Fred ... I cannot tell you how much I enjoy your presentations. I have learned many things about bee keeping from your videos ... And I really enjoy the relaxed and gentle way you narrate your stories. Thanks, George Miller
That was one of the best videos I have seen about bees. Watching the queen be accepted, laying eggs, and a bee hatching was fascinating! thank you for showing the video, and I plan to have an observation hive someday!
I accidentally happened upon this video and am fascinated! The complexities of bee colonies and how they work together and at times against one another. It’s amazing and I really enjoyed seeing the set up of the observation screen/hive. I’m into woodworking specifically but I’d love to watch a woodworker build one of these see through boxes! Sending to my Uncle as he’s been bee keeping a while now and I think he’d greatly appreciate observing your content
Fantastic footage Fred. It surely brings beekeeping into a whole new world of the unknown. As I strive for smarter beekeeping methods, this is surely another mile stone where lessons are learnt and the fun begins! Love it.Thank-you!
Just ordered a BeeWeever Marked/clipped queen off your link. Forgot to mention you and I know you don’t get anything from them, but from me you get a million thanks!!!! Now for my one hive to survive the dark winter!!! 😉
I enjoyed the video and wish I had a place to set one up. I used to keep bees but no longer have a place to do so. This brings back a lot of memories and I am learning new things from your videos as well. Thank you for doing this.
Hi Alan, well, first I'm sorry you can't keep bees anymore but very happy that you can enjoy seeing them and learning little tidbits here and here on RU-vid. Thanks for commenting!
Hi Diana, thank you so much for watching and commenting! Yes, I'll keep the bee videos coming as there is always something new to share. Have a wonderful weekend!
So well done and thoroughly enjoyed watching this. Thanks for taking the time to film and edit all of these videos. I know they take a good deal of time to do.
Yet another enlightening video Fred! These creatures are amazing. We could learn a lot. Definitely not democratic. Everyone has a job... born into it or changes with time but no arguments and every thing functions... The colony, as an organism, just knows what to do.
Thoroughly enjoy that so much I come back every now and again just to see it. Shame you took the colony out and haven’t used it. My guess is without having easy access to the frames it makes it tougher to care for and maintain.
I'm in the process of doing a re-design that will hold more frames and allow a larger colony to occupy it. Plus, the new one will be in my painting studio :)
Thanks, Fred! The shots towards the end of the workers posture with bent abdomen trying to kill the caged queen were excellent. I have often seen the bees accepting the queen by trying to feed her through the cage, but I have never seen them before they began to accept her and as they were trying to sting her. Love the quality of your videos. A lot of effort goes into making them. And what were those...chicken noises in the background towards the end?
This is absolutely fascinating. It's so cool to see you interpreting correctly their behavior. I wonder if there was a possibility of the workers never accepting the new queen. Also, naturally the inside of the hives is always dark; does this glass and the light that shines upon them makes a difference for them? Thanks for this great video.
The hive is normally covered with 2.5 inch thick rigid insulation board on each side. I pull those off when observing and the bees don't seem to care at all. I originally was going to use red/safe lights inside in order to observe them, but quickly learned that they didn't behave differently so went back to warm lights. Thanks for watching and commenting.
Hi LC where did you get the plans from? Fred l see you state your going to make a bigger observation hive what changes are you going to make and do you feel this hive was successful? Regards Sea
WOW! LOVE this idea! It gave me a desire to build one up here (The Great Snowy North). Any chance of a 2nd video showing the full indie of the shed? I mean to see the space with the hive in it. Also: what about using a flow hive in this fashion? (in a shed). I'm just wondering about maintenance/inspection. If you open the hive in the shed, how do the bees that come out (in the shed) get back into the hive? (My brain is just full of ideas and questions!)
I show the shed in the video of the observation hive swarming. Regarding putting any hive inside an enclosure with ports to the outside, it's easily done and when you do hive inspections and open it all up, I have light blocking wooden panels for all of the windows, then leave just one window open and the bees follow the light out and return through the hive opening provided. Hopper style windows work best and yes, flowhives can be set up that way, it's actually not a new concept in beekeeping.
Fabulous. I thought this was recent, but it appears this is the observation hive you’ve been using for awhile? Do you deal with swarming, etc differently for your observation hive versus normal colonies? Great video.
Hi again Tony, I just let my observation hive bees swarm at will. They definitely swarm more often from the observation hive than my standard deeps with medium supers. My apiary is over-sized due to this reproductive machine! 6 out of the 8 frames are now capped honey, so we'll see how they winter this year.
Fred are you far away from finishing your new hive as you probably have ironed out any problems? I am on holidays and keen to make one when l get home Cheers Sean
Giday Fred thank you so much I have enjoyed your videos , As a starter in apiaristism question that word ? I have ? So much to ask , ? Where to go ask here in Australia , Cheers , and keep it going great work beesknees.
Fred I'm going to start an observation hive. Do you ever swap out frames so that they don't swarm if the queen runs out of space? Do you mite treat them? Do you ever cover the glass during the winter months? I've got a TON of questions. Where should I go for help. Thanks for any information you can give. -Matt
Yes, this is their largest one, I'm in the process of building my own larger version. If the had a larger version I'd have purchased it. It's absolutely fantastic to be able to look in on the bees no matter what the weather is doing.
The observation hive is sandwiched between two 2" thick insulation boards when not being directly observed. The perimeter is 1.5" wood, the biggest drawback in winter is the placement of the entrance which is directly through the bottom which often results in being closed off by dead bees.
Thank you for that, I couldn't quite figure out how that was going to work out LOL that makes far better sense now. I may consider building one of those at some point in the future. I have been playing with bees, feeding feral bees, beelining, and studying bees very thoroughly for about a year. I do not have bees at this at this point. I do have a Kaizen beehive and just bought a secondary hive that needs put together. I have a couple other boxes made out of ice chest with frames oh, I have a couple swarm traps out which are waxed inside and a couple drawn frames in each one. It warmed up today and the bees were out at my feeders. I found a nest in a tree close by my house with a box attached. Just hoping they start drawing frame. I can by bees but I want to get feral bees whatever it takes. I have two Hollow trees that I am making hives out of haha. One has a hinged door but neither are completed. They will both have a 10 frame box on the top of them. I am going to make top bars for them with banding material to complete my long frames for inside. I built a bee vac, have most all of the necessities. Actually I was out beelining today. Spring seems that it is coming very fast this year. The only B's I have are the ones still in the tree haha I visited them today. So I go by the bootleg beekeeper LOL
No, though the lights are not on all the time. There are nature centers with observation hives that receive full light every single day. Mine are only lit during my periods of observation the rest of the time this building is kept dark.
The four year update is that I'm reconstructing my own version with more frames. 3-deep rather than 2-deep as designed. This ends up functioning as a swarm generator as the bees build up too fast for the available space and swarm right out. Other than that, it's a nice unit.
@@FrederickDunn when your bees swarm out of this hive do they leave a queen? I don't have hives and I am learning. I did the heros to hives program with MSU. My understanding is that when they swarm the queen goes with.
What stopped all the bees you put in there from just leaving and returning to their original hive? Also the new queen wasn't immediately accepted but with the passage of time she was, do you know what changes that allows this? She has to prove her royal bloodlines or something? (grin).
The brood kept them as well as the fact that they were nurse bees that had not been out of their original hive. They are apt to accept fertile queens when they realize their original queen pheromone is weakening or absent.
Great video Fred thank you but I’m just curious now it’s been two years since you’ve had an observation hive is it still going strong have there been any problems
Still going strong, they do seem to have to overcome lower frame moisture levels from time to time. They have sealed up all of their vent screens. They keep the upper 1/4 of the hive very clean and dry through winter and then move back down around this time of year. Not ideal for beekeeping, I see it as a testament to the health and vigor of the bees over habitability provided by this design. I would also like to see the bottom entrance re-designed. If I hadn't vaccumed out that entrance, dead bees would have blocked cleansing flights.
That is great thanks Fred still waiting to get into my Bees being up here in northern Ontario Canada still a little bit cold. Definitely going to design a observation hive myself. Thank you for all the information and great videos
thanks for sharing fred, its its awesome. im currently doing my own study project, can i pm you with regarding the inquiry of my technical issue? thank you
Great video, thanks for the information! _??QUESTION??_ _WHAT IS THE RESULT OF A BEE STINGING ANOTHER BEE? IS THE DEVISTATION, OR INSTANT DEATH? DO THEY RECOVER FAST? DOES IT HURT THE BEE THAT HAS BEEN STUNG? thanks!_
They can sting each other to death. A queen for example, can sting competing queens to death. They also bite and sting any intruding or invading honey bees at the landing board and you can see groups of dead bees after that has occurred.
@@FrederickDunn wow, thanks for taking time out of your day to answer my questions. The information you provided is very intriguing, I had no idea, but I guess it's what's to be expected from very Territorial beings, they are such amazing, complex, & beautiful creatures.
They are enclosed screened bottom boards with removable inserts. This particular observation hive wasn't a very good design, and I never got bees to survive winter in it even with insulation panels. With the new observation hives, the frames are in 3s and have the screens down the center of the bottom panel for observation. This change has resulted in all of my observation hives making it through winter in un-heated spaces.
If you don't get frames, foundation or even the glass for it, then what good is it? Just another company giving you a little as possible for as much as possible. No thanks!
I tried to get safety glass for it, three broken glass panels later, I went with great quality plexi. I still want some good glass, but the local guy just had a terrible time cutting it to my size and we gave up. Glass is also much heavier and the frames that it sets in are very thin. So in short, I would very much prefer nice tempered glass panels over the acrylic.
Hello Fredrik. I like your videos. Which method of combating Varroa mites is common in the US? Does anyone use heat treatment (Thermal processing of bees)? What do you think about this method? (I'm from Siberia, near the Baikal.) Sorry if I write incorrectly: I do not know English well.
There are many methods being practiced here in the U.S. and IF I have to treat for them, I'm personally a fan of using oxalic acid vapor and I have that unit always ready. BUT, I evaluate and inspect my varroa resistant bees and do not do anything if they are keeping the varroa under control on their own. I work with hygienic survivor honey bees and they are extremely active in removing infected bees and grooming off varroa from other bees in their colony. The trade off is that my bees are so active at grooming and removing workers and brood that don't meet their standards that honey production is much lower than with other bee genetic lines. I haven't treated for years, but I am ready as I mentioned and would do the oxalic treatment, not the drip method, but the vapor is best in my opinion and I would do that in the fall if necessary. In this observation hive, I will be watching for evidence of varroa or disease and so far so good.
Very interesting. How do you prevent crossbreeding with other breeds? In a big trip around you there are no apiaries? I would also choose such a compromise. Until 1960, there was no parasite in our area. Varroa was brought with a foreign breed. Strong families are better able to cope with this disease. I will look after your experiments. Thank you for your work.
I don't prevent cross-breeding and occasionally do allow them to swarm. There are no registered apiaries within 5 miles of my location, but there may be feral colonies in the area and that survivor stock is a benefit in my opinion.
Hi Christopher, they are in an observation "building" which has solid wooden interior shutters that block light completely. So, the entire space is dark unless I turn the lights on. There are observation hives in some of the local nature centers that are exposed to light throughout each and every day, I'm told by those keepers that the bees soon adapt to being in light. This observation hive is in darkness, this allows me to control the lighting for photography and video and leave them in the dark the rest of the time. Thanks for asking!
At a local nature museum many years ago they had an observation hive inside. The colony died during the winter from unknown causes. This was about 40 years ago, before all the colony collapse and mite infestations came about. Do you know if problems existed that had to be overcome doing this? I thought it was too artificial or temperature difference outside and inside hive during winter. Or maybe just bad luck?
Observation hives need lots of attention during winter. The Queen still cycles her laying based on outdoor resources and weather, even when they are protected inside. The scouts and foragers bring resources that trigger laying or lack of laying. Most observation hive owners continually feed through winter to make up for the activity levels and energy spent by the interior workers. Getting them through winter can be tricky and it's important to keep detailed notes regarding their needs and responses to feeding.
Thanks David, I'll add that to the video description links. Sorry Overlooked that part :) www.eplastics.com/Plastic/clear-lucite-brand-cast-acrylic-sheet
Guy next door to me has a 10 gallon fish tank, its sitting in his yard lol I asked him if I could have it. he laughed it leaks he said I laughed that's ok i am putting bees into it cheers
I would say a MUCH more instructive model of installation would be to put in feral stock with their natural queen, no feeder, no plastic, no foundation at all. The genus Apis has existed for millions of years, drawing its wax, with a variety of cell sizes on each comb. I do a lot of structural removals and have all my students get their first hive from such a feral colony. Going to be contracted to install such a observation hive in a grocery store soon---no plastic,
So you're saying I should remove a feral colony from its home and relocate it in a small 8-frame observation hive. And cut their comb out and somehow place it inside the observation hive within wooden frames. I can't wait to see your video on that process. For what I do, the acorn black plastic wax coated frames are instrumental in providing a contrasting background for video and photography. Natural comb is interesting to observe but isn't ideal for the work I do. Foundationless comb can facilitate rapid invasion and unfettered reproduction of wax moths during periods when colony strength is down. There are many ways to stock and setup an observation hive and I'm looking forward to watching your RU-vid which is certain to be "MUCH more instructive"... thanks for commenting.
No, not a cutout. (by the way, if the colonies in Los Angeles were not re-homed via cutouts, they would be summarily exterminated. I have already taken 42 swarms or cutouts since Jan here) I start my swarms on foundationless frames, usually with one frame of saved back drawn out comb, to give the queen immediate wax access for laying. The observation hive for the store will be similarly sourced---started in a Lang and then transferred, as you showed on your video. But bees in Nature put several cell sizes on the combs, not the uniform impressed pattern of foundation. Hive moths are always a symptom of some underlying problem, usually queenlessness, and not the cause of demise. They are simply decomposers.
I'm glad you're having such a good time doing cutouts and that your methods are working out so well for you. There are juvenile wax moth larvae always moving through comb on the fringes that never reach maturity because the bees can access them before full development. Again, you are free to do things your way of course. I'm glad you have a method that works better for you. I also never suggested that colonies should not be removed, or re-homed, I completely understand that. I just explained why I do what I do with my observation hive. Wishing you all the best there in LA.
Yes, HM eggs and small larvae are always present, but the bees of a Queen-right and vigorous colony clean them up. I state the obvious for the benefit of the newbees reading here, as a common misunderstanding is "wax moths killed my hive"
You're right, it's always good to share fundamentals. I also agree that wax worms are taking over when a colony is either dead or dying out. The war is lost by then.
Hi Chris, it's doing great, but they just swarmed last week. If I did it over, I'd make a larger one. I also don't like the top center feeder, needs to be larger and off to the edge so it's not directly over the frames. I still like it and also I plug all but two of the side vent holes. Reduced ventilation resulted in brood to the edges.
it would be like having a fish tank in the wall - so interestying - beautiful pollen - Its fantastic to see a baby bee hatch I notice that u have a large space up and down do u think they will fill it with propolis or burr comb ?
Hi Missy, they have not expanded their waxworks beyond the top and bottom frames "yet" but I am enjoying watching how they build their delicate wax infrastructure which is something we destroy each time frames are pulled for inspection. When I observe the amount of work they put into the in-between cells and passages, it makes me very much aware of how intrusive we are with traditional boxes as we disrupt what the bees have constructed to control air flow, store resources and stabilize frames.
