Keeping Bees In Single Deep Brood Boxes

WEBVTT

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May I have your attention, please? The following

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is not the real Jeff Foxworthy. If when you get

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stung by a bee, you apologize because you did

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something wrong, you might be a beekeeper. If

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you have lost more than five hive tools and your

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lawnmower has found two of them, you might...

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Be a beekeeper. If you have replaced the grass

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on your front lawn with clover, you might love

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bees. Welcome, welcome to Be Love Beekeeping

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presented by our great friends over at Man Lake.

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We have a fun program today as we're going to

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learn about beekeeping in single deep brew boxes

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with John Stevens up in northern Michigan. Does

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it make sense in cold climates? How about warm

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weather? One of the things I love about beekeeping

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is we can learn from others, then we need to

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make decisions about what's going to be the best

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for our bees. Knowledge plus experience. plus

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intuition, hard work, and an open mind makes

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great beekeepers and happy bees. Hey, it's been

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a while since we've had some new honeybee fun

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facts, so let's get started with a few interesting

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tidbits about drone bees. Did you know that drones

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have larger eyes on top of their heads to help

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them identify queens during mating season? Did

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you know that during the mating period colonies

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can have as much as 10 to 15 % drones in their

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hives? So imagine a hive with 40 ,000 bees, that's

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like 4 to 6 ,000 drones. Did you know that drones

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don't have stingers? Did you know that during

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the mating period as many as 25 ,000 drones from

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dozens of different hives will meet in a drone

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congregation area? to mate with queens from surrounding

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hives? And as a follow -up, did you know that

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only a handful ever get to mate with a queen?

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Those that do die immediately afterwards? The

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rest, well, they live for about a month flying

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out each warm day in search of a queen to mate

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with. Did you know that virgin queens typically

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mate with 10 to 20 different drones? It could

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even be more than that. And that mating happens

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in midair? And maybe the worst part, did you

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know that once fall comes, the worker bees will

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kick the drones out of the hive in what is known

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as the expulsion of the drones. There you have

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the bees part of the birds and the bees. We have

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a fun guest interview today and a wild and crazy

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beekeeping story that has something to do with

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grandpa and his boxer shorts. Let's welcome to

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the show today John Stevens coming to us from

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Michigan in the US. How are you John? I am fine.

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I got a day off from being stung. Oh Or a little

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bit of time off from being stung. So that's always

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good I hope that was our chat here today that's

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saving you from being stung. I want some of the

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credit. Oh, yeah Yeah, I got 40 nukes out there

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in the back be yard that I need to go into mark

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their new queen. So I got to go in, mark all

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the queens and then add a second box to the new

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today. So I will probably be stung here in a

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little while after we finish. Well, you're allowed

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to wear protective gear. Yeah, but our day, our

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temperatures right now are running low 90s. So

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you wear minimal gear right now and marking queens,

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you're bare handed. So yeah, absolutely. We're

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going to get into a little bit about where you

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be keep and what it's like and how hard your

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winners are and some of that kind of stuff. But

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since you jumped into what you're doing today,

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I want to hear all about that. So when did you

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create these nukes and how did you raise the

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Queens? Give us some background. Well, the Queens

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just kind of fell into my lap. A friend of mine

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up the road, he runs roughly 1100 hikes or so.

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He ordered 400 queens and ended up only using

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300 of them. So he called me to try to get rid

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of some of the excess and I ended up buying 40

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off of him. I got a really good deal. So then,

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yeah, I just ran around and see, I run all single

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deep management style hive. So I have to be in

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them. I have to be pulling brood out. So it kind

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of coincided with me keeping them throttled back,

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pulling brood out, waiting for the main nectar

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flow. And so here I had all this brood and just

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happened to get all these queens and put together

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all these new. Nice. And you run about 170 hives?

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Yeah. Right now we're just at that. Generally

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by the main honey flow, I should have about 175,

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180 production hives. Our main flow doesn't start

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for maybe another two weeks. Another week and

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a half, two weeks. The basswood, Russian thistle,

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or knapweed, whatever you want to call it. We

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have a lot of thistle around here. I don't know

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the term knapweed. Is that the same as thistle?

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Yeah, it's like it's of the thistle family. But

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around here, it was called star thistle, if you've

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ever heard of star thistle honey. But really,

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it's Russian knapweed. Or anything like that,

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but it is a honey producing crop for us big time

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So we're just waiting for that bloom usually

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around the fourth of July a little after Now

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you mentioned that you run all single deeps.

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Give me an idea of why because even though I

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you know, I'm only a hundred and seventy five

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hundred and eighty hives I Consider myself kind

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of a commercial honey producer. I am in it for

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the honey and a single deep will produce more

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honey than running a double. Double deeps, they,

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you know, they store a lot in the double deep

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to start with. Good 35, 40 pounds each. And with

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a single, you're putting that honey super right

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on top of that brood nest and they just put everything

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up above it. So of course your honey production

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increases. And when it comes time to find a queen,

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see what's going on, doing any checks, it's one

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box. So it really cuts down on the labor and

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doing inspections and stuff like that. So I assume

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you use queen excluders. Oh, yeah. You have to.

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Or else it's not single brood management. It

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would be single deep into medium management.

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Yeah. And that's another thing I don't have.

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really brood comb in my honey supers and stuff,

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you know, so it's It just keeps your honey supers

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clean Get a little pollen now and then and how

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much more maintenance does it take to keep everything

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just in one brood box? Yeah, I tell a lot of

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new beekeepers because they see that I run singles

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and It's like they are labor intensive though

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because everything is so condensed into that

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one box They are prone to swarming, so you have

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to be on top of them. My schedule is I go all

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the way, like every nine days, through all of

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them hives. I'm on a rotation, my yards. Today

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I'll go to this yard, do everything I need to

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do. I generally try to keep them at about four,

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maybe five frames of brood until the honey flow

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starts, and then it's just hands off and let

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them go. So all that time, you know, I'm still,

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I just captured 10 virgin queens off of a frame

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day before yesterday. So I have to go around

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either later today after I get those 40 nukes

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done and round up. I think two of those virgins

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have died. So I only need like eight frames of

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bees to get in a nuke box and put that virgin

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in and see if she'll get out and get mated. So

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you're just pulling frames of brood anyway. You

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mentioned you only keep about four in a box,

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right? So you're just pulling everything that's

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extra and putting it in nucs? Right now, that's

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my single deeps. Some of them could have six,

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seven frames of cat brood. Well, if that hive

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reaches maximum population before the honey flow,

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well, they're gone. So what I do is I just keep

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going in. and keeping them throttled back, you

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know, trying to keep the population down and

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just keep the hive stable until the nectar flow

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really starts in earnest and then just turn them

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loose. And then you let it go. Yeah. That's such

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an interesting philosophy. I like that because

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it seems like most beekeepers, it's like, hey,

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the biggest we can do, the more bees we can do

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is all the better. So right, so I think that's

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an interesting way to do it. Yeah in a double

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deep, you know, they're so much more forgiving

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because Queen has more real estate. They have

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more room to put up store, you know, I mean,

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it's just They're just more forgiving for that

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aspect but when I started seeing like Ian Stepler

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up in Canada There was a guy years ago Devon

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Ron from Canada and stuff. These guys were all

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doing single bird management and One year back

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when I first bought the poly hives, I tried like

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10 or 15 singles through the winter and those

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poly singles all survived and my poly double

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deeps had issues of, you know, dying off. So

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they actually overwintered better in that smaller

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condensed cavity. But they didn't run out of

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food? No, no, the poly hives create a different

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environment. You know, it's a field insulated

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cavity. Warm bees eat less honey. Same thing

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with your house. If your house is super insulated,

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your furnace will run less, less fuel. Same thing

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with the bees. Now when we're ventilating the

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wood boxes and you know, you got air just chimneying

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right through them, you're losing all that heat.

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They're eating more. more honey to generate that

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heat so they do eat more. My singles generally

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will go through the winter here in northern Michigan

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on about five, maybe six frames of capped honey

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in a single beat. I try to run mostly barnolian

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genes, you know, I go for the darker bees and

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Although those 40 queens were just all Italian,

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so I weeded those out of my operation, but now

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I just got them back. I think you did say mostly.

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Do the Italians not overwinter as well for you?

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Well, Italians are a better honey producer, but

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they go into winter with such a super large cluster

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that, yeah, they just don't seem to. the overwinter

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as well up here. So I mean, I'll overwinter these

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40 newts and then they'll probably be sold in

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the spring if I don't need some of them to replace

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dead outs or something. But I'll probably try

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to keep those Italian genetics out of my production.

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Go ahead and sell them. Yeah. So you're in, we're

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in Michigan. I know you're Northern somewhere.

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I'm Northern Michigan and right in the snow belt.

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You would have Traverse City, Michigan up by

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Traverse Bay and all that is about 30, 35 minutes

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from me. And then Gaylord, Michigan, that's another

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big town. That's right dead center of the state.

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They're about another 30 minutes or so. But where

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I'm at in the, it is the like snow capital. Last

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year we had the 249 inches of snow. So my hives,

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literally just become bumps in the snow. I'll

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see the stakes of the T -post for the bare fence

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around the yard, and then I have to just kind

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of look for where the little bumps are, where

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the hives are. You don't worry about ventilation?

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No. When I switched to the polystyrene hives,

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I had to throw away all my conventional beekeeping

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wisdom, and it just... go to a tree cavity mentality

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to where the bees go into a tree cavity, it's

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a sealed cavity, and they go in, they stabilize

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it, and they control that environment. Man thinks

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they need all this ventilation and all this stuff.

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They do if they're in a box that they can't stabilize.

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You can take a wood box and if you build a two

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-inch styrofoam box that's all glued together

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and slip it over it, You've now mimicked a tree

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cavity and The bees will do great. They will

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deal with any moisture. They will deal with if

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it's too hot too cold, you know They do it but

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actually I have videos because I do have a YouTube

00:14:15.549 --> 00:14:19.429
channel and I have a little video. I'm not sure

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if it is on YouTube though. It might just be

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the Northern Michigan beekeepers site but my

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buried hives because they are so warm inside,

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there's so much heat coming out the entrance

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that it literally melts a big cavity underneath

00:14:37.039 --> 00:14:42.799
the snow. Quick break to thank our presenting

00:14:42.799 --> 00:14:46.019
sponsor, Man Lake. Whether you're a beekeeper

00:14:46.019 --> 00:14:49.259
or not, you know that nutrition is key for healthy

00:14:49.259 --> 00:14:52.360
honeybees, native bees, and other pollinators.

00:14:52.779 --> 00:14:55.940
The Man Lake app is a great resource for determining

00:14:55.940 --> 00:14:58.940
pollinator friendly plants that thrive in your

00:14:58.940 --> 00:15:02.240
area, and its plant identification feature is

00:15:02.240 --> 00:15:05.940
super helpful and fun. When I see a plant covered

00:15:05.940 --> 00:15:09.500
in bees, I fire up the app on my phone, I find

00:15:09.500 --> 00:15:12.379
out what that plant is, and then I can put them

00:15:12.379 --> 00:15:16.120
in my own yard. The bees love it. If you haven't

00:15:16.120 --> 00:15:18.639
already downloaded the Man Lake app, give it

00:15:18.639 --> 00:15:27.169
a try today. Oh, and by the way, it's free. The

00:15:27.169 --> 00:15:30.309
bees are able to access that cavity. For one,

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I'm not going to say it's super warm, but it's

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not super cold. So they'll come out and do cleansing

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trips outside the hive in that cavity that's

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underneath the snow. It is just amazing that

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I went to dig them out to do the acylic acid

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in winter and dig down to this big old open cavity.

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How big a cavity are we talking about? Generally,

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my hives are two boxes on a two -way pallet.

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And between the two hives melting that cavity,

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it will be a cavity all the way across the front

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between the two hives, maybe a foot tall, 8 -10

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inches out from the front of the hive. Super

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large. I mean, it is a super, super large cavity.

00:16:22.759 --> 00:16:26.000
And it just allows the bees to come out, go to

00:16:26.000 --> 00:16:28.879
the bathroom and go back in. That's amazing.

00:16:28.980 --> 00:16:31.899
I never heard of that. There are times when my

00:16:31.899 --> 00:16:34.340
hives get completely buried in snow in the winter.

00:16:34.759 --> 00:16:37.580
And I thought it was my job to go dig out the

00:16:37.580 --> 00:16:40.159
entrance so that they could get some air. But

00:16:40.159 --> 00:16:43.379
you're saying, nah. Of course, I'm not running

00:16:43.379 --> 00:16:46.340
Polyhives, but you're a pretty good salesman

00:16:46.340 --> 00:16:48.779
for them. By the way, you're not hired by them

00:16:48.779 --> 00:16:51.179
or anything, right? We're not doing an infomercial

00:16:51.179 --> 00:16:55.320
here. No, no. OK, I'll tell you, I started with

00:16:55.320 --> 00:16:58.200
the superior brand, Superior B, which is made

00:16:58.200 --> 00:17:01.559
in Ohio. And I went with them to start because

00:17:01.559 --> 00:17:04.900
of being American made here. And then now they've

00:17:04.900 --> 00:17:10.599
gotten a little pricey. And I now run. blue sky

00:17:10.599 --> 00:17:14.059
or the Paradise Bee box, which that was invented

00:17:14.059 --> 00:17:18.119
in Finland in 1962. So that box has been around

00:17:18.119 --> 00:17:22.160
for a long time, but I do run those now. And

00:17:22.160 --> 00:17:26.299
I know the gentleman that has started the hive

00:17:26.299 --> 00:17:30.240
IQ brand because I do presentations on these

00:17:30.240 --> 00:17:33.599
hives. So I have a sample of each one that I

00:17:33.599 --> 00:17:37.740
use. I don't run the Hive IQ because it's from

00:17:37.740 --> 00:17:41.740
Australia and it's only a nine frame box. So

00:17:41.740 --> 00:17:49.000
my 600 honey supers don't fit on top. So I have

00:17:49.000 --> 00:17:51.960
to stick with the other brands because even though

00:17:51.960 --> 00:17:54.980
I'm running that poly hive, I run wooden honey

00:17:54.980 --> 00:17:59.359
supers all summer long. And the styrofoam lid

00:17:59.359 --> 00:18:02.259
just keeps moving up as I'm adding the boxes.

00:18:03.140 --> 00:18:06.039
Once winter comes and I pull all the honey, the

00:18:06.039 --> 00:18:08.940
lid comes back down and it's a sealed cavity.

00:18:09.119 --> 00:18:12.940
And it's one deep box and that's it all the way

00:18:12.940 --> 00:18:16.259
through winter. And summer. Any supplemental

00:18:16.259 --> 00:18:19.259
feeding? I will feed them in the fall just to

00:18:19.259 --> 00:18:21.700
make sure that they, you know, they are up on

00:18:21.700 --> 00:18:25.160
stores. But I was telling my wife this year,

00:18:25.279 --> 00:18:30.180
I may cut back on feeding because I had so many

00:18:30.180 --> 00:18:34.680
full honey supers. honey frames in that deep

00:18:34.680 --> 00:18:38.940
in the spring that I was literally pulling frames

00:18:38.940 --> 00:18:42.559
out and putting drawn comb in just so the queen

00:18:42.559 --> 00:18:44.519
would have a place to get started up laying.

00:18:45.299 --> 00:18:50.940
It just they do not consume that much honey when

00:18:50.940 --> 00:18:53.720
they are super warm. You're kind of blowing my

00:18:53.720 --> 00:18:57.140
mind here, John. I love it. Oh, I know. I mean,

00:18:57.240 --> 00:18:59.839
and that's why just when we think we have this

00:18:59.839 --> 00:19:04.039
figured out. A lot of the stuff I do and talk

00:19:04.039 --> 00:19:08.420
about is a lot different than what people conventionally

00:19:08.420 --> 00:19:10.880
believe. That's one thing I've learned in beekeeping

00:19:10.880 --> 00:19:14.839
is just keep open -minded because when you think

00:19:14.839 --> 00:19:17.720
you've got it figured out, something either better,

00:19:17.759 --> 00:19:20.980
different or something else comes along and we

00:19:20.980 --> 00:19:23.680
need to keep open -minded to it. You also mentioned

00:19:23.680 --> 00:19:26.839
that you treat with OA during the winter. Yeah.

00:19:26.880 --> 00:19:31.390
Tell me about that when and how. Well, my mite

00:19:31.390 --> 00:19:35.430
protocol is basically through the summer, I don't

00:19:35.430 --> 00:19:38.470
do mite washes or anything like that. I strictly

00:19:38.470 --> 00:19:41.569
just look at drone group. My single deeps, they

00:19:41.569 --> 00:19:43.789
build most of the drone comb on the bottom of

00:19:43.789 --> 00:19:46.490
the frames. So, you know, if I'm scraping off

00:19:46.490 --> 00:19:48.930
some drone comb or something, I'm always investigating

00:19:48.930 --> 00:19:52.170
if I have mites or not through the summer. Then

00:19:52.170 --> 00:19:55.970
when I pull my honey in August, second week of

00:19:55.970 --> 00:20:00.019
August or so we get started, I will take and

00:20:00.019 --> 00:20:03.579
drop Apivar strips at the same time. You know,

00:20:03.640 --> 00:20:05.779
I'm putting a bee escape on so the bees are coming

00:20:05.779 --> 00:20:08.279
out of the honey supers down into the single

00:20:08.279 --> 00:20:13.779
and I have the Apivar in there. Then once that

00:20:13.779 --> 00:20:19.200
runs its course, I remove that. But I know that

00:20:19.200 --> 00:20:23.339
there are bees or mites that didn't, you know,

00:20:23.500 --> 00:20:27.480
get affected. So at Thanksgiving in November,

00:20:28.480 --> 00:20:32.400
because of the warm cavity, the bees are wall

00:20:32.400 --> 00:20:34.900
to wall moving around. There's no cluster, even

00:20:34.900 --> 00:20:38.599
if it's cold, snowy. And I will go in and do

00:20:38.599 --> 00:20:41.839
a round of acylic acid vapor on all of them.

00:20:42.720 --> 00:20:45.819
That will knock down a lot of mites. I've had

00:20:45.819 --> 00:20:48.720
monitors in hives and I know that those follies

00:20:48.720 --> 00:20:50.940
will keep brood in them until about the second

00:20:50.940 --> 00:20:55.200
week of December. So until all of that brood

00:20:55.200 --> 00:20:59.470
is emerged, I still have mites. Right, the vapor

00:20:59.470 --> 00:21:02.390
didn't take care of mites under the cap root.

00:21:02.990 --> 00:21:05.829
Under the capping, right. So I know there's going

00:21:05.829 --> 00:21:08.789
to still be maybe a few mites in there. So I

00:21:08.789 --> 00:21:12.509
go back at Christmas and I'll do another round

00:21:12.509 --> 00:21:15.250
because everything will be emerged around the

00:21:15.250 --> 00:21:20.569
second week of December. So once I do that round,

00:21:21.250 --> 00:21:24.990
the monitor showed me that shortly after that

00:21:24.960 --> 00:21:28.279
the temperature drops in the hive to like about

00:21:28.279 --> 00:21:34.079
a 60 degree cavity temperature and they closed

00:21:34.079 --> 00:21:36.720
at that temperature until about the second week

00:21:36.720 --> 00:21:40.539
of February. The second week of February the

00:21:40.539 --> 00:21:42.980
monitor will show that the the brood nest temperature

00:21:42.980 --> 00:21:45.700
is going back up or the ambient air in the hive

00:21:45.700 --> 00:21:50.799
and I will go back usually around Valentine's

00:21:50.799 --> 00:21:54.990
Day and do another round of acylic acid. or anything

00:21:54.990 --> 00:22:00.009
that may have survived at that point. And then

00:22:00.009 --> 00:22:03.789
basically I come into spring pretty clean. I

00:22:03.789 --> 00:22:07.829
don't do any other mite treatments, nothing until

00:22:07.829 --> 00:22:10.410
again, I mean, if I'm going through a hive and

00:22:10.410 --> 00:22:13.950
I open some drone brood and I see mites, well,

00:22:14.029 --> 00:22:17.230
yeah, I'm gonna do something to mitigate that

00:22:17.230 --> 00:22:21.329
at the time. But for the most part, I don't see

00:22:21.329 --> 00:22:24.140
mites all summer long. Mostly fall and winter

00:22:24.140 --> 00:22:27.019
then for you. And just for our listeners that

00:22:27.019 --> 00:22:29.740
are a little newer at this, that doesn't work

00:22:29.740 --> 00:22:32.339
for everybody. It depends where you are. It depends

00:22:32.339 --> 00:22:34.900
on your mite load. You may need to be treating

00:22:34.900 --> 00:22:37.799
sooner than that. Right. Well, what don't work

00:22:37.799 --> 00:22:40.359
for everybody is if you've got bees in a wooden

00:22:40.359 --> 00:22:45.599
box and it's five degrees outside, they are clustered

00:22:45.599 --> 00:22:50.380
as tight as a basketball. And if you blow acetic

00:22:50.380 --> 00:22:53.170
acid vapor in there, you're just dusting the

00:22:53.170 --> 00:22:57.029
outside of that cluster. You're not hitting the

00:22:57.029 --> 00:23:00.049
bees that are in the center or where the mites

00:23:00.049 --> 00:23:03.730
would be down staying warm too, you know. So

00:23:03.730 --> 00:23:07.730
it's really ineffective more or less in an uninsulated

00:23:07.730 --> 00:23:12.009
cavity. I have videos showing opening my hives

00:23:12.009 --> 00:23:15.750
in February. No up to the top of the hive. I've

00:23:15.750 --> 00:23:19.759
dug it out, opened it up. I have four mil plastic

00:23:19.759 --> 00:23:22.400
as an inner cover so they don't glue those lids

00:23:22.400 --> 00:23:26.059
down. So you can see the bees through there and

00:23:26.059 --> 00:23:30.960
they are wall to wall, working, walking around,

00:23:31.839 --> 00:23:35.160
having a good time. I say in my presentation

00:23:35.160 --> 00:23:39.279
that bees are supposed to be able to stabilize

00:23:39.279 --> 00:23:42.079
their environment and maintain it with minimal

00:23:42.079 --> 00:23:46.950
effort on their part. and have access to every

00:23:46.950 --> 00:23:50.230
square inch of their cavity on any given day

00:23:50.230 --> 00:23:53.490
of the year. They are not supposed to cluster

00:23:53.490 --> 00:23:56.130
height like that. If they're in a cavity that

00:23:56.130 --> 00:23:59.369
they can stabilize and maintain and do what they

00:23:59.369 --> 00:24:02.750
need to do, then they are active. But they're

00:24:02.750 --> 00:24:05.190
not active in the sense that, oh, they're gonna

00:24:05.190 --> 00:24:07.710
eat all the honey. You have to remember your

00:24:07.710 --> 00:24:11.049
winter bees have already filled their fat bodies

00:24:11.049 --> 00:24:15.690
and they're ready for winter. go through winter.

00:24:16.430 --> 00:24:20.250
And then my stores in the singles, I don't see

00:24:20.250 --> 00:24:24.490
that drop until they start raising brood. The

00:24:24.490 --> 00:24:26.170
winter bees have went through winter. They didn't

00:24:26.170 --> 00:24:28.269
really need to eat no honey because they had

00:24:28.269 --> 00:24:32.150
stocked up their fat bodies. But then once they

00:24:32.150 --> 00:24:35.390
start raising brood, well, then they got to start

00:24:35.390 --> 00:24:38.230
dipping into the stores and everything like that.

00:24:38.329 --> 00:24:41.430
And that's another plus to the insulated cavity.

00:24:41.740 --> 00:24:44.680
is because most pollen is stored on the outside

00:24:44.680 --> 00:24:47.039
frames, you know, out towards the outer edge,

00:24:47.700 --> 00:24:51.480
so the nurse bees have to access that. Well,

00:24:51.660 --> 00:24:54.500
if you're in a wood box that they're clustered

00:24:54.500 --> 00:24:58.140
tight and it's February and they want to start

00:24:58.140 --> 00:25:01.140
trying to raise brood, well, any pollen or anything

00:25:01.140 --> 00:25:05.000
that they need to do that better be within that

00:25:05.000 --> 00:25:08.880
cluster. Whereas in the polyhives, the insulated

00:25:08.880 --> 00:25:12.730
cavity, Nurse bees walk over a couple frames,

00:25:13.170 --> 00:25:16.009
get their pollen, whatever they need. They have

00:25:16.009 --> 00:25:18.690
access to every square inch. To me, it's a whole

00:25:18.690 --> 00:25:21.430
different way of beekeeping. I tell people, I

00:25:21.430 --> 00:25:24.130
think for a hundred years or so, we've been keeping

00:25:24.130 --> 00:25:27.269
bees wrong, you know, with all the ventilation

00:25:27.269 --> 00:25:29.829
and moisture boards and all that stuff. And I

00:25:29.829 --> 00:25:32.329
did it for the first eight years of my beekeeping.

00:25:32.950 --> 00:25:34.990
And then every one of those eight years, I mean,

00:25:34.990 --> 00:25:37.470
I was buying bees, buying bees in the spring,

00:25:38.069 --> 00:25:41.700
replace all the dead outs. And 11 years ago I

00:25:41.700 --> 00:25:45.119
switched to these poly hives and I have not had

00:25:45.119 --> 00:25:49.380
to buy bees in the spring since because the survival

00:25:49.380 --> 00:25:51.559
has always been good enough to make more bees

00:25:51.559 --> 00:25:55.259
and go to win -win for me. So give me an idea

00:25:55.259 --> 00:25:57.220
of the survival rate. Do you have any numbers?

00:25:58.019 --> 00:26:02.799
I went into winter last year with about 173 hives

00:26:02.799 --> 00:26:08.480
and I think I lost 25 or 26. Nice. I don't get

00:26:08.480 --> 00:26:11.240
in the fall, I don't... usually get to every

00:26:11.240 --> 00:26:13.559
hive to make sure it's clean right and everything

00:26:13.559 --> 00:26:16.460
before going in, you know, you're cleaning out

00:26:16.460 --> 00:26:19.759
a dead out and you can see the symptoms of, oh,

00:26:20.220 --> 00:26:22.500
we had a land worker in that hive, you know,

00:26:22.740 --> 00:26:25.839
that hive just crashed because there was no queen.

00:26:26.380 --> 00:26:30.480
But as far as the actual keeping the bees warm

00:26:30.480 --> 00:26:33.720
and the bees surviving with honey and all that,

00:26:34.039 --> 00:26:35.960
how many times have you looked at a dead hive

00:26:35.960 --> 00:26:39.559
and they're clustered? and right next to them

00:26:39.559 --> 00:26:42.779
was frames of honey. And you think, well, how

00:26:42.779 --> 00:26:44.779
come they just didn't move over there and eat

00:26:44.779 --> 00:26:48.319
that honey? Well, they were in such a cold environment,

00:26:48.799 --> 00:26:51.900
they couldn't move. Yeah. When you see bees that

00:26:51.900 --> 00:26:54.940
have starved and there's honey still in the hive,

00:26:55.400 --> 00:26:59.140
that is a very frustrating thing. Right. So yeah.

00:26:59.140 --> 00:27:02.480
And another thing that plays into this poly hive

00:27:02.480 --> 00:27:08.230
situation and being the insulated cavity is Bees

00:27:08.230 --> 00:27:11.470
need water to drink, just like every other living

00:27:11.470 --> 00:27:16.250
creature. So, if they're in a cold wooden bot,

00:27:17.190 --> 00:27:19.990
and you are ventilating all their moisture out,

00:27:20.089 --> 00:27:22.930
you have moisture boards wicking all that moisture

00:27:22.930 --> 00:27:26.369
away, and for one though, they're clustered so

00:27:26.369 --> 00:27:29.410
tight, if there was water somewhere, they wouldn't

00:27:29.410 --> 00:27:32.710
be able to walk over and access it. For one,

00:27:32.730 --> 00:27:35.559
it would be frozen, more likely. But I have,

00:27:35.559 --> 00:27:39.519
again, little clips, little video clips of the

00:27:39.519 --> 00:27:42.859
moisture hanging from the plastic inner cover

00:27:42.859 --> 00:27:46.680
that I have and the bees literally walking over

00:27:46.680 --> 00:27:51.220
there and taking a drink because that water is

00:27:51.220 --> 00:27:54.299
room temperature. It's the same ambient temperature,

00:27:54.440 --> 00:27:57.140
you know, of the ambient air within that cavity.

00:27:58.240 --> 00:28:00.960
They've had it stabilized. It is going to condense

00:28:00.960 --> 00:28:04.079
a little bit, but it's their drinking water.

00:28:04.910 --> 00:28:07.109
That's how they're self sustainable through the

00:28:07.109 --> 00:28:11.690
winter. And man thinks we know what we're doing

00:28:11.690 --> 00:28:15.410
by, oh, you know, I mean, I tell northern people

00:28:15.410 --> 00:28:18.930
up here, if you think the bees could be ventilated,

00:28:19.190 --> 00:28:21.349
then go home and put a four foot square in your

00:28:21.349 --> 00:28:24.289
living room ceiling and see how comfortable you

00:28:24.289 --> 00:28:26.769
are through the winter. It ain't going to happen.

00:28:27.369 --> 00:28:28.990
Well, and you've mentioned your YouTube channel

00:28:28.990 --> 00:28:31.549
a couple of times and we'll stick a link to it

00:28:31.549 --> 00:28:34.279
in the show notes. in case people want to see

00:28:34.279 --> 00:28:37.460
some of those videos. Yeah, it's, you know, it's

00:28:37.460 --> 00:28:42.519
just John Stevens. But I go by farmer John Stevens

00:28:42.519 --> 00:28:46.519
on Facebook. And so the YouTube channel to handle

00:28:46.519 --> 00:28:49.740
to it is at farmer John Stevens, because there's

00:28:49.740 --> 00:28:53.720
a ton of John Stevens on YouTube. But yeah, I

00:28:53.720 --> 00:28:57.059
mean, if I come across interesting stuff, I drop

00:28:57.059 --> 00:29:00.740
it on that channel and My presentation from the

00:29:00.740 --> 00:29:03.740
Michigan Beekeepers Association's fall conference,

00:29:04.000 --> 00:29:07.579
that's on there describing this polyhive concept.

00:29:08.220 --> 00:29:11.319
Okay. Last but not least, in fact, probably my

00:29:11.319 --> 00:29:14.740
favorite, John, can you give us a wild and crazy

00:29:14.740 --> 00:29:17.680
beekeeping story that you've had? My brother

00:29:17.680 --> 00:29:20.859
-in -law, who originally got us started in beekeeping

00:29:20.859 --> 00:29:25.019
20 years ago, his dad would always help us in

00:29:25.019 --> 00:29:27.299
the bees, and he even had a few hives of his

00:29:27.299 --> 00:29:30.250
own and stuff. But you have to understand he

00:29:30.250 --> 00:29:36.549
was probably 81 or 82 at the time. And he's out

00:29:36.549 --> 00:29:40.750
in the bee yards with us. And all of a sudden

00:29:40.750 --> 00:29:44.309
we're just hearing him going, no, no, no. And

00:29:44.309 --> 00:29:48.210
he's got a bee going up his pant leg and he wore

00:29:48.210 --> 00:29:52.529
boxer shorts. So, you know, she's got free reign

00:29:52.529 --> 00:29:57.329
on her journey. And literally out in the bee

00:29:57.329 --> 00:30:00.829
yard, he had to drop his trousers to get that

00:30:00.829 --> 00:30:04.430
bee before she got right to the right to the

00:30:04.430 --> 00:30:07.970
point. But we were just both kind of laughing

00:30:07.970 --> 00:30:10.670
and didn't have cell phones at the time to get

00:30:10.670 --> 00:30:14.410
any video of it. But so it's just the three of

00:30:14.410 --> 00:30:17.190
you. Oh, well, it was at that time, you know,

00:30:17.190 --> 00:30:19.940
but he passed away here a few years back. Yeah,

00:30:19.940 --> 00:30:22.180
but thank goodness the whole family wasn't around

00:30:22.180 --> 00:30:25.259
to witness that. Granddaughters, things like

00:30:25.259 --> 00:30:29.900
that. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Well, the cars driving

00:30:29.900 --> 00:30:34.180
by on the road was probably getting a show. But

00:30:34.180 --> 00:30:37.099
what's that doing, wounding everybody? Was he

00:30:37.099 --> 00:30:39.460
also running or was he just kind of jumping around

00:30:39.460 --> 00:30:41.900
to get that beat? Oh, no, he was just standing

00:30:41.900 --> 00:30:44.740
there dropping trousers, man. He was he just

00:30:44.740 --> 00:30:48.920
had to get to it fast. So yeah, bees in the pants

00:30:48.920 --> 00:30:52.599
is never fun. All right. Luckily, we didn't get

00:30:52.599 --> 00:30:55.980
video of that one. We wouldn't be able to post

00:30:55.980 --> 00:31:00.299
it if we did, but sounds funny. And well, no

00:31:00.299 --> 00:31:02.460
father -in -law, we're not making fun of you,

00:31:02.480 --> 00:31:06.279
but thanks for bringing fun to beekeeping. Last

00:31:06.279 --> 00:31:10.259
thing, John, what do you love about honeybees?

00:31:11.640 --> 00:31:15.019
I've been doing it 20 years and they teach me

00:31:15.019 --> 00:31:19.480
something new. every year. I mean, it don't matter.

00:31:19.960 --> 00:31:22.839
You'll think you know it all and you got it and

00:31:22.839 --> 00:31:25.839
they will do something different. I don't know,

00:31:25.880 --> 00:31:28.859
just the overall experience of it. And I think

00:31:28.859 --> 00:31:33.059
with new beekeepers, one of the things is they're

00:31:33.059 --> 00:31:35.819
afraid of their bees. They're all suited up.

00:31:36.059 --> 00:31:38.619
They got the big thick gloves on and they're

00:31:38.619 --> 00:31:41.339
just so scared of these bees and the bees sense

00:31:41.339 --> 00:31:45.039
that. And the sooner you can just say, hey, these

00:31:45.039 --> 00:31:48.119
are bees, and yeah, I might get stung, you'll

00:31:48.119 --> 00:31:50.319
become a better beekeeper of it. I'm not saying

00:31:50.319 --> 00:31:54.380
you have to go glove -less. I wear the Home Depot

00:31:54.380 --> 00:31:57.259
orange and white gloves. They got like the rubber

00:31:57.259 --> 00:32:01.160
coating on them and they're stretchy. I wear

00:32:01.160 --> 00:32:03.799
those because I follow Bob Binney, who's down

00:32:03.799 --> 00:32:06.839
in Georgia. I follow his mantra of, if I see

00:32:06.839 --> 00:32:09.779
a queen, I mark her. You know, every queen in

00:32:09.779 --> 00:32:13.769
my operation is marked. So, I wear those gloves

00:32:13.769 --> 00:32:16.230
strictly to keep my hands from being sticky.

00:32:17.089 --> 00:32:19.809
I used to go glove -free all the time, but I

00:32:19.809 --> 00:32:23.369
never, never marked queens in the past. So now

00:32:23.369 --> 00:32:26.109
that I'm marking every queen, I can just slip

00:32:26.109 --> 00:32:28.670
them gloves off, I can grab her, I can handle

00:32:28.670 --> 00:32:31.289
her. I'm not ripping her wings off because they've

00:32:31.289 --> 00:32:34.250
snipped to the propolis on my fingers or anything

00:32:34.250 --> 00:32:37.130
like that. So, you know, I tell them, you don't

00:32:37.130 --> 00:32:39.650
have to be glove -less. And I get stung through

00:32:39.650 --> 00:32:42.250
those gloves. I haven't tried those. I'm going

00:32:42.250 --> 00:32:44.950
to give those a shot. I wear the nitrile gloves

00:32:44.950 --> 00:32:47.509
and you can get stung through those. Oh, yeah.

00:32:47.670 --> 00:32:50.269
But it is really nice when you're done working

00:32:50.269 --> 00:32:52.730
some hives to just pull those off and throw them

00:32:52.730 --> 00:32:55.769
away. Right. And yeah, you're not digging propolis

00:32:55.769 --> 00:32:59.170
out of your fingers. I tried the nitrile gloves

00:32:59.170 --> 00:33:01.789
for a while, but my hands just get so wet and

00:33:01.789 --> 00:33:04.069
sweaty, you know, because when I go out to work

00:33:04.069 --> 00:33:06.410
bees, I'm going to a yard to go through 30, 40

00:33:06.410 --> 00:33:09.529
hives. That's just a long time. And those other

00:33:09.529 --> 00:33:11.390
ones, they got, you know, they're the white material.

00:33:11.589 --> 00:33:13.589
They kind of absorb the moisture, the sweat.

00:33:13.809 --> 00:33:16.349
You still have the dexterity because they are

00:33:16.349 --> 00:33:19.710
so tight. Yeah, I love them. You're selling me

00:33:19.710 --> 00:33:22.250
on all kinds of things today. You should have

00:33:22.250 --> 00:33:25.849
stock in Home Depot and in Poly Hives and all

00:33:25.849 --> 00:33:29.009
this stuff. I watch other beekeepers and they'll

00:33:29.009 --> 00:33:32.970
put on those black nitrile gloves. And I'm like

00:33:32.970 --> 00:33:36.549
bees don't like black no no no that's one of

00:33:36.549 --> 00:33:39.549
the things about the Home Depot gloves that I

00:33:39.549 --> 00:33:42.190
Just don't really care for is and they've got

00:33:42.190 --> 00:33:44.750
some black lettering on the back of them And

00:33:44.750 --> 00:33:47.230
a lot of times the bees just target that black

00:33:47.230 --> 00:33:50.369
lettering a little bit But but nothing bad and

00:33:50.369 --> 00:33:52.109
the nitrile ones that I have they're just that

00:33:52.109 --> 00:33:54.769
light blue color It doesn't seem to agitate the

00:33:54.769 --> 00:33:57.750
bees at all right. They are thin enough. You're

00:33:57.750 --> 00:34:00.390
gonna tear them now and then oh, yeah, you know

00:34:00.349 --> 00:34:03.450
And yeah, the sweat is definitely an issue. I

00:34:03.450 --> 00:34:05.150
tell the new beekeeper that'll make you a better

00:34:05.150 --> 00:34:07.289
beekeeper because with those big leather bulky

00:34:07.289 --> 00:34:11.670
gloves, you're crushing bees. Crushed bees make

00:34:11.670 --> 00:34:14.769
for mean bees. You want to alleviate that problem.

00:34:15.150 --> 00:34:18.369
So the moral of our discussion today is no big

00:34:18.369 --> 00:34:22.690
heavy leather gloves and no boxer shorts. Exactly.

00:34:23.170 --> 00:34:25.969
John, thank you for being with me. I appreciate

00:34:25.969 --> 00:34:28.789
your time. All right. I'm glad we got to do it.

00:34:32.170 --> 00:34:35.150
Thanks again for joining us here on Be Love Beekeeping,

00:34:35.250 --> 00:34:39.110
presented by Man Lake. Remember right now to

00:34:39.110 --> 00:34:42.909
follow or subscribe and share this podcast. Also

00:34:42.909 --> 00:34:45.230
a quick shout out to Vita Bee Health for their

00:34:45.230 --> 00:34:48.690
support. Vita's Varroa Control range of products

00:34:48.690 --> 00:34:53.329
includes Apistan, Apigard, and now Varroxan Extended

00:34:53.329 --> 00:34:57.019
Release Oxalic Acid Strips. Thanks guys. And

00:34:57.019 --> 00:34:59.400
remember, if you're not just in it for the honey

00:34:59.400 --> 00:35:02.340
or the money, you're in it for the love. See

00:35:02.340 --> 00:35:03.039
you next week.