Jason, a little trick...when you take the cover off your Apimaye hives place it bottom side up next to the hive (or on top of the neighboring hive) and it will give you the perfect place to rest your hive feeders (and any bees on the bottom will be trapped in between and not fly around (this is handy if by accident the queen was on the bottom of the feeder). Makes for a very tidy inspection technique and has saved me from losing a queen a couple times
Reason I like Russian bees is that you will see queen cells no matter what, the always have them going incase the queen dies, sometimes they have 2-3 queens active in the same hive and are perfectly okay with it. Really rock solid reliable bees that take care of themselves with little outside intervention except for some mite treatments and checking for beetles. So i recommend good Russians to people
I run 50 Apimaye hives and trust me they will glue down the frames solid! Takes a bit of time or large population. Also don't leave the smoker on the Apimaye hive, I found out the hard way it melts it quickly! Thanks for the great videos!
Yeah, I figured I just needed to wait longer for the frames to be glued down. lol Sitting the smoker on the hive lids is gonna be a hard habit to break. It may be easier for me to find something like a ceramic tile to lay on the hives so I can still sit my smoker there. lol
I like my Ergo hives. I also learned to set the feeders in the lid, was confused at first what to do wit the feeders. Hopefully the wooden hive gets itself situated for you. Have a good one Jason. .
Glad you enjoyed the video. Maxant makes good stuff, I only have a couple of complaints about my extractor. One of them is that not all of the bolts were stainless steel. I changed them out so now they are.
Flashback. Jason I remember reading your comments 8 years ago on Dr Victor Fursov's (Ukraine) video for an Apimaye hive. You asked if they had ever used the Apimaye queen hive? Personally I love insulated hives but not the Apimaye frames. To lightweight for me.
I am sure that you will keep us informed about the hive missing the Queen. I am really curious to see the outcome. Thanks Jason, great video, take care. Tim
Well, that queenless hive was disappointing for sure, but I'm sure those ladies will figure out what to do with all those new eggs. I have a question...I noticed when you opened the Apimaye hive, there was a low "contented" hum from the bees. When you went to put the frames of eggs in the queenless hive, it just seemed like the drone from the bees was higher-pitched--almost like they got excited? Or was that just my imagination? At any rate, good to see you and Ladybug again, and give our regards to the missus!
Hey Jason, I hope that hive recovers ok for you. Since they will be basically without new eggs for 3 weeks you may find they just start packing in the honey. I've had a few queenless hives do that to me. The 2 frames you gave them may keep them focused though. Nice hive kit. I'll look at Apimaye's site.
As a first year beekeeper with my first nuc Colony. I also have a Apimaye hive. I have experienced that very same issue where I don’t see eggs or larva but all my frames are jammed packed full of nectar. Not quite understanding what was happening, your video was super helpful to me in understanding my issue. I did not see the queen but I do have three Capped Queen cells. I am hopeful that I get a new queen soon? I live in upstate New York, in the country and this is my second week since I picked up the bees. I got them from Betterbee as they are about an hour away from me. Thank you for your content, your videos are super helpful to me. I have look forward to learning more as I find this fascinating.
Glad to hear the video was helpful. Usually if you buy packages and the queen fails the package supplier will replace the queen for free. May be worth checking into. Good luck and I hope your queen issue is resolved very soon.
Ordered a 7 framer last night to use as a queen timing box. Looking forward to checking out the apimaye hives in person. The are spendy to replace all my hives, but I think it's going to work to help protect valuable queens.
Awesome! I have a 7 framer being delivered this week and I am excited to check it out. I'm sure I will be sharing it soon! Hope you like yours when you get it!
Sorry about the missing queen. Believe me, I know that sinking feeling of when there's no queen in sight or eggs or brood to substantiate her existence. That's why I maintain that new beekeepers never start with just one or two hives. Stuff happens and when it does, you gotta have the resources to get past the "stuff." You've presented a good lesson for our newbie friends.
I'd give the hive a better look. I know a professor at our local Agricultural college who has had queens refuse to lay for up to four weeks. They were there, just no laying. Then all of a sudden they start laying. Good luck with your hives. I'm going to be likely switching over to long hives. My shoulders are shot from the lifting for so many years.
Interesting! Please let us know if they do glue down the frames with propolis. As for the bees closing the vents, you're exactly right. The bees know how much ventilation they need and will close the vents accordingly.
Hey Steve, To be honest, it's hard to say for sure what happened to her. She should have been mated so there would have been no reason to leave the hive. I am gonna guess she wasn't mated well and the bees balled her which isn't uncommon with packaged bees. This is because the bees in the packages had a different queen before being packaged so to them the caged queen was an intruder. Glad you enjoy the videos!!
Great video Jason, lots to good info, I just got two apimaye hives also, I got the 10 frame and the 7 frame and they look great. I just blow a little smoke before putting the lid on and its been working good to get the bees out, I do like all the ventilation they have , they not bearding like my wood hives in this 95 degree weather we having in Louisiana right now. Think I may get me a few more after selling a few more nucs.
Thanks! Glad to hear you just got a couple Apimaye hives. They are really nice hives. Smoking the bees out between the lids will work but can be too time consuming if you have a bunch of Apimaye hives. I am gonna experiment with and bee escape in one of the top vents and see how it works. I just got the 7 framer yesterday and will be sharing it this week!
I would caution you about putting Diatomatious Earth DE in the bottom drawers. The bees are able to get through the bottom board and I frequently find them down in the bottom drawer cleaning it up. Yes, I find Small hive beetles and larva too, but I wouldn't want to risk killing a large number of bees as they could possibly take the DE back up into the hive. A strong hive is your best defense against small hive beetles.
I have not been using the spacers because I found they leave too much space between frames and the bees were building wonky comb. Other than that I am really liking the Apimaye. I just chased the bees out from above the feeder before I put the lid on.
Jason, with those Ross Rounds you need to have a strong slamming hive for them to work and the Ergo is not there for another 2-3 weeks at least. I am surprised you didn't have any swarm cells to garner. Are your bees behind last year? Mine are dragging 3 weeks or more here in MN.
do you have apimaye hives? I'm trying to figure out what hives to purchase, and im wondering if the bees will make it through the winter in any particular brand/hive, i live in wisconsin so i'm wondering if you have any advice since MN goes through similar winters, thanks
@@1lifeonearth They are spendy but probably worth it in the long run. I have several of the bottom boards so I can collect pollen. Very Nice. Every winter I add an inch of Styrofoam around my hives to keep them warmer plus a quilt box. Apimaye boxes would be easier.
@@russk3931 okay thanks for the insight, yeah that would be nice to not have to insulate the hives so much every winter if the apimaye ones are pre insulated already
Great video Jason. On the Ergo setup can you add regular wood broods or supers to them or do you have to use there Ergo boxes building it on up ?? . Thanks for your video’s and updates.
I noticed when you put the two frames in from the other Hive that there were bees from that Hive on the frames. Will they all get along when you put them together?
Hey Jason thank you for all your videos. I bought 2 nucs this year and 1 is drawing foundations well and the other is hardly drawing any and building queen cells. Should I brake it down and make 3 nucs or leave it and see what happens?
I've caught 5 swarms in my yard ths week......I went from 3 hives to 8 I've got my hands full.....I cant figure out why the swarms are showing up in my yard? I really don't think they're all from my hives....maybe two hives have swarmed, but the rest I have no clue. Now I'm the crazy bee lady in my town instead of being a crazy cat lady 🤣
Sounds like your bee yard is growing fast! Who knows why the bees are swarming to your place but it sure is nice to not have to go anywhere to get them. lol
@@JCsBees lol yeah I guess I should be thankful I'm not hunting them down.....there is a lady in our bee club here in Clinton County who is wanting to start beekeeping I told her the next swarm that lands in my yard she is welcome to come to my house and get them 😂
Most quality companies will send a replacement queen FREE. They do for me when this happens which does happen with packaged bees and is common. Mountain Sweet Honey for example knows this and will rush a replacement queen as do other great companies out there. Glory to Ukraine.
No! I'm cheap. lol I'd rather mark her myself than pay $10 for someone to do it for me. That $10 could go toward feed for other livestock. Life on a farm!
@@JCsBees I do the same when I get a queen from a walk away split but those queen's I buy $(12) are marked with a number and where their mother was on her mating flight. We have 3 places where only Buckfast are allowed and one of those places is on a island.
My bees never get out of the feeders into the upper cover. Not sure what you are doing that would allow them to escape unless you are removing the clear plastic cover over the entrance. Don’t do that😁
I love my apimaye hives.
Jason, a little trick...when you take the cover off your Apimaye hives place it bottom side up next to the hive (or on top of the neighboring hive) and it will give you the perfect place to rest your hive feeders (and any bees on the bottom will be trapped in between and not fly around (this is handy if by accident the queen was on the bottom of the feeder). Makes for a very tidy inspection technique and has saved me from losing a queen a couple times
Reason I like Russian bees is that you will see queen cells no matter what, the always have them going incase the queen dies, sometimes they have 2-3 queens active in the same hive and are perfectly okay with it. Really rock solid reliable bees that take care of themselves with little outside intervention except for some mite treatments and checking for beetles. So i recommend good Russians to people
Hey Jason if you turn the lid over they’re designed so you can set your feeders on the lid without crushing bees.
Hey Phil, I wondered that when I was editing the video. Thanks for confirming my thought.
I run 50 Apimaye hives and trust me they will glue down the frames solid! Takes a bit of time or large population. Also don't leave the smoker on the Apimaye hive, I found out the hard way it melts it quickly! Thanks for the great videos!
Yeah, I figured I just needed to wait longer for the frames to be glued down. lol Sitting the smoker on the hive lids is gonna be a hard habit to break. It may be easier for me to find something like a ceramic tile to lay on the hives so I can still sit my smoker there. lol
What about treating with oxalic acid? If you do that is there any concern of melting the plastic?
wow 50 hives, thats awesome! how much money do you make on that many? cheers
I like my Ergo hives. I also learned to set the feeders in the lid, was confused at first what to do wit the feeders. Hopefully the wooden hive gets itself situated for you. Have a good one Jason. .
Thank you Jason, I've been looking at hives like this. Very informative video
Glad it was helpful!
Thanks for taking us along on your first inspection Jason. Looking forward to seeing a big fat queen cell on your next trip in there. 😉
Great as always. Hey, I live down the street from Maxant! Good folks.
Glad you enjoyed the video. Maxant makes good stuff, I only have a couple of complaints about my extractor. One of them is that not all of the bolts were stainless steel. I changed them out so now they are.
Flashback. Jason I remember reading your comments 8 years ago on Dr Victor Fursov's (Ukraine) video for an Apimaye hive. You asked if they had ever used the Apimaye queen hive?
Personally I love insulated hives but not the Apimaye frames. To lightweight for me.
Wow you have a great memory, Mike! lol That was some time ago.
I have zero issues with the Pro frames as of yet but we will see.
I am sure that you will keep us informed about the hive missing the Queen. I am really curious to see the outcome. Thanks Jason, great video, take care. Tim
Well, that queenless hive was disappointing for sure, but I'm sure those ladies will figure out what to do with all those new eggs. I have a question...I noticed when you opened the Apimaye hive, there was a low "contented" hum from the bees. When you went to put the frames of eggs in the queenless hive, it just seemed like the drone from the bees was higher-pitched--almost like they got excited? Or was that just my imagination? At any rate, good to see you and Ladybug again, and give our regards to the missus!
Oh I see your doggy is named ladybug 🤣 .....that's cute!
Hey Jason, I hope that hive recovers ok for you. Since they will be basically without new eggs for 3 weeks you may find they just start packing in the honey. I've had a few queenless hives do that to me. The 2 frames you gave them may keep them focused though. Nice hive kit. I'll look at Apimaye's site.
As a first year beekeeper with my first nuc Colony. I also have a Apimaye hive. I have experienced that very same issue where I don’t see eggs or larva but all my frames are jammed packed full of nectar. Not quite understanding what was happening, your video was super helpful to me in understanding my issue. I did not see the queen but I do have three Capped Queen cells. I am hopeful that I get a new queen soon? I live in upstate New York, in the country and this is my second week since I picked up the bees. I got them from Betterbee as they are about an hour away from me. Thank you for your content, your videos are super helpful to me. I have look forward to learning more as I find this fascinating.
Glad to hear the video was helpful. Usually if you buy packages and the queen fails the package supplier will replace the queen for free. May be worth checking into. Good luck and I hope your queen issue is resolved very soon.
Ordered a 7 framer last night to use as a queen timing box. Looking forward to checking out the apimaye hives in person. The are spendy to replace all my hives, but I think it's going to work to help protect valuable queens.
Awesome! I have a 7 framer being delivered this week and I am excited to check it out. I'm sure I will be sharing it soon! Hope you like yours when you get it!
Sorry about the missing queen. Believe me, I know that sinking feeling of when there's no queen in sight or eggs or brood to substantiate her existence. That's why I maintain that new beekeepers never start with just one or two hives. Stuff happens and when it does, you gotta have the resources to get past the "stuff." You've presented a good lesson for our newbie friends.
It's beekeeping, it happens! Like you said, I am just great full to have the resources to provide the ladies. Now to wait!
Its fine, I can get replacement queens easily from the breeder down the same road i am on
I'd give the hive a better look. I know a professor at our local Agricultural college who has had queens refuse to lay for up to four weeks. They were there, just no laying. Then all of a sudden they start laying.
Good luck with your hives. I'm going to be likely switching over to long hives. My shoulders are shot from the lifting for so many years.
Interesting! Please let us know if they do glue down the frames with propolis. As for the bees closing the vents, you're exactly right. The bees know how much ventilation they need and will close the vents accordingly.
No worries, I plan to share everything I learn about the Apimaye hives.
Jason what do you think may have happened to that Queen she just never returned. I enjoy your videos thank you.
Hey Steve, To be honest, it's hard to say for sure what happened to her. She should have been mated so there would have been no reason to leave the hive. I am gonna guess she wasn't mated well and the bees balled her which isn't uncommon with packaged bees. This is because the bees in the packages had a different queen before being packaged so to them the caged queen was an intruder.
Glad you enjoy the videos!!
Great video Jason, lots to good info, I just got two apimaye hives also, I got the 10 frame and the 7 frame and they look great. I just blow a little smoke before putting the lid on and its been working good to get the bees out, I do like all the ventilation they have , they not bearding like my wood hives in this 95 degree weather we having in Louisiana right now. Think I may get me a few more after selling a few more nucs.
Thanks! Glad to hear you just got a couple Apimaye hives. They are really nice hives. Smoking the bees out between the lids will work but can be too time consuming if you have a bunch of Apimaye hives. I am gonna experiment with and bee escape in one of the top vents and see how it works.
I just got the 7 framer yesterday and will be sharing it this week!
I would caution you about putting Diatomatious Earth DE in the bottom drawers. The bees are able to get through the bottom board and I frequently find them down in the bottom drawer cleaning it up. Yes, I find Small hive beetles and larva too, but I wouldn't want to risk killing a large number of bees as they could possibly take the DE back up into the hive. A strong hive is your best defense against small hive beetles.
Those bees are using so much energy and resources to build new comb that they dont have time to propolis the frames but they will.
Makes since!
Гарно королева сіє. Продуктивне гнізно..
I have not been using the spacers because I found they leave too much space between frames and the bees were building wonky comb. Other than that I am really liking the Apimaye. I just chased the bees out from above the feeder before I put the lid on.
Thanks for the tips!
do you slide all the frames to one side and then leave one single space on the opposite side?
@@1lifeonearth no, the wonky comb was in between frames.
Jason, with those Ross Rounds you need to have a strong slamming hive for them to work and the Ergo is not there for another 2-3 weeks at least.
I am surprised you didn't have any swarm cells to garner. Are your bees behind last year? Mine are dragging 3 weeks or more here in MN.
do you have apimaye hives? I'm trying to figure out what hives to purchase, and im wondering if the bees will make it through the winter in any particular brand/hive, i live in wisconsin so i'm wondering if you have any advice since MN goes through similar winters, thanks
@@1lifeonearth They are spendy but probably worth it in the long run. I have several of the bottom boards so I can collect pollen. Very Nice. Every winter I add an inch of Styrofoam around my hives to keep them warmer plus a quilt box. Apimaye boxes would be easier.
@@russk3931 okay thanks for the insight, yeah that would be nice to not have to insulate the hives so much every winter if the apimaye ones are pre insulated already
Looks good keep up the good work get him bees lol
Give them a little time. They'll have those things welded in.
Great video Jason. On the Ergo setup can you add regular wood broods or supers to them or do you have to use there Ergo boxes building it on up ?? . Thanks for your video’s and updates.
Hey Kathy, Yes you can use wood frames with the Ergo kit.
I noticed when you put the two frames in from the other Hive that there were bees from that Hive on the frames. Will they all get along when you put them together?
Yes, they will be fine. At least there is no queen to harm. lol
Hey Jason thank you for all your videos. I bought 2 nucs this year and 1 is drawing foundations well and the other is hardly drawing any and building queen cells. Should I brake it down and make 3 nucs or leave it and see what happens?
No protective gear while handling the bees??
💕👌👍
I've caught 5 swarms in my yard ths week......I went from 3 hives to 8 I've got my hands full.....I cant figure out why the swarms are showing up in my yard? I really don't think they're all from my hives....maybe two hives have swarmed, but the rest I have no clue. Now I'm the crazy bee lady in my town instead of being a crazy cat lady 🤣
Sounds like your bee yard is growing fast! Who knows why the bees are swarming to your place but it sure is nice to not have to go anywhere to get them. lol
@@JCsBees lol yeah I guess I should be thankful I'm not hunting them down.....there is a lady in our bee club here in Clinton County who is wanting to start beekeeping I told her the next swarm that lands in my yard she is welcome to come to my house and get them 😂
ok I love your vids....but you know we are all here for Ladybug!
She's a show stealer for sure. lol
Why do lady bugs by the hives make you nervous? 🤔
I see you found out my dog is named Ladybug. I didn't want her to get stung.
@@JCsBees yeah lol......that's understandable 😊
Most quality companies will send a replacement queen FREE. They do for me when this happens which does happen with packaged bees and is common. Mountain Sweet Honey for example knows this and will rush a replacement queen as do other great companies out there. Glory to Ukraine.
Yes, My local breeder does that as well. His queens are wicked good and survive mites really well.
Not marked queen?
No! I'm cheap. lol I'd rather mark her myself than pay $10 for someone to do it for me. That $10 could go toward feed for other livestock. Life on a farm!
@@JCsBees I do the same when I get a queen from a walk away split but those queen's I buy $(12) are marked with a number and where their mother was on her mating flight. We have 3 places where only Buckfast are allowed and one of those places is on a island.
My bees never get out of the feeders into the upper cover. Not sure what you are doing that would allow them to escape unless you are removing the clear plastic cover over the entrance. Don’t do that😁
The issue is when filling the feeders the bees flying around get stuck under the top cover. I am having zero issues with the feeders.
@@JCsBees Now I understand, thanks for the clarification.