Mike Palmer talk at the National honey show.

[Hivemaker.]

The sustainable apairy, 2013 talk by Mike, and i hope it helps many more beekeepers to adopt similar methods.

Thank you Mike.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nznzpiWEI8A&feature=youtu.be

 

[sipa]

Thank you Pete

I did hear the talk at the show, but nice to see again.

 

[Finman]

.
Quite a story along years.
Tough Guy.

I have has a slight idea about Southern Bee stocks in USA, but no one has told that so clearly. USA is Great. It does not need advices from others. It is Better to ban them than listen.

Like a Russian Lada car. Features of big car. Big fuel consumption and big turning radius.

 

[alanf]

Excellent. This is the first of Mike's talks which was filmed at the show. The other lecture in the first batch is Robert Paxton's "Origins and Evolutionary History of the Honey Bee". More on the academic side, but an insight into many of the other bees we see around and about us.

It looks like the intention is to list the lectures as they become available here:

http://www.honeyshow.co.uk/lectures.shtml

 

[Hachi]

Does / Is Mike Palmer on the assoc speaking circuits? I'd like to book him if we could afford it.

 

[Tim.S]

Thanks for putting this up - Mike speaks a lot of common sense. I should be working tonight but that's one hour of my life most definitely not wasted. Oh well, back to it!

 

[Hombre]

@Hatchi, Mike was in the UK only for a few weeks. I believe that it was a reciprocal visit, having hosted a few in the US some little time ago. He made the most of his multiple hosts local knowledge to take in as much of Britain he could on his tight schedule and give the series of talks. This was the only time that he has been outside the USA, so he was determined not to squander the opportunity. Great speaker and a passionate man.

 

[Finman]

.
That honeybee history....it is new again after 5 years genemapping.
And more Apis species. Huge work...

 

[farbee]

Interesting but it strikes me as strange that somebody flies over from America or Canada (not sure which) to talk on Sustainability and his talk basically encourages you to make some nuc up to use to boast your set up for next year.
Or am I missing something?

 

[Michael Palmer]

and his talk basically encourages you to make some nuc up to use to boast your set up for next year.
Or am I missing something?

Yes, but also to use non-productive colonies mid-main flow as a brood source...rather than your best colonies pre-main-flow. Winter as nucleus colonies.

 

[Chris B]

Or am I missing something?

No the message is quite simple. Make nucs with quality young homegrown queens and keep your bee population rolling. The only strange thing is that most of us operate a more static mentality.

 

[dpearce4]

Yes, but also to use non-productive colonies mid-main flow as a brood source...rather than your best colonies pre-main-flow. Winter as nucleus colonies.

I would think it also means you buy in less so that makes it more sustainable to.

 

[Chris B]

Sustainable
Self-sustaining
Self-sufficient

I'm a bit of a John Seymour fan. Have you heard of him Mike? I'm sure you'd enjoy his books.

 

[fiftyjon]

Just watched the video on YouTube and what inspiration!!

Thank you Mike, plenty to think about....

 

[Itchy]

Great vid, easy to follow

 

[susbees]

Sustainable
Self-sustaining
Self-sufficient

I'm a bit of a John Seymour fan. Have you heard of him Mike? I'm sure you'd enjoy his books.

Me too - that's where I came in with the whole smallholding sustainability mindset....well that and The Good Life (lol). Mike is quite a book fan Chris: luckily we found him an unmined seam of old beekeeping books in Shrewsbury (hoping that they were a good read).

 

[blackcavebees]

Thanks Pete for posting link. Great video, exciting prospects for next season

 

[user 6228]

I have now seen this presentation at two different venues(on you tube)
Here is my take:

• Small colonies are very vigourous
• Bees are vigourous in tall and narrow nests (nuc box above nuc box)
• One can group small colonies together to reduce heat losses
• A large bank of small colonies can be used for many purposes in a large apiary eliminating the need for bought in queens and bees.
• Overwinter as small colonies grouped together
• Bees can survive in harsh conditions if given some generations to adapt/mingle with the local population with good forage and some measures to conserve heat (Grouped Nucs)
• Vermont was part of the natural range of wild bees living in trees. Man and Varroa seem to have stopped that.

Question: Do your nuc boxs have separate floors? This differs from common practice here to have integral floors ( though I use separate floors)

I think the table saw is coming out again before spring to split some brood box kits in two.

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

I think the table saw is coming out again before spring to split some brood box kits in two.

Yes, drawing out the implications of that two-nests-as-one was fascinating. Drawing comb against the divider for example. T

 

[Michael Palmer]

Question: Do your nuc boxs have separate floors? This differs from common practice here to have integral floors ( though I use separate floors)

No, they have integral floors and a common roof. I try to have all standard size so a roof from a production hive will fit on a double nuc hive, etc.