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About this video: Am I Doing It Wrong or Just Differently? | Beekeepers who don’t follow the rules
Should I get in line or continue to challenge the status quo? Is heating your beehives WRONG or is it Innovation. I believe beehive heaters are an innovation and have a place in the hobbyist beekeeper community. Yes, that is my opinion but backed up with 4 seasons of empirical data and heated beehives in some of the coldest climates in the world. I do not just rely on theory to advance my beekeeping knowledge, I practice innovation.
About this Channel:
I hope you enjoy beekeeping and this video. If you are interested in becoming a beekeeper or experience backyard beekeeping for yourself have a look at some of the videos on this beekeeping channel as well as videos from beekeeping creators I have listed below. This is my third season as a beekeeper and everything I have learned came from YouTube and mostly from the channels listed below.
Although this beekeeping channel is primarily about beekeeping I am also a quasi pepper who believes in becoming self-sufficient. With that in mind, I have started a garden, planted fruit trees, replaced the hedges in front of my house with blueberry bushes, and have recently built a chicken coop. In short, I will share a lot more than beekeeping on this channel.
A little about me:
I am a person who believes you are never to old to learn something. Be it beekeeping, farming, raising chickens, painting, filming and editing video, making wine, beer, bread, cheese, and other fermentation consumables, play guitar etc… If I see something I want to try I start it immediately. If there is one thing I could choose to pass along to my children this would be it. Never be afraid to try. My wife famously told me once that if you are not willing to be bad at something, you will never be good at it. That means I am bad at quite a few things.
A little about you:
If you are new to beekeeping or are interested in becoming a beekeeper this channel might be for you. In my beekeeping adventures I show everything from my beekeeping successes to my beekeeping failures. I hide nothing and am never afraid to admit to a mistake.
I hope you find my beekeeping videos fun and entertaining as well as get something out of them. I hope I inspire someone to get out and try something new. If you do enjoy my videos, please take a moment to spread the word about this channel and help it, and myself, grow. Have a great day and BEE Happy!
My Mentors:
Vino Farm
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-xczyljpDKuM00-45OUrvg
Frederick Dunn
https://www.youtube.com/user/HTCSWEOD
Mike Barry
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCN4jr_hLv6HmZ3ICCdw4C6Q
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The gear I use:
Primary Camera: Sony FDRAX53/B 4K HD
Secondary Camera: Sony FDRAX53/B 4K HD
Primary MIC: Sony ECMXYST1M Stereo Microphone
Secondary MIC: Sony ECMXYST1M Stereo Microphone
Tripod: ( GEEKOTO Camera Tripod
Editing Software: Adobe Premier
Graphics Package: Adobe Photoshop
Learning Final Cut Pro
Channel Key words:
#beekeeping #flowhive #insects #prepping
A bit about my channel:
This channel is primarily about beekeeping or more specifically beekeeping 101 because I am just a beginning beekeeper and I figured the best way to learn beekeeping and to be a beekeeper was to buy a flow hive, sometimes spelled flowhive or a flow hive 2 which is sometimes known as a flowhive 2 and begin building by backyard apiary so I would have a place to keep bees. Now, backyard beekeeping is not the only thing I do. I consider myself to be urban farming as I also try to grow a sustainable and edible landscape. Backyard farming for me also includes keeping chicken and building other things in my shop that will help all of the birds, bees, insects, and other natural pollinators. I learn how to feed bees and chickens while showing you my day-to-day activities in my apiary, sometimes known as a bee yard. Some people consider me a prepper and yes there is a little truth to that. I do consider this a form of prepping and becoming self sufficient. Thank you for spending time with me learning about tap hives, flow hives, honeybees, and chickens.
25 Comments
SMASHED that 👍 They are your bees so your allowed to do as you want with them. Love different experiments that's how we learn new things. I've been experimenting a little myself. ❤️🐝
Heated bee hives or not—you do you. What works for you may not work for someone else. This works for you! Have a great weekend. Thanks for sharing and letting me tag along 🙂
I think if it works for you and you don't lose your bees I don't see any problem with what works for you.
And also I would value your opinion of the whole hide is it something that you think would be worthwhile and durable enough to stand up to life thank you bud
I don't see nothing wrong with what your doing .Insulate my hives R30 on top R10 on the sides been doing it for 30 years here in Ohio and people told me they will eat all the stores no they wont proven the opposite .
Bug Farmer, the way I see it is they’re your bees and you can do whatever you want to with them as long as you don’t upset your wife with what you do! lol 😂 The old saying “happy wife, happy life”. lol. “Mad wife, miserable life” is my saying. lol If your wife is like mine, she doesn’t care what I do with my bees as long I don’t expect her to help with the bees. Helping with the honey is fine as long as I don’t bring any bees into the house with the supers. I’m just east of B’ham and my weather is about the same as yours and I don’t think I need to heat my hives but if you want to heat yours that’s totally up to you and NONE of my business. Another one of my sayings is “It’s your soap and your body so you can wash it as fast as you want to”!
If I ever see someone talking about your hives or anyone elses setup, I tell them the same thing. If it works in that persons apiary, how can you bash the idea? Like you said, people bring hives inside. Ian Steppler moves 1500+ colonies into a barn that is temperature regulated. There is data out there that shows exactly what you said, less storage consumption. I say keep at it, I enjoy watching.
👍Greetings from the Netherlands
( edit : youtube just introduced the new naming system for the comments ??
I hope our channel names don't change)
If I was a bee keeper, my first goal would be not to get stung 😉
I am glad to see someone is checking this stuff out. Keep us all posted on your results
"They do bring out their dead in the winter time."
BRING OUT YOUR DEAD!
I'm not dead yet!
Yes you are; you'll be stone dead in a moment.
I think I might go for a fly!
Keep doing you, buddy. You’re a Master Citizen Scientist!
I'm in ND and my first year I was told I needed 100 to 120lbs of honey reserves to overwinter outdoors, so I left each colony 28 deep frames of honey. I then wrapped the stack with Double Bubble and 4" of rigid foam on the sides and 6" on top. I put temp transmitters on top of the inner cover and below the foam board. I had no top vents. The bees kept that same 70-72° on top all winter. In the 6 months, they ate 6-7 frames, or about 30lbs of honey, so I agree warmer internal temps may not increase consumption in all areas.
I'd say by now you have collected enough information to have a scientifically valid point instead of just an opinion, especially as it agrees with what some others have found.
"The problem with common sense is that sense never ain't common" – Lazarus Long
I think it would be wrong for me to tell you how to keep your bees.
I do think it would be easier/cheaper to build an open air covering building that covers your hives so that they are sheltered from the weather. Not sure about heating but I find your sensor system very interesting to me. Earl is doing a similar sensor system to track more data.
If I was in a position to try heating my hives I would. It needs to be tried to know what's good, what's bad and what's neutral about raising bees that way. If no one has tried it its all just educated guesses.
I agree whatever you can do keep those bugs alive! Keep doing what you think is best, they are your live stock. Keep it up and I will keep watching!
A year or two ago I was one of those that was negative on heating hives but I saw the condition of your bees and how large your hives were in the spring and you can't argue with what works. I also agree there are more ways to raise bees than you can shake a stick at, lots of bee keepers do one or more things different than others do and are successful so IMO nobody can say you are wrong or hurting your bees. ———- Good Luck and Take Care !
I’m building a heater box and the fans I got have a 3 speed switch. Do I remove it so the controls are not overridden and splice it?
If I’m not willing to entertain anyone else’s ideas or innovation, then I’ve closed off opportunity. Would I heat mine? No, just don’t think it’s necessary, but will I bash someone that does, like the Bug Farmer…again, no. You keep on innovating and I’ll keep on watching. We can’t stay stuck in one way of doing things. My thoughts on the heat is I am wary of keeping beetles and mites alive outside of the cluster. I think that’s our issues down here with warm winters. One thing about the Canadians and northern US that use bee houses to store for winter….they maintain their temps at 35F to 45F to keep them clustered. They want them tightened up with the ability to be able to hover the cluster throughout the stores in singles. But still, like you said, out of the brutal cold. Keep on innovating BF, it’s why we’re where we are as a hobby and industry. Great vid!!
I disagree with you on some points. If you are happy and it works for you, go for it. I love you videos. Keep it up
Ok we all know now what this really is !! The real secret is out! Bugville is actually a honeybee country club on the lake!! They have climate control condos, overlooking the lake, fishing ,swimming and flower recreation!! 😂😂😂 I think bug farmer has made a deal with these Bees , free room and board just put out honey!! I can see game rooms and tv coming soon in the bee barns!!😂😂😂… You have to admit, these hives are very productive, and it absolutely makes for a very good foundation of steady splits to keep a good population.. Im jealous I dont have fishing along with my bees.. Your a lucky man cape crusader!! Now get to work on the winter project…. A bugmobile!! And it better run on honey!!!😂😂😂😂😂😂
I'm lucky to live in Oz, and it doesn't snow here (unless you live on top of a mountain) I've been considering using exhaust fans for heat release. I'll see how my bees go in my different types of hives, and once I've settled on the best hive type for my area I'll stick to it. I consider my bees experts on themselves and if I fiddle too much with them, I'm probably going to be hurting not helping them. But if I had snow here I'd definitely look into heating hives. One question. Moisture. Is it more of a problem in a heated hive?
When I first came across your videos I thought it was odd but all I knew was from books. Seeing all the different views and perspectives of how people keep bees opens your eyes to what can be done. I enjoy your videos and hope you keep putting them out. I’ve seen the other videos and I like your style and approach to the community better than those. Thanks as always for sharing!
Always look forward to your Friday video! How did you come up with the temp you heat to 72? Have you tried other temps?