@@shinrapresident7010 I can understand this law in in high beekeeper-density areas, where everyone has different bee spiece, hive construction and practices. "Treatment" is bad solution for future becouse of low reliability: - even 1% survival varroa/disease is a problem nad will grow - if you did it 100% properly then your bees are in danger of your neighbour, who plan to do it in next week (too late) - poisons kills natural deffenders -> pseudoscorpions
Hi Jim! I want to say that your frames look gorgeous I love that! For the alcohol wash....a honey bee specialist in a research center here in Quebec said once in a webinar on varroa that this device for alcohol wash is not very accurate because varroas can get stuck in the very dense pile of bees in the basket. He said that to be sure, it is a good thing to transfer the bees and alcohol mix in a kitchen strainer and wash the bees with a garden hose nozzle. I think it could be a good idea to test some of your hives with the two methods and see the difference, if ever you doubt it. Take care!
I agree, I found that when I use that the easy check I will get a mite or two and then shake it again and then see no mites. I use a mason jar with #8 cloth wire now. I run the bees through it 3 times. It seems much more accurate.
Those hives are killing it! I have settled on doing one OAV treatment to determine mite levels. I hit them with a heavy dose (4 gm/brood box) and then count the mites on the sticky board two days later. Since OAV is pretty effective at killing exposed mites, It gives me a pretty good indication of how many mites I have. This year I'm going to test that theory by doing an alcohol wash right before the treatment and comparing the results of both methods.
You know, you would have gotten the same results with a sugar roll on that Oak hive. :p I really appreciate your videos and your willingness to reimagine how beekeping in the 21st century should be.
True, but then there would be 300 dazed bees with damaged wings and antennae stumbling around the hive. I’m not telling anyone how they should keep their bees. Just sharing what I do and what I believe.
so I'm guessing you just seen a video of someone doing that and assumed it's the same. It's not and it kills bees as well plus you easily miss mites that way. Mites can still be stuck to the bees and it's just not as reliable as using soapy water or alcohol.
Hey bee buddy! Great vid, thanks for sharing! Always nice to see your vids. Quick thoughts - might be worth it to do a count of bees a couple times. Maybe you've done this off camera. I found that I was sometimes collecting less than 200 even though I was scooping up a hefty amount. That would throw percentiles off. Also, I sometimes found an extra mite or two after doing an extra wash. Like you did in the video, but sometimes I'd use fresh water in another container and would get 1 or 2 more mites. Dunno why, but maybe it had something to do with the design of that shaker. I have the same one as you. You can imagine the chance of a mite or two sticking to a bee as the tray drains. Just some thoughts. You're doing great and I really hope your (and my) mite count remains super low. Accuracy is pretty key, and I was surprised last year when I counted the washed bee loads a couple times and found the numbers wanting. Cheers and happy beekeeping!
Thanks, Russell. Definitely feeling a little proud, but still mostly just in shock at the results of the new hives. I can’t wait to make them even better. It’s so satisfying to see big healthy colonies so early.
I am a woodworker and love your bee barns, I have built horizontal hives for my apiary, in winter we get sustained temps at 10° F so I put tons of insulation, in this video I just noticed a Beemax polystyrene medium you are using, I bought these when I wanted to expand faster than I could build new hives, did you ever consider using a polystyrene hive? I like that the insulation is touching all the way around. In your bee barn the moisture issue could be because the insulation for the lid isn’t in contact with the insulation for the sides, I don’t know how to solve it but I’ve been tinkering on leaving sidewall insulation exposed (not to the bees) and using a flat roof (or piece of insulation) to cover so that it makes contact with the “exposed” insulation. Excellent mite count, Dead mites, Good nutrition, good Genetics, as a Tennessee beekeeper would say.
Only problem I've had with my poly hives is, they come through winter with so much stores left, you have to really watch out in Spring so the queen has space..
I will need to do that myself this year. I have to steel myself to send a cup of bees to their demise but your comment about each of those bees being willing to die for the good of the colony is a basic truth. I will be doing the wash this year for sure. I tried to pinch a queen the other day but didn't have the heart to do it. Now I regret leaving a non-productive queen in the box. and will have to go back to get her. Another great video.... Oh BTW. The hives are looking great!
Thanks, but why are you watching videos?!? Seems like you have other things to worry about! Sorry to see all your bad luck this spring. Hope you dry out soon, man.
Randy Oliver has tested a mite wash procedure using Dawn Ultra at a concentration of 1-2 tablespoons per gallon of water. It works as well as alcohol to release the mites from the bees and is cheaper. However you swirl or stir not shake to avoid excessive foam. I’ve used it for a year with good results.
You will always have naysayers about alcohol washes. Been doing it that way for awhile now, never had an issue. Sacrificing 300 bees a few times a year is like shooting a freight train with a BB gun.
@@Rrailroad3 in that case mind as well just blanket treat everyone and skip the mite washes. its only really worth it if youre breeding for mite resistant stock.
@@daleb8512 because experience tells me that in my area in about september im guaranteed to have significant mite issues and have to treat no matter what. i only test my top 10% populations coming out of winter and then select my breeding stock from those. i only continue to test my breeding stock to select for resistance throughout the season. all my hives get treated as a precaution before winter just in case, even hives below the threshold. if i wasn't attempting to breed for mite resistance i would never test at all. also studies show little chance of mites developing resistance to acid based treatments.
I know nothing about bee keeping, but from where I am sitting you're doing a great job. The wild bees here in the Netherlands don't seem to be at the strength of these hives, and we have warmer weather. So at the very least you're doing a lot better than mother nature. :)
Especially when starting a new colony, just pour them into their new home like sugar only some of them will fly quite a bit in confusion until they figure it out.
Congratulations on the healthy bees! Nice to see successful work. People can manage bees however you see fit but personally my idea on the mite management is if it's less than 1% don't do anything but if any single hive in the apiary tests over that I would do a treatment for every single colony until they're all below that threshold. Healthy colonies should be able to handle a small load but once that scale tips I'd intervene. Seemed to be working out work for this Jim guy huh. Go up and give him a like
Sir there is no such thing as a zero mite count. Also I enjoy your videos they are good. Alcohol wash and powdered sugar shake are two completely different techniques. Keep on making your cool educational videos.
Don't rush combining the nuc that was queenless. I had 4 vigin queens make it back from mating flights. I combined 2 colonies too soon and was responsible for getting the returning queen balled. I saved her in time and gave her to left behind bees from moved and combined nuc.
I am not a bee keeper. But from someone on the outside looking in, culling a cup of bees on a strong hive seems like it would stimulate more brooding as well as decrease the risk of swarming during summer making an overall healthier hive. I’m speaking out of ignorance but feel free to correct me in the comments.
Truthfully, 300 bees isn't very many compared to the tens of thousands that usually live in a hive. I don't think that culling 300 bees will probably impact the hive population enough to prevent a swarm. But I could be wrong.
Hi Jim, love your videos! I know you've previously answered this, but are you planning on releasing specs/measurements for those bee barns any time soon? Really want to try making some this year and would love to use your design. Thank you!
I wouldn't worry about it being perfect before release. We can see the benefits and the flaws and there's huge excitement for people to try it. More people trying it, the quicker the flaws can be fixed. Like a software beta release. Just the opinion of some dude on the internet though, so take it as only that! Loving the videos, thank you
April and the queen is filling up multiple double deeps with brood. You're going to need a step ladder to get to the top of the supers you'll be stacking by the time this is over.
Any estimates on how big a hive can be in a bee barn before swarming? Even a small hive of 3000 means a cup of bees is about 10% and a decent queen will lay that in a day or maybe two days. if anything, the testing encourages growth of the hive.
Thanks for the update - I love to see updates on the bee barn design. Check out scientific beekeeping - dawn dish detergent wash actually has the best mite release. I experimented - did a sugar roll, then took those bees and alcohol washed (with heavy shaking), and then Dawn solution - I still had mites coming off in Dawn after the alcohol wash. I use plastic canning jars with a line for the correct level of bees - one for each individual hive - scoop the bees right into the jar, pour the solution on top, and then button up and move to the next hive. It’s a lot faster, I give more time for the mites to release, and I can check and record outside of a bee suit and in my kitchen with my records. I have even rinsed the bees on a coffee filter - check Fred Dunn. It’s so much easier to see and count with my old peppers.
The varroa mite is easily dealt with by hive design. If you keep your bees in thin walled hives with all the environmental integrity of a cardboard box the varroa mite will thrive. Change that and the mite will fade away. It is well known that the varroa mite does not do well in a humid environment. (The precise mechanism is not known to me). If you put the bee entrance at the top of the brood chamber immediately below the queen excluder a VIBEZ (Ventilated Integrated Bee Entry Zone) is formed and this will serve to make the brood chamber a humid bucket. The only hive type that has this top entry and ventilation is the ZEST hive. If the pupation time of the bees can be reduced this will reduce the time available for the varroa mites to mature in the brood resulting in the exponential collapse of the varroa population. Individual pupa temperature varies over time of day and brood position. Above 37C. the pupa die. Below 29C. the pupa die. At 35C. it takes 10-11 days to hatch. At 31C. it takes it takes 14-15 days to hatch. 35C. is ideal. Winter time is varroa breeding heaven. Ideally the colony external enclosure will be of an insulated material that also has a thermal weight that carries the heat of the day into the cool of the night and the cool of the night back into the heat of the day. Aerated concrete blocks are ideal having a 39 times better R value than a thin walled hive and 19 times that of a polyhive. The ZEST DIY hive is functionally free of varroa together with the maladies and morbidities that it carries. It enables in honeybees diseases such as Nosema, Acarine and DWV. EFB and EFB have never been reported, but that may be because it is relatively rare. As a proof of concept you can adopt these hive design management techniques to see for yourself the truth of them.
Huh, never head of the sugar roll test (though I'm not a bee keeper so that isn't surprising) it sounds interesting. I wonder what the mechanics are of the sugar removing the mites from the bees. If it 'drys them out' or some such I can't help but feel a bit like well the just dump a bag or two in your hive once a month of preventative maintenance! ;) Good luck with this summer and thanks for the very informative videos!
Hello Jim, As you would have heard down here in Oz the VM has got in. Still eradicating hives in the hot spots to try to destroy the VM moving and taking over our beautiful girls. I have just rewatched all your videos on treating your hives I am hoping that it doesn’t get to me and is destroyed where it is and I will not need to worry about treating my hives but I feel so much more at ease after watching all your video’s. One thing I noticed you now use a measuring cup. Is this to get a better count of the bees and do you find it works better? Any other advice you could share would be amazing. As yet we don’t know what treatment we will be using here in Oz. But honestly I hoping we don’t need to worry about it. But I am a realist and looking at it all with an open mind. Rhonda
The cup is just to get a consistent amount per hive. In the end, I’m just trying to get a relative idea of which hives are worse than others. Watch Randy Oliver. For treatments, I trust Apivar. Oxalic acid is like a cleanup treatment before and after Apivar. I would not use anything else. But that’s just me.
@@rhondasavva2500 Sorry to hear about the Varroa. At least you guys have years of watching everyone else figure out how to live with it. It’s bad, but it can be managed.
Was hoping to get an update on your hives getting ready to swarm. Seeing and signs yet? Based on the comments on previous videos, I was expecting those hives to all be empty by now.
It must be a pain to keep explaining the importance of a mite test to hundreds of people everytime you test. The hive will be okay y’all. They will replace those 300 bees in a week. 😂
@@Tanks-In-Space im saying this because every time he does the alcohol wash and kills bees, there are a handful of comments that complain that he kills bees. Not that it isn’t important. Re-read what i said. 🙄
I took an online course from David Burns (also on TH-cam) about Varroa. With that info, it seems that the only 100% accurate test is a hive autopsy, which nobody wants. Whether the results with powdered sugar or alcohol wash are identical or not, one thing is objectively true. You are getting a Varroa estimation for the purpose of measuring your hive's overall trendline of health. If you get 4 mites in AW and only 3 with PS this month, then next month the numbers are 3 and 2, either way you know that there has likely been an improvement. Don't' you have a dozen hives? Why don't you use PS for three of them and see what happens? Or what about doing PS followed by AW for a few cycles and see what the results tell you? Just a few ideas.
I will be very surprised if you see mite counts that meet threshold before June in our area since varoa increase exponentially with bee colony population numbers and the mite needs periods of capped brood to reproduce. A (1) now may very well be an issue two brood cycles from now. Great job committing to monthly checks this season so you can match your area and management techniques to data specific to your apiary.
Because then you’re only counting dead ones. There are thousands in cells and clinging to the bees. Counting what falls to the bottom board is not accurate at all.
@@vinofarm I was told the bees clean them off each other or shake off live mites. I'm new to all this so thanks for the info and getting back to me so fast.
I really like the hives you are using,are them something you made? I live in Michigan and the Winters are brutal. I'd love to utilize something like that.would that be possible to add to my hives? . thanks in advance. Mel
Yes. He made them himself. He has a video about it titled "I fixed langstroth hive". The height is langstroth deep + a super. You can see these deeper frames have circular brood patterns which is what it looks like in nature. The hives are massively insulated and help keep the bees warm in winter and cool in summer
Not sure how the hive would have affected the mite counts but a lot of people have suggested the moisture in the hive raised the humidity to a level that was not ideal for mites. I did not notice crazy high humidity over the winter though. (Broodminder readings)
Jim- do longer frames require longer Apivar strips? If yes, does Apivar make strips long enough for your size of frames? Just curious. Great video! Thank you for doing what you do.
This is a silly question, but where did you get that shirt? I'm guessing it's not beekeeping apparel per-say, but seems effective for non-invasive daily beekeeping.
Sugar roll vs alcohol wash no comparison AW will give you a more accurate mite count. Go ahead and do a sugar roll then take the same bees and do the alcohol wash and watch the mite counts rise.
If you feel your a good or bad beekeeper, monthly mite counts will at least keep you informed of what is happening and stay on top of mite issues. Dealing with mites as soon as you have an issue will ensure you do your best to keep a healthy colony.
@@vinofarm thats true. Wasnt trying to be rude just excited to share something I learned. I am new (why I watch your channel) just trying to figure my own methods out by watching others and reading.
@@chasingthefish9042 The powdered sugar "test" is something a lot of people do, but it's never been proven to be as accurate or more accurate than an alcohol test. And I think it's a great way to damage wings and antennae and create a mass of sticky, disoriented bees. And now, the alcohol test has been shown to be not quite as good as a dish soap test. I will be switching to dish soap later this season.
I only do alcohol washes because it gives me a better mite count. I dont like it....I mean what BK does....but its and important step in mitigating mite numbers.
I don't even do this anymore. I just treat because I have never had a year where I test and don't have to. I'm getting a couple packages this weekend and will treat with oxalic acid before they cap brood. Otherwise, I treat with MAQ's or Apiguard.
I do hope that nuc queen works out. I'll admit I'll be kind of sad if it doesn't, but that's bees/beekeeping. Also, I want to apologize from one of my replies to another comment that I thought was out of line (the comment, not my reply). I stand by said reply, as I'm sick and tired of people in the comments promoting those, as they ARE scams no matter what their promoters try to say. It was aggravating enough when they started popping up on the gaming channels I follow, but I never thought I'd see one on a channel like yours, so I kind of lost it. Again, I stand by my remarks in said comment, but will understand if you think they went to far (although honestly I thought I held back).
@@vinofarm Yeah, the one asking about putting out NFTs. 🤦 And if you don't know what they are, please don't look into it as you're better off not knowing. It's a rabbit hole I regret finding out about.
I have two things want to say: 1. Please start equalizing your hives. The bigger ones will be more likely swarm in the future if you don’t pull them. I would give a frame if emerging brood and bees to one of your smaller ones. 2. The reason why your mite tests are so low is because the bees reproduce faster than mites in spring. In the late summer the bees reproduce slower than the mites, that is when it is a problem.
How do your bare hands not get stung!?!? Also, are you feeding sugsr water to the hives? Lastly, Congrats on the bee barn setup and strong overwinter hives!
If there are dandelions, there is nectar. The nectar is new I think because your hives were never as populated at this time as they are now. When you have good population the get nectar and pollen as soon as it is available. This year is actually a slower start with this COLD ASS Spring. All the Magnolia trees lost their flowers because of a freeze. The blooms really suck so far.
That dandelion was the first and only one I saw! I saw a few today. Like, three. It’s been windy and bitter cold up here this week. Next week they should all be popping. We have forests of red maples surrounding us and they’re all red at the tips (but not bursting yet). It’s coming!
I get ticks waiting on my hives… I don’t know if it’s from human smell because I touch the lids etc, but I wear gloves. I think they smell the CO2 coming off the bees and think it’s an animal and head that way. 😳
There is NO grass in my bee yard (aside from a few tufts here and there) and no way for deer or large mammals to get in there, but ticks crawl ALL OVER the ground. They are all over my legs after inspections. Something is drawing them to the bee yard and I’m the only one who ever goes in there. Could be mice, but there are LOTS of ticks in there.
300 bees is a drop in the bucket in terms of a healthy honey bee colony. The experts all agree that an alcohol wash is the most effect means of getting a mite infestation rate. Did washes last summer on all my yards along with proper treatment and have had my most successful over wintering in the 4 years I've been keeping bees. Simple science, small price to pay for overwintering success.
In this particular case, I hit them with one dose just to knock down that first wave. Then put in Apivar the following day. After I took out the strips, I did one more dose before it got too cold.
The only thing I don't like about this hobby is having to kill bees to find the Varroa mite loads but even in my research before keeping them, knew it was necessary for not only your colonies but the other pollinators in the area.
😁🐝That tick was the King Kong of VARROA!😁😂🐝I was able to test earlier this month and will share my results in a later video. Those new hives look like they're working well!👍🐝❤🐝
Why do you want to test your hives monthly? Checking varroa counts in this stage of the bee year is in my opinon absolutely unnecessary. Your loss of hives in the last winters is probably caused by different small mistakes (like the robbing or not quite effective treatments) every beekeeper goes through till he finds the right concept, the right timing etc... The fact that you found one varroa mite in well populated hives should be reason enough to overthink this strategy (you will kill thausands of bees to count a handfull of mites and these mites are in this stage of the year not a threat!!!)
It is a habit I want to maintain. I did it last year and got a really good picture of the mite buildup over the season. Most hives were showing 2-3 mites in a wash. Then I did Apivar and watched thousands of mites drop. Either way, I’d rather know what was happening in my hives than NOT know. I came out of winter with 100% survival and more than half are larger than anything I’ve ever seen. I’m doing something right.
@@vinofarm No offence but this is not a sufficiant argument... every beekeeper has his own procedures which they swear are absolutly necessary. If I dance butt naked in front of my hives in december and have a 100% survival rate afterwards did i do something right? Sure you are doing more stuff right compared to your first years (like anyone else). I also like your experimental style of beekeeping (building your own hives, vivaldi boards etc.) but on the varroa topic you might have a wrong understanding on the impact on the hive in the different stages of the bee year. I get that you want more control of the situation but the "data" you receive is predestined and was already collected by scientist on the whole globe. I'm predicting that the counting will lead to far to early taken measures which will cause problems.
@@MR-on3qi I’m not arguing. I’m just telling you how I keep my bees. I’m not telling you how to keep your bees. If dancing naked works for you, I would not tell you to stop doing it.
One queen out of 12 went missing. Apivar and oxalic acid do not kill queens. If they did, I’d have 12 dead queens. The one missing queen in that nuc was probably getting old and was replaced. The new queen probably didn’t make it back from mating. It happens. It’s been poor weather up here.
Never. Don't promote those scams on channels that have nothing to do with anything even computer related. He's trying to control parasites, not encourage/promote them. And don't bother with the NGMI catchphrases. Neither are you, nor most people involved with those useless and environmentally destructive blockchains. Some people will always profit from scams; doesn't make them any less of a scam.
I’ve just gotten home, I spent the last few hours inspecting my schools bee hives which haven’t been opened for about 3 years now, there were 3 hives: One was dead, one was hardly alive, a small queen right cluster with similar amount of bees as was with your balboa hive all those years ago, and the last hive was absolutely slamming, crazy amount of bees, luckily the old inspector put 3 supers on hives before he left. They were all full with honey, I took off the top two supers, replacing them with empty ones and we’re selling the honey from the school. It’s ridiculous that hive, it might even bee a double queen since I saw eggs in the first super, which shouldn’t be able to get there since it’s above the queen excluder. I’m glad to see your bees are healthy and slamming, some of them look stronger than my own bee hives, well done.
This is what happens if you are not in control of Varroa mites. Never again.
th-cam.com/video/_GFfTFcSwG4/w-d-xo.html
Leo Sharashkin never control Varroa mites.
Proper bee spiece with help from pseudoscorpions (in dry conditions) can keep varroa level low.
@@shinrapresident7010 I can understand this law in in high beekeeper-density areas, where everyone has different bee spiece, hive construction and practices.
"Treatment" is bad solution for future becouse of low reliability:
- even 1% survival varroa/disease is a problem nad will grow
- if you did it 100% properly then your bees are in danger of your neighbour, who plan to do it in next week (too late)
- poisons kills natural deffenders -> pseudoscorpions
Hi Jim! I want to say that your frames look gorgeous I love that! For the alcohol wash....a honey bee specialist in a research center here in Quebec said once in a webinar on varroa that this device for alcohol wash is not very accurate because varroas can get stuck in the very dense pile of bees in the basket. He said that to be sure, it is a good thing to transfer the bees and alcohol mix in a kitchen strainer and wash the bees with a garden hose nozzle. I think it could be a good idea to test some of your hives with the two methods and see the difference, if ever you doubt it. Take care!
I agree, I found that when I use that the easy check I will get a mite or two and then shake it again and then see no mites. I use a mason jar with #8 cloth wire now. I run the bees through it 3 times. It seems much more accurate.
Absolutely right on. 😃🐝
The bees and the yard are both looking awesome so far this season. Keep it up 👍🏽
So happy for you and your hives... I so want to have bee barns for my bees... (New Beekeeper will get mine Sunday!!!)
Those hives are killing it! I have settled on doing one OAV treatment to determine mite levels. I hit them with a heavy dose (4 gm/brood box) and then count the mites on the sticky board two days later. Since OAV is pretty effective at killing exposed mites, It gives me a pretty good indication of how many mites I have. This year I'm going to test that theory by doing an alcohol wash right before the treatment and comparing the results of both methods.
Very interesting!
Your hives are killing it this season!
You know, you would have gotten the same results with a sugar roll on that Oak hive. :p I really appreciate your videos and your willingness to reimagine how beekeping in the 21st century should be.
True, but then there would be 300 dazed bees with damaged wings and antennae stumbling around the hive. I’m not telling anyone how they should keep their bees. Just sharing what I do and what I believe.
so I'm guessing you just seen a video of someone doing that and assumed it's the same. It's not and it kills bees as well plus you easily miss mites that way. Mites can still be stuck to the bees and it's just not as reliable as using soapy water or alcohol.
@@vinofarm I was being sarcastic. I fully support the alcohol wash. The Oak hive had zero mites so you'd get zero with the sugar shake as well.
Lol
@@paulrkrueger I know. I got you. I’m responding to the other people liking your comment not realizing it was sarcastic. Ha ha.
Gorgeous bees my man, keep up the fantastic work
Hey bee buddy!
Great vid, thanks for sharing! Always nice to see your vids.
Quick thoughts - might be worth it to do a count of bees a couple times. Maybe you've done this off camera. I found that I was sometimes collecting less than 200 even though I was scooping up a hefty amount. That would throw percentiles off.
Also, I sometimes found an extra mite or two after doing an extra wash. Like you did in the video, but sometimes I'd use fresh water in another container and would get 1 or 2 more mites. Dunno why, but maybe it had something to do with the design of that shaker. I have the same one as you. You can imagine the chance of a mite or two sticking to a bee as the tray drains.
Just some thoughts. You're doing great and I really hope your (and my) mite count remains super low. Accuracy is pretty key, and I was surprised last year when I counted the washed bee loads a couple times and found the numbers wanting.
Cheers and happy beekeeping!
Jim, you look quite proud of yourself and you should. Good job done with the bees.
Thanks, Russell. Definitely feeling a little proud, but still mostly just in shock at the results of the new hives. I can’t wait to make them even better. It’s so satisfying to see big healthy colonies so early.
I am a woodworker and love your bee barns, I have built horizontal hives for my apiary, in winter we get sustained temps at 10° F so I put tons of insulation, in this video I just noticed a Beemax polystyrene medium you are using, I bought these when I wanted to expand faster than I could build new hives, did you ever consider using a polystyrene hive? I like that the insulation is touching all the way around. In your bee barn the moisture issue could be because the insulation for the lid isn’t in contact with the insulation for the sides, I don’t know how to solve it but I’ve been tinkering on leaving sidewall insulation exposed (not to the bees) and using a flat roof (or piece of insulation) to cover so that it makes contact with the “exposed” insulation. Excellent mite count, Dead mites, Good nutrition, good Genetics, as a Tennessee beekeeper would say.
I’m experimenting with poly hives this summer. Stay tuned.
Only problem I've had with my poly hives is, they come through winter with so much stores left, you have to really watch out in Spring so the queen has space..
I will need to do that myself this year. I have to steel myself to send a cup of bees to their demise but your comment about each of those bees being willing to die for the good of the colony is a basic truth. I will be doing the wash this year for sure. I tried to pinch a queen the other day but didn't have the heart to do it. Now I regret leaving a non-productive queen in the box. and will have to go back to get her. Another great video.... Oh BTW. The hives are looking great!
1/2 cup!
@@vinofarm helpful information!
Love your style
Especially love those large frames
Thanks, but why are you watching videos?!? Seems like you have other things to worry about! Sorry to see all your bad luck this spring. Hope you dry out soon, man.
thanks for the update. GO BALBOA!!!!
Randy Oliver has tested a mite wash procedure using Dawn Ultra at a concentration of 1-2 tablespoons per gallon of water. It works as well as alcohol to release the mites from the bees and is cheaper. However you swirl or stir not shake to avoid excessive foam. I’ve used it for a year with good results.
When the flow really hits your hives are going to explode, hope you are ready for 4 or 5 supers high.😎👍🐝
Jim's gonna need a bigger . . . ladder.
You will always have naysayers about alcohol washes. Been doing it that way for awhile now, never had an issue. Sacrificing 300 bees a few times a year is like shooting a freight train with a BB gun.
have you ever had a hive stay at 0 mite counts all year?
@@lordmike9384 no
@@Rrailroad3 in that case mind as well just blanket treat everyone and skip the mite washes. its only really worth it if youre breeding for mite resistant stock.
@@daleb8512 because experience tells me that in my area in about september im guaranteed to have significant mite issues and have to treat no matter what. i only test my top 10% populations coming out of winter and then select my breeding stock from those. i only continue to test my breeding stock to select for resistance throughout the season. all my hives get treated as a precaution before winter just in case, even hives below the threshold. if i wasn't attempting to breed for mite resistance i would never test at all. also studies show little chance of mites developing resistance to acid based treatments.
@@daleb8512 there's definitely ways of telling if a treatment was affective without doing an alcohol wash.
Great to see all the happy bees. Thank you for sharing your knowledge with the non-bee people like me.
I know nothing about bee keeping, but from where I am sitting you're doing a great job. The wild bees here in the Netherlands don't seem to be at the strength of these hives, and we have warmer weather. So at the very least you're doing a lot better than mother nature. :)
Healthy colonies hopefully they continue that way ^^
I still find it funny that you can literally pour bees… like woah? Doesnt seem right but you actually can do it 😂
Especially when starting a new colony, just pour them into their new home like sugar only some of them will fly quite a bit in confusion until they figure it out.
Congratulations on the healthy bees! Nice to see successful work. People can manage bees however you see fit but personally my idea on the mite management is if it's less than 1% don't do anything but if any single hive in the apiary tests over that I would do a treatment for every single colony until they're all below that threshold. Healthy colonies should be able to handle a small load but once that scale tips I'd intervene. Seemed to be working out work for this Jim guy huh. Go up and give him a like
Sir there is no such thing as a zero mite count. Also I enjoy your videos they are good. Alcohol wash and powdered sugar shake are two completely different techniques. Keep on making your cool educational videos.
Don't rush combining the nuc that was queenless. I had 4 vigin queens make it back from mating flights. I combined 2 colonies too soon and was responsible for getting the returning queen balled. I saved her in time and gave her to left behind bees from moved and combined nuc.
I am not a bee keeper. But from someone on the outside looking in, culling a cup of bees on a strong hive seems like it would stimulate more brooding as well as decrease the risk of swarming during summer making an overall healthier hive. I’m speaking out of ignorance but feel free to correct me in the comments.
They don’t even notice 300 bees are missing. Thousands come and go every hour.
@@vinofarm That's what I thought also. They are already making queen cells so maybe some culling could help prevent it
Truthfully, 300 bees isn't very many compared to the tens of thousands that usually live in a hive. I don't think that culling 300 bees will probably impact the hive population enough to prevent a swarm. But I could be wrong.
May not be normal, but it is a very nice change from the last couple of years!
Early supers, how about putting those flow hive frames on this year.
Hi Jim, love your videos! I know you've previously answered this, but are you planning on releasing specs/measurements for those bee barns any time soon? Really want to try making some this year and would love to use your design. Thank you!
Bee barn build video please, please, please! Thanks you so much in advance!
It’s taking time. But it will come. I’m not purposely keeping this a secret or anything. Just trying to get it right.
@@vinofarm Understood, thank you :)
I wouldn't worry about it being perfect before release. We can see the benefits and the flaws and there's huge excitement for people to try it. More people trying it, the quicker the flaws can be fixed. Like a software beta release.
Just the opinion of some dude on the internet though, so take it as only that!
Loving the videos, thank you
April and the queen is filling up multiple double deeps with brood. You're going to need a step ladder to get to the top of the supers you'll be stacking by the time this is over.
Any estimates on how big a hive can be in a bee barn before swarming? Even a small hive of 3000 means a cup of bees is about 10% and a decent queen will lay that in a day or maybe two days.
if anything, the testing encourages growth of the hive.
There were no swarms last year. But I did split the biggest hive a couple times. I’m going to find out this year.
Thanks for the update - I love to see updates on the bee barn design. Check out scientific beekeeping - dawn dish detergent wash actually has the best mite release. I experimented - did a sugar roll, then took those bees and alcohol washed (with heavy shaking), and then Dawn solution - I still had mites coming off in Dawn after the alcohol wash. I use plastic canning jars with a line for the correct level of bees - one for each individual hive - scoop the bees right into the jar, pour the solution on top, and then button up and move to the next hive. It’s a lot faster, I give more time for the mites to release, and I can check and record outside of a bee suit and in my kitchen with my records. I have even rinsed the bees on a coffee filter - check Fred Dunn. It’s so much easier to see and count with my old peppers.
The varroa mite is easily dealt with by hive design. If you keep your bees in thin walled hives with all the environmental integrity of a cardboard box the varroa mite will thrive. Change that and the mite will fade away.
It is well known that the varroa mite does not do well in a humid environment. (The precise mechanism is not known to me). If you put the bee entrance at the top of the brood chamber immediately below the queen excluder a VIBEZ (Ventilated Integrated Bee Entry Zone) is formed and this will serve to make the brood chamber a humid bucket.
The only hive type that has this top entry and ventilation is the ZEST hive.
If the pupation time of the bees can be reduced this will reduce the time available for the varroa mites to mature in the brood resulting in the exponential collapse of the varroa population.
Individual pupa temperature varies over time of day and brood position.
Above 37C. the pupa die. Below 29C. the pupa die.
At 35C. it takes 10-11 days to hatch. At 31C. it takes it takes 14-15 days to hatch.
35C. is ideal. Winter time is varroa breeding heaven.
Ideally the colony external enclosure will be of an insulated material that also has a thermal weight that carries the heat of the day into the cool of the night and the cool of the night back into the heat of the day. Aerated concrete blocks are ideal having a 39 times better R value than a thin walled hive and 19 times that of a polyhive.
The ZEST DIY hive is functionally free of varroa together with the maladies and morbidities that it carries. It enables in honeybees diseases such as Nosema, Acarine and DWV. EFB and EFB have never been reported, but that may be because it is relatively rare.
As a proof of concept you can adopt these hive design management techniques to see for yourself the truth of them.
Huh, never head of the sugar roll test (though I'm not a bee keeper so that isn't surprising) it sounds interesting. I wonder what the mechanics are of the sugar removing the mites from the bees. If it 'drys them out' or some such I can't help but feel a bit like well the just dump a bag or two in your hive once a month of preventative maintenance! ;) Good luck with this summer and thanks for the very informative videos!
Hello Jim, As you would have heard down here in Oz the VM has got in. Still eradicating hives in the hot spots to try to destroy the VM moving and taking over our beautiful girls. I have just rewatched all your videos on treating your hives I am hoping that it doesn’t get to me and is destroyed where it is and I will not need to worry about treating my hives but I feel so much more at ease after watching all your video’s. One thing I noticed you now use a measuring cup. Is this to get a better count of the bees and do you find it works better? Any other advice you could share would be amazing. As yet we don’t know what treatment we will be using here in Oz. But honestly I hoping we don’t need to worry about it. But I am a realist and looking at it all with an open mind. Rhonda
The cup is just to get a consistent amount per hive. In the end, I’m just trying to get a relative idea of which hives are worse than others. Watch Randy Oliver. For treatments, I trust Apivar. Oxalic acid is like a cleanup treatment before and after Apivar. I would not use anything else. But that’s just me.
Thanks Jim, I have also watched Randy Oliver just trying to get as much information as I can. Thanks again. Rhonda
@@rhondasavva2500 Sorry to hear about the Varroa. At least you guys have years of watching everyone else figure out how to live with it. It’s bad, but it can be managed.
Was hoping to get an update on your hives getting ready to swarm. Seeing and signs yet? Based on the comments on previous videos, I was expecting those hives to all be empty by now.
How does he do all of this without getting the beejesus stung out of his hands?
It must be a pain to keep explaining the importance of a mite test to hundreds of people everytime you test.
The hive will be okay y’all. They will replace those 300 bees in a week. 😂
No matter what I say in the video, I repeat it over and over in the comments.
@@Tanks-In-Space im saying this because every time he does the alcohol wash and kills bees, there are a handful of comments that complain that he kills bees. Not that it isn’t important. Re-read what i said. 🙄
I took an online course from David Burns (also on TH-cam) about Varroa. With that info, it seems that the only 100% accurate test is a hive autopsy, which nobody wants. Whether the results with powdered sugar or alcohol wash are identical or not, one thing is objectively true. You are getting a Varroa estimation for the purpose of measuring your hive's overall trendline of health.
If you get 4 mites in AW and only 3 with PS this month, then next month the numbers are 3 and 2, either way you know that there has likely been an improvement.
Don't' you have a dozen hives? Why don't you use PS for three of them and see what happens? Or what about doing PS followed by AW for a few cycles and see what the results tell you? Just a few ideas.
Randy Oliver started using Dawn Ultra he has the mixing directions on his site.
Yup. I’ll probably start using that when I run out of isopropyl alcohol. (The bees still die, though.)
@@vinofarm He found out it washed more mites off and quicker and thats the same results i have got.
I will be very surprised if you see mite counts that meet threshold before June in our area since varoa increase exponentially with bee colony population numbers and the mite needs periods of capped brood to reproduce. A (1) now may very well be an issue two brood cycles from now.
Great job committing to monthly checks this season so you can match your area and management techniques to data specific to your apiary.
Yep I know how you feel hate the wash but it's best to lose a cup then a whole hive.
Why not just use a screen bottom board with a sticky pad to count mites?
Because then you’re only counting dead ones. There are thousands in cells and clinging to the bees. Counting what falls to the bottom board is not accurate at all.
@@vinofarm I was told the bees clean them off each other or shake off live mites.
I'm new to all this so thanks for the info and getting back to me so fast.
@@AshGreen359 You will be told a lot of things. That one may occasionally be true, but it is not a common thing with most bees.
congrats on your counts !!
I really like the hives you are using,are them something you made? I live in Michigan and the Winters are brutal. I'd love to utilize something like that.would that be possible to add to my hives? . thanks in advance.
Mel
Stay tuned: th-cam.com/video/_t6d177RUoA/w-d-xo.html
Yes. He made them himself. He has a video about it titled "I fixed langstroth hive". The height is langstroth deep + a super. You can see these deeper frames have circular brood patterns which is what it looks like in nature. The hives are massively insulated and help keep the bees warm in winter and cool in summer
You can also use co2. The bees will sleep while shakin, and wake up right after👌
Maple nectar. Good job on mites. Do you think your hive design was the difference?
Not sure how the hive would have affected the mite counts but a lot of people have suggested the moisture in the hive raised the humidity to a level that was not ideal for mites. I did not notice crazy high humidity over the winter though. (Broodminder readings)
Does this early start change how you feel about using flow frames in your location?
Sugar doesn't give a good count. I did several test last year. About 30% less with sugar roll
Have you tried the CO² knockdown yet?
Jim- do longer frames require longer Apivar strips? If yes, does Apivar make strips long enough for your size of frames? Just curious. Great video! Thank you for doing what you do.
I just hung the strips a couple inches deeper with pieces of wire. Watch my treatment video from last fall.
@@vinofarm makes sense. Thank you for taking the time to respond. Have a great day!
This is a silly question, but where did you get that shirt? I'm guessing it's not beekeeping apparel per-say, but seems effective for non-invasive daily beekeeping.
Marshall’s. It’s just an under armor 1/4 zip.
It's unfortunate that this is how it must be done. But it is for the best. Better to lose a small group instead of the whole hive.
Sugar roll vs alcohol wash no comparison AW will give you a more accurate mite count. Go ahead and do a sugar roll then take the same bees and do the alcohol wash and watch the mite counts rise.
A DANDELION... Must be the first one of the season.
What is the size and brand of that green bucket you use? It seems perfect.
It’s just a plastic bin. Any old plastic tote would work. Home Depot? Target? Just need something wider than your frames.
Would it be possible to recycle the bees in some way? Then it might feel a little better?
7 frames in the super?
Yup. Matches the number in the barns.
7 frames means wider spacing which lets the bees build the comb wider than the top bars. Then the caps are easier to chop off.
If you feel your a good or bad beekeeper, monthly mite counts will at least keep you informed of what is happening and stay on top of mite issues. Dealing with mites as soon as you have an issue will ensure you do your best to keep a healthy colony.
I saw a video of a pa bee inspector doing mite checks with a Mason jar with a screen top and powdered sugar.
A lot of people do a lot of things I wouldn’t do.
@@vinofarm thats true. Wasnt trying to be rude just excited to share something I learned. I am new (why I watch your channel) just trying to figure my own methods out by watching others and reading.
@@chasingthefish9042 The powdered sugar "test" is something a lot of people do, but it's never been proven to be as accurate or more accurate than an alcohol test. And I think it's a great way to damage wings and antennae and create a mass of sticky, disoriented bees. And now, the alcohol test has been shown to be not quite as good as a dish soap test. I will be switching to dish soap later this season.
@@vinofarm interesting when you do the soap test can you do a indepth comparison between the three? Do you need the same amount of bees for all three?
I only do alcohol washes because it gives me a better mite count. I dont like it....I mean what BK does....but its and important step in mitigating mite numbers.
there is a new CO2 way to test for Varroa.
Not tried it myself but watched a video about it. Seems effective as CO2 affects Varroa as well
We’ve been using it for a few years and seems to work well!
Apparently you can use the CO2 technique with a Varroa Check jar! m.th-cam.com/video/0xxeNHFM74o/w-d-xo.html
I don't even do this anymore. I just treat because I have never had a year where I test and don't have to. I'm getting a couple packages this weekend and will treat with oxalic acid before they cap brood. Otherwise, I treat with MAQ's or Apiguard.
I do hope that nuc queen works out. I'll admit I'll be kind of sad if it doesn't, but that's bees/beekeeping.
Also, I want to apologize from one of my replies to another comment that I thought was out of line (the comment, not my reply). I stand by said reply, as I'm sick and tired of people in the comments promoting those, as they ARE scams no matter what their promoters try to say. It was aggravating enough when they started popping up on the gaming channels I follow, but I never thought I'd see one on a channel like yours, so I kind of lost it. Again, I stand by my remarks in said comment, but will understand if you think they went to far (although honestly I thought I held back).
Sorry, I am not sure what comment you’re talking about. Was it on this video?
@@vinofarm Yeah, the one asking about putting out NFTs. 🤦
And if you don't know what they are, please don't look into it as you're better off not knowing. It's a rabbit hole I regret finding out about.
@@firefly4f4 yeah… whatever. Ha ha.
We sugar roll to mite check weak hives, but I agree alcohol is more accurate
I have two things want to say:
1. Please start equalizing your hives. The bigger ones will be more likely swarm in the future if you don’t pull them. I would give a frame if emerging brood and bees to one of your smaller ones.
2. The reason why your mite tests are so low is because the bees reproduce faster than mites in spring. In the late summer the bees reproduce slower than the mites, that is when it is a problem.
Yes and yes.
@@vinofarm Glad all is going great!
How do your bare hands not get stung!?!? Also, are you feeding sugsr water to the hives? Lastly, Congrats on the bee barn setup and strong overwinter hives!
I have not fed anything this year but pollen patties. Syrup last October.
If there are dandelions, there is nectar. The nectar is new I think because your hives were never as populated at this time as they are now. When you have good population the get nectar and pollen as soon as it is available. This year is actually a slower start with this COLD ASS Spring. All the Magnolia trees lost their flowers because of a freeze. The blooms really suck so far.
That dandelion was the first and only one I saw! I saw a few today. Like, three. It’s been windy and bitter cold up here this week. Next week they should all be popping. We have forests of red maples surrounding us and they’re all red at the tips (but not bursting yet). It’s coming!
Will the bees eat the dead bees from the tests?
No. The dead bees are soaked in deadly alcohol. I don’t think bees eat bees.
I get ticks waiting on my hives… I don’t know if it’s from human smell because I touch the lids etc, but I wear gloves. I think they smell the CO2 coming off the bees and think it’s an animal and head that way. 😳
keep your grass short near your hives you'll get significantly less ticks
There is NO grass in my bee yard (aside from a few tufts here and there) and no way for deer or large mammals to get in there, but ticks crawl ALL OVER the ground. They are all over my legs after inspections. Something is drawing them to the bee yard and I’m the only one who ever goes in there. Could be mice, but there are LOTS of ticks in there.
@@vinofarm you gotta stop eating toxic plants. ticks aren't attracted to carnivores.
Stick with alcohol washes. If you want something cheaper but works the same, windshield wiper fluid works well also.
I think I'm going to make more honey this year than I have ever out of frames and boxes
300 bees is a drop in the bucket in terms of a healthy honey bee colony. The experts all agree that an alcohol wash is the most effect means of getting a mite infestation rate. Did washes last summer on all my yards along with proper treatment and have had my most successful over wintering in the 4 years I've been keeping bees. Simple science, small price to pay for overwintering success.
Wait can bees get tics?
Varroa are very much like ticks. But no, deer ticks will not attach to bees.
Is it just me or is the alcohol liquid really dirty this time?
I use it over and over and strain it between tests. As long as you can still see through it, you can spot mites.
@@vinofarm ahh! That makes sense
Why didn’t you kill the tick !
When you say oxalic x1, are you only doing it 1 time, or a full treatment over 21 days?
In this particular case, I hit them with one dose just to knock down that first wave. Then put in Apivar the following day. After I took out the strips, I did one more dose before it got too cold.
Varroa mites killed a lot a beehives here in Quebec this year. One place near me lost 150 beehives out of 195 because of Varroa...
The only thing I don't like about this hobby is having to kill bees to find the Varroa mite loads but even in my research before keeping them, knew it was necessary for not only your colonies but the other pollinators in the area.
Swirl the alcohol like you are spinning honey in an extractor to pull the mites off the bees before you lift the bees out.
Honestly, the tick scares me more than anything else you've shown in your Bee yard series. Lyme disease...not fun.
idk what peaceful mind has against you but he's so full of hatred towards you . wish he would just STOP .keep going brother beekeeper
Full of hate, but also afraid of comments. Classic crybully.
Sugar rolls are not as effective. Randy Oliver has tested it.
Dawn dish soap water best. Randy Oliver proved it.
😁🐝That tick was the King Kong of VARROA!😁😂🐝I was able to test earlier this month and will share my results in a later video. Those new hives look like they're working well!👍🐝❤🐝
Why do you want to test your hives monthly? Checking varroa counts in this stage of the bee year is in my opinon absolutely unnecessary. Your loss of hives in the last winters is probably caused by different small mistakes (like the robbing or not quite effective treatments) every beekeeper goes through till he finds the right concept, the right timing etc... The fact that you found one varroa mite in well populated hives should be reason enough to overthink this strategy (you will kill thausands of bees to count a handfull of mites and these mites are in this stage of the year not a threat!!!)
It is a habit I want to maintain. I did it last year and got a really good picture of the mite buildup over the season. Most hives were showing 2-3 mites in a wash. Then I did Apivar and watched thousands of mites drop. Either way, I’d rather know what was happening in my hives than NOT know. I came out of winter with 100% survival and more than half are larger than anything I’ve ever seen. I’m doing something right.
@@vinofarm No offence but this is not a sufficiant argument... every beekeeper has his own procedures which they swear are absolutly necessary. If I dance butt naked in front of my hives in december and have a 100% survival rate afterwards did i do something right?
Sure you are doing more stuff right compared to your first years (like anyone else). I also like your experimental style of beekeeping (building your own hives, vivaldi boards etc.) but on the varroa topic you might have a wrong understanding on the impact on the hive in the different stages of the bee year. I get that you want more control of the situation but the "data" you receive is predestined and was already collected by scientist on the whole globe. I'm predicting that the counting will lead to far to early taken measures which will cause problems.
@@MR-on3qi I’m not arguing. I’m just telling you how I keep my bees. I’m not telling you how to keep your bees. If dancing naked works for you, I would not tell you to stop doing it.
you can do the same thing WITHOUT KILLING the bees...
Please explain how to put bees into alcohol and not kill them.
Maybe bc of mite treatments, queens died. I've read such mite treatments shorten their lives also.
One queen out of 12 went missing. Apivar and oxalic acid do not kill queens. If they did, I’d have 12 dead queens. The one missing queen in that nuc was probably getting old and was replaced. The new queen probably didn’t make it back from mating. It happens. It’s been poor weather up here.
Wen vinofarm NFTs?
Never. Don't promote those scams on channels that have nothing to do with anything even computer related.
He's trying to control parasites, not encourage/promote them.
And don't bother with the NGMI catchphrases. Neither are you, nor most people involved with those useless and environmentally destructive blockchains. Some people will always profit from scams; doesn't make them any less of a scam.
I’ve just gotten home, I spent the last few hours inspecting my schools bee hives which haven’t been opened for about 3 years now, there were 3 hives:
One was dead, one was hardly alive, a small queen right cluster with similar amount of bees as was with your balboa hive all those years ago, and the last hive was absolutely slamming, crazy amount of bees, luckily the old inspector put 3 supers on hives before he left. They were all full with honey,
I took off the top two supers, replacing them with empty ones and we’re selling the honey from the school. It’s ridiculous that hive, it might even bee a double queen since I saw eggs in the first super, which shouldn’t be able to get there since it’s above the queen excluder.
I’m glad to see your bees are healthy and slamming, some of them look stronger than my own bee hives, well done.
Sounds like you need to split that good hive and make more of those queens!
Not crucial if you have great genetics haha
Very confusing video.