Pulling Honey Supers in Winter | Not What You're Thinking
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 ก.ย. 2024
- I had a few supers still on hives that were basically being stored for winter on the hives. So I decided it was time to get them off since I had excluders in place. I need to get them off so that there will be a place to put another deep on when these bees grow. Not a big job, but one I thought yu wouldn't mind coming along on. Let's head out to the bee yard.
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Thanks for joining me in my bee yard here in Louisiana as I share how I maintain my beehives. My videos are not meant to be 'How To' videos, but simply me sharing my experiences in beekeeping as I learned it from my mentors, teachers, and studies.
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I'm going to have to get some of that fondant just to have on hand. I've never used it but there have been times it would have been nice to have something quick and simple.
I saw it years back when they used that kind of fondant in the skep hive videos and I've wanted it ever since for exactly like you say, ease of use. And it's inverted, so they can use it immediately. Just happened that Hive Alive made it so it comes with the supplements. I like it. Some say bakers fondant is just as good, but I heard it had that HFM in it. Who knows.
Rainy Sunday in Oklahoma. Binge watching Mike Barry. 👍
Well, I appreciate you watching, that’s a fact. I saw that beginning with all that rain in your post.
Dealing with small Hive Beetles like us??? We have very serious issues with them often times there will be a hundred or so in a colony. No joke! This has remedied our problems with them blasted hive beetles to just about non-existent within every colony.
We promise this works!
Grab a 2oz bottle of peppermint extract and eucalyptus oil. Add 0.5 mil of eucalyptus oil to the 2oz bottle of peppermint extract, shake well, use a syringe and run a good bead on the frame rest on both sides. This does not burden or bother the bees at all. Brother, we promise this works!!!
Tim, I’m willing to give it a go. I tried the peppermint candies and honestly, I can’t say it worked or didn’t because it was too burdensome to try to get that’s many candies into hives each week. Just wasn’t practical. This way of yours sounds a little more practical. How often do you apply? I need something that only needs to go in every 10 to 14 days for me to be able to keep up. Every week just doesn’t work for me with 40 to 50 hives. If I can do it just at the times I go in, mostly every 10 to 14 days, then I could make it work if the oils don’t run me too much. Thanks for the suggestion.
Thanks Mike, God bless !
Thanks Brother!!
Thanks for the video, looking forward to the spring growth.
You’re welcome Tommy and thanks for the support as always!!
Good stuff Mike. The explosion will happen soon! It is amazing how strength can vary from colony to colony!
Yep, not long for us. Crazy how you guys are right down the road and yet are ahead. Same with my buddy in Florida. He does swarm prevention in February yet he's straight west down I-10....
@@MikeBarryBees yep we are a bit crazy already. I got some early queens out of Hawaii and broke out 21 splits this weekend. The weather was horrible but I had to get the queens in. This weekend is supposed to be beautiful. That’s how it always seems to work out lol. Hope this cold snap doesn’t mess up my new splits. Will know soon enough.
Thanks for the video. We are getting closer to bee season
You’re welcome Melvin and thanks for watching and for your faithful support. Missed you this year at the Expo.
Im hoping next year i can make it.
We have around 2 more months before the season starts, but i have dreams abous bees every night :))
Wow, 2 more months! Well, I hope us southern youtube folks can give you your fix until then. Thanks for watching as always!
I tried my had at bee keeping this summer had two hives both did well and I pulls one super off one. Then in November both hives absconded leaving 4 boxes full of honey. Left them out for other bees to rob.
Oh wow, hate to hear that!! Hope you have a great season this year and just keep fighting the good fight.
@@MikeBarryBees not sure I want to try again
@@philipbutler6608 I do understand. Years back I had a mass poisoning that killed 17 of 22 hives in my one yard. I was so frustrated and defeated, and I really had to think it thru. Take your time and think it thru for sure. Never hurts to have a swarm trap out so if you decide to take it up again, you’ll possibly have some bees on standby. But again, I definitely understand, and I hope you’re happy either way with what you decide. Best wishes Phillip.
Thanks for the advice Mr. Mike, i need to take my medium boxes off now as well. very soon it will be time to add another deep.
You're welcome and thanks for watching. Those singles in this video are getting deeps this week and next.
Hello Mike I started using the global Pattie’s last year an I can say the bees love them . An yes I did start seeing hive beetles larvae in them so what I did was I pulled them off and put the left over pieces in the freezer an swapped out with a new one then came back after a while an rotate them back out so the hive beetles did not have a chance to grow up an do that back an forth till the patties were gone . Ya that was extra work but I think it cut down on the hive beetles. Thanks
That's a good idea. I didn't think about that. Well worth the work if you're killing off the larvae. It always cuts down on the beetles by killing the larvae for sure. I did some today where I cut them in strips and put 90% over the frame openings so the bees could kill any larvae that came out.
Good video Mike! I’ve always used pollen patties in February, I referred to it as jump starting the Queen.
Thanks Don, and I need to jump start something. Tough summer hurt me over winter my friend. But they’re coming on along and I’ve now got pollen on all of them and will add the more if need be.
Thanks Mike!!!
Thank you Rodney, for all your support!
We got to give them what they need, great video. God bless
Thanks and thanks for your long time support!!
It looks like today may be the day to peek at a couple light colonies here in central NH. Temps up to 42 f, 37 f right now...I bet the bees are flying...Seems like a good call with the excess space and the SHBs. They are not yet prevalent here, I will remain vigilant. Thanks Mike, have a great afternoon!
I hope you never have to see them Brice, and the studies show that you shouldn't since they need the heat. Maybe one of two in the summer, but they need some warmth in the winter to be come a real pain, and the long winters you have should prevent them from coming your way. I hope so anyhow.
Great advice MIke. The fondant may only save a hive or two now but if they start brooding hard and get a rainy stretch they will have more food in the box since they were eating fondant. Have a great week.
That's the hope Russell. I think we have about three weeks and we're out of the woods for starvation.
Enjoyed the video Mike. I pulled some honey last week and gave to a few lighter hives. Looks like you're about where I am this year. But calling for some 20's/40's and possible winter weather up here before the end of February. I'm trying to be patient......but in the 60's the next few days. Errrr... Take care!!!!!
I need to get some honey moved around when I add seconds to the singles because I'm nor comfortable with stores and nectar coming in until at least the 10th of March. mainly because of what you described, freezes coming in and out. Almost out of the woods though. Thanks as always Keith!!
It's 68°F today and the bees are flying. And the maple that usually buds out mid-March has already started to bud. Just hoping the Feb and March freezes don't hit too hard.
You bring up a good point. When we see early budding, late freezes hurt us. I hope you guys don't see that, kike you said, to the point it's too hard.
My girls are out today here in NY on 2-8-24
That's got to be a warm day for you guys I bet.
Thank you Mike and have a great week
You too Russell!!
hey that look like a neat way to clean your plastic foundations
It’s one way, that’s for sure. Thanks for watching!
Too me, the worst part about leaving those excluders on is that they fill them up with propolis and wax. It seems like you've done a 180 on how you handle spring. I seem to remember you saying you don't feed pollen in Spring because you don't want them to blow up and swarm. It'll be interesting to see how they do.
Phillip, I think with the drought they had last year, Mike thinks they are weaker than normal. We shall see.
@@russellkoopman3004 Could be Russ. He, and a lot of folks in that area, had a tough year because of the late freeze. I don't blame him a bit for trying to get ahead of the curve. I hope it works out.
Yep Philip, just as Russell said, which I go into a bit more in the next video. They were abnormally weak in the fall since I really underestimated the drought. I need to see if I can get them built up a bit faster this season. But you are correct, I would normally not try to blow them up early since I work full time and it causes a lot of work in my down time try to stay ahead of swarming. On average the hives are only coming thru with about 6 frames of bees. I Normandy see 8 frames mid February in a box and a half.
I have same problem where I missed pulling excluder. I was thinking maybe put the super over an inner cover and on a cooker day come back and pull super. Hopefully, bees will move down.
Maybe just pull the excluder and let them do their thing for now. Depends on weather I suppose. I really meant to pull them end of December of beginning of January.
Dream Big brother 🙏
Thanks for the encouragement!!
I see you're getting to use some of that massive bucket of super dfm you bought 😅
You know it! I have enough for years!!😂😂. It was buyers remorse when I was wandering around the Expo, but I’m good now…😁😁
Is that a Hillco veil? Great video. Learn so much from How You Do It
Yes it is. I like it pretty well.
hey Mike. Thanks for the video. Curious why the two hives had queen excluders on them. May be I missed your explanation of it. Thanks!
Hey there Emil. I had them on because I was storing the honey supers above strong hives since those few had brood in them. So after the flow and after they had been cleaned out by the bees, I placed them on strong hives to keep wax moths out, but I also didn't want queens back in them. Then the plan was when the moth threat was over and we were into winter, take them back off and store them under my shelter.
Thanks for the video Mike. Looks like you gave them the Cadillac treatment. They will be exploding soon. Take care.
I hoe so Garry. I am seeing some good growth now, so maybe it got them started good.
Hello Mike ,appreciate your very own approach to your videos ,last September going into winter I had to merge 1 hive and 2nuc’s into a colony ,as all 3 , I just couldn’t find any Queen they were no eggs ,no pupa and I just didn’t want the bees to die - so I’ve been feeding as not enough time for them to get any honey stores of there own - I lifted the lid once in October ,once in November once in December but then in January I fed a pollen and a fondant and because of a personal circumstance eye hospital for me ,I went last week first time in 7 weeks ,as I can drive again to the yard - anyway lifted the lid to feed and there’s bees ,bees are flying - did a entrance clean out and my god the dead bees were a shock - I run a underfloor entrance - my question is a “bee a live today” be it a winter bee ,when would the conception of been ? and it’s life expectancy? The last time I saw a queen was 31st August 2023
Well James, I can't tell the actual life expectancy per month or day, but I know the winter bee is definitely made up differently so they can live thru the long winter. What I know is that they should have the ability to live thru your winter as long as they are healthy and have food. But like summer bees, they are all emerging at different times and for that reason they will die off through winter as it goes on longer. But the bees born the latest obviously are the ones that make it one thru. Die off in the winter in big number is very surprising, but it's normal. But the expectation is that they made a large number in the fall in increments of emerging so they have enough to make it thru as some die off. If they had a small nest and a long winter and they begin to get too small to cluster, that's when there's an issue. another key is that the queen begins laying at the end of winter, if temps allow it, and you soon have replacements. I see what you're asking, but if she was in there, depending where you are, she should be putting in some brood, or at least soon and they will start to grow. I would think if they were queenless this long, you'd have enough dwindle to see them dead. I do know in very cold climates, they can cluster queenless thru the whole winter, but with how things played out in your fall mergers, I would think they'd have to have next to no bees at this point if they're queenless. Hopefully you can get thru them soon and verify.
@@MikeBarryBees I’ll keep you informed on this one, as am in the UK we’ve not really had a winter but had cold days and cold nights ,lots of wet days along with a spring like day, but I’ve not open the colony up yet so no idea what I have in store. JR
Hey Mike, you think it would have been a good idea to just reverse the boxes? Put the super under the brood box with the excluder in the middle or just leave the excluder out all together. What are your thoughts on this idea?
It’s a good idea if you want to use mediums as a brood box. I’d rather have them put away just til the flow starts. They were simply there for storage so wax moths wouldn’t infest them since they had a couple frames of brood in them. I reverse deeps only and for singles I just add deep boxes for brood as they grow. But yes, if a person doesn’t mind mixing equipment, then absolutely they could if just easily been reversed and really not even that, but just pull the excluder.
I had a swarm of bees come in they logging down the road so I'm thinking they must have pushed over a bee tree
Very well could be. We aren’t seeing many down here just yet.
@@MikeBarryBees this is the earliest one I have ever seen.
Hi Mike, serious question from a uk beekeeper, what is "SUPER D.F.M?"
Super DFM is a probiotic for honey bees. Helps with gut health, similar to yogurt fir us humans is how I think of it. www.strongmicrobials.com/
Thanks for watching form the UK!!
you pretty sold on the super DFM Mike?
I am. I heard the lady speak back in 2019 at the Louisiana state conference and she was an initial researcher on this stuff and it was a very compelling lecture. She is the brains of the operation as far as I can tell. I have wanted to get it going and just never did. Then at the conference over in Slidell this last September, I talked to them and got a big. An hour later I sat in on Nob Binnie’s lecture on the synergy of toxins and he started in on the probiotics and I was happy I bought some. Greg Burns has some good results after feeding for a year to NUCs he’s made versus how they were before when not using it. I want to get them on the 30 day regiment. Except for the flows and with supers. But summer, Fall, and winter, with one month in spring, it’s going on.
How’s the visibility through that veil?
It’s not bad. I wouldn’t say as good as the thinner mesh that’s out there, but I find it to be just fine for my liking. It’s not bad like my old mann lake veil that reflects sunlight in my eyes every time I turn.
What is super DFM?
It’s a probiotic for the bees. Strong Microbials make it and they have good info on their page. I plan on working it into the management this season.
Is it 15% pollen or protein?
15% natural Pollen. It's Global patties. HiveAlive partnered with them on the pollen patties.