Deaf as I am, I can still hear bees and see swarms afar. I always can 'scent' a hive from 1,000 feet downwind. It smells like ' Grandma's taking bread out of the oven ..
Fascinating! I have a hard time believing you can handle those bees so easily without getting the daylights stung out of you. It goes counter to everything you ever hear about messing with bees. Great video!
It looked like you had all new frames in those boxes. If you put in a frame or two of drawn comb those bees would have marched in much quicker, I think. I have tried it before and they ran right in. Good video though, thanks for sharing!
I think that piece of paper was not laying flat in the entrance, and that was making it hard for them to squeeze in the opening. I think you should give it another shot but taking more time to prepare it, I think then it will work like a charm.
Love the 🐝 videos I think it’s a great mix for your channel.Glad to hear oxalic acid vaporization has been a fantastic benefit to the health of your honey bees 🐝.
It's possible that putting the sugar water on them is the problem with them going into the box. When they have sugar water on their wings (or honey), they will start cleaning one another up, licking off the sugar water. So perhaps you are asking them to do two thing: save themselves by quickly cleaning one another's wings and bodies of the sugar liquid; trying to get to the queen. It would be interesting if you looked very closely to see if the bees were 'grooming' or cleaning one another instead of making fast progress into the box where the queen is.
Hi i am not a Bee keeper but i every time i come across bees or bee keepers i am fascinated by them and listening to their chat and what they have to say about the bees , a very interesting subject thank you so much kind regards from N Ireland .
JP the beeman , lets them crawl in, some times on a sheet and the rest of the time, on the ground. Ones they know the queen is in the box, they will march right in.
Enjoy your posts on here and on wood. You were talking about putting the ramp for the bees to go up on. I was told it helps with orientation of where the entrance is for the workers when they start foraging. Good luck with your bees and keep up the great posts on youtube. I live in Denham Springs, La
I was fortunate enough to encounter a city bee swarm, in a tree branch over hanging a city sidewalk, along the Madrona Marsh here in Torrance, CA. Thought of your bee videos and my uncle that kept city bees.
To me, you aren't re-inventing the wheel by letting the bees just march in. Every swarm I have ever captured, (and I am in my late 60's) I shook the entire colony onto a sheet in front of the hive on the ground. The difference is I was taught to tap the hive with my small hive pry bar and that always got the entire colony marching in. When I was sure the queen marched in, I mostly left them alone to finish filling the hive until nightfall. I would then go back and block the entrance and bring it home. And I know things change.....the thing is, both ways work.
Wonderful informative videos on your site. Thank you. I'm in a class now for people interested in starting and it's been eye-opening. I had no idea that bees were this interesting. btw - what is in the cans you are opening and putting in the new hives?
Why did you install the queen in the upper brood box - except for the first one that was shaken in front of the hive? There is nothing in those new hives to attract the workers except for the virgin queen's pheromones, and those will be very weak. If you had put a frame of brood in the bottom box with the queen, you would have seen bees 10 feet away from the entrance start to march.
Interesting video Wes. I don't like Honey, and not much interest in Bees, but I do appreciate they are extremely crucial for the whole environment. Your Jeep sounds fabulous - how about a thick rubber mat in the rear to give that floor some protection? Best wishes from UK - Stay safe & well. 👍👍
Actually that way for me is the best because it leaves all the dead bees in the package outside. Also, if you add one dab of lemongrass oil into the back of the box they March in quick!
Since you have the empty box on top when dumping the bees in why not put the transport box on its side in that space. That way you leave and dead or sick bees in there so they can be removed once all the rest have left and less work for the hive to clear out
Your ramp was too flat and too flexible(movement made 'em nervous). Bees have a very strong instinct to walk uphill and crazy as it seems a steeper ramp will get them in quicker. Enjoyed the video.
Do you make your own bee boxes? I want honey bees but I’m allergic, do you get stung a lot? I know last year you had some square containers that you used, did you use them again?
Just don't get in a hurry to become a big BK. Start buying bees. do your splits and use your queen cells and catch more swarms. Soon you will have more than you can take care of ~ another thing i keep with 1 size frames too ~ I only use deeps, Its your choice . Just with mediums, shadows it takes more bee equipment . There for more cost. Bee Keeping can be profitable or a money pit like wax foundation and cell rite are money pits use guild wedges with melted bee wax on your frame its the best way fastest way and the cheapest way to go
I'm curious about something. When you dump most of them, the remaining bees in the boxes from the store eventually get inside a hive. Do they always go to the hive where "their queen" is, or do some migrate to another hive? And do they get into battles if they go to another queen's hive?
Since the package bees had a few days in the cage traveling with the new caged queen they think that queen is their ruler. They now smell like her. They will all be loyal only to her. If another queen comes into the hive the guard bees will smother the foreign queen to death and if any of the package bees fly into another hive they will be treated as robber bees and be stung to death. Only male bees can go into a hive not their own and not be stung.
First time I have seen installing a package in 2 -10 fram boxes. How are they going to control the temp, and guard all that space? There isn't 5 frames of bees!
Look like them hives have a mighty fine foundation to me! 1 Corinthians 3:11 For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Have a great week! These post always make for a brighter day!
If its a New Queen they Should Get dumped Inside bcos they have not used the hive before and You can Dump a few out the front the few that wont come out the box, If your changing a queen and there are bees already in the Box which was there Hive take them out put your New Bess in and Throw the bees you took out Infront of Hive about 1 Meter Away and tey willl slowly walk in bcos it was there Hive and they will Find the New Queen in the Cage.
wow!! this pretty awesome, well African Bees are wild am sure you wouldn't have had the same kind of engagement. can African Bees survive there?? am willing to sell some to you guys. all the way from kenya.
We have imported African bees for many decades here in North America. The African bees are still Apis Mellifera subspecies that have been traded for thousands of years between Egypt Africa and Rome Italy and have not made Italian beekeeping or North American beekeeping any different. There are fictional stories that have made alot of money about African bees starting in 1972. None of these stories are real
Will Fire Ants Kill your bees? I saw a really good video from Texas Prepper 2 showing how to kill them very quickly. I know nothing about them myself thank goodness. I live in the Texas Panhandle and they don't live up here. Is it because we get temperatures of 15 below 0 in the winter? I enjoy watching all your videos and I appreciate your time in making them.
Off the subject, I am shopping for a tractor to use with a sawmill. One of the Mahindras I am considering has a loader lift capacity of 1640. Log weight calculator says a 24" x 8' pine log is 1188 lbs. Adding an average grapple weight of 300 lbs. adds up to 1488. Not a lot of play there. What is the loader capacity of your L3701? Do you think it is sufficient or do you wish you had picked an upgrade?
Hey Gene. I've got the 4701. With the grapple I get a net of about 1200lb lift capacity. I like it because it's a light tractor and not an overload behind my 1/2 ton pickup truck. Now, having said that, it's ALWAYS nice to have more lift capacity. Also, I don't have a lot of oversize logs to saw anyway. So, I would say that if you're going to regularly be sawing logs that get close to the max capacity on the Mahindra, get a size or two higher and you'll be much happier.
Got to watch those pennies. cause when you get 300 hives. there making even more. So I make my own bee equipment. I get 4 x more bee equipment by building it Rather than buy it. It also make for a nice winter job building your own bee equipment he hee my problem is i make 25 of every thing when summer hits i need 50 😆 i make 50 next year and i will need 100, i can ever make to much~ when you get to 200 hives its a full time job for 1 person. i sell out at 250 hives ~ to go commercial production of honey ect. take BIG MONEY ! Those SS Holding Tanks, honey extractors ect are not cheap! Every thing got to be stainless steels! Then have a tanker come get the honey, propolis, and wax. So i can't afford to go big time ~ i tried to few times 😒
