# French Hill Apiaries Dot Com



## Michael Palmer (Dec 29, 2006)

Sometimes I have to be dragged kicking and scratching into the future. I have a cell phone because phone booths are a distant memory. I text because that's the only way I can contact my help. Now this. About time, eh?

frenchhillapiaries.com


----------



## Jadeguppy (Jul 19, 2017)

LOL, welcome to the 21st century.

It looks great


----------



## msl (Sep 6, 2016)

:thumbsup:
Nice!
Your message going to YouTube changed the fortunes of countless beekeepers
Ahhh creemees, there is a word I haven hurd in decades


----------



## lemmje (Feb 23, 2015)

Thanks. You know there are those of us waiting on you writing a book....


----------



## Marcin (Jun 15, 2011)

lemmje said:


> Thanks. You know there are those of us waiting on you writing a book....


Indeed.


----------



## jkellum (Dec 29, 2016)

thank you! i have watched everything i can and will attempt to apply some of your methods here in south mississippi and see what works here and what doesnt. I have enough equipment to run 3 double nucs 3 stories high and another couple single story to use as mating nucs. just waiting for spring.


----------



## Dan the bee guy (Jun 18, 2015)

``That's great I kept a hive of bees in the early 70's then gave it up because I couldn't see any way that it would make a profit but I liked working bees. Now all these years later your videos showed me the way. Hope to meet you someday to shake your hand and say thank you.


----------



## Bear Creek Steve (Feb 18, 2009)

Mike: Congratulations I'm glad that you have made the step. Would love to have you back in Colorado again sometime.

Karen & Steve H.


----------



## clyderoad (Jun 10, 2012)

Really nice site Mike, I think it will serve you well.


----------



## orthoman (Feb 23, 2013)

Beautiful photography. I enjoy seeing what things look like in the Northeast. Really nice job. 

Any chance of having links to all of Mr. Palmers lectures and presentations?


----------



## e-spice (Sep 21, 2013)

Glad to see you have a website now! Nice selection of photos. Great looking site.


----------



## Rader Sidetrack (Nov 30, 2011)

Michael Palmer said:


> frenchhillapiaries.com


Nice website!

If you make a habit of putting a "www." preceding the "frenchhillapiaries.com" part, in many cases, the "system" (at Beesource and many other places too) will make it an active, clickable link automatically, like this: www.frenchhillapiaries.com

Also, if you like, you can add your website address into a Beesource "signature" that will automatically appear at the bottom of all your posts at Beesource. And if you do set up a signature, that signature gets added to past posts, as well as future posts.

To get started on a signature, the "Edit Signature" is under "Settings" at the top of each page. Or here is a shortcut:
https://www.beesource.com/forums/profile.php?do=editsignature


----------



## tefer2 (Sep 13, 2009)

Mike,excellent job on the long awaited website.
Are the photo's taken with the new camera?
Graham's address suggestion, gets us on there easier.


----------



## squarepeg (Jul 9, 2010)

:thumbsup: and i see adam has teamed up with you, outstanding!


----------



## Fusion_power (Jan 14, 2005)

I was going to ask who was the old geezer in all the pictures, then I looked in a mirror and realized that I am an old geezer too.

Congratulations on your website!


----------



## mybodyisatemple76 (Jul 30, 2017)

Great looking website. What really caught my attention tho was those maple creemees if I lived up there id be stopping there twice a week atleast. wouldn't matter if it was -20 degrees outside. My girlfriend says I could live off ice cream add maple syrup and I don't think you could ever keep me away.


----------



## Kamon A. Reynolds (Apr 15, 2012)

:thumbsup:


----------



## Fivej (Apr 4, 2016)

Very nice site. Great pics. J


----------



## aran (May 20, 2015)

fantastic!
Holy cow some of those hives are 9 boxes tall!!!!!!


----------



## Michael Palmer (Dec 29, 2006)

tefer2 said:


> Mike,excellent job on the long awaited website.
> Are the photo's taken with the new camera?


No, all Adam’s photos. He built the site and used what he had. What a job! I’ll add more when I learn how


----------



## ihor (Jun 13, 2018)

Labour of love, yes, but also love of labour.
Wishing you a stellar trajectory,
Vancouver, Canada


----------



## Western (May 29, 2016)

Outstanding photos, man knows what he is doing. Wasn't able to find the BS member 50% off queens link tho...

I can sure relate to your adversarial tech approach as well, less than a year into a "smart" phone here, kids keep telling me it has a "cloud" too, but haven't seen one yet.......


----------



## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

Thanks for sharing.


----------



## Saltybee (Feb 9, 2012)

Michael Palmer said:


> No, all Adam’s photos. He built the site and used what he had. What a job! I’ll add more when I learn how


Summer photos in January. Just what I needed to get ready to put the plow back on. 
Better than the seed catalogs.


----------



## AstroBee (Jan 3, 2003)

Michael Palmer said:


> because phone booths are a distant memory.


There must be some still around, because the guy who came out has a big "S" on his chest 

Great site!


----------



## elmer_fud (Apr 21, 2018)

mybodyisatemple76 said:


> Great looking website. What really caught my attention tho was those maple creemees if I lived up there id be stopping there twice a week atleast. wouldn't matter if it was -20 degrees outside. My girlfriend says I could live off ice cream add maple syrup and I don't think you could ever keep me away.


off topic - I really like Martha's in New York (upstate) when I am there. Their large cones are over a quart of icecream. 
their website http://marthasicecream.com/

a large cone (from trip advisor, not me) https://www.tripadvisor.com.my/Loca...ndee_Creme-Queensbury_New_York.html#190963829


----------



## elmer_fud (Apr 21, 2018)

Nice site and some really nice pictures. 

One thing you may want to consider though is blur our the license plates on the pictures with vehicles. I don't think I saw any addresses, but I also tend to blur those out in pictures that I post.


----------



## Adam Foster Collins (Nov 4, 2009)

orthoman said:


> ...Any chance of having links to all of Mr. Palmers lectures and presentations?


Mike and I spoke about this today, and I just added a Video page with some of the most popular videos linked in from Youtube. 

Thanks for all the comments. We're glad people are enjoying the site. There's never any time during the season to do things like this, so I'm glad we got it together and online. I got a new Nikon last spring and made a good habit of bringing it along all season. So it's great to have the site to share some of those. Mike's just got a gorgeous new camera at Christmas time, so I'm sure he'll be adding his own images before long.

Adam


----------



## Grins (May 24, 2016)

Jeez, looks that truck has an automatic transmission, can't be too big a leap into this internet thing. 

Nice Michael.


----------



## Dan the bee guy (Jun 18, 2015)

Just thought of something, now that i'm ready to make my own queens it might be hard to get some stock from Mr. Palmer to improve my bees. with the site up and running i'm afraid he'll be over run with orders.


----------



## Juhani Lunden (Oct 3, 2013)

Awesome home site! Very professional outlook and lots of information. 

Questions:
Quote:
"and each colony is made up of 24 mating nuc frames arranged 8 over 8 over 8."

Bottom box as a stand
3 boxes on top of each other
3x4= 12 

How come they are 24 and not 12?

What were those little dog food like peas on the mating nuc lid?

There was no pictures/ information about varroa control?


----------



## Michael Palmer (Dec 29, 2006)

Each box has a divider across the box, side to side. Each side of the divider has 8 mini-combs and a division board feeder. When the dividers are in the central position, the box has 4 maying nucs. On the last queen catch, one queen is left on each side of the divider...divider is moved to sidewall. Then another box or two...the queens are removed and dividers are moved to sidewall. The boxes are united. So, on each side of divider are 8 combs. 3 stories high...24 combs

Not sure which photo has dog food peas. Do you mean on my marking table...those would be queen cage corks


----------



## Michael Palmer (Dec 29, 2006)

Grins said:


> Jeez, looks that truck has an automatic transmission, can't be too big a leap into this internet thing.
> 
> Nice Michael.


I wouldn't own an automatic


----------



## Juhani Lunden (Oct 3, 2013)

Michael Palmer said:


> Each box has a divider across the box, side to side. Each side of the divider has 8 mini-combs and a division board feeder. When the dividers are in the central position, the box has 4 maying nucs. On the last queen catch, one queen is left on each side of the divider...divider is moved to sidewall. Then another box or two...the queens are removed and dividers are moved to sidewall. The boxes are united. So, on each side of divider are 8 combs. 3 stories high...24 combs
> 
> Not sure which photo has dog food peas. Do you mean on my marking table...those would be queen cage corks


Oh, now I realize that the text below the picture means "combs", not (mini)nucs!

The small round items might be the cage corks.


----------



## Grins (May 24, 2016)

Michael Palmer said:


> I wouldn't own an automatic


----------



## Fred Bee (May 5, 2007)

Congratulations on the new site and best wishes!


----------



## JLW (Feb 5, 2018)

I'm glad you have a website up. I've learned a lot from your lectures on YouTube. 
One suggestion, put your website on your Google my business listing so people who find the Google listing can hop right to your website.


----------



## JLW (Feb 5, 2018)

I just suggested your web address to Google to be linked with your business listing. Really nice pictures.👍


----------



## Cloverdale (Mar 26, 2012)

Michael Palmer said:


> No, all Adam’s photos. He built the site and used what he had. What a job! I’ll add more when I learn how


Adam did an outstanding job Michael; I know how much you appreciate your workers and they are faithful to you also. Good luck with it!


----------



## max2 (Dec 24, 2009)

A nice site indeed - love those photos. I'm in a rural area in Australia and the site does load slowly - but worth the wait.
Can somebody point me to an explanation what he means with the term " brood factory"?
I understand the idea but don't get how it works with stack of 5 frame (?) nuc boxes?


----------



## Dan the bee guy (Jun 18, 2015)

max2 said:


> A nice site indeed - love those photos. I'm in a rural area in Australia and the site does load slowly - but worth the wait.
> Can somebody point me to an explanation what he means with the term " brood factory"?
> I understand the idea but don't get how it works with stack of 5 frame (?) nuc boxes?


Honey's not the only thing you can harvest you can use the extra brood to boost your production colony's population , big colony's = big honey producers. can also use them to make extra colony's


----------



## kaizen (Mar 20, 2015)

Michael Palmer said:


> No, all Adam’s photos. He built the site and used what he had. What a job! I’ll add more when I learn how


Meat needs a presence on the site.


----------



## Alex Madsen (Aug 26, 2018)

max2 said:


> A nice site indeed - love those photos. I'm in a rural area in Australia and the site does load slowly - but worth the wait.
> Can somebody point me to an explanation what he means with the term " brood factory"?
> I understand the idea but don't get how it works with stack of 5 frame (?) nuc boxes?


Brood Factories and Bee Bombs by Michael Palmer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8sL3VlmL-U&index=6&list=PLb_52-yAFlH-ZFD9WaOe9UinUHnFqmewK&t=0s


----------



## Michael Palmer (Dec 29, 2006)

kaizen said:


> Meat needs a presence on the site.


Oh, I'll get her in there. Maybe an obit. Sadly....Meat has gone to the clover field in the sky. She made 25 years.


----------



## Cloverdale (Mar 26, 2012)

Juhani Lunden said:


> Awesome home site! Very professional outlook and lots of information.
> 
> Questions:
> Quote
> ...


They are Wilson nibbles.....


----------



## max2 (Dec 24, 2009)

Alex Madsen said:


> Brood Factories and Bee Bombs by Michael Palmer
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8sL3VlmL-U&index=6&list=PLb_52-yAFlH-ZFD9WaOe9UinUHnFqmewK&t=0s


Thanks, Alex.
Is there anything written down?
The video plays very poorly ( my hearing is shot and it is all out of sinc) 
I googled the term " brood factory" and nothing useful came up.


----------



## Cloverdale (Mar 26, 2012)

MP’s brood factories are double nucs; the bottom box is a deep with a divider board and four frames on either side of it, with four frame-size nuc bodies being stacked side by side, with both sides having their own queens. In the Spring they draw out foundation fast during the flow and produce lots of brood in these small nucs that can be stacked; sort of like a supply hive. When brood is needed in other hives you can take frames from these nucs and replace with frames of foundation the the bees draw out quickly, hence aptly named brood factories. Don’t forget the stacks can get pretty high too.


----------



## max2 (Dec 24, 2009)

Thanks - Cloverdale - got it!


----------



## Oldtimer (Jul 4, 2010)

Nice, I'll keep an eye on it. 

Always wondered what Adam looked like too, with his TF TBH's and what not I imagined a younger hipster type, but seeing him he looks like he could put in a good days work


----------



## Ravenseye (Apr 2, 2006)

Beautiful site Michael. Thought of you last year when we passed by on our way to Potsdam to celebrate my Dad's 90th birthday. Beautiful country up there. Glad you're in it!

Jeff


----------



## Alex Madsen (Aug 26, 2018)

This describes brood factories. 
http://hcbeekeepers.org/a-better-way-by-mike-palmer/


----------



## jim lyon (Feb 19, 2006)

What a great resource you have put together here Mike. :thumbsup:


----------



## Adam Foster Collins (Nov 4, 2009)

Oldtimer said:


> Nice, I'll keep an eye on it.
> 
> Always wondered what Adam looked like too, with his TF TBH's and what not I imagined a younger hipster type, but seeing him he looks like he could put in a good days work


Haha. Only 'younger' compared to some. That's why I like hanging out with Mike. As far as work goes, Mike's still hard to keep up with. 

Adam


----------



## max2 (Dec 24, 2009)

Alex Madsen said:


> This describes brood factories.
> http://hcbeekeepers.org/a-better-way-by-mike-palmer/


Thanks, Alex - what I was looking for


----------



## Cloverdale (Mar 26, 2012)

For those of you interested www.kirkwebster.com


----------



## TNA (Jan 7, 2018)

While I was checking out the new website I noticed that in many pictures of the production colonies the outer covers are tilted back and exposing the front edge inner cover. I dont see any upper entrances so am wondering what the reason is for the covers to be tilted?


----------



## Michael Palmer (Dec 29, 2006)

Make it easier to remove in the summer. Otherwise, the propolis glues it down tight.


----------



## Oldtimer (Jul 4, 2010)

That's where a steel capped boot comes in.


----------



## Schultz (Mar 9, 2015)

Michael Palmer said:


> Make it easier to remove in the summer. Otherwise, the propolis glues it down tight.


 WOW! Brilliant and simple! I'm glad I thought of it.


----------



## TNA (Jan 7, 2018)

Mystery solved thanks Mike. Although I was hoping I found a secret to massive honey harvest. 😉


----------



## Spur9 (Sep 13, 2016)

Very nice site! It's gonna be a treat to see it evolve flourish.

I have a question after seeing pics of super removal. Do you stick with one brand of chemical to run the bees out of the supers? If so, what do you use?


----------



## Michael Palmer (Dec 29, 2006)

Bee-Go


----------



## AzaleaHill (Mar 11, 2018)

Good stuff. Great job.

My only comment would be to organize the video page vertically rather than horizontally. There are so many videos that they are difficult to get to. (Too much of a good thing!)


----------



## Cloverdale (Mar 26, 2012)

Michael Palmer said:


> Bee-Go


That’s what I say too.


----------



## DeepCreek (Jan 23, 2015)

Awesome pictures. Bet I wasn't the only one to bookmark your site! Congrats


----------



## oldsap (May 1, 2016)

Congrats on the website. And thanks for all your work spreading your knowledge and experience. The videos and info are good for all beekeepers to learn something from. I know I have learned a lot and am putting that to use here in Michigan where the temp is 5 degrees and falling today.


----------



## Spur9 (Sep 13, 2016)

I googled French Hill Apiaries and noticed that your new website was not linked to the google search. So I sent the website address to google to review and add. You might get an email about it.


----------



## William Brennan (May 19, 2021)

Rader Sidetrack said:


> Nice website!
> 
> If you make a habit of putting a "www." preceding the "frenchhillapiaries.com" part, in many cases, the "system" (at Beesource and many other places too) will make it an active, clickable link automatically, like this: www.frenchhillapiaries.com
> 
> ...


I'm currently in Saint Albans is there a chance to see french hill


----------



## Rader Sidetrack (Nov 30, 2011)

William Brennan said:


> I'm currently in Saint Albans is there a chance to see french hill


Welcome to Beesource, William!

As far as 'seeing' French Hill Apiaries" goes, I can't help you with that, other than to suggest that you try the "Contact" tab on Michael's website, here:





__





Contact Us — French Hill Apiaries


Contact information for Michael Palmer and French Hill Apiaries.




www.frenchhillapiaries.com


----------



## CliffS (May 12, 2021)

Michael Palmer said:


> Bee-Go


Do you ship queens to California?


----------



## Jack Grimshaw (Feb 10, 2001)

William Brennan said:


> I'm currently in Saint Albans is there a chance to see french hill


Mike is usually generous with his time but this is the busiest time of year for New England beekeepers with supering,swarm issues,splitting,hiring and training summer help and not forgetting queen production.
It's like wanting to tour the kitchen at a popular restaurant during Saturday night dinner service.

Beeyard visits are best arranged in advance and for the off season or during harvest season when any strong back is appreciated.


----------

