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a Canadian Beekeeper’s Blog
YouTube Video VVVrUVZzNi14bTNtVk5kd1c0WnQ4TWNRLnJyRGdjODFsbTg0

Kicked Out of the House, Blowing Snow

10.3K views March 27, 2023 11:00 am

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Sustainability
a Canadian Beekeeper’s Blog

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The Importance of Preserving Pockets of our Natural World

3.4K views May 4, 2018 10:57 pm

a Canadian Beekeeper’s Blog

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Nature -Beekeepers- Agriculture , June 19 2020

12.1K views June 20, 2020 4:43 am

a Canadian Beekeeper’s Blog

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Pulling Honey Off Our Pasture👍06/27/2019

10.8K views June 29, 2019 4:49 am

a Canadian Beekeeper’s Blog I have been asked to speak at the Manitoba Watersheds Conference December 3 2019, Canad Inns Polo Park Winnipeg. Our farm had accepted the 2018 Pembina Valley Conservation District Award last year and the organizers of this year’s event want me to bring my perspective on sustainability, conservation and agriculture as we manage our grain, cattle and honey farm. My view point comes from that of a commercial beekeeper on how our industry has suddenly been faced with challenges as the management of our landscape has changed and how our farm has focused on certain aspects to help manage these issues. “Keynote: Ian Steppler 12:45 PM 1 hr Steppler Farms was the winner of the 2018 Pembina Valley Conservation District Award for their work on regenerative agriculture. Ian will speak about their work and lessons learned for conservation and agriculture.” https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5d1970615efdf4000145bc48/t/5dd31391dcacb37f07468d31/1574114202688/Brochure_The-Manitoba-Watersheds-Conference.pdf https://www.manitobawatersheds.org/conference

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YouTube Video UEx5REJUd1hLZzkyRW1Zc29FcjlzSDN6N3FGcUg3WU1udy5CMEQ2Mjk5NTc3NDZFRUNB

Speaking at the Manitoba Watersheds Conference December 3rd, 12:45, Canad Inns Polo Park Winnipeg

3.4K views November 30, 2019 4:16 pm

a Canadian Beekeeper’s Blog I’ve grown 25 acres of Pollinator Strips around the edges of our farm’s fields which couldn’t be sewed due to wet conditions. These places are sewed to flowering plants which will provide flowering nutrition to my bees and anything else needing pollen and nectar to sustain their growth. These strips will bloom during the last half of summer until freeze up and provide precious pollen and nectar to during a time when my bees set themselves up for winter. A small effort, in many places around the edges add up to huge impacts.

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YouTube Video UEx5REJUd1hLZzkyRW1Zc29FcjlzSDN6N3FGcUg3WU1udy5GM0Q3M0MzMzY5NTJFNTdE

Pollinator Strips, Admiring my Catch - July 12, 2020

8.7K views July 12, 2020 1:19 pm

A Canadian Beekeeper’s Blog This is one of the set asides that I sewed down to Phacillia, Canola and Sunflowers. The deer ate my sunflowers but the Phacillia and canola are just opening their bloom. Right about now the countryside is limited with flowering growth which makes this little patch of flowers an oasis to all pollinators. Little bits of pollen and nectar across the countryside is what we need to promote pollinator health with habitat

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Pollinator PLOTS, the promotion of fall flowers

6.9K views August 17, 2020 4:42 pm

a Canadian Beekeeper’s Blog

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YouTube Video UEx5REJUd1hLZzkyRW1Zc29FcjlzSDN6N3FGcUg3WU1udy41Mzk2QTAxMTkzNDk4MDhF

The Sunflowers Have Bloomed in my Pollinator Plots 🌻 August 22, 2020

9.3K views August 22, 2020 3:13 pm

a Canadian Beekeeper’s Blog https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-32681-y “ For both food security and biodiversity conservation, there is a critical need to move beyond documentation of pollinator declines and identify solutions to reduce bee disease and improve bee health. Sunflower pollen reduced the severity of infection by pathogens in bee species that are important for pollination services in natural and agroecosystems. Many beekeepers already provide pollen supplements to their colonies, and all levels of government, as well as growers, nonprofits, and the general public, are investing in plantings to improve pollinator habitat51. As both a domesticated crop and native wild species, sunflower could be prioritized for inclusion in agroecosystems and regionally appropriate native habitat. Our discovery that sunflower pollen reduced infection of multiple bee pathogens suggests the potential for simple, easily implemented approaches that could be tested for their ability to reduce disease and increase bee health.”

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Medicinal Properties of Sunflower Pollen to Bees 🌻

12K views September 19, 2020 4:10 am

a Canadian Beekeeper’s Blog

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Cows Eating Sunflowers 🌻

8.8K views September 27, 2020 4:14 am

Recent Rewind
a Canadian Beekeeper's Blog I put together and edited a Honey Flow compilation of my 2019 farm year. Starting were I had left off from the "2019 a Canadian Beekeeper's Blog Spring REWIND" vidoe posted earlier: https://youtu.be/oTLYsoGF9oQ and will be followed up with a fall/winter compilation soon as I get a chance to edit that together. Feel free to leave a comment below, hope you enjoy, I sure did while editing this together...I cant wait until next season! Ian

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YouTube Video UEx5REJUd1hLZzkyR1VlU3ZIa0R3YklyTGhpd1BxT1k0OS41NkI0NEY2RDEwNTU3Q0M2

2019 Summer REWIND - Pulling in a 300,000 lbs Honey Crop

109K views January 12, 2020 4:27 pm

a Canadian Beekeeper's Blog I put together an edited compilation of my management for the 2019 Spring season. This season was very challenging which involved employing all my spring time management strategies. My efforts must of worked because the year ended as one of my highest production years on record. You can follow up with this video by watching "HONEY FLOW 2019 REWIND - a Canadian Beekeeper's Blog": https://youtu.be/I2jIxS2hgWg where my spring management unfolds into a monster honey crop. Feel free to leave a comment below, Hope you enjoy the video compilation Ian

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YouTube Video UEx5REJUd1hLZzkyR1VlU3ZIa0R3YklyTGhpd1BxT1k0OS4yODlGNEE0NkRGMEEzMEQy

2019 Spring REWIND - Brood Nest Management

318.8K views December 25, 2019 6:02 am

a Canadian Beekeeper's Blog "2019 Fall Rewind" is a video edit of all my videos from when I pulled off the last of my honey boxes at the end of August to when I sorted the last of my honey bee hives into the winter shed in Mid November. The fall of 2019 was one of the most challenging years for our farm, here I provide a glimpse from the honey farm. A hot dry summer lead into 6 inches of rain throughout September which followed by over a foot of wet snow at the beginning of October. This weather not only shortened our opportunity to properly feed the bee hives up for winter but it also caused us terrible grief as we battled the mud and then frost as we tried to pick the hives up to move them in for winter. It was a fall that we never forget! Index: 0:00 Opening Title 0:11 - inserting escape board over the nucs 0:53 - pulling the last honey supers off the nucs 3:29 - the focus on bulk syrup feeding 11:25 - moving field edge yards closer to home 13:29 - fighting fall colony attrition 21:01 - the OCTOBER 1st feed deadline 22:48 - monitoring for mites 25:45 - treating with Apivar 27:15 - getting stuck 28:52 - weighing colonies for winter weight 30:50 - Apivar mite monitoring check back 35:44 - October 11th winter storm 38:22 - the wake of the winter storm, hive igloos 46:32 - treating hives with Oxalic Acid Vapour 48:49 - ProVap 110 55:02 - bee yard under water 57:22 - picking hives out of water with the Ezyloader 1:00:31 - pulling the bee truck out with two tractors! 1:07:48 - moving the first hives inside the winter shed 1:11:11 - prying hives off the frozen ground, moving hives inside for winter 1:14:35 - take your kid to work day, lesson #1 - honey in the morning coffee 1:21:51 - bee hive dumped onto the loading pad 1:31:20 - Oxalic Acid treatment efficacy and varroa mite drop 1:37:10 - Apivar strip removal before moving hives in for winter 1:39:30 - stacking honey bee hives inside the winter shed for winter 1:43:50 - the reason why I use pliable hive top inner covers (foamies) 1:52:17 - the last 4 hives inside, door closed, lights off, 1:54:21 - listening to the roar of 40-50 million bees inside

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Preparing Honey Bees for a Canadian Winter - 2019 Fall Video Compilation

215K views December 22, 2020 3:46 am

a Canadian Beekeeper's Blog The spring of 2020 challenged both the resilience of my honey bee stock and the resilience of my patience! PART 1 (APRIL) of this 2020 spring compilation, demonstrates commercial management practices which promotes growth throughout our variable Canadian Spring conditions. You will notice throughout our April work, I direct complete attention towards the management of the colonies which is focuses on the exact conditions around and within that colony without actually opening up it's nest. I have indexed this video for your convenience. Don't hesitate to comment below if you have any questions! 0:00 - Opening Credits 2:11 - The management of Indoor winter shed conditions as I set the hives out 15:51 - First spring flight 24:24 - First round work, INITIAL COLONY ASSESSMENTS, EMERGENCY FEEDING, CULLING 28:15 - Looking for breeder queens, breeder queen assessment criteria 32:20 - Early season actions to remedy queenless hives, nuc mergers 35:20 - Hoplessly Queenless, nuc mergers 36:54 - Open feeding dry supplement 40:15 - Tallying losses 42:42 - Cold weather shutdown, reflection on first round work, plan for work ahead 44:57 - Cold weather work - equipment maintenance and preparation 47:12 - Honey farm RULE OF THUMB 47:30 - Open feeding dry supplement, open feeding syrup 49:30 - Colony assessment, observing the colony's development by reading the brood nest activity after that cold weather event 57:43 - Cold weather shutdown, filling in dead spots 1:00:30 - In-depth philosophy of understanding progressive colony growth 1:07:50 - Shifting gears - switching from open syrup feeding to pail feeding 1:11:31 - Syrup pails, love hate relationship - In-depth explanation on our pail feeding strategy 1:20:04 - Warmth, SHIFTING GEARS 1:24:25 - First POLLEN 1:30:50 - "that's what she said" 1:32:40 - Boosting small nucs, how to determine vigor when assessing a small nest 1:37:50 - Drift issues due to our work 1:41:30 - Moving spring yards out to their summer locations 1:50:15 - Colony assessment, grading, culling and promoting 1:57:13 - Getting stuck, ***a clip for Ruben Josey*** 2:00:00 - Assessment ques of a box of bees, how to read the frames bottoms 2:02:36 - Philosophy of keeping the hives tight, giving them space and all those cluster dynamics involved.

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YouTube Video UEx5REJUd1hLZzkyR1VlU3ZIa0R3YklyTGhpd1BxT1k0OS4xMkVGQjNCMUM1N0RFNEUx

2020 Spring REWIND - Early Spring Nest Management, a cold Canadian Spring- part 1

94.9K views January 15, 2021 12:16 am

a Canadian Beekeeper's Blog The spring of 2020 challenged both the resilience of my honey bee stock and the resilience of my patience! Part 1 : https://youtu.be/9Ks8rodryJ0 PART 2: (May-June) of this 2020 spring compilation is a detailed demonstration of how I approached my brood nest management through 2020's COLD variable Spring. This spring vlog compilation provides a detailed look into my management practices and provides on the spot commentary as I assess, adjust and reflect all the conditions. I have indexed this video for your convenience. Don't hesitate to comment below if you have any questions! 0:00 - Opening Video 2:30 - Boosting Small Nucs With Merger- One Week Check Back 5:33 - Adding Seconds, Providing Space For Growth 9:40 - COLD weather Growth Interruption 15:47 - Assessing COLD weather Colony Growth 24:05 - Stripping Merger Colonies 34:37 - Detailed Insight into Boosting Small Nucs through Mergers 44:42 - Building Cell Builders 49:33 - First Graft Check 1:01:26 - Cell Builder Management - Cycling the Graft Frames 1:15:30 - Colony Cull - No Place Takers 1:27:27 - Finding Graftable Larvae in our Breeder Hive 1:37:06 - Beginning the Colony Split 1:49:50 - Placing Queen Cells 2:00:00 - Mating Yard Dynamics 2:08:56 - Colony Cull - Break Down into NUCS 2:14:30 - Nucs Getting ROBBED! 2:16:34 - Checking Queen Cell Emergence with the Kids 2:30:54 - Checking Last Graft 2:33:46 - Queen Mating Success Rate 2:49:25 - Shaking Bees Down into the Single 2:54:30 - Adding Thirds 3:01:00 - Cell Check, Final Round - Hives Set for the Flow

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2020 Spring Rewind Part 2 - COLD weather Brood Nest Management

214.7K views February 16, 2021 2:58 am

A Canadian Beekeeper Blog Highlights
a Canadian Beekeeper’s Blog

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YouTube Video VVVrUVZzNi14bTNtVk5kd1c0WnQ4TWNRLnJyRGdjODFsbTg0

Kicked Out of the House, Blowing Snow

10.3K views March 27, 2023 11:00 am

a Canadian Beekeeper’s Blog

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YouTube Video VVVrUVZzNi14bTNtVk5kd1c0WnQ4TWNRLmtJSnZWeGk5Z193

Ahhhh!!! March Stress in the Winter Shed

7.2K views March 26, 2023 2:20 pm

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YouTube Video VVVrUVZzNi14bTNtVk5kd1c0WnQ4TWNRLlNkZXRUNEh0d1Bv

Mid March Dead Count

8.4K views March 21, 2023 1:41 am

a Canadian Beekeeper’s Blog

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YouTube Video VVVrUVZzNi14bTNtVk5kd1c0WnQ4TWNRLk1hZ1htd0gyM21V

move bees out in two weeks my ass,…

10.1K views March 18, 2023 12:48 am

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YouTube Video VVVrUVZzNi14bTNtVk5kd1c0WnQ4TWNRLlA5VGJxc3ZZdzBF

Tolerable, Not Yet Unbearable

6.4K views March 15, 2023 4:33 am

a Canadian Beekeeper’s Blog

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YouTube Video VVVrUVZzNi14bTNtVk5kd1c0WnQ4TWNRLlhyR01qeVlZa2dJ

Okay, Maybe Not So Thrilled With This SNOW

6.5K views March 12, 2023 5:09 pm

a Canadian Beekeeper’s Blog

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YouTube Video VVVrUVZzNi14bTNtVk5kd1c0WnQ4TWNRLms2bWpSUjBUX1dn

Outsourced to Global Patties, Custom Mixed 🚀

7.8K views March 11, 2023 3:25 pm

a Canadian Beekeeper’s Blog

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Battle of the Budgets

7.2K views March 10, 2023 3:18 am

a Canadian Beekeeper's Blog

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On the List to Import Cory Stevens VSH Virgin Queens

views March 9, 2023 1:04 am

a Canadian Beekeeper’s Blog Open feeding dry Ultrabee to my Apiary. After the hives are set out, we set out feed for the hives to take before natural pollen becomes available

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YouTube Video UEx5REJUd1hLZzkySDBjSTN2SUJRMFhPWWJQUXVhNVB6TC5EQkE3RTJCQTJEQkFBQTcz

Open Dry Feeding Honey Bees, terrific activity around the feeders today - April 15 2019

9.7M views April 16, 2019 12:03 am

A glimpse of my summer honey flow operating strategies from hive split straight to stripping boxes in the fall. I manage my hives in single brood boxes,and because of that I employ many strategies to manage swarming and to maximize my honey crop. I don't focus at all on the split, even though it is a major part of this strategy, I will leave the brood nest management for its own video. During the 2018 crop year, my honey crop came in hard off the start and then ended extremely early. I typically get flows that run well into August but this year my flows ended in last week of July. Too hot and too dry. With these type of unpredictable weather conditions it is very important to capitalize on that nectar flow the moment it starts to flow. This is the reason why I put so much attention towards colony population brood nest management. Last year within roughly 4-5 weeks, we gathered 197,000 lbs off 1200 production hives. Very little came in on the nucs because they matured later in summer. But we did fill some boxes in some yards 🙂 We never know whats ahead of us so that is why I manage to grab it when its there! without capitalizing during the opportune times, we risk missing our main stream of income.

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Tips to a big honey crop

530.9K views January 28, 2019 3:54 pm

a Canadian Beekeeper's Blog a detailed look at a couple way I feed my hives syrup through the fall and spring. Open feeding and Pail feeding.

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Tips for feeding honey bees

404.6K views December 20, 2018 2:26 pm

Single Hive Management Explained, a Canadian Beekeepers Blog A step by step walk through my commercial beekeeping season explaining what I do and why. www.stepplerfarms.com

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YouTube Video UEx5REJUd1hLZzkySDBjSTN2SUJRMFhPWWJQUXVhNVB6TC4yQUE2Q0JEMTk4NTM3RTZC

Single Hive Management Explained

275.2K views December 17, 2017 4:18 am

a Canadian Beekeeper's Blog Here is a collection of all my 2018 queen rearing videos starting with setting up the queenless cell builder, managing the graft, rotation of the graft frames though the cell builder and into the queen cell incubator. I show how we make up nuc, and then the process of using the queen cells to mate in the nucs which then I use as multi queen colonies to collect the late summer honey crop. Hope you enjoy the recap from the 2018 season! Don't hesitate to comment below with question on this video and I'll do my best to answer. Ian

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YouTube Video UEx5REJUd1hLZzkySDBjSTN2SUJRMFhPWWJQUXVhNVB6TC4wNEU1MTI4NkZEMzVBN0JF

Small Scale Commercial Queen Rearing

223.9K views December 8, 2018 6:16 am

a Canadian Beekeeper's Blog Ian Steppler, married to Sandy, father of 5, farms with his family near Miami Manitoba Canada. His family farm is a third generation farm started by Ian’s grandfather and carried forward by his parents. Nearly 10 years ago, Ian’s 3 brothers, parents has restructured the farm into a company and have since expanded into a large grain, cattle and Beekeeping operation. They crop 3500 acres of land, calve 5-600 head of pure bred Charolais cattle and manage a 1200-1500 hive apiary. Since Ian bought his first 4 hives 19 years ago he has dedicated his life passion towards beekeeping. Ian credits the current standing of his apiary to others on whom he has leaned on over the years to help guide him though many management, logistical and husbandry issues. Ian is a big believer in paying it forward which motivates him to share his successes and failures with others. Follow Ian’s channel to submerse yourself into the world of a Canadian commercial beekeeper life! Subscribe!

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My honey farm in 1 min, a video edit request for Apimondia

196.1K views June 15, 2019 7:50 pm

a Canadian Beekeeper’s Blog

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Quick and Exact Way to Split Hives

147.7K views June 5, 2018 5:09 am

a Canadian Beekeeper's Blog Beekeeping on the prairies can be a challenging endeavor. No one year seem to be the same. Sometime we do everything right as beekeepers but mother nature does not deal us the same cards. Because of this we as beekeepers need to manage our hives with many tricks in our pockets. Salvaging weak or small hives in the spring is one management strategy not generally favored because weak colonies are seen as inferior stock. But in years when the failure of colonies is not related to colony inferiority but rather to poor weather related factors, the choice to salvage these failing colonies is warranted. This is a Montague of a few "salvage" related videos from the 2018 year after a hard winter. We managed to boost and preserve over 30% of our operating stock with a simple trick of merger. Watch the videos and try to understand

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YouTube Video UEx5REJUd1hLZzkySDBjSTN2SUJRMFhPWWJQUXVhNVB6TC5CNTcxMDQ0NThBNzMxODYz

a Quick and Simple Trick to Saving Small Honey Bee Hives

119.6K views January 20, 2019 2:04 am

a Canadian Beekeeper’s Blog, Question/Answer on inner covers and top entrance. My feedback on these techniques are very specific to my Beekeeping operation but with that you should be able to glean some useful information to use towards your own operation.

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Why I use pliable inner covers and thoughts on upper entrances

103.5K views December 1, 2017 6:19 pm

Miami, Manitoba, Canada

A third-generation family farm specializing in sustainable honey, grain & cattle farming. 

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Charolais

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A third-generation family farm specializing in sustainable honey, grain & cattle farming.