okay so here we are on September 4th so
it's very late in the season and what
you're looking at is a box it's the
bottom box of a flow hive and we have a
swarm in it very late in the season
they're gonna need every edge we can
give them and we're gonna have to feed
these bees one of the things I want you
to notice when we're trying to help out
the honey bees is first of all look at
this wide entrance this landing board
now this hive the bottom board is
screened so there's plenty of
ventilation here but we want to give
them another edge and that's giving them
a smaller area to defend the culprits of
course are robbing bees and the
notorious Yellowjackets
very simple thing this is regular window
screen and I just cut equal lengths of
it and tripled it over here and we're
gonna fold it into a little V and just
hand push it into this little opening
now the flow hive bottom boards do not
have the standard size entrance reducer
openings they're a little smaller so
we're just going to loose fit this in
there and wasps for example the
Yellowjackets can't pull it out the only
thing that's going to move this would be
a mouse or something trying to get in
and we're not worried about that and if
it were moved we would know that there's
a mouse around trying to get into our
colony here but what we're trying to cut
down on is the amount of effort that
they have to put out to defend the
colony and of course limit the access
zone for the Yellowjackets which
sometimes sneaked in on the far edges to
either side it's a small colony the
swarm I suspect was about 3 or 4 pounds
not huge but not terribly small I think
their chances are really good because
we're still going into a pretty strong
nectar flow here with the goldenrod the
asters they're getting pollen from a
number of sources including sunflowers
and this is a simple thing so we're
closing it in without shutting down
ventilation we want them to stay cool
today is 88 degrees Fahrenheit
so now we've got about a four inch
opening that they can very easily defend
and they inspect the beads that are
coming in from the field here and this
is just a close-up to show you that our
guards are doing their job pretty easily
notice them grabbing and inspecting every
bee that comes in this is a pretty good
behavior for a newly captured and hived
swarm so I'm pretty pleased with them I
had no problems we have Acorn pre-waxed
frames inside some have drawn comb if
you want to keep your swarm from taking
off put a frame of brood in there and
they will not leave those developing
brood and it gives them a good kick off
they're kind of have their work cut out
for them here as we're gonna run out of
resources within the next eight to ten
weeks and we'll talk a little more about
the pollen resources in the area but I'm
also doing things to other beehives that
I have in my apiary and I want to show
you some of the landing board and entry
differences and what we're doing about
Yellowjackets in the apiary
you can hear my chickens in the
background here they roam freely through
the apiary and they collect bugs all day
long and of course this hive is situated
in the shade so that's going to help
them out too the blue spruce which is on
our right here as we're looking at the
scene is where the swarm congregated and
we clipped the branch off and then I put
it right on top of the hive this is one
of those beesmart design ventilated tops
also which vents without allowing other
insects to get in like the Yellow
Jackets and even the bees can't come in
through the top and now we're looking at
the whole width of the board and the
activity is pretty good so it's good to
see them already bringing in pollen
which is interesting to me consider they
really don't have any place to put it
unless they're drawing out comb in
record time now we're looking at another
standard Langstroth hive this is the
landing board and we have not restricted
the entrance that's because there's an
abundance of bees this is an extremely
strong colony of bees and they're more
than capable of defending their entrance
from the full length of their landing
board and there's something you should
notice they are doing deck washing here
so if you look at the bees on the
leading edge of the landing board
they're all kind of moving forward and
going backwards they are licking every
inch of the surface of that landing
board now to the left you can see that
they're lined up like aircrafts and
they're flapping their wings as much as
they can if you could smell it if you
were in front of this hive you would
notice that it is just heavy with nectar
the honey is being dehydrated inside all
of the colonies they're bringing on
about 2 to 3 pounds per day and hive
numbers are great the health of the bees
is fantastic and again you can see the
abdomens in the foreground here of those
that are doing the deck washing maneuver
and you can just listen to it the air
movement here is substantial right in
front of the hive they really do a
fantastic job of ventilating and again
this is just a standard Langstroth hive
design and notice how big the opening is
here where we would normally put an
entry reducer and real of course install
that later on in the year when their
numbers get down in the temperatures
drop now we do see some of the drones
moving around now we're at the landing
board of the flow hive 2 notice that it
has a much smaller entrance we can't fit
standard entry reducers here but also
notice that it has an aluminum bottom
board cover so it is a ventilated bottom
board and we have that plastic tray
inside where we can do varroa counts
varroa this year are extremely low we've
not treated I've only been able to find
one or two four row up per colony so
they're doing a fantastic job of keeping
those under control on their own again
we're just showing a nice strong colony
they don't need to have their entrance
reduced any more and now we're looking
at another flow hive this is the full
size flow hive standard not the flow
hive 2- and notice that I did restrict
their entrance now we have wooden shims
stuck in here and that's because the
bottom board of this colony of this hive
is screened so they have plenty of
ventilation inside we can pull out the
insert and increase ventilation or we
can push the insert back in from the
back and reduce air circulation as
needed
so if you may recall if you've been
watching my other videos these are the
colonies that had the new Queen's
installed now this looks like a cast-off
box but this is my ongoing experiment in
my apiary I'm repurposing old bee boxes
that I've had and you notice they have
the vent holes and this is what I'm
culturing in the bee yard this is a
paper wasp so I decided early in the
year since paper wasps don't attack or
harass the honeybees and I've never seen
a bee hive being robbed by paper wasps
I've also seen paper wasps driving off
Yellow Jackets so it occurred to me if
we install a paper wasp nest
intentionally in the apiary then we
would displace Yellowjackets and we
could use wasps to repel other wasps
so the beneficial wasps like these paper
wasps wish you a terrific job in pest
control are actually being raised by me
right here in the apiary and I'm going
to show you what their nest looks like
here in a second
but since they have no impact on the
honeybees but do displace Yellowjackets
my ongoing experiment is to see if
increasing the numbers of paper wasps
and providing them with habitat in close
proximity to my honeybees would help
reduce the numbers of the Yellowjackets
and so far that has been working we have
Yellowjackets everywhere in the
environment this time of year and their
numbers are extremely small here in my
bee yard so let's open it up I want you
to see what they look like and just like
managing bees you just move slowly I'm
not smoking them I'm just gonna move
slow and deliberate and show you what
they're like here I also want you to
notice as they come flying out here
listen to how quiet their wings are now
they're actually considering that I'm
opening their nest and exposing them
they really are not that defensive I am
protected with a bee suit I'm wearing a
ventilated bee suit because it is so hot
today but I'm only wearing surgical
gloves and I want to show you this nest
they do have capped brood that's what
you see the white cottony looking pieces
around the perimeter and there are a
couple in the middle of the field here
we'll get you in closer so you can take
a look and you can see that summer in
the process of hatching we're coming to
the end of their hatching season
actually so eventually the last batch
that grows here we'll all be queens and
then they will go into the next season
after wintering over in solitary
locations around the environment so
we're just going to
you put them back here again listen to
them they don't sound angry at all
they're very laid-back that doesn't mean
you can't be stung by them you certainly
can this is my experiment that I wanted
to share with you and that is that I'm
keeping them in the middle of my apiary
they have had zero impact on the bees
the bees don't seem to pay attention to
them they don't pay attention to the
bees they are not competing with the
same they're not competing for the same
resources that the bees do although they
do get some nectar they're mostly pest
control they do get some pollen but
mostly their protein comes from other
insects that they are feeding to they're
developing brood so I think having paper
wasps like these in the bee yard is a
very interesting method for kind of
having a wasp versus wasp situation so
that the Yellowjackets don't have free
reign
I would never manage Yellowjackets like
this they would just boil out and sting
you anyone who's had encounters with
Yellowjackets knows that they're
extremely defensive I am within a foot
of these guys and they are of course
very much on alert but they don't really
consider me personally to be a threat so
they didn't really attack get getting
you in closer here get a nice look at
them I appreciate your comments down
below if you have ever seen paper wasps
used to displace Yellowjackets I'd like
to know more about that from your
personal experiences and I can say that
this seems to be working out really well
now listen to the difference in wing
frequency that's a yellowjacket flying
by me and the paper wants just don't
tolerate it
now we also have a large paper wasps
nest inside my be shed and I go in and
out of it and they don't pay any
attention to me at all I also have them
in the eaves on either side of my bee
shed again to prevent Yellowjackets from
moving in so if I have to have wasps
around I would say these paper wasps are
at the top of my list for those that are
passive towards people yet not passive
towards other wasps and species
now of course we're out on the golden
rod here and there's another wasp he is
not a great pollinator obviously they
don't have the fur that the bees have
there none of those split ends that
collect the pollen but this loss is
actively getting nectar so not every
wasp is a yellowjacket
keep that in mind and let me know your
thoughts thanks for watching