WEBVTT 00:00:30.626 --> 00:00:41.015 - I got my first bees about 1929. I see. You just started out with one, right? Started out with four colonies 00:00:41.015 --> 00:00:51.116 - bought over on Jackson Creek. Right. And now how many do you have? I have about 160 up in the Fort Wayne 00:00:51.116 --> 00:00:59.870 - area. I have bees at home where I live. I have bees in locations east, eight or ten miles. 00:01:00.770 --> 00:01:08.532 - south eight or ten miles west of Whitley County, 20 miles and north of Fort Wayne. In other words, I 00:01:08.532 --> 00:01:16.372 - have bees all the way around Fort Wayne. There are a lot of bees up there. A lot of people have bees. 00:01:16.372 --> 00:01:24.057 - I see. Now, what would a person need to start beekeeping? What are some of the general necessities? 00:01:24.057 --> 00:01:30.590 - Well, of course you need bees. Right. Before you get the bees, you get the beehives. 00:01:31.266 --> 00:01:38.106 - You need beehives and all that goes with them. The frames that go in, the beehives, the foundation, 00:01:38.106 --> 00:01:45.083 - the sheets of wax that go in the frames. Then you need bees. This would be a good year to have picked 00:01:45.083 --> 00:01:51.923 - up bees. They were swarming a lot. You could pick up swarms. Last year I didn't see one swarm. Bees 00:01:51.923 --> 00:01:58.694 - swarmed very little last year. You can buy packages from the south, say Georgia, Florida, Alabama, 00:01:58.694 --> 00:02:00.062 - Mississippi, so on. 00:02:00.450 --> 00:02:06.892 - You can buy packages for this area. Oh, middle of April, last half of April would be a good time to 00:02:06.892 --> 00:02:13.592 - get these packaged bees. That's three pounds of bees and a queen. Put them in your hive. Then you would 00:02:13.592 --> 00:02:19.518 - have to feed them some to start. A good thing to feed them is a mixture of sugar and water, 00:02:19.518 --> 00:02:24.414 - half and half. Mix up a syrup and feed your bees. That'll get them started. 00:02:24.642 --> 00:02:31.781 - Right. And then when fruit trees and dandelions start blooming, hopefully they'd be able to get nectar 00:02:31.781 --> 00:02:39.059 - to live on and to build up. At that time of year, the queen starts laying a lot of eggs. They're getting 00:02:39.059 --> 00:02:45.990 - nectar. They're raising bees for the honey flow that comes in, say, June. I see. Now, what are some 00:02:45.990 --> 00:02:52.990 - of the equipment things you need? We know about the hive tool and the veil and the gloves. Now, what 00:02:52.990 --> 00:02:54.238 - else do you need? 00:02:54.434 --> 00:03:02.286 - Well, you just needed your hive body, which is what? Frames and? The hive itself. Hive body, frames, 00:03:02.286 --> 00:03:10.216 - foundation. And you can generally buy these by mail order or something like that? There are companies 00:03:10.216 --> 00:03:17.990 - that sell bee equipment. Several companies. And there are dealers. I understand there's one in Fort 00:03:17.990 --> 00:03:21.022 - Wayne now that deals in bee equipment. 00:03:21.474 --> 00:03:27.800 - This year, he had a hard time keeping enough supers. They seemed to sell out as fast as he got them 00:03:27.800 --> 00:03:34.252 - in, I understand. That's because you were getting a honey flow in this part of the country. Right. Up 00:03:34.252 --> 00:03:40.704 - in Fort Wayne, ordinarily, we would have a lot of honey on the bees by this time of year. June is the 00:03:40.704 --> 00:03:46.334 - honey month. But because of the rain, the wet weather, there hasn't been any honey flow. 00:03:47.202 --> 00:03:54.175 - The hives have very little honey in them at this time, and it's getting late enough that I'm getting 00:03:54.175 --> 00:04:01.218 - kind of anxious to see what's going to happen. What happens if there's not a honey flow? Will you not 00:04:01.218 --> 00:04:08.398 - be able to rob them at all? In other words, you won't be able to sell any honey this year, right? Well, 00:04:08.398 --> 00:04:16.062 - the honey crop varies a lot from year to year, depending on the blossoms and especially on the weather. Right. 00:04:16.258 --> 00:04:24.153 - And I've always gotten some honey. But here it is, July, haven't gotten any, but still have some hopes 00:04:24.153 --> 00:04:31.817 - of getting some honey. But some years they have averaged 100 pound, used to right along average 100 00:04:31.817 --> 00:04:39.635 - pound a year. For 100 hives, right? For one hive. Oh, for one hive, I see. 100 pounds on the average. 00:04:39.635 --> 00:04:43.774 - And some years, due to the difference in the weather, 00:04:45.122 --> 00:04:52.093 - They would maybe average 50 pounds and have had averages down maybe 20, 30 pounds. Depending very much 00:04:52.093 --> 00:04:58.996 - on the weather. And of course you have to have the blossoms. What happens when you take the honey off 00:04:58.996 --> 00:05:05.900 - the hive and you've got it here in the super? What do you do with it once you've got it in the frames 00:05:05.900 --> 00:05:12.803 - and so forth? Then you need an extract to get the honey out of the combs, put them back in the super, 00:05:12.803 --> 00:05:13.886 - save the combs, 00:05:14.242 --> 00:05:21.680 - Use them again next year. That's one thing about extracted honey. You can use your same combs year after 00:05:21.680 --> 00:05:28.977 - year. Now, if you're going to produce comb honey, you put on new foundation, new sheet of beeswax, get 00:05:28.977 --> 00:05:36.203 - new combs every year, and then you take the frames out, you lay them down, and you cut that honey out 00:05:36.203 --> 00:05:43.358 - in chunks, sell honey, beeswax, and all as comb honey. That's a little more expensive because you're 00:05:43.970 --> 00:05:50.633 - Wax is used up and you have to buy a new foundation every year. And they won't make as much honey. It 00:05:50.633 --> 00:05:57.427 - takes quite a bit of nectar or honey for a bee to eat to produce wax. They do not produce wax when they 00:05:57.427 --> 00:06:04.155 - are not getting a lot of honey. They must be getting very much honey, a good honey flow, then they can 00:06:04.155 --> 00:06:10.688 - produce wax and meal combs. Right, now producing this wax, they kind of, we'll get sidetracked here 00:06:10.688 --> 00:06:12.190 - a minute, they kind of 00:06:12.322 --> 00:06:19.946 - Do they take it into their system and some chemicals or something in their system and they mix it together 00:06:19.946 --> 00:06:27.143 - and presto, it comes out wax? Well, how does a cow produce milk? You never had a cow, did you? No, I 00:06:27.143 --> 00:06:34.411 - never had a cow. OK, well, you got me there. Now, you feed the old cow real well and she will secrete 00:06:34.411 --> 00:06:40.254 - milk. That's about all there is to it. Bees, if they are fed real well on nectar, 00:06:40.674 --> 00:06:48.194 - They'll secrete. The kind of nectar to eat, they secrete the bees' wax. Right. The stomach, the bottom 00:06:48.194 --> 00:06:55.714 - of the bee, the bottom of the stomach is in segments there. The outside of the bee is in segments. And 00:06:55.714 --> 00:07:03.380 - wax will be secreted out between these segments. And the bees will collect that wax and chew it in their 00:07:03.380 --> 00:07:08.126 - mouth and form it into wax, flexible wax and build combs. Right. 00:07:08.226 --> 00:07:15.062 - The wax is a secretion of a well-fed bee. OK. When they're not getting a lot of food, they cannot produce 00:07:15.062 --> 00:07:21.704 - wax. Like when you don't feed the old cow, she isn't going to produce any milk. OK. Now, you mentioned 00:07:21.704 --> 00:07:28.218 - when you run the honey through an extractor and it drains down into whatever you have it, drain into 00:07:28.218 --> 00:07:34.796 - a bucket or a jar or whatever, is it ready to be sold right then? Or is it treated? Or what's done to 00:07:34.796 --> 00:07:37.182 - it? Or is there anything done to it? 00:07:38.082 --> 00:07:45.958 - Well, there's two or three different ways. A good part of the honey is then warmed up. I have a tank, 00:07:45.958 --> 00:07:53.679 - a bottling tank that will hold three or four hundred pounds of honey. Strain it through cheesecloth 00:07:53.679 --> 00:08:01.477 - into the bottling tank and warm it up to 140 degrees and then put it in the jars and put the caps on 00:08:01.477 --> 00:08:06.110 - it. It does not granulate. Many people like unheated honey. 00:08:06.786 --> 00:08:13.694 - So it comes from the extractor, strain it through a cheesecloth. Need good warm weather to do that, 00:08:13.694 --> 00:08:20.809 - because it's hard to get that through that cheesecloth unheated. And sell the unheated honey. But that 00:08:20.809 --> 00:08:27.786 - will granulate for most honey. For the honey I get, clover honey, alfalfa honey, it granulates. Now, 00:08:27.786 --> 00:08:35.039 - your tulip poplar honey you got this year is not likely to granulate. Some honeys are a little different 00:08:35.039 --> 00:08:36.766 - sugars in them, and they 00:08:37.954 --> 00:08:44.727 - don't granulate nearly so soon. Some of them granulates right away. OK. Now, some people ask me, honey's 00:08:44.727 --> 00:08:51.243 - been cooked. I says, I don't know. What do you mean by cooked honey? Well, they don't know what they 00:08:51.243 --> 00:08:57.694 - mean by cooked honey. But 140 degrees certainly doesn't cook anything. You know how many degrees it 00:08:57.694 --> 00:09:04.209 - takes to boil water? No. You're going to boil your potatoes, going to boil your green beans. How hot 00:09:04.209 --> 00:09:05.822 - do you have to get them? 00:09:06.274 --> 00:09:14.553 - Well, I just turn on the burner and boil my water. It boils when it gets to the temperature it boils. 00:09:14.553 --> 00:09:22.833 - 212 degrees. 212 degrees. And how close is 212 degrees to 140 degrees? Not very close. You don't boil 00:09:22.833 --> 00:09:31.112 - the honey. You don't cook the honey. You warm it. You heat it up. And it will strain better. And also 00:09:31.112 --> 00:09:34.846 - it doesn't granulate. So I sell it both ways. 00:09:35.170 --> 00:09:41.255 - Right. They want unheated honey. They come out in August when I'm extracting, and I can sell them unheated 00:09:41.255 --> 00:09:47.113 - honey, but I tell them it'll granulate. Sometimes when it granulates, that sugar granulates, goes into 00:09:47.113 --> 00:09:52.971 - crystals, and the moisture in there is left to not granulate, so the moisture that's left has a higher 00:09:52.971 --> 00:09:58.715 - water content, or the liquid that's left, the liquid that's left has a higher water content than the 00:09:58.715 --> 00:10:00.990 - honey did, and it can ferment a little. 00:10:01.954 --> 00:10:10.691 - I see, okay, well. Ordinarily not, it'll just granulate and not ferment. Okay. Well, is there anything 00:10:10.691 --> 00:10:19.174 - else you'd like to say? Anything else you'd like to tell us? About bees and beekeeping? Beekeeping, 00:10:19.174 --> 00:10:27.995 - most of the beekeeping is by people just keeping a few hives to get honey from the cells, maybe to sell 00:10:27.995 --> 00:10:31.134 - it a little. Right. In Indiana, it's 00:10:31.266 --> 00:10:37.931 - It's very difficult to make a living from beekeeping. There are a few places if you keep a lot of bees 00:10:37.931 --> 00:10:44.142 - and especially if you take them to Florida or Texas like a lot of people do in the winter time. 00:10:44.142 --> 00:10:50.742 - Some people, a few in Indiana do make a living from beekeeping but I could probably count them on one 00:10:50.742 --> 00:10:57.601 - hand the number of people that make a living from beekeeping in Indiana. For most people it's a sideline. 00:10:57.601 --> 00:11:00.254 - Just a hobby line? More or less a hobby. 00:11:00.770 --> 00:11:08.919 - But it's a hobby that if you work at it and know about the bees, it'll pay for itself. I went to Fort 00:11:08.919 --> 00:11:17.307 - Wayne. I think I mentioned I had these bees in Fort Wayne. I could make 50 cents an hour painting houses 00:11:17.307 --> 00:11:25.376 - in the summertime. I was a school teacher. I thought, gee, I can make that much with bees. So I took 00:11:25.376 --> 00:11:26.494 - up some bees. 00:11:28.098 --> 00:11:34.798 - second year had bees up there. They made the best crop of honey I ever saw in 1938. A fellow that had 00:11:34.798 --> 00:11:41.367 - an old 50, 60 colony said he sure was glad when winter came and then bees quit making honey. That's 00:11:41.367 --> 00:11:48.331 - the only time I've ever heard anyone say they're glad the bees quit making honey. He got tired of hauling 00:11:48.331 --> 00:11:54.900 - in honey. That was an exceptional year. Alright. Okay. Delmas, thank you very much. Yeah, you're on 00:11:54.900 --> 00:11:57.790 - now. Go ahead and start. This is a beehive. 00:11:58.114 --> 00:12:06.703 - Honey bees, you can see the bees flying in down here at the entrance. And we want to check in this hive 00:12:06.703 --> 00:12:15.209 - and see what condition the bees are in, see if there's any honey. And we need a smoker. A little smoke 00:12:15.209 --> 00:12:23.881 - will keep the bees down, keep them under control. When you raise the lid up a little, give them a little 00:12:23.881 --> 00:12:27.102 - smoke here, they'll know we're coming. 00:12:31.586 --> 00:12:38.611 - the inner cover, pry it up, a little more smoke. Now what does that smoke actually do to them? This 00:12:38.611 --> 00:12:45.636 - smoke causes them to go down and fill up with honey. Because they think there's a fire there in the 00:12:45.636 --> 00:12:52.802 - hive? Because they think there's a fire in the hive? Yes, that disturbs them. They fill up with honey 00:12:52.802 --> 00:13:00.670 - and when they get their stomach full they're in a good humor. Yeah. They won't sting so badly, so much when the 00:13:01.026 --> 00:13:08.738 - They have their stomach full. Right. Here we have a super with two, four, six, eight, ten frames. I'll 00:13:08.738 --> 00:13:16.225 - see if I can get a frame out. Okay. And we'll see if they have any honey. This is a hive tool. This 00:13:16.225 --> 00:13:24.162 - is the thing you need to work a hive with. Kind of like a crowbar, isn't it? The parts are glued together 00:13:24.162 --> 00:13:30.526 - with propolis. And when I come up here, I see a frame pretty well filled with honey. 00:13:31.618 --> 00:13:38.406 - Now, what's the white stuff there? This is cappings. Over here, more honey's capped. And in these cells 00:13:38.406 --> 00:13:44.999 - that aren't capped, there's some honey, some nectar there. And notice the bees are clustering on the 00:13:44.999 --> 00:13:51.787 - ones that aren't capped. Right. They're filling up with honey. Right. What about the rest of the super? 00:13:51.787 --> 00:13:58.575 - Is it looking pretty good? Can you tell without going into it in detail? They are pretty much like this 00:13:58.575 --> 00:14:00.990 - one, partly filled with honey. Yeah. 00:14:01.154 --> 00:14:10.248 - Usually there's more honey in the center of the super and the lesser in the outside frames. Those are 00:14:10.248 --> 00:14:19.341 - nice white tappings. Now this honey is rather dark honey made from the tulip poplar. Tulip poplar has 00:14:19.341 --> 00:14:24.958 - yielded nectar very well this year. Indiana, southern Indiana, 00:14:25.442 --> 00:14:32.479 - has a good crop of tulip poplar honey. I live up in northern Indiana where we get mostly clover. And 00:14:32.479 --> 00:14:39.655 - we haven't had a good year up there, but a very poor year, the poorest year I've seen in 40 years. But 00:14:39.655 --> 00:14:46.831 - they may make some yet. They had a good tulip poplar honey flow down in Kentucky and Tennessee and the 00:14:46.831 --> 00:14:52.126 - Carolinas and Virginia all over the southeast where the tulip poplar grows. 00:14:52.226 --> 00:14:57.768 - How long will it be before all the frames are filled there, would you say? I would say the tulip poplar 00:14:57.768 --> 00:15:03.309 - flow is over. The bloom is over. So they'll be putting in what now? What kind of honey will go in there 00:15:03.309 --> 00:15:08.318 - now? And if there's something else that blooms, they may get some more. Well, like clover or? 00:15:08.834 --> 00:15:14.814 - Something like that? Well, coming this time of year, second crop alfalfa would be the best guess. 00:15:14.814 --> 00:15:21.283 - I see. There is a lot of white Dutch clover around. Uh-huh. Some years, white Dutch clover yields. Right. 00:15:21.283 --> 00:15:27.446 - What are you looking for when you go into a hive? Specifically, what are some of the things you look 00:15:27.446 --> 00:15:33.914 - for? Well, if we go down here for them, we'll find the brood nest. Pardon me? Find the brood nest. Right. 00:15:33.914 --> 00:15:38.430 - Right. OK. That's where they raise the bees. Right. And we should find... 00:15:39.010 --> 00:15:47.757 - The brood down there should find eggs in the cells, some of them with larvae, some of them capped over 00:15:47.757 --> 00:15:56.675 - where the brood is going through the pupa stage. 21 days after the egg is laid, a full-grown bee hatches 00:15:56.675 --> 00:16:05.337 - out. Need a hive tool here again to get these apart. I don't know what's down in here. I haven't seen 00:16:05.337 --> 00:16:06.526 - these myself. 00:16:06.690 --> 00:16:12.768 - We'll see what we can find. Well, since it's my hive, I can tell you there's mostly honey in there. 00:16:12.768 --> 00:16:19.149 - Mostly honey? Yeah, mostly. That's what it's used for. I haven't found much brood in it. These get heavy 00:16:19.149 --> 00:16:25.227 - when they are full of honey. How heavy would you say that one is there? Well, that one's half full. 00:16:25.227 --> 00:16:31.366 - So it's what, about 30, 40 pounds? More like 20 pounds. 20 pounds. How heavy does one get generally? 00:16:31.366 --> 00:16:35.134 - One of these, this size super, would hold 35 pounds of honey. 00:16:35.266 --> 00:16:43.113 - I see. Is that one much lighter there? That one very little in it. How about this one? This one has 00:16:43.113 --> 00:16:51.510 - a little in it. Are they all drawn out? Is the foundation all drawn out there? Yep. We look at the outside 00:16:51.510 --> 00:16:59.828 - here. See here you have your white comb. A little honey. They're working on it. We put a sheet of beeswax 00:16:59.828 --> 00:17:04.222 - in here with the base of the cells on it. The bees will 00:17:04.578 --> 00:17:13.368 - use wax and build that out. The only time bees can create wax is when they are getting a lot of food. 00:17:13.368 --> 00:17:22.159 - When there's a lot of nectar coming in, they secret wax and they use wax to build their combs. I see, 00:17:22.159 --> 00:17:30.949 - I see. Now we're going to get down to the deeper part. This is the hive body. And down here we should 00:17:30.949 --> 00:17:32.414 - find some brood. 00:17:32.994 --> 00:17:41.234 - and get some idea about their queen. About how many bees? Could you estimate how many bees are in a 00:17:41.234 --> 00:17:49.804 - hive like this? Well, I'd say this hive has, oh, 30,000, 40,000. Is that good? Is that what they should 00:17:49.804 --> 00:17:58.621 - have? Huh? Just an ordinary hive. They may have swarmed. Yeah, that's what I worded. Colonies that haven't 00:17:58.621 --> 00:18:02.494 - swarmed have 60,000, 70,000 this time of year. 00:18:02.946 --> 00:18:10.170 - Yeah, I was afraid that it swarmed. Now down here you're looking specifically for larvae. This is what's 00:18:10.170 --> 00:18:17.394 - called the brood chamber, right? That's the brood chamber. And by looking at the larva, the brood combs, 00:18:17.394 --> 00:18:24.619 - I can tell what kind of a queen, how the queen is doing. A good one or an old one? I can tell more about 00:18:24.619 --> 00:18:27.646 - the queen by looking at one frame of brood. 00:18:28.098 --> 00:18:36.894 - than I can by looking at the queen herself. Now, what you mentioned earlier, a swarm. Why would a beehive 00:18:36.894 --> 00:18:45.275 - swarm? There's been more swarming this year than I've ever seen. Well, why? And that's been true all 00:18:45.275 --> 00:18:53.906 - over Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, the East, and the West, Minnesota, Dakotas. And two or three things. 00:18:53.906 --> 00:18:56.478 - We had an easy winter on them. 00:18:56.930 --> 00:19:03.779 - They came through the winter in good shape, and we've had a lot of rain. Yeah, and they don't like that 00:19:03.779 --> 00:19:10.563 - rain. And when it rains, that confines them to the hive, and they're crowded in the hive. As a result, 00:19:10.563 --> 00:19:17.149 - they will take an ocean to swarm. Bees are happy when they're working. And if we have a good season 00:19:17.149 --> 00:19:23.998 - with blossoms and good weather for them to work and give them room to put the honey, they're not likely 00:19:23.998 --> 00:19:25.118 - to swarm. I see. 00:19:25.378 --> 00:19:33.396 - But if they get crowded, if there's rain, cloudy days till they can't work, they will build queen cells. 00:19:33.396 --> 00:19:41.109 - And when the queen cells are about to hatch, the old queen and about half of the bees will go out as 00:19:41.109 --> 00:19:49.127 - a swarm. And just find a new home. The old queen's one goes out. They will go out here a ways and settle 00:19:49.127 --> 00:19:53.022 - on a tree. Right. Scouts go out in all directions. 00:19:53.186 --> 00:20:00.059 - looking for a place to establish their home. And they will find a hollow tree, and I've had them to 00:20:00.059 --> 00:20:06.932 - find empty hives that have setting out, and we'll move over there. Now this, they look like they're 00:20:06.932 --> 00:20:13.805 - empty. Notice these cells are dark. They've raised bees in them, brood, we call that brood, they've 00:20:13.805 --> 00:20:21.022 - raised brood in them. And every time they raise a cycle of brood, the comb gets a little darker. Uh-huh. 00:20:21.602 --> 00:20:28.350 - two or three more years this will be black. Now it's kind of brown. And here's just a few sails that 00:20:28.350 --> 00:20:35.097 - are capped. There are young bees right now hatching out. I see two or three of them here chewing off 00:20:35.097 --> 00:20:42.179 - the cappy. Can you bring that over a little closer to us? Sure. I want to see if I can get a good picture 00:20:42.179 --> 00:20:49.261 - of that. Now you tell me about how close. Okay, that's good. That's good. Now let me hold it right there. 00:20:49.261 --> 00:20:51.198 - Let me focus in on this now. 00:20:53.666 --> 00:21:01.777 - There is one. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I see that. It's breaking out. Now, what kind of bee is that? That's a 00:21:01.777 --> 00:21:10.049 - worker bee chewing her way out. If I help her just a little. She can maybe get a little. Get this off. 00:21:10.049 --> 00:21:18.482 - Right. You should see the bee crawl out. Now, they live how long? How long does a worker bee live? There 00:21:18.482 --> 00:21:21.534 - she comes. Oh, yeah. There she comes. 00:21:21.922 --> 00:21:29.118 - How long does a worker bee live? Well, it's been 21 days since the egg was laid. Right. She's hatching 00:21:29.118 --> 00:21:36.243 - out in 21 days. And this time of year, they'll live, say, six weeks. There you see a bee born. Right. 00:21:36.243 --> 00:21:43.649 - Fantastic. Now, what will that bee go and do now? Will it just eat for a while? That bee will get around, 00:21:43.649 --> 00:21:48.958 - get something to eat, and a few days it will start helping feed the larvae. 00:21:49.058 --> 00:21:55.745 - Right. Now, after she spends, say, two weeks helping feed larvae, she will start out. Here's another 00:21:55.745 --> 00:22:02.431 - one coming out. She will start out gathering nectar. All right. Now, I notice the bees are clustered 00:22:02.431 --> 00:22:09.317 - around the rim of the frame. Why is that? That's where the honey is. I see. They're gorging with honey. 00:22:09.317 --> 00:22:16.004 - They put the honey on the outside and the brood on the inside. That's right. They got the honey here 00:22:16.004 --> 00:22:16.798 - convenient. 00:22:17.218 --> 00:22:25.011 - It takes honey to feed the bees. It takes more than honey. Honey has no protein. You have to have protein 00:22:25.011 --> 00:22:32.803 - to raise young. Even older people need some protein, too. And the bees get their protein from the pollen. 00:22:32.803 --> 00:22:40.302 - Here, they've stored pollen. Around the edge of this, there's pollen stored. I see. And that's called 00:22:40.302 --> 00:22:45.374 - bee bread, isn't it? Bee bread, some people call it. Or it's pollen. 00:22:45.474 --> 00:22:51.653 - Right. Come here, Ann, I'll give you a bite of pollen. Come on, Bessie, get a bite. Oh, come on. You 00:22:51.653 --> 00:22:57.771 - want to help me? Just take a little nibble there, Ann. Take your finger and take that off of there. 00:22:57.771 --> 00:23:04.133 - Taste it. People pay several dollars. Now you can walk back out of the bees. People pay several dollars 00:23:04.133 --> 00:23:10.679 - a pound for that pollen. Yeah, that's right. You can put on a pollen trap and collect that and eat pollen, 00:23:10.679 --> 00:23:13.310 - sell pollen. It is rich in protein. Right. 00:23:13.634 --> 00:23:20.964 - Right. Now these cells, they look like they're empty. I see. Now why is that? Most of these cells. But 00:23:20.964 --> 00:23:28.151 - when I look in them, I see eggs in some cells. Oh. Very small. Just big enough with my bifolks I can 00:23:28.151 --> 00:23:35.339 - see them. Some of them I see larvae. Which means? Not much bigger than these eggs. Some of them have 00:23:35.339 --> 00:23:42.526 - a little larger larvae. That's a little worm in there. Which means what? These bees feed that larvae 00:23:42.882 --> 00:23:49.554 - continually. Yeah feed it what honey and pollen? Use a little water they use a little water in there. 00:23:49.554 --> 00:23:56.358 - Right. Mixing up the feed. Sure. Oops you're gonna get some there on your shirt. And this found a sheet 00:23:56.358 --> 00:24:03.030 - of foundation a sheet of wax is put in the middle to start this comb. Right. These build out this way 00:24:03.030 --> 00:24:09.834 - and they build out in this side so you can see the two sides are very much alike. Can you tell now does 00:24:09.834 --> 00:24:12.254 - this hive have a good working queen? 00:24:13.698 --> 00:24:20.667 - Well, I can tell better if I get a clomhorchol seal, but I can also tell by looking closely. Every cell 00:24:20.667 --> 00:24:27.702 - there has an egg or a pollen in it. I see. And when they're filling every cell, that indicates the queen 00:24:27.702 --> 00:24:34.469 - is all right. That's good. But I looked through a few more here. I'll find some that have more cells 00:24:34.469 --> 00:24:41.438 - kept. OK. All right. Can you see this bee here? Let me see. This one has a load of pollen on each side. 00:24:41.986 --> 00:24:49.779 - They carry pollen on their legs. Here's another one. One right here. Oh, yeah. OK. Here's another one 00:24:49.779 --> 00:24:57.649 - with pollen. See, they're bringing in pollen day. It's a good day to collect pollen. Uh-huh. Maybe one 00:24:57.649 --> 00:25:05.366 - will crawl up here on my hive tool with a load of pollen. Not going to do it. They go the other way. 00:25:05.366 --> 00:25:11.326 - Yeah. That one flew off. But there's bees coming in all the time with pollen. 00:25:12.898 --> 00:25:21.315 - There's one with pollen on each side. They're nectar. The nectar to make honey is carried in an extra 00:25:21.315 --> 00:25:29.566 - stomach they have. They have a nectar sack. Oh. There you see the loads of pollen on his legs. Look 00:25:29.566 --> 00:25:37.900 - at it kick. Look at it turn that stinger up. If I could get your finger, you'd lose me. And you want 00:25:37.900 --> 00:25:42.686 - the bee. Take a good look at it. Can you see that pollen? 00:25:44.642 --> 00:25:50.484 - Yeah, that's good, yeah. Now where does he get this pollen? Does that come off the flowers or? This 00:25:50.484 --> 00:25:56.559 - pollen comes from the flowers. This yellow pollen this time of year. I don't know. Now that's the color 00:25:56.559 --> 00:26:02.517 - they get off a dandelion when dandelions are blooming. Of course there's not many dandelions blooming 00:26:02.517 --> 00:26:08.651 - now. Might mention the most important thing for bees, the most important thing they do for us. Of course 00:26:08.651 --> 00:26:14.142 - they make honey. That's the sweetest thing they do. Yeah. But the most important work of bees 00:26:14.338 --> 00:26:21.451 - is to pollinate plants for us. All right. This is zucchini time of year. They're just coming on. Uh-huh. 00:26:21.451 --> 00:26:28.226 - You can't raise zucchinis without bees. Well, you see, my daddy, he has bees, has zucchinis, and he 00:26:28.226 --> 00:26:35.068 - raises zucchinis. He doesn't have bees. Sure you can if you don't have bees. But your neighbors have 00:26:35.068 --> 00:26:42.182 - bees. Somebody around you has bees. Somewhere a half a mile, someone a mile, or someone within two miles 00:26:42.182 --> 00:26:43.198 - away has bees. 00:26:43.490 --> 00:26:51.767 - early in the morning the sun comes up those bees find that zucchini patch and they carry the pollen 00:26:51.767 --> 00:27:00.044 - from the male flowers to the female flowers and pollinate them I raise zucchinis the female flowers 00:27:00.044 --> 00:27:08.817 - were blooming two weeks ago and those zucchinis they just shriveled up and died the zucchini part because 00:27:08.817 --> 00:27:12.542 - there were no male flowers to get pollinated 00:27:12.738 --> 00:27:19.716 - Well after a week's time the male flowers bloom out in this variety I have and every zucchini that comes 00:27:19.716 --> 00:27:26.428 - out and blooms grows and makes a big zucchini. They get pollinated by the bees. You can't raise them 00:27:26.428 --> 00:27:33.273 - without bees. You ever see the big red apples? Red delicious apples. You can't grow them without bees. 00:27:33.273 --> 00:27:40.318 - When the people went to the state of Washington they found that a good place to grow apples. They set out 00:27:40.610 --> 00:27:48.100 - Red delicious apple trees, acres and acres of them. And those trees bloomed and no apples. Next year, 00:27:48.100 --> 00:27:55.516 - they bloomed and no apples. Here in Indiana, they put out red delicious and they always bore apples. 00:27:55.516 --> 00:28:02.860 - Well, they found out that red delicious has to be pollinated by some other variety. They cut down a 00:28:02.860 --> 00:28:08.734 - delicious tree here, down here ways, cut down down and planted other varieties. 00:28:09.762 --> 00:28:18.008 - and brought in bees and they grew the big red delicious apples you see. Right. They grow them out there 00:28:18.008 --> 00:28:25.937 - by the hundreds of acres but there's other varieties mixed in and they got along just fine for many 00:28:25.937 --> 00:28:33.866 - years. DDT was outlawed and they started using I believe seven to spray their sweet corn. They grow 00:28:33.866 --> 00:28:38.782 - sweet corn in the same area and when they started using seven 00:28:39.330 --> 00:28:46.802 - spraying that sweet corn every week. When that touches a bee, it kills it right then. And they sprayed 00:28:46.802 --> 00:28:54.056 - them this week and killed every bee that was out flying over the fields. The next week they sprayed 00:28:54.056 --> 00:29:01.527 - again, killed every bee that was out. And the next week, and they had corn planted at different times, 00:29:01.527 --> 00:29:07.838 - say a week or two weeks apart, so there was a spring there, a good part of the summer. 00:29:08.290 --> 00:29:15.883 - And by the time the summer was over, the bees were all gone, all killed. And the people came time with 00:29:15.883 --> 00:29:23.328 - the apples to bloom. No bees to pollinate them. They hauled bees for 1,000 and more than 1,000 miles 00:29:23.328 --> 00:29:30.774 - to those apple orchards to pollinate their apples. Right. That cost them. Got apples. Another thing, 00:29:30.774 --> 00:29:35.934 - almonds. In the bee magazines, they advertise for bees in California. 00:29:36.482 --> 00:29:46.349 - Bring your bees out in January to pollinate our almonds. They will pay, oh, $20 more or less for each 00:29:46.349 --> 00:29:56.312 - hive of bees. You move into their almond groves to pollinate their almonds. Here in this country, your 00:29:56.312 --> 00:30:05.502 - clover seed, you have a field of clover and want to get a seed crop, you must have bees there. 00:30:06.946 --> 00:30:12.846 - And up in the northern part of the state, especially in Michigan, where they grow more apples, they 00:30:12.846 --> 00:30:18.746 - pay to have bees moved in there or else keep bees in their orchards. I see. Now around this part of 00:30:18.746 --> 00:30:25.178 - the country, there's more bees than apples, so you don't have to be concerned about who's going to pollinate 00:30:25.178 --> 00:30:31.078 - your apples. Right. Now you say... Blueberries, they're blueberries. They move in bees, pay to have 00:30:31.078 --> 00:30:33.438 - bees moved in their blueberry orchards. 00:30:33.698 --> 00:30:40.579 - What about the corn and crops like that? Do they have to be pollinated or does the wind do that well 00:30:40.579 --> 00:30:47.596 - enough? Corn has a dry, powdery pollen that the wind will carry it. I see. Apples have a sticky pollen 00:30:47.596 --> 00:30:54.546 - that cannot be carried by the wind. Zucchini pollen cannot be carried by the wind. But grasses, corn, 00:30:54.546 --> 00:31:01.427 - many things have a pollen that the wind will carry from one plant to the other and requires no bees. 00:31:01.427 --> 00:31:03.198 - But the bees will work on 00:31:03.330 --> 00:31:11.045 - corn tassels to get the pollen to bring in to help feed the larvae. And they store larvae so that next 00:31:11.045 --> 00:31:18.535 - spring they will have the pollen to raise bees before it blossoms. Why are those bees there hanging 00:31:18.535 --> 00:31:26.101 - on the side of the frame? Oh, they're just clustering, nothing to do, and they're away from the hive 00:31:26.101 --> 00:31:29.022 - and they're lost. They're lost. I see. 00:31:29.154 --> 00:31:38.524 - OK. Well, could you continue going through there and explaining what you see? And we'll just follow 00:31:38.524 --> 00:31:47.894 - along for a few more minutes here. Now, I notice you have only a bee veil on there. Do you just not 00:31:47.894 --> 00:31:58.014 - worry about bee stings anymore? If I had a mean colony of bees, I would probably put my sleeves down. Yeah. 00:31:58.114 --> 00:32:04.635 - These aren't stingers. Right. Of course, I can change my mind any time about them. They start stinging. 00:32:04.635 --> 00:32:11.030 - Yeah. Right. Well, I've noticed here lately they've been pretty calm when I've gone in. And I suppose 00:32:11.030 --> 00:32:17.363 - it's the way you handle them also. Well, the weather, this is a bad day to work from. This is a good 00:32:17.363 --> 00:32:23.759 - day to get them to sting. Right. Because they're unhappy with the rainy weather. Right. You see, this 00:32:23.759 --> 00:32:27.646 - hive has quite a bit of honey. This lighter colored is honey. 00:32:28.674 --> 00:32:35.980 - Here's more. Is there any brood in that one? These bees are kept over that's called brood. Now if I 00:32:35.980 --> 00:32:43.578 - go the other direction I'll probably find a better frame with brood. Of course we have two high bodies. 00:32:43.578 --> 00:32:51.103 - We probably find more brood in the bottom one. Yeah you will. And the honey in this top one. Yeah I've 00:32:51.103 --> 00:32:55.998 - noticed they get very aggressive when I go into that bottom frame. 00:32:56.162 --> 00:33:03.081 - That bottom high body. Oh boy, that's a good one. This one's full. Now this has larva, a little larger 00:33:03.081 --> 00:33:10.000 - larva. These eggs were laid a few days before the first frame I took out. And over here I hope to find 00:33:10.000 --> 00:33:16.718 - one that has a lot of capped larva, maybe not more than the first one. I think you'll probably find 00:33:16.718 --> 00:33:23.570 - the majority of the capped, well I don't know, you might find it in there too, but in the bottom high 00:33:23.570 --> 00:33:25.182 - body is where I've been 00:33:26.818 --> 00:33:33.064 - This still just about all larvae. They look empty from the distance, but get up close. She's a good 00:33:33.064 --> 00:33:39.310 - one. Oh, I see her. Oh. You want to see a queen? Yes. Oh, my, yes. Let's, uh. Well, I will show you 00:33:39.310 --> 00:33:45.680 - a queen. I didn't expect to find a queen that easily. She won't fly off of there, was she? She better 00:33:45.680 --> 00:33:51.989 - not. Tell me where she is. Right here. Yeah. See, she's a little bigger than the other bees. She's a 00:33:51.989 --> 00:33:56.798 - different color. Find her out again. Now she's going through the other side. 00:33:57.154 --> 00:34:03.220 - Uh oh. We'll turn around and hope she made it over here. There she is. Yeah. Where? Right there. 00:34:03.220 --> 00:34:09.661 - There she is. Point her out there with you. Point her out, Ann. I've got... Your finger points her out 00:34:09.661 --> 00:34:15.977 - there. Oh, there she is. Yeah. See her turn around? Uh-huh. Usually more bees cluster around her and 00:34:15.977 --> 00:34:22.480 - hard to see her, but... She's a good one there, huh? Now, if she isn't too excited, she'd find an empty 00:34:22.480 --> 00:34:25.982 - cell. She would back down into that cell, back into it, 00:34:26.210 --> 00:34:33.051 - and deposit an egg in the bottom. But all of these have eggs in them that I can see. That is beeswax. 00:34:33.051 --> 00:34:39.959 - They just built down there in some empty space they had. But there is a queen. She's a nice one. Well, 00:34:39.959 --> 00:34:46.800 - that's good. I'm glad we got to find her. You say you think they swarmed. If they swarmed, that would 00:34:46.800 --> 00:34:54.110 - mean she's a young one. And she looks like a young one. I believe they did swarm. I really do. They get old. 00:34:54.434 --> 00:35:02.669 - Their wings get a little tattered and a little different. How long do queen bees live? Queen bee will 00:35:02.669 --> 00:35:10.743 - live for two or three years. Two, three, four years. Oh, I see. Where these bees live for six weeks 00:35:10.743 --> 00:35:20.190 - this time of year. Now the ones that hatch in October, they will live through November, December, January, February, 00:35:20.898 --> 00:35:27.961 - Maybe March. Because they're not active, right? They'll live for five or six months. Some say they're 00:35:27.961 --> 00:35:34.886 - a little different to kind of be fed differently. I don't know. But this queen will stop laying and 00:35:34.886 --> 00:35:42.019 - say November. She says, well, they know what's the use to raise a lot of bees in November when there's 00:35:42.019 --> 00:35:49.151 - no nectar in December, none in January, none in February. But as soon as the days start getting longer 00:35:49.151 --> 00:35:49.982 - in January, 00:35:50.114 --> 00:35:58.770 - That microphone down there. I don't know if it'll pick you up. That's okay. Just go ahead and no no 00:35:58.770 --> 00:36:07.512 - no just I was gonna clip it on That's an interesting question about how they make another queen yes, 00:36:07.512 --> 00:36:16.168 - that's a good one see these eggs in here These eggs are fertilized eggs Which means what any egg in 00:36:16.168 --> 00:36:19.198 - there can be grown into queen? Oh? 00:36:20.098 --> 00:36:27.180 - If you lost this queen and dropped her out here, they'd look around the hive. They'd say, wait, we don't 00:36:27.180 --> 00:36:34.059 - have a queen. We don't have a queen. We got to raise a queen. They can take one of these small larvae 00:36:34.059 --> 00:36:40.939 - here and grow it into a queen. They will build a bigger cell. They will feed it differently. And that 00:36:40.939 --> 00:36:47.953 - difference in feed makes the difference in length of life we mentioned a while ago. They feed the queen 00:36:47.953 --> 00:36:48.830 - royal jelly. 00:36:50.114 --> 00:36:59.365 - royal jelly and instead of living six weeks she will live two years three years by being fed this young 00:36:59.365 --> 00:37:08.616 - this royal jelly when she's growing up that shows the importance in the food you eat now another reason 00:37:08.616 --> 00:37:17.690 - I might say that indicates this is sworn I only see worker bees and one queen and no oh yeah I do see 00:37:17.690 --> 00:37:18.846 - one very few 00:37:20.162 --> 00:37:26.583 - I saw a drone out here on the ground. Very few drones. The drones are the male bees. Here, Ann, now 00:37:26.583 --> 00:37:33.132 - you take this one. If it stings you, I got a $5 bill. You don't want to earn $5. It won't sting, Ann. 00:37:33.132 --> 00:37:39.617 - Get the one on the hive, too. It won't sting. Come here. Come here, Betsy. It won't sting. Show them 00:37:39.617 --> 00:37:46.166 - how much braver Mother is. It won't sting, Mother. Take it any way. You don't have to be careful. Now 00:37:46.166 --> 00:37:48.542 - step back with it. You have a drone. 00:37:48.674 --> 00:37:55.568 - be there in your hand. They don't sting. Why do they not sting? They have no stinger. That's right. 00:37:55.568 --> 00:38:02.462 - You can play with them. They only have one purpose and that is to mate with a young queen when they 00:38:02.462 --> 00:38:09.495 - raise a young queen. And the other time all they do is eat, right? All they do is eat. He doesn't fly 00:38:09.495 --> 00:38:16.596 - either. They fly. They come out every day. Mother, you be careful there. Oh, get back there. I'll keep 00:38:16.596 --> 00:38:18.526 - him, Mother. Just keep him. 00:38:19.170 --> 00:38:25.577 - come out and fly sun shining nice day yeah they fly around there you go yeah there he flew there he 00:38:25.577 --> 00:38:31.984 - flew I thought you said they didn't fly well I guess they do they come out in the middle of the day 00:38:31.984 --> 00:38:38.391 - they have a flight they just but I've got to get this queen out flew around yeah you better go back 00:38:38.391 --> 00:38:45.054 - there with her queen she's a six dollars worth that's right that's right go put her back she's my queen 00:38:45.858 --> 00:38:57.931 - yeah she's worth six or more even up to seven and eight dollars yeah only if it's a fertilized egg well 00:38:57.931 --> 00:39:09.772 - a queen when she mates is fertilized and she lays fertilized eggs she mates with a drone and then she 00:39:09.772 --> 00:39:13.022 - is inseminated like a woman 00:39:16.642 --> 00:39:23.195 - if it's fed the proper food. All eggs are the same when she lays them. Yeah. It just depends on the 00:39:23.195 --> 00:39:29.945 - food that she's fed. Now, why are all these bees are flying around like this? Well, we're getting them 00:39:29.945 --> 00:39:36.498 - kind of disturbed. Well, they attack. And now, there are a lot of movies out, you know, with killer 00:39:36.498 --> 00:39:43.248 - bees and swarms and all. Will these bees just come out en masse and attack you or someone else around? 00:39:43.248 --> 00:39:46.590 - If these were killer bees, so-called African bees, 00:39:47.170 --> 00:39:56.673 - You would not be standing out there talking about them. You wouldn't be any ways near. Is that just 00:39:56.673 --> 00:40:06.460 - because they have a bad temper? They have a much worse temper than these bees. I see. I might say that 00:40:06.460 --> 00:40:12.542 - these are Italian bees. Right, right. They originated in Italy. 00:40:14.466 --> 00:40:23.907 - They were brought over from Italy several years ago. Right. We also have Caucasian bees. What's the 00:40:23.907 --> 00:40:33.443 - difference in the kind of bees? Little difference in color. Some of them swarm more than others. Are 00:40:33.443 --> 00:40:43.262 - Italian bees generally the best kind of bee to have? Most of the bees in this country are Italian bees. 00:40:51.618 --> 00:41:00.893 - We've got to get this hive back together. They're getting stirred up quite a bit. Yeah. Now, how much... 00:41:00.893 --> 00:41:09.903 - Uh-oh, there's smokers out there just about... Now, how long did you say it would be before maybe one 00:41:09.903 --> 00:41:19.177 - of those supers is filled up? Might be quite a while. Might not get filled up this summer. That's right. 00:41:19.177 --> 00:41:20.414 - It depends on 00:41:20.738 --> 00:41:27.626 - Availability of nectar. Right. Now, assuming one did get filled up, could I rob them? That is, could 00:41:27.626 --> 00:41:34.583 - I take that and extract that honey with no fear of them dying of starvation? Or should I go ahead and 00:41:34.583 --> 00:41:41.539 - leave that super on there for them to eat this winter? They would probably have enough honey in these 00:41:41.539 --> 00:41:48.428 - two hide bodies. Safer if you have two hide bodies in the super. Then you don't have to be concerned 00:41:48.428 --> 00:41:49.246 - about them. 00:41:49.890 --> 00:41:59.355 - You'll have plenty of food. Right. Now, honey will not promote bacteria, will it? No, bacteria won't 00:41:59.355 --> 00:42:09.008 - live in honey. Now, that's just a chemical property of the honey itself, right? That's right. And then 00:42:09.008 --> 00:42:15.006 - get one frame down here. It may have come off the edge. Oh, OK. 00:42:22.242 --> 00:42:31.190 - Are those African bees, are they especially good honey makers? I've heard that they are really good 00:42:31.190 --> 00:42:40.228 - honey makers. Is that true? Not for two or three reasons. One reason, they build up, get enough bees 00:42:40.228 --> 00:42:49.534 - to make honey, they swarm. They are great swarmers. Really? Yeah. Yeah, they... There we got them back. 00:42:54.658 --> 00:43:00.862 - Okay. You can put the rest of those... Not a good idea to leave them open too long. Right.