Your bees are so bad. Look at my bees

Yeah I’ve struggled with my nucs back filling waiting on the queen to be mated and laying 🙈 had to stay up on them to check weekly on them. I had a BIG swarm last Sunday just as I was going to go into the hive too. Was checking once a week too and had been split the week before! They went high and we couldn’t reach them. They started to move I went to follow and as the went over the house I ran around and it was like they disappeared into thin air! I couldn’t see them at all! They weren’t on the roof or anything!

Thankyou for the explanation on your smoker lighting! You're right- a little hard on the smoker but an excellent way to light.

what's good with those 2-way pallets?

In Connecticut I saw a clamshell with a much smaller section for $18 each in the local super market.

You have to smoke em from the entrance an wait a couple a mins to see if you have beetles, smoke drives em up.

Mike looks as if you’re bees keep throwing out the challenges , keeping you on your toes. Stay after them

"I don't like swarm commander. It costs $30". I look up swarm rustler and what do you know, it costs $30.

It’s a bummer they didn’t take to the queen but it was nice to see how you combine. I have yet to do so but really wish I thought to do combines a couple of weeks ago before the flow hit but gee I have been behind on the flow. The yard is looking good there.

You should try setting up you bee stands in pairs. Super nice to work the hive.

God Bless you too Mike!

Man i hated privet when i was a kid lol thats what i got disciplined with. Deserved every bit of it tho. It does smell good and we get a good flow from it most years but i dont care for the honey that much as well mike! Good stuff mike thanks

I saw Mr. Ed light his smoker that way in one of his last videos. I’ve never seen this before.

I had a mysterious tree pop up. Took a picture - came up Chinese Tallow or bleeding heart. Looks just like your Chinese Tallow your showed.

Hey Mike! I do the same with packing my smoker, but I put a bunch of long green grass (or something green) on top of the pellets. It keeps the smoke cool

Awh bee keep[ng is east

Privet started here today. It is 80 degrees and they are bringing it in. Between the privet, honeysuckle and wild roses it smells great here too. Nice nuc queen laying great. Looking like a nice flow year for you Mike. Good on you. Take care.

I always learn something new with every video. Moving my beekeeping skills from generalities to more subtle ways of managing things. God bless brother!

Yep, time for a new smoker, this one is on it's last legs. When you were working the bellows smoke was coming out through the crack in the side. LOL. Thanks for letting us see part of your life as a beekeeper. I think we have all been there when our fixes failed. You can only do what you think is best at the time. We don't often see that paper trick in the videos. That was the go-to method for combining hives back in the day. Thanks again, your videos always brighten my day. God Bless.

Dream Big brother 🙏

Hey Mike I patched the burn holes in my smoker with steel epoxy stick. I'll keep that baby smoking as long as I can. Cheers...

Great video Mike. A nice peek in on your operation! I really like the was you explain your thought process when dealing with different issues.

Hello Mike!! Enjoyed the video. I light my smoker the same way!!! Just be careful and don't melt your gloves!!! 😉 That nuc was a NUKE!!! Hope they get it in a big box quickly!!!! You win some...you lose some....and bees will be bees!!! Take care!!!

Thanks for the information, Mike! Before watching your video, I'd mainly only thought about combining colonies in the fall to build up for winter. Makes perfect sense to combine in preparation for the flow. Awesome video, very informative!

I saw the Bob Ross bust and I first thought it was Mr. Ed

How’s the Tallow looking down there. Not as far along in Central MS as I’m use to. Looks like Privet will finish well before Tallow is ready. Commented before I saw the end.

Try putting the queenless boxes on top on the qr. Keep the excluder in but also give an upper entrance. Stack supers in between. Older bees will use that and stay up top. I run 2 queens like this on hundreds of colonies.

Thanks for the lesson on lighting a smoker, and on combining swarmed colonies with queen right colonies for production. More tools for my toolbox.😊

Hello Mr. Mike . I would love to have all those privet trees . I can not keep enough privet honey my customers love it just like the mimosa honey. Both of them I can not bottle it fast enough. Well it looks like my Bees have been talking to your again because two of those hi priced carniolan I put in were taken out. One of them the bees let her lay for a few days before they got her . I did a extra slow release on all of them I put a piece of tape over the candy with a pin hole in it but I am just going to try again . My privet here will probably take close to a week to start . I will tell you a odd one I have never saw before. My next door neighbor lives around 500’-600’ from me her holly trees bloomed a little over three weeks ago an mine are just now blooming but I am kind of down in a little hole here . Mike I hope your flow is a major one this season to add to your reduction from last year. I am going to start tomorrow pulling supers an or frames to free up supers for flow to come 🤞🤞🤞. Have a good week. Thanks

Mike, how many hives do you generally have?

Well I see Mr. Ed learned his smoker lighting techniques from you! I considered doing the same lighting technique today, but I went with the traditional, it lasted the whole inspection, it worked fine. Wood pellets is the secret for a long lasting smoker ;)

I want to ask about the pallets. .

we have a love/hate relationship up in NY with japaneese knotweed, its invasive, spreads everywhere, and incredibly difficult to remove, but the bees LOVE it, and it makes a very dark red honey that is a pretty bold and rich flavor to it.

I really appreciate your techinque of lighting the smoker because that is how I do it as well!!! Have a great week yourself!!!!

Good stuff Mr.Mike, How many colonies do you maintain production wise, and do you have a battery of nucs?

Have you ever tried to use a screen cage to introduce the queens in the box, I have been using them and leaving them for 5 days before I release her. You put her over bees that are hatching with food so that as the bees hatch they will feed the queen and the others will get use to her scent.

I’m about to combine a QR nuc with a large queenless colony. Now after watching this, I’m not feeling very confident!

👍👍👍👍

Privet, tulip poplar, and just about everything else is poppin here in atlanta. Love this time of year.

You have a lot of tricks up your sleeves Mike. Hope you get a good harvest.

I think Bob needs some water and some chia seeds :-)

When we think we have the bees figured out they throw us a curve ball. Enjoyed the video, take care.

Glad the flow in your area is so much better than last years! This video helped to put things more into perspective for me, the more I watch the more I learn. Your hands on videos are very much appreciated by me for sure! Yourself, Fred and Randy are the ones I have chosen to learn from. Had a bad experience 30 years ago with a local bee club that was full of it, and I have come to know now for sure it was. It held me back for this long, I guess the internet isn't all bad, it just depends on what you expose yourself to. Thanks for the video!

Thank you Mike ,enjoyed video

Thanks for the explanation of how you manage low producing hives. With your method, you can’t lose. It is honey this year or next year. That is good management. Have a great week and thanks again.

Thanks 4 keeping it Real. 😊 🐝

Thanks Mike!!👍👍

i HAVE BEES!! I got my 2 packages Friday. Let's say it didn't go as smoothly as planned but they are in the hives.

Good tour and the Buckee's shirt Great place to visit

Our autumn olive is extremely invasive, has a floral aroma that's wonderful. We are in the middle of the biggest early early spring flows I've ever seen in last 5 years. Still 3 weeks out on Tulip Poplar though!