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Tag: beekeeping videos

Varroa Mite Treatment For Bees – Beekeeping 101 – GF Video

Here is the oxalic acid varroa mite treatment I use on our honeybees. I’ve used a few mite treatments in the past, tried the varroa resistant queens, one year I did the hands off method, and the oxalic acid mite treatment is the best thing I’ve used so far. This is based on my use, and other beekeepers I know. Some mite treatments are pretty awful in the hive, oxalic acid strikes a good balance.

Oxalic acid occurs naturally. It is present in spinach and rhubarb, and is found in small amounts in honey. My treatment method is based on a post by Rusty on my fav beekeeping blog, Honey Bee Suite.

One of the great things about this method is that it is super easy. Some people will vaporize oxalic acid in their hives, but this requires some gear, and I don’t recommend it for the hobbyist beekeeper. Our treatment process uses a 60 ml syringe. You can buy these at agricultural supply stores, or online here.

This sugar – acid mix is also great for spraying bee packages before putting then in a hive. It knocks down the mite load quite a bit. All the packages I hive are sprayed with it before dropping into a hive. When treating a regular hive, it is best to apply the mite treatment in late fall, when there is little brood in the hive. The acid will not kill any mites that are in capped cells.

Oxalic Acid is easiest to buy as wood bleach

The oxalic acid varroa mite treatment recipe:

Oxalic acid is also known as wood bleach. It is used by wood finishers. You may be able to find it in a hardware store. I couldn’t find it, so I bought it online, order oxalic acid here. You can buy the syringe here.

Put 600 ml of hot water in a quart Pyrex container, or similar glass jar.

Add 35 grams of the oxalic acid crystals and stir to dissolve in the hot water

Add 600 grams of granulated sugar.

Store in a glass jar – I use a canning jar.

Take the cover off the hive, do not break apart the hive. You apply the acid through the top super.

Measure 50 ml into the syringe, and dribble 5 ml into the spaces between each frame of a 10 frame hive. Some people will use more of the acid in the frame space areas that have more bees in them.

Rusty suggest practicing the dribble with water before doing this, and I agree. It takes a little work to get it right. Rusty references the Scientific Beekeeping site in her post for the exact oxalic acid varroa mite treatment recipe.

December 3, 2015
Beehive Winter Wrap – Beekeeping 101 – GF Video

After trying several kinds, this beehive winter wrap works best for me. Its easy to put on, and I can re-use it every year. It makes winterizing beehives easier, and the honeybees make it through winter.

Beehive Winter Wrap How To:

Insulating the beehive is the first part of winter prep. The second and third parts of winterizing the beehive is to use an insulated inner cover and add a backup source of food, we use the dry sugar method. Before any winterizing, treat the bees for varroa mites.

I use the 2″ thick polystyrene you can buy at the lumber store. Its usually used for insulating walls and basements. Its not the cheapest stuff, but it will last a long time, just don’t beat it up. One 24″ x 96″ piece will wrap a hive with some leftover.

I cut it with a retractable box knife with the blade pushed all the way out. Be very careful when cutting. Use a piece of metal or wood as a straight edge, and make series of cuts down through the polystyrene. You can also use a hand saw with a straight edge. Best to cut this on a work table or somewhere you don’t mind getting knife marks. Once you make several cuts down through the material, you can snap it off, kinda like cutting drywall.

Keep in mind the pieces do not have to be perfect.

Do Not Block The Lower Entrance

Upper Entrance Kept Clear!

The front piece of insulation will be shorter than the back piece. You have to make sure not to cover the lower or upper entrances with the insulation. These both need to stay open through winter. I use a ratchet strap to hold the hive wrap against the beehive, you could also use 2 bungee cords, one near the top, one near the bottom.

December 3, 2015
Easy Insulated Inner Cover – Beekeeping 101 – GF Video
Here’s how to put together an insulated inner cover for your beehive without having to buy a new cover or build one. I learned this method from Phillipe at MudSongs.org , he has some great info on his beekeeping site, very down to earth.

An insulated inner cover reduces or prevents condensation in the beehive in winter.

Why does this matter? Condensation is water that collects on the top of the hive. It forms on the side of the inner cover that faces the bees. When enough water collects, it will drip back down onto the bees. Not a good thing.

Wet bees are dead bees.

Especially in winter.

How does this cover help? Condensation happens when warm air meets a cold object. In the beehive in winter, the bee cluster is warm, and there is some humidity in the air. When the warm air from the cluster rises and hits the cold inner cover, the water vapor condenses and drops back onto the bees. Not good.

The insulation that sits on top of the inner cover here keeps the cover from getting real cold, thus reducing or eliminating condensation. Since I have been using the insulated inner cover, I have not seen signs of condensation in the hive. If you find mold in your hives, you have condensation, FYI.

My variation on the insulated cover is to put a shim between the upper super and the inner cover. I then put sugar on top of the frames, using the dry sugar, aka mountain camp, method. This sugar provides a backup food source, and absorbs moisture in the hive.

Be sure the slot of the inner cover is not covered, one should always provide an upper entrance to the hive, plus it allows for air flow. Yes even in cold weather, I believe a hive needs some air flow, so provide an upper entrance. Remember to invert the inner cover.

You should also insulate the sides of the hive.

Here is how to stack the parts of the top of the beehive, top to bottom:
- Outer cover sits on top of insulation, and usually covers it.
- Insulation – I use 2″ thick polystyrene.
- Inner cover, turned upside down, flat side faces upward.
- Spacer shim, with dry sugar on top of newspaper.
- Top brood super
I built some DIY insulated inner covers that are more involved than this stack method, and they work well for me. If you are handy, have at them.
December 3, 2015
Beekeeping 101- Hive Inspection – GF Video

A Hive Inspection is just that, you are checking out the beehive to see how its doing. Part of our Beekeeping 101 Video series, today we are doing a hive inspection of a nuc we installed this spring. This bee nuc had a late start, as did all our bees, because spring came late.

Note in the beekeeping video we did not smoke the honeybees. I don’t smoke bees unless I know I am giong to take apart the hive or pull honey off. When you smoke the hive, it can cause stress in the hive, and the bees start to eat their food stores, so it sets them back a few days whenever you do it.

If you are going to just do a quick eyeball check, I see no need for the smoker. For this hive inspection, I wanted to confirm the presence of the queen and make sure the hive looked robust and smelled good. You can tell a lot from just how the bees are behaving.

Some of this is gut feeling, but listen to your bees while doing the hive inspection. If there is a low incessant buzz, the beehive may be queenless, which is a bad thing.

How do you know if the hive is queenless? The big red flag is no uncapped brood. In other words, no open cells with very small eggs or larvae in the bottom of the cell. You might also see a lot of drone egg cells, which means you have a drone laying worker. Which is bad. This means one or more of the female workers has started to lay eggs. The eggs will be sterile, so they become drones, hence the presence of large drone cells.

Pull out a frame from the center of the top brood super. If you see open brood, that’s a great thing. The queen has been present in the past few days, and she is probably still around. You want your frame pattern to look roughly like the photo above. It wont be perfect, but something like this. Not every cell in the brood area will be capped, there will be some empty ones.

I think its best to learn how to raise bees by having two hives. You can compare the two, and get an idea of what is ‘normal’. There are several good books on beekeeping we recommend here.

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July 22, 2015
Sugar Cake Recipe Winter Beekeeping 101 Video
Here’s a video on how to make sugar cakes to feed your bees in winter. Overwintering your honeybees is challenge, here is one way I help the bees overwinter, feeding them sugar cakes with this recipe. You can make these at home. I use foil pans you can buy at the grocery store.

Note: I know use the dry sugar aka Mountain Camp method of providing sugar to honeybees in the winter. Watch our dry sugar Mountain Camp video here.

The sugar cake recipe:
- put 5 pounds of sugar in a large mixing bowl
- add 7.5 ounces of water
- add a teaspoon or two of essential oil mix if you choose
- mix together and then spread out in a 9×13 or similar foil pan
- allow to dry overnight
- take off the inner cover of the hive
- carefully turn the cake upside down onto a thin plastic or wood board
- slide the sugarcake onto the top of the hive, and either put on either a shim or an insulated inner cover, and then the outer cover.
Here are some photos of how to make sugar cakes for bees.

You can add a homemade honeybee essential oil mix to the sugar cake recipe, you can see the essential oil recipe here. Update: I know buy the pre-mixed essential oil mix, its not that expensive and saves time.

To put these cakes on top of your hive, you must use a spacer – shim, or an insulated inner cover.

There are many opinions on how to get your bees through the winter, this is one way we make sure our honeybees have enough food to get through the winter. What I like about sugarcakes is that the cakes absorb moisture in the hive, which reduces or prevents condensation in the hive.

Many beekeeping books say you should open the hives only when it is 45-50F, but I’ve found if you act quickly, you can pop the top of the hive to slide in sugarcakes when the temperature is in the 30s. Obviously you aren’t going to do a hive inspection at 30F, but you have a few seconds to open the inner cover an add sugar above the supers.

Again, I think the dry sugar method is much better now, check it out here.

Do you use sugar in your hives in winter? let us know below:

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February 18, 2012
Beekeeping for Beginners FAQ Part 2 : GF Radio

Matt joins Eric to answer Beekeeping for Beginners questions on this show. What equipment to buy, how to buy honeybees, where to put beehives in your yard, what kind of beekeeping suit to buy all answered here.

what kind of beekeeping suit and beekeeping veil is good?

what kind of frames should i use in the beehive, are plastic frames better than wood frames?

wax foundation versus plastic foundation should i use plastic or wax foundation on the frames of the beehive? eric talks about the benefits of wax foundation and plastic foundation and frames

Eric suggests 2 beekeeping for beginners books,

Buy On IndieBound Here
Click Here to buy on Amazon

Click Here to Buy On Indiebound
Click Here To Buy On Amazon

Beekeeping for Dummies and the Backyard Beekeeper

do you paint the outside of the beehive? yes, we use latex paint.

should i buy 8 frame supers or 10 frame supers? matt and eric talk about the benefits of 8 frame boxes and 10 frame boxes

what kind of beekeeping tools should i buy? eric suggests bringing duct tape, scissors, entrance reducer, smoker, woodchips, matches, 2 or 3 hive tools, a frame grabbing tool, needle nose pliers and more.

what kind of hive stand should my beehive rest on? cinder block, wood, metal stands are talked about, eric suggests having a work table next to your hives.

we talk about benefits of top bar hives vs. langstroth hives, and the drawbacks of top bar hives and langstroth beehives.

should you buy a bee package or a honeybee nuc? eric talks about the advantages of honeybee packages , the pros and cons of bee packages, and the benefits of being a nuc or nucleus hive to start a beehive.

eric advocates buying local honeybees and queens, either packages or nucs, the closer you can buy your bees the better.

www.whiteoakapiary.com in Brewster, NY and www.warmcolorsapiary.com in Greenfield, MA is where eric buys queens and honeybees.

should you feed honeybees in winter and how do i feed my bees over the winter? eric talks about how to feed bees in winter. you can watch our Beekeeping for Beginners video series here, and several videos are about feeding bees in winter.

Eric uses a hand immersion blender to mix this sugar feed solution, and adds this homemade essential oil recipe for bees to the sugar

The essential oil mixture is great for spraying the bees to combat nosema and bee diarrhea.

winterizing beehives is discussed, here is eric’s beehive insulated inner cover video, Eric feeds sugar cakes to the bees in winter, not fondant or sugar syrup. Should you close or open a screened bottom board? Matt and Eric discuss

Mudsongs.org is a favorite beekeeping blog of eric’s. Phillip documents his beekeeping in Newfoundland Canada.

where to site your hives in your yard, where should you put the hives, what is the best location for beehives? eric has learned that full sun is best, he talks more about it during this radio episode.

should I take a beekeeping class? eric says yes.

and join your local beekeeping group. search on the web for your state’s beekeeping association, and that site should list local beekeeping groups.

Megan of BrooklynHomesteader.com offers online beekeeping classes, and in-person classes as well.

January 16, 2012