I'm Brazilian, I loved this class. Congratulations, I learned a lot and I will apply it. I'm new to beekeeping. With the grace of God, I got my second hive through simple division. and I will apply your teachings to produce more litters. thank you very much
This man is obviously a genuine ,sincere and compassionate man.we need more beekeepers like him. Thank you Michael for a inspiring and informative talk. Phil Andrews. U.K.
He's very good. If you buy packages treat the package just before the brood caps over. A local club did a mite study on package bees and found mites counts that were quite high.
Really? My first impression is that he is constantly talking about himself and how he struggles more than everyone else. Sounds like he wants reparations for French people by the English throne.
@@gazinta Early on in the presentation he's explaining what he went through before finding a method that works for him. He wants nothing to do with the French or English throne. He's doing this presentation in England so he's referring to ideas for the English beekeeper. I would suggest you watch the entire video again and listen carefully to how he produces a sustainable apiary.
I know quite a lot from my personal experiences in my area. I have to watch his presentation many times, honestly. I see many of my failures addressed so fast that I know I may have missed some. Anybody that thinks he has any interest beyond success of the Honey Bee, I think you may be missing something. Thank-you Mike, I saw totally independent videos that recognized the wisdom of a man who gives the Bees the chance to do what they know!
Mike inspired me so much I built a double nuc setup and broke down my biggest colony into two double nucs in august. That was my first year beekeeping! I gave them two young queens and they’re still alive and kicking today in Michigan! Thanks for giving me the confidence Mike!
Outstanding!!! As a new beekeeper, Mike Palmer continues to instruct and inspire me. Thank you for your generosity in sharing your knowledge of the bees.
FANTASTIC LECTURE! I’m an old world apiarian just getting started (my 4th yr) no books persé just common sense... first year I bought 2 8 frame disaster hives, old come, and they flew the coop rather fast, the second hung in there and I noticed lots of dead bees out front from obvious herbicide or pesticide still not sure which, oh so disappointing to say the least, last year I got shaken bees, lost them, this year just from reading web articles I’ve been able to procure 6 Nucs, and after seeing your lecture, I knew already, but you gave me the boost I need to know this was the right choice for me, bees for me are the adventure, the rest is the icing on the yummy cake. So thank you kind sir, loved the show Paula in Montana
Mike your a wealth of hard bought knowledge and experience. Plus the older book knowledge much from the UK which you freely acknowledge. I'd love to see you at Hivelife! Plus Tennessee is closer than Europe or Mexico😉 With close to 2000 in attendance this past January- you'd have quite an impact on beekeeping in North America!!🐝👍😊
I'm sorry to hear that you had large losses. I've also had large losses this year in Northern Ireland. It has been such a long winter, no normal spring time growth, very weak bees, I have to keep robbing brood frames from a strong box to support 2 others that the Queen hasn't started laying yet. I've tried pollen substitute feeding but that hasn't stimulated laying just yet. I moved the apiary closer so I can manage it daily. I've been nursing my bees very carefully and it looks like they may not survive, certainly not as strong as other years.
The sustainable apiary talks at length about the folly of importing bees from warmer climates to the frozen north. “Bees from faraway places never do as well as local bees, the best bees for you are in your yard or in your neighbour’s yard, raise queens from them”. If it works for Mike why do we need imports in the UK? Is it because those importing aren’t capable of raising their own queens? Watching this is an hour well spent.
Hi Mike. Thank you for sharing your experience. A basic grasp of simple math confirms the wisdom of your practices. A question...When I make up two 4 frame nuc boxes using a 10F Langstroth deep, does the thickness and type of divider board matter much. I'm wondering about heat transfer.
Hi there. (Other Hive types too.) No it doesn't. As long as the Warmth passes through, but the Queens can't get to each other either. That's the main thing. Tip : Check out a RU-vidr called Peter : aka 'The Bee Whisperer.' He uses a 'collar of Duck Tape' bent back on itself : across the Side by Side Boxes (or Divider) just under the QE. And gives it a good 'push' down. No Queen gets over his diy 'barrier' ! And if a 2nd Brood Deep over x2 Nuc base Nucs, is slimmer, he add a thin stick (trimming of Wood offcut) and let's the Bees glue it down. Peter's clever at ad hoc 'Bee Keeping. He's over the Pond, but lived for Years in the UK. (N.E & Isle of Mann.) Never lost his Accent. . . 🤭 Hope my Answers helps. 🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝 Happy Beekeeping 2024 🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝 Mike Palmer in this Lecture was just brilliant. I follow his ways. I keep Bees 'locally'.No imports. Mainly A.A.M (high %) here in Scotland. 🏴 Not far from the amazing Chain Bridge Honey Farm. They really know their Black Bees for sure. 😎
Thank you so much for posting this for all to learn. I have one question for anyone who understands if, AT 42:30, he is suggesting that the divider is the the center of the broods nest when two nucs are side by side in a box?
On a channel called Vino Farm the presenter says that Mike Palmer isn't honest about how many colonies he loses in winter and that Vivaldi boards are guaranteeing 80% survival or better? Any thoughts on that from anyone? Is Mike not being honest here? Just trying to learn from the best and having a hard time figuring that out. Truthful or untruthful?
The Hive and the Honey Bee sample size and experience should be considered. Vino is great and enthusiastic. I think of beekeeping experience in terms of hives per year x years. Vino copies some of but not all of what Palmer talks about. I think Vino is in 3 RD or 4th season with a small yard. Larger than mine but not even as large as one of Palmers nuc Yard’s.
Lets see, an apiarist who manages, conservatively, 1000 colonies with thirty years of experience against an apiarist with 4 years under his belt and 14 colonies, of which, 13 were lost this winter.
@@davidryle1164 But according to Vino Farm Mr Palmer hides his losses to save face. The current losses VF has, according to him, are due exclusively to weather issues, not his management. VF has a huge following, why? If he's so wrong? I don't get it at all.
You can’t gerentee anything with bees as there wild animals and too many factors are involved and he is being honest about his losses they might look sewed because they replace losses with nucs.
Mike Thank You for sharing your wealth of knowledge with the beekeeping world. In a time of decline of bee population and bee forage, this knowledge could help save our bees from CCD. I am definitely creating a sustainable bee yard next year using your technique. Any chance you could write a book with greater knowledge and techniques?
The amount of logistics required for his level of beekeeping makes my head spin. I'm happy to have my 7-10 hives. Couldn't handle more. Glad to learn about this sustainable approach.
About "Package bees failing." Is this always the case? I would think not, or not sure. What about package bee from your own state? It makes sense if I live in the NE, and am getting package from CA or overseas that they would fail, but what about packages from an apiary near me? Would love to hear from others on this. Thanks.
Jeżeli jest to możliwe proszę włączyć tłumaczenie filmu na język polski. W tej chwili ta opcja jest wyłączona. Wszyscy chwalą Pana wykład, a ja mam problem, nie wszystko rozumiem. Chętnie polecę Pana wykład moim kolegom. Większa oglądalność to większe profity. Pozdrawiam, życzę samych sukcesów 💰 i pełnych beczek miodu.
there is a tremendous amount of information. so information rich, it is hard to take all in. in several places, he does things, at a proper time to do it, but we can't tell when that is. Mike is world class. no doubt.
succes in the apiary means being able to raise bees year to year without them dying, absonding, and without all the massive effort in intensive be management
Great talk Mike and thanks for sharing the years of experience with the world! i am going to try building my NUC Yard this year and see the effect i could get with those strategies although i am almost sure it should have a very positive affect as a lot of it really makes sense if you think about it! again thanks and i hope you keep those great videos coming
Farmers need to look to sustainable agriculture, planting cash crops and integrating cover crops for soil health. These cover crops can double as bee forage on a rotational basis. Or, Mr. Palmer could use his increased profits from his sustainable beekeeping to buy the farm land and plant it to bee forage.
Nice idea but farm land is quite expensive. Plus, those farmers losing their land to the agribusinesses are in debt to those companies. So, the companies get the farms for next to nothing.
Studies are also showing high levels of mites in package bees. It's recommended to treat the package (oxalic acid ) just prior to the first capping of brood. This will knock down the mite levels so that the colonies have an opportunity to survive.
He just explained why their is a decline in bee populations perfectly, all he missed was that stone brood is carried into hives by ants and beetles. Save the bees, plant flowering perennials in your landscapes.
I agree with Mike Palmer. I tried package bees and I tried nucs for a few years, and both failed and neither did not make it through winter or the bees killed the queen after laying 5 frames of eggs/brood. Last year I started to make my own queens after the bees killed the queen again and all of a sudden 80% of my bees made it through winter, what a happy fella I was . And this year was the first year that I was able to get honey of them. The best thing was that I did not have to buy bees and that I have way better bees now. I made a nuc 3 days ago, it is my insurance plan for winter losses and I may make 2 more or so. Always good to have a extra nuc full of bees with an queen, you never know if you need it. Good video.
first line made me laugh this is how I keep bees and dont have to buy bees out side my Apiary something I have been developing over a number of years. having Bees delivered through the post is only a new thing for over 3000 years we have kept bees with out queens beeing delivered lol. dr leo grandad has been keeping bees in russia since 1972 and never bought a bee. good talk tho very clever guy. I live in the Uk and I have never seen a bee on boxing day
I've watched it a few times now and the passion of this man is addictive. I want to start next season with some nuclei, and I have a question; Can the entrances of the double nucbox face the same way or do they have to be oposite?
Good question & hope you have success with your bees! If you can locate entrances on different sides, you'll do better with this system. They don't have to be opposite, say one in front and one on right side (or similar variation) will work fine. Experiment and see what works and doesn't, that's the best way to learn. And don't be scared, bees want to make more bees! Best, @HoneyOnWales
Thanks for the video. The presenter made a comment about bees being naturally vertical builders. I understand that for this to happen a tree must be dead and hollowed. The tree won't remain verical in a dead state. What I'm getting at is when I think of the word "sustainable", I can't help but think whatever a beekeeper does should be sustainable for the keeper AND the bees. Why no mention of the top bar hive? They can be easily made with scraps laying around and far less complicated than a Langstroth or Warre hive and a lot more bee friendly, too.
Most swarms prefer a 40 litre cavity about 12-15ft off the ground. When you do see larger wild hives, they are usually long vertically. In a langstroth, I don't think the bees see multiple boxes and different levels, but long combs as they move up and down the frames.
+Stuart Ratcliff - Thanks for the info, Stuart. That does make sense. What bothers me about the Langstroth hive is potentially contaminated wax foundation due to miticide use and the method of hive inspection. The potential for greater bee deaths due to sqashing is much higher than in a top bar hive.
@@greghill9958 I have managed to requeen them in late summer, queen's were a little bit slow for a while, pombe box was laying drones so maybe had working layer, I've checked them a few, days ago all looks OK now, queens are laying normal the bees are taking in pollen themselves, I'm feeding syrup, they are taking it down fast. I'm going to check them today and fed some syrup but I don't to open the hives
Good question, and you are right. However, he isn't using queens from the non-productive hive, only the resources (mainly bees and brood). He raises queens and installs them in the nucleus colonies. Therefore the genetics are selected for using breeder queens rather than from the non-productive colony. Hope that clarifies your question.
What's the difference between a 'package of bees' and a nuc? I thought a nuc was essentially a package of bees, but he is talking about them as separate things. Can anyone explain? Thanks.
A nuc could be thought of as a "package of bees", but "package bees are sold by the pound and used to be shipped through the mail. They have no comb and no brood, with a new queen. Nucs have an established queen and are housed in a little half-sized super called a nuc. They are more expensive and a much more sure-fire way to start a new colony.
I am amazed and thankful for such a quality content! I have ESL, hence do not understand part starting at 28:20 until 28:44. Could anyone transcribe/explain? thank you
Dobrý deň, neviem či je to ešte aktuálne ale tá časť popisuje vytvorenie oddělku na/nad produkčným včelstvom po letnej znáške. Kedy oddelok zimuje na silnejšom včelstve a v ďaľšej sezóne môže slúžiť na posilnenie zle vyzimovaného pôvodného včelstva.
Every one of his tips i've ever tried works, simple, cheap and successful. Only thing I disagree is about swarms. I live not that far from him, just over the PA border and there are plenty of swarms around.
Dear, I have some time thinking of getting so much bees I could be independent from going to work. I have now 22 LR production bee hives, I bought the small machine and start making LR hives for my use. They are not so nice. We have a drought, I'm almost feeding the bees due to frost wich take accacia. Tilia tree is to come and than Castanea sativa in a mounth. We have today and tomorov rain. So I'm thinking of making some more bee family in 5 frame LR hive whitch I made in winter this year. I bought R.O.B. Honey production, Honey farming, ... and others. The books I read for past two years and I think I finaly understand them a little, enought that if I go to bees I can folow the process of making an artificial swarm for instance. My bees didn't start swarming yet wich by my opinion is the lack of honey. I would like to start expanding my appiary this week on saturday. I have some land to start with and can make two appiaryies. I would like to ask you if you can direct me to succesed. I live in Slovenia far from you.
Around 80lbs in honey per hive per year, depending of location. Or about 750 nucs or more per year if you want to sell nucs. And $35 to $50 per queen you make. You may have to do some research for your area and markets, this is just a estimate and guess since the location and value of producing bee items may vary. There are also operating cost involved and possibility the loss of colonies and hives.
My father had bees when we had a dairy , i learn a schooling i never forget and i some way i think i was set up for failure by my own father any leaving a hay port in the upper barn floor caused a cross ventilation over the cows and man did i get a schooling cause our cows got sick that night. In my opinion if you have inter covers and the slot in the back creates the same sickness in the bees and or causes them to abscond i think they get neusiama from that condition specially in Pennsylvania winter conditions
Has any one ever thought that pollen is a fungicide a specific type and maybe that is why we sneeze from pollen why any way i just had a moment of thought
Por favor, pueden UDs. o algún apicultor bilingüe, pueda incorporar a los videos una básica traducción precisa. O por favor, indicarme cómo traducirlo, si fuera posible por internet. Espero vuestra valiosa acción. Ricardo desde Argentina.
British beekeepers can be thankful that they haven't had to deal with bears for 1000 years! We've had a bear even wreck a grill because they smelled the grease.
Great talk if you exclude the more than obvious prejudice stance against a whole nation: Greece. I would like to kindly remind you that Greece, among the rest, taught apiculture to the rest of Europe and as a result you keep bees today. So Mr. Palmer, some respect would not hurt. I do agree however, with sustainable beekeeping practices thus disagree with buying packaged bees from far off places instead of "producing" our own locally.
Orpheas Nestos Greece is where the packages are produced for sale in England? If that's the case Mike is only explaining how to keep the money home. I do the same thing and try to keep away from Georgia and it's bee production industry. You are reading too much into it. Just listen to what he is saying. He's explaining that a beekeeper doesn't have to go somewhere else for bees.
I see your point but at the same time I must say that England surely imports immensely larger number of packages from Italy,Spain and many other countries. Yet, he insists on mentioning Greece repeatedly throughout the video. Local economies are definately something I support for environmental and other reasons. All I am pointing out is that he better be a bit more "aware" of possibly offending others, in the day and age we live in....
Could be! Still I had to point it out. Yes, Italy does provide a lot in the field of apiculture and beyond. I guess you're from the States so regards from Greece.
Quite possibly, yet Australia is the biggest provider of honey bees, at least to the west. I suppose he could be the only one to clarify the repeated example of bees from Greece. However, let's focus on the great job he does.
Orpheas, I am sure there is no prejudice against Greece beekeepers. He is showing that those who buy Greece bees could not be as good beekeepers as those in Greece and that must change if they are to be successful. In a backward way, he is really complimenting Greece beekeepers because they are actually better beekeepers who can produce a surplus of bees. In the U.S., there is a surplus of bees after major pollinating in the West and in good beekeepers in the South, as they have a longer season. Many bees come from these places but better bee management could produce local bees. In the U.S., the hobby beekeeper has come under attack by various elements including varroa mites, tracheal mites, hive beetles, and unknown causes. It has caused a lot of beekeepers to purchase bees from the South or elsewhere. It just what it is. Be proud that your country can produce surplus bees. It shows competency in your beekeepers.
I think the story here is he will be fine when our government does not keep beating a dead horse, ethanol subsidies. molten salt thorium reactors and Goodenough Bragga batteries, then the farm hedgerows will return for our bees.
Commercial farming is no good for the bees. Natural occurring be trees in Europe are not 2 in from each other there spaced miles apart. Bees need space and clean natural food. A 3 deep beehive with four supers is a monstrosity. Resource hives are the way to go. This all makes so much sense.
