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Anchorage Backyard Beekeeping
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Registrace 16. 01. 2023
Overwintering Honey Bees in Alaska
This video details the research based methods and gear that helped me overwinter over 80% of my colonies in the last two years, and over 70% since 2018.
I practice and promote sustainable beekeeping in Alaska. I haven't bought bees in 4 years. I make my own queens, and make splits to increase my apiary. Keeping bees sustainably is possible for all backyard beekeepers; this is how I do it.
I practice and promote sustainable beekeeping in Alaska. I haven't bought bees in 4 years. I make my own queens, and make splits to increase my apiary. Keeping bees sustainably is possible for all backyard beekeepers; this is how I do it.
zhlédnutí: 672
Video
Shaking bees into the bottom box and and combining with a screened divider board (Snellgrove board).
zhlédnutí 352Před měsícem
Shaking all bees into the bottom box and combining with a screened divider board (Snellgrove board).
Ventilation vs. Insulation - Wintering Strategies for Northern Beekeepers
zhlédnutí 568Před 2 měsíci
A data based review of traditional and modern wintering strategies.
Mid May Overwintered Nuc Inspection
zhlédnutí 278Před 2 měsíci
Inspecting one of my overwintered nucs on May 15, 2024.
Randy Oliver on Spring Management
zhlédnutí 12KPřed 4 měsíci
Randy Oliver presentation on Spring Buildup, including: - Transition from winter bees to summer bees - Colony development follows pollen/nectar availability - Nurse bees run the show! - Large winter cluster = faster spring buildup - Nutrition needs and challenges - Health challenges - Swarm impulse triggers & prevention - Splitting options - Raising your own queens & making nucs - Mite resistan...
How I Install Packages
zhlédnutí 401Před 4 měsíci
Step by step explanation and demonstration on how I install packages.
Spring Cleaning - 100% Survival on the warehouse roof!
zhlédnutí 376Před 4 měsíci
Spring cleaning time. Removing external insulation, cleaning bottom boards & hive stands, and checking candy boards.
Beginning Beekeeper Class - Hive Location and Gear
zhlédnutí 366Před 4 měsíci
Get the right gear for your Alaska bees and place them in the best location.
Assessing Colony Health in mid-winter
zhlédnutí 497Před 5 měsíci
How I assess the health of my colonies in winter. Here are links to the videos where I explain how to make and install a cheap, easy, heat efficient candy board. czcams.com/video/2j3uahpFvVM/video.html czcams.com/video/beESQcCSuGQ/video.html
Beginning Beekeeper Classes: Honey Bee Biology, Behavior, & Colony Development
zhlédnutí 651Před 6 měsíci
Basic Honey Bee Biology, Behavior, and Colony Development
Beginning Beekeeper Classes: Varroa Mite Basics
zhlédnutí 468Před 6 měsíci
Understanding and managing varroa are critical components to sustainable beekeeping. Varroa awareness and management is the main reason I've been able to successfully overwinter nearly 80% of my colonies in the last 3 years.
It's 20° below zero in Alaska - how are your bees doing?
zhlédnutí 640Před 6 měsíci
Alaska is having extreme cold and record snowfall, but the bees are doing fine.
Honey filtering, uncapping, extracting, filtering HD 720p
zhlédnutí 433Před 11 měsíci
How I safely harvest uncapped honey, along with other late season tasks (uncapping, extracting, filtering, and robbing stations).
Overwintering Honeybees in Alaska
zhlédnutí 2,2KPřed 11 měsíci
More and more Northern climate beekeepers are consistently getting their colonies through winter. In this video, I share the methods, principles, and lessons learned that helped me overwinter 12 of 14 colonies last year, and 29 of 36 the last three years.
Catching a swarm and talking about swarms.
zhlédnutí 325Před rokem
Matt gets another swarm into the bucket while I talk about why colonies swarm and how the original colony makes a new queen.
Catching and Hiving an Alaskan Swarm 07 12 23
zhlédnutí 556Před rokem
Catching and Hiving an Alaskan Swarm 07 12 23
Catching and Hiving Two Swarms 07 08 23
zhlédnutí 2KPřed rokem
Catching and Hiving Two Swarms 07 08 23
Queen Rearing for Small Apiaries and Backyard Beekeepers
zhlédnutí 8KPřed rokem
Queen Rearing for Small Apiaries and Backyard Beekeepers
Overwintered Swarm Hive Checks 05 10 2023
zhlédnutí 275Před rokem
Overwintered Swarm Hive Checks 05 10 2023
Late April Beekeeping in Alaska - Strong Overwintered Colonies and Installing Club Packages
zhlédnutí 688Před rokem
Late April Beekeeping in Alaska - Strong Overwintered Colonies and Installing Club Packages
Thanks Tim, I really appreciate the information and the time you have put into your presentation! I am working to keep at least 1 of my hives for the winter and the experience you are sharing in your videos is invaluable.
thanks, and good luck
We use this exact same setup in Texas, close to Houston (where we have pretty high humidity). Pretty much a universal solution. One thing I would suggest when you are draining the honey from the extractor into a bucket: 1 use a standard (round) 5 gallon bucket that is "food grade". Second, use a 600 micro filter to catch all of the wax cappings, bee parts, etc. This way you have FAR less "junk" in your bucket of honey. Note that when I go to bottle, I run the honey through the filter again when I pour from the bucket into the bottling bucket.
Also - when I'm done, I drain the wax cappings as much as possible, and then set the cappings out for the bees to clean up. I don't 'process' the wax until they are pretty much dry.
@@CNBarnes I've always done the same thing, but this year I'm trying a few non-robbing strategies to get them cleaned up. I'll let you know if any actually work ....
From my experience as at least third gen. beek it is one of the best lecture for new beekeepers I've heard so far. The amount of information and workload for beginners is overwhelming on its own so all those technical ways of raising queens are far beyond comprehension. It is us who coach them who may ensure they will love rather than just being ok with beekeeping. I admire your professionalism and style of your lecture. Kind regards Greg Daisy Nook Apiary UK❤
Thank you so much!
Thank you for taking the time to post your presentation, it contained a lot of really useful information and well presented. As a new beekeeper I noticed a couple of areas in which the video had been cut. The two main one's for me were. 1. When you were about to show the insulated hive system package. 2. A lady in the audience asked the question about how much honey stores would you leave the hive with for winter? The answer was cut from the video. Do you have the full recording available or are you able to answer question 2 for me as I am getting conflicting advice from other sources? Thanks
thanks for watching. Here are the cut stories: 1. I brought the wrong Reflectix shell. It took a few minutes of wrestling with it before I figured it out, so I cut that part out. The short explanation is that I wrap the hive with Reflectix, Tyvek tape the top to the top box to prevent heat from escaping, and cut a flap out to allow access to the bottom entrance (reduced to about 2" in winter). 2. Not sure why that got cut out, but I the answer is 50-60 lbs in a poly box, and about 100 lbs in wood (they eat far less when insulated well). The folks that insist on 100 lbs in poly aren't keeping up with the research. Etienne Tardif's bees in the Yukon only consume about 35 lbs of syrup all winter.
I'm in the North of England and after your prompt reply I approached two local beekeepers for their winter setup. Once again, I received conflicting advice. One advised to retain one full honey national cedar super placed on top of the standard national cedar brood box, retain queen excluder and don't insultion the roof. The second beekeeper advised a similar setup, except remove the queen excluder to allow the queen to move up with the other bees as they gradually use up their brood box honey stores. She also recomended to place some insulation in the roof space. After listening to you and watching other presentations on condensing v ventilation hives, I am on board with the condensing theory. It just makes sense to me and more like their natural living conditions. So should I follow their advice with regards to retaining a full honey super or just go into winter with just a national sized brood box? Other beekeepers on the tube advise compacting the colony into one box. If you advise super do I I leave the queen excluder on or off. It's so confusing. I currently have two national hives after capturing a bee swarm this year followed by a split with help from the beekeeper who advised the insulation approach. She has lent me two national hives but I think I will buy two Anel fully insulated Langstroth hives which have only just become available in the UK.
@@jnjjsdanv I'm convinced this is old fashioned thinking by folks that winter in wood (which requires more food storage because the colony has to work so much harder to heat it). In an insulated hive, the colony can store all the food it needs in the brood box (or boxes, but the point is that they don't need an EXTRA box for food). In fall, they'll use the middle 3-4 frames for brood and store food in the outside frames. Late fall feeding allows them to backfill the brood nest somewhat after the queen stops laying (that happens in September here, I'm sure it's different there).
Great presentation! Thanks. I’m guessing you condense colonies after you harvest honey?
Absolutely. I use only mediums, which are about 2/3 of a deep. Two weeks ago my colonies filled 3 brood boxes plus at least 2 supers. Now they're nice and tight in two mediums. I want those boxes packed with bees going into fall.
excelente
thanks for watching
Every tree-hollow would DEFINITELY have one wall/side that would be thinner/less-insulated than the others. Probably not the ceiling. That is all you'd need to know, because moisture would condense on the thinnest wall and be available to slurp up for their various needs. Boom. Insulate with the highest r-value on top, moderate r-value on three sides, one side with no/less insulation than the others to act as a condenser that makes moisture available, and a way for the excess to drain from the bottom without being drafty enough to chill them beyond their ability to tolerate. That's it. Your bees will be happy, given that they were healthy going into winter to begin with.
One side of a natural tree cavity may be thinner, but perhaps only marginally so. I use poly hives with an R value of about 7.5. I add 4" of insulation above. I've added 2" of insulation on all sides, and other times 2" of insulation on sides (leaving the front R value at. only 7.5). I haven't noticed any difference between insulating 3 and 4 sides. If they're healthy, crowded, and well fed, they survive.
What do Quiney'S RN and BSN degrees have to do with beekeeping? A bit pretentious.
It's just part of his bio. He doesn't claim his nursing education equates to beekeeping expertise.
In Fairbanks Alaska, I overwinter with a 25-watt heated hive stand, 2, 10 frame deep boxes, 4" blue foam insulation on all 4 sides, a veltilated top box full of wood shavings with a 4" sleeve to drop in a mason jar for feeding, and 4" of blue foam insulation on top. Haven't lost a colony.
I'd like to hear more. Could you give me more info on how long you've been doing this and how many colonies you manage?
😂😂😂😂😂 I don’t know why people won’t listen no top Entrances
There are two reasons: 1. They have a firm belief that moisture in a colony is the biggest threat. 2. They've successfully wintered with top entrances, and they want to stick with what works. I had upper entrances on all of my colonies until 3 years ago. The science got me to try bottom entrance only. I didn't overwinter more colonies, but my overwintered colonies were much stronger. I'm a believe now.
He is good he is very smart my Yukon friend im glade you listen to us Canadians
Thanks for watching.
I am from Canada and I use wood but mostly poly hives and your nailed it to a key insulation is big and I wish I could get some old timers to listen this is the best method I know my my bees eat .5 pounds of food a week and a wood hive with top entrance would eat 3 pounds
We know from Etienne's research (and may anecdotal accounts) that a well insulated colony only goes through 25-30 lbs of resources all winter. keep spreading the word!
Looking great, Tim! Still considering if I want to get into beekeeping down in Juneau. Right now I’m more on the “how do I make my lawn more supportive for wild bees” stage of the game.
I lived in Juneau for awhile, and I recall that the climate is less than suitable for grass lawns :). I'd bet that planting a combination of local plants plus some non-native flowering plants would look much nicer, and definitely be more bee friendly.
I should add that honeybees in SE is quite a challenge. The first honeybees imported to Alaska were in Sitka long before statehood. The notes indicate that the bees only flew15 flying days one season (other days were too wet or too cold). I think it can be done, but it would have to be out of love for bees, not pursuit of honey.
I think everyone is looking for a pure mite resistant strain ,however adding those genetics to exiting colonies could produce better or worse genetics and many inbetween . Diversity of the mongrels may be the best way to ensure species survival . Randys extrodinary effort im sure will succeed at improving the species even if you buy his queens as replacements year after year to hybridiz your own stock . And culling out the failures . You dont lose the hive you only need to replace its queen with one of his queens and away it runs !!!
I believe mite resistant stock is the future. When more colonies survive winter, commercial beekeepers make more money (and spend less on treatment) and backyard beekeepers don't give up in frustration after losing colonies several years in a row. There are many apiaries with stock that is so resistant that their "treatment" for high mite counts is to re-queen, not treat. It will take years, but I hope to get there myself.
Well its absolutely true the longer and more you know about bees the more unanswered questions you have about them . In sask we dont pull nucs to slow swarming as much as we use brood manipulation in order to keep the queen in laying space . Our season is short and we need huge hives for our massive honey flows in early July .
Great example of how local climate matters. The Saskatoon average high (May - August) is 15 degrees (F) warmer than Anchorage! And our swarm season and nectar flow mostly overlap, so it's dicey (especially for backyard beekeepers) to build monster colonies without swarming. Our season is short enough that a queen right split in mid-June barely impacts honey production, because the nectar flow is generally over by the end of July.
There should be a lot more beekeepers listening closely to Randy . The method of rearing large colonies is critical to having large honey crops ,which is honey per hive and is how to be financially viable if you are selling honey .
Agree completely for commercial beekeepers and extremely experience backyard beekeepers. For less experienced beeks, the guarantee of not swarming outweighs the cost of losing a swarm (and a viable queen). For them a queen right split in mid-June guarantees they keep all of their bees in their boxes, and going into winter with 2 colonies makes it much more likely that they'll come out of winter with one. With good gear and methods (and a bit of experience), they can get both through, then sell one the next spring (local nucs go for about $375!).
Excellent presentation! Thank you!
Thanks so much.
Hi from Texas.
Hi from Alaska. It may surprise you to know that I'm a member of the Texas Friendly Beekeeper Facebook page. I like learning how folks keep bees in other areas.
Can you treat the bees for Varroa infestation prior to August? If so how offen should the hive be treated?
Randy recommends treating them anytime there is no capped brood In Alaska, those times are: 1. 7-9 days after releasing the queen in a new package (before 1st larva are capped) 2. 24 days after splits. When a queen is removed from a colony, all of her eggs will hatch in 24 days (drone lifecycle). The new queen may be laying, but her larva will not be old enough to be capped. 3. After the all winter brood has emerged. That's about October 7-10 here. I wait until mid-month just to be sure.
@anchoragebackyardbeekeeping good to know, what do u recommend for treatments? Thank you
@@denisedee6377 I use oxalic acid vaporization. It doesn't harm brood, and it doesn't persist in honey or comb. Synthetic miticides (i.e., apivar) break down into compounds that do persist in comb. Our relatively short Alaska brood season allows me to completely control varroa by treating during summer brood breaks (usually June) and in fall after all winter brood emerges (2nd week of October).
@@anchoragebackyardbeekeeping thank you
So you're saying, if I make a split off a 23 queen and 2 months later just combine them, they'll kill the 23 queen and leave the 24 queen? I assume when you say combine you're talking about a something like a newspaper combine? So once they chew through the newspaper, they'll take out the older queen?
I'll clarify: In Alaska, there aren't enough drones to ensure successful queen mating until about the 2nd week of June. I so my splits then. I remove the queen and a few frames of brood (depends on how strong I want to make the split). The original hive will make a new queen on this calendar: queen larvae are capped 5 days later, and emerge 10 days later. She hardens off for a week, takes a mating flight, then starts laying about 2-3 days later. So it's 26 days from the time you make the split until she starts laying. It may take a few more days, especially if the weather is bad, so I check for eggs 30 days after the split. There are two possible outcomes: 1. The original colony successfully re-queens itself. If so, I go into with with 1 large and 1 small colony. If either dies overwinter, I already have next year's bees. 2. The original colony does not make a new queen. If I don't find eggs at 30 days, I check again 7 days later. If still no eggs, I combine them with split containing the original queen. Some people use newspaper, but I had a bad experience. I put a sheet of screen (#8 hardware cloth) above the original hive, with queen-right split above the screen, and an upper entrance so the top hive bees can come and go (it's the only time I use an upper entrance). After 5 days, I remove the screen and the upper entrance (it's just an inner cover with a notch in front). I recommend against combining them with two queens (to let them fight it out) because I want insurance going into winter. If both colonies survive, it is not a problem to sell the split (along with th e2023 queen) in spring, then repeat the process every year.
Dang what a phenomenal talk!!! Great info!
Thanks for watching!
Awesome. I'm so jealous. My walkaways made new queens and cast small swarms.
Sometimes the bees cooperate, sometimes they don't. One of my mentors likes to say that they read different beekeeping books than we do ....
Wonderful presentation! Great to hear simple processes and allowing the bees to make the big decisions.
Thanks for watching!
Amazing presentation. Randy Oliver should write a book. Thanks for the upload.
I think he's awesome, too.Thanks for watching!
Hi Tim Great Videos. Using Poly boxes, looks like a no brainer. Are there any local sources for BEE Max or similar boxes available here in Alaska?
I get mine from Nathan Broumley at Rigeneration Nutrition in Eagle River. You can get them online, but the shipping charges are outrageous. Nathan's prices are often less than the cost + shipping when you order online.
I’m in New Brunswick and I’ve spoken with Karen on the phone and email. She’s very kind, helpful and informative. This was a wonderful presentation. Thanks
Thanks so much. I really liked Karen's information. I think I'll asking her back for an encore later in the year.
Love the presentation! Randy is a wonderful source of knowledge with research and documentation to back it up. Thanks from eastern Canada.
Totally agree. Good luck with your bees this year.
Great information thank you
Thanks so much, and thanks for watching.
Great video, thanks! I am on a Hillside in ANC and happy to say that all four of my hives made it through the winter well (so far), with no treatments. It remains to be seen where things go from here. We have several feet of snow as of April 14th, but the bees already had their cleansing flights a week or two ago.
Congratulations!
It'd sure be great if more people considered the impact large-scale commercial farming has on agriculture and Nature in general. All the chemicals and diseases and problems it introduces, these government agencies should be regulating in order to preserve nature, yet they are doing the very opposite and destroying everything.
I'm not sure which chemicals you're referring to, but I generally agree that we should be way more transparent about the health risks of herbicides and pesticides.
@@anchoragebackyardbeekeeping @56:30 you begin to talk directly about the pesticides and chemicals for instance, yet this is the same throughout all agricultural fields.... cattle, poultry, produce, apples, you name it, it is being destroyed by chemicals, engineering, and mass production.
@@Dan.Parker thanks for clarifying. I think we're on the same page.
Is there a reason for you to put your five-frame nuc in five-frame boxes instead of directly putting them in ten-frame boxes?
Absolutely! Putting them in a nuc to start gives them less space to heat. They can keep it warmer with much less effort, which means they'll build up much faster.
Randy Oliver is the GOAT! Whenever I hear someone wants to get into keeping bees I say learn the basics then read and watch everything Randy has out there. Thank you very much for sharing this video. I continually pick up on things every time he presents. Great questions at the end as well! Wish you all in Alaska a great season!!
Thanks so much - and good luck with your bees as well.
Excellent information! Thankyou for all you do Randy
Thanks for watching!
Great Video. I live in southern Maine and southern packages and Nucs are brought in every spring by the truck load. How much of the yearly dead out hives are from bees that are not adapted to the environment?
Great question. I haven't bought bees for 4 years, so all of my colonies are theoretically have the genetics to survive Alaska winters. But I still have a few dead outs a year. It could be that my virgin queens mated with non-winter hardy drones with dominant traits, but it could be several other things, too.
Great video. It is awesome to see beekeepers from different areas within North America reaching out and seeking knowledge from somebody who has spent most of his lifetime working with these fascinating insects, keeping a commercial honeybee operation, studing their biology along with the inner workings of a hive, and applying and sharing his findings in this area of beekeeping for resistance stock. So much to learn and apply to all of our own apiaries and environment. Thanks Anchorage Backyard Beekeeping and Randy Oliver and Golden West Bees of Northern California. Thanks 🐝
Thanks for watching!
A very clean interview and you definitely brush up on his material as your summary questions are on point. Well done! Thank you for the content.
Thanks, I appreciate that.
This was really great. Randy did a wonderful job. I live in virginia. our flow has started, I am trying to keep them in the box. Anyway thanks so much for posting this. Have a blessed week
Thanks for watching, and good luck to all of us keeping them in the box!
I understand the injected transmission of viruses are more virulent than those ingested as the bees digestive system is able to protect against viruses to some effect. (Mentioned in minute 22:00) My question is, why is transmission via trophallaxis such a concern as the bees digestive system is not being bypassed? Thank you for this content and any efforts to reply. I have found this video to be of good value and I've already watched it more than once. Cheers from NJ!
Thanks for watching. Transmission by trophallaxis is less of a problem, but it's still transmission. Varroa change hosts a lot, so each mite is infecting many bees - and the bees themselves are infecting each other. Bees have more defenses against trophallaxis transmission, but are overwhelmed when the load gets high and spreads through both methods.
@@anchoragebackyardbeekeeping I'm receptive to all of that minus "bees infecting bees" as it recycling the problem at question. I'm trying to stay 'no chemical' or "treatment free but smart" as Sam Comfort may say so I use screened bottom boards, cull drone brood, do brood breaks, preform frequent inspections for added mite drop and next may be crisco on the inspection board to possibly mislead mites. I want to manage mites so the bees adapt well enough for me to not use chemicals, organic or otherwise. I need to get down to 'brass tacks' as it were so I can establish cardinal principles with bee keeping and let the bees do the work. PS: your reply was much appreciated and very prompt. Thank you again.
@@atlas4225 Best of luck. I fully support your efforts, and I'm confident that the future of beekeeping is successfully propagating mite resistant stock and getting away from treatments. I started TF, then transitioned to IPM + OA because it was the only way I could consistently get them through our long winters. If I could get resistant stock, I'd go back, but our California suppliers don't select for mite resistant traits. I'm in conversations with a few TF queen suppliers, but for now they don't ship to Alaska.
@@anchoragebackyardbeekeeping Integrated Pest Management is a should be a requirement for anyone applying chemicals, organic or otherwise. As for Oxolic Acid, its an approved method in the US and could prove effective. I know my bees to have been a package made in Georgia and combined with a foreign queen of Southern genetics and sent North. It will take years but I hope to breed more resilient stock into their line. To be totally frank... I don't care about Veroa, but I will manage disease and I will cull a colony that can't toe the line. I haven't purchased bees, including any queens for 3 years and have doubled this year, as I did the previous year. IMP can mean screened bottom boards, brood breaks, harvesting drone brood and regular inspections rather than Forming Acid, Oxolic Acid, Kumafos, Amamtraz, Thimol, etc.
Glad to see all the little ladies pulled through
It's nice to be sustainable - I haven't had to buy bees in 4 years. Thanks for watching.
@@anchoragebackyardbeekeeping finally enough of the cabin completed to be able to start the apiary this year up here in Alaska. Still have little ladies in Louisiana at my other place.
@@a-k-jun-1 Nice. We have another former Louisiana beekeeper in the club. It's exactly the same here, except for all the ways it's different ....
Beginner beekeeper. Where can I get some bees 2024?
If you're in southcentral Alaska, contact Nathan Broumley at Rigeneration Nutrition in Eagle River. I know he hasn't sold out yet.
What hive temperature sensor do use? This is critical information for Alaskan beekeepers and the ones I’ve used have been with mixed results.
I use the Broodminder temp sensor. I think they're really good, but not perfect. Sometime this summer I'll do a video on how I use them.
Great information thank you
Thanks Rick
As always thanks for great info. Curiously if you always reflectix wrap all of your poly hives? Always planning ahead for next winter lol.
I made two changes this year based on Etienne Tardiff's advice: 1. Seal all of the seams with Tyvek tape; 2. wrap the hives in Reflectix, and tape the top of the Reflectix to the top box with Tyvek tape. It makes sense to me, as the thinnest part of the boxes are at the seams, the Reflectix helps keep in some of the heat that inevitably escapes.
28 below zero up here in Kiana, Alaska this morning. Hopefully I'll finish up this job here soon and get back to the Valley (Alaskans know) 😂
Stay warm!
Thanks for another great video! I'm in Central Alberta and it's been a whirlwind of ups and downs with the temps here. My bees have been flying so much this winter! I checked last week to see if they needed more sugar. I had huge clusters going in to winter so I'm not upset seeing more dead in front of the hives. Weird fall, weirder winter, and we're forecasted to have a big drought this summer.
Thanks for watching. I'm glad you colonies are hanging in there, too.
nice to see your colonies are doing well
Yes, thanks
Fantastic! Do you recommend any related facebook groups?
I'm a member of several FB groups. In Alaska, I recommend Midnight Sun Bee Club. I'm also a member of SBGMI (Sustainable Beekeeping Guild of Michigan), which has really good northern beekeeping content.
@@anchoragebackyardbeekeeping Thank you!
:) @@Twinkyboy
Well done 👍🏽❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️🐝🐝🐝
Thanks Rick.
What do we do if we have a lot of drone comb? We have a lot of frames with drone comb and worker comb.
I can't tell what "a lot of drone comb" means. I recommend you take pictures of the frames and post them on the Midnight Sun FB page. That way I can tell if you have a normal ration of drone to worker comb, or if a previous laying worker colony ruined a lot of worker comb by laying it up with drones.
Can you explain when I would need to use the queen excluder? Also Can you tell me again when you would treat an over wintered hive for Verona mites?
1. Queen excluders allow workers to pass through, but not queens or drones. They're most commonly used to keep the queen confined into a lower brood area, and let workers store honey above. We can't extract honey from frames that have brood in them, because it contaminates the honey. 2. I would use OA vapor on an overwintered colony in late April just to assess the mite load. If the drop is low, I'd treat again during a summer brood break. If not, I'd treat every 7 days for 4 weeks.
And What do we do if we have a lot of drone comb? We have a lot of frames with only drone comb. From my understanding they will not lay workers bees in drone comb? So how do I make the frames available for worker comb?