Ive got a hive lifter too during honey harvest.His name is Nathan ,my nephew .Hes 26 .lol I felt your pain lifting those boxes by the way. Always thankyou for sharing your time and energy Mike!
I need a couple Nathan's for sure. I pulled some boxes today and just took my time and I'm not very sore for a change. I think I am going to use the lifter next time if I'm alone.
Mike, When you add another Super to an almost full hive to help prevent swarming, try putting the empty Super directly on top of the Brood box below all the honey supers. The bees will immediately get the sense of extra space, instead of having to go to the top of the honey tower. Try it, see what happens.
I under-super during the season. I don’t like doing it though. Too many supers to lift😁😁. But yes, I do it pretty regularly once the flow gets going. And I also like adding two mediums at a time so I don’t have to lift again in another week.
Had to deal with a lot of swarms this season. Thought I had enough boxes early. They filled them out back filled the nest and left. They did it early enough that I was still able to make some honey though. Hope those sales will help with more equipment for next season. Great video Mike, God Bless!
I was trying to wrap my head around the comment you made in the video. You said that when the brood chamber becomes bond by bee bread that you think the queen maybe bad. This year has been unlike the last two years for me. The bees had no substantial source of nectar until this last week. Most of my hives are packed with pollen. Up into some of the supers on every hive. I can’t blame my queens but in the meanwhile I have been fighting Supersedure cell since the beginning of May. By fighting I mean making splits. Trying to keep hives queen right. It’s been a different year here in Kansas for me. Anyway great video and I enjoy your content!
So in my experience, the colonies that I have that tend to bind up the nest with pollen normally either lose their queen, make supersedure cells, or swarm. I have limited honey production off of them as well. I asked Dr Amari about genetics playing a role in the over abundance of pollen, and he said it could be to an extent. What I’m seeing are queens that can’t seem to fill the nest with eggs, so the bees just keep piling in the pollen. There are times when Bahia grass is putting out tons of shoots and pollen in mid-summer and the queen has slowed down already and for whatever reason that pollen doesn’t set her off to start laying heavy, and then good queens get pollen bound. That has happened and wasn’t indicative of a bad queen. But if good pollen is coming in, that is the main trigger for a queen to produce, even before a lot of nectar, and if she’s not producing, I’m replacing. Something that Dr. Harris said when I was at a queen class with him a few years ago has stuck with me. When good nutrition is coming into the hive, the bees blow up big with a good queen going into over drive. When I see hives with frame after frame of pollen, they have been under performers 9 out of 10 times. Just my experience, not scientific. But when I put all the facts of bee biology together, it does tend to point toward an inferior queen.
Man what a great video Mike! You probably give as good of a look into what you’re doing and why as anyone out there. Quality stuff! I need to do better!!!
A good video! Heavy boxes up high, too much pollen, failing queens - sounds like my life. I enjoyed listening to you talk through the issues as you encountered them. Thanks!
Mug up from central NH where the flow is on, the Barred owls are hooting, and the motorcycles are at 'The Weirs'. Blackberries and white clover are in bloom, Linden is budding up. I have some boxes, ya some of those deep Langs I like to complain about, plus some others to go through to search for capped frames. Hoping for my first real honey pull. Also hoping to slip down to the coast to do a little saltwater fishing and get away from the noise up here...hoping. I had a swarm last week. I will have to go through that colony. Thanks for the update, always a pleasure, take care, Brice
Thanks for the comment Brice and sounds like things are getting busy up there. Hope you have a great fishing getaway!! Look forward to seeing your honey harvest on video!
Mike thanks for the great videos seems your year turned around pretty good. I’ve had a lot of drone laying queens. my honey is dismal 120 lb compared to 360 last year. Thankful for what I got. Keep on keeping on.
You summed it up in that last sentence...Keep on keeping on. That's what we do. I feel ya as it was the same for me. 50% less of a harvest, but just like you said, I was thankful for what I did get. Thanks for your longtime support and hope you have a great fall!
If I had it to do again, I would've gotten the B3. I didn't use it again today when I pulled about 10 supers. I had to be somewhere at lunch, so I didn't have a lot of time, but next week I think I'll pull it back out.
Mike i have a few colonies that really plug it out with pollen. I had 1 hive this year with 9 full frames of pollen. I stuck those in the freezer and used them for my splits. It worked out good for me. Give it a try
I save some in the freezer for that. I put some in my NUCs I made and some did good and some turned dark and glossy. But I do keep a few frozen. Thanks!!
Great video, loved hearing you talk thru what you were seeing what you were looking for. Hope you don't hurt your back harvesting those heavy boxes later on. Thanks for the video.
Thanks as always Tommy! I pulled some today and I'm feeling good. I am going to do it in increments this year. Since I'm taking my time, I will try my hive lifter again next week.
I did take a short one of the actual market last winter and I think I have one posted form a few years ago. I'll do another thins fall when things slow down. Check out this link to my last market video and thanks for watching!! th-cam.com/video/y6haTw6w6F0/w-d-xo.htmlsi=c0_x6WEBPcD7P9Lm
I needed to check mine this weekend for SHB and see if they had capped any honey since end of May. Boy I started a robbing frenzy! Had to put some robbing screens on
I tell you, it's something for me to complain about not having time and then post these long videos and expect folks to watch them as though they have time...LOL!! Really appreciate you watching and supporting me. I cringe when I can't edit enough to get below 30 minutes....I sure do appreciate all the support I get from all of you and that you out up with the long videos. Tomorrows will be much shorter. But then the one I shot today might end up long again......I'm all over the pace...LOL!!
Yes. The wild elderberry doesn’t yield a lot of nectar according to my plant cart, but it does yield some. So they do work it at certain times of the day.
I just saw my 1st small hive beetle today. It was just one on the bottom board and my son crushed it. Small hive beetles are rare here because how far north I am, but this last winter was mild. Makes me nervous.
Yea, I don't think you have to worry. A good cold winter and that'll knock them right back south. We had some really decent freezes this last winter and I'm seeing less.
Question: ( btw I'm a big fan ) You mentioned in this last video that you throw or scrap away polen foundation often. I watch your videos when you add purchase pollen patties . Why not store that pollen bound foundation until winter and feed it back ? I do this. Saves us money. What say you ? Thx 4 your time Wayne
Thanks for the support and glad you like the channel!! The pollen just doesn’t seem to keep. I tried that last year and this year. I freeze them and then put them in hives and the bees won’t touch them. Sometimes they rip it out and then the plastic foundation is stripped and they don’t build good comb back. But most time they leave it in and it turns dark and black and goes bad. I just haven’t been able to find a way to get them to use it.
Good how you do video. Mike in the hive you thought was laying worker you made the comment that they didn't act like laying worker. Could you explain about that a little? The reason being is I thought I had a couple laying worker colonies and treated them as such but am still not sure they were.
Thanks and glad you liked it. What I see in LW colonies is bees very disorganized and loud. It’s a little different pitch than just a queenless colony, but in the end, just louder. The bees aren’t as running around as a queen less colony either, but just very disorganized compared to when they have consistent cells of brood. They don’t seem to be all over the eggs and larvae like they are when there are viable worker eggs and larvae in the cells. That’s best I can explain it. They just don’t seem right I guess. Hope that answers your question. Let me know
Mike, it is great to see you have a much better honey crop than last year. The sound quality was good for me. I suppose this weekend you are pulling a few supers and getting started on your harvest. Will this be close to a bumper crop or average?
You are correct Russell, a little at a time this season. Pulled 10 today and will dry and extract in a couple days, then 10 more next week, or even a dozen. Just taking my time having fun. I'd say an average year if I go by the way the bloom was. Most supers are full, but I guess what could bump it up to a bumper crop with be that I have 75 gallons of the early stuff , and that is better than average.
Hi Mike, Why don't you pull honey frames individually as you go? Since the boxes are too heavy to be lifted when full. Then replace the frames with empty ones. Is it a time issue or time of harvesting and storage issue? I am not a beekeeper but, like to see the differences in beekeeping styles depending on where you are in the world.
Thanks for the question Dennis. Yes, it truly is more of a time thing. Time efficiency by pulling full boxes is definitely much faster, but then there is the trade off of being very heavy lifting. I used to pull frames individually when I had 15 or so hives. I would shake each frame I pulled and then put them in manageable totes. I do have my hive lifter and while that’s a bit slower, it’s not as slow as frame by frame, so I’d be well advised to use that. But then I get in a hurry and go and lift them all, and I’m fine when I do it, but later on I’m so sore😂😂duh, right? So what I decided to do this week was to go out early, take my time, and have fun(which I should be doing anyhow, right?), and just pull about ten boxes. Then next week, pull another ten, and then so on and so forth. Then the few that are still waiting to be capped will only be a few in July and it’s not a brutal one day of pulling off 30 or 40 supers. Kind of the same thing as pulling frames as I go but now just pulling boxes as I go. I shot a video of it yesterday, so hopefully I get that out next week. The following week I have some help and if not I’ll get the hive lifter out. Thanks so much for watching!! I love when folks that aren’t beekeepers or beekeepers yet, watch the videos. I’m humbled that folks find it interesting enough to watch. Great question and thanks again!!
Funny. My bees would robb for bee bread if they knew how.. from now on ,all summer. I purposely cage queens right now to give them a chance to fill that brood box with pollen before dearth. It's cheaper than patties. The other funny thing.. when the flow starts we take ours from double brood box to 7 frames and an empty feeder in a single. Some use partitions with 7+1 drone frame. They have better flows than mine are. Maybe you should try one and see what they think about swarming with that configuration. Don't give me opinions without trying it please.😅 I know how strange this method must sound to US beekeepers. But the amount of honey with it doesn't lie
Interesting post and I'm trying to wrap my head around what you're saying. So are you pulling the second brood box and putting an empty with the feeder and then the bottom is 7 frames? Or are you just breaking them down to 7 brood frames and then a frame feeder in place of the other three frames. Then an excluder and the other deep and some supers. I want to say you told me about this before, or at least someone from overseas told me something similar. I'll try new ideas anytime if they fit our flow. Help me understand it a bit better.
@@MikeBarryBees the opinion thing is for everyone. I get a lot of those on comments like this. We grow them like Ian does in Canada. Start from January trying to get as much bees and brood as we can in double deep configuration. Giving them empty frames for brood.. moving stuff around giving more draw comb for the queen to keep them in work and grow state of mind. Until the flow. Then we switch to single brood box with 7+1 method.. 1 is a drone frame. It's optional. It can be 7 -feeder - 1frame on the outside. And only then we give them some sheets to draw.. not before.. above excluders. 7 frames is the optimal number of cells for the queen to dominate that space. You will never have a pollen problem with it. The frames will be all brood and all the honey will be above the excluders except the 1 outside the feeder. No honey crowns on brood frames or pollen.. everybody works on honey production and a small number of bees keeps the brood in great condition. German and French beekeepers with 1000 hives are starting to work only like that. But they use bigger boxes so it's 6+1 frames and foil wrapped styrofoam partitions. Many of them tell me that they don't look in the brood box all summer. So we cut the brood with the excluder and the upper box emerges. It has to be tried. But here it works all over Europe. It's the newest big thing in beekeeping
Tim, I buy mostly from the big box stores like Lowe’s and Home Depot. They carry the food grade buckets but wow…have they gotten both or what? I need to look closer at sailer plastics, but I’m not sure they have food grade buckets.
Are your honey supers shallows? I think I'm gonna start running shallows mainly because I have about 400 sheets of that Walter Kelly wire wax foundation I was telling u about. & for the weight lifting factor too
Mine are all mediums. The only shallow I have is the comb honey super. Shallows would sure be lighter. That wire wax lasts if you take care of it, so it wouldn't hurt to pick up some shallows. Money saved since you got your hands on it anyhow.
@@MikeBarryBees I actually did just get a few shallow boxes goin today..also yesterday i picked up 130 brand new deep boxes , & 65 mediums & 1800 sheets of plastic foundation, 1800 frames, 65 telescoping covers & screened bottoms w inserts & an enormous amount of other stuff came with it, like 65 smokers , 65 hive tools & 65 plastic excluders, 65 inner covers, all new on pallets..u wouldn't believe how much room that takes up.. was a deal I couldn't refuse , got it all for like 3,500..so basically pennies on the dollar.. I could actually become a real beekeeper now lol
i sell my comb honey 4x4 squares for $20 here in NY, so its about double what a liquid honey box sells for. i ran out of mine in november last year i think (only made 1 box) but this year the bees have hardly started working the comb boxes ive put out.
We went to $20 the last year we made a box and I agree, never hurts to have a box on. I hope they start building for you. It's always a gamble and when the flow is just average. Best wishes!!
They are packed out!! I need to do a clip on that colony. I never went back in them since I knew they just needed to heal up and move on to winter, but the other day after work I walked by it and they were covering the front. I’ll try to follow up. That’ll be a good and quick video or at least do a clip in another video. Next video is going to be my pollen traps, so it’ll be a couple weeks or so. Thanks for asking!!
I'll give it a try. I'll try anything. I hate throwing it away, but it is so hard to clean and time consuming. But I'm going to try the air this winter before I pitch it.
Mike, i have a question about queens. I made a walk away split 3 weeks ago. There were 3 cells. Two hatched, the third got destroyed after that. The weather was and is good. Now one queen is walking around for about a week now but i see no eggs. Bees are calm. Should i wait for more or do something.
I would wait. I always wait 4 weeks after a walk away split. Once the queen emerges, it takes about 5 additional days for her ovaries to mature and then she goes on her mating flights. She may between mating flights when you saw her as well. Give her at least another week. If I don’t see eggs after 4 weeks, I give her one more week. After five weeks, then I get concerned. The fact that you saw her is good right off the bat.
I use a temperature controller, and you can find them on amazon. Mine is older and required it to be wired for 110VAC, but these days you can find ready wired controllers for a lot cheaper than mine. I use a couple of shop lights with heat lamps and they do the trick. I set the temp to 95 so that it turns off at 95 and I have a five degree differential set on it. So when it drops to 90, it turns back on. the entire inside doesn't actually stay at 95, but that temp allows it to warm very well and the temp averages 92 for the most part. Works very well. I keep two 5 gallon buckets in it and all my bottled honey. Then when I need a bucket for the bottler, it's already liquid. Hope this helps.
In a year like this (south LA), will they continue to fill frames through June? Or just dry out the nectar they've already gathered? My frames are mostly capped or empty...assuming they won't be drawing much more this month?
Yea, pretty much just dry what they have. It’s over here for the tallow and first week of June is normal for it to stop in my experience. There is still some elderberry and clover that will come in here and there, but I’ve never seen a significant amount of nectar going into empty frames after the first week of June though. But never say never with bees😁😁. Come July I have everything stripped down if I can.
No, I don't like the extra equipment. I do have three telescoping covers with inner covers and when I run low on migratory covers, I'll use them, but then tend to allow pests on my hives under the trees. I just like the simplicity of the migratory lids.
No, actually that’s an old deep that has rotten spots in it that I replaced a couple months ago. I leave it laying out there to sit on sometimes or to stack frames in if I’m swapping out boxes or something. I’ll also use it as a stand when working on a brood box when it’s off the hive and I’m manipulating frames between upper and lower brood chambers.
Great video Mike.
Thanks Neighbor!!
Ive got a hive lifter too during honey harvest.His name is Nathan ,my nephew .Hes 26 .lol
I felt your pain lifting those boxes by the way.
Always thankyou for sharing your time and energy Mike!
I need a couple Nathan's for sure. I pulled some boxes today and just took my time and I'm not very sore for a change. I think I am going to use the lifter next time if I'm alone.
@@MikeBarryBees Ive got another pull to make and Nathan has a younger brother thats interested in bees,lol.Lucky me.
Love the videos Mike. I'm always encouraged by watching another old guy lift boxes! ;>
Glad you like them! I think of I stop, I'll lose what I have left!!...LOL!!
Great video Mike I appreciate it how you take care of your bees I learn a lot from you buddy.
Thanks Mark and congrats on becoming the WV Swarm King!!
I have learned HOW TO do a lot of stuff from you Mike!!
Well, I'm glad!! And so thankful for the support!!
Mike, When you add another Super to an almost full hive to help prevent swarming, try putting the empty Super directly on top of the Brood box below all the honey supers. The bees will immediately get the sense of extra space, instead of having to go to the top of the honey tower. Try it, see what happens.
I under-super during the season. I don’t like doing it though. Too many supers to lift😁😁. But yes, I do it pretty regularly once the flow gets going. And I also like adding two mediums at a time so I don’t have to lift again in another week.
Had to deal with a lot of swarms this season. Thought I had enough boxes early. They filled them out back filled the nest and left. They did it early enough that I was still able to make some honey though. Hope those sales will help with more equipment for next season. Great video Mike, God Bless!
Yea, it was a shortage for me once again. I got more this season and still ran short. Never enough. Thanks so much for the support and blessing!!
I was trying to wrap my head around the comment you made in the video. You said that when the brood chamber becomes bond by bee bread that you think the queen maybe bad.
This year has been unlike the last two years for me. The bees had no substantial source of nectar until this last week. Most of my hives are packed with pollen. Up into some of the supers on every hive. I can’t blame my queens but in the meanwhile I have been fighting Supersedure cell since the beginning of May. By fighting I mean making splits. Trying to keep hives queen right. It’s been a different year here in Kansas for me. Anyway great video and I enjoy your content!
So in my experience, the colonies that I have that tend to bind up the nest with pollen normally either lose their queen, make supersedure cells, or swarm. I have limited honey production off of them as well. I asked Dr Amari about genetics playing a role in the over abundance of pollen, and he said it could be to an extent. What I’m seeing are queens that can’t seem to fill the nest with eggs, so the bees just keep piling in the pollen. There are times when Bahia grass is putting out tons of shoots and pollen in mid-summer and the queen has slowed down already and for whatever reason that pollen doesn’t set her off to start laying heavy, and then good queens get pollen bound. That has happened and wasn’t indicative of a bad queen. But if good pollen is coming in, that is the main trigger for a queen to produce, even before a lot of nectar, and if she’s not producing, I’m replacing. Something that Dr. Harris said when I was at a queen class with him a few years ago has stuck with me. When good nutrition is coming into the hive, the bees blow up big with a good queen going into over drive. When I see hives with frame after frame of pollen, they have been under performers 9 out of 10 times. Just my experience, not scientific. But when I put all the facts of bee biology together, it does tend to point toward an inferior queen.
Mike your video production ability has really improved since your first year. Great job with your channel.
Thanks so much Rickey. That means a lot!!
I've not noticed a single audio defect inthis video!👍
Awesome! Thanks so much for letting me know!
"The Honey Man"! Thanks Mike!
Thanks You Rodney!! You the cutout man!!
@@MikeBarryBees The one today went really well and found the queen when I got them home. Thanks!
great channel. learned a lot.
Thanks and glad you enjoy it!!
Thanks Mike I have enjoyed your Great TH-cam videos really appreciate your help, 2 year Bee keeping . Tim
So glad you enjoy the channel and thanks for the support!!
Man what a great video Mike! You probably give as good of a look into what you’re doing and why as anyone out there. Quality stuff! I need to do better!!!
Thanks so much Bruce!! Really appreciate that.
Mike, you have some great looking boxes of honey! I hope you have the biggest harvest that you’ve ever had….
Thanks Don! Sure hope all is well up your way with you and your family. Hope we get to see you at the Expo this year, Lord willing of course.
Thanks Mike, God bless you!
Thank you Brother for the support and blessing!!
A good video! Heavy boxes up high, too much pollen, failing queens - sounds like my life. I enjoyed listening to you talk through the issues as you encountered them. Thanks!
Glad you enjoyed it and thanks!! Always a lot to problem solve, so figured I'd wrap it all up in one video.
You have been an Inspiration to me since i started watching your videos
Wow, thanks! Glad you enjoy the channel!
Mike, glad to hear you thoughts on pollen frames. I've tried everything, but time comsuming. I'm with you!
Yea, I'm just finally done and have had to estimate the cost of my time versus the cost of buying new. Thanks for watching!!
Mug up from central NH where the flow is on, the Barred owls are hooting, and the motorcycles are at 'The Weirs'. Blackberries and white clover are in bloom, Linden is budding up. I have some boxes, ya some of those deep Langs I like to complain about, plus some others to go through to search for capped frames. Hoping for my first real honey pull. Also hoping to slip down to the coast to do a little saltwater fishing and get away from the noise up here...hoping. I had a swarm last week. I will have to go through that colony. Thanks for the update, always a pleasure, take care, Brice
Thanks for the comment Brice and sounds like things are getting busy up there. Hope you have a great fishing getaway!! Look forward to seeing your honey harvest on video!
Mike thanks for the great videos seems your year turned around pretty good. I’ve had a lot of drone laying queens. my honey is dismal 120 lb compared to 360 last year. Thankful for what I got. Keep on keeping on.
You summed it up in that last sentence...Keep on keeping on. That's what we do. I feel ya as it was the same for me. 50% less of a harvest, but just like you said, I was thankful for what I did get. Thanks for your longtime support and hope you have a great fall!
I bought a B3 hive lifter last fall after seeing yours. I love it! Helps this 64 year old back 😁.
If I had it to do again, I would've gotten the B3. I didn't use it again today when I pulled about 10 supers. I had to be somewhere at lunch, so I didn't have a lot of time, but next week I think I'll pull it back out.
Yes Mike we are getting old.thank you for the video
I feel it every day. LOL!!
Thanks for sharing your beekeeping experience Mike. Doesn't look like you'll be short on any honey this year 👍😁🐝💜🌼🍯
You're welcome and thanks so much for your support!! The harvest is definitely looking better this season.
Awesome. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks so much for watching!!
Ha Mike I enjoyed the video. Hope you get lots of honey. Have a Very Blessed week
Thanks Frances!!
Mike i have a few colonies that really plug it out with pollen. I had 1 hive this year with 9 full frames of pollen. I stuck those in the freezer and used them for my splits. It worked out good for me. Give it a try
I save some in the freezer for that. I put some in my NUCs I made and some did good and some turned dark and glossy. But I do keep a few frozen. Thanks!!
Looks like you are going to have a pretty good harvest.
It's going pretty well Joey. Going to pull a little at a time this year....
Great video, loved hearing you talk thru what you were seeing what you were looking for. Hope you don't hurt your back harvesting those heavy boxes later on. Thanks for the video.
Thanks as always Tommy! I pulled some today and I'm feeling good. I am going to do it in increments this year. Since I'm taking my time, I will try my hive lifter again next week.
The audio sounds great. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for the comment!!
Would love a video of a day at the market with you!
I did take a short one of the actual market last winter and I think I have one posted form a few years ago. I'll do another thins fall when things slow down. Check out this link to my last market video and thanks for watching!!
th-cam.com/video/y6haTw6w6F0/w-d-xo.htmlsi=c0_x6WEBPcD7P9Lm
Like your videos Mike. Always giving me ideas. Telling it like it is. Thanks and take care Mike.
Thanks Garry, glad you like it and thanks for your longtime support!!
About time to warm up the Hillco extractor. Looks like you are having a better year this year.
Yep Phil, time to get it going again. It's definitely a better year. So glad for the tallow to come thru the winter cold snaps this year.
Dream Big brother 🙏
Thanks Brother!!
I needed to check mine this weekend for SHB and see if they had capped any honey since end of May. Boy I started a robbing frenzy! Had to put some robbing screens on
Oh no!! I am still not seeing any significant robbing yet. Only some small episodes here and there. Another couple weeks and it'll be deadly here.
Keep up the great videos, Mr. Mike, and thank you for keeping it real
You bet and thanks for the support!!
I look forward to seeing your videos each week
I appreciate that!
Your audio sounds perfectly fine to me…
Great!! Thanks for the feedback!
32 min video ! Ain't nobody got time for that, we are beekeepers! Just joking, I watch all your videos
I tell you, it's something for me to complain about not having time and then post these long videos and expect folks to watch them as though they have time...LOL!! Really appreciate you watching and supporting me. I cringe when I can't edit enough to get below 30 minutes....I sure do appreciate all the support I get from all of you and that you out up with the long videos. Tomorrows will be much shorter. But then the one I shot today might end up long again......I'm all over the pace...LOL!!
Do your bees work elderberry?
Yes. The wild elderberry doesn’t yield a lot of nectar according to my plant cart, but it does yield some. So they do work it at certain times of the day.
No volume issues here....perfectly fine on my phone where I watch all videos
Awesome, and thanks for the feedback!!
Been doing the same checking supers and pulling what can be pulled for early spins. Been dry here in our area of Pennsylvania.
I am pulling ten or so at a time for now. Makes it easier.
I just saw my 1st small hive beetle today. It was just one on the bottom board and my son crushed it. Small hive beetles are rare here because how far north I am, but this last winter was mild. Makes me nervous.
Yea, I don't think you have to worry. A good cold winter and that'll knock them right back south. We had some really decent freezes this last winter and I'm seeing less.
Question:
( btw I'm a big fan )
You mentioned in this last video that you throw or scrap away polen foundation often. I watch your videos when you add purchase pollen patties . Why not store that pollen bound foundation until winter and feed it back ? I do this. Saves us money. What say you ?
Thx 4 your time
Wayne
Thanks for the support and glad you like the channel!! The pollen just doesn’t seem to keep. I tried that last year and this year. I freeze them and then put them in hives and the bees won’t touch them. Sometimes they rip it out and then the plastic foundation is stripped and they don’t build good comb back. But most time they leave it in and it turns dark and black and goes bad. I just haven’t been able to find a way to get them to use it.
I use shallow supers only, and i still make the same sounds as you when i lift them 😂
😂😂😁😁. Ok, good to know…LOL!! I was grunting and groaning g and feeling every move…😁😁
Good how you do video. Mike in the hive you thought was laying worker you made the comment that they didn't act like laying worker. Could you explain about that a little? The reason being is I thought I had a couple laying worker colonies and treated them as such but am still not sure they were.
Thanks and glad you liked it. What I see in LW colonies is bees very disorganized and loud. It’s a little different pitch than just a queenless colony, but in the end, just louder. The bees aren’t as running around as a queen less colony either, but just very disorganized compared to when they have consistent cells of brood. They don’t seem to be all over the eggs and larvae like they are when there are viable worker eggs and larvae in the cells. That’s best I can explain it. They just don’t seem right I guess. Hope that answers your question. Let me know
Mike, it is great to see you have a much better honey crop than last year. The sound quality was good for me. I suppose this weekend you are pulling a few supers and getting started on your harvest. Will this be close to a bumper crop or average?
You are correct Russell, a little at a time this season. Pulled 10 today and will dry and extract in a couple days, then 10 more next week, or even a dozen. Just taking my time having fun. I'd say an average year if I go by the way the bloom was. Most supers are full, but I guess what could bump it up to a bumper crop with be that I have 75 gallons of the early stuff , and that is better than average.
Your funny Mike! You should do how I did! Beekeeping course and watch all 259 Fred Dunn video`s!
I keep up with plenty of beekeeping education from reputable sources. Fred is a good one for sure.
👍
Thanks for watching!! and for the Thumbs up!!
Hi Mike, Why don't you pull honey frames individually as you go? Since the boxes are too heavy to be lifted when full. Then replace the frames with empty ones. Is it a time issue or time of harvesting and storage issue? I am not a beekeeper but, like to see the differences in beekeeping styles depending on where you are in the world.
Thanks for the question Dennis. Yes, it truly is more of a time thing. Time efficiency by pulling full boxes is definitely much faster, but then there is the trade off of being very heavy lifting. I used to pull frames individually when I had 15 or so hives. I would shake each frame I pulled and then put them in manageable totes. I do have my hive lifter and while that’s a bit slower, it’s not as slow as frame by frame, so I’d be well advised to use that. But then I get in a hurry and go and lift them all, and I’m fine when I do it, but later on I’m so sore😂😂duh, right? So what I decided to do this week was to go out early, take my time, and have fun(which I should be doing anyhow, right?), and just pull about ten boxes. Then next week, pull another ten, and then so on and so forth. Then the few that are still waiting to be capped will only be a few in July and it’s not a brutal one day of pulling off 30 or 40 supers. Kind of the same thing as pulling frames as I go but now just pulling boxes as I go. I shot a video of it yesterday, so hopefully I get that out next week. The following week I have some help and if not I’ll get the hive lifter out. Thanks so much for watching!! I love when folks that aren’t beekeepers or beekeepers yet, watch the videos. I’m humbled that folks find it interesting enough to watch. Great question and thanks again!!
Funny. My bees would robb for bee bread if they knew how.. from now on ,all summer. I purposely cage queens right now to give them a chance to fill that brood box with pollen before dearth. It's cheaper than patties.
The other funny thing.. when the flow starts we take ours from double brood box to 7 frames and an empty feeder in a single. Some use partitions with 7+1 drone frame. They have better flows than mine are.
Maybe you should try one and see what they think about swarming with that configuration.
Don't give me opinions without trying it please.😅 I know how strange this method must sound to US beekeepers. But the amount of honey with it doesn't lie
Interesting post and I'm trying to wrap my head around what you're saying. So are you pulling the second brood box and putting an empty with the feeder and then the bottom is 7 frames? Or are you just breaking them down to 7 brood frames and then a frame feeder in place of the other three frames. Then an excluder and the other deep and some supers. I want to say you told me about this before, or at least someone from overseas told me something similar. I'll try new ideas anytime if they fit our flow. Help me understand it a bit better.
@@MikeBarryBees the opinion thing is for everyone. I get a lot of those on comments like this.
We grow them like Ian does in Canada. Start from January trying to get as much bees and brood as we can in double deep configuration. Giving them empty frames for brood.. moving stuff around giving more draw comb for the queen to keep them in work and grow state of mind.
Until the flow. Then we switch to single brood box with 7+1 method.. 1 is a drone frame. It's optional. It can be 7 -feeder - 1frame on the outside. And only then we give them some sheets to draw.. not before.. above excluders.
7 frames is the optimal number of cells for the queen to dominate that space. You will never have a pollen problem with it. The frames will be all brood and all the honey will be above the excluders except the 1 outside the feeder. No honey crowns on brood frames or pollen.. everybody works on honey production and a small number of bees keeps the brood in great condition.
German and French beekeepers with 1000 hives are starting to work only like that. But they use bigger boxes so it's 6+1 frames and foil wrapped styrofoam partitions. Many of them tell me that they don't look in the brood box all summer.
So we cut the brood with the excluder and the upper box emerges. It has to be tried. But here it works all over Europe. It's the newest big thing in beekeeping
Hi Mike, getting ready to harvest some honey Where do you buy your 5 gallon buckets , Thanks Tim
Tim, I buy mostly from the big box stores like Lowe’s and Home Depot. They carry the food grade buckets but wow…have they gotten both or what? I need to look closer at sailer plastics, but I’m not sure they have food grade buckets.
Are your honey supers shallows? I think I'm gonna start running shallows mainly because I have about 400 sheets of that Walter Kelly wire wax foundation I was telling u about. & for the weight lifting factor too
Mine are all mediums. The only shallow I have is the comb honey super. Shallows would sure be lighter. That wire wax lasts if you take care of it, so it wouldn't hurt to pick up some shallows. Money saved since you got your hands on it anyhow.
@@MikeBarryBees I actually did just get a few shallow boxes goin today..also yesterday i picked up 130 brand new deep boxes , & 65 mediums & 1800 sheets of plastic foundation, 1800 frames, 65 telescoping covers & screened bottoms w inserts & an enormous amount of other stuff came with it, like 65 smokers , 65 hive tools & 65 plastic excluders, 65 inner covers, all new on pallets..u wouldn't believe how much room that takes up.. was a deal I couldn't refuse , got it all for like 3,500..so basically pennies on the dollar.. I could actually become a real beekeeper now lol
The audio is actually very good. Don't worry
Thanks Anthony! Appreciate the feedback.
i sell my comb honey 4x4 squares for $20 here in NY, so its about double what a liquid honey box sells for. i ran out of mine in november last year i think (only made 1 box) but this year the bees have hardly started working the comb boxes ive put out.
We went to $20 the last year we made a box and I agree, never hurts to have a box on. I hope they start building for you. It's always a gamble and when the flow is just average. Best wishes!!
How is the colony doing that had the tree fall on the hive?
They are packed out!! I need to do a clip on that colony. I never went back in them since I knew they just needed to heal up and move on to winter, but the other day after work I walked by it and they were covering the front. I’ll try to follow up. That’ll be a good and quick video or at least do a clip in another video. Next video is going to be my pollen traps, so it’ll be a couple weeks or so. Thanks for asking!!
Try air Compressor with a fine tip to get that old pollen out of frames
I'll give it a try. I'll try anything. I hate throwing it away, but it is so hard to clean and time consuming. But I'm going to try the air this winter before I pitch it.
Mike, i have a question about queens. I made a walk away split 3 weeks ago. There were 3 cells. Two hatched, the third got destroyed after that. The weather was and is good. Now one queen is walking around for about a week now but i see no eggs. Bees are calm. Should i wait for more or do something.
I would wait. I always wait 4 weeks after a walk away split. Once the queen emerges, it takes about 5 additional days for her ovaries to mature and then she goes on her mating flights. She may between mating flights when you saw her as well. Give her at least another week. If I don’t see eggs after 4 weeks, I give her one more week. After five weeks, then I get concerned. The fact that you saw her is good right off the bat.
@@MikeBarryBees thanx, Mike!
Would like some info on your refrigerator heater box. What you use for thermostat, and heating element, temperature
I use a temperature controller, and you can find them on amazon. Mine is older and required it to be wired for 110VAC, but these days you can find ready wired controllers for a lot cheaper than mine. I use a couple of shop lights with heat lamps and they do the trick. I set the temp to 95 so that it turns off at 95 and I have a five degree differential set on it. So when it drops to 90, it turns back on. the entire inside doesn't actually stay at 95, but that temp allows it to warm very well and the temp averages 92 for the most part. Works very well. I keep two 5 gallon buckets in it and all my bottled honey. Then when I need a bucket for the bottler, it's already liquid. Hope this helps.
In a year like this (south LA), will they continue to fill frames through June? Or just dry out the nectar they've already gathered? My frames are mostly capped or empty...assuming they won't be drawing much more this month?
Yea, pretty much just dry what they have. It’s over here for the tallow and first week of June is normal for it to stop in my experience. There is still some elderberry and clover that will come in here and there, but I’ve never seen a significant amount of nectar going into empty frames after the first week of June though. But never say never with bees😁😁. Come July I have everything stripped down if I can.
@@MikeBarryBees Thanks!
I noticed you dont use inner covers
No, I don't like the extra equipment. I do have three telescoping covers with inner covers and when I run low on migratory covers, I'll use them, but then tend to allow pests on my hives under the trees. I just like the simplicity of the migratory lids.
28:45 Did you forget to put that box back on top deliberately.
No, actually that’s an old deep that has rotten spots in it that I replaced a couple months ago. I leave it laying out there to sit on sometimes or to stack frames in if I’m swapping out boxes or something. I’ll also use it as a stand when working on a brood box when it’s off the hive and I’m manipulating frames between upper and lower brood chambers.