ROOKIE BEEKEEPER MISTAKES Advice After 12 Years of Beekeeping
Since I started keeping bees 13 years ago, I've learned a thing or two about what it means to be a beekeeper and what NOT to do. Oh, the mistakes I've made! In this video, I talk about all these mistakes/lessons I've learned over the years as a hobby beekeeper as well as working for a commercial apiary with thousands of hives.
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⏰ TIMESTAMPS ⏰
00:00 - Intro
00:38 - Hive styles
01:04 - Queenspotting
03:15 - What NOT to do to a queen cell
03:41 - The importance of bee space
06:29 - The inevitable parts of beekeeping
07:45 - Shallow frames can go where???
08:25 - Equipment tricks to save money & what not to buy
09:49 - The most important role of the beekeeper might surprise you
15:18 - What not to do when a queen is going to be mating
16:23 - The worst kind of beekeeper is the ...
17:32 - One of the top ways you can help your bees that is rarely mentioned
22:16 - Why beekeeping is so challenging sometimes
23:52 - How much honey you'll harvest your first year beekeeping
24:30 - VERY IMPORTANT!! Don't do this when you get your package of bees.
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► Inspecting a beehive in the Spring: • Spring Beekeeping for ...
► What to Do If You See Queen Cells: • What to Do When You Se...
► What You Don't Want to See In Your Hive: • WHAT YOU DON'T Want to...
How to Read a Frame: • How to Read a Frame Wh...
► Feeding Your Bees in the Spring: • SPRING FEEDING FOR BEE...
► Inspecting Your Beehive In the Spring: • Spring Beekeeping for ...
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First Class. You do a great job of explaining that bees are not for idiots or for those that expect results with no effort. Yet point out you can 'over love them'. Most people do not understand their roll with or for the hive and as such get disappointed. You explain the persons roll very well.
Wait a minute im confused... youre giving actual directions, where every other video is..."You wanna check for this or do that.." REALLY? HOW?? So thank you for giving steps and instructions and not just broad generalities... Im def saving this video.
This is one of the best basic videos I have ever seen. Really appreciate your candidness. More future Beeks need to hear this!
Thank you!
Dont use 9 frames in a 10 frame box is something I had to work out for myself, lots of cross comb, wish I knew this earlier as well.
If it's any consolation, a lot of beekeepers make that mistake despite knowing the consequences. It just happens sometimes.
@@BeekeepingMadeSimple I've seen a lot of beekeepers swear by putting nine frames in a ten box - when the frames are fully drawn stickies and they're going in a honey super. I don't think anyone would recommend it in any other context.
Yes, nine drawn frames in a honey super generates more honey than a ten frame honey super and it is much easier to uncap the cells since the comb protrudes beyond the wood frame, so the knife can rest on the wood frame border/edges
Great video. Some really helpful tips in there
I think Langstroth hives are fine for many people. If you would like to try another hive style, start with that. You can always switch to Langstroth later. Starting with your preferred hive saves years of experience. Learn about the bees first. It doesn't matter what box they are in.
A great video. Thanks for being so clear and concise.
You're welcome. I always wonder if I ramble on too much about each topic. I'm one of those people who skips through KZhead videos when people start to ramble.
Fabulous video! You explain things so well!!
Thanks so much!
Right on topic and straight to the point … my favorite kind of video…good job.
Thanks!
Bee space. I've always been told 9 frames in a 10 frame box and I've had exactly the problem you talked about. Thank you for mentioning that.
Great advice. Thank you.
Glad it was helpful!
Great job!
Thanks!
Thanks for all your efforts! During the swarm season, checking hives once a week is crucial, to manage the swarms so you dont lose half of your hives each year
Good point!
Good information and I really like your videos. Thank You. 😊
Thank you! I appreciate the comment.
Thanks for sharing your information always appreciate it.
My pleasure!
Another excellent video discussion. Thank you!!
This was really fascinating and interesting. Thank you for taking the time to pass on some much needed knowledge and wisdom.
Good advise thank you.
You're welcome!
im enjoying your content, ❤
Great information. Thank you for sharing this 😊
Glad it was helpful!
I love your heart. Your caring is so obvious. Thank you, for all your help. Press On!!!
Thank you! That's so sweet to say.
I really appreciate all your content. It is all great stuff. I just wanted to explain how I get great genetics. I use Layen hives and catch wild swarms for bees. My first 2 hives were wild swarms and then I started splitting. As I split my hives, I also caught wild swarms. In 2 years, I had 7 Layen Hives. I then moved to Lake of The Ozarks were the is nothing but Oak and hickory trees and rock. In 2 years, I went from 7 hive to 2 . Wild bees/ Swarm traps
About a block away from my home there’s a home with bees living in a hollow of a huge tree (at ground level). Talked to the owner that lived there for 50 years and he says the bees were there when they bought the house. So, over 50 years without ever have been fed or treated and they’ve survived all kinds of weather cycles. I’ve caught several swarms in my yard and I like to think some came from that tree. I never feed or treat my bees and they do fine.
That's great! Swarming is a great way for bees to naturally lower varroa mite levels. But for beekeepers in residential areas that cannot allow their bees to swarm, they will have to help their bees deal with varroa in other ways. Here, there are a lot of commercial apiaries and the varroa mite population in my hives goes through the roof when someone moves a yard of bees near my hives. Part of how well bees will deal with varroa is genetics and the location. A lot of bees in an area and not enough food for them means robbing and bees all at the same floral sources. This leads to varroa moving from hive to hive at a higher rate than bees in more isolated areas. You have some hives near you with high mite levels, a beekeeper stopping them from swarming and doing nothing to lower their mite levels and you will find these mites moving over to your hives fairly quickly.
I live 12 miles from town and 2 miles from the nearest neighbor. As far as i know, there aren't any beekeepers around. But for the past month, ive had tons of bees all over my dead nettle. Just standing still you can hear the buzz. Im thinking they may be from the surrounding woods.
Bees can die off and new swarms can move in and use the existing comb.
I like my Flow Hives. They are the same regarding managing the bee but so much easier to harvest...I have two as a hobbyist and didn't need to buy all the accessories like spinners etc
Thank you.
You're welcome!
Thank you so much! Such a great point about genetics. This will be my first year beekeeping.
Best of luck!
Thank you so much
You're welcome!
I have been keeping bees for over 20 years, but I always learn stuff when I watch any of your videos! Thank you so much for helping the world, one video at a time.
Thanks! That comment made my day :) I'm curious, what did I talk about that you didn't know? I'm sure you could add a few things to the list of things you wish you knew before you started keeping bees.
First of all, “The you = Thank you” Next, I wish that someone had told me that the number 1 goal of a hive, is to swarm! And our number 1 goal as a beekeeper, is to work around their desire to swarm! I only learned of the Demaree Method of swarm control this year!
Great video -- thanks!
I really appreciate your videos. Very clear and informative. Thanks.
Glad you like them!
This is just awesome! Thanks!
Glad you liked it!
Most excellent - thank you.
VERY INFORMATIVE!
I am just getting started here on the gulf coast of Florida! Thank you so much for sharing!
I am looking forward to Queen spotting
Oh I didn’t know about that Queen cell😮
Oh I am going to get so close to them then they might die off😢it is the sad part but like you said it’s nature
I hope my bee suit fits me and is decent enough.. if not I don’t know 😮
Yes genetics is very important 😊
Very helpful. Thanks.
You're welcome!
Thank you, shalom
Hi! Thank you for the useful tips!!! I have 5 new boxes but weather changed while driving home and temp dropped 20degrees to 52 degrees and it's storming. Can I keep them in the boxes for another day or 2 before putting them into their new homes? I'm in central Texas btw.
Great vdo ty oh and you are easy on the eyes. I mean that as a compliment.
Thanks!
We captured a very small swarm. I've read and watched a ton of info on tiny fall swarms. I'm a beginner and now I'm completely confused on what to do to give them a chance. I'm in North Texas so the temperatures are good usually till December. Would you suggest giving the tiny hive a frame of brood? I'm not sure I can afford that since I only have two other hives. Should I put the little swarm in a 5 frame hive preferably. I'm not sure what makes the most sense. Thanks. Love your videos. I couldn't find one on fall swarms.
Ended up with 4 late summer swarms in the desert of California. One is in a swarm box I don't work. 2 were combined in one deep and are doing well. My 4th was struggling in a 10 frame so I recently moved them into a 5 frame home built nuc. We have a fall flow on so hopefully they will gain some weight before winter. The combs are small but the brood patterns are fantastic. Fully plan on feeding fondant to keep them going over winter. We do get snow here and some hard freezing. Bees have done well enough on their own. Had a swam in my swarm box for several seasons. This is my first year of keeping.
How many frames of brood do your other hives have? The thing with small swarms is that there is a good chance they are not healthy. Bees will swarm as a last resort if there is a problem in the hive - like a mite infestation or small hive beetles. I wouldn't compromise your other two hives by taking away brood or merging them into one of your other hives until you know that this hive is worth the risk. I would give them as much sugar syrup feed as they will take and if you have any frames of drawn out comb and little to no food in them, give that to them as well so the queen has somewhere to lay immediately and see how fast they grow.
I started with a a small Fall swarm in a nuc hive (5 frames) two boxes. I fed them bee candy on top of the inner cover. I'm in southern Delaware, so our winters are roller coaster! Wind is a big issue. So for insulation, I had a large cardboard box that I cut an opening on the front side of the hive put it over the hive. I also removed the top box as they didn't have time to do anything on it. The hive opening also faced away from where the wind generally came from. It survived the winter when others around me lost hives. Going forward, I'm going to split this and start a horizontal hive since I'm only 4" tall! 😂
Beekeeping is such a challenge, but so gratifying.
Yes, it definitely is!
Love love love your video! Big Hug
I have a question I have six colonies, four of the colonies, the supers off full, but not cat I live in Pennsylvania which I know you know quite a bit about. What should I do? Should I leave the honey supers on all winter or should I take them off and do a regular winter shut down thank you so much it’s September 23 in PA thank you Charlie PA love your videos
Hi Charlie, I would leave the bees as much food as you can. You can always harvest the honey come mid-spring if there's any left. You never know what kind of weather you'll have in spring, so it's always good to leave the bees extra for that time of year in case it's super rainy and there's not much blooming.
The other thing you can do when you identify a really strong hive is put a frame of drone foundation in there. They'll only make as many drones as they want to, but they'll make more on drone foundation than they will on worker foundation!
True! Good point. I don't use foundation, so my hives have a lot of drone comb, but it is good to remember to not freeze that comb or to put drone foundation into that hive so they can share their genetics with the other bees in the area.
I’ve just ordered my first Nuc and I’m terrified 😱🇬🇧
You will do great! My first year was a flop but I didn't give up! Second year they did great, and so far have survived the winter. Just remember to watch for signs of queen laying and don't wait to long to get a new queen if you need one. They say bee keeping is an art, not science. You have to learn as you go and work with what you have 😊
Good! That means you're ready :) Remember, bees are self-sufficient. They take care of themselves. It's our job to observe - watch, listen, get to know them - and help them out when they need it. In all honesty, this is not to promote my videos, but I think my last two videos I uploaded are for you. One is called your first month as a beekeeper. I made it for people a little scared about getting their bees. I was too! And the video I put up today is called How to Care for Bees. It goes through what you're looking for and how you can help your bees. And if you have questions, you can always sign up for my online course. It's free for the first month. Use it to email me questions and cancel before we charge you :)
@@BeekeepingMadeSimple Thankyou!
@@mathiaodermatt6717 Thanks for the advice, I’m busy watching as many videos as I can while I’m waiting to collect my Nuc 👍🇬🇧
You mention buying bees locally and not shipping in. From a genetic standpoint would sourcing further away be more likely to have different genetics and offer more diversity? Or is it the locally sourced have already selected genetics for the challenges in that environment?
I deter people from having bees shipped to them because packages often don't survive the transport. Especially when shipping bees in early spring, which is the most common time, I think it is best to buy bees that were handled by a beekeeper during transport. My guess is that the bees are kept in trucks all day or post offices overnight that are cold and they can die. It is hard to buy local bees. When I lived in PA, the apiary near me took orders and then drove to Georgia to pick up the packages. They drove the bees overnight back to PA and distributed them. Usually, you have to purchase bees from a southern state if you live somewhere with a cold winter because the apiaries down south have bees that are active and a new queen ready to lay weeks or months before you. It is great to buy local queens because there is a chance that they have genetics to handle your climate better than a queen that was shipped from HI or CA, but it's also important to buy queens from a variety of apiaries to expand your apiary's genentics and for some that might require having a queen shipped.
I can relate to the comparison to being a parent. I have 2 colonies. One hit the ground running and didn't slow down. The other has been nothing but one crisis after another all summer long.
LOL Yes, those bees have a mind of their own. At times, I love it and other times it is frustrating.
The have i have just showed up in my mail box so i am trying to save them since there are other mailboxes close by and i do want them to spray them
😀👍
Hey, this is off subject, but I’m receiving my very first package one week from today ( Saturday 3/9/24). At the mini-class I took we never discussed the proper way to bring the package to my house. Approximately a 30 minute ride, temps in the high 70s currently. Is it ok to transport in the bed of my pickup or inside vehicle? Sounds pretty simple for most, but I’m not wanting to start out by doing something stupid. Thanks so much.
Just watched the new video about first month of beekeeping. You answered several questions. Thanks so very much
Glad you saw the video about beekeeping your first month. With temps in the 70sF, in the bed of your truck or inside the truck are both fine. If I were you, I'd put them in a crate in the bed of the truck so they don't slide around too much, but I put my package inside the car, right on the floor of the backseat. A few bees did get in the car with us, but they flew over to the window fairly quickly and left the car when we opened the windows.
Having too many hives in close proximity can hurt your bees. Remember, every hive competes with each neaby hive for pollen and nectar. In a dirth, they will actually rob each other.
So for clarity, in regard to introducing a queen are you saying to wait a few days before uncorking to allow more time for acceptance? I didn’t completely follow what you were conveying on that point. Thank you.
Yes! Leave all the corks in the queen cage. Remove her a few days later and decide whether it is ok to release her and then do it manually.
my granpa ignored his bee hive for 10 years and it's the strongest bee hive i've seen, i gave them water in drought season now im taking over to care for it. i just need to know why they aren't going for the passion fruit flowers and the mango flowers when the vine is few feet away
Mango flowers are too small for honey bees to access. You will see very small hover flies and other tiny pollinators at these trees.
@@BeekeepingMadeSimple makes sense, what about passion fruit flowers ?
The link you gave around the 25 min. mark on how to make a "push cage" to release the new queen properly into the hive, is not showing up. Can you repost the link / video for doing this, please? Thanks!!
Sorry about that! Here's the link - kzhead.infosV5uYZAktZU?feature=shared
I saw somewhere that the eggs hatch and leave the shell. The queen lays again and that cell is smaller still. Is this true?should you replace frames ever so often?
I have heard that cells get smaller as well. I think what I read was that the cells are lined with propolis (which disinfects the cell) and the bees growing in these cells can get smaller and smaller as the propolis builds up on the walls. This is really up to each individual beekeeper to decide. I don't believe there is one right way to do it. In my hives, I replace frames once the bees abandoned them, which you will see eventually. Usually the comb gets really dark and rigid and then there's no more brood in them.
What is the best genetic bees. I lost my hives and have to order more this year!
I've read that Russian bees tend to deal with varroa mites better. However, I always tell people it's better to buy bees locally and a nuc if possible. When you do this, most of the time the apiary doesn't know their bees' genetics. They're not artificially inseminating the queens and that is the only way to ensure the bees' genetics. What's most important is that you buy bees from someone who is caring about their hive's strength and breeding healthy bees. I've seen a lot of queen breeding operations here and these larger operations breed for numbers and making money, not honeybee health, so go local and with a smaller operation, don't have bees shipped and you'll be starting off better than looking for specific genetics.
Hi would like to do beekeeping
One video says put a tray of oil to catch the mites?
I put an oil pan under my hives to keep small hive beetle levels low. It can, potentially, catch some mites, but it does not do enough to keep varroa mite levels low.
You raised bee in west philly, what was my bee got shot mortal rate? I grew up in Jersey lived in old city 7 years now I live in barbados I'm interested in bees because I make cheese
The wax here cost more than the honey I know nothing. But shipping is sick exspencive. Today probably was about 85f tonight about 60f high moisture with a dry season.
Interesting! The bees didn't do all that well in West Philly. Shipping is expensive here though I'm sure not as much as to Barbados. I built all my equipment to save money. It's also hard to get mite treatments because they wont ship formic acid or oxalic acid. You really need to meet the other beekeepers so when they have a pallet of equipment shipped over, you can buy some off of them. Working for an apiary helps. Otherwise, it can be hard to get other beekeepers to help you. They're a strangely secretive bunch. 🙂
Rookie mistake number one. Don't spend ages looking for the queen. If there's fresh eggs in you know that she's in there somewhere or they can raise a new Queen. Taking too much time searching for her puts you at increased risk of accidentally rolling her.
I used to think that as well, but it's also really important to be able to spot her and it's best to work on queen spotting when the hive is small and new. If you can't find your queen, splitting a hive is harder and it's not wise to do a mite test.
Very well-done Laryssa
Thanks, Bruce! Thanks for watching. Anything else you can think of to add to the list?
Good advice about breeding the strong colonies but to take it a step further (I live in northern illinois) we should really be breeding from swarms up north rather than importing Italian bees from the south or California which breed with local bees damaging the genetic evolution of strong local feral colonies.
I saw some plastic hives at hardware stores. They say the honey drains out into a catcher. Are these ok?
This might be a knock brand of the flow hive. I would look up the manufacturer before buying one of those hives. If it's all wood, then it's fine, but if they use the flow style honey frame, then the comb is all plastic and these can break easily and might not be the best plastic for use with food production. IF they do break, you can't put those style frames into an extractor or strain the honey out. I would look at Dadant.com or Galena farms for good quality beekeeping equipment.
@@BeekeepingMadeSimple Thanks
@@BeekeepingMadeSimple Ok thanks. Knew it was too good to be true!
Do you hafta split hives each year? I think it would become exponential and ya wind up with too many hives?
Binging some of your videos today. Great work. I've been to the Big Island twice. If i'm ever out there again, i'll have to pick up some honey.
Thanks for watching!
Like people who survive Covid. Nature is nature
Good genetics is the worst advice u can give someone because must of the time it will be misunderstood! Under good genetics people will be especting bees which bring much honey or which are somewhat docile! I am actually looking for the "worst" genetics! A bee who doesn't bring much much honey but therefor spend more time in cleaning themselves meaning fighting Varroa mites on their own! Because fighting varooa and bringing a lot of honey are pretty much two contradictory things!
Do you have any research to back up your claims that colonies with low varroa mite levels also bring in less honey? Although I see where your logic is coming from, it sounds like an assumption you're making, not a theory that has been tested. Also, I think you're underestimating the intelligence of beekeepers if you think they are assuming good genetics means sweet bees that bring in honey with no regard to how the bees deal with the number one cause of honeybee colonies to die - the varroa mite.
@@BeekeepingMadeSimple i think i read somewhere that the Asian honeybee is an excellent cleaner, the worker bee can apparently sense when a cell is infested by mites. Asian honeybees can even sense varroa in capped brood cells. They will reopen the cell and remove the larva, now the mites will be unable to reproduce. I mean it does make sense because the asian bee had more time to adapt to varroa. But this comes with the side effect that these bees don't bring in as much honey as the European bees. And i think they are not as docile as the European sisters. And these attributes come of as "bad genetics" in the western world. Sadly it isn't allowed to import asian bees into Europe.
So every other bee farmer was wrong and she was the only person who was correct!?!
I'm not following. If you explain the part of the video you're referring to, I would be happy to talk more about it.
Don't introduce a queen by letting the bees eat through the candy!@@BeekeepingMadeSimple
In the video she said "you are told..." It's not clear she is referring to experts or other keepers. She may be referring to a common bit of advice that people share that turns out to work only coincidentally. Maybe just take it as her sharing what works for her?
@@arronbwabw504the act of using the candy cork a caged queen comes with to introduce a queen to a hive is made for commercial beekeepers with thousands of hives that requeen every year. When I worked for an apairy with 3000 hives, they requeened every November. They would go to a yard of 100 hives, and in about an hour or two, 5 beekeepers would requeen the whole yard. The candy cork allows them to just pinch a queen and throw in a caged queen and be done with it. Some times it works and sometimes it doesn't. That's just how the commercial world.of beekeeping is. But as a backyard beekeeper, you will lose queens and waste money this way. You CAN use the candy cork to release your queen BUT her survival rate is lower. A push cage is THE BEST way to introduce a queen but second best is just pulling out the cork on your own. There's a few things hobby beekeepers do that isn't best for the hobby beekeeper but is a time saving technique for bee businesses. I worked for a commercial apiary for 7 years and am trying to help the hobby beekeeper understand better ways to do things for their situation. Great question! Thanks for asking!
@@thojam9008I shouldn't have really said "you are told" because it's not about what people say to do. It's more so the fact that queens come in cage with a candy cork and so people often use it to release the queen but his candy cork way of doing things is for people with a lot of hives who want to do things quick and easy and can handle it if a percentage of the queens arent accepted. Thanks for the response to his comment, but this is a really important point I think hobby beekeepers need to know! If you want a queen to be accepted by your hive, the candy cork isn't the way to go!