Ouch. Feel sorry for.this guy

[BigAshW]

 

[Ian123]

With the best will in the world if he’s silly enough to stick 2 frames of honey outside the entrance for them and every other bee to rob out I’m not surprised!

 

[BigAshW]

With the best will in the world if he’s silly enough to stick 2 frames of honey outside the entrance for them and every other bee to rob out I’m not surprised!

Yeah I've noticed that allowing the bees to "clean up" kit seems pretty common in the us.

It never fails to amaze me how many of them open feed and leave supers out for cleaning etc.

But then they seem to have a very different style of beekeeping in many ways at times.

 

[Ian123]

Yeah I've noticed that allowing the bees to "clean up" kit seems pretty common in the us.

It never fails to amaze me how many of them open feed and leave supers out for cleaning etc.

But then they seem to have a very different style of beekeeping in many ways at times.

If I put my hand on my heart I couldn’t say I’ve never done itbut really by the entrance come on!!! Probably only thing saving him is the lack of bees in the other hives

 

[GuyNir]

Leaving the frames outside the hive was an obvious mistake, but I’m not quick to judge the guy at the moment he discovered 1/20 hives survived the winter. Overall a nice guy, meaning well, he will need to pick himself up and figure out what went wrong.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

This was discussed in some detail here a little while ago Another lost colony story looks like a disaster waiting to happen.

 

[Hachi]

13 out of 14 hives gone. Small colonies in big hives with absolutely catastrophic varroa infestation and feeding them by tipping granulated sugar on top for feed. He's a nugget who should find a different hobby. Disgraceful!

 

[hemo]

His vaping was too late in the Autumn and by his admission bees were very busy foraging during the very mild late weather which is when he vaped. Though vaping effects are supposedly active for a few days, it does look like varroa was the main issue as he stated the bees were carrying 2 or 3 each.
Also he says after a cold winter, spring was very dry hot and no nectar from the flowers yet he doesn't carry out any feeding till Autumn. The lack of stores on the comes one can add starvation/cold and the loss of bees due to varroa/viruses when the winter bees were being produced.

 

[charlievictorbravo]

The old beekeepers' maxim of "take your winter losses in the autumn" is relevant here - he might not have lost so many if he'd combined the colonies that were weak. We've all had weak colonies that we've fed to get them through winter only to have then circum in late winter. One thing he could do is use the surviving colony to breed from (if it can survive when all others fail, it's worth breeding from!) rather than bring in more bees from elsewhere.

With good weather in the coming season, he could have several colonies split from the original by the end of the summer (let's face it, he's got all the empty kit to do it), without going in for any sophisticated queen rearing methods, with which he might not be familiar.

The issues of the varroa treatments have already been highlighted but we've learned in the last 18 months from Dr Samuel Ramsey the damage that varroa do to bees at all stages of their lives - and it's not just passing on the occasional virus - it's that they are eating an essential part of the bees' anatomy!

CVB

 

[Erichalfbee]

The issues of the varroa treatments have already been highlighted but we've learned in the last 18 months from Dr Samuel Ramsey the damage that varroa to bees at all stages of their lives - and it's not just passing on the occasional virus - it's that they are eating an essential part of the bees' anatomy!

CVB

Which is why a brood break does so much damage in a heavily infested colony

 

[pnkemp]

I've actually watched his channel for about a year, and other than the faults already mentioned, he seems obsessed with increase. Every time a hive gets to be reasonably strong he whips a couple of nucs off it. So they are unlikely to get a chance to load up on stores even in a good year.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

he seems obsessed with increase. Every time a hive gets to be reasonably strong he whips a couple of nucs off it.

He has to keep making up new nucs as he keeps on killing his colonies, seems to spend all his energy on deliberately weakening his stock

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Rather than feeling sorry for him - I feel sorry for the bees

 

[hemo]

He can't make up his mind which strain to keep, he's ordered three package strains, Russian, Buckfast and Italian. With his feeding regime the Italians won't survive then again nor will the others going by what we have seen.
He can run but hasn't learnt to walk properly yet.
As JBM has said the bees, oh the bees they will suffer.

 

[pargyle]

I don't feel particularly sorry for him ... a little knowledge in beekeeping can be dangerous (to the bees at least). I think part of the problem in the USA is the lack of mentoring, associations and the distance between beekeepers. There are a lot of bad hobbyists over there that seem intent on spreading their bad practice via You Tube and without a structure in place to offer good advice and assistance - hands on - when things go awry there is no way that matters will improve.

We see it, to a lesser extent, with new (and some not so new) beekeepers in the UK. They start at the wrong end - getting a hive full of bees and then commence finding out what to do with them ... and You Tube is often the chosen media for learning to do anything these days - not books. However, even some books do not give all the right advice. The ability to sort out the good advice from the bad when you don't have the base knowledge to start with is almost impossible.

I watched the full video .. he's not a muppet - he just seems to think that what he has done is right - and his beekeeping practice must have come from somewhere that has passed on some very bad practice. He's thinking about what has happened but he obviously is not thinking clearly enough - there are lots of factors that I can see that has caused his colonies to die out. His premise seems to be that it's anything but his fault that this has happened. I tend to start at the opposite position and ask myself, initially, what did I do that could have caused this. The things I would be looking at as a mentor for him ...

1. Poor varroa management in so many ways ... a single vape at the time when it was both late in the year and probably with brood present would not have done the job.

2. His weak colonies (splitting too often and too much) going into winter - in his climate you need strong colonies with lots of winter bees..

3. Despite wrapping his hives, his top insulation is a bit of sacking on some hives and huge top entrance holes - at least four or five on some hives would have kept them very cold in winters that are clearly much worse that we generally experience over here. Plus, gaping air vents in the crown boards

4. Open feeding would lead to robbing - I suspect the survivor hive was probably the best at robbing but if he's not on top of it they may already be a varroa bomb waiting to explode.

5. Feeding sugar so consistently does not help a colony - if bees are in an area there must be forage for them ... if you have to feed bees to the extent that he does then there is something desperatley wrong with the agriculture in the area. Bees are opportunists - if an easy meal is on hand they will take it - but in my opinion healthy bees need natural pollen and nectar .. give them sugar to the extent that he has been doing is not helping them. Without pollen the ability to raise bees will be seriously affected and if they are being discouraged from foraging because there is a bucket of syrup 10 yards away then they are not going to go much further.

His biggest problem appears to be a lack of knowledge and what knowledge he has is flawed in so many ways. We can learn from him .... what NOT to do if you want to keep bees that thrive.

Beginners take note ...

 

[Erichalfbee]

I don't feel particularly sorry for him ... a little knowledge in beekeeping can be dangerous (to the bees at least). I think part of the problem in the USA is the lack of mentoring, associations and the distance between beekeepers. There are a lot of bad hobbyists over there that seem intent on spreading their bad practice via You Tube and without a structure in place to offer good advice and assistance - hands on - when things go awry there is no way that matters will improve.

We see it, to a lesser extent, with new (and some not so new) beekeepers in the UK. They start at the wrong end - getting a hive full of bees and then commence finding out what to do with them ... and You Tube is often the chosen media for learning to do anything these days - not books. However, even some books do not give all the right advice. The ability to sort out the good advice from the bad when you don't have the base knowledge to start with is almost impossible.

I watched the full video .. he's not a muppet - he just seems to think that what he has done is right - and his beekeeping practice must have come from somewhere that has passed on some very bad practice. He's thinking about what has happened but he obviously is not thinking clearly enough - there are lots of factors that I can see that has caused his colonies to die out. His premise seems to be that it's anything but his fault that this has happened. I tend to start at the opposite position and ask myself, initially, what did I do that could have caused this. The things I would be looking at as a mentor for him ...

1. Poor varroa management in so many ways ... a single vape at the time when it was both late in the year and probably with brood present would not have done the job.

2. His weak colonies (splitting too often and too much) going into winter - in his climate you need strong colonies with lots of winter bees..

3. Despite wrapping his hives, his top insulation is a bit of sacking on some hives and huge top entrance holes - at least four or five on some hives would have kept them very cold in winters that are clearly much worse that we generally experience over here.

4. Open feeding would lead to robbing - I suspect the survivor hive was probably the best at robbing but if he's not on top of it they may already be a varroa bomb waiting to explode.

5. Feeding sugar so consistently does not help a colony - if bees are in an area there must be forage for them ... if you have to feed bees to the extent that he does then there is something desperatley wrong with the agriculture in the area. Bees are opportunists - if an easy meal is on hand they will take it - but in my opinion healthy bees need natural pollen and nectar .. give them sugar to the extent that he has been doing is not helping them. Without pollen the ability to raise bees will be seriously affected and if they are being discouraged from foraging because there is a bucket of syrup 10 yards away then they are not going to go much further.

His biggest problem appears to be a lack of knowledge and what knowledge he has is flawed in so many ways. We can learn from him .... what NOT to do if you want to keep bees that thrive.

Beginners take note ...

Perhaps you could drop this in his comments section if he has one?

Edit
I’ve done it.
will get shouted down no doubt.

 

[pargyle]

Perhaps you could drop this in his comments section if he has one?

There are already 1300+ comments - most of them USA it seems and a huge number from other beekeepers over there with massive losses and blaming the weather ...

 

[gmonag]

I suspect in the BBKA winter losses survey, most will blame the weather for any losses too.

 

[Michael Palmer]

I don't feel particularly sorry for him ... a little knowledge in beekeeping can be dangerous (to the bees at least). I think part of the problem in the USA is the lack of mentoring, associations and the distance between beekeepers. There are a lot of bad hobbyists over there that seem intent on spreading their bad practice via You Tube and without a structure in place to offer good advice and assistance - hands on - when things go awry there is no way that matters will improve.

Some of us are trying hard to overcome the "new beekeeping" management out there. I can't tell you how much this bothers me. These beekeepers think that with less than 5 years under their belts, and thousands of instagram followers, they actually have some kind if intelligent colony management going on. There's a seminar happening early April. A number of speakers on...Adaptive Bee Breeding. I asked just what that is. Breeding bees to adapt to changes in climate and farming practices. Isn't that what we've done for the last century and more? I know several of the presenters. Two have worked for me in the recent past. Surely they know how to raise queen cells. Anyone can do that. But, breeding? NOT! None are running a true breeding program. And yet the internet is flooded with their dogma. Instagram photos don't equate to intelligence. I would like to attend just to see how bad it really is but I'm not spending $40 to register.

 

[pargyle]

Some of us are trying hard to overcome the "new beekeeping" management out there. I can't tell you how much this bothers me. These beekeepers think that with less than 5 years under their belts, and thousands of instagram followers, they actually have some kind if intelligent colony management going on. There's a seminar happening early April. A number of speakers on...Adaptive Bee Breeding. I asked just what that is. Breeding bees to adapt to changes in climate and farming practices. Isn't that what we've done for the last century and more? I know several of the presenters. Two have worked for me in the recent past. Surely they know how to raise queen cells. Anyone can do that. But, breeding? NOT! None are running a true breeding program. And yet the internet is flooded with their dogma. Instagram photos don't equate to intelligence. I would like to attend just to see how bad it really is but I'm not spending $40 to register.

I know Mike ... I was at your talk at Lymington, Hampshire a few years ago now and it was a concern even then ... the internet is a wonderful resource but ... it's a minefield of misinformation for the uninformed and the number of 'followers' anyone has appears to be the only measure of quality. I think we all worry about it.

I've just been watching a woodturner with many thousands of followers on You Tube and frankly some of his turning practice is diabolical to the point of being downright dangerous ... the only comments that seem to be in place are glowing recommendations and applause ... it does make you wonder whether these self styled gurus are censoring dissenters or whether those people who are informed just can't be bothered to put him wise. The problem is ... if the uninformed follow some of his ideas there is every chance of them ending up with a chisel stuck in their head ... OK in beekeeping you lose a colony or few or perhaps get stung. Messing about with a piece of timber revolving at 2000rpm and a sharp piece of tool steel is more likely to result in serious injury or the worst case - death !