Tuesday 30 April 2019

How to Make a Simple Feeder for a Top Bar Hive

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/embed/dN6iKmoCnqY[/embed]46633 views   229 likes   9 dislikes  

Channel: Phil Chandler - Barefoot Beekeeper  

A simple and versatile feeder for a top bar hive that anyone can make from scraps of wood.

Free top bar hive plans here - http://biobees.com

Warre hive plans here - https://tinyurl.com/warrehiveplans

Video length: 5:07
Category: Pets & Animals
21 comments

Monday 29 April 2019

How To Install a Swarm of Bees into a Top Bar Hive

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/embed/O8UrN6m8tN0[/embed]1340 views   16 likes   0 dislikes  

Channel: Phil Chandler - Barefoot Beekeeper  

An easy way to get bees into a top bar hive. The swarm was caught several miles away and there is little danger of absconding. It is a smallish swarm and will need feeding.

Free top bar hive plans here - http://biobees.com

Warre hive plans here - https://tinyurl.com/warrehiveplans

Video length: 3:25
Category: Pets & Animals
2 comments

Sunday 28 April 2019

Start Point, Devon, UK

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/embed/oayRquIKSOM[/embed]268 views   7 likes   0 dislikes  

Channel: Phil Chandler - Barefoot Beekeeper  

Xiaomi mi drone, September 2017

Video length: 2:26
Category: Pets & Animals
2 comments

Black bees in a top bar hive on the Isle of Man

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/embed/jRebDnqj-wc[/embed]10349 views   76 likes   3 dislikes  

Channel: Phil Chandler - Barefoot Beekeeper  

During the BIBBA conference in September 2016 on the Isle of Man, local beekeeper Johnny Kipps showed me his top bar hives, believed to be the first on the island. We went through both colonies without using smoke.

Free top bar hive plans here - http://biobees.com

Warre hive plans here - https://tinyurl.com/warrehiveplans

Video length: 21:11
Category: Pets & Animals
19 comments

Saturday 27 April 2019

How To Introduce a Queen Bee to a Polynuc: novel method

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/embed/wqqZ2zQ00yU[/embed]612 views   8 likes   0 dislikes  

Channel: Phil Chandler - Barefoot Beekeeper  

On-the-spot video showing a method of introducing a caged queen under the transparent feeder cover of a Paynes polynuc.

(re-uploaded as the original was truncated)

Video length: 4:00
Category: Pets & Animals
7 comments

Friday 26 April 2019

How to use the Morris Board to raise queens

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/embed/7lXAauPK-Ps[/embed]4586 views   47 likes   4 dislikes  

Channel: Phil Chandler - Barefoot Beekeeper  

The Morris Board is device that can make the continuous raising of queen bees possible throughout the season. It is not difficult to make, although reasonable accuracy is required for it to operate smoothly. In this video, i explain the various parts and show how it all works.

The "emergency impulse" is triggered as soon as the colony discovers it is queenless, when the bees act swiftly to save themselves from certain disaster. They identify a few larvae that have just hatched and begin to extend their cells outwards and downwards, while packing them with extra rations of royal jelly. Because these queens will have been produced in a hurry, they may not be of the best quality, but at least one of them will be good enough to carry the colony until they can, if necessary, replace her at leisure later on, perhaps at a less critical time, by the planned process of supercedure, which takes place in the presence of - and therefore, we assume, with at least the acquiescence, if not the full assent of the laying queen - and which is believed to produce queens of the highest quality.

Since we cannot easily trigger the supercedure response, we start the ball rolling by inducing the emergency response, then switching conditions to those pertaining during supercedure, hoping to be rewarded with higher quality queens.

Video length: 15:31
Category: Pets & Animals
28 comments

Thursday 25 April 2019

How to Make a Queen Cell Finisher Using an Extended Polynuc

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/embed/E-uSD-RfXT8[/embed]1871 views   22 likes   3 dislikes  

Channel: Phil Chandler - Barefoot Beekeeper  

Payne's polynucs are useful for many reasons, including queen rearing. In this video, I show you how to make a cell finisher using a standard polynuc plus an extender, with a queen excluder in between.

Video length: 7:47
Category: Pets & Animals
5 comments

Home-Built Micro-Camper on Trailer Tent Chassis

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/embed/huwmDhIaTQM[/embed]409 views   15 likes   0 dislikes  

Channel: Phil Chandler - Barefoot Beekeeper  

I built this lightweight mobile workshop/micro-camper/utility trailer on a galvanized chassis that was once a Conway trailer tent.
Construction is mostly 2"x1" timber frames filled with urethane foam insulation (Celotex) surfaced with an acrylic mesh used for garden weed suppression, bonded with thinned Titebond II wood glue and painted with Ronseal garden paint.
The design was improvised and somewhat modified as I went along, so don't ask for plans because there never were any!

(The video was shot on a Samsung ES65 that I picked up for £5 in a charity shop, in old-school 4:3 format, which I still prefer because of the greater height of the image compared with 16:9. Obviously, there is a quality penalty using 640x480 compared with 1080p and 4K, but I wanted to see what it would do.)

Video length: 28:11
Category: Pets & Animals
4 comments

Wednesday 24 April 2019

Top Bar Bee Hive First Install

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/embed/dbAhGEa4KRA[/embed]51208 views   314 likes   24 dislikes  

Channel: Peter Hartman  

This is our first bee hive and our first time being around bees. Subscribe to us on YouTube to keep up to date on all of our projects.

Video length: 9:49
Category: People & Blogs
60 comments

Tuesday 23 April 2019

Two Queen Bees in One Hive!

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/embed/NPehW7oZUMM[/embed]3800 views   18 likes   1 dislikes  

Channel: Phil Chandler - Barefoot Beekeeper  

Supercedure is the process by which honeybees replace a failing queen. A queen cell is built - usually just one - most often in a recess in the middle of a comb. When the new queen emerges, she will mate and begin laying eggs while her mother is still alive and the two queens will often work together for a few weeks until the old queen is no longer viable, when her workers will cease to feed her.

Free top bar hive plans here - http://biobees.com

Warre hive plans here - https://tinyurl.com/warrehiveplans

Join our FREE Natural Beekeeping Forum - http://biobees.com/forum

Video length: 2:44
Category: Pets & Animals
3 comments

Monday 22 April 2019

Top bar hive - treatment free bees

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/embed/zyX00_BiKX4[/embed]5329 views   26 likes   0 dislikes  

Channel: Phil Chandler - Barefoot Beekeeper  

This colony in a top bar hive is thriving despite having had no Varroa treatment for 2+ seasons. They have nearly filled the hive, so we are splitting them by inserting a follower between two pairs of entrance holes. The side nearest the camera has sealed queen cells, while the laying queen is in the far side. One the new queen has emerged, mated and begun to lay, we can either re-combine them and remove the old queen, or place them in an empty hive.

Video length: 3:01
Category: Pets & Animals
7 comments

How to Catch a Swarm of Bees

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/embed/GScLrxeTArY[/embed]33703 views   34 likes   7 dislikes  

Channel: Phil Chandler  

http://www.biobees.com
How to catch a bee swarm using a basket. This method is simple and effective, making it very easy to place the bees into a top bar hive after a few days building comb in the basket. This is very similar to hives used by the ancient Greeks.

Video length: 10:33
Category: Pets & Animals
8 comments

Sunday 21 April 2019

The Black Bee Project

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/embed/gvZ7EeZSKSE[/embed]18162 views   94 likes   6 dislikes  

Channel: Phil Chandler - Barefoot Beekeeper  

Crowdfunder project to re-establish the British Black Bee (a.k.a. North European honeybee) across the country, starting with sustainable breeding centres in the South West (Devon, Cornwall, Somerset and Dorset).

Video length: 2:24
37 comments

Saturday 20 April 2019

A Lazutin Hive at Village Farm, South Devon, UK

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/embed/oOKTzK9KcL8[/embed]7961 views   66 likes   5 dislikes  

Channel: Phil Chandler - Barefoot Beekeeper  

Emily Reed, beekeeper at Village Farm, Devon, UK, talks to Phil Chandler about her Lazutin hives, which she has built and installed to house native black honeybees (Apis mellifera mellifera), sourced a few miles away in Cornwall.

Free top bar hive plans here - http://biobees.com

Warre hive plans here - https://tinyurl.com/warrehiveplans

Video length: 15:01
Category: Pets & Animals
10 comments

Friday 19 April 2019

How To Make a Quick and Easy Feeder for a Top Bar Hive

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/embed/np7AAJyrxlQ[/embed]14063 views   138 likes   2 dislikes  

Channel: Phil Chandler - Barefoot Beekeeper  

There are many ways to feed bees in a top bar hive, and this is a particularly easy and convenient method that incorporates recycling of packaging.

Free top bar hive plans here - http://biobees.com

Warre hive plans here - https://tinyurl.com/warrehiveplans

Video length: 8:05
Category: Pets & Animals
43 comments

Top bar hive review - some important features and benefits

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/embed/yw1hPeYw-VY[/embed]49892 views   568 likes   17 dislikes  

Channel: Phil Chandler - Barefoot Beekeeper  

There are many ways to design and set up a top bar hive and until you have used one for a while, it is not easy to see the advantages and disadvantages of different systems. In this video, I describe and explain some of the key design features I incorporate into my hives.

Free top bar hive plans here - http://biobees.com

Warre hive plans here - https://tinyurl.com/warrehiveplans

Video length: 12:32
Category: Pets & Animals
75 comments

Thursday 18 April 2019

The Top Bar Hive: key features and benefits

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/embed/84QReEtfDYU[/embed]15070 views   92 likes   6 dislikes  

Channel: Phil Chandler - Barefoot Beekeeper  

A look at a beautifully made top bar hive made by Paul MacDonald.
I moved a colony of bees into this hive using an unorthodox method that I had never tried before...

Paul can be contacted as follows:
email - higherdruid@phonecoop.coop
mobile - 07930 285690
home - 01364 642893

Video length: 4:54
Category: Pets & Animals
37 comments

Wednesday 17 April 2019

How to Raise Queen Bees - the Nicot queen rearing system explained

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZO9u9T8li-Q[/embed]36729 views   278 likes   46 dislikes  

Channel: Phil Chandler - Barefoot Beekeeper  

The Nicot system is a relatively simple way to start new queen cells without grafting, which means that larvae are not handled or disturbed during their development.
In this video, I demonstrate the use of the Nicot laying cage and a method of removing cells and placing them into cell holders.

Video length: 25:27
Category: Pets & Animals
71 comments

Tuesday 16 April 2019

Top bar hive, méhészet "virágláda" kaptár 1

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/embed/jh-cK2UVHJk[/embed]4087 views   12 likes   1 dislikes  

Channel: Ferenc Nagy  

Video length: 4:47
Category: People & Blogs
0 comments

Hornets hunting bees!

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/embed/XIrqf1W1M-w[/embed]691 views   24 likes   0 dislikes  

Channel: Phil Chandler - Barefoot Beekeeper  

The European hornet (Vespa crabro) does take a few bees, but seems to prefer prey that doesn't fight back.

This is the second part. Part 1 is here https://youtu.be/CvWKOlSD41Y

Video length: 5:11
Category: Pets & Animals
25 comments

Monday 15 April 2019

Callabasas Sunrise1

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/embed/8ds7MazhZBs[/embed]2 views   0 likes   0 dislikes  

Channel: Phil Chandler  

Video length: 0:41
Category: People & Blogs
0 comments

Sunday 14 April 2019

Evicting the Drones

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/embed/4PXalfgWo4A[/embed]899 views   10 likes   0 dislikes  

Channel: Phil Chandler - Barefoot Beekeeper  

At this time of year, workers withdraw the free passes issued to drones during the summer and refuse to let them into the hive. If they resist, they are escorted from the premises and the stubborn ones receive the ultimate sanction.

Video length: 2:19
Category: Pets & Animals
7 comments

Saturday 13 April 2019

Hornets in a Top Bar Hive - update

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/embed/BYQ7RDgDDTA[/embed]519 views   22 likes   0 dislikes  

Channel: Phil Chandler - Barefoot Beekeeper  

Taking a look inside the hive to see how much the nest has grown.

Video length: 4:23
Category: Pets & Animals
8 comments

Friday 12 April 2019

The Quadratic Hive: the most versatile beehive in the world! (Part 2)

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/embed/JBL51gW7abk[/embed]14853 views   88 likes   4 dislikes  

Channel: Phil Chandler - Barefoot Beekeeper  

http://biobees.com/quadratic-hive.php

The Quadratic have was designed to be versatile, and in this video I show you some of the ways you can use it.

Featured is a prototype Quadratic Hive made from recycled bottle tops - possibly a world first - by Paul at LUSH cosmetics in Poole, Dorset (thanks, Paul).

PLEASE NOTE: The Quadratic Hive featured in this video is a prototype. I do not suggest that you build hives using recycled or other plastics, or use hot glue as the sole method of jointing on hives, except on an experimental basis. Most of my hives are made from wood and I will continue to use wood as my main material for hive building.

See Part 1 here - https://youtu.be/28-q6MnUrUo

Full plans and instructions for building and using the Quadratic Hive now available from here - http://biobees.com/quadratic-hive.php

Video length: 9:55
Category: Pets & Animals
17 comments

Bob Hogge from Jersey talks about the invading Asian hornet


The Asian Yellow-Legged Hornet, Vespa velutina, is a serious threat to bees and beekeeping in Britain, given its predatory nature and the fact that a large nest may contain 10-12,000 hungry insects. 

It also poses a secondary threat to birds and bats, as it has the ability to consume massive numbers of their prey, while themselves being virtually immune from attack by any of our native species. 

PLEASE LEARN ABOUT THIS DANGEROUS PEST and look out for news about it, preferably by checking the news page on https://friendsofthebees.org and don't rely on newspapers, which regularly feature pictures of the wrong species.

There is an Android app called "Asian Hornet Watch" that makes identification and reporting easy: this is an invasive non-native species that must be reported to http://www.brc.ac.uk/risc/alert.php?species=asian_hornet 

If you use FaceBook, look for my page "Defending Britain Against the Asian Hornet" for news and updates.

 

 


Check out this episode!

Thursday 11 April 2019

Thermal imaging helps find bees, which I remove by hand

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/embed/A1e9XAYJ5Co[/embed]580 views   16 likes   0 dislikes  

Channel: Phil Chandler - Barefoot Beekeeper  

My thermal imaging camera proves useful in helping to locate the position of a nest of honeybees, which I have to remove by hand. No bees were hurt in the making of this video, although I had a couple of stings.

Music: Arise by Rocco Granata

Video length: 2:56
Category: Pets & Animals
10 comments

Wednesday 10 April 2019

ZEST hive - short intro

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/embed/L7alpdxF0yQ[/embed]1818 views   41 likes   0 dislikes  

Channel: Phil Chandler - Barefoot Beekeeper  

This is the short version. The longer one with details of construction and my thoughts about it can be found here https://youtu.be/8KbnXpRkEfU

I interviewed the designer, Bill Summers, for my podcast, which you can hear at https://biobees.libsyn.com

Video length: 1:29
Category: Pets & Animals
18 comments

Tuesday 9 April 2019

Top Bar Beehive With "Fresh P"

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/embed/_tzC4O8Cr7c[/embed]87515 views   3040 likes   53 dislikes  

Channel: Wranglerstar  

Top bar beehive 2 hosts a special guest YouTuber FreshPrincess brings some much needed bee experience to the homestead.
Subscribe! - http://goo.gl/09W6xl

LIKE us on FACEBOOK! http://goo.gl/42trk7
FOLLOW us on TWITTER! https://twitter.com/wranglerstar
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Video length: 8:45
Category: Howto & Style
194 comments

Top bar honey processing with Mann Lake uncapping tank

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/embed/9l-Z2HFKLuw[/embed]42269 views   147 likes   28 dislikes  

Channel: John Drieman  

This is by far the most efficient way to crush and strain top bar honey combs. The large size of the tank allows for processing of 10 or 20 combs at once, just give the wax a few days to drain of honey. A standard oven rack fits nicely over top of the tank, and any 2 smaller stainless steel wire cooling racks layed over top at right angles will do as a crushing surface. You could tape the oven rack to the sides of the tank to keep things from moving around. The sieves are a combo of a coarse plastic type and a fine stainless steel (available at Canadian Tire). This way you can clean out the plastic sieve during the straining process to avoid clogging.

Video length: 10:37
Category: People & Blogs
28 comments

Monday 8 April 2019

Three useful tools for your bee suit pockets

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/embed/h47Hnz2ACDw[/embed]6841 views   17 likes   2 dislikes  

Channel: Phil Chandler  

http://www.biobees.com
If you use a water spray instead of a smoker, and a powdered sugar puffer to encourage bees to groom Varroa mites from each other, you can carry everything you need for beekeeping in your pockets!

Video length: 3:17
Category: Pets & Animals
2 comments

Sunday 7 April 2019

Early Season Varroa Dusting and Top Bar Hive Check

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/embed/j19FptJUB8M[/embed]31972 views   73 likes   7 dislikes  

Channel: Phil Chandler  

http://www.biobees.com Dusting bees with powdered sugar is an effective way to keep Varroa infestations down to manageable levels. While not being 100% effective, it is at least non-toxic and does the bees no harm, unlike many commercial treatments manufactured from synthetic ingredients.
This video also demonstrates that checking through a top bar hive is no more difficult than checking a framed hive. When you consider how few bees are disturbed in this video, compared to what happens when you rip the top off a conventional hive, you may begin to see how suitable these hives are for beginners and experienced beekeepers alike.

Video length: 14:47
Category: Pets & Animals
23 comments

Saturday 6 April 2019

Quadratic Hive: Queen cells, ekes and entrances

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/embed/SFl7eoWHBWs[/embed]2911 views   60 likes   0 dislikes  

Channel: Phil Chandler - Barefoot Beekeeper  

In this video, I transfer queen cells from a Quadratic hive to a top bar hive; change the order of boxes in a Quadratic hive; add an eke andd demonstrate the use of multiple entrances.

Video length: 12:27
Category: Pets & Animals
14 comments

How to handle a (male) hornet

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/embed/3LbfSU6_IyU[/embed]418 views   8 likes   0 dislikes  

Channel: Phil Chandler - Barefoot Beekeeper  

Naturalist John Walters dissected a hornet nest with me in November 2018 (see other videos). In this clip, John demonstrates how to safely handle a male European hornet (Vespa crabro).
If you try this, do make sure you have positively identified it as a male, as the sting of the female is painful.

Video length: 2:09
Category: Pets & Animals
7 comments

Friday 5 April 2019

How to Use a 2 in 1 Polynuc Beehive

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/embed/fy7CRMdXAh4[/embed]3305 views   64 likes   6 dislikes  

Channel: Phil Chandler - Barefoot Beekeeper  

This new 2-in-1 polynuc from http://bshoneybees.co.uk looks like a useful piece of kit for any beekeeper who needs a flexible 6-frame nuc box that can be divided into two 3-frame sections for mating queens or just nursing a couple of small colonies.

Video length: 8:49
Category: Pets & Animals
48 comments

Thursday 4 April 2019

Fun with fungi: growing mushrooms at one of my apiaries

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/embed/2ahLqCRM38M[/embed]173 views   21 likes   0 dislikes  

Channel: Phil Chandler - Barefoot Beekeeper  

One of my 'eco-floor' experiments, with the aim of learning more about the nature of bees' interest in fungal mycelium.

I am growing shiitake (Lentinula edodes); blue-grey oyster (Pleurotus ostreatus) and wine cap (Stropharia rugosoannulata) from mycelium grown on wild bird seed, which has been soaked and sterilized and after myceliation, is added to barley straw.

Please consider a donation to friendsofthebees.org if you find these videos useful and/or interesting.

My web site, which has information about natural and balanced beekeeping, is biobees.com

Video length: 6:29
Category: Pets & Animals
5 comments

Wednesday 3 April 2019

Fun with fungi: growing mushrooms at one of my apiaries

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/embed/2ahLqCRM38M[/embed]149 views   20 likes   0 dislikes  

Channel: Phil Chandler - Barefoot Beekeeper  

One of my 'eco-floor' experiments, with the aim of learning more about the nature of bees' interest in fungal mycelium.

I am growing shiitake (Lentinula edodes); blue-grey oyster (Pleurotus ostreatus) and wine cap (Stropharia rugosoannulata) from mycelium grown on wild bird seed, which has been soaked and sterilized and after myceliation, is added to barley straw.

Please consider a donation to friendsofthebees.org if you find these videos useful and/or interesting.

My web site, which has information about natural and balanced beekeeping, is biobees.com

Video length: 6:29
Category: Pets & Animals
5 comments

Installing a swarm into a top bar hive

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/embed/aiwKLYEle8c[/embed]3731 views   65 likes   3 dislikes  

Channel: Phil Chandler - Barefoot Beekeeper  

Hawii caught a swarm in Plymouth and I helped him install it into one of his new top bar hives.

Video length: 11:24
Category: Pets & Animals
19 comments

Tuesday 2 April 2019

Home-Built Micro-Camper on Trailer Tent Chassis

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/embed/huwmDhIaTQM[/embed]189 views   10 likes   0 dislikes  

Channel: Phil Chandler - Barefoot Beekeeper  

I built this lightweight mobile workshop/micro-camper/utility trailer on a galvanized chassis that was once a Conway trailer tent.
Construction is mostly 2"x1" timber frames filled with urethane foam insulation (Celotex) surfaced with an acrylic mesh used for garden weed suppression, bonded with thinned Titebond II wood glue and painted with Ronseal garden paint.
The design was improvised and somewhat modified as I went along, so don't ask for plans because there never were any!

(The video was shot on a Samsung ES65 that I picked up for £5 in a charity shop, in old-school 4:3 format, which I still prefer because of the greater height of the image compared with 16:9. Obviously, there is a quality penalty using 640x480 compared with 1080p and 4K, but I wanted to see what it would do.)

Video length: 28:11
Category: Pets & Animals
2 comments

Monday 1 April 2019

Audrey Compton's talk for Moor Meadows - Part 1 of 2

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/embed/fLOVMP3bTsI[/embed]187 views   4 likes   1 dislikes  

Channel: Phil Chandler - Barefoot Beekeeper  

Audrey talks about the restoration of Deer Park Farm on Dartmoor, including the recreation of wildflower meadows, now rich with insect life.

Recorded at Scorriton Village Hall, February 12 2019 for Moor Meadows
moormeadows.org.uk

Video length: 46:55
Category: Pets & Animals
1 comments