I don't know why, but I find it very interesting and entertaining to watch any of your videos of hive removals. I am not a bee enthusiast, but I like what you upload, especially the hive removals. You have gained a new subscriber.
+Max Shaw im exactly the same never been interested in bees before started with watching yellow jacket removal and now ive been binge watching for the past two day another new sub here! also from the uk here where honey bees are going extinct :(
+Joseph Damron They are in the UK. It's becoming more and more common knowledge here because there are less and less of them every year. @Cheesecake8069 is correct.
@@628DirtRooster One of the roofers that put our metal roof on a few years back had to go back up on the roof to fix something. I told him to come back another day because the roof was wet from a recent rain, and I knew it was slick as ice. Poor guy got halfway up the roof and predictably he lost his footing and slid all the way down and flew off the roof into the concrete deck in the back. No broken bones, but he busted his hands open from the razor sharp metal and smashing them into the concrete. Our roof is at like a 45 degree pitch, so it was like one of them water park slides, he was goin' pretty quick when he flew off. And unlike the roof in this video, ours had concealed screws, so you can't use screw heads for traction. Offered him medical attention or to take him to the emergency room and he declined. He looked more terrified of going to the hospital than his busted up hands.
@@GGigabiteM I hate to be that guy. But sliding off a metal roof that's at a 45° angle just seems impossible to me. Mostly because of my experience with metal roofs with an angle greater than 60°. Once again, I hate to be that guy, but it just sounds so fake that I need to make sure.
@@6th_Army We don't have a conventional metal roof, it's an expensive custom blue-gray colored metal roof made with hidden screws, so each slat runs from the fascia to the peak with no seams. Once you start sliding, there's nothing to stop you from going all the way down. The screws are hidden between the slats and covered with a long trim piece, so the entire roof is basically smooth. A bit of water on it and it turns to ice. I could understand a normal corrugated galvanized metal roof with exposed screws being hard to fall off of, but we don't have one of those.
I keep commenting on these older videos and I feel a twinge of guilt for doing so. But, hey! They're new to me and I enjoy the hell out of 'em! This one was really amazing! What a massive, beautiful hive! And every time you show some of that honey-laden comb my mouth just gets to waterin'. I can only imagine how good that honey was! I haven't had any comb to chew on in many moons. Not since I was a boy. And I'm in my 70's now, so I am waaay overdue. I'm gonna have to scout some out from somewhere, just to have on hand while I watch the Dirt Rooster's channel. Another great video! Thanks, mi amigo!
This is one I won't soon forget. We were used up by the time we finished this one. I know I spent the next day on the couch and I think Billy Bob did too. This probably ranks among the top ten for the most honey loaded hives we've ever pulled.
I love watching it cause i see how much passion you put into this hobby love your videos keep em coming also i have been trying to figure out who you remind me off and bam it hits me you are the real Winnie the poo bear haha
That looked like one gooey, sticky mess! Cleanup on aisle 3! Man that was wickedly high up there...not to mention walking on that roof! Thanks for another great video!
@@628DirtRooster Any roof is insane from my perspective, unless the ladder to access it is firmly bolted top and bottom to the structure. And at that angle.... It makes my stomach drop to see people without a harness on a roof (or scaffolding!), even though I am standing on the ground. I think all y'all are pretty brave around the bees bare-handed, in shorts, and so often with no veil, but man to get up there on a rickety extension ladder so much of the time.... Kudos, sir, y'all are far braver than I am!
I'm pretty late in finding your videos, but I'm glad I did. I have really taken a liking to watching and learning from your videos. I have thought many times about exploring the possibility of getting into beekeeping. Needless to say, you got a new subscriber here.
***** We had fun up until we were both tired and ready to go home. I needed help on that high stuff plus I would turn that scaffold over trying to climb the side of it.
628DirtRooster I'm collette from Ireland, love the way you do a good job safety taking away what we would call wasps , as for the bee's well done given them new homes,
628DirtRooster I'm collette from Ireland, love the way you do a good job safety taking away what we would call wasps , as for the bee's well done given them new homes,
glad you got them. I did a removal about three weeks ago. it was four to five years old in a church. the size of the hive was about the size of 60 inch zero turn mower. got 360 lbs of honey and comb. got 230 lbs of filtered honey package and a two deeps of brood and bees. it was s big they started making horizontal stacked comb whn the got down to the ceiling. took two days and 15 hours. wish I had videoed it.
Holy cow, speaking of cluster, looked like a cluster ----, perfect job to bring an enthusiastic helper, ( the one I watched before you were poolside with your feet up watching them walk in a box ) that guy looked like a great helper and at 17:13, obviously ain't afraid of a few stings, wowzer
That doesn’t cover gas to get there, nor any helpers. He comments bitterly how he was told that he could be paid on getting a swarm by getting the bees, and that that would not cover his basic expenses. He has to charge for a job like this. Bees won’t pay for food while getting them, either.
@@goldtoothfairy #628DirtRooster has GOT to charge for hive removals, there is no doubt! He brings nucs or hives, bee vacs, tools/equipment of all sorts, materials & supplies (plastic sheeting, buckets, repellants, etc...), and sometimes equipment rentals to the removal sites. In addition to providing his food & drink, wear & tear on his truck, fuel, (extra laundry!), and lots of time away from his family, he also provides his expertise in both bees and carpentry to these jobs. AND he repairs the demolition work he has to do during removals. That is a pretty specialized skillset. I also believe that sometimes clients ask to get the honeycomb from the cutouts. I've heard stories of "free" bee removals by other beekeepers in exchange for bees and honey that left homeowners with pretty hefty repair bills to clean up and fix the damage left behind. It is very naīve for people to think anyone would do any job, much less a miserably hot, sweaty job, where you likely will get stung and run the risk of (possibly severe) injury in exchange for only bees and honey. Any beekeeper already keeps bees, he/she can build swarm traps if they want free bees, and they already have honey. In addition, that "free" honey from swarm cut outs still costs a person additional time, labor, and equipment (on top of expenses already incurred during the cutout job) to process the honey into clean, usable form. If you wouldn't /can't /won't do any job "for free" yourself, please don't expect that anyone else will do it for you gratis.
I couldn't imagine working way up high and being sticky on top of it all, I'm glad you came out with just a few stings and didn't have to show us how you bounce..lol
Well, I gotta say I love your videos man, you make the beekeeping and the videoing look so easy its not even funny. I finally got my first one up, after about three hours of uploading and processing, and losing my old account.
Permaculture Prepper I don't know if he made it to church or not. I didn't see him but I was curious to see how his eyes looked. He took a few around his eye.
+628DirtRooster ... Pati Bannister, the painter? ... I said pretending I didn't just look her up on Google; because I had no clue who she was. In my defense, I'm not from Mississippi nor was I ever an adolescent girl. Her stuff seems nice, shame Katrina destroyed so much of her work.
Is there any chance those may have a bit of Africanization to them? I know that is an annoying question but based on the aggression, location, and amount of honey they produced, it would be my guess that there may be. What are your thoughts?
+628DirtRooster africanised bees are significantly more resistant to disease. Pity no one has the common sense to use them in smart selective breeding.
Charles Sibbald wild European bee's in America have had a genetic bottle neck in the last 10 or 20 years and have decreased in numbers but only to have the most genetically superior bee's survive things like foul brood chalk brood and the dreaded veroa mites. that's why i only catch wild bee's only replace queens from wild caught queen breeders or let them make their own. if i hive can't fight off veroa and adapt then they aren't bee's i want to keep around and make the gene pool weaker.
+TheItalian Garden - I have always said the worst thing that could ever have happened to bees was bee keepers, and not their diseases. Selection against swarming, in-breading, removal of drone brood/comb, excessive harvesting and then feeding syrup over winter. I do feed syrup over winter but I never take the last Ivy flow in the autumn, usually about a super and half a brood).
Hey man, sending some love from the UK! I'm actually quite phobic of bees and wasps, but i enjoy watching your hive removals as they're just so interesting. I'm hoping i can slowly get over my fear of bees, as they mean no harm (wasps are just assholes though soz).
Oh christ haha, i dont even know if we have yellowjackets here. Everything is just a wasp. Period. We had a nest in the couryard at my university back in september,, they just wouldn't leave... One somehow got into my room so opening the curtains to that cheeky bugger wasn't what i wanted 20 mins before a lecture
Trust me, I completely understand. I've climbed trees as a kid, as a young adult climbed a water tower and added some graffiti. I live in Tennessee and have been to lookout mountain and stuff near Chattanooga plenty of times. What I don't do... ladders, cherry pickers, scissor lifts and scaffolds. I don't do shakey, wobbly, or insecure heights. I can stand on the roof of a 40ft barn and jump into a pile of loose hay, but I can't use a footstool to change a light bulb.
I'm about the same way. I don't mind climbing scaffold I just don't like standing on it to work. As long as I'm holding onto something I'm usually OK but it's hard to work when you're busy hanging on. It is almost a necessity to have a ground man for these though to run for tools and such so I got to earn my keep anyway. Plus I let Billy Bob have all the bees and all the honey for doing the high work.
I hear you on the heights, I can't stand them myself either. One time for work I had to go up in a boom lift to the ceiling of a manufacturing facility. 70 feet in the air. And of course I get Jeff Gordon's brother driving the lift. I thought I was going to have a heart attack.
Shannon Wyatt Man I did the same thing. I showed up to work on a sign that was supposed to be 20 feet off the ground. We ended up in a 60' bucket maxed out with a strong breeze and a guy operating that had no fear. My legs were sore the next day from being tensed up for two solid hours.
Hi, can I ask what to do for wasp prevention/managment? I currently have paper wasps getting into a hive (and caught one european hornet trying to); reduced the entrance to minimum and put up some improvised plastic bottle wasp traps; but still a bit worried cause there were lots and lots of wasps around the hive.
+628DirtRooster This hive seemed more aggressive than ones in your other videos I've watched. And man that was a ton of honey compared to how much brood you said you got pulled out. Was it weirdly out of proportion or did you just catch them at the right time? It made me wonder about the possibility of it being at least partially africanized because I heard they are super honey producers, but I don't know if they can crossbreed with eachother in the wild cause bees just basicly clone themselves don't they. Anyhow, what I really wanted to ask is if you've encountered any africanized hives and what your take on the subject was as a beekeeper and hive removal expert? Do you have to worry about your hives being taken over by them? When I lived in the states I lived mostly in the North so I never had to worry about the african variety but it kinda made me warry of the south and I've heard they are actually becoming more cold resistant and moving more north than expected. Thanks for documenting your adventures. I wish I was brave enough to keep a hive myself. Bees are fascinating creatures.
1. Bees don't clone themselves, any bee. 2. This hive didn't have even a hint of African in it, they cant be worked with out a suit. I am in South Texas where i deal with them when they cross breed into my tame hives after a new queen is made. Basically after so many generations of cross breeding, the bees become too mean to work and we are forced to re-queen the hive.
I am looking to make my own bee vacuum and out of all of the ones I have researched I like the cylinder that you put inside the bucket to capture the bees. Did you make the cage yourself or did you buy it? Where could I find instructions to build my own?
Have you done mite checks on these colonies? I am curious about the level of mite on them with their natural comb. I have an assumption that they will have little to no mites.
Charles Sibbald We have surprisingly little trouble with mites down here. I never check mite counts or treat for mites although some beekeepers in our area would argue. I think most of them treat because they think they have to. I monitored mine for a few years and the numbers were so low I just never felt the need to worry about it. The farther north you get there seem to be more problems.
+628DirtRooster yes it most definitely seems temperature related, if you get spikes above 40deg C, 104F mites die en mass but the bees brood remains fine. I recon you guys continually see those temperatures in Hives exposed to the sun. Africanised bees are also considerably more mite resistant and so of you are lucky enough to have very diluted Africanised genes in your bees you should be smiling all the way to the Extractor!
+628DirtRooster yes it most definitely seems temperature related, if you get spikes above 40deg C, 104F mites die en mass but the bees brood remains fine. I recon you guys continually see those temperatures in Hives exposed to the sun. Africanised bees are also considerably more mite resistant and so of you are lucky enough to have very diluted Africanised genes in your bees you should be smiling all the way to the Extractor!
+628DirtRooster yes it most definitely seems temperature related, if you get spikes above 40deg C, 104F mites die en mass but the bees brood remains fine. I recon you guys continually see those temperatures in Hives exposed to the sun. Africanised bees are also considerably more mite resistant and so of you are lucky enough to have very diluted Africanised genes in your bees you should be smiling all the way to the Extractor!
It has been so dang HOT here. Even sitting on the porch you break out in a sweat. Now that was one huge hive... should have called it a 'Honey Jar' hive. Sweet was an understatement. ..lol I would not have climes the scaffolding if my life depended on it. I hate heights! Take care
Papa's Place I would have had to buy some climbing gear if I was going to spend any time up there. I can deal with it for a little while but I couldn't work up there without being tied off.
Hey another beekeeper afraid of heights.Glad I'm not alone, actually had a case a few weeks ago where a beekeeper who had stopped maintaining his hives had the full thing abscond. They went onto his chimney about twenty feet up, and to the uneducated observer looked like about five feet of the chimney had bubbled out and was black about five feet square. Long story short, massive swarm. I didn't dare throw anything at them, didn't see it ending well, and I wasn't willing to go up the ladder and play with bees. Tried baiting, waiting, and finally got desperate and tried to grab at them with a net, that ended when everyone below scattered and I took a few stings. They stayed for a few days then took off and a bunch of local beekeepers had said their hives got a huge population boost.
Might've been but I'd probably have to censor it, when I came back the one morning to find around twenty bees left on the chimney out of the whole thing I wasn't the happiest of beekeepers.
+BlackThunder885 This was one of the bigger ones we've done. The biggest I think was the first one I ever did. It was in an abandoned house at our hunting camp. I wasn't recording them back then. But maybe it just seemed huge since it was my first.
Not a fan of working up high but it seems that most of the houses I work on have to be done from ladders. I need to start charging a surcharge for ever step on the ladder I have to go up. Got to love them Honey showers.
I have a friend in the area of Lake Charles would you have any info ..... I call he a friend because I send bibles to ppl who ask for them but I also love the person
how come the bees couldn't find their way out, did the owners try blocking it off? in any circumstance that would be idiotic considering the problems that the beetles, roaches, and moths would cause.
if you soak the top two-thirds of your t-shirt in cold water like a wet t-shirt contest you will actually be cold from the evaporation even as humid as the air is
That was some breadcrumb at the end. Once I found the exit, it was fairly easy to find the house on satellite view. That was fun. Kinda like a geocache 30.374505, -89.377788
Haha You can find the location on quite a few of my videos but I didn't remember leaving clues on this one. The home belonged to a famous local artist Pati Bannister. She passed away and the house has been sold now.
It is unlikely that the bees consulted an architect about whether the house could safely carry the weight of all that comb and honey and bees etc, before they set up there.
Wildcat Gaming I'd say find a mentor and get busy. Just like any other business.... figure out what aspect of beekeeping you will be doing as a business and advertise! Join a club.
We had bees when I was young. We'd let them get the sourwood honey down here where we live and move the hives to the mountains to let them harvest the sourwood there. We were moving them one time and my dad had a hole in his pants, right in the crotch. As he was ripping screens, they were finding the hole in his pants. I was in the truck with the windows up, laughing my butt off at him.
That was one beautiful hive! About that sick hive: you said you wanted to merge it with one at home. Aren't you worried that the weak bees might come with mites and other parasites?
Lived in AZ for 26 years, and they all were bad news. A couple of weeks ago a friend in AZ got stung about 400 times, plus fell and broke his wrist trying to get away from them, had to have surgery. We lived close to the AZ/Mexico border.
A few weeks ago I got a call about a bee tree that broke during a storm. I had to let my girlfriend climb the ladder, heights are the bane of my existence.
Brett Kozma My wife is the same way. I was working out of town after hurricane Katrina and she got on our steep two story roof and put tarps over the missing shingles.
Belt made some screen bottom boards this week six Elm to be exact but screen wire and one so far should have been put to shame liars or screen with the dividing of 2 inches so I could put them on top of one another or just the one screen wire and leave them at the stack
628DirtRooster cool. May be out that way here in a couple of months and if I do get to do that I would like to stop and say hey and maybe even be lucky enough to help remove a hive while I'm there
I don't know why, but I find it very interesting and entertaining to watch any of your videos of hive removals. I am not a bee enthusiast, but I like what you upload, especially the hive removals. You have gained a new subscriber.
Max the moomoo Shaw Thanks Max. New subs are always appreciated.
+Max Shaw im exactly the same never been interested in bees before started with watching yellow jacket removal and now ive been binge watching for the past two day another new sub here!
also from the uk here where honey bees are going extinct :(
+Cheesecake8069 there going away here in the US too I wouldn't mind if bees became as common as ants and as annoying as roaches I love them
+Cheesecake8069 they're not going extinct...
+Joseph Damron They are in the UK. It's becoming more and more common knowledge here because there are less and less of them every year. @Cheesecake8069 is correct.
What a beautiful old home. I love these old houses. They have a character to them!!
Honeyville horror , had me laughing so hard, my sides hurt.
+mogwieone :)
Your videos are so interesting. These bees are amazing!!
damn, Billy Bob has balls of steel climbing on that flat metal roof.
I just knew I was going to be having to call his wife and let her know he wasn't coming home. I never would have done it. It was steep too.
@@628DirtRooster One of the roofers that put our metal roof on a few years back had to go back up on the roof to fix something. I told him to come back another day because the roof was wet from a recent rain, and I knew it was slick as ice. Poor guy got halfway up the roof and predictably he lost his footing and slid all the way down and flew off the roof into the concrete deck in the back. No broken bones, but he busted his hands open from the razor sharp metal and smashing them into the concrete.
Our roof is at like a 45 degree pitch, so it was like one of them water park slides, he was goin' pretty quick when he flew off. And unlike the roof in this video, ours had concealed screws, so you can't use screw heads for traction. Offered him medical attention or to take him to the emergency room and he declined. He looked more terrified of going to the hospital than his busted up hands.
@@GGigabiteM Poor guy. He was probably more embarrassed than anything until the next few days when the pain from the fall set in.
@@GGigabiteM I hate to be that guy. But sliding off a metal roof that's at a 45° angle just seems impossible to me. Mostly because of my experience with metal roofs with an angle greater than 60°. Once again, I hate to be that guy, but it just sounds so fake that I need to make sure.
@@6th_Army We don't have a conventional metal roof, it's an expensive custom blue-gray colored metal roof made with hidden screws, so each slat runs from the fascia to the peak with no seams. Once you start sliding, there's nothing to stop you from going all the way down.
The screws are hidden between the slats and covered with a long trim piece, so the entire roof is basically smooth. A bit of water on it and it turns to ice.
I could understand a normal corrugated galvanized metal roof with exposed screws being hard to fall off of, but we don't have one of those.
The mother load of honey with this one! Raining honey! What a job! I know you didn't charge enough for that removal.lol
+DixieGirl9876 Not even close
Man we need more videos with billy bob!! This dude is hilarious!! Lol
I keep commenting on these older videos and I feel a twinge of guilt for doing so. But, hey! They're new to me and I enjoy the hell out of 'em! This one was really amazing! What a massive, beautiful hive! And every time you show some of that honey-laden comb my mouth just gets to waterin'. I can only imagine how good that honey was! I haven't had any comb to chew on in many moons. Not since I was a boy. And I'm in my 70's now, so I am waaay overdue. I'm gonna have to scout some out from somewhere, just to have on hand while I watch the Dirt Rooster's channel. Another great video! Thanks, mi amigo!
This is one I won't soon forget. We were used up by the time we finished this one. I know I spent the next day on the couch and I think Billy Bob did too. This probably ranks among the top ten for the most honey loaded hives we've ever pulled.
Billy Bob is one brave soul cuz that scaffold was a-shakin’ !! I felt your height anxiety! Lol!
I love watching it cause i see how much passion you put into this hobby love your videos keep em coming also i have been trying to figure out who you remind me off and bam it hits me you are the real Winnie the poo bear haha
SAAAAWEEEET!!! LOL Billy Bob is quite the character. Great job as usual.
TJ
***** Thanks TJ. Billy Bob is crazier than I am. :)
That looked like one gooey, sticky mess! Cleanup on aisle 3!
Man that was wickedly high up there...not to mention walking on that roof!
Thanks for another great video!
Kylia Emery That roof walk was insane from my perspective. Thanks for watching.
@@628DirtRooster Any roof is insane from my perspective, unless the ladder to access it is firmly bolted top and bottom to the structure. And at that angle....
It makes my stomach drop to see people without a harness on a roof (or scaffolding!), even though I am standing on the ground.
I think all y'all are pretty brave around the bees bare-handed, in shorts, and so often with no veil, but man to get up there on a rickety extension ladder so much of the time.... Kudos, sir, y'all are far braver than I am!
I'm pretty late in finding your videos, but I'm glad I did. I have really taken a liking to watching and learning from your videos. I have thought many times about exploring the possibility of getting into beekeeping. Needless to say, you got a new subscriber here.
Thanks Dave. Jump in. I think you'll really enjoy it.
Wow! What an incredible mess! lol
You, sir, are WAY more brave than I am climbing that metal roof!
He's a nut!
billy bob... what a character.
He is something else. I should get him in some more videos.
628DirtRooster that would be excellant 😆😂
I want to be a bee keeper now
Me too!!
Awesome job gotta love that honey, a lot of lbs.
Now that's using your head!..Hire Billy Bob to do the dirty work!
***** We had fun up until we were both tired and ready to go home. I needed help on that high stuff plus I would turn that scaffold over trying to climb the side of it.
628DirtRooster I'm collette from Ireland, love the way you do a good job safety taking away what we would call wasps , as for the bee's well done given them new homes,
628DirtRooster I'm collette from Ireland, love the way you do a good job safety taking away what we would call wasps , as for the bee's well done given them new homes,
That was a big job! Good job, y'all. I bet the celebrity owner wants the honey now!
glad you got them. I did a removal about three weeks ago. it was four to five years old in a church. the size of the hive was about the size of 60 inch zero turn mower. got 360 lbs of honey and comb. got 230 lbs of filtered honey package and a two deeps of brood and bees. it was s big they started making horizontal stacked comb whn the got down to the ceiling. took two days and 15 hours. wish I had videoed it.
Those are a lot of work. Should have gotten some video.
I love the fact that he sings! =)
Randy and Billy Bob............The Bee Wranglers! 👍✌️
Wow! You and Billy Bob really did earn double what they paid you!
Especially Billy Bob with that roof climbing stunt. Had me on edge.
Love this stuff, I'd love to start one myself. I just subbed, keep up the awesome videos.
Thanks for the sub.
Great video. That hive was huge!
We were so tired when we got done with this. It was really big.
Holy cow, speaking of cluster, looked like a cluster ----, perfect job to bring an enthusiastic helper,
( the one I watched before you were poolside with your feet up watching them walk in a box ) that guy looked like a great helper and at 17:13, obviously ain't afraid of a few stings, wowzer
He sure wasn't
You got a new sub. Billy Bob is awesome :D I got some land without any use so I might get some bees.
Subbed I'm not a beekeeper but I love honey and your videos. Keep them coming bro. 👍🏾✌🏾
+786TAPOUT Maybe we'll demonstrated some honey bee submissions. lol
I love how u care - and treat and love the bees . how much did u charge for this extreme removal a ball park amount? good job .....gále in Delaware.
Gale Sauer I think I read on a comment that he doesn't charge for the removal as he gets the bees and honey 🍯 🐝
That doesn’t cover gas to get there, nor any helpers. He comments bitterly how he was told that he could be paid on getting a swarm by getting the bees, and that that would not cover his basic expenses. He has to charge for a job like this. Bees won’t pay for food while getting them, either.
@@goldtoothfairy #628DirtRooster has GOT to charge for hive removals, there is no doubt! He brings nucs or hives, bee vacs, tools/equipment of all sorts, materials & supplies (plastic sheeting, buckets, repellants, etc...), and sometimes equipment rentals to the removal sites. In addition to providing his food & drink, wear & tear on his truck, fuel, (extra laundry!), and lots of time away from his family, he also provides his expertise in both bees and carpentry to these jobs. AND he repairs the demolition work he has to do during removals. That is a pretty specialized skillset. I also believe that sometimes clients ask to get the honeycomb from the cutouts.
I've heard stories of "free" bee removals by other beekeepers in exchange for bees and honey that left homeowners with pretty hefty repair bills to clean up and fix the damage left behind. It is very naīve for people to think anyone would do any job, much less a miserably hot, sweaty job, where you likely will get stung and run the risk of (possibly severe) injury in exchange for only bees and honey. Any beekeeper already keeps bees, he/she can build swarm traps if they want free bees, and they already have honey. In addition, that "free" honey from swarm cut outs still costs a person additional time, labor, and equipment (on top of expenses already incurred during the cutout job) to process the honey into clean, usable form.
If you wouldn't /can't /won't do any job "for free" yourself, please don't expect that anyone else will do it for you gratis.
I have always found bees interesting. When I see them around the house I set out sugar water. I would love to have some.
Billy Bob seems like he would be fun to hang out with.
+diryoldguy366 Yes sir! Dude is nuts. You should see him walking around Home Depot with his dog (Yorkie) perched on his shoulder like a bird.
+628DirtRooster The mental is image .... :-)))))
628DirtRooster My husband does the same thing with our Yorkie,like a wee pirates parrot!
I don't think there has been a more massive hive in any of the newer vids I've seen. Endlessly fascinating, but I'm still scared of 'em! 😆
billy bob the real MVP. new sub
Wish Billy B would join me for more of these.
I couldn't imagine working way up high and being sticky on top of it all, I'm glad you came out with just a few stings and didn't have to show us how you bounce..lol
rchopp Haha I bounce like a water balloon. BOOOSH!
Well, I gotta say I love your videos man, you make the beekeeping and the videoing look so easy its not even funny.
I finally got my first one up, after about three hours of uploading and processing, and losing my old account.
How's your channel coming?
I've watched a lot of videos. This may be the most aggressive and beautiful imo
Interesting info 5 years after. Pati had passed away 2 years prior to this. Her home was part of a foundation named after her.
damn bo', dat rite there is sum work ! would love to have seen ol' Billy Bob the next day lol ! all those stings.
Permaculture Prepper I don't know if he made it to church or not. I didn't see him but I was curious to see how his eyes looked. He took a few around his eye.
oooo man that's bad. Love your work brother, you are a standout guy, thx for the reply.
that house is GORGEOUS
+DC E Needed a lot of maintenance but was a very cool house with a lot of potential. Belonged to Pati Bannister before she passed.
+628DirtRooster ... Pati Bannister, the painter? ... I said pretending I didn't just look her up on Google; because I had no clue who she was.
In my defense, I'm not from Mississippi nor was I ever an adolescent girl. Her stuff seems nice, shame Katrina destroyed so much of her work.
***** I know. LOL Nobody outside the art community probably knows who she is. I only knew because her work is popular around here.
That looked tough! I hope those guys are paying you guys well :)
ArtisanTony We probably under charged but we had fun.
Terrified of bees, because of stings. I love watching your videos though! Thanks
+auroradreamer Thanks for posting
"......and did we mention, honey?"
Lots and lots
That's that famous play Billy Bob On a Hot Tin Roof.
I wished you showed the next days gathering of the box.
Big guys don't bounce, or ,"Like a water balloon. BOOOSH!"! Hilarious!
+M. Smith Like a soft melon ... splat
Snata04 Animation And Stopmotion Some people do. You can buy them as well. Not sure where though.
Is there any chance those may have a bit of Africanization to them? I know that is an annoying question but based on the aggression, location, and amount of honey they produced, it would be my guess that there may be. What are your thoughts?
Idk
***** Nah. I am so thankful that we don't have Africanized colonies this far east yet. Hopefully we never will.
+628DirtRooster africanised bees are significantly more resistant to disease. Pity no one has the common sense to use them in smart selective breeding.
Charles Sibbald wild European bee's in America have had a genetic bottle neck in the last 10 or 20 years and have decreased in numbers but only to have the most genetically superior bee's survive things like foul brood chalk brood and the dreaded veroa mites. that's why i only catch wild bee's only replace queens from wild caught queen breeders or let them make their own. if i hive can't fight off veroa and adapt then they aren't bee's i want to keep around and make the gene pool weaker.
+TheItalian Garden - I have always said the worst thing that could ever have happened to bees was bee keepers, and not their diseases.
Selection against swarming, in-breading, removal of drone brood/comb, excessive harvesting and then feeding syrup over winter.
I do feed syrup over winter but I never take the last Ivy flow in the autumn, usually about a super and half a brood).
Hey man, sending some love from the UK! I'm actually quite phobic of bees and wasps, but i enjoy watching your hive removals as they're just so interesting. I'm hoping i can slowly get over my fear of bees, as they mean no harm (wasps are just assholes though soz).
LOL Thanks for watching. I was working on a yellow jacket nest today. You would have liked that. ;)
Oh christ haha, i dont even know if we have yellowjackets here. Everything is just a wasp. Period. We had a nest in the couryard at my university back in september,, they just wouldn't leave... One somehow got into my room so opening the curtains to that cheeky bugger wasn't what i wanted 20 mins before a lecture
That could make for some exciting study sessions.
Very strong bee family.
Белорусское Пчеловодство Belarusian Beekeeping They have the benefit of a lot of popcorn trees (Chinese Tallow) in that area.
"we're gonna double team the first one because its up high" You were a lot of help holding the camera and adding commentary.
I don't do heights. :)
Trust me, I completely understand. I've climbed trees as a kid, as a young adult climbed a water tower and added some graffiti. I live in Tennessee and have been to lookout mountain and stuff near Chattanooga plenty of times. What I don't do... ladders, cherry pickers, scissor lifts and scaffolds. I don't do shakey, wobbly, or insecure heights. I can stand on the roof of a 40ft barn and jump into a pile of loose hay, but I can't use a footstool to change a light bulb.
I'm about the same way. I don't mind climbing scaffold I just don't like standing on it to work. As long as I'm holding onto something I'm usually OK but it's hard to work when you're busy hanging on. It is almost a necessity to have a ground man for these though to run for tools and such so I got to earn my keep anyway. Plus I let Billy Bob have all the bees and all the honey for doing the high work.
for the honey that breaks and get all over the inside , does it attract any other insects or do you just wipe it down or let it dry?
You have to clean up all you can. Other insects will get what you miss. Animals like it too.
I hear you on the heights, I can't stand them myself either. One time for work I had to go up in a boom lift to the ceiling of a manufacturing facility. 70 feet in the air. And of course I get Jeff Gordon's brother driving the lift. I thought I was going to have a heart attack.
Shannon Wyatt Man I did the same thing. I showed up to work on a sign that was supposed to be 20 feet off the ground. We ended up in a 60' bucket maxed out with a strong breeze and a guy operating that had no fear. My legs were sore the next day from being tensed up for two solid hours.
What part of the USA are you? We do not get colonies that large in the UK unless they are in polystyrene boxes.
Charles Sibbald South Mississippi. We remove several a year that size and bigger.
Hi, can I ask what to do for wasp prevention/managment? I currently have paper wasps getting into a hive (and caught one european hornet trying to); reduced the entrance to minimum and put up some improvised plastic bottle wasp traps; but still a bit worried cause there were lots and lots of wasps around the hive.
Wim miW You've done exactly what I would have. More wasp traps is my only suggestion.
+628DirtRooster This hive seemed more aggressive than ones in your other videos I've watched. And man that was a ton of honey compared to how much brood you said you got pulled out. Was it weirdly out of proportion or did you just catch them at the right time? It made me wonder about the possibility of it being at least partially africanized because I heard they are super honey producers, but I don't know if they can crossbreed with eachother in the wild cause bees just basicly clone themselves don't they. Anyhow, what I really wanted to ask is if you've encountered any africanized hives and what your take on the subject was as a beekeeper and hive removal expert? Do you have to worry about your hives being taken over by them? When I lived in the states I lived mostly in the North so I never had to worry about the african variety but it kinda made me warry of the south and I've heard they are actually becoming more cold resistant and moving more north than expected. Thanks for documenting your adventures. I wish I was brave enough to keep a hive myself. Bees are fascinating creatures.
There are no Africanized hives in his area according to a previous comment
We just found these at the right time. With good management I think Africanized bees can be held off.
1. Bees don't clone themselves, any bee. 2. This hive didn't have even a hint of African in it, they cant be worked with out a suit. I am in South Texas where i deal with them when they cross breed into my tame hives after a new queen is made. Basically after so many generations of cross breeding, the bees become too mean to work and we are forced to re-queen the hive.
I am looking to make my own bee vacuum and out of all of the ones I have researched I like the cylinder that you put inside the bucket to capture the bees. Did you make the cage yourself or did you buy it? Where could I find instructions to build my own?
th-cam.com/video/zYUmafPktDc/w-d-xo.html
Sweet. Thank you!
John Yeager Good luck bro.
628DirtRooster Winter is upon us here in Montana. Not much snow nor super low temps yet but it will give me a winter project.
John Yeager Those are always good to have. I think this winter I'm going to build a new and improved model based on the same platform.
Have you done mite checks on these colonies? I am curious about the level of mite on them with their natural comb. I have an assumption that they will have little to no mites.
Charles Sibbald We have surprisingly little trouble with mites down here. I never check mite counts or treat for mites although some beekeepers in our area would argue. I think most of them treat because they think they have to. I monitored mine for a few years and the numbers were so low I just never felt the need to worry about it. The farther north you get there seem to be more problems.
+628DirtRooster yes it most definitely seems temperature related, if you get spikes above 40deg C, 104F mites die en mass but the bees brood remains fine. I recon you guys continually see those temperatures in Hives exposed to the sun.
Africanised bees are also considerably more mite resistant and so of you are lucky enough to have very diluted Africanised genes in your bees you should be smiling all the way to the Extractor!
+628DirtRooster yes it most definitely seems temperature related, if you get spikes above 40deg C, 104F mites die en mass but the bees brood remains fine. I recon you guys continually see those temperatures in Hives exposed to the sun.
Africanised bees are also considerably more mite resistant and so of you are lucky enough to have very diluted Africanised genes in your bees you should be smiling all the way to the Extractor!
+628DirtRooster yes it most definitely seems temperature related, if you get spikes above 40deg C, 104F mites die en mass but the bees brood remains fine. I recon you guys continually see those temperatures in Hives exposed to the sun.
Africanised bees are also considerably more mite resistant and so of you are lucky enough to have very diluted Africanised genes in your bees you should be smiling all the way to the Extractor!
he is braver than I am, I'm like you, don't like heights. With the hive beetles, does that make the comb useless?
That comb can be washed and used or melted down.
It has been so dang HOT here. Even sitting on the porch you break out in a sweat.
Now that was one huge hive... should have called it a 'Honey Jar' hive. Sweet was an understatement. ..lol
I would not have climes the scaffolding if my life depended on it. I hate heights!
Take care
Papa's Place I would have had to buy some climbing gear if I was going to spend any time up there. I can deal with it for a little while but I couldn't work up there without being tied off.
Billy Bob did good , looked like a ton of honey in that second one .
krazy45cat Nine gallons. I may do a follow up if Billy Bob is up for it. It all went to his house.
628DirtRooster NICE !!!
+628DirtRooster what time is it for you
+628DirtRooster 8:09 PM for me
Spicy Bros Central time zone here.
+ 628DirtRooster any chance you could have a quick chat about mite levels on these colonies?
How come you didn't put down a tarp to catch all that mess? Just wondering...
+DrummerlovesBookworm We made a mess before we though about it. :)
About heat, I once was by the Red Sea one summer in 51 degC = 124 degF (hundred-and-teens degF and further!), the weather was like an incinerator.
I bet it was hard to breathe in that.
Do bees mourn the passing of their queen? Do they place the body in a special spot?
They dump her like any other dead bee.
once you go up high a few times you get used to it. I used to pipefit up 100 to 150' high. Took me one full day to get used to it.
What is your opinion on top bar hives. I am looking to starting an apiary
I like them but they are not as easy to manage as Langstroth.
When you do a removable like this, who puts the house and ceiling back together?
Sometimes I do and sometimes they do.
to make it easier to find them in the walls you could get a handheld ultrasound that way you don't have to make unnecessary holes looking for the bees
Got a FLIR camera.
oh OK kinda looks like a endoscope?
No it's a FILR One for ios but we have an endoscope camera too.
Cool
How big of a mess is it to extract the honey from cutout comb?
Kevin Thomas It's a little work but well worth it. It's not really any messier than extracting from frames.
That looked like it was more work than it was worth. What a mess!
Buckrun11 You never know until you get into them and by then it's too late but what an adventure.
Hey another beekeeper afraid of heights.Glad I'm not alone, actually had a case a few weeks ago where a beekeeper who had stopped maintaining his hives had the full thing abscond. They went onto his chimney about twenty feet up, and to the uneducated observer looked like about five feet of the chimney had bubbled out and was black about five feet square. Long story short, massive swarm.
I didn't dare throw anything at them, didn't see it ending well, and I wasn't willing to go up the ladder and play with bees. Tried baiting, waiting, and finally got desperate and tried to grab at them with a net, that ended when everyone below scattered and I took a few stings.
They stayed for a few days then took off and a bunch of local beekeepers had said their hives got a huge population boost.
Cole I Ha! Sounds like a good video opportunity.
Might've been but I'd probably have to censor it, when I came back the one morning to find around twenty bees left on the chimney out of the whole thing I wasn't the happiest of beekeepers.
Cole I LOL I can imagine.
When the bees get riled up past a certain point, the smoke doesn't work on em anymore?
What's the largest hive you've removed? Because this one looked huge.
+BlackThunder885 This was one of the bigger ones we've done. The biggest I think was the first one I ever did. It was in an abandoned house at our hunting camp. I wasn't recording them back then. But maybe it just seemed huge since it was my first.
I can see why the house has been vacant so long, it's basically black mold and rot. Roof must be leaking pretty badly all over.
Do you sell hives
did you get much honey out of that hive ?
Close to ten gallons I think.
Not a fan of working up high but it seems that most of the houses I work on have to be done from ladders. I need to start charging a surcharge for ever step on the ladder I have to go up. Got to love them Honey showers.
Desmond Simmons I hear ya! An extra $20 per rung.
I have a friend in the area of Lake Charles would you have any info ..... I call he a friend because I send bibles to ppl who ask for them but I also love the person
You're the man
What I got from to video: Billy Bob is a swell guy
He is good dude. Very country.
how come the bees couldn't find their way out, did the owners try blocking it off? in any circumstance that would be idiotic considering the problems that the beetles, roaches, and moths would cause.
When they find their way inside they go for the windows and can't figure out haw to get back outside.
if you soak the top two-thirds of your t-shirt in cold water like a wet t-shirt contest you will actually be cold from the evaporation even as humid as the air is
That was some breadcrumb at the end. Once I found the exit, it was fairly easy to find the house on satellite view. That was fun. Kinda like a geocache
30.374505, -89.377788
Haha You can find the location on quite a few of my videos but I didn't remember leaving clues on this one. The home belonged to a famous local artist Pati Bannister. She passed away and the house has been sold now.
It is unlikely that the bees consulted an architect about whether the house could safely carry the weight of all that comb and honey and bees etc, before they set up there.
That was one more hot mess!
justlivin Very hot and very messy.
I was thinking about getting into the bee keeping business. How would i go about doing that?
Wildcat Gaming I'd say find a mentor and get busy. Just like any other business.... figure out what aspect of beekeeping you will be doing as a business and advertise! Join a club.
thank you
friggin awesome
This one was fun but we were both spent when we were done.
Man that hive was HUGE! Have you ever been to a removal and found that the bees were Africanised?
Never have
We had bees when I was young. We'd let them get the sourwood honey down here where we live and move the hives to the mountains to let them harvest the sourwood there. We were moving them one time and my dad had a hole in his pants, right in the crotch. As he was ripping screens, they were finding the hole in his pants. I was in the truck with the windows up, laughing my butt off at him.
That's hilarious!
That was one beautiful hive!
About that sick hive: you said you wanted to merge it with one at home. Aren't you worried that the weak bees might come with mites and other parasites?
Nah, they were just old and numbers reduced due to being queenless.
Are the bees in your area Africanized?
None here
+628DirtRooster what state do you live in (I'm not gonna pressure you to tell if you don't want to its fine)
Lived in AZ for 26 years, and they all were bad news. A couple of weeks ago a friend in AZ got stung about 400 times, plus fell and broke his wrist trying to get away from them, had to have surgery. We lived close to the AZ/Mexico border.
Caleb Franklin I'm in Mississippi
Judy Hart I hear of someone dying from them at least once a year. Last year I heard they killed a horse somewhere around Honduras.
Wow,..what a job,.. take more than a Subway breakfast for me,..
A few weeks ago I got a call about a bee tree that broke during a storm. I had to let my girlfriend climb the ladder, heights are the bane of my existence.
Brett Kozma My wife is the same way. I was working out of town after hurricane Katrina and she got on our steep two story roof and put tarps over the missing shingles.
Belt made some screen bottom boards this week six Elm to be exact but screen wire and one so far should have been put to shame liars or screen with the dividing of 2 inches so I could put them on top of one another or just the one screen wire and leave them at the stack
We like screen bottoms.
That is some hive! Very bad treacherous place as well
Landaux I've done easier. :)
that a sweet big honey comb :D don´t wanna know how much honey you got there :D
Lots of honey. He told me how much he jarred up but I can't remember.
It just too much for remembering..like a river of good honey
damn that's a good sized hive. at least 8 feet. maybe 12
+Jeffrey Murdock It was big enough to make us tired and sore from taking it out.
628DirtRooster I bet. It's a lot of work what y'all did with this one
Jeffrey Murdock Set it up at Billy Bob's
628DirtRooster cool. May be out that way here in a couple of months and if I do get to do that I would like to stop and say hey and maybe even be lucky enough to help remove a hive while I'm there
Jeffrey Murdock No problem
Looks like gulf hills
Diamond Head
Looks like you could make a lot of MEAD with that much honey
+promaster185 You could for sure.
I had my first taste this week it was good but it is expensive to buy. I have 5 bee hives so i think i will try and make my own.
Your videos are a really good way to burn time. I never thought I'd be this interested in hive removal.
Rax G Thanks for watching. Maybe you'll try it one day.
I would have walked away from that one if it was just me.
TechMan1219 If I had been by myself it would have turned into two days instead of one. We were worn out afterwards.