1) Is 3 x 3/8" opening enough to protect from robbing? When should we take robbing screens off? 7:06 2) Australia now has varroa and moving to a management plan. I wanted to ask what treatments you recommend for our weather in Sydney? 24:20 3) If I put pollen patties on my hive, are the nurse bees or foragers retrieving the resources? Am I limiting the number of foragers that leave the hive because they are foraging inside the box? 36:04 4) I think I finally have the red ants under control. I don't think my hives will make it through winter and want to combine them but don't want to lose a queen. Can I put an inner cover with the round hole between them and combine the hives? 46:00 5) Do the yellow jackets get varroa mites as the honey bees? 49:06 6) In this video, you can see a drone land on he board in the left of the frame, then crawl into the hive. Do drones swarm with hives? 52:36 7) The rapid rounds don't sit flush on the inner cover due to the protrusion of the center. I've seen you use a spacer. 55:01 8) Can I leave extracted frames/comb in the hive? I want to put the now empty comb into the other end of the Layens hive. 1:01:40 9) I have read that I can re-feed the honey to the colony by putting a standard inner cover between the super and the brood chamber because the colony will not consider the comb on the other side to be part of the colony. I was wondering if you had any opinions about the approach? 1:06:04 10) There are a lot of people on KZread talking about feeding bananas to bees. What are your opinions on this? 1:13:52 11) Do you ever harvest your flow frames at night? I had a jar overflow and the bees are patrolling the area behind the "honey disaster hive". 1:20:25

@diegovd7215

9 ай бұрын

Thank you Adam, as always much appreciated :)

Your grandson is lucky to have a grandad like you. He is going to be learning so much from you like a sponge. Its a real nice way to learn and bond together. Very special indeed.

@FrederickDunn

9 ай бұрын

Thanks so much :)

Another fantastic display of photography.

Good Saturday morning, 45 F and dark at ...good golly, too early...need coffee...3:08 am. Now time to wake up with another great Q&A!

Great Q&A that covered so many timely topics, learned or reenforced previous knowledge for sure. I hope the inspector had a great time around the bee yards. :)

@FrederickDunn

9 ай бұрын

Yep, the supervisor was very happy with our progress and we still have some work ahead. :)

In this time of perpetual nonsense it is a great relief to hear clear cogent communication on any subject let alone one that is fascinating! Thanks for the help!

@FrederickDunn

9 ай бұрын

You're very welcome :)

225 nuggets of excellent, multiple information items!!! And MANY thanks to Adam for his weekly time line, great time saver!!!!

@FrederickDunn

9 ай бұрын

Wow, John! Thank you for your generosity and for being a long-time supporter :)

Hi Fred! Great philosophy on pulling your supers.......I too am pulling boxes right now. All escapes in. I'm running singles this year an they are heavy already even with me taking 2 supers of honey each. Sweet! Lol. We have about 2 weeks left in our flow too.

Fred, i love the unbiased product reviews. Thanks

@FrederickDunn

4 ай бұрын

Thank you for taking a moment to comment, I really do appreciate it. :)

I always look forward to your videos. This one doesn't disappoint. Thanks, Fred.

@FrederickDunn

9 ай бұрын

Thank you!

Fred - thanks for the very thorough answer to my question #7! Exactly the information I needed. I purchased a roll of aluminized foil tape and I'll use that to seal up the outside entrance to the insulated inner cover as well as the entrance at the center. I will cover the polystyrene with the tape to keep the bees away from it and I'll use the 3/4" spacer you showed. For winter I plan to place a packet of hive alive fondant on the inner cover hole, but can place a rapid round (with adaptor) there in warmer weather. Thanks for giving me the benefit of your experience to feel more confident in my hive configuration!

@FrederickDunn

9 ай бұрын

All of that sounds great!

Hello Fred. Great Q&A...as always. Enjoyed your brief comment on "efficiency studies". I was in on a few of those and found them to be a VERY inefficient use of my time. 😆 Also think many folks that don't want to kill 300 bees in a mite wash will love the drone frame IPM strategy. Hmmmm... Hope the honey harvest goes well!! Time to get your entire world sticky!! 😜

@FrederickDunn

9 ай бұрын

Hi Keith, the honey harvest went as smooth as glass. We still have many more to do, but the only complaint is that my "supervisor" can't see down into the extractor. It's up on a stand that has industrial wheels under it so that it rolls in elliptical movements until the load balances out. Don't get me started on efficiency reviews :)

Thank you so much for your in depth answer to my question. I can now breath easier. I'm originally from Australia and temp wise things are a little different. This is my first year with Bees in Canada. I never had Bees in OZ. However did have friends with Bees. You have been a major inspiration for my wife and I. BTW Yes Chooks are chickens in Australia. : )

@FrederickDunn

9 ай бұрын

Glad it was helpful! Thanks for taking time to comment :)

Good Q&A Fred. Good luck with your grandson tomorrow. Mine is still about 4 years away from helping in the apiary, if his mama allows it🤞🏻❤

Your videography (is that the right word?) amazes me. Gives me something to shoot for to improve mine.

@FrederickDunn

9 ай бұрын

Thank you so much, Robert!

Thanks Fred for sharing your experience and time with us, have a great weekend!!

@FrederickDunn

9 ай бұрын

Thanks, you too! As always :)

Thank you for the video. Hope you and your grandson have a great day in the hives.

@FrederickDunn

9 ай бұрын

Thank you :)

Fred I noticed your plywood bottom board de-laminating at the edges. I paint Tite Bond III on all edges of plywood when I use plywood in hives. Helps stop moisture from separating layers. I also seal all end grain with Tite Bond III. It deters splitting, cracking and warping. I buy Tite Bond III by the gallon at Home Depot saving about 50% over smaller bottles.

@FrederickDunn

9 ай бұрын

Great tip, thanks Ron. I'm personally just going to avoid all laminated bottom boards going forward, but I like the idea of letting titebond III soak in and protect those open grain edges and ends.

@ronlogreco876

9 ай бұрын

I also seal both sides of knots on my wood ware with Tite Bond III. Home Depot sells a gallon jug of Tite Bond III for $39. That's equal to eight 16 oz. bottles at $10 each. 50% savings.

facinating stuff about heater bees

I love your film footage so beautiful !!!!!!

Again, excellent intro to another great video, thank you Fred. I always look forward to Friday afternoons. Hello from chilly Idaho to you and the supervisor. 😉🙃

@FrederickDunn

9 ай бұрын

Glad you enjoyed it, the supervisor wasn't too hard to please :)

A few of my boxes weren't screwed together well enough (my bad) and the resulting wood warping has caused some small gaps between boxes... for the worst one, after we put in our Apivar strips, I turned my little butane torch onto a hive tool and used that to soften and press some of the really dark beeswax and propolis we'd scraped out of that and other hives into the gap, because the bees didn't seem to be propolizing it and last time we separated that medium box from the deep, there were lines of bees trying to get in to rob it but thankfully it was too small for them to get in. And when we pull the Apivar, we'll go in from the top so we don't separate those two boxes, and hopefully there will be enough warm days between now and when it gets cold that they can propolize the rest. We had a newly-queened nuc and another hive robbed out, so now nobody's got an entrance bigger than two bees wide.... should keep the strongest hive off the weaker ones. We started with four hives this spring, did two splits, lost one of them and one hive that had been a mite bomb last year (it was the only hive in the entire apiary that wasn't involved in a split, queenless situation or swarm, so that's the only reason I can think of why it just didn't thrive, we had visual confirmation of last year's queen but she just wansn't making enough brood and three weeks later they'd been robbed out). But we caught three swarms and they're all adapting well to civilized life and two of them produced honey and comb like crazy (the other one spent a lot of its builder energy trying to colonize inside a neighbour's house and it took a while before we got the bee vac we'd ordered to finish the job). So here's hoping we still have seven hives going into winter.

Thank you so much for answering my question, #4. It's true that two Italian queens- not from the same "breeders" stayed with their hives rather than swarming. Their yellow-marked thoraxes were merely a ring on the edges- mostly rubbed off- but there nonetheless. I found this very strange... they swarmed; did they allow the young queens to hatch; take their mating flight and then swarm? Or did some kind of switch happen between those two hives where the old queens moved in with their swarms??? It boggles the mind. But your advice was good; rather than lose both hives over winter; combine them and let the strongest queen survive... almost makes me want to film the internal death-match; like a Coliseum fight to the death. I'll have to move the frames from one brood box to a bottomless box, because all my brood boxes have solid bottoms. Maybe I'll mark the queen I'm moving with pink or orange. May the best queen win! I'll let you know what the outcome is next spring- God willing. Huntnlady in New Mexico.

@FrederickDunn

9 ай бұрын

Orrr... you can select your favorite queen based on her brood performance, and simply remove the other one yourself :) I'm glad you liked my response :)

i use a belt sander to reduce the protrusion on my rapid rounds. No shim needed

Drone Pupa are very nice to eat They are better when they are pink similar in taste to prone. Do not recommend arachnid or distructor seasoning.

Thank you as always Fred. The macro shot of the opening sequence was great, I could easily see the ragged wings on the older bees. I agree bananas is bananas. Flow hive at night.

@FrederickDunn

9 ай бұрын

Thanks :)

Try vicks Vapor rub on hive corners to deter robbing, alters honey smell. On front to.

@FrederickDunn

9 ай бұрын

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on that.

Great videos Fred! Did you record any videos of your honey harvest with your grandson?

@FrederickDunn

9 ай бұрын

That's hard when you're trying to move fast, but I did get some snippets here and there. He did a great job and we have a lot yet to do.

Has anyone you know of ever experimented with applying Thymol to a hive that’s getting robbed? I wonder if that would discourage the robbers since bees despise it? I doubt it would work but it’s got me wondering.

@FrederickDunn

9 ай бұрын

When a hive is "getting robbed" I personally wouldn't delay in putting in physical barriers. But, you can always try it and find out.

Woohoo, another vid thanks mate

@FrederickDunn

9 ай бұрын

Hope you enjoyed it!

Mr.Dunn, speaking of spring time not fall/winter. Would it be beneficial to CO2 the drones in a queen cage after hatching and lightly shaking the VM off if you wanted to keep your drones for congregation areas?

@FrederickDunn

9 ай бұрын

Sounds like a great test to run! I haven't done that myself.

Hello Dear Mister Frederik 🤩🤩🤩🤩

Banana comment.. why would we add bananas to hive when we use them to attract cicada killers, hornets etc AWAY from the hive ?

@FrederickDunn

9 ай бұрын

I have no idea. But that's possibly something else to consider.

I’ve been in the bee yard for the last few days getting my fall and winter prep done and unfortunately I couldn’t do my last mite treatment so I’ve been told late treatment is better than no treatment but after testing the hives I have left I don’t have any mites and I’ve been scanning all of the bees and they appear really healthy going into fall so far , which really makes me happy, my bees have been very hygienic and defensive against pest and mites but this summer has been trying on the bees with the almighty praying mantis which I have millions of them literally and I’ve been relocating them to inside my greenhouse so they can eat crickets instead of bees and I have a huge population of jumping spiders I have to keep an eye on too because the big ones can eat a dozen or more bees in a day 😮I have a lot of frames and supers to take off yet I’m getting there ! Couple more good days left to get into my hives and get ready for winter 🎉

@FrederickDunn

9 ай бұрын

I'm so happy to read another low varroa mite story! I hope they are in decline with my bees also... cautiously optimistic.

@DavidWilliams-wr4wb

9 ай бұрын

@@FrederickDunn yes , I really got lucky this year with the mites , im hoping for another good year if the winter is kind ! Good luck Fred !!!

Can I make my own insulated inner cover with Reflectix? Do bees chew it? I just have wood inner covers, with feeding over the hole and then layers of Reflectix over that. Ideas?

@FrederickDunn

9 ай бұрын

I have no evidence that they would chew reflectex, I've put it directly on the top of the frames under migratory covers and had them seal it with propolis but not damaging the aluminized facing.

Hi Fred 👋 I don't understand why my beez don't really use their deep brood boxes for the most part. My set up is the same as yours. The girls like the second medium when that's full I add another. I go into winter with a deep that's very light a med and a third med full of honey. Any idea why 8 hives don't really use the deep? Thanks for the info on the inner cover PVC size. I'm in the process of working on that. I'm using great stuff to fix where the bees have chewed the polystyrene. Also just a note...There is not enough room in a nuc for double bubble around the walls and rapid a round feeder 😊

@FrederickDunn

9 ай бұрын

When it comes to nucleus hives, I use the Bee Buffet as a hive top feeder for those. You're right, a rapid round won't fit in there :)

@14623carolanne

9 ай бұрын

@@FrederickDunn Yes...I'm doing hive alive fondant on frames then dry sugar in the rapid rounds for winter. Triple protection cause I can't check them in the winter. I can't use the bee buffet for that

Hi Fred. Listening to you talk about drone cages and foundation. If the cage stops the queen and drones how do you work the cage. The queen has to get to the foundation to lay the eggs. Do you wait until the queen does her thing then put the cage around the foundation? David. Brisbane Australia.

@FrederickDunn

9 ай бұрын

Yes, once the drone comb is drawn out, the queen is inside the Queen Isolation Cage until she lays up the frame/cells. Then the queen is released to the rest of the hive again while the nurse bees attend the drone larvae. Once the drone comb is capped you can remove the frame and freeze it. This post-freeze frame of drone pupae can be dissected and varroa can be counted. Orrrr... the drones can be permitted to emerge from their cells and kept inside the cage until the bulk of them are between 1-3 days old, them remove the cage with the drone frame and drones from the hive. Permit the worker bees to leave the cage, and then you can CO2 the entire frame of drones and do physical mite counts, if they are mite-free you can release the drones. 5X magnification is more than enough to see mites on the abdomens of the drones. Orrr... you can put the emerged drones still inside the cage, and put that cage into a nucleus hive by itself and treat with Oxalic Acid Vaporization in order to count mites.

@kdkurabees

9 ай бұрын

Fred, I know you don’t know what the people looking after what we can use to treat the mites but your opinion is very helpful to me because I have to do some planning before the mites arrive here at my hives. Been reading about Apivar and it should a good thing to use. What do you think Fred? David. Brisbane Australia.

@FrederickDunn

9 ай бұрын

I would select formic pro over Apivar.@@kdkurabees

Do you know if flowers bloom with a finite amount of nectar or will a flower produce more nectar the next day?

@FrederickDunn

9 ай бұрын

That's a great question, and it's not a simple topic. Some flowers produce nectar at intervals throughout the day. Others produce nectar until fertilization has occurred and they stop. Some depend on rainfall, while others seem to produce nectar even under dry conditions. There are years when goldenrod may product almost no nectar while it continuously produces during others. One thing is pretty consistent and that's when blossoms wilt/fade, the nectar is no more.

Howdy

Beautiful opening sequence… so clear n sharp… what was you set-up z9 +

@FrederickDunn

9 ай бұрын

That was all smart phone video :) very easy!

@thegr8stm8

9 ай бұрын

@@FrederickDunn … wow! Depth of field was gr8… and very sharp!

Fred (inquiring minds want to know....), have you ever been to a Walmart on Black Friday?! :) No answer needed, just chuckling at your example about robbing behavior.

@FrederickDunn

9 ай бұрын

I don't leave my yard. (';')( ';')...

Fred, do you use the escape board on the Apimaye hives?

@FrederickDunn

9 ай бұрын

That's a great question! The answer is yes... but it's very slippery to have two plastic surfaces on one another, so it's important to make a gasket from double bubble or some other material that will allow those surfaces to settle and not glide off. Thanks for bringing that up.

Hello, is it normal to have 5-10 worker bees crawling in front of the hive in the grass? What does this mean? Thxs.

@FrederickDunn

9 ай бұрын

I'd need a better description. Are they lacking energy? Are they trembling and going in circles? My first check would be to see if they have honey resources, if not I'd get a feeder on that hive. After that I'd do a quick check in on the brood area... the potential issues are wide and varied, but that's where I'd start.

@attilaelekes5534

9 ай бұрын

@@FrederickDunn thxs, I saw honey resources but I see some torn wings on a few and varroa mite on one. They move slow and lack energy.

Have you noticed flow hive bees robbing all the surrounding hives after harvest?

@Happy2Bhlthy

9 ай бұрын

If so what can you do to stop this?

@FrederickDunn

9 ай бұрын

No, I haven't noticed that.

@Happy2Bhlthy

9 ай бұрын

@@FrederickDunn thank you, I noticed the flow hive filling up quick after harvest while the other hives were robbed out completely. Every time after honey was harvested all summer. I’m a small bee yard. It was almost as if the bees were mad after harvest. I’m thinking draining a smaller amount would stop this? How much should we harvest at a time?

It’s very sad that elements of the beekeeping industry in Australia are responsible for varoa getting hold in Australia. A couple of people were responsible for importing queens that were infected. After that some were transporting hives illegally outside the restricted areas. The bee industry in Australia has itself to blame. Us amateurs pay the price.

@FrederickDunn

9 ай бұрын

That's a very complicated and difficult situation. It's a shame that they finally made it into the bee stock there.