Hello. First I would like to say thank you so much for the videos that you do. I find them to be super informative and I love hearing what you have to say I am learning so much so thank you for your videos and please keep them coming. I am a new bee keeper. I started keeping bees in June of last year. I was gifted a hive actually a nuke from my daughter and have had a blast with it. I am totally hooked. I am pretty handy so I built 15 bottom boards 15 hives with tops and queen excluder‘s etc. everything I need to start a small apiary this season. So at this point I have two 10 frame hives that I thought were doing really well. I should tell you I live in South Carolina where the winters are very very mild. I did my mite treatments and I have been feeding my bees for the last two months. Today is January 22, 2023 the weather is mild between 60 and 70° 50° at night but I am having a huge problem with one hive and I don’t know what to do. I have subscribed to a few beekeepers channels on TH-cam but no one has answered me. So I’m taking a shot to reach out to you to ask you if maybe you could help before I lose this colony. So like I said it’s January and the weather is mild I did an inspection a week ago and I have four full frames of brood I now have some drone brood plenty of resources and everything in the hive looks good the problem is every day I see 15 or 20 bees literally falling off the landing board And laying on the ground twitching and then they die I counted 200 of them today. So obviously something is going wrong and I don’t know what it is. I checked for AFB I have no mites No chalk brood. I have tons of population I have eggs and larvae. I have a hive that is positioned 4 feet away and there are no dead bees at the entrance on the ground. It is a smaller colony but it seems to be doing fine I have no idea what’s going on with this colony could you maybe give me a couple Tips that I could try because only having two hives it will be devastating losing this one. I have 10 packages and a few nukes coming April 1 so I can start building up my yard but this hive that seems to be in trouble is my first hive and I really hate to lose them. Please any suggestions thank you .
David, I wouldn't worry about the dead bee count. It is well below the normal mortality rate. I have one of thirteen colonies with thousands of dead bees on the ground in front of the entrance. But there is still plenty of bees coming and going from this hive. It could be the undertakers are doing a better job in this colony than the others. I'm more worried about my hive that doesn't show activity when the others are active. But again when it's only 40°F and sunny I shouldn't expect every hive to be active. Especially when only the end hives are extremely busy and the 5 hives in between are showing very reduced activity. Ask your local beekeeper club for local information. I'm in upstate central New York so my weather and environment are very different from yours.
A colony of bees, on average, needs about 80 lbs of honey to get through the winter. Doesn't apply in warmer climates obviously. I think one strong colony with a good store, of the food they made for themselves, is better than 3 small colonies being fed artificial food. People are so eager to split their hives rather than creating very strong colonies that can support themselves, before splitting. I think honey should be harvested, for the most part, in the spring. After they're able to forage again. It makes sense if you think about it. Whatever they haven't used is what's extra, nothing more. If you've ever seen an established wild colony they have no problems making and storing more than enough honey. They create tons of it. Mimicking nature is the best way I think. Even if you have to wait a year.
I agree with you! This year was a year of experiments. Moving forward I will most likely be harvesting honey in late June/July for that very reason so that they have ample time to build up more stores. Thanks for all of the tips ♥️
Winter preparation begins in March by keeping the mite level below 2% ALL SEASON LONG. Here in Utah, colonies begin to collapse from the effects of mites in September -- even with a hive FULL of honey. Then your bees rob out that hive, bringing home a load of mites to your hives. So, keep those mite counts going until it's too cold to open the hive. You might suddenly get a high mite count in September or even October.
Hi Emily, came across your channel when I was YTing about bees... When I scrolled thru your channel, the first beekeeping video was posted 20 Apr 2022, but there wasnt any information about how your journey started? Was it documented in any videos (could you direct me to it?) Thank you :) Greetings from Singapore :)
@@beefitbeekeeping I love to see new ones pop up i really like you and you channel. If you want to hit me up in messenger i have some info on the equipment line now as well
That is an Adorable little smoker I love it😁Tough to find had to rewind but Found it hanging in the tree when u were talking about dying from moisture and being wet and going out in the cold🥶Its so hard to see the dead bees especially when they were still in their cluster I don't know how u do it😢But like u said it comes with the territory of being a beekeeper and it comes with Any hobby where ur dealing with living creatures, that's why I'm Happy ur bees are in Ur hands bc u are Always doing ur best and Always learning better ways to take care of them for Their benefit not yours and I love that my Favorite Keeper☺️I like what u said about freezing to death being a Symptom and not the cause bc of Fuel, reminded me of doing my cycling centuries and we hit each rest stop and Fuel up, u Need fuel to be able to do that otherwise ur body checks Out, Fuel is Everything! Well Thank U for another Great video and loved the Where's Waldo aspect as well! U take care of urself and ur winged friends and U stay Warm my friend and I will see U in the next one😊#emilyisthebeesknees #varroabites #beefitbeekeeping #beefitbeeyard #beefithoney #beefit #beekind #myfavoritekeeper #queenbeeemily👑🐝
Good walk through, I think ya covered it for the most part. 👍 One thing you ended up feeding syrup late season that doesn't give them as much time to dry it out and get it capped. I did the same thing, trying to bulk mine up.😁
Yes lesson learned 🤦🏼♀️ going forward I won’t be trying to make splits so late and build out frames in August 😅 yes you can build comb in august but should you? Mehhhhh no not really 🤣😂
That’s why I’m a big advocate of candy boards . They act as a wick for moisture and have vent holes to evaporate moisture out . Then also it provides carbs for them to eat and I throw a pollen patty on for a protein source . I usually leave the candy board on til March . Then I switch to a syrup until they are full then put a honey super on .
I'm a senior and I have disability I use a walker I was wondering could I still take care of bees but I don't want a whole bunch of bees I just want to learn how to have maybe two or three colonies is that possible or or is bees like you just let it grow and grow and grow and become a big beekeeper
Never understood why people check their bees in winter can’t do anything, with the exception of quietly tipping hive to feel weight to add sugar if light. To me no upper entrance is a death sentence for hive. Live north east of you Ontario only winter singles, never wrap 2 inches insulation on top of super secured tight with tape. Your hives have to be tipped quite a bit as condensation will form on all 4 outer walls of super, my entrance reducer is reduced to 1 inch ( drafts will kill a hive quickly) hives are tilted in such a way so when water runs out won’t exit out the 1 inch entrance reducer plus will help eliminate the bottom board with pooling water. In 8 yrs have never had a hive we’re all frames capped. And I start in Earnest 3rd week of august to start winterizing hive feed sugar syrup( internally as don’t want to effect local hives that are still collecting nectar for honey and late fall open feeding) and apply mite treatments early to help winter bees not get viruses , once winter bees have virus even if you kill all mites later in fall bees still very sick going into winter.
Upper entrances are like cutting a hole in your roof and wondering why the heat bill is so high. The bees control the air through the entrance themselves. Tree trunks in nature don't "vent." The following video from Bill Hesbach explains the "condensing hive" very well. You can also research "John Gaut, The Benefits of Providing Good Hive Insulation but No Upper Entrance in Winter" If the bees are doing all the work to heat the cluster, why would you vacate it and make them work so hard to replace it? th-cam.com/video/KKCilStfD7c/w-d-xo.html
Thank you for sharing this! Definitely learned a lot this year. Happy to hear someone else in a northern climate doesn’t insist on wrapping a hive. I always thought that was just overkill. This was my first year overwintering nucs. Got some cracks I need to seal up this summer before I can overwinter in them again. Thank you for being here! ☺️♥️
See the recent, still ongoing Bee Barn series on the Vino Farm TH-cam channel. His design, which is basically 4 inches of Styrofoam, on six sides in winter, takes care of some of the problems you mention.
Hello. First I would like to say thank you so much for the videos that you do. I find them to be super informative and I love hearing what you have to say I am learning so much so thank you for your videos and please keep them coming.
I am a new bee keeper. I started keeping bees in June of last year. I was gifted a hive actually a nuke from my daughter and have had a blast with it. I am totally hooked. I am pretty handy so I built 15 bottom boards 15 hives with tops and queen excluder‘s etc. everything I need to start a small apiary this season. So at this point I have two 10 frame hives that I thought were doing really well. I should tell you I live in South Carolina where the winters are very very mild. I did my mite treatments and I have been feeding my bees for the last two months. Today is January 22, 2023 the weather is mild between 60 and 70° 50° at night but I am having a huge problem with one hive and I don’t know what to do. I have subscribed to a few beekeepers channels on TH-cam but no one has answered me. So I’m taking a shot to reach out to you to ask you if maybe you could help before I lose this colony. So like I said it’s January and the weather is mild I did an inspection a week ago and I have four full frames of brood I now have some drone brood plenty of resources and everything in the hive looks good the problem is every day I see 15 or 20 bees literally falling off the landing board And laying on the ground twitching and then they die I counted 200 of them today. So obviously something is going wrong and I don’t know what it is. I checked for AFB I have no mites No chalk brood. I have tons of population I have eggs and larvae. I have a hive that is positioned 4 feet away and there are no dead bees at the entrance on the ground. It is a smaller colony but it seems to be doing fine I have no idea what’s going on with this colony could you maybe give me a couple Tips that I could try because only having two hives it will be devastating losing this one. I have 10 packages and a few nukes coming April 1 so I can start building up my yard but this hive that seems to be in trouble is my first hive and I really hate to lose them. Please any suggestions thank you .
David,
I wouldn't worry about the dead bee count. It is well below the normal mortality rate. I have one of thirteen colonies with thousands of dead bees on the ground in front of the entrance. But there is still plenty of bees coming and going from this hive. It could be the undertakers are doing a better job in this colony than the others. I'm more worried about my hive that doesn't show activity when the others are active. But again when it's only 40°F and sunny I shouldn't expect every hive to be active. Especially when only the end hives are extremely busy and the 5 hives in between are showing very reduced activity. Ask your local beekeeper club for local information. I'm in upstate central New York so my weather and environment are very different from yours.
A colony of bees, on average, needs about 80 lbs of honey to get through the winter. Doesn't apply in warmer climates obviously.
I think one strong colony with a good store, of the food they made for themselves, is better than 3 small colonies being fed artificial food. People are so eager to split their hives rather than creating very strong colonies that can support themselves, before splitting.
I think honey should be harvested, for the most part, in the spring. After they're able to forage again. It makes sense if you think about it. Whatever they haven't used is what's extra, nothing more. If you've ever seen an established wild colony they have no problems making and storing more than enough honey. They create tons of it. Mimicking nature is the best way I think. Even if you have to wait a year.
I agree with you! This year was a year of experiments. Moving forward I will most likely be harvesting honey in late June/July for that very reason so that they have ample time to build up more stores. Thanks for all of the tips ♥️
Winter preparation begins in March by keeping the mite level below 2% ALL SEASON LONG.
Here in Utah, colonies begin to collapse from the effects of mites in September -- even with a hive FULL of honey. Then your bees rob out that hive, bringing home a load of mites to your hives. So, keep those mite counts going until it's too cold to open the hive. You might suddenly get a high mite count in September or even October.
Hi Emily, came across your channel when I was YTing about bees... When I scrolled thru your channel, the first beekeeping video was posted 20 Apr 2022, but there wasnt any information about how your journey started? Was it documented in any videos (could you direct me to it?) Thank you :) Greetings from Singapore :)
1) Not checking for mites (all season)
2) Not treating for mites
3) Not feeding in the fall
4) See #1
5) See #2
Good nutrition, Great Queens, Mite control. . Those 3 main focuses have my Apiary sitting 11 for 11. Didn’t learn those tactics til year 5.
Those are definitely the 3 keys! ♥️
Very iformative! Thanks for all the time and effort you put into your videos
Thank YOU for watching them! ♥️☺️
@@beefitbeekeeping I love to see new ones pop up i really like you and you channel. If you want to hit me up in messenger i have some info on the equipment line now as well
That is an Adorable little smoker I love it😁Tough to find had to rewind but Found it hanging in the tree when u were talking about dying from moisture and being wet and going out in the cold🥶Its so hard to see the dead bees especially when they were still in their cluster I don't know how u do it😢But like u said it comes with the territory of being a beekeeper and it comes with Any hobby where ur dealing with living creatures, that's why I'm Happy ur bees are in Ur hands bc u are Always doing ur best and Always learning better ways to take care of them for Their benefit not yours and I love that my Favorite Keeper☺️I like what u said about freezing to death being a Symptom and not the cause bc of Fuel, reminded me of doing my cycling centuries and we hit each rest stop and Fuel up, u Need fuel to be able to do that otherwise ur body checks Out, Fuel is Everything! Well Thank U for another Great video and loved the Where's Waldo aspect as well! U take care of urself and ur winged friends and U stay Warm my friend and I will see U in the next one😊#emilyisthebeesknees #varroabites #beefitbeekeeping #beefitbeeyard #beefithoney #beefit #beekind #myfavoritekeeper #queenbeeemily👑🐝
☺️♥️ thank you Steven!!!!
@@beefitbeekeeping Always☺️🐝🍯👏👏👏
Good walk through, I think ya covered it for the most part. 👍
One thing you ended up feeding syrup late season that doesn't give them as much time to dry it out and get it capped. I did the same thing, trying to bulk mine up.😁
Yes lesson learned 🤦🏼♀️ going forward I won’t be trying to make splits so late and build out frames in August 😅 yes you can build comb in august but should you? Mehhhhh no not really 🤣😂
@@beefitbeekeeping Have a great day Emily.😁
Humidity in the air surely does make a big difference 🙃
It most certainly does 😔
That’s why I’m a big advocate of candy boards . They act as a wick for moisture and have vent holes to evaporate moisture out . Then also it provides carbs for them to eat and I throw a pollen patty on for a protein source . I usually leave the candy board on til March . Then I switch to a syrup until they are full then put a honey super on .
Found the smoker at 9:10 video time just off your left shoulder on the ground behind you😉
I was wrong
I’ve been placing it in creative places in every video 😁😉♥️
Great video !
I'm a senior and I have disability I use a walker I was wondering could I still take care of bees but I don't want a whole bunch of bees I just want to learn how to have maybe two or three colonies is that possible or or is bees like you just let it grow and grow and grow and become a big beekeeper
I have a suggestion look at some of the videos from veno farm
Valeu pelas dicas obrigado
❤👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
Never understood why people check their bees in winter can’t do anything, with the exception of quietly tipping hive to feel weight to add sugar if light. To me no upper entrance is a death sentence for hive. Live north east of you Ontario only winter singles, never wrap 2 inches insulation on top of super secured tight with tape. Your hives have to be tipped quite a bit as condensation will form on all 4 outer walls of super, my entrance reducer is reduced to 1 inch ( drafts will kill a hive quickly) hives are tilted in such a way so when water runs out won’t exit out the 1 inch entrance reducer plus will help eliminate the bottom board with pooling water. In 8 yrs have never had a hive we’re all frames capped. And I start in Earnest 3rd week of august to start winterizing hive feed sugar syrup( internally as don’t want to effect local hives that are still collecting nectar for honey and late fall open feeding) and apply mite treatments early to help winter bees not get viruses , once winter bees have virus even if you kill all mites later in fall bees still very sick going into winter.
Upper entrances are like cutting a hole in your roof and wondering why the heat bill is so high. The bees control the air through the entrance themselves. Tree trunks in nature don't "vent." The following video from Bill Hesbach explains the "condensing hive" very well. You can also research "John Gaut, The Benefits of Providing Good Hive Insulation but
No Upper Entrance in Winter"
If the bees are doing all the work to heat the cluster, why would you vacate it and make them work so hard to replace it?
th-cam.com/video/KKCilStfD7c/w-d-xo.html
Thank you for sharing this! Definitely learned a lot this year. Happy to hear someone else in a northern climate doesn’t insist on wrapping a hive. I always thought that was just overkill. This was my first year overwintering nucs. Got some cracks I need to seal up this summer before I can overwinter in them again. Thank you for being here! ☺️♥️
See the recent, still ongoing Bee Barn series on the Vino Farm TH-cam channel. His design, which is basically 4 inches of Styrofoam, on six sides in winter, takes care of some of the problems you mention.
Em that colony has Nosema apis .
Yes yes it does 🙃
The smoker is at 11:40 on the side of a tree over your right shoulder.
Woot woot! You got it! 😁
You can avoid isolation starvation with single brood management plenty of feed on top of frames sugar brick or fondant. 2 years no deadouts 💪🏻🐝
Thanks for sharing that info! This was my first year putting sugar on a hive so early. A good back up if they run out
@@beefitbeekeeping oh and thank you for sharing, I really enjoy your videos and good luck.