Hi Fred, great interview ...patiently waiting for part two. Hint.. seriously though, i love your interviews with experts. Thks for all your vids you do.
I finally got around to seeing the whole interview, very enjoyable & information. Her bemused expression while Fred was posing his questions made me wonder if she was about to say, "Ok, Boomer..." 😆
Very good interview I had seen one from Dr Underwood on the spotted lantern fly from Michigan State and I had asked you a question on the spotted lantern fly on Q & A 185 Thank You for what you do.
I''m actually not that surprised about the sugar shaken bees having a higher mortality rate, I've had a few dead ones in the jar when I was done if we were too vigorous (and I didn't think we were shakig them violently. After I noticed that I try to roll them more than shake them.
Enjoyed the interview Fred, I missed her at the Honey in the Hills. I will have to watch for updates on the Spotted Lanternfly. Once they hit your area, i'm sure they'll make it to my area the same summer.
in NW wet Oregon i have gone to a deep and medium as a normal brood area. the extra honey and bee bread and more than a single deep allows for more bees than a deep going into winter. I can swap out a med frame with one with honey in a cold winter. the med can give the bees more food area to eat up through in the spring before warmer weather as they rise up in the box or boxes. Getting bees through our March . A double screen board is a must in cold wet area.s
I just really enjoy this interview format. A good thought provoking question and a discussion about the answer. Really interested in the drone brood-mite connection and it's use for mite control without chemicals. Great interview Fred! Black Minorca chickens are 14 weeks old, growing strong, crowing(at 4am). What is a good roo to hen ration for this breed? I have 8 roo and 30 hens at the moment and the flock makes a lot of noise, roos chasing hens and each other. I took 7 roos out of the pen but that last roo was still chasing hens and playing keep a way at the feeder.
5 to 1 is a pretty good ratio. But what's more important is their behavior toward the hens. If they become intense about competing for hens, then I'd remove the most aggressive males.
Same in Maryland. If you sell pure liquid honey or creamed honey (nothing added), you can just sell it as an agricultural product (like selling an apple). But if you add anything like Red Hots (an excellent flavor!) or herbs, a whole lot of commercial food regs kick in.
39:00 my hives were swarmy, but suicidal about it. One in particular wouldn't stay in a box no matter what I did (to include leaving them in a bucket overnight before they went into a hive body. Always returned to the same branch. I eventually left them to nature to remove from the gene pool.
Fred this was great I use formic pro/mite away every year it is the best but I like the mite away better but it is very hard to find now in the big 30 hive pack. but u touched on many good things in this video. very good and helpful thank you
Hi Frances, I'm glad they work well for you. I think when treating it's good to stay with organics. I'm looking forward to future findings and I'm glad you liked this interview :)
I've been experimenting and still experimenting with double and single brood in my yard. My journal records show that it doesn't matter as long as the colony is strong. My weak hives will die off and I purposely allow that, as I just want the stronger genetics/colonies. I'm not a commercial beek so a loss doesn't effect my production. Double broods are great when I want to create walk away splits from my strong ones. I do agree strongly with Robyn that the wood needs to bee thicker, as I've been looking at the Japanese beekeepers hives and how they use really thick oak for the Asian bee.
When your box is 80% full, it's a great time to add another box. If they fill a box completely and cap the honey, they may stop there and not move above it. You can keep your bees working by providing additional space at the right intervals.
Great interview I like how she thought before she spoke! Also trying to figure out the triplet thing with 2 identicals did the egg split or wast there 3 strong swimmers!😂
Hi Brad, that's an ongoing study with humidity as well as elevated CO2 levels in some cases reducing winter varroa production to as low as 1% when compared to hives with venting etc. Not yet published.
@@kyleatkinson3245 oh hey Kyle. I should of known you were working on that. My experience is telling me it’s very true because using your Hivegates I report no varroa in my hives.
Great video Fred!! I too have had issues with short bivouacs this year!! SO frustrating to hear the "roar" of them flying away right before you get ready to drop them. I even made a couple of videos on the "lost swarms". Oh well.....on another note....my wildflower germination this year in the NC eastern foothills has been lousy. Are you having any luck? Take care and thanks as always!!
Sounds like a great idea for Ian or the CO2 level. Another great interview love your humor, had me in stiches multiple times. Don't take the paper off (Formic) lol, taking a dig at Bruce. Great research, " I don't even remember saying that..." "Am I putting you on the spot" . The Sugar shake test was quite interesting.
I was backpack spraying sandburs yesterday at sunset and about 30’ from my meanest hive and got popped between the eyes. My eyes are almost swollen shut. I guess these high 90s and triple digit temps are making them grumpy. They were bearded up when they got me. I also accidentally killed a Queen today trying to mark her in one of those yellow Queen catchers. Pushed it up too far and mashed her. First time using one of those and I tried being easy. Now I’ve got to find a place that sells cheap queens.
Ok, I have a question about the one-handed queen cage you were using, was it one of the cheap knockoff versions, or was is the higher quality version that has a stop build into it? They are not all the same, even when it comes to the spongy material. The system shouldn't be able to push all the way up. Thanks for any additional information.
@@FrederickDunn Yeah it’s cheapo Amazon Chinese made. I should pull out that foam and put a cotton ball in it’s place. It pushes all the way to the top. The Queen finally got lined up with the slots and I was too quick trying to pin her in that position. I ended up with 3 of those Queen catchers instead of one. Amazon kept saying my debit card wasn’t working 2 different times so I kept reordering. I’ve killed 2 queens the now in the past 2 months. The other was a cutout I had just put in the hive and she ran under the hive lid as soon as I closed it. I saw it happen and couldn’t stop fast enough. Horrible timing. I was born on Friday the 13th so that’s normal for me. Do you know of anyone who sells queens around $30 to $35 shipped? I’m guessing Italians are normally the most gentle breed from my research. I’m tired of getting stung when I’m working around my hives. I think we have a lot of Africanized cross breeding here in Texas. I have to kill some guards that won’t ever get off me before I can go inside my home after inspections. That’s 175 yards away and they don’t quit. I’ve sat on the porch waiting for them to get off me and return to the hive with no luck. They’re persistent in wanting to kill me. My other newer hives don’t even compare in the aggressiveness of my oldest and most productive hive. It’s a meany but a goodie. It’s stood the test of time when 6 other hives the same age have all died out over the years. It was my last surviving hive until I started doing rescues this year.
Depending on the disposition of the colony, you can remove the workers as they can solicit stings from resident workers. It's easy to assess by simply placing the queen in her cage with the attendants on the frames before installation. If they feed them and the queen, then you're fine. Some package shippers don't include attendants at all. Another risk (though I've never had the problem) is that the workers can die in the cage and prevent the queen from escaping through the candy plug once it's been chewed.
Seems like the vigorous shaking would be bad for the bees. I'd rather just kill them in alcohol wash than shake them like I've seen some beekeepers on here shake them. But I had another idea. The cleaning action the bees do gets the mites off. Has anyone thought of putting the bees in a wire bottomed cage where they are not in a pile, coating them in sugar, and letting them clean themselves off? The mites would fall down through the wire and wind up underneath, no shaking involved because the bees are not in a pile in a jar. If you set had something underneath to catch the mites, like a white bucket, maybe that would work? Might have to try it.
The mites can run off. But there are definitely many methods to find the varroa and get a count. Sugar shakes aren't very accurate unless the bees are really shaken/agitated to dislodge the mites. I'm talking about other methods during Friday's Q&A. No kill and guaranteed survival of the host bees :)
Lets write this down "hates plants" haha Well Fred funny you should say that. Here is a plant that every one seems to hate online accept some of us wise bee keepers who know how to cultivate it with out it ever becoming a problem some thing we have grown for over 30 years on one farm and its never escaped its field yet infact after 18 years it started to die back in places and had to be replaced! Have you guessed what it is yet. 11 Supers so far and still good flow. Only 3 hives in the field. Nope not talking about the awesome Sourwood I am talking Knotweed haha The honey is amazing. I am not aloud to talk about its medicinal benefits here but any one can research it. But I can say that some of the tests we done on agar plates showed just as good properties against certain bacteria as Manuka and Dandelion honey Fireweed is another very good honey! This year we have Fireweed and Hyssop that we are trying to get to flower at the same time. fingers crossed.
here in arkansas we have cottage industry labeling rules,called food freedom act you can file a simple form for a approved assigned number,rather than giving out your personal info on your jar labels,some requirements are net weight in grams/ounces ,and must say contains allergens, must be readable font size etc,of course commercial retail has bar codes, lot numbers,nutrition fasts and more, like not for childrrn under 1 year,
![ILLSLICK X YOUNGOHM - We're The same [Official Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/yUJNkobYR0E/mqdefault.jpg)
This was a most enjoyable interview. I love your dry wit and sense of humor. Thank you!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Hi Fred, great interview ...patiently waiting for part two. Hint.. seriously though, i love your interviews with experts. Thks for all your vids you do.
Glad you enjoyed it :)
I finally got around to seeing the whole interview, very enjoyable & information. Her bemused expression while Fred was posing his questions made me wonder if she was about to say, "Ok, Boomer..." 😆
Just what I needed to finish my day at work! Looking forward to hearing what conversations take place and what information I can absorb!
Very good interview I had seen one from Dr Underwood on the spotted lantern fly from Michigan State and I had asked you a question on the spotted lantern fly on Q & A 185 Thank You for what you do.
Thank you! :)
Hello and very thanks 🥰🥰🥰🥰
I''m actually not that surprised about the sugar shaken bees having a higher mortality rate, I've had a few dead ones in the jar when I was done if we were too vigorous (and I didn't think we were shakig them violently. After I noticed that I try to roll them more than shake them.
liked the talk about formic,drone trapping,and for me its dawn dishsoap washes,interesting about powder sugar,which ive never done,
00:58:43 Thanks for not sugaring over the findings 😅
Enjoyed the interview Fred, I missed her at the Honey in the Hills. I will have to watch for updates on the Spotted Lanternfly. Once they hit your area, i'm sure they'll make it to my area the same summer.
in NW wet Oregon i have gone to a deep and medium as a normal brood area. the extra honey and bee bread and more than a single deep allows for more bees than a deep going into winter. I can swap out a med frame with one with honey in a cold winter. the med can give the bees more food area to eat up through in the spring before warmer weather as they rise up in the box or boxes. Getting bees through our March . A double screen board is a must in cold wet area.s
This is what we WAITED FOR!!! .... lolz
Thank you so much for this interview. I have been wondering about the sugar shake impact on bees.
Glad it was helpful!
Question- if emergency queens are poor, and swarm cells are best, do supercedure queens fall in the middle, or with the poor group?
Supercedure cells are likely better than emergency cells as the queen is generally still doing "ok" at the time they are constructed.
I just really enjoy this interview format. A good thought provoking question and a discussion about the answer. Really interested in the drone brood-mite connection and it's use for mite control without chemicals. Great interview Fred! Black Minorca chickens are 14 weeks old, growing strong, crowing(at 4am). What is a good roo to hen ration for this breed? I have 8 roo and 30 hens at the moment and the flock makes a lot of noise, roos chasing hens and each other. I took 7 roos out of the pen but that last roo was still chasing hens and playing keep a way at the feeder.
5 to 1 is a pretty good ratio. But what's more important is their behavior toward the hens. If they become intense about competing for hens, then I'd remove the most aggressive males.
Same in Maryland. If you sell pure liquid honey or creamed honey (nothing added), you can just sell it as an agricultural product (like selling an apple). But if you add anything like Red Hots (an excellent flavor!) or herbs, a whole lot of commercial food regs kick in.
Welcome to the nanny state. And yet they let fake Chinese Honey pour into our country.
39:00 my hives were swarmy, but suicidal about it. One in particular wouldn't stay in a box no matter what I did (to include leaving them in a bucket overnight before they went into a hive body. Always returned to the same branch. I eventually left them to nature to remove from the gene pool.
Sometimes we just have to let them have their way :)
Always good fun.
The water content of the honey in a food product for preservation is probably the issue for being able to sell a natural product like raw honey.
Interesting!
Fred this was great I use formic pro/mite away every year it is the best but I like the mite away better but it is very hard to find now in the big 30 hive pack. but u touched on many good things in this video. very good and helpful thank you
Hi Frances, I'm glad they work well for you. I think when treating it's good to stay with organics. I'm looking forward to future findings and I'm glad you liked this interview :)
I've been experimenting and still experimenting with double and single brood in my yard. My journal records show that it doesn't matter as long as the colony is strong. My weak hives will die off and I purposely allow that, as I just want the stronger genetics/colonies. I'm not a commercial beek so a loss doesn't effect my production. Double broods are great when I want to create walk away splits from my strong ones.
I do agree strongly with Robyn that the wood needs to bee thicker, as I've been looking at the Japanese beekeepers hives and how they use really thick oak for the Asian bee.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
So when would you put a honey super on,what is your first clue that you can put a honey super on,I always have problems with that
When your box is 80% full, it's a great time to add another box. If they fill a box completely and cap the honey, they may stop there and not move above it. You can keep your bees working by providing additional space at the right intervals.
@@FrederickDunn thanks Fred for the advice
Great interview I like how she thought before she spoke! Also trying to figure out the triplet thing with 2 identicals did the egg split or wast there 3 strong swimmers!😂
:)
Is there any documented works of how higher and consistent humidity levels in a hive and how it can interfere with Varroa reproduction?
Hi Brad, that's an ongoing study with humidity as well as elevated CO2 levels in some cases reducing winter varroa production to as low as 1% when compared to hives with venting etc. Not yet published.
@@FrederickDunn very grateful
I'm working on it Brad . If all goes well, I hope to have something to report in the first 1/4 of 2024.I will let you know.
@@kyleatkinson3245 oh hey Kyle. I should of known you were working on that. My experience is telling me it’s very true because using your Hivegates I report no varroa in my hives.
Great video Fred!! I too have had issues with short bivouacs this year!! SO frustrating to hear the "roar" of them flying away right before you get ready to drop them. I even made a couple of videos on the "lost swarms". Oh well.....on another note....my wildflower germination this year in the NC eastern foothills has been lousy. Are you having any luck? Take care and thanks as always!!
Hi Keith! My flowers are waaaay behind where they should be this time of year. We'll see how things go.
Sounds like a great idea for Ian or the CO2 level. Another great interview love your humor, had me in stiches multiple times. Don't take the paper off (Formic) lol, taking a dig at Bruce. Great research, " I don't even remember saying that..." "Am I putting you on the spot" . The Sugar shake test was quite interesting.
:) Thanks Kennith! :)
I was backpack spraying sandburs yesterday at sunset and about 30’ from my meanest hive and got popped between the eyes. My eyes are almost swollen shut. I guess these high 90s and triple digit temps are making them grumpy. They were bearded up when they got me. I also accidentally killed a Queen today trying to mark her in one of those yellow Queen catchers. Pushed it up too far and mashed her. First time using one of those and I tried being easy. Now I’ve got to find a place that sells cheap queens.
Ok, I have a question about the one-handed queen cage you were using, was it one of the cheap knockoff versions, or was is the higher quality version that has a stop build into it? They are not all the same, even when it comes to the spongy material. The system shouldn't be able to push all the way up. Thanks for any additional information.
@@FrederickDunn Yeah it’s cheapo Amazon Chinese made. I should pull out that foam and put a cotton ball in it’s place. It pushes all the way to the top. The Queen finally got lined up with the slots and I was too quick trying to pin her in that position. I ended up with 3 of those Queen catchers instead of one. Amazon kept saying my debit card wasn’t working 2 different times so I kept reordering. I’ve killed 2 queens the now in the past 2 months. The other was a cutout I had just put in the hive and she ran under the hive lid as soon as I closed it. I saw it happen and couldn’t stop fast enough. Horrible timing. I was born on Friday the 13th so that’s normal for me. Do you know of anyone who sells queens around $30 to $35 shipped? I’m guessing Italians are normally the most gentle breed from my research. I’m tired of getting stung when I’m working around my hives. I think we have a lot of Africanized cross breeding here in Texas. I have to kill some guards that won’t ever get off me before I can go inside my home after inspections. That’s 175 yards away and they don’t quit. I’ve sat on the porch waiting for them to get off me and return to the hive with no luck. They’re persistent in wanting to kill me. My other newer hives don’t even compare in the aggressiveness of my oldest and most productive hive. It’s a meany but a goodie. It’s stood the test of time when 6 other hives the same age have all died out over the years. It was my last surviving hive until I started doing rescues this year.
Really enjoyed this.
Question: when introducing a new queen to a hive, is it recommended to remove all attendant bees? Grateful. Great episode.
Depending on the disposition of the colony, you can remove the workers as they can solicit stings from resident workers. It's easy to assess by simply placing the queen in her cage with the attendants on the frames before installation. If they feed them and the queen, then you're fine. Some package shippers don't include attendants at all. Another risk (though I've never had the problem) is that the workers can die in the cage and prevent the queen from escaping through the candy plug once it's been chewed.
Seems like the vigorous shaking would be bad for the bees. I'd rather just kill them in alcohol wash than shake them like I've seen some beekeepers on here shake them. But I had another idea. The cleaning action the bees do gets the mites off. Has anyone thought of putting the bees in a wire bottomed cage where they are not in a pile, coating them in sugar, and letting them clean themselves off? The mites would fall down through the wire and wind up underneath, no shaking involved because the bees are not in a pile in a jar. If you set had something underneath to catch the mites, like a white bucket, maybe that would work? Might have to try it.
The mites can run off. But there are definitely many methods to find the varroa and get a count. Sugar shakes aren't very accurate unless the bees are really shaken/agitated to dislodge the mites. I'm talking about other methods during Friday's Q&A. No kill and guaranteed survival of the host bees :)
Lets write this down "hates plants" haha Well Fred funny you should say that. Here is a plant that every one seems to hate online accept some of us wise bee keepers who know how to cultivate it with out it ever becoming a problem some thing we have grown for over 30 years on one farm and its never escaped its field yet infact after 18 years it started to die back in places and had to be replaced! Have you guessed what it is yet. 11 Supers so far and still good flow. Only 3 hives in the field. Nope not talking about the awesome Sourwood I am talking Knotweed haha The honey is amazing. I am not aloud to talk about its medicinal benefits here but any one can research it. But I can say that some of the tests we done on agar plates showed just as good properties against certain bacteria as Manuka and Dandelion honey Fireweed is another very good honey! This year we have Fireweed and Hyssop that we are trying to get to flower at the same time. fingers crossed.
here in arkansas we have cottage industry labeling rules,called food freedom act you can file a simple form for a approved assigned number,rather than giving out your personal info on your jar labels,some requirements are net weight in grams/ounces ,and must say contains allergens, must be readable font size etc,of course commercial retail has bar codes, lot numbers,nutrition fasts and more, like not for childrrn under 1 year,