You don't have to kill your bees to find mites. You can use powdered sugar. Use the same kind of jar he has but only one jar with the top like he has. Put the bees in the jar and put some powdered sugar in with them and shake em up a little so they are powder coated and then shake the jar over a black surface and you will see the mites. The other bees will help clean up your bees that are covered in powdered sugar.
Yeah, I came to comment a method of mite check that doesn't require killing bees too. You can put vaseline or something sticky on the bottom board, making sure the board is painted white, and look for mites that have fallen off after a few days.
Devan, I enjoy your videos very much, aside from the music volume. Can you please set it lower than your speaking volume, so viewers don't have to continually adjust our levels up and down?
Your channel is the best I personally have come across. We’re very lucky on the Isle of Man to be perhaps the only country that doesn’t suffer from mites and maintain strict controls to prevent it coming across from the UK or Ireland. Once again, great channel.
Super video. I am just getting started. Never thought I would love bees, but I must say it is the most fun thing I have ever tried. I'm excited to venture into this culture, not for money but for the world. I always misunderstood bees. My lifelong friend got into them a few years ago and I am infatuated. Thanks again.
I am trying to crash course learn as much as possible in a short order to help save 50 hives!! This has been one of the best videos on bees I have seen o far!!! Thanks and new subscriber here
I totally agree Devan. I say work the heck out of your bees as a beginner ,you may not know what you're looking at or doing ,but the more you're in them, the more you see the bees doing on their own, the more you notice the more it clicks in your brain what they must be doing .And that is how you learn when you are new to beekeeping, is by observing what the bees are doing that making lots of mistakes don't be too scared to try something that's how we learn how to not do it again or maybe just a better way I learned a ton the hard way but I ain't never been scared to take risk and not to brag but now I know a ton and you will too .Good tips ,good video
Devan thanks for the video. I used this technique today but should have done the additional swirl you demonstrated while flushing! Instead I added the fluid back and pulled out 2 more mites.
Thank you for breaking it down in a simple yet thorough way. Best bee keeping video I have seen thus far. First time bee keeper. Getting two colonies on the 14th.
Lose the queen excluder. It's one more item to clean, obstructs the bees as they pass through, causes congestion in the brood nest, and reduces your honey crop. A good queen should have the run of two deep boxes in the spring, which will reduce the urge to swarm. I used to keep several four frame nuc boxes in each bee yard, and put the swarm cells and a few bees in the nuc box to hatch out, and start laying. That way you are not wasting good queen cells, and when you come across a queenless colony, you have a laying queen on hand. Take the queen from the nuc box and a couple frames with the queen between the frames, and put them right in the center of the queenless hive, and she will be surrounded with her own bees to protect her. And you have now requeened the queenless hive, with a young laying queen, with no lost time. And the best part, the queen is free. BONUS!
Just been exposed to beekeeping videos and becoming really interested. Your videos really are very good...very understandable information provided in a good down to earth way.
Great video Devan, a real eye-opener for most newbies as their often educated by the wrong people (Solomon Parker and Michael Bush to name 2) who encourage their listeners to ignore the mites and they'll go away. I've argued with these 2 individuals in particular at length, sent them several publications and papers which disprove their claims repeatedly, and yet they choose to ignore all scientific evidence in favour of their ignorant, biologically misinformed beekeeping philosophy which is based in the fantacy world, not in the real world. Everyone, who is planning on keeping bees must be aware of varroa mites, and I strongly encourage all newbies to take a course before getting into beekeeping so they can have a better shot at being successful. Losing bees to problems which are preventable is totally unexceptable in my opinion and education is never a bad thing. If an individual understands the biology of bees and varroa mites, then half their problems have been solved for them and they already know what to do when mite thresholds reach critical levels.
Pavica Dosenovic : I agree with you that one must take the « the living in la, la land approach. At the same time, the chemical approach must also be twined with other efforts so as to weaned from the chemicals. I am especially impressed by the beekeepers in Avignon France who have succeeded in this regard. Now their bees are known to be free of Verona. Maybe a study of their approach may be the way to go. Of course this is not going to help line the pockets of those chemical industries! This also is something to consider.
Thank you so much for taking the time to make these videos for those of us who are just getting started in bee keeping. This is great information and you do a nice job of presenting it.
I started with bees last year and have watched 50 plus videos since then. Your video editing and knowledge are such a breath of fresh air! Thank you so much.
This video was helpful as everyone has a different opinion of how often you should be in your boxes...if I had followed you view; I could have caught mite issues before it was too late and loosing one.
Hi Devan great topic thank you! I do think the way you test for mites is a little disturbing isnt there another way to test with losing 300 bees? Thanks again for your videos
Please bear in mind bees live 5-6 weeks. Queen lays ~1egg/minute round the clock. Sacrificing few for the good of the colony is critical. Successful farmers must keep the big picture in mind. Best, @HoneyOnWales
Yes there is a better process called the sugar shake method which results in killing nothing except the mites themselves, and maybe a couple of dizzy bees. Haha.
@@iamlachlansupertramp No better, no worse. Just different. Alcohol is more accurate, as sugar shake doesn't always dislodge all mites. For those of us who care about the colony as a whole & earn a living farming bees, alcohol wash is the most accurate tool to assess colony health. Accuracy ensures we lose fewer colonies (1-3% annual loss). Whereas the global average is >30% annual loss by backyard beekeepers who want to "Save the Bees." Amateurs, though they're compassionate, their lack of experience & knowledge results in much destruction. The most valuable action an amateur can do is intern with a professional. You'll be amazed at what you learn!
The question was is there another way to test for varroa that doesn’t result in killing 300 bees. I responded with a method that kills hardly any bees, i never stated how accurate it is. Although it is the DPI’s approved method..
I learned from an old bee keeper, 1 that if the bees bring in polen, than you have eggs, thus a queen. 2 Keep them restrained and not too spread as the queen lays eggs that risk not to be attended thus rotting in there and get sick. 3 Make sure they have food and 4 Mites... These are my basics that have worked for me and my bees.
Hello, great video, thanks for the info. Can you do one on the topic of managing space. It seems straight forward to give more space when a broodbox is 70% full. However, what do you do for example when a hive swarmed, and the remaning part is too small for two brood chambers and a honey super? How do you take away space if there's still capped brood in both brood boxes?
Hello Devan, I need your advise. Got in my hive today (Sep 27). We are already getting into the 60s and 50s at night. While in the hive, all the frames were packed with honey, packed with bees and saw a lot of capped brood on every frame, but no larva or eggs. Is this normal for this time of year? Could my queen have decided to stop laying for now? I'm a little worried.
Great video. Hi from Belarus bee's forests!In our apiary, a big problem is the tits in winter, which disturb the bees. These tits lure the bees out of the hives to feast on! We put boards or pine branches to close the entrances from birds. Do you have birds problem?
I understand the reasoning behind eliminating the queen cells to prevent swarming but do you eventually need to allow the colony to raise a new queen? How do you know when to allow them to raise a new queen? It seems like if you eliminate all queen cells the colony will eventually die out. Beginner here.
Great video and presentation.I am not a bee keeper,although come in contact with bees quite often.Recently a beehive in my shed,in between walls,so checking anything is a bit problematic.And yes I'm a happy observer of a swarm ,building another hive 10 feet away-inside the wall,of course.Your bees must go on Xanax,seem to be tame and nice.Mine are a high strung variety,easy to upset even by looking from a distance.They are not of infamous African breed,as far as I know
Questions : why restrain the queen? how long do you restrain her? are you giving them more space by adding the super? and do you take down the queen cells by scraping them off? thx
OK good video but mentioned you were eliminating the swarm or queen cells to avoid the swarm from splitting up. But you didn't say what happens next i.e: Do you add another honey or super box to accommodate the swarm doubling? (because there is still the one queen?
Devan, with regard to new queens and swarm behavior, why would you not collect some to propagate a new colony for expansion yourself? Or do you do that. I’m just starting out and have yet to start up as an amateur. Thanks!
I just rescued a large swarm from a neighbor who was going to kill them. I am so new to this I can't believe how awesome this hobby could be. Thank you for such excellent educational videos. Do you have one showing how and where to find and capture the queen or even a new queen?
Is there anyway to catch the mites without killing your bees? Like can u prophylactically treat the hives for bees routinely? With out diagnosing the mites are there?
There is a non-lethal method of using powdered sugar in a jar instead of alcohol. The bees are collected the same way, and put in a jar with a similar mesh top, shaken around (not too hard), wait a few minutes, then dump the powdered sugar out onto a white or clear surface (like a storage bin top). Add some water to dissolve the sugar if need be, and the mites will show up. The shaken nurse bees can be let back into the hive and their sisters will clean them up. You can find numerous videos on RU-vid showing the technique. There is no need to kill your bees to check for mites.
so the problem with the swarming is it just lowers the amount of honey you get because half the colony leaves? Just curious, I would like to make honey on the side for a hobby farm thing. Not too concerned about a lot of profit.
We use a thing in the bottom of the hive to check for the mites. They fall down and we have learnt that 3 per day is ok. So we dont have to kill bees to check...
Wilhelm Rejnus It's a good method to get an estimate of the varroa level, but not nearly as accurate as alcohol wash. Meaning you might end up over/under treating hives. Randy Oliver of Scientific Beekeeping has lots of numbers (and words!) on that topic if you're interested.
The powdered sugar method has the effect of encouraging mutual grooming between the bees. « Scientifically », it has been shown that the hives with the least amount of mites are those where the nursing bees have good mutual grooming habits. So stimulating this habit can only result in a positive. Just a thought!
@@cqammaz53 There are numerous videos on RU-vid showing the powdered sugar test method that leaves the tested bees alive at the end. You use a jar with a mesh top like Devan does in this video, and the technique is very similar, except you dump the powdered sugar out on a light surface to count the mites.
@@suzanneguiho4882 There's a mite TREATMENT some beeks do, using powdered sugar to encourage mutual grooming that hopefully dislodges many mites. This is different from doing a mite count using powdered sugar instead of killing the test bees with alcohol. There are numerous videos on RU-vid demonstrating the powdered sugar varroa mite test.
I was suggesting another advantage to the powdered method and actually thinking more of the development in the bees the grooming element as a method of fighting the presence of the mites. as a natural way of helping to destroy the mites. This I got from a study in Germany where it was observed that bees who are vigorous habit of grooming have lower mit counts. The alcohol wash does give a more accurate mite count. The powdered method must be done two and sometimes three times to get a realistic count. So it is less efficient. However you don’t kill bees and it has the added effect of developing the grooming reflex among them. This however is not very practical for commercial beekeepers where time and effort needs to be translated into money. So I understand why it’s not popular.
Devan, what do you think of doing the powdered sugar roll for checking for mites, instead of killing the bees in an alcohol solution? Is it less effective? Great job on the videos!!
TM Kasun Its unfortunate, but it seems to get a more accurate representation of mites, the alcohol may work better. Combining both methods must provide more results. :)
Devan, Your videos are terrific. Thank you. I do have a question. Your "swarm control" seems to go contra to most of what I have been taught. Most of what I have been taught is once they start building swarm cells and they have larvae, knocking down the cells will not really stop the swarm instinct. Once they go from cups to cells, a more aggressive measure, like making a split, pre swarming, removing queens, etc, needs to occur. Could you comment on this? Thanks
Ya, good point. There is a point where even tearing down the cells won't stop them from swarming away, but in my experience that's pretty late in those new queen cell's development. I try to return to my hives every 7-10 days during the likely swarm season and everything works out great. A new queen's development is 16 days, so you don't want to start approaching the 2 week mark or you'll be losing swarms. Just keep in mind everyone's bees are different, and you've got to learn by trial and error sometimes.
It is my understanding that the bees will swarm when the larvae is capped. But overall, I do like your approach. We have had some conversation in my area about single deeps and your videos have greatly added to our conversations.
Wow, as a newbee I've searched out all kinds of info to help me succeed and your videos have been one of the best. So far I've watched this one, no gloves and single brood box and find them very interesting. As a smallish female I love the idea of a single brood box to handle. I went to the Nitrile gloves right away so I could grip the frames and tools better and hope with experience to go bare hands more. Question about swarming and single brood box, can just adding a honey super stop swarming? My interpretation of what I've been told is that when they want to swarm the colony growth needs more room so you either have to add a second brood box or do a split. I may have missed something. Also, you are in Canada where it gets pretty cold which make me hopeful since I'm also in cold weather area a single brood box could work. I do know a lot of hives around here were lost last winter due to varroa mites and then a second round due to terrible weather the end of February. Please continue making these videos, you do a very good job of them. Thank you!!
Right, in the video I'm just referring to giving them honey super space above the brood chamber. I never add a second brood chamber to hives. Cutting out the developing queen cells is the key to preventing them from swarming. This means finding every one, which for me usually means shaking the bees off every frame and taking a very good look. Then I make sure they have lots of open space to store honey. Come back in 7-10 days and repeat. If you don't let them raise a new queen, they won't swarm.
Yes, you can split instead of destroying all the queen cells, just be sure you don't put the old queen in the new hive. Also, don't try making a new hive for every queen cell you find, that will just give you a dozen colonies all too weak to survive. I advise against splitting any one hive more than once in a season, and that's if the hives are strong. Weaker hives you probably shouldn't split at all, but weak hives also produce queen cells. In the end, you'll have to destroy a number of queen cells every season regardless of what else you do.
Getting back into bees after 50 years ..... I definitely will switch to single Brood next season , as my largest hive has swarmed 2x , and it is ok because I collected them back , here we have about 10 month of pollen and nectar and usually have 2 harvest up to 3 when well managed . there is a way to control the mites but it is illegal in the States , most likely because the drug is coming on the market and they have several patent in both Germany and Israel
As a beginning beekeeper... ive watched a lot of videos. This is the most informative and condensed ive found. Thanks for sharing your knowledge! Love from ATX
How do you multiply your hives if you stop the swarming behavior? Everything I have seen on RU-vid is to decide the Hive and put the Queen Cells in another hive to hatch out and become the new Queen. The first to hatch will kill the other queens to make sure you have the strongest Queen working in that hive. Killing the Queen Cells stops you from deciding the hives and having more honey production.
Golly! I just want to feed the bees in my yard, and keep them warm in the winter. Keeping them, i.e., and a bee hive looks like a huge education I'll have to get into. Jeez!! I wonder if one of the local beekeepers would be interested in just keeping a hive at my house and maintaining it - they can keep the honey... ?! Is that a cop-out?
My last comment for now sorry but I gotta say, this test kills around 300plus bees for each hive every month and you have how many hives.Do you think you might rethink this testing and maybe stop killing the bees? will somebody please reply. thanks from newbies in beekeeping Linda and David Bailey .
There are three ways to check mite counts: 1. Alcohol wash: Most effective and accurate way to get mite surveys. Some people don't like it because of sacrificing the bees, but one thousand bees die naturally every day. And an accurate mite count as part of an Integrated Pest Management plan ensures the health of the entire colony 2. Sugar roll: Can be used in place of the alcohol wash, but is not as accurate, with variances being as high as 20%. 3. Ether roll: Was originally used to diagnose tracheal mites. The procedure is the same as using alcohol or powdered sugar, but starting ether is used instead. Can vary 55% from an alcohol wash. And I'll put this one here for reference: 4. Sticky board: White poster board or similar material is placed under a screened bottom board and mites counted as they fall. It is good for determining if you have mites, but is absolutely useless for estimating what your mite infestation percentage is. There are far too many variables to account for in a hive for a sticky board to be even halfway accurate.
You don't have to kill bees to test for varroa mites. There is another test technique using powdered sugar in a jar with a mesh top similar to the one Devan shows in his video. There are numerous RU-vid videos showing how to test with powdered sugar (it's almost the same as alchohol test) leaving the tested bees alive afterwards.
Another awesome video. Loved the content. Photography, and the music. Question- you added an excluded super to make more room for those swarm prone bees. Should I consider swapping a few frames from the brood chamber to give her majesty more room to lay? Thanks!
Another excellent video! Thank you so much. As a newbee I am very interested in learning some fundamentals. It would be great if you could make a video on your smoker. You always seem to have clean, cool smoke available. Mine always seems to go out too soon. I experiment with different fuels but haven't found one I'm in love with yet. What do you use?
What kind of overalls were you wearing in this video? I kept bees in my youth but became a construction superintendent and was out of town a lot and had to drop bee keeping. Now I am 78 years old and getting back into it. I noticed you don't wear gloves. I used to wear no shirt but small gloves in case I pinched a bee. Lacy A. Mayes
Great video, I have to ask, where did you get that magnetic tool belt holder? I've searched and can't find one. that is the perfect solution to using the hive tool. I always put it in my pocket, but that's great. Can you tell me who makes it or where you found it? Thanks, Great vids very helpful . I use a single brood box on most of my hives also thanks for all the great info.
Great info Devan! Most of the emergency calls I get trace back to management issues: either missing swarm prep or failing to apply effective mite control. It is critical to KNOW you can see the eggs if they are there (I need reading glasses to see them as do lots of beekeepers but sometimes vanity gets in the way of using them!).
Hi Devan: When you say tearing down the queen cells do you physically remove the queen cells with a knife? I have read that once swarming behaviour is triggered you can't stop it. In your experience adding additional space will generally stop it?
Devan, I am a brand new bee keeper who lives in north central Florida. I've been told to only watch videos of people in the same general area. Where are you located?
Hi fairly a newbee here. Wonderful videos with some great information. I was wondering how we can tell if it’s a queen cell? Do we look inside each queen cup? Or do I understand you to mean to tear out each queen cup? Won’t they just keep building new cups and waist their own time? Or is that the point to help stop swarming? Thanks for your help and time.
Great videos. Couple questions. 1. When you describe looking for eggs, does it matter if they are drone eggs or worker bee eggs? As long as they are eggs, you are happy? 2. Around time 6:30, you got rid of the queen eggs, and you introduced a queen bee to the box; why? Didn’t the box already have a queen? Couldn’t you use the queen eggs to process a new box or boxes?
In 90% of hive inspections, you're after queen. Just to cage her, for her own safety. Then you proceed with varroa treatment, supping etc. If there's no queen to find, and a lot of drone brood = problem with colony.
Yes, Mackenzie, splitting as you describe is a good way to make increase for "backyarders" but terribly inefficient for professional operations like Devan. Best, @HoneyOnWales
Heym thanks for the comment. Mostly I use regular old solid bottom boards. SOme hives have pollen trap bottom boards, and occasionally I manage some hives with a screen bottom board so I can monitor varroa with sticky boards under it. As far as ventilation goes I've never seen problems managing this way. Maybe if I was moving hives for pollination during the hot summer months I would do something different.
Devan, New sub, and Beek here!! I think you have the one of the most informative beekeeping channels on YT. Not bashing, but I do agree with some of the comments about the music. I beelieve (HAHA), that music is not necessary to make you a success.
Yes, assume that! You probably need to treat more often, and use some management practices that help reduce mite numbers while protecting bee health (ie shook swarms).
You do a great presentation on how to check for eggs, larva and swarms. What's another way to check for mites? I didn't realize that 3 varroa mites per 100 bees was within the concerning limit. Still, I hate to kill my bees with the alcohol wash. Can you explain any other ways to check for mites? I know I've heard of some, but your explanations are so well stated!
You don't have to kill the bees to test for varroa mites. There is a method using powdered sugar rather than alcohol that leaves the tested bees alive. There are numerous videos on RU-vid showing this method.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not recommending that beekeepers make a move when varroa levels are critical, I recommend that mite levels stay at or below the 1% threshold throughout the active brood rearing season, and in fall, there should be an infestation level of 0% so those bees are good and healthy going into winter. High mite levels going into winter will only cause problems for the overwintering cluster.
Hi Devan,thanks for sharing your valuable experience. Could you say a little bit more about when you released a queen into the hive after removing queen cells? Was it the queen from the hive you had removed or a new queen? Thanks in advance. Cheers!
Is the idea to introduce a new queen so the hive won't swarm?Or is keeping the old queen,removing the queen cells and giving them more space enough to keep them from swarming?
