do you mow the grass around your hives? Does that disturb the bees?

What is an SHB?

Thanks. Nice to hear you are keeping up the family tradition.Good luck with your new beehives!

Cheers! I will bee doing videos on my channel in the future as I go. I'm sure I'll be watching MANY of your videos! :)

Why do we use canvas for the hive inner cover? A: We use canvas inner covers for a few reasons. They make it easy to take a quick peek in the hive, and are cheap and easy to make. They are light, the lids sit down well, less excess wax on the frame top bars, and we rarely need to scrape the inner cover. We use 18 oz (#8) canvas -otherwise known as duck. It's a bit hard to come by in Ontario, but it is available from online distributors (see www.bigduckcanvas.com/number-8-18oz-cotton-duck-canvas.html). Bees chew through thin canvas so a heavy weight is better. We flip it over periodically when new so the bees thoroughly coat it with propolis. An alternative is a feedbag folded in half.

Hi Layne We had just trimmed the grass and the string trimmer made the ground bare around the hive stands. We level the hive stands periodically with pressure treated wood shims. If the hives are already on the stands, we use a hardwood pry bar and a brick fulcrum to lift each end for shimming.

Hi Peter We nail them from the outside then use four screws from the inside. We use pine 1.5" wide .75" thick. I really find the cleat handles helpful. Thanks for your comment Peter.

Thank you very much Paul.

Hi Michael I've done both but have found lately that I can buy cut boxes cheaper than i can make them myself. I like the aesthetics of wood frames but use a lot of plastic frames becauseI have better things to do in the winter than build frames! Both work fine.

Hi There in Italy Giulio! If I understand your question Our hive lid is coated with paint. We buy aluminum that is pre- coated with paint and put it on a wooden frame to build our hive lids.Nice to hear you find our videos helpful!

The top entrance hole in the brood chamber is open year round. There are no entrances in our honey supers. Thanks for letting us know you appreciate the videos Cliff!

Hi Frank For our hive equipment video we limited the list of equipment to the most common and basic components. We should have at least mentioned the canvas inner covers that we use. As there have been many inquiries we'll be doing a video on the topic this year. Thanks for the suggestion Frank. In case you haven't seen this reply I'll post it below. I like the canvas inner covers for a few reasons. Easy to take a quick peek, cheap and easy to make, light, lids sit down well, less excess wax on the frame top bars, never need to scrape the inner cover. I could go on... We'll do a video about them since we are getting so many questions. We use 18 oz (#8) canvas - otherwise known as duck. Bees chew through thin canvas so a heavier weight #8 is better. It's a bit hard to come by here but I see it's available from online distributors in the US www.bigduckcanvas.com/number-8-18oz-cotton-duck-canvas.html or in Canada here. www.jtsoutdoorfabrics.com/18oz-Cotton-Duck-Canvas-Untreated--Natural-60_p_15038.html We flip it over periodically when new so the bees thoroughly coat it with propolis. An alternative is a feedbag folded in half.

David just saw this. When supering you remove the canvas cover and place it on top of the upper most super. Bees are not restricted in their movement for that application. That said when feeding using your box feeders the cover is used - implying they do get above it. When double NUCs are made the canvas is especially useful. Thumbs up, eh.

Hi Vincent Thanks for your support! I see you figured out the answer to your question.

Hi Chris The central hole is for using a pail feeder. We don't feed that way so we block the hole. This helps reduce heat loss, prevents condensation and limits bee access to the bottom surface of the inner cover.The top entrance is provided by a notch on the inner cover rim or with a hole drilled in the brood chamber

Hi Brandon If you haven't already, please see our video feeding bees and overwintering. We do sometimes use hive top feeders. Mold doesn't seem to be a problem for us but we only leave the feeders on for the time it takes the bees to store the syrup. In good warm weather that about 1 week.

UoG Honey Bee Research Centre thanks for the reference and reply :)

Thanks! We cut the grass with a push or riding mower and trim with a string trimmer. We smoke the hives as needed!

We buy plastic frames that have a thin coating of bees wax. We add a few new frames at a time and intersperse them with already drawn comb.

That was a mistake. I've answered hundreds of question about our inner covers as a consequence!

@@UoGHoneyBeeResearchCentre lol I can imagine.

It's put on the hive as is. We flip it over now and then so the bees can coat both sides with propolis. It sits right on top of the frames so it does limit travel across the top of the frames. Lots of other places they can move around so it's not a problem.

www.bigduckcanvas.com/number-8-18oz-cotton-duck-canvas.html A source for the canvas (duck)

www.bigduckcanvas.com/number-8-18oz-cotton-duck-canvas.html A source for the canvas (duck)

We debated that and probably should have ( now that I know how interested everyone is in them!). Since no one else uses them we thought we'd stick to just the very basic equipment that everyone uses for this video.

UoG Honey Bee Research Centre could share more info about your cloth inner cover? Preferred material? The reasons why you use the cloth versus wood? Etc Thanks for all the great contente shared.

Hey Beast 7/8". That just looked right to me so I doubt it's too critical. Knot holes in trees are pretty variable :)

UoG Honey Bee Research Centre cool deal. 3/4 you can put a cork in for winter I think haha. i used to be in Alaska so I know your pain with the cold

Yes it is sokrat3s

Wooden reducers inserted at the right time have worked well for 60 + years for us. I haven't seen mice in our hives for many, many years. I haven't tried many metal reducers/ mouse guards but the one's I have tried blocked effective dead bee removal.

That surprises me, but I'm glad that they work well for you. I've always believed that there are as many ways to keep bees as there are beekeepers. You have helped thousands of beekeepers, both old and new and you make an excellent teacher. Keep the videos coming. We appreciate all that you do and "Thank You". @@UoGHoneyBeeResearchCentre