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My beeyard is a couple of miles from the headwaters of the lake. 6+ miles down Rainbow Springs Rd. A couple of turns further. I had a big die off last year. Dead bees everywhere. Only one hive survived. I told the property owner that I couldn’t keep bees there any longer. It’s over a hundred miles each way from my home. He wants to try his hand at beekeeping. I helped him start three hives this spring. We shall see. Sadly, I am not optimistic. I don’t really think that he appreciates the level of attention and challenges in beekeeping today. We shall see.

@@boogerhillbee Yea. Its not easy sometimes.

My Dadant cap is worn out too. It is funny that I never noticed the Dadant cap/Maxant tank thing.

@@boogerhillbee I had a guy a couple of years ago that offered me $50.00 for my Dadant cap. Had to tell him, sorry... it's not for sale. :-D :-D

To make sugar syrup in my twenty five gallon bottling tank: For 1:1 I heat 12 gallons of water to about 150 degrees F and stir in 100lbs of sugar. For 2:1 I heat 9 gallons of water to 160+ and stir in 150lbs of sugar.

Good questions. When I leave it for overnight or for any extended period with honey in it, I leave the lid on. I don’t want to encourage ants or other critters who might find themselves swimming in the honey. As soon as I think I’m ready to put it into buckets or jars, I first open the lid and inspect the underside. It isn’t uncommon for there to be condensation collected there. I dry this off with a towel. When I am trying to reduce the moisture content from high moisture honey, I blend in honey with low moisture content. The result depends on the moisture content of both and the relative quantities of each. I do a little algebra to estimate the end result but also use a refractometer to check the final product. I don’t melt wax in mine. A bit too messy for me. I have some solar wax melters that I use for my wax. Thanks for watching. Dan

@@boogerhillbee thanks for the response, i appreciate it.

Did you read my description of the video? Two sentences....the first states the purpose of the video.

@@boogerhillbee That is not what I meant. I knew the purpose. I was hanging on every word waiting to learn which product WON.

@@iowasenator When this video was recorded, neither had won. I was simply demonstrating my methods. I’ll save you the time and energy to look any further. By the end of swarm season, the two products tied. I don’t remember the exact number but I believe that it was 4 swarms caught with each product.

@@boogerhillbee After re-reading the posts, I was unfair to you and I apologize. At the time I viewed your video I was irritated through no fault of yours. My post was unkind. My eagerness to discover which product won set me even more on edge. I sincerely hope that you accept my apology.

@@iowasenator Of course, but no apology necessary. My videos aren’t always self-explanatory and I understand that viewers are often coming from directions that I don’t understand either. It is very kind of you to offer an apology. Not many folks are willing to rethink their posts on social media. Good luck.

As you might guess, I use food grade buckets. Beekeepers have been storing honey in this type of container for decades. What do you suggest that I test for? Are you aware of any history of contamination?

@@boogerhillbee I use food grade buckets also was wondering if you tested mostior level after bucket has been stored for a long time.

@@desmondsimmons1436 The buckets that I use have a gasket in the cover. They seal up very well. I check the moisture content before closing them. I don’t see any way for them to collect additional moisture after they’ve been closed.

Actually testing is the only way to be sure. No question about it. We’ve had a nice, wet spring. Uncapped honey coming in at close to 19% isn’t a surprise. In years past I’ve seen it higher….and in other years lower. Curing it in the comb is much faster than trying to do so in a bucket, yet many people try to do that. When I bring it into the honey house, I want to extract and be done. So, for me whatever works fastest is the way I tend to go. Blending it with lower moisture honey is my preferred method so I can move on to the next yard.

I agree Dave. Too much

There are a number of reasons that I choose to buy mated queens. First….I manage over a hundred hives….at one time two hundred….., extract, bottle, label and sell the honey I produce by myself. There are time constraints. Second….I can get mated queens by April 1. I cannot produce mated queens before late April. There is a 2 to 3 week advantage of buying mated queens. 2+ weeks makes a huge difference in how well built out the colonies’ nests are by season’s end. Third…..I’ve worked in a queen selecting operation. Having participated in such a process made me realize that I needed to choose between honey production and queen breeding. I chose honey production…..a poor economic choice to be sure. Having said that, I truly appreciate what goes into queen selection and production and believe that those who do it properly earn every penny they get. Fourth….I buy queens from a variety of breeders. I believe that genetic diversity is important. Those are probably my four biggest reasons. One day in the not distant future, when I have cut back a bit and have a handful of hives in my backyard….I may do it again. Good luck.

Thanks. I hope to make the time to get some beekeeping videos done this spring. We shall see.

As you might imagine, it was not intentional. All the same, when I reviewed the recording, I also noticed. When I am doing a talk like this, my first priority is always the live audience. A pet peeve of mine is when I’m in the audience and the speaker spends the first 15 minutes of the scheduled talk time arranging and connecting equipment. Therefore, when I am the speaker I make sure that things are set up beforehand. Doing everything alone, it isn’t uncommon for me to overlook optimum camera position. I’m working on doing a better job.

I'm glad it helped!

Thanks for the compliment and the shim idea!

I’m not sure what you are looking for. Guidance with regard to house building, farming or beekeeping?

@@boogerhillbee Sorry yes bee keeping. Just would like to get more familiar with everything. Would like to start 2 new hives spring 2020

@@ArcherHHS There are three local groups, any of which would allow you to network with local beekeepers. The Madison County Beekeepers meets in Danielsville, the Oglethorpe Bee Club meets in Crawford and the Eastern Piedmont Beekeepers meets in the Pharmacy building on the UGA campus.

I'd love to.

Lemon grass oil. Last year I caught exactly the same number of swarms with swarm commander and lemon grass oil. I don't see any difference between them.....except price.

I always used lemongrass oil but a buddy last year used swarm commander! Neither one of us caught a swarm but verroa mightsall but destroyed the feral bee population in Kentucky last year

Thanks

I’m 68 and know what you’re saying…especially about backs.

Ha! That old smoker has been through the mill. Heaven only knows how many times it has taken a tumble and had a bad landing.

Thanks. It's much better to catch one of your own than to lose it, yet I hope swarm season hasn't started yet or mine will all be in the trees before I do anything to stop them.

We pretty much have brood year round here. Alcohol washes are the most accurate method of testing. By the end of the season my washes are ALWAYS far above any acceptable threshold. At that same time parasitic mite syndrome is evident in most of the hives. I don’t always see dwv. If I treat in August/September using a proven effective method (typically Apiguard or Apivar) and a single oav in December my overwinter losses are practically nil. In evaluating treatments, I have treated and at the same time placed real sticky sheets on my bottom boards. On those occasions it is not uncommon to see more than two thousand mites drop in a matter of days. I have gotten any number of highly selected queens over the years. Even today I am buying vsh queens. I have yet to find any that confer enough mite resistance to allow for good vigor and long term survival without treatment. I hope yours continue to work for you. You might note that during the lecture I told the students that we would be testing during our August beeyard workshop. I also mentioned that typically less than half of the students attend that very important lesson. By then, they’ve had their bees for a few months and often believe that they have it under control. Within a few years….they are beeless.

@@boogerhillbee Great video and information. I find I have to be kind of obsessive about treating to stay on top of this. I also do OAV twice in December and last year I did OAV on splits in June then Apivar in July/August but still lost 1 out of 9 hives from the diseases mites spread. I first will notice like I did this year bees crawling on the ground in front of a group of hives. Crawlers I call them and if you pick one up it can't fly will just fall back to the ground from the DWV or what not. When I see that usually it is to late. I have been considering 3 rounds of treatments next year OAV in winter, Apivar in early July as soon as I pull honey supers and split, then Apiguard on Sept 1 when it is cool enough to do so. Not sure if that is being too aggressive or not but I may try it on a few hives at least as an experiment. The problem now seems to be even a very few mites can kill a hive with the viruses much easier than a few years back. Maybe that is because we are knocking the mites down better so the remaining ones are more lethal I am not sure.

@@akbeal No question about it, varroa are relentless! Consequently we must be equally relentless. I still do a round of Apivar or Apiguard following honey harvest each year. I am doing my midwinter oav treatments as I speak. I hope to do most yards twice this month. I told myself a few years ago that if I had to treat three times a season I would stop keeping bees. The jury is still out. I expect that the regimen that you are following will work pretty well.

I think there is some of each. When the larva is growing….and there is no cocoon….that larva excretes waste, much of which is absorbed by the wax. The accumulation of cocoons surely also adds to the color of the comb. If you ever try to render wax from brood comb, you can easily filter out the old cocoons but the wax will still be a much different color than that rendered from pristine comb. As a lecture to a group of aspiring beekeepers there is a limit to the amount of detail I can include. Otherwise, instead of six hours of talking….it would go on forever. And the amount of important information would get lost in the enormity of information.

Even honeycomb wax will be colored when render and this thought to be fro m the bees walking on the wax.

@@privatebubba8876Did you see my candlemaking video? Did that wax look tainted?

@@boogerhillbee Sorry I haven't.

@@boogerhillbee I have to disagree, only the first egg is laid on bare wax that would have it's waste soak into the wax. Every other generation the egg is laid in the resulting cocoons of the generation before them. The workers can not remove the cocoons. Their waste will not soak through the cocoons left in the comb. Propolis, pollen and other dirt also contributes to the darkening of the wax. So waste from larva would be minuscule at best .

My apologies. I was sure that I had answered this in a later video but actually only put it in the text of a June 11, 2018 video. That video is here czcams.com/video/62N5HOjlB94/video.html The text from that video: For the record I’ve caught 10 swarms in these four traps this season. 5 with traps baited using Swarm Commander (SC) and 5 using lemon grass oil(lgo). All four traps are within a few feet of each other. Interesting is the fact that the two traps facing south caught 8….3 in the SC trap and 5 in the lgo trap. 2 more were caught in the west facing sc trap and 0 in the east facing lgo trap. My take away is that lgo is at least as effective as SC in my trial. Second that location may be important but the direction the entrance faces is also important.

Thanks! The last few months have been pretty hectic. I have a bit of recorded material but haven't had the time to edit any. Recording is easy. Editing is tedious.The only place I sell candles is at the Athens Farmers Market in Athens, GA.

Hi Gabe.

One at a time. I know other beekeepers who put on multiples but I don't have a lot of extra drawn comb so I want to be sure to put it where it'll get used.

I see her at about 2:18...our timers must be different as at 2:23 on my display I am looking at the tops of frames. She is a beauty.

I'll surely look at it. Thanks!

Bees will store either 1:1 or 2:1. 1:1 is actually more concentrated than natural nectars and they certainly store that. The biggest difference in the two concentrations, in my opinion, is that once it is placed in the comb it takes longer for the bees to ‘cure’ the 1:1.

Thanks Dan, that's a big help to know.

I’m sure that your flow starts earlier than ours too. We had a nice cool spring. No late hard freezes. And no long spells without rain. Pretty much a perfect season. I hope you have a good surplus.

It was an exceptional season. And we will get a bit more, just not enough to qualify as a flow. Pollen comes in almost year round. I can walk into a beeyard and tell when the flow is on. It truly is a frenzy. I appreciate you kind comments. I hope your season goes well.

I’m guessing that you are a bit north of me. The season here has been exceptional so far. I hope yours is as well.

boogerhillbee thank you. Yes I am north of you and we are very late this year. Please keep the videos y coming.

Yet for all the rukus I walked amongst them with lots of exposed skin and didn’t get a single sting. Instead of triggering a defensive response, I think that shaking them out like I do only causes a great deal of confusion. Which is what we are seeing.