Wasp Nest In My Trap - Bee Vlog - May 18, 2016

I was refreshing the bait in one of my swarm traps and found a wasp nest. After some slo-mo inspection of the video footage (and discussion with others in the YouTube comments), it look like this was a yellowjacket nest.


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Supers, Splits, & Starvation - Bee Vlog - May 9, 2016

So much going on in this video! I got to meet Michael Bush! I give a quick rundown on my winter successes and failures. The plan today was to just run to all my out-yards and add supers, but found queen cells in one and split them to make 2 new resource hives (more on what a resource hive is in a future video). I also go through a dead-out to see what done them in.


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How To Install A Nuc - Bee Vlog - Apr 25, 2016

Installing nucs at Zenger Farm. Also, taking a look at the monitoring system donated by Bee-Certain.com. (This donation was a gift to the Portland Urban Beekeepers club for use at their club apiary at Zenger Farm.)


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Flow Hive - Up Close - Apr 18, 2016

I finally got my hands on a Flow hive. In this video I cover the concerns I think are most important to address.


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Overwintered Nuc - March 2016

I had 2 nucs going into winter, trying out a new way to insulate and protect the hive. It seemed to work okay. One hive died. I think it was due to a problem with the queen, so insulation wouldn't have helped there. The other hive did great and came out really strong. However, the insulation provided a nice space for ants to create a little nest of their own under the top. Ants everywhere! Even with Tanglefoot on the posts. Apparently Tanglefoot requires re-application from time to time.

Ready for a bigger hive

Nuc Winter Insulation

Winter is coming (it had to be said), and I'm trying a little test on overwintering a couple 5-frame nucs. I don't normally insulate my hives because I don't think it's necessary in my area. Bees can maintain their heat within a cluster just fine. However, things might be different in these small nucs. The cluster is much closer to the walls of the hive. My hypothesis is that the cluster loses more heat due to the proximity to the cold walls in a nuc than they would in a 10-frame hive. (Think: standing against an uninsulated window on a cold day vs standing a few feet away.) So the test here is to decrease heat loss through the side walls (the ones they are most likely in contact with) and see how it improves things.

The features here are, double-thick foam insulation on the roof (like last year). 1-inch thick foam insulation on the sides. A corrugated plastic rain roof with a drip edge on the front. The hive is tilted forward to promote water runoff on the inside ceiling, so it doesn't drip on the bees. Ventilation holes in the bottom and top box. Everything is taped together with white duct tape (not very pretty, but that's not the point).

Of course there are many factors that go into hive winter survival, so if these 2 hives die it may be hard to know if the insulation helped or not. But I'll let you know how things turn out next spring.

Honey Extraction - Bee Vlog - Aug 20, 2015

One of the criticisms and downsides of not using foundation is the difficulty in extracting the honey without destroying the comb. I decided to see how well my comb holds up in a radial extractor. Will it explode?

I was also interviewed on the Kiwimana Buzz show. I had a great time talking about beekeeping in Portland and how I create my videos. You can listen to the show here.

More on crush & strain harvesting.

The t-shirt: "We are all batpeople"


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