Picked up my bees today. All I can say is wow! My son and I setup the nuc. He had a suit on and I had only a veil. We both eventually took everything off and just sat down 3 feet from the bees and watched them bring in pollen for about an hour. These bees are not aggressive at all! My son loves them and so do I.
Thanks, I just feed a very thin syrup as the bees will go to the higher concentration of sugar. So if there are flowers available the bees will go to them before the mass feeder.
Fantastic bees brother...been stung by all three of my other hives...but not yer Barnyard bees ..they ARE super calm and gentle..queen bangs out a completely solid pattern..had six solid frames of capped brood last week...love em..thanks again man...and wife..lol.
I'd like to see how you get bees ready for the winter. Love the videos guy, we recently did a split and watching your vids def helped. So keep feeding to boost bee numbers
I enjoy watching your videos we've been following your videos over the last year great information for all. I'm from California and I'm interested in becoming a beekeeper and also I'm in the process of growing citrus trees in my home garden, the bees will be a great addition to my garden. We Thank You
Hi David, just a quick thank you for all the info and video. I am a new bee keeper and have learnt so much from you and Joe May etc . All the best from Sydney Australia
The closer you can keep your bees to your chemical free bee yard the better. I don't like to feed them but unfortunately it's a must, if not they will shut down and some smaller nucs could die out. What's the #1 cause of disease and low immune system ? Starvation
The screw on type even with a gasket I tried them for water they leak, the push down kind with a gasket works very well no leaking at all good easy way to feed I tried it from your water bucket video thanks for the videos u make u do a good job
Thanks for the Great tip Barnyard Bees. I always enjoy your videos. They have great tips and insights to how to beekeep. I always enjoy the fact that your tips come for experience and not beginners guessing. I will give it a try. Thanks!
I just placed my feeding bucket as the dearth is on in the Central Arizona desert. My community feeder is about 250 yds. away from the hives and on the other side of a mesquite forest. I can see the path my bees follow to and from the apiary. They re as docile as swarms when feeding. I can stand next to the feeder and not get attacked.
First of all I absolutely love watching your RU-vid videos they're SO fantastic & SO important for new beekeepers like myself. With this video could you make an additional video ["PART 2"] showing us the drillbit you use, and how exactly you were drilling; to what extent and how many holes you are making. Also is the sugar syrup 50-50 sugar water mixture or? Again thank you so much!
Hi, I am from Bellingham Washington state and love your amazing video's. May you give me a few minutes and help me find out with my hive. Explanation: Had installed my first ever bee package into my one deep brood box on May. As spring went by I had seen that some comb was wild do to low amount of wax on frames. Had removed that wild comb and probably sqeshed my queen. Five weeks ago I got a new Hybrid Carnelian queen. She is doing amazing and the new comb was getting build. I soon add a new brood box when had five frames of brood. But today had seen a lot of bees coming and going. My middle entrance was clogged with them. That evening I had done a inspection and had found bee breed, larvae and some capped brood. Four frames of brood one of bee breed and two frames under construction. But the only frame of honey was carefully opened and all eaten by the bees. Also there was one supersedure cell with larva and royal jelly that I had squished. Are the bees getting ready to swarm or just some bees have their own plans? What do you think I should do? Please help and Thank you.
I love your Queens they have just done a wonderful job filling up my boxes coming down my bees everything's been wonderful fixing to make an order for some pollen and pollen patties from you in a few beetle traps
Fantastic video, thank you very much. Quick question - why don't just feed them like this all the time? Why come back and feed them inside each hive before/after dearth? If I understood you correctly. Thank you!
I have only one hive for education and contribution to the bee community. I don’t have a large yard so only one hive is viable. My question is: should I just leave them and let them maintain themselves? I’m not looking to create splits or selling nucs. I just have these bees for pollinating my garden and other Neighbors’s garden and flowers and to help with the bee population. Not looking to take their honey just yet. I’m waiting on my second year to get any honey. I want them to load up as much as possible for winter.
Barnyard Bees I have had this hive over the winter already. It’s going on it’s second year. They’ve already split in their own. You ready? Kind of a long story. I’ll narrow it up. They split and swarmed to my neighbors tree about 30 feet away, I had to work. It i got a video of em. Wife said she wanted the bees and that she’ll catch em. Got another brood box ready and last minute, she chickened out. We didn’t get the swarm. My bees have produced about 3 frames of honey in a flowhive. But I figured I’ll just let em be for another year. They seem to be a strong colony. They have two brood boxes, excluder, and a large super.
here in "Bee Country" (close to Lunenburg-heath, Lower Saxonie, Germany) we all avoid feeding the bees outside the hive, because it arrouses robbing. But of course we feed the bees in Autumn, but inside each hive. 2nd reason is varroa, because when so many different bee populations come together it arrouses RE INVASION after the Ant-Acid treatment. But maybe the situation in your homeland is completly different?!
Do you limit the amount of syrup they can get? The reason I ask is my bees seem to fill the comb with it as fast as they make the new comb. Would reducing supply some help without stopping new comb production?
I set up a IBC ontainer before with a pan with floats under valve. Early morning run gallon or what they could clean up in hour before neighbors bees got there
Works great followed down to the brand of bucket in 2018. However time Fall arrived had a huge population of Yellow jackets. 2019 Ordered Rapid bee feeders from you. They Work much better than community feeding to me and lot less Yellow Jackets. However you are bringing sugar water direct to Hives. Any Spillage causes problem at hives. What equipment are you using to Refill the Rapid Feeders. Every 3 days I am refilling the rapid feeders.
Last year we noticed the on my mothers hummingbird feeders we had a ton of bees. So we ended up putting out more water so they too could eat. Also had to put something over her water buckets.. As they were drowning that was heart breaking. We wondered why this happened.
Hello I got 3 of these buckets from Lowe’s . I got the screw lids out of the 3 I got 2 of them leak an I have tried an tried to get them to stop they will not stop leaking. Do not know if other store brands will work better or not . But it does make a good feeder
GREAT video as always. I do alot of cutouts and open feed all the uncapped honey. Works well during the dearth. I can see a HUGE difference in brood production with feeding. Since I'm feeding uncapped honey from cutouts, I don't mind the honey colonies taking it so open feed is fine. What do you do with your honey colonies during dearth?
What do you do with the syrup that is left in the bucket after it gets down to holes level. Looks like you would have maybe 1/2 a gallon when the feeder gets to the point of not putting out anymore syrup. I would expect you just add on top but wouldn't that cause a mold/bacteria problem with the syrup eventually going bad.
I open feed my bees as well. I have had people comment that I'm wasting sugar by feeding feral hives as well......the way I see it.....a little investment in sugar to feral hives......is well worth the value in swarms next year.
I made the mistake the first 2 years of beekeeping to not feed. Feed them girls! Also, we just came out of dearth here last week, so it would be helpful to new beekeepers if you'd say "where we are". There is just too much to learn the first year of beekeeping!
I made this feeder and filled it with a 50/50 sugar water feed. My bees will not take to it. I originally placed it 50 yards away now it’s about10 away and still nothing. Any ideas why. I have 4 hives... update the bees finally took to it. I moved it closer then when they found it i moved away. Works great
David, I have a friend who is in BEAR country. He has his bees in a garage sized yard, surrounded by an electrified bear fence. If he puts a remote feeder he would have to have another bear fence to protect it. He has the land, he just has bears on it too. He also has young children and his house is not behind a bear fence. The house is about 100 yards to the bee yard. So he feeds his hives internally. Is there any other option?
bwakel310 I was trying to ask quietly as I have not gotten permission to discuss this with anyone! But of course, it is Vino Farm. And he is a friend, but only in the sense I am a sub of his (as I am of David here) and I follow him. I've been concerned as he grows, will robbing become more of a problem. And David knows how to grow population and handle bees as well as anyone and better than most of them. Probably David is aware of Vino Farm. And probably Jim is aware of Barnyard Bees. So I think I better step out of the middle and let them talk if they want to talk. I am so embarrassed.
Hey Dave...when I harvested my honey the end of July, I put the harvested supers in the freezer without being cleaned by the bee. I then started a treatment for varrora that took about a month. We then entered a dearth so I didn't want to put the honey supers back on being afraid of robbing. I don't have the area for open feeding, so what time is a good time to put the honey supers back on to feed or start the honey season which is about March in N. California
David, I’ve been open feeding up here in VA for 3 weeks now and have noted an increase in stores in each of my hives. My question relates to when to stop, or reduce feeding. Can one over feed to the extent that the queen has no place to lay because of an over abundance of nectar/honey? Or best to continue through the dearth? Thx for your many very helpful videos.
Gerry Felix if they get crunched on space and hive is able to condensate they should stop taking feed on their own while they use the hive moisture and stored syrup. Have them working on new frames with syrup and by the time they free up new space, the total will be greater!
Stupid question. The only way I can get 200 to 300 feet away is put a feeder in the woods off to the side of my apiary. The woods start like 30 feet beside of the electric fence enclosure. So feeder will be 270 feet into the woods. Think they will find it ? Lol. Maybe just try a small batch and see I guess.
I have some honey from a cut out I did. Can you feed them straight honey from the bucket? and will this be more likely to cause robbing? Thanks for the videos and help.
I've only been beek for few years, but seems dearth is extra bad this year. Bees looking for something to eat on everything i have. I want to feed, but have few hives i was keeping for honey production. Others are nucs. So i guess i need to pull the supers, or eventually move production hives in other yards than nuc yard? Advice appreciated. Thanks
Celie Canada if it’s really dry where you are pulling super and feeding until end of August could really help them. Can have them build new frames with the syrup too.
Wouldn't it be easier to simply put and anti robbing device on vulnerable hives? Sounds expensive feeding all the other bees. Better still use an anti-robbing device on each hive to reduce the possibility of disease spreading. Personally use a device prior to robbing which works 100%, even on hives during robbing. It stops robbing instantly.Also it doesn't involve reducing entrances. Can then feed individual struggling hives until they build up strength of numbers.
I like this idea and this is how I water my bees, but my question is....how do you refill? Seems like you'd be battling a lot of bees to even remove the bucket for filling. I'm envisioning a swarm of bees following me into my kitchen. Have another bucket ready and rotate them? It's easy to go grab my entrance feeder jar and shade 2 or 3 bees off....but a BUCKET!
? I am working full time. I was trying to find an easier way to feed my bees. I don't want to do the jars. I have 4 acres of land. I also have 20 hives. My mentor got angry with me. Said that I will cause robbing by feeding my bees openly.
@@davidhaught84 I am. In two locations. He said that I need to feed more than a mile away. I am new to this. The feeder jars are a lot of work. If I have to I will but I saw this video and thought it was amazing.
From the video description (where it says published on...) "While in dearth ( A time of year where there is very little to no nectar flow, or pollen) robbing can be a big problem, feeding with hive top feeders, and entrance feeders can cause robbing. During this time its best to feed about 300 feet away from your hives. Bees will still eat without robbing, while building up the hive." so in dearth hive top feeding is a bad practice because it promotes robbing.
It was always said on the net including Barnyard bees that top- hive- feeders will NOT promote robbing. Now you are saying that it will cause robbing. I am getting confused here.
Maybe somebody know. I have some lids inside the hive, but in the upper box. I feed my bees 1 to 2 times about 6 oz each a day and pour the sugar water into the lids. About 10 minutes later my bees look like they swarm and I mean it looks like the whole hive is swarming for about 30 minutes to 1 hour. Is this normal? I am getting ready to put an internal feeder like Barnyard bees has inside the hive and I hope that this will stop since there may be a constant supply there. Did anyone experience this? Will this stop with an Barnyard bee feeder?
I'm wondering if instead of using cheap refined white sugar if you use raw organic cane sugar maybe with a cup of molasses if that could be more nutritious for the bees? Seems the darker sugar syrups would have more calories and could be preferable? Idk but if anyone has tried I would be curious see if it's feasible.