Its the first time with my own bee hive. I picked up the swarm around mid summer. I took one small honey harvest off it and noticed that the flight pattern there after was chaotic. I realized that it was robber bees. Now my hive is a complete ghost city. Lots of dead bees out the front. Could I have accidentally killed the queen?
Funny how this is my first year of personally beekeeping by myself. I've watched hundreds of hours of beekeeping videos on here and I just realized after watching this one single video of yours, this is a HUGE problem of mine. I take one frame out thinking I have room and then all of a sudden I have no more room, I'm taking too long the bees are getting agitated and I don't even get to inspect all my frames and I try and cram the first frame back in probably smooshing other bees. Wow. Thanks for this haha I needed this simple yet important video. Subbed
Oh. Another tip. When you lift out the 2nd and subsequent frames, always turn the frame BEFORE lifting it so that it is diagonal in the space. This way you increase the gap at both ends of the frame so as you lift there's less chance of crushing not only the workers but more importantly the queen if she just happens to be walking round the edge of the frame.
It's helpful to bring an empty box with you, if you don't have a stand. Pull 2 or 3 out, set them in there as you inspect. Also, turn the roof over, set the box on it. No dirt, pebbles, grass ect. on frame bottoms. This is good with a 2 deep-box hive also. Few crushed bees, too. It's a handy field method.
Yes! And set it ACROSS the outer cover/roof, not inside. Only four points of contact (fewer bees crushed), less likely to get stuck because of the propolis.
You're tipping the recently collected pollen out of each frame when you turn them flat as you are doing. That is setting them back. You don't hold the frames flat. One of the first and most basic points, sorry
Great little video. I'm going to send it to a fellow I'm mentoring. For that frame of wonky comb, rub some wax on the areas that don't have comb so they will draw it out. Nice little colony. That queen is a star. They look like they could use a little syrup, FWIW. Thanks for the video.
I personally avoid pulling pot the first frame because it generally is packed with honey. Removing it first frame can easily uncap that honey and potentially draw other bees to the hive to rob. Remove the second frame and you can easily remove the firat frame (honey) with less damage. Then continue the inspection just as you have described. This video is really good technique for everyone. Thanks
Good point on keeping them in order, mainly because they build in order for raising brood, brood in middle with bee bread next to it with honey then honey stores on outside. A few reasons to not keep in order are: confusing the hive to prevent swarming and to cause them to put on more honey than they need: replacing capped honey frames with empty comb (during nectar flow or sugar feeding)will produce more honey stores. Adding foundation between larvae frames with a healthy hive will cause them to build comb and most likely reduce chances of swarming. Comb is gold to new beekeeper, wish someone would've taught me that early. Thanks for videos, I couldn't learn anything from local beekeepers they bought Bees every year, you tubers videos make a big help:)
Yes! Those are all great reasons to intentionally change frame order. And with all of them, you know exactly WHY you’re doing it and how to go about it. You also need to have a feel for what’s normal? How strong is the colony? Are they in a good enough place that they can deal with whatever stress you’re putting on them? A lot of these i would only do to a very strong colony.
This inner cover leaves too big of a gap between it and the tops of the frames. When i scrape it they build it right back. I took all of it off when this colony got a second deep, and i switched out the inner cover at the same time.
How do you deal with inspecting really big hives? At some point if a colony is so big, when I go to think about inspecting it, its like I hesitate and not sure about it, because it feels so big if there's like 3 boxes or something. I understand how to check and inspect, but for small and medium size colonies this seems so different. I can't explain why very well.
Hey Noah, You asked something similar on my video about aggressive colonies. I'll drop my longer response below for anyone watching this video wondering the same thing. But I haven't forgotten and I'm going to make a video on this soon. 1. A suit/gloves/protection combo where i KNEW i could prevent 100% of stings if i wanted to. For me that was a mesh suit, boots, and rubber coated gloves. Being able to go in sure i wasn’t going to get stung really helped me get past my nerves. I don’t suit up like that too often now, but i have it in my back pocket if i need it. 2. Using more smoke. I don’t usually need to use a ton of smoke, but with a big scary hive it’s helpful. 3. Going in with a specific goal. I know what i’m going in to do, and in what order. Keeping my goals simple and straightforward. The nerves are worse if i’m just doing a general inspection. Either i’m looking for eggs, or i’m making sure there are no queen cells, or i’m counting resources. Do all of the above, and repeat repeat repeat. And pat yourself on the back for being a good beekeeper that has hives with such massive populations.
My 2sent about that burr comb , if it's Remaining empty (Bees not using it) it just makes hiding spots for hive beetles. I've started leaving all the propolis I can cause I found out it fights off disease and keeps the hive healthy
Thinking about it: the top comb sections against the top board will remain free anyway as the bees can only add around it not above it.
Hadn't thought about it like that.
Its the first time with my own bee hive. I picked up the swarm around mid summer. I took one small honey harvest off it and noticed that the flight pattern there after was chaotic. I realized that it was robber bees. Now my hive is a complete ghost city. Lots of dead bees out the front. Could I have accidentally killed the queen?
Funny how this is my first year of personally beekeeping by myself. I've watched hundreds of hours of beekeeping videos on here and I just realized after watching this one single video of yours, this is a HUGE problem of mine. I take one frame out thinking I have room and then all of a sudden I have no more room, I'm taking too long the bees are getting agitated and I don't even get to inspect all my frames and I try and cram the first frame back in probably smooshing other bees. Wow. Thanks for this haha I needed this simple yet important video. Subbed
I made this specifically because my 1st year inspections were terrible and took forever. Really glad you found this helpful!
Oh. Another tip. When you lift out the 2nd and subsequent frames, always turn the frame BEFORE lifting it so that it is diagonal in the space. This way you increase the gap at both ends of the frame so as you lift there's less chance of crushing not only the workers but more importantly the queen if she just happens to be walking round the edge of the frame.
Thanks for the tips. All my mentorship comes from bee keeping friends over phone and texts.
Great video. Really good tips and knowledge. Thank you!
It's helpful to bring an empty box with you, if you don't have a stand. Pull 2 or 3 out, set them in there as you inspect. Also, turn the roof over, set the box on it. No dirt, pebbles, grass ect. on frame bottoms. This is good with a 2 deep-box hive also. Few crushed bees, too. It's a handy field method.
Yes! And set it ACROSS the outer cover/roof, not inside. Only four points of contact (fewer bees crushed), less likely to get stuck because of the propolis.
You're tipping the recently collected pollen out of each frame when you turn them flat as you are doing. That is setting them back. You don't hold the frames flat. One of the first and most basic points, sorry
Thanks for watching steve
Great little video. I'm going to send it to a fellow I'm mentoring. For that frame of wonky comb, rub some wax on the areas that don't have comb so they will draw it out. Nice little colony. That queen is a star. They look like they could use a little syrup, FWIW. Thanks for the video.
Thanks!
I personally avoid pulling pot the first frame because it generally is packed with honey. Removing it first frame can easily uncap that honey and potentially draw other bees to the hive to rob. Remove the second frame and you can easily remove the firat frame (honey) with less damage. Then continue the inspection just as you have described. This video is really good technique for everyone. Thanks
That’s a good point. My issue this summer has been finding brood (and sometimes the queen) on the second frame.
Great information. My frist inspection left to much of a gap. What a mess. We live and learn.
My first year of inspections were terrible
Good point on keeping them in order, mainly because they build in order for raising brood, brood in middle with bee bread next to it with honey then honey stores on outside. A few reasons to not keep in order are: confusing the hive to prevent swarming and to cause them to put on more honey than they need: replacing capped honey frames with empty comb (during nectar flow or sugar feeding)will produce more honey stores. Adding foundation between larvae frames with a healthy hive will cause them to build comb and most likely reduce chances of swarming. Comb is gold to new beekeeper, wish someone would've taught me that early. Thanks for videos, I couldn't learn anything from local beekeepers they bought Bees every year, you tubers videos make a big help:)
Yes! Those are all great reasons to intentionally change frame order. And with all of them, you know exactly WHY you’re doing it and how to go about it. You also need to have a feel for what’s normal? How strong is the colony? Are they in a good enough place that they can deal with whatever stress you’re putting on them? A lot of these i would only do to a very strong colony.
Well thought out video. Nice and quick and to the point. Now work on the sound. I had my volume up all the way...
My wife must agree with you, i think she’s buying me a new mic.
Should scrape the comb off the top of the frames.
This inner cover leaves too big of a gap between it and the tops of the frames. When i scrape it they build it right back. I took all of it off when this colony got a second deep, and i switched out the inner cover at the same time.
@@BeensBees I cut the bottoms or tops off of boxes with a table saw if there is too much gap.
How do you deal with inspecting really big hives?
At some point if a colony is so big, when I go to think about inspecting it, its like I hesitate and not sure about it, because it feels so big if there's like 3 boxes or something. I understand how to check and inspect, but for small and medium size colonies this seems so different. I can't explain why very well.
Hey Noah, You asked something similar on my video about aggressive colonies. I'll drop my longer response below for anyone watching this video wondering the same thing. But I haven't forgotten and I'm going to make a video on this soon.
1. A suit/gloves/protection combo where i KNEW i could prevent 100% of stings if i wanted to. For me that was a mesh suit, boots, and rubber coated gloves. Being able to go in sure i wasn’t going to get stung really helped me get past my nerves. I don’t suit up like that too often now, but i have it in my back pocket if i need it.
2. Using more smoke. I don’t usually need to use a ton of smoke, but with a big scary hive it’s helpful.
3. Going in with a specific goal. I know what i’m going in to do, and in what order. Keeping my goals simple and straightforward. The nerves are worse if i’m just doing a general inspection. Either i’m looking for eggs, or i’m making sure there are no queen cells, or i’m counting resources.
Do all of the above, and repeat repeat repeat. And pat yourself on the back for being a good beekeeper that has hives with such massive populations.
th-cam.com/video/fnGjmR4Htio/w-d-xo.html The video on this is now made a posted. Thanks for the idea!
My 2sent about that burr comb , if it's Remaining empty (Bees not using it) it just makes hiding spots for hive beetles. I've started leaving all the propolis I can cause I found out it fights off disease and keeps the hive healthy
That makes sense. Hive beetles aren’t a huge issue here, but i’ve seen a few over the past year. I also leave propolis for the same reason.