okay so today is frequently asked questions episode 32 that's right I know
it's only Thursday I'm releasing it a day early because we have to answer
these questions one by one they're very involved this is involving synthetic
pre-drawn comb by better be at better be calm and the question comes from bill
green among many others I would love to hear about your experience with better
be calm well I'm gonna tell you my experience I'm gonna show you how I used
it this is the way it comes I bought two big boxes of this and there were 20 in
each box and I bought them with the frames they retail for about $8 if you
get the frames and the pre-drawn comb together and that's what I did this
stuff feels just like real beeswax drawn comb if you want to know it's made of
I'm gonna put a link down in the video description and you can go to their
website and read how it's been synthesized but it's all food great
where can you use it you can only use it in your brood boxes here's the thing
what is the most expensive thing to the bees when they're going to build up in a
new colony resource-wise there's nothing more expensive to them and build a new
comb so this is gonna give them a bump this time of year most people wouldn't
be having swarms but I'm going to I'm gonna do it in this video
how's the stuff held in the frame we'll use round tooth bags so we put these
toothpicks and there's holes on each end across the top and across the bottom and
it comes with little packs with them but they're kind of stingy with the
toothpicks and they want you to break them off like this and then they want
you to use the other half of the toothpick to put in the holes on the
other side and you know what I say get yourself a big box around toothpicks and
don't worry about snapping them off the Riesz and a half like this I don't like
it and here's the other thing when I was opening this and pulling it out look at
12:00 1:00 in half and that's good you know why because I want to see if the
bees you're gonna mend it what do you think you think I'll treat it like
regular wax drawn comb and fix it just as if they made it they sure will in
fact I want to tell you ahead of time they did so it's also tapered a little
bit and they're angled down so there's instructions whether they tell you how
to put it in the frame so just get yourself some side cutters or para
needle nose pliers with a nipper like this cut off those
toothpicks and stick a minute now that can happen have a swarm this is perfect
now we're gonna use this man to demonstrate diving a swarm and then
starting him off and then of course as we go through the video I'm gonna show
you how well they did or did not accept any news better bees better cool so this
is a good-sized worm they weigh a lot how would you like them
most people would shake him down into a box or they'd put a bedsheet on the
ground under the tree or they'd cut the tree branches out and look they've got
resources with them remember they took a bunch of honey and you've even got some
forages here that we've got pollen on their legs there's groans in there to
carry out their genetics this is a lot of bees now look at the tips of their
abdomens they're sticking out so we got light colored band right near the tip
that's the nasan off land and they are keeping themselves together through
pheromones the Queen's pheromone so they're still collecting on this branch
and I'm gonna collect them I'm gonna collect them in a big butterfly net
because that's how we do it now that's how I've collected all my swarm to
summer I just used butterfly nets you can create a huge pillowcase style
butterfly net shake bees into it tie it in a knot put that in your car and drive
them home before I click that swarm I have to set up a newsstand so I used
iron t-posts here I have inch and a half diameter metal galvanized conduit for
electrical work and I have another video on how I make those stands so if you
need that let me know give you a link and also there's an entrance reducer
we're gonna need that we have an inner cover this entire cover has Berk home
already on it we're also going to use the be smart
designs ultimate 5 cover and we're gonna use their exterior sugar cereal tank for
feeding these bees to get them off to a good start and you can also see that
we've got frames in that box that are by better be a better tone clothes gonna
put a swarm here and how do you think I'm gonna get up to get them that's
right back my golf cart up there has a little
cargo area in the back I'm going to stand on that there about ten feet off
the ground that's a perfect height for me so get your golf cart too if you
don't have one I'll give you a link to one you just get one off of Amazon or
something I'm only kidding anyway 5050 sugar water I'm gonna spray it on them
why well because there's our scene it's hot and it helps to weight them down so
when I shake this branch instead of cutting it off you could got it take the
whole branch but I'm gonna put a butterfly net underneath I'm gonna give
them a shake and they're gonna fall into that net and then I'm gonna walk them
over to my box it's ready to go good client there why my name be Syd
well because even swarms once you shake them into something a lot of people
don't mind getting stung in the face the chin the neck the ear the lip I'm gonna
be weird and protect myself from being stung by wearing this and ventilated be
sued here's my fancy butterfly net and I am wearing nitrile gloves they don't
offer any protection from stray stings but they do keep your hands clean and
light blue or white gloves don't get the attention of the bees there you go
that's a lot of peas people that's a good six pounds bees in this thing and
once we shake them off I'm just gonna walk them over to that box because it's
only about a hundred feet away let's go good ending a carrot there along for the
ride they know we're taking care of we're gonna put it in a box this time of
year you know it's August a lot of beekeepers don't like swarms in August
they don't see the benefit in putting any resources into them I have a
different take on it I think they're freebies so now we've got the deep box
here I've got the acorn frames heavy wax in the middle and of course the better
be pre-drawn better comb six frames of that to the outside they give you these
configurations I don't know why they tell you to divide them up like that but
that's what I did I'm following their instructions we're going to dump this
right in here
and there you go that's a lot of bees and notice I had the butterfly net
inside out so I could grab the steam with it without pinching any bees some
people think you might want to put a little string or rope or a little loop
on the end of it so you can hold that when you shake them out but that is my
preferred method for collecting and transporting swarms now I'm going to put
those frames in there jumping ahead these are heavy wax acorn frames those
are proven we know they work and a lot of bees in there and they get a course
the brought out better come in there now sometimes the bees also collect again on
the same branch that you just took the swarm from so I looked over there and
noticed that there were some more there so I had to go back get another
butterfly net remember the big one sitting in front here in the beads or in
it or working their way up to the landing board I'm gonna shake out those
other Netta bees there's not a lot of them but I mean why I leave them on the
branch what happens to the bees that come to that branch now and find that
this one has departed where do they go both they're lucky they follow the
pheromone of the colony that went into this box and if they're unlucky and they
can't find them they end up going right back to the colony that they made it
from it in this case this colony came out of clams are reaching high so
they're all pretty calm considering the shake-up that they've had and don't
worry we're gonna see in a little period of time here exactly whether or not they
did or did not accept the veteran come we're gonna check in on him when you
hide the swarm like this the best thing you can do for them is to give them the
resources they need the shelter that they need and stay out of it
because you can drive them on remember they're not settled what's in the colony
do we have any used drawn wax comb that would be passed but we don't so we have
acorn frames to just have wax primer on them and we're testing as we've said a
million times already the better cone by better beam we're going to see how they
use that now we got the inner cover on and of course we're gonna put on the be
smart designs ultimate eye cover scoop it on very carefully it has spacers
built into it around the edges tube so you don't squash bees and so it's
venting although hive top venting this year the bees have closed up every
screen every vent everything on the top of their hives so they're basically
telling me you know care about I've top ventilation now we had this blue
receiver on top because as a whole going through it and then we're gonna use the
tank that comes from be smart design and we're gonna fill out with a gallon of
sugar syrup what's the percentage 50/50 by weight 50 percent sugar 2 percent
super clean water and that's the mix that they're gonna use to of course
routes home where they need it where do they not be to draw come they don't need
your rod the better become it's already drawn out so we're gonna see what they
do put this together there's a little grommets on top there give it a turn
it's installed before you put this on your bee box keep that lid out to the
side and let that drain until that tank creates a vacuum if you put this right
on the hive it will drip down inside you'll get about quarter to a half a cup
of syrup right in on your bees so put it on that cover first then put the cover
back on the hive now the bees look pretty calm
I think the Queen's in there we're gonna look around to see if you have any of
these bees lifting their abdomen oh there you go off to the left you can see
that light colored patch that nasan off land is being shown and they are
attracting the other bees in so that tells me the Queen must be around August
4th wrote it on here for reference installed with better comb so by the end
of this we're gonna check their progress now I couldn't get them off
the bees collect it all over the front so I had to wait until nighttime to put
that entrance reducer on but don't forget to do that if you're putting in a
new swarm of bees or any new colony they need to be able to defend that entrance
we don't want a wide open like this
now normally they their chances probably wouldn't be very good they didn't build
up the resources for winner cuz we need P numbers yeah we're gonna see how
they're gonna do so now it's nighttime got the entrance producer on get the hi
visor on and they have their feeder tanker so they're good to go
now we're gonna fast forward here we are August 26 how long have they been in the
hive now I'm gonna pull it apart we're gonna look at these things see how they
handle the frames 22 days after the swarm was installed so let's pull the
one off to the end of here I like to pull my frames sideways first and then
lift them out nice and careful if you don't bump and jar things around your
bees are gonna stay calm and everything's gonna be great so the bee
population is very good I'm gonna like to see how they handled the better
become let's get this piece out here the first thing you notice is that they have
attached this comb all the way around the interior of that wooden frame so
they have treated it exactly like their own drawn-out comb and this is the
farthest frame of force in the center there's bees on it they're just prepping
it they're just checking things out I don't see any resources being stored
there we're gonna put them off to the end set it to the side this is off the
ground remember we're using each and a half diameter conduit supports are part
of this frame and now let's pull the next one up here and see what's going on
slow and steady wins of course always and if you notice I did scrape off the
tops of all of these frames they had Bert oh mama I always keep a bucket
handy so I can put those in there cuz I collect these wax pans are sticky
there's honey all over everything look at that one they're using it do using it
for storage I got some spotty suppose there there are some tiny bits of larvae
it looks like in there and there might be a couple eggs really hard to see the
eggs in here but they're definitely using this frame as they would become
that they would make themselves look how they draw it out in strange angles on
the edges that's when they repaired those edges that I messed up by
squashing it in there so they fix it right up and they connected it right to
the wooden frame so it looks good so far in fact if you don't want to watch the
end of this video I'm just gonna tell you right now
green light on this better comb by better be the bees use it use it for
everything they take to it right away this young colony is doing fantastic
they're very calm they have lots of resources and they're gonna make it the
fact today we're gonna put another box on here I'm going to show you more about
the frame so that stay with me if you want to see it but if you're just
waiting for the end result and whether or not I like him I do now we've got
drone come down here on the ends we've got larvae at every stage of development
and I would say this is a healthy colony and remember we're doing this midday so
most the foragers are out it's a good time for you to go in and check hives
anyway because that you don't want maximum
density in the height when you're trying to look at comb you're looking for eggs
and larvae and things like that I am spending too much time this high by the
way if I were not making this video I would quickly find evidence that there
is evidence of the Queen and I would close it up look at this frame
it's full of larvae we got some cap larvae we've got all stages of
development everything from eggs to fully capped of
course and they're good if I didn't have to show you these better combs right now
I would close this up I would push all these frames together close it up and
get away from it because bees don't like to be interrupted remember every time we
get in here we need a purpose we're invading them I don't care if you think
your bees like you and look forward to your visits I really don't we're
damaging the infrastructure here again always slide the comb away from the
adjacent frame before you pull it up so that you don't roll your bees don't
squash anything look at that it's full of everything that's an endorsement for
better tone right there and of course they built off the bottom of it and
expanded that out isn't it it's great they've coated it they're using it for
food storage they're using it for brood rearing they've got their bee bread in
there and they repair it like it's their own I should have marked the one that
had a tear in it because they fixed it so well
I can't tell so they absolutely like it they use it it's good to go you're gonna
be upset if you're looking at this and you decide well friend it's great this
stuff really works well now that you said this I'm gonna go buy some well
when you go to better be calm guess what you're gonna find out it's out of stock
when's it gonna come back in I think it says the end of September
nobody's gonna be starting swarms and boxes and colonies at the end of
September in the northeastern United States so I guess the under si minima
underestimated the market the stuff is a success you know when you're starting
with a swarm as I mentioned before that is the most fair bones beginning you can
have with a bee colony and putting in better comb is definitely a huge boost
for them because some resources they can use right away other people will argue
that their bees can make comb super fast as a swarm but let me tell you what if
they're not wasting their resources making comb they're using the resources
for other things so then they're gonna build the colony faster the colony is
gonna be stronger now what would you do just close this up the weight is nope
I'm gonna put another box on here these things are ready to expand we're at a
nectar flow right now the goldenrod hasn't even fully coming in so this
colony is gonna grow fast we've been capped fruit in there but
that cap restarts hatching and then they have more nurse beats more nurse bees
means more insulation more food for the developing brood more brood and on it
goes and if they can fill this medium red super with honey
by wintertime that's all they're gonna need to get through so we're just gonna
put that together acorn frames in the middle man late frames to the outside
the yellow ones my bees are not like in the
man lake waxed frames they are liking the acorn frame since I bought a bunch
of the man Lake and use some not in a cover egos in the bees on top there we
have that part of course off the ground now we're gonna put a polystyrene cover
on I don't need the tanker anymore so we don't need the ultimate hive cover by be
smart design somebody's insulated cover and just put a lock on it there and hold
it in place so that's it this thing works
hi Advisor entrance producer of food better comb extra resources this colony
is ready to grow so I hope you got something out of it if you watch my
other video that I launched earlier today I have a skunk that scratched up
the surface there and put the muddy paw prints on there he's eating my bees
that's another story but if you want to start them off better
be better comb is an excellent product absolutely think it's fantastic get
someone you can sold out now zero so those who thought about it ahead of time
and started ahead of time habits thanks for watching