How to keep your honeybees alive through winter 

I really love and appreciate that he teaches options that don’t require having to buy his products. It really shows he cares more about bees well being than just making a quick buck. Honestly makes me want to purchase his product more! Someone who honestly cares about what there doing and selling will make high quality products.

Very interesting idea. I especially like the idea of using the removable feeder for this because, above 85%RH, sugar is deliquescent so may draw moisture from the hive and help prevent the build up of excess moisture in the hive if it can be removed and replaced with fresh sugar. I have used an eke lined and topped with Kingspan foam to keep the feeder as warm as possible.

@ 2 minutes in, it was pretty amazing how fast that wasp came in and smelled a chance to steal. Your videos are a lot of fun to watch.

Thank you

Hey, David, this is Malcolm Megibben from Tulsa Oklahoma. Love your videos. I only argument is with the entrance reducer. I use open screen boards left wide open and only mice guards in the entrance. My first year over wintering nucs I experimented with some with entrance reducers and lost most of those to moisture. Joe May also lost a few with entrance reducers to moisture. Now it could be our colder temps and snow here in 6b (we're both in 6b him in Indiana and me Oklahoma)and we needed more air flow. If you have any loses to moisture open them up or if you can afford to experiment do a comparison of the open and reduced. Good luck with the winter. I've been posting your site on my Facebook hoping to help you grow. MAY GOD BLESS YOU, YOUR BEES, BUSINESS PARTNERS IN THE YEARS AHEAD. AMEN

Am starting again in the Sierra Foothills in Ca. Found out there are California Buckeye Trees that likely killed off my small transferred Bee crop back in 2000 when I moved. The Buckeye's within 5000 Ft will be cut. Have Mann Lake Bee Pro Pollen ready, and Sugar feeders needed for quick Comb building. I ordered one of your 3-4 Lb Bee Package. I hope to mix them with 2 local Nuc's that will arrive late April, they will likely be Almond pollinators. Pollen shuts off around June here. It is a very arid Climate, and not that cold in Winter. Just finished painting 3 Virgin Hives :-))

That will work too! i just place a dinner tray on top of the frames made some 2 inch wide square rings as a spacer on top of the hive body and then the inner cover ect Yes i feed them powder sugar beginning of spring i mix it 50/50 powder sugar and flour as a pollen substitute

can't wait for the spring to get my package bees from y'all. I have another package coming from down by Texas A&M. Already put Georgia and Aggie decals on my hives. SEC showdown.

You should write a book, this is great info, hope to visit your shop soon.

David, have you ever tried using fondant? It's basically sugar/water cooked down like cake icing, but it has the consistency of modeling clay. Seems like it would be easier to work with than a pile of granulated sugar. There are recipes on YT and I've seen some Canadian beekeepers that like to use it for extreme cold weather that they get.

David, thanks for all the awesome content. I don't know if you'll answer a question after years, but have you ever tried to put Ultra Bee Protein Pollen on one side of the round bottom feeder and sugar on the other for winter feeding?

Dry sugar like chopping firewood warms you twice -

Bundt cake pan with a lid

Very helpful

Great video. Last year I put no-cook sugar bricks on my 10-frame langs. Double deeps and triple deeps. I put them on early - in early December. The bees were all over it and kept eating it. So, I kept adding more. All the way through spring! Come spring, I could not pull out my mite boards because they were covered with sugar! The sugar was piled so high that it came up and through the bottom screens which made dragging the mite boards out to clean very difficult. They seem to be throwing it away. Do you find sugar on your bottom boards? Is feeding sugar to nucs different from feeding to full-size colonies? I now have many frames of capped honey in all my colonies, so will withhold adding sugar until late winter, I think. Still, seeing all those bees at the top even knowing there is honey in there makes me nervous and wants me to, once again, add some sugar bricks on top - but I think they will just throw it out, again.

David, as I finish my first year as a beekeeper, always enjoy your videos! Can I use pure cane sugar for the food? I got a 25# bag from Costco...

Note only sugar is not wet or not well salted

Hey David, I have really enjoyed following your videos over the last several weeks. You have some fantastic knowledge and I appreciate you doing videos. Who were your mentors over the years and are there any channels or keepers you like to follow? Any that you would recommend? Thanks

Could you make a mixer of dry sugar and Ulta dry bee pollen and feed in the winter ?

Thanks

What breed of bees do you recommend for first timers? Thank you. 😁

Great video! I’m leaving my bees for a week in late September. Will this method sustain my bees for a week?

Always look forward to you videos. Will the bees eat through the paper towels during the winter?

Oh just what iz wondering about, thank you so much, do yall sale those feeders or i go to glory bee's ?

Hi David. Im the guy who sent you the pictures from Wisconsin on the 2 frame mating nuc feeder i built. I have a dumb question. Do the bees convert that sugar to a liquid and store it in the open cells or do they consume it for immediate nutrition. Thanks for all the videos. You do a great job. Im going to order some packages from you guys when i figure out how many i need

So why do people do sugar mush bags or hard sugar candy boards if just pouring in raw sugar works as well? Are there any advantages to the other methods? I know some of the solid candy boards are installed with the sugar side down facing the bees for immediate access in the hive... When it is real cold will the bees still come up into that cold top section to feed on your raw sugar and maybe die while up there?

Hey David I appreciate all your vids very much. I am North of Houston a bit and starting two nucs in the spring first time bee keeper.. I want to keep a video history and your videos are great looking what camera are you using ? and what do you use to edit thanks

I'm thinking of getting bees so I can sort of learn to not rely on supermarkets and have more homegrown food

I wish my bees were that gentle i checked my bigger hive yesterday and i had at least 20 circling my head... i dig in there until i saw some capped brood and that's as far as can go got stung on muy knee through jeans while packing up. I'm not sure why they are getting so aggressive

I'm curious, why would a wide opening be too much ventilation? Where I keep bees (Norway), many (most?) beekeepers use screeened bottom boards and a wide entrance for ventilation, as in our parts, moisture is the greatest enemy during winter. We don't have ventilation in the top though, only in the bottom.

🇹🇷👍👍

what do you filling the plastic doughnut feeder with sugar or this version directly onto top of the bars? Do bees manage to come up into the doughnut feeder during long cold spells?

Hey, I found a singular young looking bee I found on my driveway this morning. He looked cold so gently scooped him onto a piece of paper and into the garage so he doesn’t freeze to death, is there anything I can do for him? The garage will get cold but not freezing.

The only problem with the straight sugar method is that they don’t get the nutrients like they do from honey

Do you do anything special to keep mice out?

If I had empty drawn comb would I be able to fill the cells with sugar or would they try to clean it out?

Is there any advantage or disadvantage to feeding dry sugar the whole year?

So do you feed straight sugar or ultra bee pollen substitute during the winter and why?

David, I have a two deep hive packed with bees going into our NE winter. Which entrance do you recommend keeping open on the hive for winter?

hey david...can you put raw sugar inside internal frame feeder and they be good....im down south.

Do you have plans to build the top wooden feeder?

Raw sugar? I saw this for the first time

I see that you posted this video on Nov 20. What is the coldest temperature that it is ok to open the hive? Not the ones with the feeder top but the one you put the paper towels on. I need to put dry sugar on mine and it is mid 50s here.

What are your breeds of the bees?

What month do you do this?

What kind are they? I have one hive that is Italian, and one that is Carniolan.

How often do you check them afterwards of adding the sugar to the top

Hey David @barnyardbees do you have a link to those specific feeders

were do you get those round top feeders

M from Kashmir what I do to save bees in Winter &here is temp minus nd my honey bees r diyig

What month are you adding this sugar .

I'm not getting away with that it way to cold in Indiana not to wrap the boxes

What state are you beekeeping in. Can I have sugar water in Texas?

How much are your feeding

Should I feed pollen also? I'm in columbus ohio Thanks

What's the web address ?

The Biden ad that showed before this is very unfortunate.

Feed them sugar is not a good idea

Hey David do you make the sugar water too cuz I just started this year beekeeping and now I'm not sure how to feed the bees right weight