:40 brood doesn't hatch, brood emerges.
...being helpful and polite, not rude :)
I would have said pedantic.
is there a pecan orchard by the hives? Ive heard that the nectar from a pecan tree creates horrible tasting honey
Yeah well, you 'Taking charge of the bees" may not be the best way to do things. Why don't you move the damaged frames with brood, into he top box?
You would move brood frame into a super three weeks out from winter with no nectar coming in? Hardly professional.
Maybe the reason the honey tastes bad is cause the queen was hooked up with a horsefly and now the honey taste like shit..
Hahaha