Aug. 6, 2026
Tiny Hives Update with Sherry (295)
Not every colony survives—and sometimes the best lesson comes from the colonies that don’t. This week on Honey Bee Obscura, Jim Tew provides tiny hives update for the listeners and decribes how they’re progressing as July draws to a close. One of those colonies belongs to his longtime colleague, Sherry, who rescued a very small swarm earlier in the season. Unfortunately, what Jim finds is a sobering reminder that small, late-season colonies often face overwhelming odds. Mouse activity, almost no flight at the entrance, and the realities of midsummer dearth all point toward a colony that simply never gained enough strength.
Back at his own apiary, Jim examines two similarly small “after swarms” (often called secondary swarms) and reflects on why these tiny colonies form in the first place. He discusses virgin queens, delayed brood production, the challenges of building population late in the season, and why even experienced beekeepers still have unanswered questions about swarm biology.
Along the way, Jim shares a memorable story of a forgotten nucleus colony that unexpectedly survived an entire Ohio winter, reminding us that honey bees occasionally defy our expectations.
The episode concludes with reflections on knowing when not to disturb healthy colonies during summer dearth, accepting that natural losses are part of beekeeping, and embracing the continual learning that keeps even veteran beekeepers curious after decades in the bee yard.
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Thanks to Betterbee for sponsoring today's episode. Betterbee’s mission is to support every beekeeper with excellent customer service, continued education and quality equipment. From their colorful and informative catalog to their support of beekeeper educational activities, including this podcast series, Betterbee truly is Beekeepers Serving Beekeepers. See for yourself at www.betterbee.com
We’d like to thank Vita Bee Health for supporting the podcast. Vita provides proven tools for controlling Varroa—from Apistan and Apiguard to the new VarroxSan extended-release oxalic acid strips—helping beekeepers keep stronger, healthier colonies.
______________________
Honey Bee Obscura is brought to you by Growing Planet Media, LLC, the home of Beekeeping Today Podcast.
Music: Heart & Soul by Gyom, All We Know by Midway Music; Christmas Avenue by Immersive Music; original guitar music by Jeffrey Ott
Cartoons by: John Martin (Beezwax Comics)
Copyright © 2026 by Growing Planet Media, LLC
WEBVTT
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Hey listeners, this is Jim.
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For once I'm not in my bee yard right now.
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Well we'll be later today.
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I'm here with Sherry
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Do you listeners remember that Sherry picked up a very small hive months ago?
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They came over and they
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Put it in a box for her.
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Say hi Sherry.
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Hi everyone.
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Well, I want to go back and look at that
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It's late July and by now you can get a pretty good feel if something is going to work out with bees or not.
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I've got some small colonies myself, so today it's gonna be my tiny colony.
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Listeners, I'm Jim Tew.
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I come to you here at Honey Bee Obscura about once a week where I try to talk about something to do with practical plain talk beekeeping.
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Welcome.
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to Honey Bee Obscura, brought to you by Growing Planet Media, the producers of the Beekeeping Today podcast.
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Join Jim Tew, your guide through the complexities, the beauty, the fun,
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And the challenges of managing honey bees.
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Jim hosts fun and interesting guests who take a deep dive into the intricate world of honey bees.
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Whether you're a seasoned beekeeper or just getting started, get ready for some plain topic.
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that'll delve into all things honey bees.
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Sherry, has anybody opened them since you had them transferred?
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No, um when Dave put 'em in the nuc, uh they have not been opened, but I've walked down on occasion and tried to see if the worker bees were
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going in and out of the hive and or the nuc and um I do see some activity but not as much as I would like to have seen
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So you're a frustrated beekeeper.
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Yes, I am.
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Because you thought that if you put bees in this box, they would love you for it.
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Oh well you got it all protected.
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Yes.
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With a fence around it.
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Well that was my idea.
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I did not- Oh Sherry, this is not good.
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I did not oh
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Listeners, there's bees coming and going occasionally, but there's been a mouse in there.
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Is that what that is?
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Oh, I did not know that.
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It wasn't
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There there was only a little bit yesterday.
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There wasn't it wasn't like that yesterday.
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I was down here looking.
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Well it's either a mouse or some kind of ground squirrel.
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But
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Either way, I gotta tell you that doesn't bode well.
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But there are occasional bees flying.
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So listeners, don't try this at home.
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But I don't have any protective gear.
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This is really a small hive
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And I guess I'm just really too presumptuous.
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You want to put that on, Sherry, if you want to if I'm not gonna wear it, one of us must.
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That way if I have to run
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You can close the hive up.
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Okay.
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It's ratchet strapped closed with the rusty ratchet strap.
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That didn't snap release.
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So how do I get this to release?
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Sherry worked in my lab for years and the guy who did the work for her
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Worked in my lab and he has not got this thing threaded right.
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There's bushes and trees around
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And boy there's no it's not briars.
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I thought there were.
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Just feels like there are.
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Well, it yes there are some in there, Jim.
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Okay.
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So you're not
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I'm being attacked by a bush and the ratchet strap is not releasing.
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Dave, you didn't thread it upright.
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And it is still really hooked
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They did a nice job and more there are thorns on this thing.
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Yeah, there are.
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It's briar, so let me go to the other side I can pull it.
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Let me go around.
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Okay.
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This set.
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Listeners, this the this the Do you remember I told you that the nest
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had built in the open under a tree that had fallen.
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It's about two feet off the ground.
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And I couldn't believe that the skunks or something had not already gotten it
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And this guy, what is this thing, Sherry with all the thornes?
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Not multi-flora.
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Well you're gonna get as torn up as I am.
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Well I'm doing alright
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I think we're gonna stop here because the briars are eating me up and that screw right there he screwed the lid down
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There's one bee coming back.
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So I'm averaging about a bee a minute.
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There's a slight chance that that's a robber, but there's gonna be precious little bit in there.
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Well I don't know.
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Do you like mice?
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Not really.
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Well it looks like you're keeping mice instead of bees.
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Oh no.
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Well
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I'm gonna call this off and just say that this colony is dead.
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It just hasn't quite finished dying
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And I will come back over sometime when it's more casual and help you take this thing down and get Dave his equipment back
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So do you think that there is just minor just a minor amount of bees in there then?
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Yep.
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Do you think the queen is still in there then?
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I'm guessing the queen
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I don't know.
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Probably still in there, maybe not.
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Okay.
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I'll post a picture of what I'm looking at on the website.
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And that way you guys can see the thorns.
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Have a look at this on the web and see if you agree with me just aborting because can't tell what kind of rose that is.
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Some kind of vine that's got really nice thorns on it.
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Listeners, I guess it's okay sometimes to abort.
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And I'm saying this isn't this isn't abort.
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This is when I made that call because it's sitting on a tree
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trunk that's down and it's ratchet strapped to it.
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The ratchet strap's not threaded correctly and it's rusty and it's hard to use.
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There's extensive mouse damage out front, the litter in the nesting, and there's almost no bee flight
00:07:05.780 --> 00:07:15.460
So I don't know that you're going to have to have a lot of concern about getting extra feed and bringing over frames of honey from Dave or someone to supplement that
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But if you want to get bees, there's always next year.
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That's true.
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And beekeeping, that's pretty much the principle.
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Well, there's always next year.
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If I sound like I got one lung, listeners, it's because there's a fairly steep gradient back up to the house
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And I'm trying to talk to you while I'm walking with creaky cranky knees and thorns all over me, Sherry.
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Yeah, ouch.
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But you got a nice bee yard.
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You just need bees and not so many thorns.
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And I also cut back some on the mice
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Okay.
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We'll do.
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Yeah, right.
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You need to know Sherry is an avid bird watcher and gardener.
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And she's got a menagerie of cats and dogs.
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So she's always got something going on.
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Bees were just an addition that she tried because they were free.
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That's right.
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Alright, I'm back to the house
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Listeners, we'll call it a break here and we'll hear from my sponsor.
00:08:31.620 --> 00:08:34.820
And while we're doing that, I'll drive back home
00:08:34.940 --> 00:08:43.580
And then I'll show you my own run down, weak little colonies where I hive two mating swarms that I knew weren't going to make it, but
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Since I had those guys cutting my grass, I hived them.
00:08:47.500 --> 00:08:48.540
So stand by.
00:08:48.540 --> 00:08:52.220
I'll talk to you in a few minutes.
00:08:52.220 --> 00:08:57.980
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00:08:57.980 --> 00:08:58.460
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Okay, listeners.
00:09:52.460 --> 00:09:55.260
That was kind of a debacle, wasn't it?
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A little bit of gossip here, I suppose, since Sherry's not here now.
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She worked in the bee lab for decades.
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She ran the facility.
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Kept my books, arranged travel, helped set up meetings.
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But you know what she didn't do
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She did not keep bees.
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She didn't like being stung.
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She said she had allergies and anytime somebody says that, I take them at their word.
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I'm not a physician or an immunologist or whatever it would take.
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That beehive never had a chance.
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That cluster of that colony.
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Really never had a chance
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But anything that makes me think, I'm in my barn, so there's a sound change.
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Anything that makes me think
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And what I think I've understood is that
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An afterswarm is a swarm that leaves after the primary swarm.
00:11:06.120 --> 00:11:09.560
There may be something called even a tertiary swarm.
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Really, a mating swarm, according to the literature, is probably not a thing.
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There's a mating flight
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But there's really not a mating swarm.
00:11:24.760 --> 00:11:30.120
So I had figured out when I picked up these two softball size swarms
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That they probably had virgin queens.
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The thing the literature didn't tell me is why colonies would cast a secondary swarm.
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If you have any guesses, I wouldn't mind hearing from you.
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Was there still too many bees in the colony?
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Was it Virgin Queens?
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I don't understand it.
00:11:59.000 --> 00:12:00.680
I'll try to spend more time on that.
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If any of you have read or have already explored this, it would help me and maybe the rest of us who don't have a clear understanding of why a colony would cast
00:12:10.100 --> 00:12:12.580
A secondary swarm.
00:12:12.580 --> 00:12:17.220
So I've got two of those here myself.
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I took a two-week trip to Montana
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to Glacier National Park.
00:12:24.660 --> 00:12:30.180
And so my yard is just a jungle.
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But I got a I got a note, thank you, for the person who wrote me, saying that they let their yard go too.
00:12:37.260 --> 00:12:40.140
Well, here's some nice poison ivy in my yard
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and that it became a natural sanctuary ecosystem.
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I thought about talking to you more, but I guess I'll just say this and then run.
00:12:52.480 --> 00:13:03.760
And that Glacier National Park thing, there was all this yellow sweet clover, white sweet clover along the road, and we're up in the Rockies and there's flowers here and flowers there.
00:13:04.920 --> 00:13:05.880
What was that?
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Some kind of bear flower?
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I didn't see a single honey bee.
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Not a single honey bee.
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I saw some you know, native pollinators.
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So when I got back to our home, our house
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I looked it up and Glacier was very specific.
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They don't encourage honey bees in the park because they're not part of the natural ecosystem.
00:13:28.320 --> 00:13:33.760
They want everything to be the way it would be, running itself.
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So it was an odd trip for me.
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There were no bees in it.
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I saw a few beehives back in the valleys
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And they were just gigantic canola fields.
00:13:45.440 --> 00:13:50.640
So I guess they're probably making canola honey, which I've been told granulates very quickly
00:13:50.820 --> 00:13:52.500
But that was a strange trip.
00:13:52.500 --> 00:13:58.740
Very, very rewarding, very vast, very natural, bare spray, the whole thing
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But for once there were no honey bees involved.
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Now having said that here I am at my own little colony and you can always tell so much by entrance flight.
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And let me tell you on this one, there is none.
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So I can tell you what's in this before I even open it.
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Probably wax moths.
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Nope.
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No wax moths, no bees, and the remnants of either a laying worker or
00:14:32.220 --> 00:14:35.580
An unmated queen that never mated.
00:14:35.580 --> 00:14:41.100
Just a piece of burr comb hanging here with the remnants of
00:14:43.500 --> 00:14:47.340
drone brood that never emerged that never emerged.
00:14:47.660 --> 00:14:50.860
Doesn't take long to talk about that.
00:14:51.020 --> 00:14:55.420
Took me about 20 minutes to drive home from the other location.
00:14:56.000 --> 00:14:57.839
And I lectured myself.
00:14:57.839 --> 00:14:59.920
Well, you didn't even open the hive.
00:14:59.920 --> 00:15:01.600
Well, it was killing me.
00:15:01.920 --> 00:15:06.319
I was actually taking good-sized thorns out of me
00:15:07.120 --> 00:15:12.399
And I've already told you the ratchet strap wasn't working.
00:15:12.399 --> 00:15:15.279
But with that mouse damage out front, which
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It just wasn't going to work.
00:15:17.180 --> 00:15:24.300
So I reminded myself that I do call this plain talk beekeeping.
00:15:24.300 --> 00:15:26.540
So here's some plain talk for you
00:15:27.579 --> 00:15:32.139
All bee swarms don't make it, even in the wild.
00:15:32.139 --> 00:15:35.019
And the literature I was reading about these swarms
00:15:36.580 --> 00:15:45.140
said that these small swarms that have unmated queens take about three to four weeks before they have any brood.
00:15:45.140 --> 00:15:50.020
They build out much later, much slower.
00:15:50.180 --> 00:15:56.100
And their chances for winter survival are greatly reduced.
00:15:56.100 --> 00:15:59.860
Walking through this tall grass to the other one
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And this one is very active.
00:16:03.220 --> 00:16:06.740
Yep, this one is working.
00:16:06.740 --> 00:16:11.779
It's in of one of those six-frame expanded polystyrene boxes.
00:16:12.160 --> 00:16:14.079
We heft it.
00:16:14.079 --> 00:16:16.480
What does hefting mean to you?
00:16:16.480 --> 00:16:19.519
Yep, it's got some weight to it.
00:16:19.519 --> 00:16:21.759
And I'll crack it open.
00:16:22.440 --> 00:16:27.880
Yep, this this looks good for a small colony.
00:16:27.880 --> 00:16:28.920
Capped brood.
00:16:28.920 --> 00:16:31.080
It's got some stored honey.
00:16:31.120 --> 00:16:34.080
It's got a little bit of weight to it.
00:16:34.080 --> 00:16:38.000
Maybe this expanded poly style ring will help it get through the winter
00:16:39.120 --> 00:16:46.240
It's a long story and I don't have much time left, so I'll make it short, but years ago when the small hive beetles first got here
00:16:47.940 --> 00:16:55.220
We found them out in a pumpkin field in beehives out there.
00:16:55.220 --> 00:16:59.380
So I put a nuc out there just to monitor and see what would happen
00:16:59.540 --> 00:17:09.620
Would those bees come out, would those beetles come out and then go down into the ground and pupate and do all that thing they do
00:17:10.220 --> 00:17:13.100
And do you know that I forgot it?
00:17:13.100 --> 00:17:21.660
And the next spring we got a call from the farmer saying we had a beehive in the way out there and that they needed to get planting done.
00:17:21.540 --> 00:17:24.500
Well, I thought he just wanted me to move the equipment.
00:17:24.500 --> 00:17:32.660
And that little four-frame nuc sat out in the middle of an open pumpkin field with three frames of bees.
00:17:32.620 --> 00:17:35.580
And survived the winter and it was it was a winner.
00:17:35.580 --> 00:17:40.060
It was just a regular old-fashioned no-nonsense winner.
00:17:40.060 --> 00:17:41.980
I was I was shocked.
00:17:41.980 --> 00:17:43.820
So when I look at this one
00:17:44.720 --> 00:17:48.640
I'm not as hopeless as I used to be.
00:17:48.880 --> 00:17:53.440
I cannot explain why that little beehive survived all those years ago.
00:17:53.860 --> 00:17:56.900
But I guess there I'm putting this back together now.
00:17:56.900 --> 00:17:59.860
I just wanted to have a quick look.
00:17:59.860 --> 00:18:02.580
This one is is doing okay.
00:18:02.580 --> 00:18:04.420
If this were if this were me
00:18:05.240 --> 00:18:07.480
This colony would really build up nicely.
00:18:07.480 --> 00:18:15.480
But since it chose this difficult path of this after swarm, secondary swarm,
00:18:15.720 --> 00:18:25.320
Secondary swarms are frequently called after swarms, but secondary tends to be a better wording for these small swarms that come later.
00:18:25.519 --> 00:18:31.679
This is not me lecturing you, this is me trying to educate myself and just talking to you while I'll do it.
00:18:31.679 --> 00:18:35.279
So maybe this thing has a chance.
00:18:34.419 --> 00:18:41.059
So out of the three tiny highs I looked at today, one is already dead and gone.
00:18:41.539 --> 00:18:42.419
I gotta be now.
00:18:42.419 --> 00:18:44.100
Who doesn't like me here?
00:18:44.060 --> 00:18:45.660
And I don't mind it.
00:18:45.660 --> 00:18:48.380
I got my veil, but I can't talk to you.
00:18:48.380 --> 00:18:51.420
I don't want to swallow a bee.
00:18:51.420 --> 00:18:55.180
So I have three of these tiny colonies.
00:18:55.200 --> 00:18:59.120
One looks good, one's already dead, and one is dead.
00:18:59.120 --> 00:19:02.080
It just hasn't finished dying.
00:19:02.080 --> 00:19:03.440
Could it be said
00:19:04.320 --> 00:19:11.440
That here in Ohio, July is kind of the evaluation month.
00:19:11.440 --> 00:19:14.000
The first colony is not going to make it.
00:19:14.000 --> 00:19:16.400
It's already it's already essentially dead.
00:19:16.400 --> 00:19:18.960
The mice have already moved in.
00:19:19.040 --> 00:19:20.240
Second colony.
00:19:20.240 --> 00:19:24.400
This is all happening on this is July the 24th.
00:19:24.720 --> 00:19:32.000
There's a little bit of sweet clover left and other than that we're going to go into a dearth now to golden rod and fall flowers come
00:19:32.780 --> 00:19:37.820
So these colonies basically are going to have to make it on what they've got.
00:19:37.820 --> 00:19:43.340
But there's just so much I don't know about beekeeping after all these years of tinkering with bees.
00:19:43.419 --> 00:19:51.419
Does the swarm size, the cluster size, if it's compatible with the cavity space and the brood stores
00:19:51.919 --> 00:19:59.679
And if it's in a sheltered place, are those characteristics for a potential successful wintering?
00:19:59.679 --> 00:20:03.200
You know, when we keep these in our boxes, we want them in two deeps.
00:20:03.840 --> 00:20:17.280
Maybe some insulation and whatever, but nature's much more unforgiving and unselective and you know all nest cavity sites aren't the same, so to say again plain taught beekeeping
00:20:17.519 --> 00:20:25.200
All colonies don't survive in nature and it has probably always been that way.
00:20:25.200 --> 00:20:26.320
I don't know
00:20:26.820 --> 00:20:31.780
So these two swarms, these three swarms, two of them are mine, one of them wasn't.
00:20:31.780 --> 00:20:33.620
I already had these swarms.
00:20:33.620 --> 00:20:36.980
I didn't I didn't want to get any more bees
00:20:37.240 --> 00:20:45.560
I had all I wanted back here, about ten colonies, and I kept getting these little swarms, and they would hang outside my apiary fence
00:20:46.360 --> 00:20:55.160
And either bees from that swarm or bees from the yard stung one of the p professional guys who cuts my grass now.
00:20:55.160 --> 00:20:57.000
Yes, yes it's true.
00:20:57.000 --> 00:21:00.760
My first job in life was mowing lawns.
00:21:00.220 --> 00:21:08.220
And now I pay somebody to cut mine because my daughters don't want me on a mower and a tractor here by myself with no one to monitor when I hurt myself.
00:21:08.220 --> 00:21:11.260
So when these guys come in to do my yard work
00:21:11.460 --> 00:21:19.620
They're tough, but they don't like being stung up, so I I hive those swarms just to get them out of the way, not because I really wanted them
00:21:19.919 --> 00:21:33.360
As a younger beekeeper, I would have gone into strong colonies and I would have parasitized some of their brood and some of their honey stores and boosted these colonies and I'd take them from the wealthy to give to the poor
00:21:33.540 --> 00:21:40.100
But as an old guy thinking you can do all that and they still might die or you can go sit inside where it's cool.
00:21:40.100 --> 00:21:42.180
What do you think I chose to do?
00:21:42.180 --> 00:21:44.420
So out of the deal, maybe I get one
00:21:44.919 --> 00:21:55.480
Today I wanted to come out and have a look at the colonies that the passing season is passing judgment on.
00:21:55.440 --> 00:21:58.960
And I've already told you what those results may be.
00:21:58.960 --> 00:22:05.200
The big ones that are just boiling strong here and bees just flooding coming and going.
00:22:05.380 --> 00:22:10.180
Those would be the ones that there'd be a price to be paid for opening them.
00:22:10.180 --> 00:22:17.140
From this point on in July, there's going to be a price to be paid, and robbing's going to be an increasing issue
00:22:18.140 --> 00:22:27.820
I used to open them and just to see what was going on and to check the queen and do all that and now if they're boiling outside like they are now and coming back with pollen.
00:22:27.460 --> 00:22:31.940
I'm beyond the op the uh years of where I just would open them just to check.
00:22:31.940 --> 00:22:35.060
I was growing and developing then.
00:22:35.060 --> 00:22:39.780
If you're doing that now and you've been keeping bees eight, nine, ten years
00:22:39.840 --> 00:22:41.280
I encourage you to do it.
00:22:41.280 --> 00:22:44.000
Learn, enjoy, adapt.
00:22:44.000 --> 00:22:46.880
Do what you can to keep your bees strong.
00:22:46.880 --> 00:22:49.200
And on a final note,
00:22:49.040 --> 00:22:54.960
Sitting here across the yard watching a hive washboard on the front.
00:22:54.960 --> 00:23:00.000
That is the most tantalizing, unclear behavior that I've ever dealt with.
00:23:00.179 --> 00:23:02.179
And I just don't know what causes it.
00:23:02.419 --> 00:23:10.820
I may go back and see if anyone else has determined something that could result in that washboarding behavior on the front of the colony
00:23:11.960 --> 00:23:14.360
Listeners, I'm gonna cut this off here now.
00:23:14.360 --> 00:23:15.960
It's a pretty good day.
00:23:15.960 --> 00:23:20.600
I need to do something back here with these weeds, at least to get the entrances opened up.
00:23:20.600 --> 00:23:23.800
These weeds are going to turn into fall flowers.
00:23:23.800 --> 00:23:26.280
I've already seen bumble.
00:23:26.560 --> 00:23:29.600
bees on some of the fall flowers back here.
00:23:29.600 --> 00:23:31.200
So it's too wild though.
00:23:31.440 --> 00:23:32.400
It's too wild.
00:23:32.400 --> 00:23:36.560
I won't bring any tourist back here and I won't make any pictures of it.
00:23:36.560 --> 00:23:38.320
We told we can talk next week.
00:23:38.320 --> 00:23:40.960
I'm Jim telling you it wasn't a great day.
00:23:41.560 --> 00:23:43.160
It was an educational day.
00:23:43.240 --> 00:23:44.360
I'll take it.
00:23:44.360 --> 00:23:45.240
I'll take it.
00:23:45.240 --> 00:23:46.040
Goodbye.
00:00:01.280 --> 00:00:04.800
Hey listeners, this is Jim.
00:00:04.800 --> 00:00:07.520
For once I'm not in my bee yard right now.
00:00:07.520 --> 00:00:10.000
Well we'll be later today.
00:00:10.000 --> 00:00:11.600
I'm here with Sherry
00:00:12.740 --> 00:00:20.180
Do you listeners remember that Sherry picked up a very small hive months ago?
00:00:20.180 --> 00:00:21.620
They came over and they
00:00:22.480 --> 00:00:24.000
Put it in a box for her.
00:00:24.000 --> 00:00:25.440
Say hi Sherry.
00:00:25.440 --> 00:00:27.200
Hi everyone.
00:00:27.200 --> 00:00:29.520
Well, I want to go back and look at that
00:00:30.220 --> 00:00:40.300
It's late July and by now you can get a pretty good feel if something is going to work out with bees or not.
00:00:40.300 --> 00:00:44.860
I've got some small colonies myself, so today it's gonna be my tiny colony.
00:00:46.580 --> 00:00:48.820
Listeners, I'm Jim Tew.
00:00:48.980 --> 00:00:59.060
I come to you here at Honey Bee Obscura about once a week where I try to talk about something to do with practical plain talk beekeeping.
00:00:59.060 --> 00:00:59.780
Welcome.
00:01:00.060 --> 00:01:09.020
to Honey Bee Obscura, brought to you by Growing Planet Media, the producers of the Beekeeping Today podcast.
00:01:09.020 --> 00:01:14.860
Join Jim Tew, your guide through the complexities, the beauty, the fun,
00:01:14.980 --> 00:01:17.940
And the challenges of managing honey bees.
00:01:17.940 --> 00:01:24.820
Jim hosts fun and interesting guests who take a deep dive into the intricate world of honey bees.
00:01:24.820 --> 00:01:29.780
Whether you're a seasoned beekeeper or just getting started, get ready for some plain topic.
00:01:30.140 --> 00:01:33.180
that'll delve into all things honey bees.
00:01:33.180 --> 00:01:37.980
Sherry, has anybody opened them since you had them transferred?
00:01:38.480 --> 00:01:50.479
No, um when Dave put 'em in the nuc, uh they have not been opened, but I've walked down on occasion and tried to see if the worker bees were
00:01:50.920 --> 00:02:03.240
going in and out of the hive and or the nuc and um I do see some activity but not as much as I would like to have seen
00:02:03.880 --> 00:02:07.000
So you're a frustrated beekeeper.
00:02:07.000 --> 00:02:08.280
Yes, I am.
00:02:08.280 --> 00:02:12.840
Because you thought that if you put bees in this box, they would love you for it.
00:02:12.720 --> 00:02:15.200
Oh well you got it all protected.
00:02:15.200 --> 00:02:16.079
Yes.
00:02:16.079 --> 00:02:18.239
With a fence around it.
00:02:18.239 --> 00:02:20.879
Well that was my idea.
00:02:20.879 --> 00:02:23.439
I did not- Oh Sherry, this is not good.
00:02:23.439 --> 00:02:24.799
I did not oh
00:02:26.620 --> 00:02:31.580
Listeners, there's bees coming and going occasionally, but there's been a mouse in there.
00:02:31.580 --> 00:02:32.700
Is that what that is?
00:02:33.260 --> 00:02:35.420
Oh, I did not know that.
00:02:35.420 --> 00:02:36.220
It wasn't
00:02:36.780 --> 00:02:39.500
There there was only a little bit yesterday.
00:02:39.500 --> 00:02:41.740
There wasn't it wasn't like that yesterday.
00:02:41.740 --> 00:02:43.340
I was down here looking.
00:02:43.340 --> 00:02:46.380
Well it's either a mouse or some kind of ground squirrel.
00:02:47.420 --> 00:02:47.740
But
00:02:48.879 --> 00:02:53.200
Either way, I gotta tell you that doesn't bode well.
00:02:53.200 --> 00:02:56.560
But there are occasional bees flying.
00:02:56.959 --> 00:03:01.200
So listeners, don't try this at home.
00:03:01.200 --> 00:03:03.040
But I don't have any protective gear.
00:03:03.200 --> 00:03:05.120
This is really a small hive
00:03:06.440 --> 00:03:09.240
And I guess I'm just really too presumptuous.
00:03:09.240 --> 00:03:13.000
You want to put that on, Sherry, if you want to if I'm not gonna wear it, one of us must.
00:03:13.000 --> 00:03:14.680
That way if I have to run
00:03:15.320 --> 00:03:18.040
You can close the hive up.
00:03:18.120 --> 00:03:18.600
Okay.
00:03:18.600 --> 00:03:24.920
It's ratchet strapped closed with the rusty ratchet strap.
00:03:25.760 --> 00:03:28.640
That didn't snap release.
00:03:28.640 --> 00:03:31.600
So how do I get this to release?
00:03:31.600 --> 00:03:35.920
Sherry worked in my lab for years and the guy who did the work for her
00:03:36.580 --> 00:03:41.780
Worked in my lab and he has not got this thing threaded right.
00:03:41.860 --> 00:03:44.580
There's bushes and trees around
00:03:45.060 --> 00:03:47.299
And boy there's no it's not briars.
00:03:47.299 --> 00:03:48.500
I thought there were.
00:03:48.659 --> 00:03:50.340
Just feels like there are.
00:03:50.420 --> 00:03:53.780
Well, it yes there are some in there, Jim.
00:03:53.780 --> 00:03:54.500
Okay.
00:03:54.500 --> 00:03:55.700
So you're not
00:03:56.340 --> 00:04:03.860
I'm being attacked by a bush and the ratchet strap is not releasing.
00:04:03.860 --> 00:04:06.260
Dave, you didn't thread it upright.
00:04:06.260 --> 00:04:08.580
And it is still really hooked
00:04:10.240 --> 00:04:13.680
They did a nice job and more there are thorns on this thing.
00:04:13.680 --> 00:04:14.640
Yeah, there are.
00:04:14.960 --> 00:04:19.680
It's briar, so let me go to the other side I can pull it.
00:04:19.520 --> 00:04:20.640
Let me go around.
00:04:20.640 --> 00:04:21.280
Okay.
00:04:21.280 --> 00:04:23.680
This set.
00:04:23.680 --> 00:04:28.480
Listeners, this the this the Do you remember I told you that the nest
00:04:28.880 --> 00:04:32.960
had built in the open under a tree that had fallen.
00:04:32.960 --> 00:04:36.000
It's about two feet off the ground.
00:04:36.000 --> 00:04:40.880
And I couldn't believe that the skunks or something had not already gotten it
00:04:41.720 --> 00:04:44.680
And this guy, what is this thing, Sherry with all the thornes?
00:04:45.320 --> 00:04:47.320
Not multi-flora.
00:04:47.320 --> 00:04:49.720
Well you're gonna get as torn up as I am.
00:04:49.720 --> 00:04:51.480
Well I'm doing alright
00:04:52.880 --> 00:05:01.040
I think we're gonna stop here because the briars are eating me up and that screw right there he screwed the lid down
00:05:02.260 --> 00:05:05.380
There's one bee coming back.
00:05:05.380 --> 00:05:10.980
So I'm averaging about a bee a minute.
00:05:10.980 --> 00:05:17.060
There's a slight chance that that's a robber, but there's gonna be precious little bit in there.
00:05:16.680 --> 00:05:18.280
Well I don't know.
00:05:18.280 --> 00:05:20.120
Do you like mice?
00:05:20.120 --> 00:05:21.400
Not really.
00:05:21.400 --> 00:05:25.160
Well it looks like you're keeping mice instead of bees.
00:05:25.160 --> 00:05:26.200
Oh no.
00:05:26.200 --> 00:05:26.840
Well
00:05:28.240 --> 00:05:33.440
I'm gonna call this off and just say that this colony is dead.
00:05:33.440 --> 00:05:35.920
It just hasn't quite finished dying
00:05:37.820 --> 00:05:45.740
And I will come back over sometime when it's more casual and help you take this thing down and get Dave his equipment back
00:05:48.820 --> 00:05:56.900
So do you think that there is just minor just a minor amount of bees in there then?
00:05:56.900 --> 00:05:57.540
Yep.
00:05:57.540 --> 00:05:59.460
Do you think the queen is still in there then?
00:05:59.620 --> 00:06:00.660
I'm guessing the queen
00:06:01.020 --> 00:06:02.460
I don't know.
00:06:02.460 --> 00:06:04.780
Probably still in there, maybe not.
00:06:04.780 --> 00:06:05.420
Okay.
00:06:05.420 --> 00:06:09.980
I'll post a picture of what I'm looking at on the website.
00:06:09.980 --> 00:06:15.660
And that way you guys can see the thorns.
00:06:15.420 --> 00:06:25.100
Have a look at this on the web and see if you agree with me just aborting because can't tell what kind of rose that is.
00:06:25.100 --> 00:06:30.060
Some kind of vine that's got really nice thorns on it.
00:06:30.040 --> 00:06:37.800
Listeners, I guess it's okay sometimes to abort.
00:06:38.380 --> 00:06:41.580
And I'm saying this isn't this isn't abort.
00:06:41.580 --> 00:06:47.020
This is when I made that call because it's sitting on a tree
00:06:47.320 --> 00:06:50.600
trunk that's down and it's ratchet strapped to it.
00:06:50.600 --> 00:06:55.880
The ratchet strap's not threaded correctly and it's rusty and it's hard to use.
00:06:55.920 --> 00:07:04.480
There's extensive mouse damage out front, the litter in the nesting, and there's almost no bee flight
00:07:05.780 --> 00:07:15.460
So I don't know that you're going to have to have a lot of concern about getting extra feed and bringing over frames of honey from Dave or someone to supplement that
00:07:17.259 --> 00:07:22.300
But if you want to get bees, there's always next year.
00:07:22.300 --> 00:07:23.900
That's true.
00:07:23.900 --> 00:07:26.220
And beekeeping, that's pretty much the principle.
00:07:26.220 --> 00:07:28.620
Well, there's always next year.
00:07:29.980 --> 00:07:39.820
If I sound like I got one lung, listeners, it's because there's a fairly steep gradient back up to the house
00:07:40.420 --> 00:07:50.100
And I'm trying to talk to you while I'm walking with creaky cranky knees and thorns all over me, Sherry.
00:07:50.100 --> 00:07:52.020
Yeah, ouch.
00:07:51.720 --> 00:07:55.080
But you got a nice bee yard.
00:07:55.080 --> 00:07:58.120
You just need bees and not so many thorns.
00:07:58.120 --> 00:08:00.840
And I also cut back some on the mice
00:08:01.320 --> 00:08:02.600
Okay.
00:08:03.080 --> 00:08:04.040
We'll do.
00:08:04.040 --> 00:08:05.880
Yeah, right.
00:08:05.880 --> 00:08:09.960
You need to know Sherry is an avid bird watcher and gardener.
00:08:09.960 --> 00:08:13.800
And she's got a menagerie of cats and dogs.
00:08:14.240 --> 00:08:16.560
So she's always got something going on.
00:08:16.880 --> 00:08:22.720
Bees were just an addition that she tried because they were free.
00:08:22.720 --> 00:08:23.680
That's right.
00:08:23.680 --> 00:08:25.600
Alright, I'm back to the house
00:08:26.420 --> 00:08:31.620
Listeners, we'll call it a break here and we'll hear from my sponsor.
00:08:31.620 --> 00:08:34.820
And while we're doing that, I'll drive back home
00:08:34.940 --> 00:08:43.580
And then I'll show you my own run down, weak little colonies where I hive two mating swarms that I knew weren't going to make it, but
00:08:44.220 --> 00:08:47.500
Since I had those guys cutting my grass, I hived them.
00:08:47.500 --> 00:08:48.540
So stand by.
00:08:48.540 --> 00:08:52.220
I'll talk to you in a few minutes.
00:08:52.220 --> 00:08:57.980
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00:08:57.980 --> 00:08:58.460
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Okay, listeners.
00:09:52.460 --> 00:09:55.260
That was kind of a debacle, wasn't it?
00:09:56.300 --> 00:10:00.860
A little bit of gossip here, I suppose, since Sherry's not here now.
00:10:00.860 --> 00:10:05.020
She worked in the bee lab for decades.
00:10:05.020 --> 00:10:07.900
She ran the facility.
00:10:07.820 --> 00:10:13.260
Kept my books, arranged travel, helped set up meetings.
00:10:13.260 --> 00:10:15.180
But you know what she didn't do
00:10:16.180 --> 00:10:17.860
She did not keep bees.
00:10:17.860 --> 00:10:19.300
She didn't like being stung.
00:10:19.300 --> 00:10:24.100
She said she had allergies and anytime somebody says that, I take them at their word.
00:10:24.100 --> 00:10:30.660
I'm not a physician or an immunologist or whatever it would take.
00:10:30.180 --> 00:10:33.140
That beehive never had a chance.
00:10:33.140 --> 00:10:36.500
That cluster of that colony.
00:10:36.580 --> 00:10:38.500
Really never had a chance
00:10:39.320 --> 00:10:45.320
But anything that makes me think, I'm in my barn, so there's a sound change.
00:10:45.320 --> 00:10:47.160
Anything that makes me think
00:10:48.300 --> 00:10:55.740
And what I think I've understood is that
00:10:57.240 --> 00:11:05.319
An afterswarm is a swarm that leaves after the primary swarm.
00:11:06.120 --> 00:11:09.560
There may be something called even a tertiary swarm.
00:11:11.260 --> 00:11:17.820
Really, a mating swarm, according to the literature, is probably not a thing.
00:11:17.820 --> 00:11:19.740
There's a mating flight
00:11:20.840 --> 00:11:24.760
But there's really not a mating swarm.
00:11:24.760 --> 00:11:30.120
So I had figured out when I picked up these two softball size swarms
00:11:32.120 --> 00:11:35.560
That they probably had virgin queens.
00:11:35.560 --> 00:11:43.480
The thing the literature didn't tell me is why colonies would cast a secondary swarm.
00:11:45.700 --> 00:11:48.580
If you have any guesses, I wouldn't mind hearing from you.
00:11:48.580 --> 00:11:52.180
Was there still too many bees in the colony?
00:11:52.180 --> 00:11:55.940
Was it Virgin Queens?
00:11:57.560 --> 00:11:58.759
I don't understand it.
00:11:59.000 --> 00:12:00.680
I'll try to spend more time on that.
00:12:00.680 --> 00:12:09.480
If any of you have read or have already explored this, it would help me and maybe the rest of us who don't have a clear understanding of why a colony would cast
00:12:10.100 --> 00:12:12.580
A secondary swarm.
00:12:12.580 --> 00:12:17.220
So I've got two of those here myself.
00:12:17.220 --> 00:12:21.300
I took a two-week trip to Montana
00:12:22.020 --> 00:12:24.660
to Glacier National Park.
00:12:24.660 --> 00:12:30.180
And so my yard is just a jungle.
00:12:30.460 --> 00:12:37.260
But I got a I got a note, thank you, for the person who wrote me, saying that they let their yard go too.
00:12:37.260 --> 00:12:40.140
Well, here's some nice poison ivy in my yard
00:12:40.840 --> 00:12:47.560
and that it became a natural sanctuary ecosystem.
00:12:47.560 --> 00:12:52.040
I thought about talking to you more, but I guess I'll just say this and then run.
00:12:52.480 --> 00:13:03.760
And that Glacier National Park thing, there was all this yellow sweet clover, white sweet clover along the road, and we're up in the Rockies and there's flowers here and flowers there.
00:13:04.920 --> 00:13:05.880
What was that?
00:13:05.880 --> 00:13:08.040
Some kind of bear flower?
00:13:08.040 --> 00:13:09.959
I didn't see a single honey bee.
00:13:09.959 --> 00:13:11.319
Not a single honey bee.
00:13:11.319 --> 00:13:14.839
I saw some you know, native pollinators.
00:13:14.839 --> 00:13:17.800
So when I got back to our home, our house
00:13:18.220 --> 00:13:21.580
I looked it up and Glacier was very specific.
00:13:21.580 --> 00:13:28.380
They don't encourage honey bees in the park because they're not part of the natural ecosystem.
00:13:28.320 --> 00:13:33.760
They want everything to be the way it would be, running itself.
00:13:33.760 --> 00:13:36.400
So it was an odd trip for me.
00:13:36.400 --> 00:13:37.840
There were no bees in it.
00:13:37.840 --> 00:13:40.880
I saw a few beehives back in the valleys
00:13:41.840 --> 00:13:45.440
And they were just gigantic canola fields.
00:13:45.440 --> 00:13:50.640
So I guess they're probably making canola honey, which I've been told granulates very quickly
00:13:50.820 --> 00:13:52.500
But that was a strange trip.
00:13:52.500 --> 00:13:58.740
Very, very rewarding, very vast, very natural, bare spray, the whole thing
00:13:59.320 --> 00:14:01.800
But for once there were no honey bees involved.
00:14:01.800 --> 00:14:10.040
Now having said that here I am at my own little colony and you can always tell so much by entrance flight.
00:14:10.040 --> 00:14:13.960
And let me tell you on this one, there is none.
00:14:14.480 --> 00:14:18.319
So I can tell you what's in this before I even open it.
00:14:18.319 --> 00:14:21.920
Probably wax moths.
00:14:21.920 --> 00:14:23.360
Nope.
00:14:23.760 --> 00:14:31.200
No wax moths, no bees, and the remnants of either a laying worker or
00:14:32.220 --> 00:14:35.580
An unmated queen that never mated.
00:14:35.580 --> 00:14:41.100
Just a piece of burr comb hanging here with the remnants of
00:14:43.500 --> 00:14:47.340
drone brood that never emerged that never emerged.
00:14:47.660 --> 00:14:50.860
Doesn't take long to talk about that.
00:14:51.020 --> 00:14:55.420
Took me about 20 minutes to drive home from the other location.
00:14:56.000 --> 00:14:57.839
And I lectured myself.
00:14:57.839 --> 00:14:59.920
Well, you didn't even open the hive.
00:14:59.920 --> 00:15:01.600
Well, it was killing me.
00:15:01.920 --> 00:15:06.319
I was actually taking good-sized thorns out of me
00:15:07.120 --> 00:15:12.399
And I've already told you the ratchet strap wasn't working.
00:15:12.399 --> 00:15:15.279
But with that mouse damage out front, which
00:15:15.740 --> 00:15:17.180
It just wasn't going to work.
00:15:17.180 --> 00:15:24.300
So I reminded myself that I do call this plain talk beekeeping.
00:15:24.300 --> 00:15:26.540
So here's some plain talk for you
00:15:27.579 --> 00:15:32.139
All bee swarms don't make it, even in the wild.
00:15:32.139 --> 00:15:35.019
And the literature I was reading about these swarms
00:15:36.580 --> 00:15:45.140
said that these small swarms that have unmated queens take about three to four weeks before they have any brood.
00:15:45.140 --> 00:15:50.020
They build out much later, much slower.
00:15:50.180 --> 00:15:56.100
And their chances for winter survival are greatly reduced.
00:15:56.100 --> 00:15:59.860
Walking through this tall grass to the other one
00:16:00.500 --> 00:16:03.220
And this one is very active.
00:16:03.220 --> 00:16:06.740
Yep, this one is working.
00:16:06.740 --> 00:16:11.779
It's in of one of those six-frame expanded polystyrene boxes.
00:16:12.160 --> 00:16:14.079
We heft it.
00:16:14.079 --> 00:16:16.480
What does hefting mean to you?
00:16:16.480 --> 00:16:19.519
Yep, it's got some weight to it.
00:16:19.519 --> 00:16:21.759
And I'll crack it open.
00:16:22.440 --> 00:16:27.880
Yep, this this looks good for a small colony.
00:16:27.880 --> 00:16:28.920
Capped brood.
00:16:28.920 --> 00:16:31.080
It's got some stored honey.
00:16:31.120 --> 00:16:34.080
It's got a little bit of weight to it.
00:16:34.080 --> 00:16:38.000
Maybe this expanded poly style ring will help it get through the winter
00:16:39.120 --> 00:16:46.240
It's a long story and I don't have much time left, so I'll make it short, but years ago when the small hive beetles first got here
00:16:47.940 --> 00:16:55.220
We found them out in a pumpkin field in beehives out there.
00:16:55.220 --> 00:16:59.380
So I put a nuc out there just to monitor and see what would happen
00:16:59.540 --> 00:17:09.620
Would those bees come out, would those beetles come out and then go down into the ground and pupate and do all that thing they do
00:17:10.220 --> 00:17:13.100
And do you know that I forgot it?
00:17:13.100 --> 00:17:21.660
And the next spring we got a call from the farmer saying we had a beehive in the way out there and that they needed to get planting done.
00:17:21.540 --> 00:17:24.500
Well, I thought he just wanted me to move the equipment.
00:17:24.500 --> 00:17:32.660
And that little four-frame nuc sat out in the middle of an open pumpkin field with three frames of bees.
00:17:32.620 --> 00:17:35.580
And survived the winter and it was it was a winner.
00:17:35.580 --> 00:17:40.060
It was just a regular old-fashioned no-nonsense winner.
00:17:40.060 --> 00:17:41.980
I was I was shocked.
00:17:41.980 --> 00:17:43.820
So when I look at this one
00:17:44.720 --> 00:17:48.640
I'm not as hopeless as I used to be.
00:17:48.880 --> 00:17:53.440
I cannot explain why that little beehive survived all those years ago.
00:17:53.860 --> 00:17:56.900
But I guess there I'm putting this back together now.
00:17:56.900 --> 00:17:59.860
I just wanted to have a quick look.
00:17:59.860 --> 00:18:02.580
This one is is doing okay.
00:18:02.580 --> 00:18:04.420
If this were if this were me
00:18:05.240 --> 00:18:07.480
This colony would really build up nicely.
00:18:07.480 --> 00:18:15.480
But since it chose this difficult path of this after swarm, secondary swarm,
00:18:15.720 --> 00:18:25.320
Secondary swarms are frequently called after swarms, but secondary tends to be a better wording for these small swarms that come later.
00:18:25.519 --> 00:18:31.679
This is not me lecturing you, this is me trying to educate myself and just talking to you while I'll do it.
00:18:31.679 --> 00:18:35.279
So maybe this thing has a chance.
00:18:34.419 --> 00:18:41.059
So out of the three tiny highs I looked at today, one is already dead and gone.
00:18:41.539 --> 00:18:42.419
I gotta be now.
00:18:42.419 --> 00:18:44.100
Who doesn't like me here?
00:18:44.060 --> 00:18:45.660
And I don't mind it.
00:18:45.660 --> 00:18:48.380
I got my veil, but I can't talk to you.
00:18:48.380 --> 00:18:51.420
I don't want to swallow a bee.
00:18:51.420 --> 00:18:55.180
So I have three of these tiny colonies.
00:18:55.200 --> 00:18:59.120
One looks good, one's already dead, and one is dead.
00:18:59.120 --> 00:19:02.080
It just hasn't finished dying.
00:19:02.080 --> 00:19:03.440
Could it be said
00:19:04.320 --> 00:19:11.440
That here in Ohio, July is kind of the evaluation month.
00:19:11.440 --> 00:19:14.000
The first colony is not going to make it.
00:19:14.000 --> 00:19:16.400
It's already it's already essentially dead.
00:19:16.400 --> 00:19:18.960
The mice have already moved in.
00:19:19.040 --> 00:19:20.240
Second colony.
00:19:20.240 --> 00:19:24.400
This is all happening on this is July the 24th.
00:19:24.720 --> 00:19:32.000
There's a little bit of sweet clover left and other than that we're going to go into a dearth now to golden rod and fall flowers come
00:19:32.780 --> 00:19:37.820
So these colonies basically are going to have to make it on what they've got.
00:19:37.820 --> 00:19:43.340
But there's just so much I don't know about beekeeping after all these years of tinkering with bees.
00:19:43.419 --> 00:19:51.419
Does the swarm size, the cluster size, if it's compatible with the cavity space and the brood stores
00:19:51.919 --> 00:19:59.679
And if it's in a sheltered place, are those characteristics for a potential successful wintering?
00:19:59.679 --> 00:20:03.200
You know, when we keep these in our boxes, we want them in two deeps.
00:20:03.840 --> 00:20:17.280
Maybe some insulation and whatever, but nature's much more unforgiving and unselective and you know all nest cavity sites aren't the same, so to say again plain taught beekeeping
00:20:17.519 --> 00:20:25.200
All colonies don't survive in nature and it has probably always been that way.
00:20:25.200 --> 00:20:26.320
I don't know
00:20:26.820 --> 00:20:31.780
So these two swarms, these three swarms, two of them are mine, one of them wasn't.
00:20:31.780 --> 00:20:33.620
I already had these swarms.
00:20:33.620 --> 00:20:36.980
I didn't I didn't want to get any more bees
00:20:37.240 --> 00:20:45.560
I had all I wanted back here, about ten colonies, and I kept getting these little swarms, and they would hang outside my apiary fence
00:20:46.360 --> 00:20:55.160
And either bees from that swarm or bees from the yard stung one of the p professional guys who cuts my grass now.
00:20:55.160 --> 00:20:57.000
Yes, yes it's true.
00:20:57.000 --> 00:21:00.760
My first job in life was mowing lawns.
00:21:00.220 --> 00:21:08.220
And now I pay somebody to cut mine because my daughters don't want me on a mower and a tractor here by myself with no one to monitor when I hurt myself.
00:21:08.220 --> 00:21:11.260
So when these guys come in to do my yard work
00:21:11.460 --> 00:21:19.620
They're tough, but they don't like being stung up, so I I hive those swarms just to get them out of the way, not because I really wanted them
00:21:19.919 --> 00:21:33.360
As a younger beekeeper, I would have gone into strong colonies and I would have parasitized some of their brood and some of their honey stores and boosted these colonies and I'd take them from the wealthy to give to the poor
00:21:33.540 --> 00:21:40.100
But as an old guy thinking you can do all that and they still might die or you can go sit inside where it's cool.
00:21:40.100 --> 00:21:42.180
What do you think I chose to do?
00:21:42.180 --> 00:21:44.420
So out of the deal, maybe I get one
00:21:44.919 --> 00:21:55.480
Today I wanted to come out and have a look at the colonies that the passing season is passing judgment on.
00:21:55.440 --> 00:21:58.960
And I've already told you what those results may be.
00:21:58.960 --> 00:22:05.200
The big ones that are just boiling strong here and bees just flooding coming and going.
00:22:05.380 --> 00:22:10.180
Those would be the ones that there'd be a price to be paid for opening them.
00:22:10.180 --> 00:22:17.140
From this point on in July, there's going to be a price to be paid, and robbing's going to be an increasing issue
00:22:18.140 --> 00:22:27.820
I used to open them and just to see what was going on and to check the queen and do all that and now if they're boiling outside like they are now and coming back with pollen.
00:22:27.460 --> 00:22:31.940
I'm beyond the op the uh years of where I just would open them just to check.
00:22:31.940 --> 00:22:35.060
I was growing and developing then.
00:22:35.060 --> 00:22:39.780
If you're doing that now and you've been keeping bees eight, nine, ten years
00:22:39.840 --> 00:22:41.280
I encourage you to do it.
00:22:41.280 --> 00:22:44.000
Learn, enjoy, adapt.
00:22:44.000 --> 00:22:46.880
Do what you can to keep your bees strong.
00:22:46.880 --> 00:22:49.200
And on a final note,
00:22:49.040 --> 00:22:54.960
Sitting here across the yard watching a hive washboard on the front.
00:22:54.960 --> 00:23:00.000
That is the most tantalizing, unclear behavior that I've ever dealt with.
00:23:00.179 --> 00:23:02.179
And I just don't know what causes it.
00:23:02.419 --> 00:23:10.820
I may go back and see if anyone else has determined something that could result in that washboarding behavior on the front of the colony
00:23:11.960 --> 00:23:14.360
Listeners, I'm gonna cut this off here now.
00:23:14.360 --> 00:23:15.960
It's a pretty good day.
00:23:15.960 --> 00:23:20.600
I need to do something back here with these weeds, at least to get the entrances opened up.
00:23:20.600 --> 00:23:23.800
These weeds are going to turn into fall flowers.
00:23:23.800 --> 00:23:26.280
I've already seen bumble.
00:23:26.560 --> 00:23:29.600
bees on some of the fall flowers back here.
00:23:29.600 --> 00:23:31.200
So it's too wild though.
00:23:31.440 --> 00:23:32.400
It's too wild.
00:23:32.400 --> 00:23:36.560
I won't bring any tourist back here and I won't make any pictures of it.
00:23:36.560 --> 00:23:38.320
We told we can talk next week.
00:23:38.320 --> 00:23:40.960
I'm Jim telling you it wasn't a great day.
00:23:41.560 --> 00:23:43.160
It was an educational day.
00:23:43.240 --> 00:23:44.360
I'll take it.
00:23:44.360 --> 00:23:45.240
I'll take it.
00:23:45.240 --> 00:23:46.040
Goodbye.