5 Critical August Beekeeping Tips for Winter Survival
We’ll discuss:
• Knowing your Varroa mite count• Evaluating queen performance• Measuring food stores and deciding when to feed• Preventing robbing• Making the difficult decisions that cannot wait until fall I’ll also answer your beekeeping questions live. Whether you’re a new beekeeper or have years of experience, I hope you’ll join the conversation.
👉 Set your reminder here:
What is your biggest August beekeeping concern? Add it in the comments so I can address it during the live!
FREE DOWNLOAD: Varroa Mite Treatment Quick Guide
https://www.honeytopbees.com/varroa-mites-treatment-guide-download/
Which Varroa mite treatment should you use in your honey bee colonies?
In this video, I compare six commonly used Varroa treatments:
✅ Apivar
✅ Formic Pro
✅ Apiguard
✅ Oxalic acid vaporization
✅ VarroxSan
✅ Norroa
We’ll look at the important differences between these treatments, including:
Temperature restrictions
Treatment duration
Proper dosage
Whether honey supers can remain on
When each treatment works best
Important advantages and disadvantages
Common mistakes beekeepers should avoid
There is no single Varroa treatment that is best for every colony or every season. The right choice depends on your mite count, brood conditions, weather, honey-production schedule, colony strength, and the time of year.
Always perform mite testing before and after treatment, and follow the current product label exactly.
Learn More from Ray
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Ray Hewitt is a University of Florida IFAS Certified Master Beekeeper and the owner of Honey Top Bees in Chapin, South Carolina.
Subscribe for practical beekeeping education, colony-management tips, queen-rearing information, Varroa control strategies, and real-world lessons from the bee yard.
#VarroaMites #VarroaTreatment #Beekeeping #HoneyBees #BeekeepingTips #Apivar #FormicPro #Apiguard #OxalicAcid #VarroxSan #Norroa
Learn the exact sugar water for bees recipe to mix a perfect quart for your hives. Get the right ratios for optimal bee health.
Providing supplemental feed is a critical task for any apiary. In this video, we break down how to prepare sugar water for bees, explaining the precise amounts of sugar and water required to reach specific concentrations. Whether you are a new hobbyist or managing multiple colonies, understanding the correct mix is essential for successful colony maintenance.
What we cover in this video:
Comparing Nectar to Syrup: How different natural nectar types stack up against standard beekeeper syrup so you can choose the best consistency for your specific situation.
Exact Ratios: A detailed breakdown and comparative table outlining various bee syrup ratio options.
Mixing Guide: Quick and easy ways to ensure your sugar fully dissolves for a quick reference during future mixing sessions.
Seasonal Feeding: Established guidelines to ensure your bees receive consistent and appropriate nourishment throughout the season.
Subscribe for weekly beekeeping tutorials, and comment below if you want to see a breakdown on winter feeding strategies next!
Take Rays Beekeeping Course Here: https://www.honeytopbees.com/rays-beginner-video-course/
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Welcome back to the apiary! In today’s video, we are walking through one of the safest and most successful ways to requeen a colony: using a nucleus colony (nuc). Requeening can be a delicate process, but as a Master Beekeeper, I’ve found that introducing a queen via a nuc dramatically increases acceptance rates and gives your weak or queenless hive an immediate boost of brood and nurse bees.
Here is exactly what we cover in this hive management tutorial:
Identifying the Need: How to confirm your hive is truly queenless or failing before introducing a new queen.
Preparation: Setting up your nuc and preparing the receiving hive for the merge.
The Newspaper Method: Step-by-step instructions on combining the nuc with your full-size hive to ensure a peaceful transition and high queen acceptance.
Follow-up: When and how to check for success without disturbing the newly accepted queen.
🍯 Take Rays Beekeeping Course Here: https://www.honeytopbees.com/rays-beginner-video-course/
🛒 Shop our beekeeping supplies at: www.honeytopbees.com
💨 Interested in the Vapor smoker shown here?
Use promo code: Ray20 for a for 20% discount!!
Go to https://apisolis.us/shop/?ref=413
Master proper beehive ventilation to keep your colonies safe during extreme summer heat. Learn how to prevent overheating now.
Maintaining the right internal temperature is critical when outdoor conditions reach 95 to 100 degrees Fahrenheit. This guide explains the mechanics of airflow, showing you exactly how hot air exits the top entrance while cool air is drawn in through the bottom. By optimizing this cycle, you can ensure your bees remain healthy and productive even during the peak of summer.
As a certified master beekeeper, I break down the practical steps for managing hive temperature effectively. Proper beehive ventilation is one of the most important aspects of hot weather beekeeping, yet it is often misunderstood. By mastering this simple airflow system, you create a stable environment that supports colony health throughout the hottest months of the year.
Subscribe for weekly beekeeping tips and maintenance breakdowns, and let me know in the comments what specific hive challenges you are facing this season.
🐝 READY TO MASTER BEEKEEPING?
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If you found this video helpful, please give it a 👍 LIKE, leave a comment with your favorite ventilation method, and SUBSCRIBE for more master beekeeping tips!
#Beekeeping #BeehiveVentilation #HoneyTopBees #MasterBeekeeper #BeekeepingTips #Apiculture #bearding
The summer dearth is one of the most challenging times of the year for honeybees and beekeepers alike. When the spring blooms fade and the intense heat sets in, nectar sources dry up completely. In this video, we break down exactly what a summer dearth is, how to identify it in your apiary, and the crucial steps you need to take to keep your colonies fed, healthy, and safe from robbing bees.
Understanding the summer dearth timeline
Signs your hive is running low on food stores
How and what to feed during a nectar shortage
Preventing deadly hive robbing events
If you want to ensure your bees make it through the brutal summer heat and are strong enough for the fall flow, this guide is for you!
💡 RESOURCES & LINKS MENTIONED:
🐝 Ready to master beekeeping?
Take Rays Beekeeping Course Here: https://www.honeytopbees.com/rays-beginner-video-course/
🛒 Visit our store for your beekeeping supplies:
www.honeytopbees.com
💨 Interested in the Vapor smoker shown here?
Use promo code: Ray20 for a 20% discount!!
Go to https://apisolis.us/shop/?ref=413
Avoid common beekeeping mistakes by fixing these 13 critical errors. Learn how to correctly manage hive space and spot queen cells early.
This video continues our series on essential beekeeping mistakes, focusing on specific oversights that often lead to colony loss. Whether you are struggling to identify queen cells or unsure how to properly monitor varroa mites, this guide provides the clarity needed to keep your hives healthy. We address the reality of hive management and why relying on generic online advice can often steer new keepers in the wrong direction.
Many beginners enter the hobby expecting an easy experience, only to face significant challenges with space management and pest control. By reviewing points 13 through 25 of our list, you will gain a clearer perspective on the maintenance required for a successful apiary. These beekeeper tips are designed to help you recognize warning signs before they become unmanageable problems.
Subscribe for weekly beekeeping breakdowns, and comment below with the biggest challenge you have faced in your own apiary this season.
Are you a beginner beekeeper trying to keep your first hives alive, or have you already made a few rookie blunders? Don’t panic! In this video, I’m sharing the top 12 rookie beekeeping mistakes that almost every new beekeeper makes (and yes, as a Certified Master Beekeeper, I’ve made almost all of them myself!).
Every year, countless passionate people install their first nucs or packages, only to find an empty hive by spring. It’s not because beekeeping is impossible—it’s because nobody told them what they were doing wrong. Consider this video the tuition I paid the hard way, so you don’t have to. From hive configurations to hidden inspection stresses, we are breaking down the essential rules of backyard beekeeping.
Stay tuned for Part II, where we will cover mistakes 13 through 25!
🐝 REFUELS & RESOURCES
Take Ray’s Beekeeping Course Here: https://www.honeytopbees.com/rays-beginner-video-course/
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Interested in the Vapor smoker shown here? Use promo code: Ray20 for a 20% discount!! 👉 Go to https://apisolis.us/shop/?ref=413
📋 KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS VIDEO
Two Hives are Better Than One: Starting with two colonies allows you to compare health and share resources like brood or eggs if one queen fails.
Stick to Standard Equipment: The standard 8-frame or 10-frame Langstroth system gives you access to local support, interchangeable parts, and easy-to-source nucs.
Mind the Science of Inspection: Over-inspecting breaks the bees’ antimicrobial propolis envelope and disrupts the colony’s thermoregulation, which institutional research shows can reduce honey production by up to 30%.
Look for Signs, Not Just the Queen: If you see fresh eggs and a solid, healthy brood pattern, your queen is there. Save time and stress by skipping the hunt every single week.
If you found value in these tips, please drop a Like, Subscribe to the channel, and hit the notification bell so you don’t miss Part II where we dive deep into Varroa mite management, winter prep, feeding strategies, and more!
#Beekeeping #BeginnerBeekeeping #BeekeepingMistakes #HoneyBees #MasterBeekeeper #HiveInspection #Apiary Life
Nicot No Grafting Queen Rearing.
In this video, I’m walking through an experiment using the Nicot no-grafting queen rearing system to see how well it works for raising queen bees without having to graft tiny larvae by hand.
Queen rearing can feel intimidating, especially if you’ve never grafted before. The Nicot system is designed to let the queen lay directly into removable cell cups, so you can move those young larvae into a queen-rearing setup without touching them. In this walkthrough, I’ll show the process, talk through what I’m doing, and share what I’m watching for along the way.
This is not a polished “perfect results” demonstration — it’s a real-world beekeeping experiment. We’ll look at the setup, the timing, the queen cups, and the practical challenges of using a no-graft queen rearing method in the bee yard.
Whether you’re curious about raising your own queens, nervous about grafting, or just wondering if the Nicot system is worth trying, this video should give you a practical look at how the process works.
Topics covered:
Nicot no-grafting queen rearing system
Raising queens without grafting
Queen cell cup setup
Beekeeping queen rearing experiment
Real-world lessons from the bee yard
If you’ve used the Nicot system before, I’d love to hear how it worked for you in the comments.
🐝 Ready to take your apiary skills to the next level?
Take Rays Beekeeping Course Here: https://www.honeytopbees.com/rays-beginner-video-course/
Honey Extracting Complete Guide: Take a deep dive into the honey house with me as we process our fresh April harvest! While the short version gave you a glimpse, this full-length video covers the entire journey of our local, raw honey—moving meticulously from the hive frames all the way to our self-serve stand in South Carolina.
What We Cover in This Full Walkthrough:
Mastering the Uncapping: Watch the technique behind using both electric and manual knives to carefully peel back the wax cappings.
Centrifuge Process: A detailed look at loading the extractor and spinning the liquid gold out of the comb.
Bottling: See how we filter the raw honey to maintain its quality while filling everything from our 10oz bears to the 48oz family-sized jars.
Finishing Touches: A look at our custom Honey Top Bees labeling process that makes every bottle shelf-ready.
Farm-to-Table Delivery: Follow along as we restock the self-serve honey stand for our local community neighbors.
Links & Resources:
Take Rays Beekeeping Course Here: https://www.honeytopbees.com/rays-beginner-video-course/
Interested in the Vapor smoker shown here? Use promo code: Ray20 for a 20% discount!! – Go to https://apisolis.us/shop/?ref=413
#Beekeeping #HoneyExtraction #HoneyHouse #RawHoney #HoneyTopBees #MasterBeekeeper #SouthCarolinaBees
