Neato. Love the bees! Thanks for sharing.

Thanks guys, bees are a fun hobby. Its very peaceful to watch them come and go.

A beekeeping video ,I posted before.

amazing, you are a true talent

Thanks Kevin. Not sure about that, but hopefully my bees will still be alive come spring.

I have just joined the forum, this is my first post . I have trapped in the past, almost 20 years ago. Beaver, rats , coon the odd mink. Still trap the odd nuisance beaver at our hunt camp, if they plug our culverts.. Our area is mostly farmland, with a few big swamps. Hunt deer , moose and coyotes .
Started keeping bees 2 years ago, actually my bee keeping buddy has them at my place. Have 7 hives. The other day was above freezing. saw bees at the upper entrance of 6 hives. Still too cold to disturb them much. They went into the winter , with lots of honey , fed sugar syrup , till they quit taking it. . Added winter green oil and spearmint oil to sugar water, supposed to help with nozema ( diorrea ) Watch the Fat Bee man, on utube , lots of info. Very interesting thread on Alaska bees. fishing trapping..Hope I can add something to the thread. . Good Luck old243

Welcome Brother
Good place to read up and share trapping experience's, and I will welcome your input on bees anytime.
Hope your hives make it.

Jeff , in my previous post , I mentioned oils in sugar water, forgot to add tea tree oil to mix . If you or anyone wants to get the recipe, preparation and using . Go to fat bee man video. use an old kitchen blender to prepare the concentrate.. Used it last fall so hope it works this spring.. Also different methods to split and raise your own queens. . He uses a lot of 5 frame nucs for this.. I built some , split a couple of hives , last year with a queen cell. Hope to experiment a bit this year. I am still very basic as far as knowledge. but hope to catch on. Enjoy the netting videos.. Good Luck old 243

Thanks, But I stay away from the oils and angel farts. They don't really need it. and it can induce robbing on the smaller hives. I have watched a little fat bee man but was not impressed. Might I recommend " A Canadian Bee Keeper Blog" Ian is a commercial beekeep and puts out some really good stuff on his youtube channel. Check him out if you haven't.

Jeff , checked outI Ians blog, lots of good information there.. old243

He is the man for sure. If you have the time, and bandwith, follow one of his seasons ,from spring, to fall. Be prepared to be amazed at the crazy amount of honey he pulls off single brood boxes. Sometimes 5 or more deeps full. Of course he is in the middle of huge Canola fields in Alberta.

He keeps pretty up to date entries. And will pull his hives from the wintering shed in the spring. Its enlightening to follow his season.

I am hoping my two hives make it.

Lost 2 of my 8 so far. We had a local bee meeting last week, put my order in for 2 new nucs.

I had 2 big fields of canola close to my bees , last summer. They were very busy girls for a week or so. If I understand it correct, canola honey will crystalize quickly, have to get it extracted quickly, or it doesn't , leave the combs , cleanly. . Saw action at my upper entrances , the last mild spell. at all, but one of my hives. Jeff In one of your video,s , are you wintering it inside, your shed , Or just spare boxes.. I have been making , bottom boards and inner covers this winter for my mentor. will now make frame parts. Good winter project. Anyone wanting plans go to . Michigan Bees, then bee keepers workshop. all methods and dimensions ,given. old243

Hope you are making some video so you can get into your Vlog for this summer's viewing. Our Manitoba bee keepers convention is this weekend in Winnipeg.

That sucks, Get the equipment cleaned out as fast as you can, or it gets moldy and no fun. If I was you I would just buy a couple queens and make your own Nucs. I did last year and used 4 frames of brood in June, and they built up pretty fast and still alive so far.


Yes he mentions the canola crystalizing fast, so I would extract it as soon as its capped. And my shed is just storing supers and extra equipment. I might try to overwinter one in there someday.

The beekeepers in my area of Alaska, Homer with a lot of freeze thaw conditions are having great luck with using a climate controled refrigerated van for storing bees in. I don't know the exact process. Keeping it in the high 30's I believe. Guy in Big Lake is doing the same thing. Here you pay a price to have your bees stored for the winter.

That's is nice to have that option. Although,I asked Ian the Canadian beekeeper that winters 1300 hives in his controlled wintering shed. How his winter survival rate compared to wintering outdoors.
He said the same. So its more of a convenience I guess, and not having to prep the hives for winter. He winters in single deeps, so just feeds and puts them to bed for the winter.

He keeps his shed at 5 c that's 32 f and has a air exchange to bring in cool air. Bees give off heat and will warm the shed too high . Also humidity and CO levels to maintain.

Personally I would rather not have to maintain a shed for them, put on a shim, quit box and sugar brick and wrap if its just a few hives.

Will see this spring, if I have to rethink things. lol

Was a nice day here yesterday about +35 with sun and not much wind. My hives got in a cleansing flight. Last year didn't get one until April 1



Alot of the walking dead bailed too. Its kind of heartbreaking to see them come out and crash into the snow. Or circle away into the blue yonder never to be seen again. But that's how it works when they don't have the resources to carry away the dead like they do in the summer, they fly themselves to the graveyard.
Just have to hope the cluster is big enough to go through to spring.

Jeff do you clean a few of the dead bees out of the bottom board, or just let them do their thing. I have smaller openings, Shoved a rod in a bit to open lower entrance.. My upper entrances are open, wintering in double deeps. Mild for a couple of days. Today cold , blowing a blizzard. Expect my cluster is in upper box, At least it was last year on toward spring. Good luck old243

On the first warm spring day when the bees are flying, I will trade out the old bottom board for a new clean one.
Yes I would poke a rod or something in the lower entrance to let airflow in and let water drain out ,I just did that to mine yesterday too.

I am sure your bees are in the top box, mine always are. They eat their way up.

Did you treat for varoa ? did you put a sugar brick ? do they have honey left ? It might be good to check about now, and add one if needed.

We treated , after the honey supers were taken off, with mite strips, fed heavy with sugar syrup . Till they quit taking it.. Most of the frames were full of feed.

I haven't opened since last fall, Last spring I rotated a frame from the outside of box, in next the brood cluster. scarred the capping up good. so it was easy to get at. Had some Nosema last spring, in one hive, Hoping the wintergreen oil in the syrup will control that, it tends to have an antibacterial effect, Time will tell. It has been cold so will have a peek if it warms up. . I am fairly new at bees, mostly just following my mentors guidance.. He has about 60 hives so keeps him busy. Good luck old243