I want to say thank you to everyone who reached out to us during the last few weeks concerned. We are doing fine and healthy. The break in video production was not planned or designed but came from procrastination due to the enormous workload with extracting honey, organizing our conference, treating mites, feeding bees, collecting data from the Test yard, and editing-filming videos like this one that are just now making it to youtube. Next year I will have some seasonal help. I thought I could get by without it this year but....lesson learned. Thanks friends for understanding and we look forward to seeing many of you in Jan! -Kamon
Was just about to call in the forces to see if you folk were still wiggling. Glad to know you all are well. I figured you had a ton of work to do since it's harvest season for bees and veggies both😁 Glad to see your beautiful bees worh!😍
Kamon, Get in touch with your local college about summer interns that would get school credit. They will be more dedicated and that is what they are going to school for. Plus during the various breaks, they may be available to help also. Craig Fr. VA / SML Bees
Thanks! I am very thankful that this year was the opposite of last year. I hope things improve for you western beekeepers as well with all the dry conditions coming into the next year. Keep up the great work!
Thank you kamon and your shy Queen! I have already heard her talking before , and my wife wants to hear more from Lauren . Y'all stay safe and God bless you all
Isn't the dearth about over? My son says you are either busy or on vacation. We have been feeding and have comb in there for them to draw. Thank goodness a couple of other yt'ers were able to instruct us through our first one in 35 years. The last time we had a bee yard was in Michigan in the late-ish 80s. lol. It's a whole new experience in TN.
Thanks Kamon, I am with you on the drawn comb, however I have left my supers on to long. I didn't know that it is harder to get the bees to build comb in August. Going to try anyway.
They can still do it if the conditions are right. Just a tad harder as the population is often times smaller and the nutritious pollen isn't as plentiful. Let me know how it goes
Hard to get drawn combs while treating for mites as I use APIGuard, so can’t really feed for six weeks 😕. Nice to see another video but totally understandable how busy you all must be!
Great video, i am one of those slow at removing honey. This is last year of that after doing mite washes this week. Just got honey pump and 10 55 gallon honey barrels. Next year going to get that honey off and extracted faster. Thanks for sharing wax drawing tips. Looking forward to 2022 conference!!
@@kamonreynolds i got the maxant. Pumps seem to be hard to get right now. I was really interested in the lyson you had on a video but they are out. I really liked the style mr. Ed has but i could not find one that was made in usa.
Kamon, when feeding this time of yeear do you have any concern whatsoever that the syrup may be stored in the brood boxes creating a honey-bound situation?
I needed this video my bees just do not want to draw comb on some of my frames. I think it may be partially the frame so I rewaxed them and now I need them to draw comb late in the season 😆❤️
I don't have rain since April here and it was just a little bit. I am about to do a rain dance as well, for next October. We have to think ahead. And that's why my bees are very different from these we see in these videos. 1 month of rain.
Hi Kamon, Regarding drawing comb, I am a novice and have tried several feeding methods, i.e. the small bucket, quart, pint jars, etc... I am having the most success with hive top feeders, the wooden type that has two reservoirs and floats. Why don't you use these? Many thx, DS from SE Ohio
Great video as usual I didn’t understand one thing: you say you extract the syrup from the frames, and use it to make pollen Patties or feed. Why not leave it on the hive and let the bees eat it?
You totally can but sometimes you end up with surplus. In those rare occasions you can sling it out and it makes wonderful pollen patties. I too prefer to leave the syrup in the combs and pull them out and give them to a colony that needs more food if I have excess stores.
Kamon have you tried peppermint candies in your hives to get rid of hive beetles?? I've heard it works well but have not tried it myself because I haven't had issues with hive beetles in a couple years.
Good video, good to see u back I knew u were busy all the bee videos have almost stopped because of the work load, where did u get your bee suite it is hot here just like there the bees are stinging me true the jeans I need a jacket that I will not die from heat plus they cant sting thru the sleeves. Thanks have a great day
When you say you spin out the sugar syrup to feed back to the bees before the fall flow, how do you do that exactly? Make winter Pattie’s or put it in the feeder jar?
Good to see you taking care of the gals 😊 With the amount of sugar you must use to make up the feed do you get it from Costco or similar or a catering supplier in large sacks? I hope the rest of the summer goes well for you
Hi Kamon! Thanks for another wonderful video. Question: Why do you use a lighter syrup with a swarm or split to draw comb, but a 1:1 this time of year/post honey harvest to draw comb?
I will use thinner this time as well. It depends on the colonies needs and how much poundage they need or don't need. I may use close to 2:1 on a yard this time of the year if they are looking really light to quickly get some weight in there. All just depends on how often I am able to apply feed and what they need. Sorry if that is a bit vague
Hey Kamon. I'm in central North Carolina and want to transition from all mediums to deeps for brood. I need to have the bees draw a lot of comb! I currently have 3 hives and want to grow to 6. Do you have any suggestions for the best way to make that transition from medium brood boxes to new deeps with foundation?
I'm in the same situation as you but with 10 colonies on two mediums. I will probably wait until it's warm enough that bees won't have a problem keeping at least a medium and a deep warm. At that point I'd take one medium off, take at least two frames of brood out and another 3 frames of whatever there is for a total of 5 frames, take a deep with 5 frames with foundation and add the 5 medium frames between the deeps (one medium one deep). This way you have something in the deep box to attract bees to it but you also slowly transition to deep frames. They will draw the mediums to the deep depth but no cross comb should appear due to every second frame being a deep. In heavy flow you can just pop a deep box on top of the colony with a queen excluder and use it as a honey super first. You can also use swarms to build you deep boxes.
A cluster naturally moves up in the hive. Try putting the deep on top of the medium and supers on top of the deep. At some point the medium will either be empty or filled with pollen. If it has pollen, put it on top of the deep. In August, the baby winter bees will be grown from that pollen.
Great video thank you. How do you store your drawn comb without attracting wax moths. I have been having big issues with them this year. I'm in East Texas. Thanks
How do you manage SHB? I haven’t seen one beetle in these colonies today. We are doing all we can but our hives are loaded. We treated for mites, we are using torn up Dixie paper towels to catch them, I have SHB bottom boards with D earth on them and we kill every one we see but there are so many. We are feeding hard too. I’m getting desperate because I don’t want to loose our fall harvest or our bees. Our bees have great numbers so I don’t understand why they can’t keep the beetles under control. BTW, glad your back was starting to wonder if something happened.
Hey so I am sort of dealing with a hive that is going rogue with shb. I noticed it was my hive that spent most of its time in the shade. Ive had the screened bottom board set up where the beetles fall through to an oil trap. kind of like the freeman oil trap style. I have kept the shb under control with it while the hive was in the shade. Last night I finally moved the hive to an area thats full sun.
Another control method: break the life cycle at the larval stage. Put your hive stands on 6 mil black plastic extend 2 feet in front and behind the hive. This makes the larva crawl across hot plastic before it can dig into the soil to pupate. Then use a permethrin drench around the edges of the plastic to kill them.
Hello Robert. I unfortunately don't sell many queens these days outside of nucs. I just don't have the man power. I may in the future. Thanks for asking!
