Picked up my bees this morning along with a hiveiq kit excited to see the results-thank you for being such good ambassadors to the bee keeping community
We are in Queensland AU. We started coming out of summer with one HiveIQ box and just assembled the next two. The difference in bee health and resources is amazing. Yhis hive is still two boxes high and thriving in winter, whilst the timber hives are just ok. I recommend researching them further and getting obe to try just like us. You will buy more@
Last year I overwintered in a DD Apimaye and this summer there is a booming colony in an Anel Deep+Med with a wood med on top.. The insulated boxes or a heavy wrap are always booming in early spring, a month ahead of wood boxes. I'm looking at options for insulated hives because I believe its the future in beekeeping. Most of my hives have a homemade shallow box with R-13 fiberglass, its amazing how much heat is retained in an insulated box on a cold morning.
Thabks for sharing Alan and Bev. I have had very similar reaults with a colony in i have in a HiveIQ. This was a weak colony I moved into the HiveIQ in July fully expecting them to not survive. By September they were one of my strongest colonies. I treated for mites with 2 roumds of extended OA, fed Super Fuel fondant in the fall and a winter pollen pattie in February I have not done a full frame inspection yet. I did find out of the 8 frames I checked (4 in each box) 2 had honey and 6 had brood including drones. Both boxes were full of bees and very active. I added a super a few days ago since maplea are blooming in my area with plans to split as soon as maple is done.
Jake Landis from Monroe Washington I bought 2 HiveIQ kits plus 2 more mediums from woods bee company and let me say these hives are the best I actually had to buy 2 more mediums to add to the hives as they both filled out the 2 mediums on each hive best hives I’ve ever used Each year I’m going to buy 2 more kits plus extra mediums to eventually get all my hives swapped over to HiveIQ boxes Thanks woods bee company for supplying these in Washington
Al, thanks for that review. It's great. I plan on getting one soon. Question: is there space to lay a Formic strip between the bottom and middle hive bodies?
Sorry in the delay Lynn but not as good with keeping up with TH-cam yet Not really, but you do want air flow for this type of treatment, so you can actually put an extra box on to provide more ventilation therefore giving some space.
Alan, great video! Question for you, how do you feed your bees in the HiveIQ setup? This will be my first year and it was recommended that I use a top feeder but HiveIQ doesn't use an inner cover. So I was curious how you fed syrup using HiveIQ? Thank you!
Last year I used a 10 frame inner cover to hole my jar feeder. I placed a deep box with the lid over the feeder. This was not ideal though it worked to get the hive going. For feeding fondant I made a shim to put between the top box and lid. HiveIQ is working on a top feeder that will be out this year.
Thank you for the question. As stated by Jeff, HiveIQ is currently working on a top feeder which will be released soon. If you need to feed until then you can use a frame feeder. But the hive was able to collect enough resources to feed themself during the nectar flow.
Thanks for the video and the review. I'm also in the Pacific Northwest and your results look extremely promising. UPDATE: I have a HiveIQ single deep that is currently going through its first winter. I opened the hive on a sunny day in December (SW Washington, ~50°F). The bees were everywhere on top of the frames when i opened the lid. They weren't just clustered in the center. I can't wait to see what they will do when spring comes.
It did well in the summer. The hive is positioned on the SE corner of a garden shed so it gets full sun in the morning and most of the day. It didn't grow to fill two deeps because it had queen issues through most of the spring. It didn't seem to overheat. I peeked inside last week. The hive was very active with need bringing in yellow pollen. They had plenty of fondant left and the lid had a lot of bees under it. They were evenly spaced, not in a cluster. I think they are going to come out of winter strong.
I dont care for the Qx, it fits too tightly, great if there is no propolis ,wax or squashed bees on it, any little thing and the next box will not go down properly as it gets held up. To me, it looks like the metal just has not been pressed together well enough. Too much of a gap that will allow SHB and wax moths a place to grow.
We don't use Queen excluders much as once our bees starting bring in nectar they make a honey barrier quite quickly and the queen usually stays below that. We may start using with some of the HiveIQ hives to see if it makes any difference.
You can get more than three years but it requires, repainting, some sanding and painting because, But sometimes the bottom of the boxes start to role up because of the moister causing the boxes to be unevening and the bees are exposed to the elements.
Picked up my bees this morning along with a hiveiq kit excited to see the results-thank you for being such good ambassadors to the bee keeping community
what did you think about the HiveIQ?
We are in Queensland AU. We started coming out of summer with one HiveIQ box and just assembled the next two. The difference in bee health and resources is amazing. Yhis hive is still two boxes high and thriving in winter, whilst the timber hives are just ok. I recommend researching them further and getting obe to try just like us. You will buy more@
We agree! We just moved 48 hives over before winter and have another 40 on the way!
I’m happy to see a brother doing bee videos I’m from Canada
Last year I overwintered in a DD Apimaye and this summer there is a booming colony in an Anel Deep+Med with a wood med on top.. The insulated boxes or a heavy wrap are always booming in early spring, a month ahead of wood boxes. I'm looking at options for insulated hives because I believe its the future in beekeeping. Most of my hives have a homemade shallow box with R-13 fiberglass, its amazing how much heat is retained in an insulated box on a cold morning.
I'm glad to see other beekeepers who are using insulation to help their bees thrive. We believe that is the key as well as healthy bes!
Thabks for sharing Alan and Bev.
I have had very similar reaults with a colony in i have in a HiveIQ. This was a weak colony I moved into the HiveIQ in July fully expecting them to not survive. By September they were one of my strongest colonies. I treated for mites with 2 roumds of extended OA, fed Super Fuel fondant in the fall and a winter pollen pattie in February I have not done a full frame inspection yet. I did find out of the 8 frames I checked (4 in each box) 2 had honey and 6 had brood including drones. Both boxes were full of bees and very active.
I added a super a few days ago since maplea are blooming in my area with plans to split as soon as maple is done.
Jake Landis from Monroe Washington I bought 2 HiveIQ kits plus 2 more mediums from woods bee company and let me say these hives are the best I actually had to buy 2 more mediums to add to the hives as they both filled out the 2 mediums on each hive best hives I’ve ever used
Each year I’m going to buy 2 more kits plus extra mediums to eventually get all my hives swapped over to HiveIQ boxes
Thanks woods bee company for supplying these in Washington
Glad you like them! Victor from HiveIQ says that you can expect about 25-30% more honey production!
Al, thanks for that review. It's great. I plan on getting one soon. Question: is there space to lay a Formic strip between the bottom and middle hive bodies?
Sorry in the delay Lynn but not as good with keeping up with TH-cam yet
Not really, but you do want air flow for this type of treatment, so you can actually put an extra box on to provide more ventilation therefore giving some space.
I saw one you sold to a couple from Longview who are taking the apprenticeship class. It's impressive. Aussie made too!
Alan, great video! Question for you, how do you feed your bees in the HiveIQ setup? This will be my first year and it was recommended that I use a top feeder but HiveIQ doesn't use an inner cover. So I was curious how you fed syrup using HiveIQ? Thank you!
I'm starting with a hiveiq hive this spring. I will feed my bees with an internal feeding tray on top of the queen excluder enclosed by my medium box.
@georgeahacker I was thinking of doing the same thing! Thanks for the reply George!
Last year I used a 10 frame inner cover to hole my jar feeder. I placed a deep box with the lid over the feeder. This was not ideal though it worked to get the hive going.
For feeding fondant I made a shim to put between the top box and lid.
HiveIQ is working on a top feeder that will be out this year.
Thank you for the question. As stated by Jeff, HiveIQ is currently working on a top feeder which will be released soon. If you need to feed until then you can use a frame feeder. But the hive was able to collect enough resources to feed themself during the nectar flow.
I’m in Canada bad winters for 5 months I use most poly hives up here
I know these would work great up there!
Thanks for the video and the review. I'm also in the Pacific Northwest and your results look extremely promising.
UPDATE: I have a HiveIQ single deep that is currently going through its first winter. I opened the hive on a sunny day in December (SW Washington, ~50°F). The bees were everywhere on top of the frames when i opened the lid. They weren't just clustered in the center. I can't wait to see what they will do when spring comes.
How did it do through the summer?
It did well in the summer. The hive is positioned on the SE corner of a garden shed so it gets full sun in the morning and most of the day. It didn't grow to fill two deeps because it had queen issues through most of the spring. It didn't seem to overheat.
I peeked inside last week. The hive was very active with need bringing in yellow pollen. They had plenty of fondant left and the lid had a lot of bees under it. They were evenly spaced, not in a cluster. I think they are going to come out of winter strong.
Any thoughts on the queen excluder and feeding sugar water? I watch all your videos, thanks!
I dont care for the Qx, it fits too tightly, great if there is no propolis ,wax or squashed bees on it, any little thing and the next box will not go down properly as it gets held up. To me, it looks like the metal just has not been pressed together well enough. Too much of a gap that will allow SHB and wax moths a place to grow.
We don't use Queen excluders much as once our bees starting bring in nectar they make a honey barrier quite quickly and the queen usually stays below that. We may start using with some of the HiveIQ hives to see if it makes any difference.
Sounds like HiveIQ was fixing some of the issues of pressing of the metal at the factory with the queen excluder.
Dude, what are you doing to only get 3 years out of a wooden hive? Mine are all old enough to vote. Too much rain in WA?
You can get more than three years but it requires, repainting, some sanding and painting because, But sometimes the bottom of the boxes start to role up because of the moister causing the boxes to be unevening and the bees are exposed to the elements.