I sued your method last year, Rasing bees for winter physiology, with your winter be kind on top of the hive. I had 100% survival in the spring. Now to do this again this year to see if I get the same results. Maybe I was just lucky who knows, we will see come springtime. Thank you for the great videos.
Great video as always!! Thanks so much treating and feeding now! Just ordered your Winter Bee Kind Boards, too. As a new beekeeper, here in IL, I really appreciate your advice and monthly videos. Thanks, Dave!
David speaks a lot of sense here. I have years of knowledge but im only keeping my own bees for the past 2 years. I cant put it differently David speaks to the point and not rubbish like many others on here. I do the 1:1 syrup but just before winter i change over to 3:2 syrup as im based in Poland Europe seems to work well over here. Thanks for the video David
Xcellent instruction and timing Sir for this 4 yr "novice" trying to get over the bee keeper hump of healthy wintering! Your line diagramming was most helpful in "seeing" and memory plotting calendar timing to bee aging and feed needs. This is a lot of info to manage for best timing...even to figure out on your own! The September timing you teach is spot on for here in The Ozark Mtns as we are now drying up considerably and dearth is upon us. Thanks for connecting the Dots!
Ha David great video Thanks, feeding and treating started in July when the dearth hit. Hoping and praying that I have great success. Have a Blessed week.
After watching this video I installed a communal feeder made of chicken water feeder. 4 lb sugar bag takes half of the bottle and the other half is water with 1 tblsp of MegaBee. It took bees 10 minutes to discover it. I placed it in the center of the backyard with hives in different corners. I added a pinch of honey on top of the feeder:-). Great video.
Wow! I like the idea of braking the mites breeding cycle and a hive fairly clear of them. So we get nice healthy bees that will allow them to go strong enough to get thru the winter. Chemical treatments I always feel sketchy about.
The round flying saucers is what we use. Mannlake has the actual boxes that they fit in. During the winter months we use dry sugar without the clear plastic insert. The boxes with screen wire I n the front and the back allow the cool air to come across the feeder and it helps control condensation. During the summer months when you want to feed liquid sugar you can do as you said. It’s dual purpose
I really like that this video was available in mid August because it helps me see a strategy for a whole lot of things happening simultaneously and how feeding/treating can boost spring time survival. My greatest consistency for loss is just after the first thaw and the real break of spring. I am about to do the fall Formic Pro treatment and Goldenrod is just breaking.. Thank you!
I really appreciate the monthly updates. This is our first year of beekeeping and it seems I am second guessing myself part of the time. Your reference to a community feeder was reassuring to me As tonight I noticed I had several dead bees on the ground around the feeder. It makes me wonder if they are being attacked by other hives or if that’s normal I see several dead bees near a community feeder. We will try to get the push in cage you showed. Thank you for taking all the time to put these videos together.
Hi David watched your video and has helped me understand why I'm having a hard time getting my bees through the winter and will combine my hives to make sure their hives have a minimum of 40,000 bees in them .
Well David I tell you one thing you're talking about where you're located you're not talking about Southeast Texas we're having totally different Arrangement down here
Great info! So it seems like using Apiguard (thymol) to treat mites in the late summer/early fall would do well to not only treat mites, but it also suppresses egg laying in the queen. A win/win! Then pick back up with OAV in November or early December when there is no more brood.
One thing to keep In mind with your " feeding recomnedation .. Doing so will crank up mite production also. Need to stay on board with washes to monitor numbers. As per caging the queen. It may cause the bees to wish to supeecede her. Seen it happen way to often .
I love these month to month videos. Unfortunately all beekeeping is local. Would love to have these videos for SoCal. Our busiest month starts in January.
Hi David, I appreciate your videos, wisdom and enthusiasm so very much. I am a first time beekeeper in Michigan and every time I watch your videos my husband ends up watching with me. Your teaching style is excellent. I have loads to learn, thank you for sharing. Push in queen cage?? How cool is that? I look forward to feeling more comfortable working my bees. I am not scared but I am cautious and handling frames with bees all over feels so very awkward. Thanks a million!
Can I trap the queen for a brood break at the same time as using Apigard? I feel like I'm running out of time. It's already cooling down but still over 50 at night for now. My mites are very high and I'm desperate to get them under control asap.
This makes a lot of sense to me. I experimented with the feeding in a community feeder. I saw great boost in brood production. I counted frame faces of brood in my hives 2 weeks after treating with Formic Pro for mites. Then I started feeding 1:1 sugar water with protein and Honey Bee Healthy type mix. I rechecked some of the hives today after 12 days of feeding. All had significant increases in brood present. Minimum of twice as much brood today vs. before feeding and at a time when they "should" have been decreasing brood production. Lots of bees of winter physiology. The proof will come in the spring, but looks good at this point. Thanks. Did you come up with this theory of stimulating production of winter physiology bees or learn it from someone else? Either way, thanks for sharing it.
Ain't nothing new under the sun. We've know of bees of winter physiology, but I think I just decided to experiment with 1:1 to see if I could extend brood rearing, but I may have heard or read it from something else...dunno.
I know you are saying add protein to sugar syrup so the queen lays lots eggs, well I run 8 frames and I was just in the hives yesterday and I have one that was just a split off a nuc in July and they are now filling two deeps, and there was 6 full frames of brood in the bottom box and two full frames in the top, so 8 total frames of nothing but brood just a tiny bit of sugar syrup, so really the protein added is not needed, every hive I am feeding sugar syrup are thriving, packed so full of bees I am probably going to be able to have those hives produce lots of honey once the golden rod flowers open, it's getting close there is about a acre beside my house that the power company cleared last year and it looks yellow across there. I am running mostly singles right now because I had to take them down due to population in some. Can not feed them all, I did put 50 total gallons of 1-1 out in the middle of my yard once I saw they was not bringing anything in. The ones truly thriving are ones I was feeding to get comb drawn since they was splits.
Are these methods of building up the winter population as important for a beekeeper like me who lives in the deep south (South Louisiana) where the winters are fairly mild?
Speaking of coffee, Im a home roasting new beekeeper too, using 2qt saucepan over gas burner and a harbor freight’s heat gun. Smokin beans Guatemalan beans my favorite, yours?
Yirgacheffe coffee is by far my favorite. I have also started roasting mine on the stove too. I enjoy it! I like Smokin Beans Company and I do enjoy Guatemalan beans. Good for you.
Great video David, I’m a new beekeeper and we were instructed to feed our bees 1:1 from the start back. I’ve been using a mason jar and feeding from inside at top of the hive. Question: was feeding from day one a mistake and should I also do a community feeder outside of the hive in addition to the internal feeder for the month of September? Thanks again for your awesome videos
David, I'm going to let my bees have all the honey they have produced, a full honey super. Do you suggest I still supplement feeding? Will apivar treatment harm the honey for them to eat? Thank you.
David why are my bees just under the inner cover. I can see honey in the honey super below them. I wanted to put on a suger board. They look like they are clustered in about an eight inch circle. I did put on the suger board.
Hi i have just binging to watch your tips on feeding bees i would like to know if am living in one of the Caribbean island like dominica do i must feed my bees In September and all through the up coming mouths??
I wanted to ask..if the bee complete liquid would be as good as using honey bee healthy and amino bee booster? Or what complete products contain what I need for fall feeding?
First question....will only 1-1 sugar water stimulate brood or will 2-1 as well if you need them to pack stores away for winter? Second question...how do you balance raising lots of winter bees with breaking brood cycles or is that 5-7 days enough to put a dent in the varroa population? If you treat with OA is the brood break still needed as much?
Hi Torrey, 1:1 stimulates brood just fine as I explain in tomorrow's video, 2:1 is more for storage as you mentioned. Breaking the brood cycle in a strong colony just for one week a month for mite control is worth limiting building up in July, August and Sept. Regarding breaking the brood cycle and OA, always do a mite check first. Find out what your numbers are then decide how it is best to reduce those numbers based on your personal philosophy.
Won’t the yellow jackets take over the communal feeder? How far from the hives would you recommend placing a feeder? Thank you for all of the informative videos
I treated with formic pro and pulled treatment Sunday the 3rd. Upon inspection I saw a pretty good amount of uncapped brood on my small colony. However I didn't spy my queen, and honestly I didn't see eggs. I'm concerned obviously that the treatment cost me my queen. I'll check again next weekend but we're into September here in Michigan. Should I be prepared to find a mated queen?
I was reading that something like only one quarter of the mites that hatch are able to mature enough to lay more mites. Are there ever as many mites as bees in a hive? That's scary.
Ive had my hive 2 months but when I bought the colony the queen was not marked 😢. I have been looking for her several times to mark her bit I still can't find her. I can't do a mite test or anything so I jist treated for mites anyhow. Whats your advise on finding her? I can't see well and can't see eggs. Did I do the right thing about treating with apivar although I can't test?
This is my first year at beekeeping. Does it make sense to treat for mites preventatively? If you use a chemical strip what do you do with the super which you have removed?
Hi Terry, it is best to plan treatments around supers. For example, treat in the spring before you super and in late summer after you harvest. But I have taken supers off and placed them on other colonies so I could treat.
Outstanding instructions, many thanks! I'm in NE Ohio and the bees are pulling in ALOT of pollen right now from the goldenrod. Going to start the community feeder. Is there any risk to the hive from the yellow jackets if I put the feeder too close? Say, within 5-10 meters?
I'm curious what you might say about how bee population tends to respond to going cold turkey on feed compared to feeding as long as possible until you can't before winter?
I've kinda picked up my feeding habits from commercial beekeepers that seem to keep feeding to build up bees. If the weather was great and flowers always bloomed bees would never stop.
I have a question about getting an extremely small colony through winter. If I don't have the option of combining them with another colony could I keep them inside? And if so how do you think I could go about doing that? Obviously it doesn't get too cold in my house so I will likely have to feed them so they don't starve. Any suggestions would be great thanks!
Why am I not seeing a lot of eggs/brood now? I have 6 hives and have been through all of them but am finding very little sign of eggs or brood. I have been feeding 1:1 sugar syrup for a couple weeks.
This is my first year. Just learned about mite treatment so I feel behind. Will be giving first treatment of OA this week. Took off 3 honey supers but hesitated if I should have. Still working on harvesting it. I want to start feeding but I had read to feed a 2 to 1 in the fall for storage. If the 1 to 1 promotes more brood will they also store it? I'm in Colorado btw.
I understand. I explained that in one of my recent videos. The old paradigm was to feed 2:1 as it is more thicker so the bees can dry it down sooner before cold weather. But my thought is what good is more stored "sugar honey" IF you do not have enough bees to make heat in the winter. So I like to extend my "Brood Season" by feeding 1:1. Also, often, the bees do not have time to dry it down before they cluster, and it turns into crystalized sugar which they can no longer consume.
You are sold out of the queen cage and it takes two weeks to get it from Amazon as of now. Would it be safe to use the clip style queen catcher and just leave it in the hive for a week?
I heard the staff talking about that this morning. Wow! A hot item I guess. If you use the catcher thingy, it might leave too much space and cause extra comb somewhere. Do you have a queen cage you could per her in? I do that sometimes.
I been following you first year beekeeper, Im in connecticut I check my hive every 2 weeks and have yet to see a mite. am I missing them or is it just because I'm in a cold climate so they arn't that bad? Thanks for your information its so helpful to us newbees!!, Also I put the honey super on. The bottom 2 supers are almost completely full but they arn't making comb on the honey super am I doing something wrong?
What mite check method did you use. Some colonies have low populations due to the queen or a queen event and that may slow down the supers being drawn out or filled.
Thanks for the video...I took your advice in August...put out a community feeder ..about 50 yards away...but have not noticed the bees using it. I think there is some fall nectar flow. Is 50 yards too far away? Thanks Gene
@@beek love your video, first time beekeeper and learn every day. Remind older seniors (I'm 72) NOT to get 10 frame hives. Go for 8 frames/lighter, unless you have an 18 yr old grandson willing to help. Q. NOT to use entrance sugar water feeder .distance away from hive, please. Q. What kind of protein powder, special blend for bees??? Thanks, phyllis
1. If virus loads have been reduced by controlling mites all year. 2. If they are raising 4-8 frames of bees of winter physiology. 3. If they have plenty of stored honey. 4. If they do not have residue from pesticides in their stored food.
Wow, I didn't see what you were talking about but now I do. I'm feeding my bees but my queen has almost completely stopped laying. I've treated for mites with apivar. But according to your chart I will not have winter bees. I live in Texas a and it's very hot and dry. I keep a water supply available and feed. Any suggestions.
As I said in the video, your populations are highest in July. Break the brood cycle once in July, once in Aug and Once in Sept when the population is at its highest. It will prevent the queen from laying 7,000 egg a month but she is laying 30,000 so it is worth it to control mites, in my opinion.
Well, good question. There are the chemical beekeepers, then there are those who are anti-chemical and most of us fall in the middle. So whatever I can do without chemical treatment, I'll also go there first.
@@beek thank you David, for your advice. I need to get my final 10 day treatment into my hives - so I can get to feeding. Just worried by waiting till mid September I’m missing key time for feeding here in northern Virginia.
@@beek I’m a new beekeeper so I may be complicating something easy..I guess my question is in terms of days…. It seems that it would be best to wait 25 days to ensure all brood has emerged. Does that seem right?
Do a mite check if you are over the threshold then treat. If you have to treat I would use something different. I used hopguard as well. I’m moving forward with OVA treatment there should be very little brood in the hive now.
I just ordered the queen cages and am going to give the brood break a try. I've been feeding now. Should I continue feeding as you suggested, even though we have a short nectar flow in the fall here in NC? (I'm not going for fall honey but would like to get some supers with drawn comb.)
What do you mean that winter bees have different genetic makeup??? Do they really? I thought they lived longer just because they stopped working. Please explain.
There are behavioral changes, BUT there are also physiological changes found in winter bees such as in the levels of juvenile hormone, and vitellogenesis, and the proteins in the hemolymph and size of the hypopharyngeal glands.
