This was a fun day! Thoughts on the strength of these colonies? What about the colony with the queen excluder? I’d love to see what you think. What would you have done differently?

Man, if you had those hives going untended for 6 years, you've got some solid genetic diversity going on. Clearly they've got good foraging traits, parasite resistance--those are keepers in my book.

Bees have been “keeping” themselves for millennia.

She walked in the front door then left out the back door. Went to the basement. I would love to have that strain of bees in my personal Arsenal.🐝

Nice to see how fellow beekeepers in other countries are working. Greetings from the Netherlands

When a virgin queen goes off to get mated and there is an excluder on the hive, there's no guarantee that she will use the same entrance when she returns. Thus; two queens.

These are prime bees for cross Beeding they have to be insanely resiliant to weather to survive hurricane michael what looks to be completely unscathed. Gotta keep those genetic around.

the thing I love the most about this video is how polite the observer is

Been beekeeping 10 years and have had 2 times where bees moved in to stacked boxes with queen excluders. You definitely have 2 queens. Bees are extraordinary creatures, when you think you know it all they surprise you with something else.

A couple years ago, I helped a friend, well, he let me help, harvest honey from his four hives. It was an amazing expirience, and the reward of a big piece of comb, and a quart jar of orange and lemon blossom honey was so worth it.

Awesome. Can't believe that they been alone all these years and still so healthy and strong.

My family rescued 12 boxes of bees that were abandoned for almost 4 years. 30 we're dumped but only 12 we're left. But we rescued them as the new owners of the property just wanted them gone an only giveing less than a week for them to get re-homed an we were the only ones who responded in time. Went from our first hive to 13 hives in a two years! But they are so hardy.

I've transported bees from Florida to Minnesota on a flatbed. Loved watching people freak out at rest areas and scale houses. I love em and think they're cool. Wanting to start keeping myself

Two queens sharing the same hive with two different openings.

I'm glad I found this video. My brother passed several years ago the bees have not been worked. I plan to replace the bottom box on two hives and move the hives about thirty feet over so I can clean the ground and put them back where they were on concrete blocks. The wood has broken and the hives are tilted.

I had a beehive abandoned on my fathers farm - just a few boxes which were awkward to get to , not part of our main hives, so they ended up getting left for many years. They were still healthy right up to the point some poor cow ended up knocking them over and likely regretting it.

I've never kept bees and am scared shi**ess of them but find these video's enthralling!! 👍😎😎😎

About a week ago, I discovered an abandon hive that dated back to about 2002, almost 20 years. I thought it was a swarm that moved into old equipment but it turned out to be an old active hive. The bottom super was half rotted into the ground with one side missing. The top super was so propolised that none of the frames could be pried loose. Ended up cutting an end off with a circular saw and opening it like a book. I was amazed they survived on their own for that long! There were 4 hives buried under wild rose bushes. The other three were basically dust with only the metal cover. This one, the wood on the upper super was well preserved on the inside by the bees. It's going to be a lot of work straightening things out but an interesting challenge! Long story short, a prior neighbor kept bees back then but abandon them by burying them under all his lawn waste. Taped it, but it's going to take a while to edit.

I dont know anything about bees except that I'm deathly allergic to them, but I was amazed those boxes were left alone for years and are very healthy boxes completely FULL of bees. That was amazing. It's so cool you guys separated them off so they dont get over crowded

What I wouldn't give to find abandoned bees......in hives...what blessing.

My vote is on 2 queens. I mean with all those queen cells it's not a far fetched idea. Beautiful hives. Im terrified of bees but respect them and it brings me joy to see such healthy bees (as long as they're at least 30 feet away from me! Lol ☺)

Bees do very well when they are left alone and not constantly broken into. Those are good bees and will likely calm a little when they get used to having someone around. I wouldn't have bees that aren't a little feisty. They take care of their hives and deal with the mites and beetles much better.

Ain't Ron just the most polite gentleman? Love seeing you to tackling this situation, and to see him taking the time to learn

You can sell the queens for a good profit. Six years without any care is amazing.

its rare but there are instances of more than one queen in a hive that actually get along fine.

So excited to be an official beekeeper now. Having a pro like Bruce come down and help me get started is a blessing I will always be thankful for.

What’s really great is having an experienced beekeeper teaching a new beekeeper! I have had a great mentor for the past two years and am hoping to mentor myself. The best way to learn! 🐝

Didn't think i would watch a 19 min of two guys handling bees..and i was wrong. Great video, bees remind me of the military for some reason.

Very interesting video. In the midst of all the FUD about bees to see them soldiering on without our help is a good sign.

Two separate colonies! In one hive! They keep surprising me👍

I think its amazing of how many bees there are. All I see is that they are probably going to be really happy to get more space

Ron Is a very cool and respectful guy! Keep it up Ron! You the man!

it was so cool to hear the bees buzzing right in my ears. Almost wanted to shoo them away

I’m gonna assume that was a double queen hive.

I love spiders, scorpions, snakes, and the kind of animals that people are usually scared of, but I've been terrified of bees ever since I can remember. My body locks up whenever a bee or a wasp comes near me and I panic, but these videos are so interesting and I can't stop watching. Great video!

Reminds me of when I was a boy. In the fall my Dad would help friends in robbing the wild bee hives on their farms. I hate now to think that those bees may have perished due to their food being taken before winter, and the loss of their hive. Most of them were in old hollow trees or in the walls of old houses.

Thanks for rescuing them!! We need ppl like you to make sure they survive!!!!!!! 👍👍 🇺🇸

Last spring I picked up a 53' trailer load of bees at Koppert in Howell, MI and took them north of Saguenay, QC to some Blueberry fields. The temperature was kept low to keep them mostly inactive inside the boxes and I had to open the rear doors every 3 hours for 15 minutes. They absolutely have a smell, and once I arrived and turned the reefer off the buzzing was pretty intense. The border crossing was pretty funny between Detroit and Windsor. Live bees, live pollinating bees. Had to say it a couple times.

mite free strong colonies that are some realy good genetics , i dont belive that swarming kept them alive 6 years, i wish to work with that kind of bees, all the best from romania

Hey, very nice. I like bees a lot too.

They deserve a new place, after all look at their dignity and devotion

I don't know much about hives. But I'm surprised the bees and boxes are in such good shape for as long as they been neglected.

Not quite related, but I love when the ad matches the video in some way... it was a State Farm ad with a bee keeper in it 😂

Thank you guys from Northern Michigan.

Love it!! Good sense of humor.. 👍 Beekeeping is a art and a craft. But I give them a lot of credit trying to unglue them apart. Every sudden movement of the hive aggravates them 🐝

"Thats a real fancy hive tool. I dont know where mine is..." And thats why I dont have fancy hive tools

Bees are Awesome!!! 🐝 🌟

I heard Ron's voice and kept expecting to see Trace Atkins standing there. What a great way to get into beekeeping!

In my opinion there are 2 queens . it happens very often that one of the young queens , when she is still small , can pass through the Q.excluder and start laying eggs in the honey boxes and in the breeding box there is another ( usually the old one) laying eggs also.

I’d say that is proof that bees can survive without humans bothering them. Awesome video, thanks.

Very interesting. Enjoy Ron becoming a bee keeper.

Awesome video! Love my hives and Love bees!

4:36 “of course these bees have been here as long as they’ve been here” 👌😂

Nature is so cool!

You have two queens....they where coming and going through the small hole in the top lid...i thought that they didn't have it closed all the way

Definitely anxious to see a follow-up, it's early enough in the year you all may want to make a few more splits, just so he will have some busy work😊

"No sir, that's not exactly what I'm saying." :) Enjoyed the video guys. Thanks for posting and sharing your beekeeping knowledge.

I never get tired of watching bee videos! Thanks so much for posting this!!

I’m not super educated on bees, just watch bee keepers. And I am shocked that these hives are still going strong from what I have seen in videos. It seems like almost everyone has hives die usually due to cold or unexplained reasons.

I wonder how many generations has swarmed out of those hives.

Let’s clean up the neighborhood and I would bet you get a fantastic bee hive colonies up and happy again. Bees are the best!

Drink every time this guy says yessir lol

Such a great video. Good job. Amazing bees!

Awesome

Very interesting video guys. Thanks for sharing!!!

Have you heard any update on these bees and his apiary progress? Thanks for the video. It was great.

Fun to see! Must be nice to make your own honey, bee pollen, beeswax, royal jelly. So much to learn though. I admire your knowledge and experiences with bee keeping.

Thank you for reporting this... it is great to catch up with this.

So jealous! It's like a treasure trove! Great video and great hive inspection. I'm from Wewahitchka, so I feel like this is in the "neighborhood!" Enjoy your bees!

I’ve pick up on watching these you tubes videos on bees, and I particularly love this one. I live in Brisbane Australia and this is a great video

This is great I'm so happy this popped up on my autoplay considering I was watching video game stuff lol, thank you for the content stay safe and keep up the great work!

💪🐝...amazing work ethic and producer, regardless of their scary demeanor! Get it! 😎💜

Happy hive, I'll take it 👍

Wow, likely 2 queens! Load mite load! No stings in gloves! Thats the bees knees!👍

Glad you looked after those feral bees.

Fascinating creatures, amazing how well those guys were doing.

I'd split it into 3 hives. I think you have 2 queens already. Keep the bottom box separate.

glad you got your hive tool back. I saw it fall when you were doing the split. lol and you got a new subscriber

Fascinating!!

Damm good to see strong 💪 bees 🐝 after been untouched for years Damm 🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝 👸 🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝and they didn’t seem to upset by braking them up 🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐻🐻🐻🐝🐝🐝🐻🐝🐝🐻🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🌹❤️🌹❤️🌹later

Got Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg right here lol

you're so lucky, I wore my sneakers once on a hive examination and ended up with over 50 stings on my feet, always boots and full suits for me these days.

The bee's know what they're doing

Fun video!

Nothing like a bunch of free bees. Going to get a lot of money off of all those bees plus the free boxes too.

Thank you...New Beekeeper right here. Watching and learning in New Zealand...Loving it!

Excellent job both of you, I’m thinking of getting into this and you really help me by showing me terminologies alone from this video. Thank you very much, from 🇨🇦

Smart Queens, over history, always had secret passages.

Natural bee colonies over the years, if the top was empty at one point new queens probably came into the top and the bottom and it’s two colonies, I’ve seen it many times years ago on boxes we let go , it actually produces EXCELLENT bloodlines of super strong hygenic bees , i would have loved to have had some of these bees if I lived close by , they are well adapted to the climate there , very good bees , imagine how many times they have naturally swarmed and succeeded successfully in that yard!!!🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝

Radical. I've found with hives that haven't been gone through much that they'll have built a lot of drone/brood comb between the boxes. That rips apart when you pull the boxes off and boy they get pretty defensive :)

I’m about to get started with bees, this is beautiful!!!

Enjoyed this vid. Bruce, thanks.

There's something really cozy about this.

I’m glad the colony is still thriving and healthy. How does the vent holes being on top protect from the rain..?

Ron’s voice is like blackstrap molasses. He should narrate audiobooks. Reminds me a little of Sam Elliot’s voice.

Thanks for sharing I’m from Australia good luck Bruice

Nice that your gonna leave them there for the local farmers. I wonder though, as a practical Matt, if you’ll be able to continue long term. How can you claim the hives if you don’t have a legal arrangement with the landowner(s)? The next guy to come along could honestly believe that they are salvaging the bees and load them up, with all good intentions. Stick a sign in the ground with your name and number, “Bees by ……………….””

I dont even have a hive yet so most of this is fairly foreign. Im try to catch a wild swarm directly in a deep super langstroth hive. I have wild bees near me and caught a swarm for a friend last year so figured why not try it myself. One day i hope to see as many bees as in your video!

Love a good abandoned hive video! thanks for sharing :)

Fry good 👍🍯