What type of bees? - Q&A #2 - Bee Vlog - Feb 16, 2015
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 ก.ค. 2024
- Beginner beekeepers can often feel overwhelmed with choices when it comes to buying bees. In this Q&A I attempt to answer the question about the differences between the variety of bees on the market in the US and which ones a beginner should buy.
Winterizing beehives with quilt boxes:
• Winterizing Beehives -...
Deborah Delaney's presentation:
• Deborah Delaney Speaki...
More information:
www.bushfarms.com/beesraces.htm
articles.extension.org/pages/2...
Facebook me: / thebeevlog
Twitter me: / thebeevlog
Google+ me: google.com/+ThebeevlogPage
To keep up with my apiary and track the hives, visit My Apiary page at:
thebeevlog.com/p/apiary.html
Great video. I started with 3 colonies this year (2019). Two Carniolan and one Italian. It’s been quite an experience as a first time beekeeper. Had to re queen one colony and I was glad I had two more to steal capped brood to help the new queen. I also took a few frames of capped honey to help the struggling colony. I ended up saving it but I’m trying to build it up for winter in NW Ohio. Our winters can be touch and go. Sometimes mild and around 40-44F all winter. The last 3 it’s been in negative degrees and loads of snow. So I’m preparing for the worst and hoping for the best in 2019.
Sounds like you've been doing great so far. Best of luck through the winter!
TheBeeVlog thanks. The beekeepers in my area have been a huge help. They are always there to answer questions and give a hand going through the hives. Great folks and I would have been lost without them
Thanks Bill. My library is growing, I'm taking a course at the local junior college, and I've joined NIBA (Northern Illinois Beekeeper's Association). In Illinois, one has to register each apiary with the state, the county (McHenry) then has guidelines and ordinances, but the Township and my municipality both defer to higher authorities. Thanks again for sharing your experiences - as the one truth I've discovered is best characterized by the following, "If you get two beekeepers together in a room, you'll get three opinions". That said, you're a very good source for information.
Bill, One thing I preach religiously is to try to find local bees. There aren't many places in the country where you can't find someone who is raising local stock. I enjoy your video's, keep them coming.
B Batta Good point. I agree and I addressed that in my last Q&A video. But I think it might be hard for a first-year beekeeper to know where to find local stock. That's something that comes as you get to know more beekeepers. And even then, depending on your area, it might not be that plentiful. Take my area for example. I know of many bee suppliers here, but only a couple of them sell locally raised bees. Most of them are just bee resellers. If you want locally raised stock you really have to do your homework.
TheBeeVlog This is why it is so important to join your local beekeepers association and State association. This is how I met several local people who raise bees in my state.
TheBeeVlog I do probably take for granted that there are so many breeding programs in my area. We have Purdue University not all that far away.
Thank you for such a detailed video! I am so looking forward to learning about this.
Bill, It's been really fun watching *you* develop from a newbie (Episode #1) to a fellow who clearly has come to understand the ways of an apiary. As I mentioned elsewhere, I've been following your journal and have learned much. I've switched from frames with foundation to a foundation-less project for my first hive. Yesterday I ordered my first ever package of Carnies, mostly because my supplier is in Eugene which is closer to me than the supplier in Portland I was thinking about. I will probably build a second hive just to be ready if/when I get a chance to trap a swarm.
BTW, my girlfriend has a wild hive on her property in which the bees "squatted" in an old bird box she put up under a cedar tree. That hive is now in its 4th year. No one has even touched it. I've actually seen it swarm a few times. No one does anything about it. It's completely autonomous - which gives me great heart that bees are far more resilient than we think.
Bob Burns That's excellent Bob! Thanks! :)
Excellent info for new (or going to be) beekeepers.
Good info Bill. Thanks for sharing your knowledge.
aliu668 Thank you! :)
Thanks a lot! You answered the "what type" question perfectly for me
Well done sir! love the "Shiny" comment at the end! Just watched Serenity yesterday for the gizzilanth time
Bob Bruchsaler Shiny! :) Thanks for the question that spawned this video.
Another great video! Thanks!
Karla Schumacher Thanks Karla! :)
Great video Bill.
The Productive Garden Thanks! :)
Thank you for an awesome video
There's no beek' association in my area, but my state extension office has a list of all registered apiaries and if I were in a different area I could use that to connect with beek's and would do so. I made the plunge with bee keeping doing a cut out for a family in need when they couldn't find anyone to help them. This year I plan on putting an ad in our local paper something like "got bees? We can help!" to try to collect some more local stock. Local ads will be a lot less expensive than purchasing a package, and local bees will be acclimatized to my area, giving them a better chance at survival and me a better chance at enjoyable bee keeping.
You did good explaining the varieties... I call all honey bees Mutts, unless they are coming from a certified bee breeder. Up here in NW Minnesota its the local overwintered mutt that is doing well.
Mutts are my favorite too. :)
Very Informative Thank You !
David Hall Thanks David! :)
Very good video!!
***** Thank you!
Great channel just discovered it. Best regards
***** Thanks! :)
Thank you for this very interesting and informative video. I have had bees in the past when I lived in the mountains of North Carolina and I found it very fastening. I am now finishing up my professional life as a civilian contractor on an air base in the Persian Gulf. I am 69 years old and plan on retiring sometime within the next 2 years and building my retirement home just south of Tallahassee Florida. I want to have a good organic garden and I also want to have at least 2 stands of bees. We have a local bee keeper in the area who is a retired Baptist minister who we have bought honey from in the past and I plan on asking him if I could buy a couple of stands from him and also developing a relationship with him so I can learn from him also. Until that time I am learning from your videos and I do appreciate your willingness to share your bee keeping knowledge and will continue to learn from them. Keep them comming
Dave Harrington Thanks Dave! Good luck with your bees. :)
Hi, I'm from Germany. Very good videos
Mathias Herzfeld Hi, thanks!
Hi Bill:
I live in central West Virginia we have weather close to yours. Have ordered bees from two different sources for this spring after 3 years of no bees. Italian with Russian Queen from Ky. and Italian from N.C. I enjoy your info and views please keep up the good work.
Also I have to agree on the flow hive deal. Hives need check anyhow..
Thanks
SMRWV
Stephen Reynolds Hi Stephen. Thanks! :)
Excellent video Bill, Thank You!
Wonder how I can put a link to you on my TH-cam Channel.
BeeHugger Thanks! I'm not really sure.
I added a playlist, and put your URL into it.
ok now that you want us to have as many as we can should we leave single stack and make a lot of splits ,along with catching swarms as we find them ? or give them all the room they need so more able to servive the winter ?
jerry prewett Doing splits is a great way to expand, but I don't recommend it for a first-year beekeeper. Timing of splits depends on the season or your goals. If you're using splits to rapidly expand then it requires a lot of stimulation to make them grow unnaturally fast. This can be intimidating and difficult to manage for a first-year beekeeper. Plus, you don't really learn what normal, seasonal growth a hive goes through.
I live in the Portland Area too. We're going to try out our first bees next Spring. I have a question about wrapping hives. Once in a while we get super cold dry and windy arctic fronts that roll in. Would THAT be an appropriate time to give the hive some extra attention?
Welcome to the hobby! Many beekeepers here are finding it beneficial to insulate the hives and shelter them from winds and rain. If you get high winds, putting up a windbreak made of straw bales would be a good insulator and protection. Some plywood over the top of the hives will protect from the rain. I don't get the arctic winds in my area, but I've been testing out 1" foam insulation on the nucs I overwinter. Still in the testing stages on that. When wrapping hives here it's important to not wrap things too tight and trap the moisture in. That can be worse than not wrapping.
whats the best kind of bee if i live in Jamaica? I plan on producing mostly honey and I plan on using the flow hive. I also saw your vid on it but it is what got me interested :)
sean baghaloo Hi Sean. I'm not sure what type of bee the Jamaican beekeepers use. I recommend checking with the locals, they'll know. Best of luck! :)
do you know the best type of bees for warm climates?
There are hundreds of species of honey bee available. It all depends on what your country imports, or if there are any native honey bees, and what's available for local beekeepers.
I have watched several of your videos and I must say you are the most informative I have seen, so I subscribed.
I have a few questions. On the foundationless frames I saw a show on TV a week or so back where the guy just used the top rail with no sides or bottom. He had two types, one that was just a straight board and the other was like just 3 sides of an hexagon. The area he was from looked to be Arizona or New Mexico but I am not sure. Anyway still looking to see if I can find more information on his technique.
Second. I live on 185 acre farm. I have a colony of bees living in an old dresser thrown in a dilapidated pole barn. If I build a box and frames and just place it nearby, would bees eventually move in without me needing to buy a queen?
One last thing. Do you have or know of any videos that show what each part of a bee hive is for and what it does?
+Shop Cal Top Bar hives and Warre hives all use just a top bar without sides or bottoms. The downside to this is the bees will attach the comb to the walls of the hive and to the next bar below, making comb removal and inspections a little more difficult. You have to cut the sides of the comb to make sure it doesn't fall off the bar. Having a full 4-sided frame keeps this from happening. Also, the side pieces of a Langstroth frame help to set the comb spacing to make sure you have proper "bee space."
You can build a "swarm trap" or "bait hive" to catch any swarms that come out of the dresser. It doesn't have to be close to the dresser. You can put it pretty much anywhere you want on the farm and if you build it the right size, with the right entrance (1-1/4" diameter hole), and use the right attractant/bait (lemongrass oil is cheap and works, I've heard good things about Swarm Commander) then you're sure to catch a swarm. I recommend building a few just to make sure. It's like fishing.
As for parts of a beehive, it really depends on what type of beehive you mean, as there are many. Langstroth?
+TheBeeVlog Thanks for the reply. I guess what I mean by "parts" is I hear terms like "Brood Box", "Super" and things like that. I just watched your video where you went to Bee Thinking. I like the Top Bar design with the hinged lid and will probably build something like that but with a modification on the frames to give them sides and a bottom based on your comments above.
I will also look into swarm traps / bait hives and the Swarm Commander. Thanks for the info.
Shop Cal Ah, I see what you mean. "Brood box" and "super" are terms thrown around by beekeepers where we often just assume the listener knows what we're talking about. :) Langstroth hive boxes come in 3 basic sizes: deep = 9-1/2" tall, medium = 6-5/8" tall, shallow = 5-11/16" tall. (Sometimes the "medium" are also called "Illinois" or "western.") Bees keep the hive well organized and ordered in a particular arrangement. The area where they raise young bees (eggs, larvae, pupae) is usually a compact, spherical shaped region we call the brood nest and is usually located at the bottom of a vertically stacked hive, near the entrance. The honey is usually stored above the brood for better security and ease of access. Deep boxes are typically used on the bottom 2-3 boxes of the hive as they get quite heavy when filled with honey (about 100lbs), but work great in the brood nest. Hence they are called "brood boxes."
The smaller boxes, medium or shallow, are placed on the top where bees typically store honey. (Or they are forced into that arrangement by use of a queen excluder.) Adding boxes to the top of the hive is called "supering," or putting boxes in the "super" position. Hence, the medium and shallow boxes are often called "supers."
Personally, I find it easier to just use 1 size box for the entire hive so that all of my equipment is standardized and interchangeable. I don't have to worry about keeping 2 different sized boxes and frames on hand. Medium boxes work well for this, as they are large enough for a good brood nest, and stay relatively lighter when loaded with honey (about 60lbs). If 8-frame boxes are used instead, then the 8-frame medium boxes max out at about 50lbs.
I live in a Northern climate, temperatures can reach -25° (i live in Northern Europe), so pretty cold. Would you suggest to live the bottom board screen all the winter or it's getting too cold and they cannot heat themselves up properly?
+Davide Mazzotti With temperatures that low it might be a good idea to close up the bottom board. But I recommend checking with other beekeepers in your area to see what works best. In my area, moisture is the big winter killer, but it might be different for you.
I have been enjoying going through your videos. Could we hear you opinion on 9 frames in a 10 frame box?
Artisan Tony sent me.
Mike Davis Hi Mike, welcome! Thanks for the question. I may not have the chance to get to your question in a video so I'll answer here. 9 frames in a 10-frame box is fine for honey, but not brood. The bees will draw the comb out thicker, so they'll store more honey while using less wax. In theory it sounds like a great idea. But in practice it complicates things. Once they draw that comb out thicker the frames are no longer interchangeable. If you need to move that frame of comb into another box it may not fit right. So doing this requires some experience and planning. I only recommend it for frames you know you'll be harvesting.
Ok thanks. I'm trying to figure all this out and get started this year. I'm sure I'll have more questions. Thanks for your response.
Nice blog with good info Yes the US Post Office will ship live animals, Kinda weird and Funny to hear chickens and bees in a Post Office...... I would say feral honey bees would be the best choice for beginners, cause most of the time your 1st hive will die, from some thing you didn't know about. If they do make it threw the 1st year there still a excellent honey producer and i really think they would be happy with the feral honey bees or native wild honey bees in there area. A beginner should practice picking up bees on the DRONES by grabbing them by the wings, or sides, is the best way to pick up any honey bee with your fingers fast and easy. Then they can easy get the queen or a worker bee with out hurting them
TheBeeVlog
Me too, I would take the feral any day, but my favorite is the hybrid now and only have 2 hives of them rite now. and if they keep getting grumpy and mean, i'am going to have to change there queens, they are part AHB. The more i work with them the more gentle they become as they get use to me. With in a month i was working them with out any protection at all. I can do things with the Hybrids that others can not do with them.. They are not the AHB killer bees even those they have traces of AHB DNA. To me the hybrids are no more meaner than the Italian Honey Bees are. Why is catching bees so hard in your area ?
Here in Texas its easy they will go into anything dry hahahaha
426 SUPER BEE Catching bees isn't difficult here. It's just that there are more people trying to catch swarms than there are swarms to catch. It can get pretty competitive sometimes. Fortunately I have several friends that share swarm calls with me, and I do the same for them.
That such a friend , I would ask on protein food you offer your bees. I have seen many formulas for the network but want mostrases preparing a protein cake many thanks
santiago perez Thanks for the question. Since I don't use or make protein patties for my hives I have no recommendations. The bees have plenty of pollen available most of the year in my area, so I have no need for it.
Thanks for the info, Bill! Great channel. I'm a first year beekeeper, and I built my own hive. My neighbor came over to watch me load my package carniolans, and now he wants to have a beehive! So, I think I'm going to build him one in the next couple of weekends. The only problem is that it's too late now to order more package bees. In a month or so, if the bees have built out enough comb and appear to be pretty stable, do you think it would be possible to pull out some brood and honey frames, load them into a nuc with a new queen, and then transfer them to a new hive for my neighbor?
WILSON! It's possible, yes, but I don't recommend it without some more advanced knowledge and experience with beekeeping. It will take longer to get the colony and then you risk them not being prepared for winter. The option I recommend is to ask around your area for people who sell nucs. Some people are still selling them now. Or another beekeeper can make one up from a hive that overwintered and is growing rapidly already. You can still buy queens, so buy the queen you want and get a split from another beekeeper.
Thank you for the solution! I appreciate it greatly!
Have you tried a top bar hive? I'm a first year bee keeper there isn't as much info on the top bar hives as there are the others. and Do you use a queen excluder? Thanks! :)
Kathy Kaylor Thanks for the questions. Since I'm taking a break from making videos for a short while, I'll just answer your question here. :) I don't have a top bar, but I've worked with them. The upside is that there's no heavy lifting and the bees stay pretty calm during inspections. The downsides are that managing a horizontal hive is very different and has it's own set of challenges. And they're a bit of a space hog. In place of 1 top bar hive I can have 2 Langstroth hives.
I don't use a queen excluder. I don't find them to be very necessary and I don't recommend them to beginners. They can add another layer of complexity that just isn't needed. I see them more as an optional, advanced tool.
Thank for answering so quickly.! The no heavy lifting is what I liked about the top bar hive. I built it myself, since I'm in the burbs in Ohio space wasn't an issue. but with TBH I've noticed there not as much work as the Langstroth's. I am feeding them right now and check on them once a week. That's it.
I did see something really amazing! I saw several dozen baby bee's take there maiden flight. They just hovered around the hive getting there barrings. Made bee keeping worth it just to see that! Thanks again for getting back to me. think I'll leave the queen excluder out! I've been reading pro's and con's to it. Doesn't sound worth it. Grateful for your video's. In Ohio!
Kathy
Aren't you just have mistaken AM caucasica with so called Russian bees? These as you described Russians were imported do US from Primorsky Region, far East of Russia and probably they are a mixture of Central Russian Bee (AM mellifera) and perhaps Carniolans. AM caucasica is a different subspecie and has no special ability to resist Varroa.
Looks like you're right. One of the resources I was using for my research had AM caucasia as the subspecies of Russian, but that may not be entirely correct as other resources don't list a specific subspecies for the Russian bee. And the traits do seem to be different. Thanks!
wood mentor
7 people are complete morons as of this time, this is a fantastic video! Maybe they hit the wrong button on their phone, I'm sure I've accidentally done this myself! People picking apart the small inaccurate minor details in the video are nitpicking. The meat and potatoes of the video are awesome! You can review 10 topics different beekeepers preach as gospel and find significant differences from beekeeper to beekeeper.
Local bees are great...unless you live in killer bee territory. Yes, I'm calling them killers. I learned the hard way. I got a swarm and didn't re-queen. Within 2 years they were africanized, vicious as heck, and killed 2 of my ducks. Don't even try to keep killer bees.
Liz Spencer Sorry to hear about your bad experience. Africanized hives definitely need to be tended differently and should be requeened if they are getting so hot that they are becoming a hazard. However, I know of many people working bees in areas known to have Africanized bees that say trying to keep the African genes out is what's causing the severe temperaments. An Italian queen that gets superseded and replaced with hybridized genetics is really mean, while the feral bees that have had several generations of mixing genetics don't get that way.
That doesn't seem to agree with your account, so it's probably not correct 100% of the time. And I have no 1st hand experience working with them. Our bees are really gentle by comparison.
I hadn't heard that the mixed bees were more agressive than pure african. Hmm...interesting. That would explain a lot.
Liz Spencer I think they're all mixed. There are no pure African bees in the US. But the generation of mixing does seem to play some role in it. The reason they get so defensive is because they have more guard bees and are more responsive to the alarm pheromone. This comes from evolving in regions that have much more aggressive predators like honey badgers.