Jeff... don't forget since those top bar frames don't have a bottom piece, you need to try to inspect and rotate it on the vertical axis, and resist tipping it, else it stresses the comb and creates microfractures or even break off with a load if heavy honey. I do enjoy seeing how bees draw out their comb more naturally and how you are sharing this with us all. #GoldenRule #GodLovesAll #GodBless
That's what happened to the comb on the bottom of the box, I stressed it and it fell off. I do need to do a better job when checking the frames. I learned a valuable lesson last year. Thanks for watching and for your suggestion. God's peace PM. Mr. Ed
Well, sometimes bigger isn't always better. Its always a joy to watch your videos. With what's going on right now in our country and parts of the world, you help remind me that there are still some truly good people in the world. Gives me a little hope at least.
Your kind words are greatly appreciated Roger, I'm delighted to hear my videos insert a bit of hope for humanity for you. For me, I'm simply happy to share what brings joy to me. Thank you so much for watching. God's peace brother. Mr. Ed
So happy you enjoyed the video and even learned something by watching. I am a very blessed man to be able to do the work I do at the abbey. Thanks for watching. God's peace John. Mr. Ed
What the heck Jeff? With reg. Boxes you wax the plastic divider that goes in the frame,you dip the box.you do everything you can for the bees. But on the long box heres a piece of wood good luck. An empty frame. I like long boxes they make alot of sense.easier in many ways. For the bee keeper and the bees. I think if you gave them a fair chance you'd want more of them. And they do look like caskets.so you know where to get some. God bless you the monks and the bees.
Well, I got another long hive for Christmas, Good Time Charlie gave it to me, and I will making videos on the progress of it. Stay tuned. God's peace Lamont. Mr. Ed
Well, I got another long hive for Christmas, Good Time Charlie gave it to me, and I will making videos on the progress of it. Stay tuned. God's peace Lamont. Mr. Ed
Hi Jeff, remember a while back, I asked about where all those swarming bees were coming from? Now we know, they are coming from your long box hive ! hahaha they are just recycling themselves from the box, into the wild, later into one of your swarm boxes, and return to the abbey, the long way !
In the past I do not think that's been the case, but I can't say that's not going to be true in years to come. Get over here now and set some traps. Thanks for watching. God's peace Jeremy. Mr. Ed
Thanks for the support Melad, it's always great to know you are following along. Thank you for your blessing, and for watching. Till the next time, God's peace. Mr. Ed
The long hives, or top bar hives, have been around for a very long time, this is just my variation on it. It's a lot of fun growing bees in this fashion, and I do get cut honey comb from it as well. Great to hear from you again. Thanks for watching. God's peace. Mr. Ed
You are very welcome, and thank you so much for taking your time to watch it. So glad to hear you enjoyed the video. Till the next one, God's peace. Mr. Ed
Coolest hive on TH-cam. Looks like some of those honey frames pulled apart under their own weight last summer. Ready for another year of service. Thanks for the video Mr Ed. 👍👍🐝🐝
I think I had a bit to do with the comb falling, I mishandled the frames during inspections. Oh well, the bees adjusted, and I got to clean up my own mess. Still, very interesting project. Thanks for watching. God's peace brother. Mr. Ed
A hive needs to have air movement in it to prevent moisture from building up. In this case, because there were no bees in the back of the hive, moisture clung to the comb and mildew appeared. Still. when I fed the comb to our bees, they ate it with no problem. Thanks for watching. God's peace. Mr. Ed
@@JeffHorchoff ~ " we here, wish for you all the best, in god's peace.! " - keep trekking upon that one good path, until next time our journeys come to meet, brother.. ~WarriorPoet~
Because I work in the casket shop, the long hive was purposefully designed to look like one of our caskets, it even has the same handles on it as one of the caskets. It was built from the same material as the caskets, but it was all "drop off" or "waste" material, and did not cost anything to build. Thanks for watching. God's peace. Mr. Ed
Thank you so very much for your kind words Charles, they are greatly appreciated. I am delighted you enjoy watching my bee wrangling adventures. Till the next one, God's peace brother. Mr. Ed
I think it's rather the association my videos have with honey. Now that stuff IS addictive. Thanks for your kind words and for watching Aura. God's peace. Mr. Ed
You and me both! This will be the 4th year the same hive, different queens, have occupied the box. I guess they really like it. Thanks for watching. God's peace Jess. Mr. Ed
When the bees are left to their own devices they will deftly create honeycomb anywhere and everywhere. It's good that you're staying on top of these to kinda keep it orderly for sure. Thanks for sharing my friend.
Over the years I have learned, bee will do what bees want to do, not what the bee keeper wants them to do. Sometimes though, it works out for both the bee keeper and the bees. Glad you enjoyed the video, thanks for watching. God's peace. Mr. Ed
@@JeffHorchoff ... Hi, I guess, the entrance is on the short side of the hive? I run a similar design of hive, where I have two holes of 1 inch size covered with nr8 hardware cloth. They are on the opposite side of the entrance, around 2 inches from the top side, some inches apart. So the air is flowing diagonal through the hive. I placed shutters on them to close the holes of necessary. I hope this will help you :)
Although in Bavaria with different climate, I am interested in how you will tackle that ventilation (mould) problem. I built 2 Topbar hives (Phil Chandler plans), had a huge colony in one, a split in the other and then lost the huge one, I think because of moisture build up. The split is coming along strong after Winter and the first hive has now a ventilation disc (rotary restrictor thingy) added near the top, ready for the reverse split. I hope that appoach will help with ventilation but ? we will see. Been watching you and the DirtRooster for quite awhile now. Great stuff! Thanks for the entertainment and education. Chris Smith
The moisture issue began as the number of the bees in the hive began to decrease during the winter months, and we had an extremely wet winter. I am confident that as the number of bees begin to grow again, the moisture issue will disappear. This issue did not happen last year, but our winter back then was not as wet either. So happy to hear you have been watching for a long time, thank you for that. God's peace Chris. Mr. Ed
Thanks for the inspection video. I have seen several different types of long hives and I find them all interesting. I’m glad to get a chance to see yours!
Thank you my brother, and you have a great one yourself. By the way, it's Mardi Gras time here in Louisiana, and you know it's going to get crazy. God's peace. Mr. Ed
Mr. Ed, we need to start praying for the beekeepers in China. Most of them are being prevented from tending their bees! I just read an article in Reuters. It is getting very serious. Please let us all pray for the bees and their keepers as we pray for those who are ill. May you be blessed my friend!
Happy to hear you enjoyed the video, it was a lot of fun making it as well as knowing the condition of the hive. Thanks for watching. God's peace. Mr. Ed
Thank you so much for your blessing Richard, it's always a refreshing breath to receive it. Thanks for watching, and stay warm. God's peace brother. Mr. Ed
Long hives, or top bar as they are called, are very common and a great way to rear bees and honey. For me, it is a fun project, and a way for me to observe the construction of new comb. I'm happy to share, thanks for watching. God's peace Kevin. Mr. Ed
I’m excited to set out my first long hive that I built during our long Wisconsin winter. I keep hearing that they typically don’t produce much honey and that disappoints me a bit, but I hear they do produce a lot of brood and that excites me. Either way, I’m hoping for an exciting learning experience from the long hive. Thanks for all your time and videos that help most all of us in our search for all the bee knowledge we can absorb.
It's been my experience that the hive does produce a lot of bees, as well as a good deal of honey. Either way, I'm sure you will enjoy your long hive as I enjoy mine. God's peace Carl. Mr. Ed
@@JeffHorchoff your welcome and thank you for your videos!! I'm still catching up on all your older ones and loving every minute!! Maybe the next time you clean out the long hive you could film the inside so we can see? It would be very interesting to watch. God bless Mr. Ed
When I first started building the box, I had no intention of it looking like one of our caskets. However, as the box took shape and I saw a similarity between our caskets and the bee box, then I purposefully made it look like one of our caskets. Thank you for your blessing and for watching Dave. God's peace brother. Mr. Ed
I'm happy to do the update on this hive, it just proves even bees with no management can do well......after I go in there and straighten out the house a little bit. God's peace brother. Mr. Ed
Morning Sir. I’m thinking the building on the bottom is to control heat to a area, also may I suggest putting fishing string on the frames to help hold the weight...only my two cents keep up the great work. God bless
You may be correct about heat control, I never considered that, and the fishing line is a great idea too. Now if I can get some time to do that. Thanks for your suggestions and for watching. God's peace Al. Mr. Ed
Terry, thank you so much for sending mom a birthday card, she loved it! This is a great fun project, and the bees continue to thrive even after 3 years. God's peace brother. Mr. Ed
I've always wanted to try the Long Hive. I have the plans printed out and lumber in the wood shop. I guess I'll try it. So far this winter we have lost half of our bees. 50% loss of treated bees in our apiary. Are all of your bees treatment free? This is something that I wanted to try as well. But, everyone is always spouting that the bees Must be treated.... GBU Mr. Ed
The long hive is a very good option for keeping bees if you are interested in having only a few hives. They are easy to work, they grow bees very well, and you get honey from them. I do not treat with any chemicals and never have. This year I sustained a 25% loss. Of the 200 hives I had going into winter, I lost 50 of them. I am a big believer of treatment free bee keeping. Thank you for your blessing and for watching. God's peace Doc. Mr. Ed
Hello Mr. Ed, glad to see you healthy and with a positive mood again on wrangling with the bees. :) Hope you and your family got a great christmas time and good hop in the hopefully successful and healthy year 2020. As well as mine year had startet, I hope my year will went well and more positive about fulfilling little dreams. ( not as that big dream has teminated last year :D ). I was a lil bit busy on the last fall and winter, so I´ve plenty of content to rewatch it for being able back to the actual information and content. God bless you and your loved ones. Greeting from mid-cold and in overall too warm Germany. Peter
Great to hear from you again Peter, it has been a while. As Spring time draws nearer, I am becoming very busy with bee activity, and thankfully all is well here, and I pray all is well for you and your loved ones as well. Thank you for your blessings and for watching. Until the next time, God's peace brother. Mr. Ed
@@JeffHorchoff Indeed it has been a while since my last text. I believe it that you´re more on busy with the bees on the attic or on wrangling on customer´s home. Thank for your praying as I´ll pray for you and your loved ones as well. And actually I´m planning on some vacation before the Eastern time in the USA. Still pending on some paperwork and to fix my road schedule. Greeting from a peacful and rainy Germany today. Peter.
Good video. Would the bees still make that comb on the bottom of the hive if you had added a bottom to the frame? Or is that comb that has fallen off frames? Also, do you lose the stability without the bottom frame, making it easier for comb to fall off the frames? As for the film on the comb, could it possibly be that the honey is starting to crystallize in the comb? I didn't see it up close... Good video 👍
By not having a bottom board on the frame, the bees will automatically stop building the comb. They keep that space beneath the comb to travel throughout the hive with. Because I did not harvest all the honey, it was crystallizing in the comb which is OK, the bees will eat it regardless. Thanks for watching. God's peace MD. Mr. Ed
Cool video Jeff..looks like your mom had a nice party!..why no bottoms on the frames?..maybe that box needs a bit more ventilation?..thanks for sharing!👍🏻👍🏻
The frames do not need bottoms to them, the bees will only draw comb to about 3/8 of an inch to the bottom of the box and use the space as a walk way. The only reason the bees had attached the comb to the floor was because the comb had broken off. I think if there were more bee in the box there would have been no mildew issues. The more bees, the more air is moved around. Thanks for watching. God's peace Mike. Mr. Ed
Honey is made when the bees eat the nectar from the flower. When the nectar is in the bee's stomach, an enzyme is added to it from the bee. When the bee returns to it's hive and regurgitates the new concoction, it is honey. After the excess moisture is dried from the new honey so that fermentation does not occur, then you have the honey that everyone is so familiar with. Thanks for watching and asking your questions. God's peace. Mr. Ed
@@JeffHorchoff Thanks for the explanation. I knew that bees regurgitated something for us to have honey but didn't realize it was the nectar. So honey I is bee throw-up for real. Lol. Food for thought. Literally. 😂
it looks to me that the hive should have constructed to use standard frames and foundation to eliminate the problem of the honey falling out of the frame. most of the ones i have seen built use standard frames
One of the great things about keeping bees is there is a multitude of ways to do it. The way I did this box is an experiment as well as a fun project, and it is working out very well. This hive has been occupied now for the fourth year now by the original bees that were placed there. Thanks for watching. God's peace Andy. Mr. Ed
Because I work building caskets, I tried to make the bee box look like one. I think it looks pretty close. Thanks for watching. God's peace Scott. Mr. Ed
It was different because I put a piece of plastic foundation in this frame that had drawn comb on it at the very start of the hive 3 years ago. The long hive is a fun project, and for those who are only looking for a few hives and minimum honey production, a good way to keep bees. Thanks for watching. God's peace Gavin. Mr. Ed
When allowing the bees to draw their comb naturally without any foundation, having a bottom board makes little difference. Personally, I like seeing how the bees just stop building wax at a certain point. Thanks for watching. God's peace Dawn. Mr. Ed
It was not a casket gone wrong, I made it purposely to resemble our caskets, and I even put the casket handles on it, only in the front instead of the side. What can I say, I love my work, bees and casket making. Thanks for watching. God's peace. Mr. Ed
The bottom bar encourages more the building of comb to the bottom of the box. The only reason the bees did it to several of the frames was because the comb had fallen from the frames and the bees simply attached comb to it. For that reason, the bottom bar is not used. Thanks for watching. God's peace Anthony. Mr. Ed
As the old saying about not being able to take the country out of the boy goes good with not being able to take the coffin shop out of you! And since.........don't the handles need to be on the sides instead of the ends! Just axing! Good job and it'll take the tractor to tote that thing if it gets filled up. Gods Peace to You and the Paratrooper!
Mom got your card and loved it, thanks for thinking of her. Remember, we are to keep death in front of us at all times, and I was just trying to remind the bees of this as well. God's peace brother. Mr. Ed
@@JeffHorchoff Glad Mom like the card from the outer reaches of NC! This might be considered the UK of such but it's really little 'Above The Mason/Dixon Line' or little Florida now. We have been infiltrated! and as far as my demise is concerned, my 3-score and 10 is right nigh used up and so is me, BUT I try and seek the Kingdom of God and HIS righteousness and try and wait for Him to do his curious and strange work. HE's done a bang-up job taking care of me through thick and thin all these years but don't be looking for me to even step into a plane or even think of stepping put of one that's buzzing around. I'm not that tough. Back trouble. Mushy yellow streak running right up the middle. God Be With Yall!
It is a fun project, but I'm sticking to my Langstroth's for honey production. The long hive does grow bees very well. Last summer there were 16 frames of them. Because there is no outlets on the top of the box, I don't want bees getting up there. God's peace Daniel. Mr. Ed
A bottom to the frame would give strength to the comb, but I really like seeing the bees just end it. did you notice how straight the bottom of most of the combs were? It was like they used a straight edge to get it even from one end to the other. Thanks for watching. God's peace Larry. Mr. Ed
Boy that hawk is cutting up. It’s funny how they can build so beautiful out in the wild. And mess up that pretty short coffin someone messed up building. 😂 maybe after clean up they will do it better.
I was like a Bobcat going in the hive and pulling out all the trash. The bees will be grateful, and will repay me with a lot of honey. God's peace Kenneth. Mr. Ed
Mr Ed just curious but the mold on those couple of Combs. Would that possibly be caused by a low number of bees and them not being able to tend to all of it? I was wondering that and thinking that box might be big enough to put in a divider and making two colonies out of it.
In my opinion, because the comb that had the mildew on it were the ones way in the back, and there were no bees on it to keep it cleaned. In the Spring, the box will be 3/4 full of bees. These are great bees. Thanks for watching. God's peace Rick. Mr. Ed
I was wondering what happened to that hive? I thought that you abandon it. The hive looks good all in all. I was wondering if you placed a 1" x 2" on the bottom of the frames to help keep the comb from breaking off the bottom and help solidify the comb in general. It would also prevent the bees from building on the bottom of the hive. Any way a project for another day. Take care bro. Peace be with you. Tim
This will be the 4th year that the same hive has occupied this box. Apparently, the bees like my little experiment, and don't even mind that the box looks like a casket. The only reason some of the frames had comb all the way to the bottom was because the comb had broken off and the bees attached the new comb to the comb that was lying on the bottom of the box. Generally, bees will not attach the comb to the bottom of the structure because they use the space to get around the hive. God's peace Tim. Mr. Ed
The comb is over 2 years old. From all the use and traffic, the comb darkens out and turns almost black even though it starts out snow white. Glad you enjoyed the video, thanks for watching. God's peace Lydia. Mr. Ed
I just recently removed a hive from the ceiling in my house and vacuum them into a box and moved them to the back yard don’t know if I got the queen it has been two weeks and it they seem to be doing well. Was wondering how long it would be for me to know if I got the queen it’s still a little cold here in PA and did not want to open them back up and disturb them any more
The chances are pretty good that you vacuumed the queen when you vacuumed all the bees. The only way of knowing for sure if you got her, because it's to cold for her to be laying brood yet in your area, is to inspect the hive and look for her. Me, I'd let things settle down and wait till it warms up a bit and then go looking for her. If you did not get her, you can always buy another queen. Let me know what happens. Thanks for watching. God's peace Jeff. Mr. Ed
Thanks for getting back to me. I new nothing about honey 🐝 until I found them in my ceiling and thanks 🙏🏻 to all your videos I have learn a lot about them and I am now hook on bee Inc a 🐝 keeper my son and I built are own bee vac from watching your videos and it worked great. We are anxious to see if the hive survives looks good so far on the warm days they are buzzing about. God bless and keep on Wrangling.
Thanks for the video Mr Ed! I have 3 questions below. Can you tell me your logic in not putting a bottom bar on these frames? To me without that sometimes the are going to build comb right on to the bottom of the box. Also, I’m like some of the other folks, is not enough ventilation the problem with the mold substance? How many entrances do you have for the girls in this hive?
The bottom bar encourages more the building of comb to the bottom of the box. The only reason the bees did it to several of the frames was because the comb had fallen from the frames and the bees simply attached comb to it. For that reason, the bottom bar is not used. Ventilation is a problem, however, when there are sufficient numbers of bees in the hive to move the air, the mildew will not grow. There is only one entrance, and it is a 1 inch circle, that's it. Thanks for watching and asking. God's peace Don. Mr. Ed
Mr Ed so when you built this long box and frames you never put any backing on it to let them build out is that why it’s falling off and making a mess in the box sir thank you good bless
It just happens some times. In nature there are no wires or plastic foundation to support the layers of comb, the bees support the comb just fine. Still, if it gets hot enough in the hive, comb will collapse. God's peace Nola. Mr. Ed
There is no doubt ventilation issues going on. However, when the hive is full of bees, and come summer time it will be, there will be enough air moving around and there will be no mildew either. Thanks for watching. God's peace David. Mr. Ed
Y hola a ti también mi amigo. Estoy encantado de que hayas disfrutado el video, muchas gracias por tomarte el tiempo de mirar y dejar tu comentario. Hasta la próxima, hermano de paz de Dios. Señor ed
Most definitely, and it was only in the rear of the hive where there were no bees to keep things cleaned up. Thanks for watching. God's peace Richard. Mr. Ed
@@JeffHorchoff I'm going put a package of bees in a long langstroth hive I built and was curious as far as increasing ventilation or reducing space during the winter to prevent excessive moisture. What are you going to do with your topbar?
@@richardpraeger6357 I'l l continue using it, it's a great breeder box and I do get cut comb honey from it as well. This was the first time in 3 years that there was a moisture issue, but I assume it was due to the natural decline of bees over the winter. Good luck with your long hive. God's peace Richard. Mr. Ed
Hi Mr Ed, I am somewhat new to keeping bees and have watched many of your videos. I have built a horizontal long hive similar to the one in this video. the main difference is that I have cover boards over the frames and the lid/roof on mine is ventilated. The cover boards are made so that there is a 3mm space 3/4 of way along the edge cover board allowing air from the hive to move up to the lid space and out through the ventilation holes in the lid/roof. The bees can always close this space with propolis. I would value your opinion of this set up. Also just wondering why you use top bars and side bars only. Why not add the bottom bars as well, ie Langstroth frames, wouldn't this prevent the bees from attaching the honeycomb to the floor of the hive? Keep up the great videos and God bless you and your work. Cheers from Tasmania, Australia
Hello Ron, and thank you so much for following along with my bee wrangling adventures. I am delighted to hear as well that you are a "somewhat new" bee keeper, congratulations on your leap, you are going to love being a bee keeper. As far as you hive construction goes it sounds perfectly fine to me. I'm positive you did a bunch of research making sure to account for bees space and ventilation, good for you. As far as my design of the long hive, it was to replicate the space in between floor joists, and the frame design is part of that as well. Very often, when bee build comb in that area of a house, the comb runs perpendicular to the joist, like a frame in a bee hive, and the frames I built fit that size. It is very rare to have the bees attach the comb to the floor of the space, consequently my frames have no bottom. The only reason some of the comb was attached to the bottom was other comb had fallen off and the bees just connected it. Most of the frames simply lifted out. Again, thanks for watching. God's peace brother. Mr. Ed
Thank you for another interesting video! I have a question... after the drones hatch out what do the bees do with the drone comb? is it used for worker bee brood or do they fill it with honey or pollen? Hope you are well.
First, thank you very much for sending mom a birthday card, she loved them all! Often, after the drones hatch out, the bees will back fill the cells with honey, and because the cells are larger than worker cells, it holds more honey. All is well, thanks for asking and for watching. God's peace Stephoni. Mr. Ed
@@WhiTiger Not that mom ever showed partiality, she was always considerate of peoples feelings, but she really liked the home made cards the best, she even keeps them separated from the other cards. Keep asking, and I will try to answer. God's peace Stephoni. Mr. Ed
This is the only one I have, and it was built as an experiment to represent the floor space of a house. I always notice how well bees do in that space when I remove them from homes, so I just replicated it. And you know what, the bees love this box. This will be the 4th year these bees have occupied this box, different queens, but all from the original queen that originally lived there. God's peace Kevin. Mr. Ed
@@JeffHorchoff -- Ah, clever ! If bees like to build their colonies between floor joists, then build a hive that resembles the space between floor joists. Cute !
Jeff, that hive looks a little bit like a coffin. I can't imagine why lol. For the frames that the bees build down to the floor, can you put a bottom bar on the frame?
I think there are many folks out there that do not realize I build caskets, and I built the box that way for that reason. The only reason some of the frames had comb all the way to the bottom was because the comb had broken off and the bees attached the new comb to the comb that was lying on the bottom of the box. Generally, bees will not attach the comb to the bottom of the structure because they use the space to get around the hive. God's peace Timothy. Mr. Ed
Tim, bees have a habit of building comb wherever they can. Some colonies will build past bottom bars leaving just enough room to squeeze past below the comb, some build to the bottom.
Mildew on the comb? Insufficient air flow through the hive? Is it the top bar hive that has the slopped or tapered bottom as apposed to a flat bottom long hive?
None that the bees don't handle. I always find them in the rear of the box, that's where the least number of bees are patrolling. Thanks for watching. God's peace Marty. Mr. Ed
The only thing I do differently than you in my long box is I have regular langstroth frames with a bottom bar. So far last year I didn't have any issue with building comb where it shouldn't be ( aka on the bottom). I'm wondering if I should add doors to be able to close up the bottom? I think I might go ahead and add them. If I never close them they won't be in the way, and if I do need to close them I won't have to add them with bees in the hive. I'm very interested in how you are doing during the year with your long hive. Please keep posting videos of it. Do you have to rearrange frames after the bees swarm? I had a problem with the girls back filling the brood chamber with honey while the queen was waiting to hatch and then she thinks there is no place to lay eggs. She swarmed on me last year because of this. This year I've got a couple of drawn frames to put in the brood chamber to give her a place to lay eggs. Hopefully this will cure that problem. I am interested in any issues you have in your long hive and how you correct them. May God bless you and your honey bees Mr Ed. Thank you for being you.
I have to say Renee, you are more hands on with your hive than I am. I would rarely open the box last year, other than to split it. It always had lots of bees, as well as honey. I just figured they were doing OK, so I left them along. Keep up your efforts, it's great to hear a bee keepers enthusiasm. God's peace brother. Mr. Ed
The box was a miss build, and I just couldn't stand the idea of tossing it in the dumpster, instead, I turned it into a bee box. OK that's not true, I built the box fully aware it looked like a casket. It gets some great looks from folks walking in the field and seeing it. God's peace brother. Mr. Ed
Asking a question concerning your long hive frames. Should you use some support across the middle and bottom of the frame? This should help support the wax and keep it off the bottom of the hive.
I could have put a bottom on the frames, but it is not necessary as long as you are careful during inspections. The only reason some of the frames were attached to the bottom of the box was because the comb had broken off and was laying on the bottom. Then, the bees just attached new comb to it. Thanks for watching. God's peace John. Mr. Ed
I will do that this summer. Last summer there were 16 frames of bees in the box. Super bees, and very gentle. Thanks for watching. God's peace Johnny. Mr. Ed
I could have put a bottom on the frames, but it is not necessary as long as you are careful during inspections. The only reason some of the frames were attached to the bottom of the box was because the comb had broken off and was laying on the bottom. Then, the bees just attached new comb to it. Thanks for watching. God's peace. Mr. Ed
Hey there Mr. Ed, while u are cleaning up and checking on the progress of your hives/boxes, and u pull out one of the frames, and possibly reverse the direction, or the side that the frame was originally setting, does that disrupt or bother the bees when u do that? #thankyouchadwick & #thankyoujesus
At this point of the development of the hive it should not matter. However, once a hive has stores and brood, the placement of the frames, in my opinion, is very important, and they should be put in the same way and order they were removed. Thanks for watching. God's peace Chadwick. Mr. Ed
@@JeffHorchoff right on brotha. I know u and Dirt Rooster have spoke about the up and down direction of the cone, when u do a removal, and place the comb into the frames using rubberbands, but i was just curious if it matter if u reversed one side from the original way it was in the hive. So thank u as always for replying! Have yourself a great week!
Joseph Wilson - I live in NorthEastern Washington State and that bird sounded like a hawk to me. Maybe a red tailed hawk. Mr Ed is in Louisiana, so I’m not sure if they have the red tailed hawk down there though...
Hi Jeff, I'm not a bee keeper I just enjoy watching y'all but I'm curious, you showed pollen in the comb, is that left from winter store or was your winter mild enough that they are already collecting? Seems like that was a lot of honey for the end of winter. again, I know nothing about keeping bees sept what you gentlemen show us. Thank you for doing all the work it takes to bring us these videos. God Bless you.
The pollen is brand new, there are lots of things in bloom right now in the deep south. I saw a lot of honey in a lot of our boxes. Apparently, the bees stored ample supplies for themselves during our nectar flows. This surplus of honey was evident in better than half of our hives. Thank you for your blessing and for watching. God's peace Chris. Mr. Ed
Jeff... don't forget since those top bar frames don't have a bottom piece, you need to try to inspect and rotate it on the vertical axis, and resist tipping it, else it stresses the comb and creates microfractures or even break off with a load if heavy honey.
I do enjoy seeing how bees draw out their comb more naturally and how you are sharing this with us all.
#GoldenRule #GodLovesAll #GodBless
That's what happened to the comb on the bottom of the box, I stressed it and it fell off. I do need to do a better job when checking the frames. I learned a valuable lesson last year. Thanks for watching and for your suggestion. God's peace PM.
Mr. Ed
Well, sometimes bigger isn't always better. Its always a joy to watch your videos. With what's going on right now in our country and parts of the world, you help remind me that there are still some truly good people in the world. Gives me a little hope at least.
Your kind words are greatly appreciated Roger, I'm delighted to hear my videos insert a bit of hope for humanity for you. For me, I'm simply happy to share what brings joy to me. Thank you so much for watching. God's peace brother.
Mr. Ed
@@JeffHorchoff That's what it's all about, sharing what brings joy to you and others. Thanks for sharing yours.
I love how much pride you take in keeping things nice and clean. Love watching your videos
I can't do the bee thing because I'm allergic to bee stings but I love watching you do these.
Watching is the safest way to learn about bees, thanks so much for taking all the time to do that. Until the next one, God's peace.
Mr. Ed
I can’t believe I get a cup of coffee turn on TH-cam and there you are. Nothing I like better than watching a good man work. God bless you too.
Thank you for your blessing and taking the time to watch as you enjoy your morning cup of coffee. God's peace Randy.
Mr. Ed
We just need more Mr. Eds in our world.
You are to kind Thom, thank you for those words and for watching. God's peace brother.
Mr. Ed
This is just some fun content. You learn so much. It is a blessing that the Abby allows you to do this.
So happy you enjoyed the video and even learned something by watching. I am a very blessed man to be able to do the work I do at the abbey. Thanks for watching. God's peace John.
Mr. Ed
@@JeffHorchoff I'm a firm believer in using our talents for the Glory of God. Something I see in your channel. God Bless -JM/The Lego Church Project
What the heck Jeff? With reg. Boxes you wax the plastic divider that goes in the frame,you dip the box.you do everything you can for the bees. But on the long box heres a piece of wood good luck. An empty frame. I like long boxes they make alot of sense.easier in many ways. For the bee keeper and the bees. I think if you gave them a fair chance you'd want more of them. And they do look like caskets.so you know where to get some. God bless you the monks and the bees.
Well, I got another long hive for Christmas, Good Time Charlie gave it to me, and I will making videos on the progress of it. Stay tuned. God's peace Lamont.
Mr. Ed
Well, I got another long hive for Christmas, Good Time Charlie gave it to me, and I will making videos on the progress of it. Stay tuned. God's peace Lamont.
Mr. Ed
Every time I try and smoke bees they keep crawling out of the paper!!! Lol
You have to duct tape their feet together before rolling them, that's what I do. Great comment, thanks for watching. God's peace Chris.
Mr. Ed
Hi Jeff, remember a while back, I asked about where all those swarming bees were coming from? Now we know, they are coming from your long box hive ! hahaha they are just recycling themselves from the box, into the wild, later into one of your swarm boxes, and return to the abbey, the long way !
In the past I do not think that's been the case, but I can't say that's not going to be true in years to come. Get over here now and set some traps. Thanks for watching. God's peace Jeremy.
Mr. Ed
Good job Mr Ed 👍
Happy to see you again Mr Ed.
God bless American people 🕇
Thanks for the support Melad, it's always great to know you are following along. Thank you for your blessing, and for watching. Till the next time, God's peace.
Mr. Ed
That’s the first time I seen a longer hive😁 I always wondered why the boxes are not made longer👀 this is great💯🥂
The long hives, or top bar hives, have been around for a very long time, this is just my variation on it. It's a lot of fun growing bees in this fashion, and I do get cut honey comb from it as well. Great to hear from you again. Thanks for watching. God's peace.
Mr. Ed
Absolutely great looking long give, enjoy watching you wrangle
Thanks Lisa, and thanks for taking the time to watch my wrangling adventures. Until the next one, God's peace.
Mr. Ed
Thank you Mr ED for posting another great video 😃🐝
You are very welcome, and thank you so much for taking your time to watch it. So glad to hear you enjoyed the video. Till the next one, God's peace.
Mr. Ed
Lots of honey from happy bees.
Coolest hive on TH-cam. Looks like some of those honey frames pulled apart under their own weight last summer. Ready for another year of service. Thanks for the video Mr Ed. 👍👍🐝🐝
I think I had a bit to do with the comb falling, I mishandled the frames during inspections. Oh well, the bees adjusted, and I got to clean up my own mess. Still, very interesting project. Thanks for watching. God's peace brother.
Mr. Ed
Thank you Jesus. Enjoy the bee's Jeff and keep on sharing.
Thank you Cheryl, it is a great joy for me to share my wrangling experiences, thank you Jesus for the graces! God's peace.
Mr. Ed
Hello Mister Ed Ed here love your videos may God bless you in all your adventures👍✌😎
Your blessing and kind words are greatly appreciated, Thank you for them. God's peace.
Mr. Ed
Thanks for the mildew advice. I had the same thing in my absconded hive.
A hive needs to have air movement in it to prevent moisture from building up. In this case, because there were no bees in the back of the hive, moisture clung to the comb and mildew appeared. Still. when I fed the comb to our bees, they ate it with no problem. Thanks for watching. God's peace.
Mr. Ed
now that episode left me out in the forestry for a while after you ended the ongoing video there, thanks..!!
~WarriorPoet~
I do love working the hives in the back of the abbey, it's very secluded. God's peace brother.
Mr. Ed
@@JeffHorchoff ~
" we here, wish for you all the best, in god's peace.! "
- keep trekking upon that one good path,
until next time our journeys come to meet, brother..
~WarriorPoet~
That "long" hive looks like one of those coffin the monks built.
SEE the bees are the ultimate recyclers. And now Mr. Jeff is too.
Because I work in the casket shop, the long hive was purposefully designed to look like one of our caskets, it even has the same handles on it as one of the caskets. It was built from the same material as the caskets, but it was all "drop off" or "waste" material, and did not cost anything to build. Thanks for watching. God's peace.
Mr. Ed
@@JeffHorchoff its how he disposes of the bodies he finds sometimes behind drywall in these old buildings ;)
Thanks Mr. Ed. I truly would like to thank you for the Videos you post .
Thank you so very much for your kind words Charles, they are greatly appreciated. I am delighted you enjoy watching my bee wrangling adventures. Till the next one, God's peace brother.
Mr. Ed
Your videos are addictive!! ❤️🍯
I think it's rather the association my videos have with honey. Now that stuff IS addictive. Thanks for your kind words and for watching Aura. God's peace.
Mr. Ed
So excited to see how this hive is doing!
You and me both! This will be the 4th year the same hive, different queens, have occupied the box. I guess they really like it. Thanks for watching. God's peace Jess.
Mr. Ed
You did a great Job Mr. Ed. It was a pleasure to watch and to listen to you expaining. Thank you for sharing and see you again soon. God bless.
Always a pleasure having you follow along Elaine, thank you for your blessing and kind words. Till the next time, God's peace.
Mr. Ed
When the bees are left to their own devices they will deftly create honeycomb anywhere and everywhere. It's good that you're staying on top of these to kinda keep it orderly for sure. Thanks for sharing my friend.
Over the years I have learned, bee will do what bees want to do, not what the bee keeper wants them to do. Sometimes though, it works out for both the bee keeper and the bees. Glad you enjoyed the video, thanks for watching. God's peace.
Mr. Ed
@@JeffHorchoff very well said my friend👍
That hive needs some ventilation to stop the mold and mildew. You can see how far from the entrance those frames were.
It's on my to do list, get a bit of air in there. God's peace Carson.
Mr. Ed
@@JeffHorchoff ... Hi, I guess, the entrance is on the short side of the hive? I run a similar design of hive, where I have two holes of 1 inch size covered with nr8 hardware cloth. They are on the opposite side of the entrance, around 2 inches from the top side, some inches apart. So the air is flowing diagonal through the hive. I placed shutters on them to close the holes of necessary.
I hope this will help you :)
Although in Bavaria with different climate, I am interested in how you will tackle that ventilation (mould) problem.
I built 2 Topbar hives (Phil Chandler plans), had a huge colony in one, a split in the other and then lost the huge one, I think because of moisture build up. The split is coming along strong after Winter and the first hive has now a ventilation disc (rotary restrictor thingy) added near the top, ready for the reverse split. I hope that appoach will help with ventilation but ? we will see.
Been watching you and the DirtRooster for quite awhile now. Great stuff! Thanks for the entertainment and education. Chris Smith
The moisture issue began as the number of the bees in the hive began to decrease during the winter months, and we had an extremely wet winter. I am confident that as the number of bees begin to grow again, the moisture issue will disappear. This issue did not happen last year, but our winter back then was not as wet either. So happy to hear you have been watching for a long time, thank you for that. God's peace Chris.
Mr. Ed
Thanks for the inspection video. I have seen several different types of long hives and I find them all interesting. I’m glad to get a chance to see yours!
Thank you Diane, it was a joy sharing this video as the long hive is an on going project for me. God's peace.
Mr. Ed
You sure gite that looking good....Ready for Spring split l would say....Thanks for sharing part of your life.....My friend...!
It all ready to go, and I can hardly wait to split it, these are some great bees. Thanks for watching. God's peace Steve.
Mr. Ed
Cool Jeff, always a pleasure to see your videos. It's in the low 20's here
Way to cold for me, stay warm and watch lots of Mr. Ed on TH-cam. Thanks for watching. God's peace Darlene.
Mr. Ed
@@JeffHorchoff To cold for me too, I HATE IT
That was really amazing!
So glad you liked the video Jodi, thank you for taking the time to watch and leave your comment. God's peace.
Mr. Ed
Mr. Ed thanks for the long hive visit.
I was happy to do it, and I really wanted to clean this hive up and get it ready for splitting. God's peace brother.
Mr. Ed
Have a good weekend Mr Ed. Take care buddy.
Thank you my brother, and you have a great one yourself. By the way, it's Mardi Gras time here in Louisiana, and you know it's going to get crazy. God's peace.
Mr. Ed
Mr. Ed, we need to start praying for the beekeepers in China. Most of them are being prevented from tending their bees! I just read an article in Reuters. It is getting very serious. Please let us all pray for the bees and their keepers as we pray for those who are ill.
May you be blessed my friend!
Thank you for making me aware of the need Jane, I will add them to my list. Thank you for your blessing and for watching. God's peace.
Mr. Ed
Why are they being kept from their bees? Is it the corona quarantine?
@@tealkerberus748 yes, it's because of the quarantine. They don't live near their hives. You should read the article on Reuters.
Glad you made this,I enjoyed the inspection
Happy to hear you enjoyed the video, it was a lot of fun making it as well as knowing the condition of the hive. Thanks for watching. God's peace.
Mr. Ed
Thanks for the great video I have ne st in my tree next to my house I'm gonna try and catch and turn into my second box
Glad you liked the video, and I wish you great success with your catching of the bees. Thanks for watching. God's peace.
Mr. Ed
A;nother great video. It has warmed up to about 20 here this morning. Keep up the good work as ever god bless you and all the bees
Where is here?
@@stevewetzel7457 Steve I live at Anchorage, Alaska
Thank you so much for your blessing Richard, it's always a refreshing breath to receive it. Thanks for watching, and stay warm. God's peace brother.
Mr. Ed
Jeff I have seen many hives but never one like that, it is very interesting.LOL Thanks for sharing I love learning new Bee things.
Long hives, or top bar as they are called, are very common and a great way to rear bees and honey. For me, it is a fun project, and a way for me to observe the construction of new comb. I'm happy to share, thanks for watching. God's peace Kevin.
Mr. Ed
I’m excited to set out my first long hive that I built during our long Wisconsin winter. I keep hearing that they typically don’t produce much honey and that disappoints me a bit, but I hear they do produce a lot of brood and that excites me. Either way, I’m hoping for an exciting learning experience from the long hive. Thanks for all your time and videos that help most all of us in our search for all the bee knowledge we can absorb.
It's been my experience that the hive does produce a lot of bees, as well as a good deal of honey. Either way, I'm sure you will enjoy your long hive as I enjoy mine. God's peace Carl.
Mr. Ed
That's basically a top bar hive!
That's correct, it's just a bit modified. Thanks for watching. God's peace Jack.
Mr. Ed
Wish we could see into the box while you're scraping and cleaning it out that way we could see what your doing.
I'm sorry I did not shot a bit of that video, it would have made it more interesting. Thanks for watching. God's peace Theresa.
Mr. Ed
@@JeffHorchoff your welcome and thank you for your videos!! I'm still catching up on all your older ones and loving every minute!! Maybe the next time you clean out the long hive you could film the inside so we can see? It would be very interesting to watch. God bless Mr. Ed
Mr. Ed did that box start out as a coffin I like it hope it didn't have a body in it lol God bless Brother keep wrangling
When I first started building the box, I had no intention of it looking like one of our caskets. However, as the box took shape and I saw a similarity between our caskets and the bee box, then I purposefully made it look like one of our caskets. Thank you for your blessing and for watching Dave. God's peace brother.
Mr. Ed
Thanks for featuring an update on the "coffin" hive! I was wondering how it made the winter. Good job as always!
I'm happy to do the update on this hive, it just proves even bees with no management can do well......after I go in there and straighten out the house a little bit. God's peace brother.
Mr. Ed
Morning Sir. I’m thinking the building on the bottom is to control heat to a area, also may I suggest putting fishing string on the frames to help hold the weight...only my two cents keep up the great work. God bless
You may be correct about heat control, I never considered that, and the fishing line is a great idea too. Now if I can get some time to do that. Thanks for your suggestions and for watching. God's peace Al.
Mr. Ed
nice seeing the long box
Terry, thank you so much for sending mom a birthday card, she loved it! This is a great fun project, and the bees continue to thrive even after 3 years. God's peace brother.
Mr. Ed
@@JeffHorchoff god bless r mom had fun sending one to her
I’ve been wandering when you were going to go in this one.
You are my inspiration. God's peace brother.
Mr. Ed
Sounds like a Red Shouldered Hawk squawking in the background. We have 2 p.o air nesting in the neighborhood.
We have lots of them around the abbey. With 1200 acres of land, that's a lot of roosting area. God's peace Bill.
Mr. Ed
Definitely a red shouldered....their call is so distinctive and clear
Well done Mr Ed I no I ask you heaps of questions I hope you don’t mind god bless sir
Thank you for your blessings, your questions, and for watching. Until the next one, God's peace Nola.
Mr. Ed
I've always wanted to try the Long Hive. I have the plans printed out and lumber in the wood shop. I guess I'll try it. So far this winter we have lost half of our bees. 50% loss of treated bees in our apiary. Are all of your bees treatment free? This is something that I wanted to try as well. But, everyone is always spouting that the bees Must be treated.... GBU Mr. Ed
Tried and had too many moisture and ventilation problems.
The long hive is a very good option for keeping bees if you are interested in having only a few hives. They are easy to work, they grow bees very well, and you get honey from them. I do not treat with any chemicals and never have. This year I sustained a 25% loss. Of the 200 hives I had going into winter, I lost 50 of them. I am a big believer of treatment free bee keeping. Thank you for your blessing and for watching. God's peace Doc.
Mr. Ed
Hello Mr. Ed,
glad to see you healthy and with a positive mood again on wrangling with the bees. :)
Hope you and your family got a great christmas time and good hop in the hopefully successful and healthy year 2020. As well as mine year had startet, I hope my year will went well and more positive about fulfilling little dreams. ( not as that big dream has teminated last year :D ).
I was a lil bit busy on the last fall and winter, so I´ve plenty of content to rewatch it for being able back to the actual information and content.
God bless you and your loved ones. Greeting from mid-cold and in overall too warm Germany. Peter
Great to hear from you again Peter, it has been a while. As Spring time draws nearer, I am becoming very busy with bee activity, and thankfully all is well here, and I pray all is well for you and your loved ones as well. Thank you for your blessings and for watching. Until the next time, God's peace brother.
Mr. Ed
@@JeffHorchoff Indeed it has been a while since my last text. I believe it that you´re more on busy with the bees on the attic or on wrangling on customer´s home. Thank for your praying as I´ll pray for you and your loved ones as well.
And actually I´m planning on some vacation before the Eastern time in the USA. Still pending on some paperwork and to fix my road schedule.
Greeting from a peacful and rainy Germany today.
Peter.
Spoiler alert: Mr. Ed spots the queen lol. Good video!
Glad you made it back from your trip, I hope all was well. I'll call you soon. God's peace brother.
Mr. Ed
Thank you, It was an excellent trip. Look forward to talking to you soon.
Good video. Would the bees still make that comb on the bottom of the hive if you had added a bottom to the frame? Or is that comb that has fallen off frames? Also, do you lose the stability without the bottom frame, making it easier for comb to fall off the frames?
As for the film on the comb, could it possibly be that the honey is starting to crystallize in the comb? I didn't see it up close...
Good video 👍
By not having a bottom board on the frame, the bees will automatically stop building the comb. They keep that space beneath the comb to travel throughout the hive with. Because I did not harvest all the honey, it was crystallizing in the comb which is OK, the bees will eat it regardless. Thanks for watching. God's peace MD.
Mr. Ed
Those are some interesting looking frames!
They were built for the hive, and they work fantastic. Stay safe, God's peace.
Mr. Ed
That coopers hawk was just going out of it's way to let you know it was there.
We have a lot of them around the abbey, it's a great sound.....but not as great as the buzz of bees. God's peace Jeremy.
Mr. Ed
Cool video Jeff..looks like your mom had a nice party!..why no bottoms on the frames?..maybe that box needs a bit more ventilation?..thanks for sharing!👍🏻👍🏻
The frames do not need bottoms to them, the bees will only draw comb to about 3/8 of an inch to the bottom of the box and use the space as a walk way. The only reason the bees had attached the comb to the floor was because the comb had broken off. I think if there were more bee in the box there would have been no mildew issues. The more bees, the more air is moved around. Thanks for watching. God's peace Mike.
Mr. Ed
Doggone it, Jeff! I was waiting for paper snakes to pop out of that thing! 🤪
You know me to well Lorraine! Thanks for watching. God's peace.
Mr. Ed
I was wondering, what is the difference between the nectar and the honey. Really enjoyed this video.
Honey is made when the bees eat the nectar from the flower. When the nectar is in the bee's stomach, an enzyme is added to it from the bee. When the bee returns to it's hive and regurgitates the new concoction, it is honey. After the excess moisture is dried from the new honey so that fermentation does not occur, then you have the honey that everyone is so familiar with. Thanks for watching and asking your questions. God's peace.
Mr. Ed
@@JeffHorchoff Thanks for the explanation. I knew that bees regurgitated something for us to have honey but didn't realize it was the nectar. So honey I is bee throw-up for real. Lol. Food for thought. Literally. 😂
Sounds like a young hawk raising cane in the background. Red Tail? Coopers?
A red tail, we have a lot of them around here, they sound so cool! Thanks for watching. God's peace.
Mr. Ed
it looks to me that the hive should have constructed to use standard frames and foundation to eliminate the problem of the honey falling out of the frame. most of the ones i have seen built use standard frames
A bottom bar and/or wire would be a great improvement. Or more ventilation so it don't get hot enough for the comb to fall off 🤔
One of the great things about keeping bees is there is a multitude of ways to do it. The way I did this box is an experiment as well as a fun project, and it is working out very well. This hive has been occupied now for the fourth year now by the original bees that were placed there. Thanks for watching. God's peace Andy.
Mr. Ed
My gosh, I thought that was a casket.
Because I work building caskets, I tried to make the bee box look like one. I think it looks pretty close. Thanks for watching. God's peace Scott.
Mr. Ed
Thank you !!! 👑🐝❤️
You are very welcome, and thank you so much for watching and leaving your comment. Till the next time, God's peace Chelsea.
Mr. Ed
9:30 y is that frame difrent then the rest Jeff love the idea of this hive thank you for sharing
It was different because I put a piece of plastic foundation in this frame that had drawn comb on it at the very start of the hive 3 years ago. The long hive is a fun project, and for those who are only looking for a few hives and minimum honey production, a good way to keep bees. Thanks for watching. God's peace Gavin.
Mr. Ed
Jeff Horchoff Bees thank you I think a hive like this may be a good queen raiser
@@buzzmonkey It has been for the last 3 years, and I only see it producing the same results again this year. God's peace Gavin.
Mr. Ed
Would having the bottom board on the frame be helpful?
When allowing the bees to draw their comb naturally without any foundation, having a bottom board makes little difference. Personally, I like seeing how the bees just stop building wax at a certain point. Thanks for watching. God's peace Dawn.
Mr. Ed
Ok Mr Ed, was that box really a coffin gone wrong?...asking for a friend.
Bee’s: well we like it like this and don’t care if you’re not interested 😂🤣
It was not a casket gone wrong, I made it purposely to resemble our caskets, and I even put the casket handles on it, only in the front instead of the side. What can I say, I love my work, bees and casket making. Thanks for watching. God's peace.
Mr. Ed
Why don't you put bottom edges on your frames?
The bottom bar encourages more the building of comb to the bottom of the box. The only reason the bees did it to several of the frames was because the comb had fallen from the frames and the bees simply attached comb to it. For that reason, the bottom bar is not used. Thanks for watching. God's peace Anthony.
Mr. Ed
We still got snow on the ground here lol
Hahaha us too
I feel so bad for you, Spring is near. God's peace Kyle.
Mr. Ed
As the old saying about not being able to take the country out of the boy goes good with not being able to take the coffin shop out of you! And since.........don't the handles need to be on the sides instead of the ends! Just axing! Good job and it'll take the tractor to tote that thing if it gets filled up. Gods Peace to You and the Paratrooper!
Mom got your card and loved it, thanks for thinking of her. Remember, we are to keep death in front of us at all times, and I was just trying to remind the bees of this as well. God's peace brother.
Mr. Ed
@@JeffHorchoff Glad Mom like the card from the outer reaches of NC! This might be considered the UK of such but it's really little 'Above The Mason/Dixon Line' or little Florida now. We have been infiltrated! and as far as my demise is concerned, my 3-score and 10 is right nigh used up and so is me, BUT I try and seek the Kingdom of God and HIS righteousness and try and wait for Him to do his curious and strange work. HE's done a bang-up job taking care of me through thick and thin all these years but don't be looking for me to even step into a plane or even think of stepping put of one that's buzzing around. I'm not that tough. Back trouble. Mushy yellow streak running right up the middle. God Be With Yall!
That’s a neat setup mr ed I may look in to trying one of these hive how come you don’t want them to come out between the tops of the frames
It is a fun project, but I'm sticking to my Langstroth's for honey production. The long hive does grow bees very well. Last summer there were 16 frames of them. Because there is no outlets on the top of the box, I don't want bees getting up there. God's peace Daniel.
Mr. Ed
Another great video Mr. Ed! Do you think a bottom bar or wire would help to support that heavy comb?
A bottom to the frame would give strength to the comb, but I really like seeing the bees just end it. did you notice how straight the bottom of most of the combs were? It was like they used a straight edge to get it even from one end to the other. Thanks for watching. God's peace Larry.
Mr. Ed
Jeff Horchoff Bees - Thank you Sir! 😀
And also to you.
Boy that hawk is cutting up. It’s funny how they can build so beautiful out in the wild. And mess up that pretty short coffin someone messed up building. 😂 maybe after clean up they will do it better.
I was like a Bobcat going in the hive and pulling out all the trash. The bees will be grateful, and will repay me with a lot of honey. God's peace Kenneth.
Mr. Ed
Mr Ed just curious but the mold on those couple of Combs. Would that possibly be caused by a low number of bees and them not being able to tend to all of it? I was wondering that and thinking that box might be big enough to put in a divider and making two colonies out of it.
I was wondering the same thing. If it got mildew'd because there weren't enough bees to keep it dry.
I have the same thing in a hive that absconded, so maybe.
In my opinion, because the comb that had the mildew on it were the ones way in the back, and there were no bees on it to keep it cleaned. In the Spring, the box will be 3/4 full of bees. These are great bees. Thanks for watching. God's peace Rick.
Mr. Ed
I was wondering what happened to that hive? I thought that you abandon it. The hive looks good all in all. I was wondering if you placed a 1" x 2" on the bottom of the frames to help keep the comb from breaking off the bottom and help solidify the comb in general. It would also prevent the bees from building on the bottom of the hive. Any way a project for another day. Take care bro. Peace be with you. Tim
This will be the 4th year that the same hive has occupied this box. Apparently, the bees like my little experiment, and don't even mind that the box looks like a casket. The only reason some of the frames had comb all the way to the bottom was because the comb had broken off and the bees attached the new comb to the comb that was lying on the bottom of the box. Generally, bees will not attach the comb to the bottom of the structure because they use the space to get around the hive. God's peace Tim.
Mr. Ed
Why are the combs black? I thought they would be yellow or white. Thanks for the video. Love the long hive.
The comb is over 2 years old. From all the use and traffic, the comb darkens out and turns almost black even though it starts out snow white. Glad you enjoyed the video, thanks for watching. God's peace Lydia.
Mr. Ed
I just recently removed a hive from the ceiling in my house and vacuum them into a box and moved them to the back yard don’t know if I got the queen it has been two weeks and it they seem to be doing well. Was wondering how long it would be for me to know if I got the queen it’s still a little cold here in PA and did not want to open them back up and disturb them any more
The chances are pretty good that you vacuumed the queen when you vacuumed all the bees. The only way of knowing for sure if you got her, because it's to cold for her to be laying brood yet in your area, is to inspect the hive and look for her. Me, I'd let things settle down and wait till it warms up a bit and then go looking for her. If you did not get her, you can always buy another queen. Let me know what happens. Thanks for watching. God's peace Jeff.
Mr. Ed
Thanks for getting back to me. I new nothing about honey 🐝 until I found them in my ceiling and thanks 🙏🏻 to all your videos I have learn a lot about them and I am now hook on bee Inc a 🐝 keeper my son and I built are own bee vac from watching your videos and it worked great. We are anxious to see if the hive survives looks good so far on the warm days they are buzzing about. God bless and keep on Wrangling.
Thanks for the video Mr Ed! I have 3 questions below.
Can you tell me your logic in not putting a bottom bar on these frames? To me without that sometimes the are going to build comb right on to the bottom of the box. Also, I’m like some of the other folks, is not enough ventilation the problem with the mold substance? How many entrances do you have for the girls in this hive?
The bottom bar encourages more the building of comb to the bottom of the box. The only reason the bees did it to several of the frames was because the comb had fallen from the frames and the bees simply attached comb to it. For that reason, the bottom bar is not used. Ventilation is a problem, however, when there are sufficient numbers of bees in the hive to move the air, the mildew will not grow. There is only one entrance, and it is a 1 inch circle, that's it. Thanks for watching and asking. God's peace Don.
Mr. Ed
Mr Ed so when you built this long box and frames you never put any backing on it to let them build out is that why it’s falling off and making a mess in the box sir thank you good bless
It just happens some times. In nature there are no wires or plastic foundation to support the layers of comb, the bees support the comb just fine. Still, if it gets hot enough in the hive, comb will collapse. God's peace Nola.
Mr. Ed
I think your top needs ventilation thru the insulation panel at top then out the sides of top lid, use screen o prevent beetles from coming in.
There is no doubt ventilation issues going on. However, when the hive is full of bees, and come summer time it will be, there will be enough air moving around and there will be no mildew either. Thanks for watching. God's peace David.
Mr. Ed
Saluditos amigo feliz día lindos vídeo
Y hola a ti también mi amigo. Estoy encantado de que hayas disfrutado el video, muchas gracias por tomarte el tiempo de mirar y dejar tu comentario. Hasta la próxima, hermano de paz de Dios.
Señor ed
@@JeffHorchoff ahorita es el tiempo de la miel de las colmenas verdad mi amigo saludos
Do you think the mildew is the result of excessive moisture in the hive?
Most definitely, and it was only in the rear of the hive where there were no bees to keep things cleaned up. Thanks for watching. God's peace Richard.
Mr. Ed
@@JeffHorchoff I'm going put a package of bees in a long langstroth hive I built and was curious as far as increasing ventilation or reducing space during the winter to prevent excessive moisture. What are you going to do with your topbar?
@@richardpraeger6357 I'l l continue using it, it's a great breeder box and I do get cut comb honey from it as well. This was the first time in 3 years that there was a moisture issue, but I assume it was due to the natural decline of bees over the winter. Good luck with your long hive. God's peace Richard.
Mr. Ed
Hi Mr Ed, I am somewhat new to keeping bees and have watched many of your videos. I have built a horizontal long hive similar to the one in this video. the main difference is that I have cover boards over the frames and the lid/roof on mine is ventilated. The cover boards are made so that there is a 3mm space 3/4 of way along the edge cover board allowing air from the hive to move up to the lid space and out through the ventilation holes in the lid/roof. The bees can always close this space with propolis. I would value your opinion of this set up. Also just wondering why you use top bars and side bars only. Why not add the bottom bars as well, ie Langstroth frames, wouldn't this prevent the bees from attaching the honeycomb to the floor of the hive? Keep up the great videos and God bless you and your work. Cheers from
Tasmania, Australia
Hello Ron, and thank you so much for following along with my bee wrangling adventures. I am delighted to hear as well that you are a "somewhat new" bee keeper, congratulations on your leap, you are going to love being a bee keeper. As far as you hive construction goes it sounds perfectly fine to me. I'm positive you did a bunch of research making sure to account for bees space and ventilation, good for you. As far as my design of the long hive, it was to replicate the space in between floor joists, and the frame design is part of that as well. Very often, when bee build comb in that area of a house, the comb runs perpendicular to the joist, like a frame in a bee hive, and the frames I built fit that size. It is very rare to have the bees attach the comb to the floor of the space, consequently my frames have no bottom. The only reason some of the comb was attached to the bottom was other comb had fallen off and the bees just connected it. Most of the frames simply lifted out. Again, thanks for watching. God's peace brother.
Mr. Ed
Thank you for another interesting video! I have a question... after the drones hatch out what do the bees do with the drone comb? is it used for worker bee brood or do they fill it with honey or pollen? Hope you are well.
First, thank you very much for sending mom a birthday card, she loved them all! Often, after the drones hatch out, the bees will back fill the cells with honey, and because the cells are larger than worker cells, it holds more honey. All is well, thanks for asking and for watching. God's peace Stephoni.
Mr. Ed
@@JeffHorchoff It was very much my pleasure to send your mother a card. I enjoyed making it. And thank you for answering my questions all the time.
@@WhiTiger Not that mom ever showed partiality, she was always considerate of peoples feelings, but she really liked the home made cards the best, she even keeps them separated from the other cards. Keep asking, and I will try to answer. God's peace Stephoni.
Mr. Ed
I didn't know that you had any top-bar hives.
I thought that you had only Langstroth hives.
This is the only one I have, and it was built as an experiment to represent the floor space of a house. I always notice how well bees do in that space when I remove them from homes, so I just replicated it. And you know what, the bees love this box. This will be the 4th year these bees have occupied this box, different queens, but all from the original queen that originally lived there. God's peace Kevin.
Mr. Ed
@@JeffHorchoff -- Ah, clever ! If bees like to build their colonies between floor joists, then build a hive that resembles the space between floor joists. Cute !
@@kevinbyrne4538 In my small way of thinking, it made sense so I did it, and I'm happy I did. God's peace Kevin.
Mr. Ed
Do you prefer the long box or the small boxes please god bless sir
I love the long box, but for honey production, I prefer the rectangular ones. God's peace Nola.
Mr. Ed
i think the mold is caused to lack of ventilation, maybe that foam cover is blocking the air
I'll be working on the ventilation issue very soon. Thanks for watching. God's peace Sameer.
Mr. Ed
Hello Jeff! Lots of zombie comb.
Thankfully, not any more. God's peace brother.
Mr. Ed
Jeff, that hive looks a little bit like a coffin. I can't imagine why lol. For the frames that the bees build down to the floor, can you put a bottom bar on the frame?
I think there are many folks out there that do not realize I build caskets, and I built the box that way for that reason. The only reason some of the frames had comb all the way to the bottom was because the comb had broken off and the bees attached the new comb to the comb that was lying on the bottom of the box. Generally, bees will not attach the comb to the bottom of the structure because they use the space to get around the hive. God's peace Timothy.
Mr. Ed
Tim, bees have a habit of building comb wherever they can. Some colonies will build past bottom bars leaving just enough room to squeeze past below the comb, some build to the bottom.
Mildew on the comb? Insufficient air flow through the hive? Is it the top bar hive that has the slopped or tapered bottom as apposed to a flat bottom long hive?
For sure the air flow was not right, and it is a flat bottom...or was. I lost this hive in a flood. Thanks for watching. God's peace brother.
Mr. Ed
That's just messing me up.... LOL...I hate wacky comb too.👍👍
It's just so easy to get me messed up. Thanks for watching. God's peace Houston.
Mr. Ed
@@JeffHorchoff I am the same way. At least we have our Bee's to distract us. God Bless you Ed.
Does that hive ever have SHB problems? Thank you for the update.
None that the bees don't handle. I always find them in the rear of the box, that's where the least number of bees are patrolling. Thanks for watching. God's peace Marty.
Mr. Ed
The only thing I do differently than you in my long box is I have regular langstroth frames with a bottom bar. So far last year I didn't have any issue with building comb where it shouldn't be ( aka on the bottom). I'm wondering if I should add doors to be able to close up the bottom? I think I might go ahead and add them. If I never close them they won't be in the way, and if I do need to close them I won't have to add them with bees in the hive. I'm very interested in how you are doing during the year with your long hive. Please keep posting videos of it. Do you have to rearrange frames after the bees swarm? I had a problem with the girls back filling the brood chamber with honey while the queen was waiting to hatch and then she thinks there is no place to lay eggs. She swarmed on me last year because of this. This year I've got a couple of drawn frames to put in the brood chamber to give her a place to lay eggs. Hopefully this will cure that problem. I am interested in any issues you have in your long hive and how you correct them. May God bless you and your honey bees Mr Ed. Thank you for being you.
I have to say Renee, you are more hands on with your hive than I am. I would rarely open the box last year, other than to split it. It always had lots of bees, as well as honey. I just figured they were doing OK, so I left them along. Keep up your efforts, it's great to hear a bee keepers enthusiasm. God's peace brother.
Mr. Ed
I thought oh no he’s got the rooster in that box!
The Rooster's watermelon hands would not fit in that box. God's peace Joe.
Mr. Ed
That’s so neat still enjoying these videos what’s your swarm capture so far lol
It's amazing what a great swarm of bees can accomplish. Thanks for watching. God's peace Hunter.
Mr. Ed
Long hive? You got that from the coffin shop! :)
Kind'a like a "salesman's sample"...lol
The box was a miss build, and I just couldn't stand the idea of tossing it in the dumpster, instead, I turned it into a bee box. OK that's not true, I built the box fully aware it looked like a casket. It gets some great looks from folks walking in the field and seeing it. God's peace brother.
Mr. Ed
Asking a question concerning your long hive frames. Should you use some support across the middle and bottom of the frame? This should help support the wax and keep it off the bottom of the hive.
I could have put a bottom on the frames, but it is not necessary as long as you are careful during inspections. The only reason some of the frames were attached to the bottom of the box was because the comb had broken off and was laying on the bottom. Then, the bees just attached new comb to it. Thanks for watching. God's peace John.
Mr. Ed
Me Ed I’d like to see that big box when it is full of bees.
Yes, let us see them again this summer 😁
I will do that this summer. Last summer there were 16 frames of bees in the box. Super bees, and very gentle. Thanks for watching. God's peace Johnny.
Mr. Ed
Have you thought about making those long box frames have a bottom? To prevent the comb sticking to the bottom?
I could have put a bottom on the frames, but it is not necessary as long as you are careful during inspections. The only reason some of the frames were attached to the bottom of the box was because the comb had broken off and was laying on the bottom. Then, the bees just attached new comb to it. Thanks for watching. God's peace.
Mr. Ed
Hey there Mr. Ed, while u are cleaning up and checking on the progress of your hives/boxes, and u pull out one of the frames, and possibly reverse the direction, or the side that the frame was originally setting, does that disrupt or bother the bees when u do that? #thankyouchadwick & #thankyoujesus
At this point of the development of the hive it should not matter. However, once a hive has stores and brood, the placement of the frames, in my opinion, is very important, and they should be put in the same way and order they were removed. Thanks for watching. God's peace Chadwick.
Mr. Ed
@@JeffHorchoff right on brotha. I know u and Dirt Rooster have spoke about the up and down direction of the cone, when u do a removal, and place the comb into the frames using rubberbands, but i was just curious if it matter if u reversed one side from the original way it was in the hive. So thank u as always for replying! Have yourself a great week!
Does anyone know what kind of bird is shreaking in the background? From UK so I don't recognise it.
My house (NETexas) sounds like mocking bird.
@@jweaver7170 Thank you sir.
Joseph Wilson - I live in NorthEastern Washington State and that bird sounded like a hawk to me. Maybe a red tailed hawk. Mr Ed is in Louisiana, so I’m not sure if they have the red tailed hawk down there though...
@@LarryLeesBeesThey are amazing creatures. It did sound like a bird of prey, almost like something from an old western movie. Thanks.
Gabby Mouse - Awesome! Thanks for that! 😃
Hi Jeff, I'm not a bee keeper I just enjoy watching y'all but I'm curious, you showed pollen in the comb, is that left from winter store or was your winter mild enough that they are already collecting? Seems like that was a lot of honey for the end of winter. again, I know nothing about keeping bees sept what you gentlemen show us. Thank you for doing all the work it takes to bring us these videos. God Bless you.
The pollen is brand new, there are lots of things in bloom right now in the deep south. I saw a lot of honey in a lot of our boxes. Apparently, the bees stored ample supplies for themselves during our nectar flows. This surplus of honey was evident in better than half of our hives. Thank you for your blessing and for watching. God's peace Chris.
Mr. Ed