Beekeeping with The Bee Whisperer
Beekeeping with The Bee Whisperer
I am Peter Cowin, aka The Bee Whisperer. I have decades of experience growing honeybees in northern New England. I now run more than 130 colonies producing thousands of pounds of honey and hundreds of nucs each year. My aim for this channel is to help along beginner beekeepers and to show how this fascinating hobby can be turned into a significant income.
Пікірлер
Ha Peter /Amy great video her hives are not mean I have had hives that pinned my jeans to my legs it was just very bad. Any way I really enjoyed this video, It is nice that you helped her the way you did. Hope you all have a Blessed week
SAY GOODBYE TO THAT NEW QUEEN
I love it, beekeepers helping beekeepers!!! Thank you for the content!
Hi from central Otago southern New Zealand 👋 great to see you guys working with a little hobbyist, it's so worthwhile and it's great to debunk a few myths that seem to circulate like the old honey excluder argument 😅 I've never had any issues with Queen excluder use, personal opinion but I think they're an invaluable tool and I loathe plastic excluders myself, I personally find they get gunked up much faster than wood frame wire excluders, and I don't like the way they sit, but that's just my personal opinion and as someone else I follow on KZread from Tennessee in north america says "opinions are like noses in beekeeping, everyone has a different one"😂 taking an electric fence for granted as part of standard apairy equipment to keep bears out 😮 never gets old, and some of those darn things you guys use pack a wallop⚡🌟 that's one of the things I love about KZread you get to see things in other countries you wouldn't consider in a million years being used as standard equipment because of different environmental challenges. I hope the new Queen takes but yeah it's a roll of the dice when you introduce. Great video 👍 really enjoyed it 👋
Hi from central Otago southern New Zealand 👋 This was very informative. My neighbor would like an observation hive set up so I've been thinking about the best way to do it. In NZ you have to ensure the observation hive is relatively easy to get into because of our AFB regulations for the AFB inspectors to get in and out of 😂 makes for a challenge. Great video 👍👋
We do the observation hive for the beekeepers association at agricultural shows and for schools, freshly marking the queen is a good idea because it peaks youngsters interest. Even bee keepers with decades of experience are fascinated because we dont normally get to watch these behaviours.
Ha Peter really cool video. Thanks for sharing it hope your bee season goes well
Thanks 👍
Lol now you see her now you don't
Live bees @samdiamond7642 Just beautiful!!!!
after the first on screen text i thought u found her, as she was on camera. but thats how well i do most every time
From Canada 🇨🇦
Is it okay to feed a weaker colony while hopgaurd is in use?
what do you use for smoker fuel?
When did you test the mite levels ?
Hi Peter , so when I move the two brood boxes up top with supers below them and a new brood box with a excluder and frame with the queen and some drawn and undrawn comb so leave it like that until the honey flow is over unless it get full of course, thanks!
I am planning already for my winter/ spring set up for next spring. I like to re-queen to keep a fresh queen yearly. When would I plan on grafting (from my own bees) and replace my queen and still not allow my queen to go backwards in my honey production? Would I do this before the flow (when drones are flying) or after the flow has started or when the flow is over. My flow is generally over July 4th.
Hello, As a retired Honey Farmer in the UK, with over 60+ years experience with bees, I have to say this video gives out the wrong advice to those taking up the craft, as what you just showed, is bad beekeeping practice for the following reasons. 1. Brood frames should never be used as Honey supers. would you like to eat honey that you had just scooped out of the toilet? Every time a bee is produced in a brood comb, the Larvae speads out it's faeces in the cell just before it spins a cacoon and pupates. This is why brood combs become progessively darker the longer they are in the hive because none of the larval faeces is ever removed from the cells, yet super comb stays clean. That means that you are storing honey in a container that is composed of ' Bee Poo '. Fine if you consume the honey yourself, but not if you are selling it. 2. Unless you provide a top entrance, any drones trapped in the top will contaminate the top half of the hive, because they can't leave the hive to relieve themselves. Eventually they will die, block the excluder and invite various organisms that feed on their decomposing bodies. 3 Unless you are cold storing or very well sealing your stored supers, you will surely lose a lot of combs through wax moth. Wax moth will very rarely attack wet clean wax supers, but love brood combs, as it is the cacoons impregnated with bee poo that they really like. 4. You are far more likely to get a lot more dead bees and rubbish in your honey at extracting time. There are many more reasons why, brood comb should oly be used for breeding, and honey suppers for storing honey. If your management system requires double brood chambers, then if you wish to reduce the brood nest for honey production, take one box away with the queen, and place over a double screen board above the supers, produce a new queen in the bottom box and if you dont want to make increase, kill the old queen off and recombine the two brood chambers once the honey has ben removed. Kind regards, Tony Marsh.
Interesting! I dont think my established hives would let me go so a single. Few nice sized sunflower fields in the area give a big surge of pollen and the nest expands again. BTW, I 'think' I spotted a queen at 15:32 middle right. Maybe not, looked kinda small just had the shape. Love trying to find Waldo :P
Did u inspect the bottom brood chamber for room/ space for queen to lay?… if not is there a concern the bottom deep may get too congested invoking the swarming urge?… Many Thx
I could see that below they ranged from 5-6 frames of brood....this will increase to 6-9 frames over the next couple of weeks. Very few swarm after this if done at this time of the flow.
Thank you
Would u consider this a modified Demmaree method? Thx
It has similarities to the Demaree but does not remove the queen from the house bees as much...so would not stop swarming if they had queen cells.
I'm hoping to try Demaree method soon. But I have a question though, I saw on one of Randy Oliver's video, that one of the swarm triggers is the lack of young brood pheramone. So if I place all capped brood in the bottom box, even with a queen, would the remaining adult bees be triggered to produce a swarm cell as soon as the queen lays a patch of eggs? Is it also a second threat of swarm cells, when all the uncapped young brood is up top, without any queen pheramone? Thanks for the video.
They usually attempt to raise a queen upstairs so its important to remove those queen cells after 8-9 days. But the time there is no young brood pheromone in the upper chamber there is loads in the lower chamber.
If you find the queen a place her below the excluder then put the rest of the brood above, do you worry about drones that may be caught in the new honey super? Do the need to get out or can the get through the queen excluder?
No I don't but an upper entrance will solve that issue.
I pop off the lid for a few minutes every few days to 'release' the drones. Also gives me an excuse to check how the flow is goin.
What do you think about single deep management using 8 frame equipment?
IMO if you allow queen to occupy two deep chambers during the spring(swarm season) and even take a split of necessary. Then, move them to the single chamber with 4 to 5 frames of brood in the lower chamber and a few in the upper when main honey flow starts, 8 frame equipment will work fine. It's more about the timing and technique than 8 vs 10 frame.
No issues at all timing is the main concern not size of chamber. Size of chamber my influence how often you do it.
Very interesting 👍 I know you're busy, but if you don't mind answering a question, I'm a little curious about your comb honey frames and why you only use a small section of foundation at the top instead of a whole sheet of super thin comb foundation which is what I was taught to use in southern New Zealand, . I was told by the beekeeper who trained me that a full sheet was better to draw comb faster, and straighter for good presentation. do you find it takes longer for your hives to draw comb honey frames without it, and do you have 'comb wobble ' issues if the bee's draw comb from a small section?
My mentor Harold Swan taught me this method. I think there will be little in the speed but a full sheet might be a bit faster.
@@BeekeepingwithTheBeeWhisperer thanks for answering, I really appreciate it. I think I might experiment with a few frames in a hive and compare the results. That's the great thing about KZread, you get to see how other beekeepers tackle the same thing with a different approach 👍👋
Peter, what day did you record this video?
Wed the 25th
Here in the US Wed was the 26th 😉
👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀
Who do you recommend as a supplier of your plastic clam shell boxes? Thank you.
Better bee
Bypass should be on the other side so that if any bees enter it they won't be sucked up into the vacuum. Also the inlet and outlet do not have to be in the center of the box where the handles are. This area is difficult to seal.
Plz continue with this “demaree series” especially how u continue to down size as the season progress’s. I am a 3rd year beekeeper and followed your instructions regarding the Demaree method on seven of my hives. None of the seven swarmed and i am getting a wonder honey harvest… 21 gallons of honey from 3 hives thus far… Thank you both u r wonderful teachers and “explainers”! Dave from Wheeling WV and SE Ohio near the Ohio River.
After shaking the bee’s some remain on the frames that u r loading and taking to the garage. How do u deal with those residual bee’s on the honey frames prior to de-capping? Thx
The will go to the garage door window and they get released in the evening.
Oh boy, full depths up a stack.🥵 Interesting side note, the first guy up Mt Everest, Sir Ed Hillary, was the son of a beekeeper who used full depths for everything and thats how he was so fit for the attempt on Mt Everest 😂 speaking of interesting obstacles, Bears😵💫 electrified apairys⚡ 😮 Im so glad i live in New Zealand 😂 so very very glad. I couldn't imagine anything more gut punching than some freaking animal ripping a hive to bits. We don't have bears, snakes, scorpions, predatory big cats, wolves, coyotes or any of the other ghastly horrors you guys have too worry about 😄 our worst headaches in central Otago southern New Zealand are AFB, Varroa and wet weather in summer for the thyme nectar flow. Nice first honey pull though and your bees look great🐝👍 thanks for uploading
The bear is likely to come back !!!!
There is now an electric fence round the hives.
@@BeekeepingwithTheBeeWhisperer We have this issue a lot here in South Carolina mountains and foothills,.,
Is there ever a concern with using older brood frames for honey when they were most likely treated for mites the previous fall? How long does it take for the chemicals to dissipate?
OA is about 6 weeks then the oa level is back to normal.
We use treatments that leave no long lasting residual deposits on frames....no synthetic treatments or antibiotics.
Im assuming that there would be massive issues if the entrances were on the same side? I was briefly thinking of trying this in a long Lang
No issues really.
Don’t be embarrassed it happens to everyone
Awesome! Thanks for sharing!
Jolly good!
Great to have extra hands with a tall Demaree and lots of deeps
00:09:52 definitely a team effort 😂
Thanks for the follow up!
Do you eventually separate the queens or will the hive always have double queens?
They are always separated with a queen excluder
@@AndreLeandro139 got it, but practically do you just put each queen in a few hive with a share of the workers?
Going to try your double nuc on some mid summer new queens. Learned to not stack new supers on top of queen excluders from you too. I'm 1st year BK. Great info, thank you.
Thanks for an informative video. Will be using some I’m techniques this season. What are the dimensions of the cage you made? I’d like to make on myself.
Mr. Peter, i am a hobbiest of beekeeping. Thanks alot very informative videos but, i was curious if that method is applicable to the tropical country?
Can you share more information on the solar pak energizer you are using, it was hard to see in the video what the number was. Thanks
I loved this video!😀
Hi - wouldn't it be normal 'professional' procedure to NOT put the brood boxes directly on the ground level? Wouldn't it just be right and healrthy for both your human workers and your bee colonies? At least 50 cm / 20 inches high cheap saw horse like stand? Less brood deseases, less risc of spinal disc herniation and such .. ????????
normal is putting them on pallets if you have seen commercial business. my back likes how you think though as I have herniated discs
@@T0tenkampf yes : in EU on palettes if you have heavy moving gear -- cheap muscles instead in US :( -- and also: inspection ground zero is also nor professional ist just cheap
MORE BEES!!!!! I always feel bad after I sell them......
Would they backfill the Single BCM box before the queen can fill it with eggs?
Great demonstration! Really illustrated the work required to do this correctly. Too often tube demo"s make it look easy. Thanks for a realistic one!