Beekeeping Industry Overview, Threats & News

WEBVTT

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in a world brimming with complexity few creatures

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embody harmony like the honeybee with tireless

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precision she dances from bloom to bloom each

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motion guided by millennia upon millennia of

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instinct each act in service to the whole and

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then There are the beekeepers, watchful stewards

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of this ancient symbiosis. Part agriscientist,

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part poet, they move along their hives with the

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efficiency of mow, levy and curly, tending to

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the bees' needs as best they can comprehend,

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and with the infrequency of a waterfall in the

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Sahara, sometimes running off flapping and flailing

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like a penguin on a hot sidewalk. This is their

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journey. Partners in Beekeeping, Man Lake. Today

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we'll be talking with Jerry Hayes, editor of

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Bee Culture magazine, to discuss the status of

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the beekeeping industry, yeah and a whole lot

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more. First a few quick headlines from the world

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of beekeeping. From Crystal City, Minnesota,

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the City Council has officially adopted a revised

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animal control ordinance that significantly expands

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what residents may keep in their backyards. Residents

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can now have ducks in their backyards and beekeeping

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is now officially legal. Under the newly adopted

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rules, residents may keep up to four hives, even

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on lots under three quarters of an acre. Way

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to go Crystal City! And out of Canada, beekeepers

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ask government to ban overseas bee imports to

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protect local hives. What's it all about? Of

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course, they're alarmed by the spread of the

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tropal alaps mite, and they're calling on government

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to do something about it. Now this one out of

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California, the headline reads, Almond milk kills

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bees. Five shocking California impacts. This

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one, I'm not... Gonna touch with a 10 foot pole,

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but it's actually kind of an interesting read.

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We'll put a link to the article down in the show

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notes. I'll leave that completely up to you.

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Lastly, while Texas beekeepers lost approximately

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61 % of their colonies this year, there is some

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good news out of the Lone Star State. Thanks

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to much needed rainfall, honey yield is way up.

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with production surging to its strongest level

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in years at over four million pounds. Way to

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go. I'd like to welcome to the show, I should

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say back to the show, Jerry Hayes from Beat Culture

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magazine, the editor, the big cheese there. Hi

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Jerry, how are you? Good, how are you doing Eric?

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I sure appreciate you giving me a few minutes

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to just unwind here. I'm doing great getting

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my feet back on the ground as the listeners know

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I was on the Big Island for a few weeks and actually

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did podcasts from there which was good fun but

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I'm back in the mountains trying to deal with

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having no humidity again but other than that

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feeling great and and I wanted to get back with

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you just kind of get a pulse on what's going

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on with beekeeping right now and I'm just going

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to throw out some stuff and and let you start

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talking and then ask you questions if that's

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okay but for example as we all know this last

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winter of 24 -25 there was a huge bee die -off

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here in North America and commercial beekeepers

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that I've talked to most of them have recovered

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pretty well But I'm curious what your pulse is

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from talking to them and if they're doing things

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differently since we're nearly into winter again

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here. And let's take it from there. So give us

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the 30 ,000 foot view. Dolly, and that's an easy

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question. Oh my gosh. Yes, we had, you know,

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the numbers show about 1 .6 million colonies.

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parish and golly, tens of thousands in the commercial

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industry, some commercial beekeepers, one commercial

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beekeeper that I know lost all 16 ,000 of his

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colonies. And yes, in that particular case, you

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know, if you have a thousand colonies and you

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lose 500, you can take the other 500 and split

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them and make them up. When you lose everything,

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you can't do that. And so his return on investment,

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this is a business. And so a lot of beekeepers

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who have lost a lot of colonies and are aging,

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and their family doesn't want to take them over,

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they're selling. And there are some groups that

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are taking all these and have maybe 100 ,000

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colonies now. I have no idea how you manage that.

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I just don't know. And that's one of the problems

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with thousands of colonies is how do you manage

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that? How do you get enough people that know

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what they're doing? And then of course, you know,

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we have indoor wintering a lot now, trying to

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maintain temperature and humidity so that the

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bees are under a little bit less stress because

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of everything that's there. Exposed to those

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bees. I wouldn't be keeper. I talked to he said

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the bees look great Coming out of the storage

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and then two weeks later. They were all dead

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So yes, we've had USDA tell us that it could

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be a virus mutation that's impacting the bees

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and we have no of course control over viruses

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and then those viruses are in the bees because

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of Roa many cases and Roa causes decrease in

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in the bees ability to fight off bacteria and

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diseases and what have you, their immune system

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is compromised and we are not controlling grow

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up very well and we're not feeding very well

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and climate change is happening and think about

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thousands of colonies and then to think about

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loading this insect in their nest on a semi and

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driving it across the United States to California

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for almonds, let's say, or someplace else. It's

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incredible. And the industry on a commercial

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level is suffering. And then we have, of course,

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you know, our hobby backyard beekeepers as well

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that are struggling. And most of this is management.

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And how much time do you put into managing your

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colonies? And what do you do to control pest

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predators and diseases? I have not had a chance

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to speak with some of the people that lost everything

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like you have, but some of the commercial beekeepers

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that did okay and were able to bounce back well

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tell me they were really on top of Varroa and

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they were really on top of feeding. So anything

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that we can do for hobbyists, for sideliners,

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for commercial, anything we can do to keep our

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bees stronger And to keep the viral levels down

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because they're spreading the viruses, we just

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have to do it. That's just the way it is. Beekeeping

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is not easy. No, it's not easy. And to think,

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you know, and there again, who's managing who?

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Are they managing us or are we managing them?

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They're trying to stay alive. And unfortunately,

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on all levels of beekeeping, we have beekeepers

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who aren't doing as you said, they're not. For

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instance, Varroa control. Sample for Varroa at

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an appropriate time, say during the season or

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getting ready for winter. What have you, sample

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for Varroa, pick a Varroa control, and then after

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it, sample again to see if it actually worked.

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And nobody's doing that. And then commercial

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beekeepers, when you have thousands of colonies,

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yeah, how do you do this with the expense of

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labor and the Varroa controls and what you get

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them? I know all these things there's not a whole

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lot of return on investment considering what

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they're getting paid for him. Pollination contracts

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for and we're getting beat up by imported honey

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coming in and real cost and all these things

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that causes a struggle and the thing that. Turn

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it makes my blood pressure go up is that we've

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done a horrible job of advertising and marketing

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ourselves of the value. of not only beekeepers,

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but honeybees, pollinated dependent agriculture,

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the food supply chain, and then nobody's ever

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showed me a number for the environment. You know,

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honeybees are going out and foraging in a two,

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two and a half mile radius. Well, that's, you

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know, like 8 ,000 acres or something like that

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in the environment and pollinating plants that

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produce seeds so they can reproduce or fruits

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or nuts or what have you for squirrels and turkeys.

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And then you got the plants growing in carbon

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sequestration and water retention. And nobody

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knows this error. And so we're thought of as

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the only stepsister of agriculture. Well, and

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until we can. get some of those chemicals under

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control and I'm not going to name any by names

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today but we all know what they are until we

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can get some of that stuff under control. A lot

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of that's out of our hands and we can't control

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it but there are things that we can control and

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so let's control those things as well as we can.

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There are new treatments for varroa that we can

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try. There are new things out there every year.

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I've tried some of the ones that were new this

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year and had good success with them but it takes

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work. And let me just throw out one thing that's

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a reminder for all of us and you mentioned testing

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before and after treatment. What we used for

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Varroa last year and the year before and the

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year before that may not work for us anymore.

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there is a tolerance that can be built up and

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that's why we have to test after because that

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may not be working anymore and we may have to

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move on to something else for a while. And in

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three years we may be able to go back to that

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treatment that we loved but it may not work for

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a couple of years. So be willing to be open -minded,

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do your research. Sorry we're getting kind of

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preachy here now but it's a big deal. No, it's

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a good thing because in my world and it's been

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in my world for decades, I'm here because honey

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bees are important to agriculture and to the

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environment and beekeepers are incredibly important

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because they're managing this insect. It may

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seem early, but right now is a great time to

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order your live bees for 2026 because they do

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sell out and because Man Lake is offering a discount

00:11:33.080 --> 00:11:36.860
for beloved podcast listeners. Wait, what? I

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know, you're saying live bees, they never go

00:11:39.299 --> 00:11:42.879
on sale. Well, they are now. Click on over to

00:11:42.879 --> 00:11:46.399
Man Lake, order your bees any variety, nukes

00:11:46.399 --> 00:11:49.759
or packages, and anything in the beginner essentials

00:11:49.759 --> 00:11:53.039
category. And when you check out, use the code

00:11:53.039 --> 00:11:55.899
getstartedinbees, it's down in the show notes

00:11:55.899 --> 00:11:58.360
so you don't have to remember, for a discount

00:11:58.360 --> 00:12:02.080
on everything. So get your orders in early and

00:12:02.080 --> 00:12:06.700
save. How many insects do we manage as humans,

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you know, that can be moved and transported and

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what have you? And then as you were saying, for

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a Varroa resistance, let's say to certain Varroa

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sides, Varroa is trying to survive. And so if

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you only kill 90 % of the Varroa in your colony,

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that might be good for a little while, but then

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you got 10 % of the Varroa that is laughing at

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that Varroa side and they're going to mate. and

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reproduce and have babies that are resistant

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to that boroside. So as you say, we have to rotate

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these out and then we have to really try to manage

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by sample, treat and sample again. Yeah. And

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hopefully that's going to work. It should at

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least, it's something you can do to increase

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your odds, right? Absolutely. But like I'm headed

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into a very cold, wintry environment here in

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the next few days. And I need to go out tomorrow

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and I need to test again to see how my most recent

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treatment worked. Now here's the problem. If

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it didn't work very well, I don't have very much

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time left to fix things. So I'm going to do what

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I can. And that's just the kind of world that

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we live in now. All right. No, it's true. It's

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true. And then we have to Not only about treating

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and when but what have you and what you pick

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and this is where the tools for management guide

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for honeybee. Console is so good because it doesn't

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tell you what to do it gives you options. Because

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there is collateral damage when you're trying

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here this is over all night and i'm a honeybee

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how do you kill a bug on a bug. without hurting

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the big bug and so i can spray rainier face every

00:13:49.029 --> 00:13:51.169
day eric it's not gonna kill you what's gonna

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happen to you in ten or fifteen years something

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is going to happen and when we're doing this

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to honey bees trying to kill an insect on an

00:13:59.169 --> 00:14:01.629
insect wrong terminology but you know i'm talking

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about a bug yeah again a bug how do you do that

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safely and this is where some of these biologicals

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that are coming out now by a rational. Products

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i think we need to yeah migrate to some of those

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and in this process of using different products

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we rotate some of these things in and out so

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that we get some more use out of them and control

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for all better alright. Let's let's quick kick

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in this horse. Let's move on to some other things

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that can be concerning. What do you know about

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yellow legged hornets? Yeah, you know, certainly,

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you know, I'm in northern Ohio now, so kind of

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on the eastern part of the country. So. I keep

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in contact with Georgia and South Carolina and

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what have you, and Alabama, where some of these

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things have been found. They're doing their best

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to limit the spread of them, but that's incredibly

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hard to do by looking for nests and putting out

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things that will attract them to that. Yes, they

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can help, but is it going to be 100 %? I doubt

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it. Yeah, well, that Asian giant hornet, supposedly

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the couple that were up in the Northwest, those

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were taken care of. They'll be back someday.

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So the yellow -legged one in the meantime, and

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I've talked to a lot of people over in Europe

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that have been dealing with it for a while, and

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they're, you know, they're dealing with it. It's

00:15:31.419 --> 00:15:33.139
not easy, but they're dealing with it. It's kind

00:15:33.139 --> 00:15:35.340
of like us dealing with Varroa. Yeah, no, it's

00:15:35.340 --> 00:15:39.570
true. And you can deal... There again, that just

00:15:39.570 --> 00:15:44.129
adds another level of management and management

00:15:44.129 --> 00:15:47.830
skill to this. And we're talking about, I think

00:15:47.830 --> 00:15:50.309
the Natural Honey Board says there's like 125

00:15:50.309 --> 00:15:54.830
,000 or 135 ,000 of us beekeepers. About 1 ,000

00:15:54.830 --> 00:15:58.149
or so are commercial beekeepers out of the millions

00:15:58.149 --> 00:16:01.840
of colonies that we have. What does that do to

00:16:01.840 --> 00:16:05.860
the other 124 ,000 that are hobby and backyard

00:16:05.860 --> 00:16:10.480
beekeepers who are struggling now as it is and

00:16:10.480 --> 00:16:13.460
then you add another level of this on it and

00:16:13.460 --> 00:16:16.340
That's where so many of them drop out after three

00:16:16.340 --> 00:16:19.779
years and become stamp collectors or less than

00:16:19.779 --> 00:16:23.639
three years Yeah, no, absolutely. It's just honey

00:16:23.639 --> 00:16:26.720
bees are amazing. What they do is amazing. How

00:16:26.720 --> 00:16:30.460
they live is amazing. And that passion for most

00:16:30.460 --> 00:16:33.659
of us grows as we look in a hive and separate

00:16:33.659 --> 00:16:35.879
ourselves from the crazy world out there looking

00:16:35.879 --> 00:16:39.360
a hive. But yeah, how many people want to do

00:16:39.360 --> 00:16:41.559
that all the time because they're not all doing

00:16:41.559 --> 00:16:44.399
it now? Well, part of what I love about beekeeping

00:16:44.399 --> 00:16:47.100
is there's always something to learn. You never

00:16:47.100 --> 00:16:49.480
know it all. The bees are smarter than we are.

00:16:49.740 --> 00:16:52.759
And nature's smarter than we are because there's

00:16:52.759 --> 00:16:55.500
a lot of other things going on and I just had

00:16:55.500 --> 00:16:57.940
to throw this out there on that topic because

00:16:57.940 --> 00:17:01.419
we also have chickens that we've had for the

00:17:01.419 --> 00:17:04.119
last, I don't know, since we moved out here into

00:17:04.119 --> 00:17:06.119
the country for the last 10 years or whatever.

00:17:06.480 --> 00:17:10.329
And I like the chickens but they're easy. and

00:17:10.329 --> 00:17:13.150
maybe I'm just naive, but they're really easy

00:17:13.150 --> 00:17:16.109
compared to bees. And I tell my neighbors that

00:17:16.109 --> 00:17:18.329
have horses, they think bees are really easy.

00:17:18.490 --> 00:17:21.549
I'm like, you need to know as much or more about

00:17:21.549 --> 00:17:24.589
bees as if you're taking care of a horse. I mean

00:17:24.589 --> 00:17:27.250
this is not an easy thing, but it's very rewarding

00:17:27.250 --> 00:17:31.089
also. So one last pest that I wanted to talk

00:17:31.089 --> 00:17:34.990
about is, and this is nothing new, but this is

00:17:34.990 --> 00:17:38.349
the Africanized bees. because they are spreading.

00:17:38.970 --> 00:17:42.089
I read an article just yesterday of somebody

00:17:42.089 --> 00:17:46.609
in Las Vegas that was attacked and got 400 stings.

00:17:46.670 --> 00:17:48.910
Luckily he survived, but he's in the hospital.

00:17:49.430 --> 00:17:51.569
I don't even have a question for you, Jerry,

00:17:51.589 --> 00:17:53.710
but talk about Africanized bees for a minute.

00:17:53.990 --> 00:17:57.329
Yeah. And so a long time ago on a planet far,

00:17:57.329 --> 00:17:59.710
far away, I was the chief of the ape area section

00:17:59.710 --> 00:18:02.630
for the Florida Department of Agriculture. And

00:18:02.630 --> 00:18:06.559
when I was there, That's when Africanized bees

00:18:06.559 --> 00:18:11.839
made their way to Florida mostly as swarms on

00:18:11.839 --> 00:18:16.319
shipping traffic coming from Mexico and the first

00:18:16.319 --> 00:18:20.940
real incident that I was involved in was and

00:18:20.940 --> 00:18:25.420
this never happened before was You know an 800

00:18:25.420 --> 00:18:29.690
pound horse was killed. It was in a stable and

00:18:29.690 --> 00:18:32.829
these bees attacked the horse and the horse didn't

00:18:32.829 --> 00:18:36.049
die of envenomation. I was there during the autopsy

00:18:36.049 --> 00:18:39.349
and the vet pulled out, I'm guessing two or three

00:18:39.349 --> 00:18:42.410
pounds of bees from the horse's lungs and stomach

00:18:42.410 --> 00:18:45.210
because the bees are attracted to CO2 and they

00:18:45.210 --> 00:18:48.109
went up the horse's nose and down and stung in

00:18:48.109 --> 00:18:51.690
the meantime, which caused the trachea to expand

00:18:51.690 --> 00:18:55.269
and the horse suffocated from that. But yes,

00:18:55.420 --> 00:18:58.500
not only to livestock but to to people because

00:18:58.500 --> 00:19:02.160
we had a problem in florida where these things

00:19:02.160 --> 00:19:05.599
were in the news media and the citizens of florida

00:19:05.599 --> 00:19:09.519
were afraid of having beekeepers around them

00:19:09.519 --> 00:19:12.220
because people most people are afraid of insects

00:19:12.220 --> 00:19:14.900
anyway and now you've got an insect that's gonna

00:19:15.289 --> 00:19:18.470
kill your horse or your dog or sting the kids

00:19:18.470 --> 00:19:21.990
at the school bus stop or what have you. And

00:19:21.990 --> 00:19:25.289
so we really had to work hard on building the

00:19:25.289 --> 00:19:28.349
value of honeybees and our inspection service

00:19:28.349 --> 00:19:32.549
that would intercede and help both communities

00:19:32.549 --> 00:19:35.329
out. A couple of people that we had on the show

00:19:35.329 --> 00:19:38.130
earlier this year that I want to mention. One

00:19:38.130 --> 00:19:41.210
was a beekeeper in southern Arizona. She catches

00:19:41.210 --> 00:19:45.930
a lot of swarms and she does what she calls rescuing

00:19:45.930 --> 00:19:49.069
those swarms, which is catches a swarm. It's

00:19:49.069 --> 00:19:51.930
easy to tell if they're Africanized. Not a swarm.

00:19:52.130 --> 00:19:55.630
It's not. No way, Jose. No, all swarms are basically

00:19:55.630 --> 00:19:58.230
gentle because they don't have anything to protect.

00:19:58.509 --> 00:20:02.730
Well, within days of hiving that swarm, she can

00:20:02.730 --> 00:20:05.410
tell. I'll put it that way. There you go. She

00:20:05.410 --> 00:20:09.049
then dispatches the queen, requeens with some

00:20:09.049 --> 00:20:12.589
kind of gentle breed of queen, and things go

00:20:12.589 --> 00:20:15.029
along pretty well. I had another beekeeper on

00:20:15.029 --> 00:20:17.390
from Southern California that also does a lot

00:20:17.390 --> 00:20:20.769
of swarm removal. In his opinion, and he hasn't

00:20:20.769 --> 00:20:23.730
had all the lab tests done, but in his opinion,

00:20:23.970 --> 00:20:28.910
there have been so many crosses now between European

00:20:28.910 --> 00:20:31.670
honeybees and Africanized bees in Southern California

00:20:31.670 --> 00:20:35.130
that he feels like all of the bees that he sees

00:20:35.130 --> 00:20:38.650
and that he works with have some Africanized

00:20:38.650 --> 00:20:44.089
genetics in them. They're not as hot as a fully

00:20:44.089 --> 00:20:48.609
Africanized strain. It's been diluted with generations.

00:20:49.230 --> 00:20:52.710
That's his theory and he's used to them. They're

00:20:52.710 --> 00:20:56.700
not as aggressive as fully genetic, sorry I don't

00:20:56.700 --> 00:20:59.299
know the right term there, Africanized bees.

00:20:59.779 --> 00:21:02.279
They're good honey producers, they're pretty

00:21:02.279 --> 00:21:05.099
good at taking care of Varroa because they're

00:21:05.099 --> 00:21:07.740
kind of hot, and so he doesn't mind it so much.

00:21:07.839 --> 00:21:09.359
So I don't know, what are your thoughts on those

00:21:09.359 --> 00:21:12.019
things? Well there again from past experience,

00:21:12.400 --> 00:21:16.710
yeah the drone carries a grumpy gene. And so,

00:21:17.150 --> 00:21:20.529
when queens are out mating in the DCA, I don't

00:21:20.529 --> 00:21:23.009
know how many bees are around there, but the,

00:21:23.009 --> 00:21:26.069
you know, the DCA could have drones from a huge

00:21:26.069 --> 00:21:28.549
amount of different colonies out there, and as

00:21:28.549 --> 00:21:30.710
a virgin queen goes in there and those drones

00:21:30.710 --> 00:21:33.569
compete and mate with her, you can have, and

00:21:33.569 --> 00:21:36.950
we found this again in Florida, you can have

00:21:36.950 --> 00:21:41.869
a colony, and depending on what sperm... the

00:21:41.869 --> 00:21:44.930
queen is accessing to fertilize those bees those

00:21:44.930 --> 00:21:47.990
bees could be just kind and gentle and nice and

00:21:47.990 --> 00:21:50.109
then when she runs out of that sperm she may

00:21:50.109 --> 00:21:53.150
get into sperm from a drone that has that grumpy

00:21:53.150 --> 00:21:56.130
gene and those bees will chase you into the kitchen

00:21:56.130 --> 00:21:59.410
but then when that's used up I mean so this is

00:21:59.410 --> 00:22:02.450
all over the place so yes this is a little bit

00:22:02.450 --> 00:22:05.309
awkward because you can say oh gee whiz to your

00:22:05.309 --> 00:22:08.359
neighbor my bees are calm and nice. I raise my

00:22:08.359 --> 00:22:11.859
own queens and I pick out the the gentle ones

00:22:11.859 --> 00:22:16.000
and then the next day something ugly happens

00:22:16.000 --> 00:22:18.759
and so this is where you have to be really careful

00:22:18.759 --> 00:22:22.680
and maybe access queens from other areas that

00:22:22.680 --> 00:22:26.359
may not have those particular drones. Okay sounds

00:22:26.359 --> 00:22:29.559
simple. The fact is the African eyes genetics

00:22:29.559 --> 00:22:34.250
are spreading As far as I know they can't handle

00:22:34.250 --> 00:22:37.549
real cold climate yet the part of my state that

00:22:37.549 --> 00:22:40.230
I'm in We don't have any but the southern part

00:22:40.230 --> 00:22:42.569
of the state. It's a lot warmer and we do well

00:22:42.569 --> 00:22:45.289
and and there again And I hate to say this but

00:22:45.289 --> 00:22:48.809
there are queen producers You know in Arizona

00:22:48.809 --> 00:22:53.089
and Texas and New Mexico and what have you? that

00:22:53.089 --> 00:22:55.750
are queen producers and then beekeepers here

00:22:55.750 --> 00:22:58.309
in my state of Ohio now buy queens from them

00:22:58.309 --> 00:23:01.109
and they bring them up and they're grumpy. So

00:23:01.109 --> 00:23:05.829
we have spread these genetics all around because

00:23:05.829 --> 00:23:09.549
we're not thinking ahead appropriately. That's

00:23:09.549 --> 00:23:12.109
a very good point. What do we do different? How

00:23:12.109 --> 00:23:14.549
do we think ahead better? I think it goes back

00:23:14.549 --> 00:23:17.089
to what you said earlier about our connection

00:23:17.089 --> 00:23:20.420
to honeybees, our passion for honeybees. and

00:23:20.420 --> 00:23:23.900
wanting to be good managers, because if you want

00:23:23.900 --> 00:23:27.160
to be a good manager, you're out looking for

00:23:27.160 --> 00:23:30.900
appropriate information, data. You know, I think

00:23:30.900 --> 00:23:33.920
the worst thing, and I hate to say this, in many

00:23:33.920 --> 00:23:38.990
cases for beekeeping, that it's easier to go

00:23:38.990 --> 00:23:41.990
to a podcast someplace where somebody's telling

00:23:41.990 --> 00:23:45.730
them to control Varroa with green jello because

00:23:45.730 --> 00:23:48.970
nobody knows the right if I was if I would want

00:23:48.970 --> 00:23:52.210
to learn about physics and I went to a physics

00:23:52.210 --> 00:23:54.549
podcast and they said some how would I know if

00:23:54.549 --> 00:23:57.569
it was right or wrong if I don't know anyway

00:23:57.569 --> 00:24:00.769
so this is where you know yours and and others

00:24:00.769 --> 00:24:03.150
are so good but there's others out there that

00:24:03.150 --> 00:24:06.339
are saying goofy things And people don't want

00:24:06.339 --> 00:24:09.299
to read anymore. They don't want to access books.

00:24:09.380 --> 00:24:12.319
They don't want to get newsletters. Some of them

00:24:12.319 --> 00:24:16.160
don't even want to belong to local regional associations.

00:24:16.980 --> 00:24:20.680
So our educational outreach needs to be better.

00:24:21.359 --> 00:24:24.059
We also on this show try not to tell people what

00:24:24.059 --> 00:24:27.660
to do for their Varroa. We'll talk about, yeah,

00:24:27.920 --> 00:24:32.680
test, treat, or if you don't treat. That's a

00:24:32.680 --> 00:24:35.240
whole other path that you can study and go down.

00:24:35.559 --> 00:24:40.359
But here's options. Here's this option, A, B,

00:24:40.380 --> 00:24:43.779
C, D, E, F. You do your research, you figure

00:24:43.779 --> 00:24:45.619
out what's best for your bees. We're not going

00:24:45.619 --> 00:24:47.980
to tell you because it's different for everybody.

00:24:48.200 --> 00:24:50.880
It is different from everybody. And there again,

00:24:51.160 --> 00:24:55.160
we have no genetic consistency in honey. This

00:24:55.160 --> 00:24:57.859
isn't like black angus cattle or the chickens

00:24:57.859 --> 00:25:01.500
in your backyard. that have bred and bred for

00:25:01.500 --> 00:25:04.220
certain traits, certain colors, what have you.

00:25:04.440 --> 00:25:06.720
The bees are out mating in these drone congregation

00:25:06.720 --> 00:25:10.240
areas and the drones are, you know, whatever

00:25:10.240 --> 00:25:13.279
drones show up is the ones that have the opportunity.

00:25:13.880 --> 00:25:17.559
And so that's one of the reasons bees can survive

00:25:17.559 --> 00:25:20.819
from pole to pole, basically, is because genetic

00:25:20.819 --> 00:25:24.119
diversity. But by the same token, we don't have

00:25:24.119 --> 00:25:27.680
that consistency and pest predator and disease

00:25:27.680 --> 00:25:31.440
issues that would help the industry out a little

00:25:31.440 --> 00:25:34.859
bit better. All right. I don't want to make this

00:25:34.859 --> 00:25:37.559
whole show a downer on these tough things. Let's

00:25:37.559 --> 00:25:39.900
get some good news out there. I don't know about

00:25:39.900 --> 00:25:43.259
where you are, but we had a really good big honey

00:25:43.259 --> 00:25:46.140
crop where I am this year. How about you, Jerry?

00:25:46.700 --> 00:25:50.700
Boy, you said you wanted a happy, a happy one.

00:25:50.920 --> 00:25:56.109
No, we. See, so I've lived all over the country

00:25:56.109 --> 00:25:59.009
and the nation. Some parts of it had a wonderful

00:25:59.009 --> 00:26:04.069
honey crop. We here in Ohio didn't. And this

00:26:04.069 --> 00:26:06.910
is one of those strange things that I've learned

00:26:06.910 --> 00:26:08.930
since I've been here for the last five, six years.

00:26:09.230 --> 00:26:12.269
If it doesn't rain, and we had this drought issue,

00:26:12.410 --> 00:26:16.569
if it doesn't rain in July, then that impacts,

00:26:16.829 --> 00:26:20.609
strangely enough, Goldenrod and Astors when they

00:26:20.609 --> 00:26:24.220
come up. a couple months later, and so we had

00:26:24.220 --> 00:26:27.779
beautiful golden brown, beautiful asters with

00:26:27.779 --> 00:26:32.480
not a bee or a honeybee or a native bee or anything

00:26:32.480 --> 00:26:36.359
on them, because for some reason, if they are

00:26:36.359 --> 00:26:40.000
not rained on in July, it doesn't happen. And

00:26:40.000 --> 00:26:42.779
so, yes, my colonies, instead of getting, you

00:26:42.779 --> 00:26:45.880
know, 50 or so pounds of honey, I might have

00:26:45.880 --> 00:26:51.220
had 15 or 20. And so... It's different everywhere,

00:26:51.740 --> 00:26:54.579
and some beekeepers did great, and bless her

00:26:54.579 --> 00:26:58.400
heart. Boy, down her Debbie today. No. Jerry,

00:26:58.480 --> 00:27:02.559
give me some good news from somewhere. No, but

00:27:02.559 --> 00:27:08.059
the good, I think the good news is that we have

00:27:08.059 --> 00:27:11.380
Apia Inspectors of America who are hanging in

00:27:11.380 --> 00:27:14.980
there and are great mentors for beekeepers. And

00:27:14.980 --> 00:27:17.059
for the most part, they're not the bee police.

00:27:17.380 --> 00:27:20.500
They're Extension. because extension doesn't

00:27:20.500 --> 00:27:23.200
exist anymore. And then we have the Association

00:27:23.200 --> 00:27:26.460
of Professional Appicultures, all these people

00:27:26.460 --> 00:27:28.960
that have labs at universities that are still

00:27:28.960 --> 00:27:33.079
working so hard on our behalf. And we have USDA

00:27:33.079 --> 00:27:35.940
with all this crazy USDA stuff, but they're hanging

00:27:35.940 --> 00:27:39.700
in there for a grave. So we have this whole...

00:27:40.560 --> 00:27:43.700
contributor connection partnerships with really

00:27:43.700 --> 00:27:47.259
smart people with great equipment and labs that

00:27:47.259 --> 00:27:50.859
still want to help and are connected to us. And

00:27:50.859 --> 00:27:54.140
I think that is a true blessing for all of us.

00:27:54.380 --> 00:27:57.160
And we need to engage them more and show them

00:27:57.160 --> 00:28:00.380
that we appreciate them and what they do so that,

00:28:00.380 --> 00:28:04.039
you know, they can still get funding and carrying

00:28:04.039 --> 00:28:07.500
on because that's what's going to make us successful

00:28:07.500 --> 00:28:10.789
or not. What are other good sources for information?

00:28:11.029 --> 00:28:13.450
You mentioned Honey Bee Health Coalition. Right.

00:28:13.670 --> 00:28:15.710
What else? Well, you've got Honey Bee Health

00:28:15.710 --> 00:28:18.630
Coalition, which is great. And then you have

00:28:18.630 --> 00:28:22.690
PAM, Project Apis Malifera, which is great. And

00:28:22.690 --> 00:28:25.329
then you have, as you were talking about, you

00:28:25.329 --> 00:28:28.430
have, you know, Apimondia. That was before we

00:28:28.430 --> 00:28:31.049
were recording. But yeah, I went to Apimondia

00:28:31.049 --> 00:28:34.789
this year. It's amazing how much scientific information

00:28:34.789 --> 00:28:37.069
is out there at places like Appamondia. Well,

00:28:37.430 --> 00:28:40.349
and then I just got an email this morning, COLOS,

00:28:40.869 --> 00:28:46.049
which is a European organization that has researchers

00:28:46.049 --> 00:28:49.930
from all over the world and dealing with honeybee

00:28:49.930 --> 00:28:53.279
management issues and success. They're going

00:28:53.279 --> 00:28:56.599
to be meeting in Washington, up at the University

00:28:56.599 --> 00:28:59.440
of Washington, coming up in June of this year.

00:28:59.460 --> 00:29:02.460
So we have an international organization coming

00:29:02.460 --> 00:29:05.119
here. And then, of course, you have your state

00:29:05.119 --> 00:29:07.660
and local associations who are, I'm assuming,

00:29:07.859 --> 00:29:12.539
will be connected to, you know, HBHC and PAM

00:29:12.539 --> 00:29:16.220
and AIA and APA and all these other things. And

00:29:16.220 --> 00:29:19.099
we have ABF and, you know, HPA and everything

00:29:19.099 --> 00:29:23.000
else. All these organizations are working on

00:29:23.000 --> 00:29:26.720
together on our behalf. And I think whoever is

00:29:26.720 --> 00:29:29.079
listening now, you know, Google all these up

00:29:29.079 --> 00:29:31.619
and take a look at their websites and what they

00:29:31.619 --> 00:29:34.740
do and support them. Because, you know, without

00:29:34.740 --> 00:29:37.599
our support, they don't exist. And your advice

00:29:37.599 --> 00:29:41.349
about podcasts? And I'm going to lean towards,

00:29:41.769 --> 00:29:43.930
well, I'm going to just stretch that a little

00:29:43.930 --> 00:29:47.210
bit and mention YouTube because there's a thousand

00:29:47.210 --> 00:29:50.710
times more beekeepers that claim to be experts

00:29:50.710 --> 00:29:53.670
on YouTube than there are on podcasts. And some

00:29:53.670 --> 00:29:57.049
of them have good information and some don't.

00:29:57.309 --> 00:29:58.809
And the hard thing is you don't know which is

00:29:58.809 --> 00:30:01.549
which. No, Beth, how do you discern that if you're

00:30:01.549 --> 00:30:04.329
trying to learn? I don't know how you do that.

00:30:04.349 --> 00:30:07.990
This is why these These fundamental organizations

00:30:07.990 --> 00:30:11.490
and, you know, and podcasts like yours are so

00:30:11.490 --> 00:30:15.049
important for people to identify as places to

00:30:15.049 --> 00:30:17.789
go. I didn't warn you of this, but the last time

00:30:17.789 --> 00:30:20.829
you were on the show, I asked you to come and

00:30:20.829 --> 00:30:24.710
share some kind of fun, wild and crazy beekeeping

00:30:24.710 --> 00:30:27.210
story. Do you have any others in mind for us

00:30:27.210 --> 00:30:29.740
this time? We'll give you a minute to think about

00:30:29.740 --> 00:30:32.319
it. The fun know that I think some of the fun

00:30:32.319 --> 00:30:35.079
thing is all this new equipment that's coming

00:30:35.079 --> 00:30:39.440
out and new hives and different things that will

00:30:39.440 --> 00:30:42.839
allow us or will theoretically allow us to manage

00:30:42.839 --> 00:30:46.599
bees so that they can maintain, you know, what

00:30:46.599 --> 00:30:48.680
they do. You have to think of honeybees. You

00:30:48.680 --> 00:30:51.259
know, they're looking for a cavity certain size.

00:30:51.519 --> 00:30:54.019
to live in, and we give them these wooden boxes,

00:30:54.359 --> 00:30:58.599
and we call that their home, but is it insulated

00:30:58.599 --> 00:31:01.700
enough? Is the entrance in the right spot? Is

00:31:01.700 --> 00:31:05.619
it in the right dimensions? Is it longitudinal?

00:31:05.859 --> 00:31:09.759
Is it horizontal? All these things as we experiment

00:31:09.759 --> 00:31:12.839
with bees because bees are very patient and you

00:31:12.839 --> 00:31:15.359
know I've seen bees living in a mailbox and I've

00:31:15.359 --> 00:31:17.980
seen them living in a you know a hollow tree

00:31:17.980 --> 00:31:22.019
and I saw one at one time living in a junkyard

00:31:22.019 --> 00:31:25.400
in the trunk of an old Buick. So bees can live

00:31:25.400 --> 00:31:28.759
in a lot of different places but how do we beekeepers

00:31:28.759 --> 00:31:32.099
help them live successfully? What's your favorite

00:31:32.099 --> 00:31:35.619
kind of hive? Just standard Langstroth now, but

00:31:35.619 --> 00:31:39.579
and then here in Ohio, I've gone to some type

00:31:39.579 --> 00:31:44.119
of insulation around them because you know, it

00:31:44.119 --> 00:31:45.880
gets kind of chilly here and the temperature

00:31:45.880 --> 00:31:49.660
goes up and down and You know that one inch wall

00:31:49.660 --> 00:31:53.440
on that wooden Langstroth box probably isn't

00:31:53.440 --> 00:31:56.880
Insulated enough as it would be say in a hollow

00:31:56.880 --> 00:32:00.099
tree that's got six inches of wood around the

00:32:00.099 --> 00:32:02.960
cavity and so these are all things that We're

00:32:02.960 --> 00:32:05.299
still trying to learn about there again. We have

00:32:05.299 --> 00:32:08.619
no consistency. If you were asking a black thing

00:32:08.619 --> 00:32:12.000
is cow producer, what he or she does to raise

00:32:12.000 --> 00:32:14.200
them. They could, they could give you the checklist.

00:32:15.359 --> 00:32:18.440
We'd we have a checklist, but it's four times

00:32:18.440 --> 00:32:20.859
longer because you never know which part you

00:32:20.859 --> 00:32:22.880
got to check. Well, now I don't know about you,

00:32:22.880 --> 00:32:26.589
but I like to experiment. Yeah. I've picked up

00:32:26.589 --> 00:32:29.109
some of the new things that are out there these

00:32:29.109 --> 00:32:31.750
solar heater things and these different blanket

00:32:31.750 --> 00:32:35.230
things and different kinds of insulation and

00:32:35.230 --> 00:32:38.950
different kinds of hives that are This thick

00:32:38.950 --> 00:32:41.990
and having our value through the roof and and

00:32:41.990 --> 00:32:44.410
I'm trying all this stuff to see what works for

00:32:44.410 --> 00:32:48.329
me in my area Yeah, no and that that's true and

00:32:48.329 --> 00:32:50.029
that's a good thing for you to do and for me

00:32:50.029 --> 00:32:52.670
to do and for people out here to do but there

00:32:52.670 --> 00:32:55.549
again if you have If you're a commercial beekeeper

00:32:55.549 --> 00:32:58.549
and you got five thousand colonies, you can't

00:32:58.549 --> 00:33:02.410
do that. No, no, that's not realistic at all.

00:33:02.829 --> 00:33:05.410
No, it's not realistic at all. And so how do

00:33:05.410 --> 00:33:08.289
we how do we support that? Because when you walk

00:33:08.289 --> 00:33:11.599
into the grocery store. You don't walk into the

00:33:11.599 --> 00:33:13.500
aisle with the cleaning supplies in the toilet

00:33:13.500 --> 00:33:16.759
paper, you walk into the produce section that

00:33:16.759 --> 00:33:20.000
most of the time is there because of honeybees

00:33:20.000 --> 00:33:22.000
pollinating for a fruit, not a vegetable. But

00:33:22.000 --> 00:33:24.519
then you also have some that are pollinating

00:33:24.519 --> 00:33:27.500
for seeds. So you like lettuce or something that's

00:33:27.500 --> 00:33:30.539
the seeds that, that are there. So, you know,

00:33:30.559 --> 00:33:33.700
if, if that all disappeared, do we want to buy

00:33:33.700 --> 00:33:37.460
all our food from Guatemala? I prefer Peru. I'm

00:33:37.460 --> 00:33:39.839
sorry, I can't be that serious this morning.

00:33:40.960 --> 00:33:43.799
Jerry, I appreciate your time so much. I know

00:33:43.799 --> 00:33:46.160
you're busy. I appreciate you putting out the

00:33:46.160 --> 00:33:49.519
Quality magazine, B Culture magazine, and the

00:33:49.519 --> 00:33:51.779
good information that's in it. Do you have any

00:33:51.779 --> 00:33:54.619
last thoughts you want to leave us with? No,

00:33:55.119 --> 00:33:56.940
but I want to, you know, if you were closer,

00:33:57.039 --> 00:33:59.740
I'd take you to lunch because I really appreciate

00:33:59.740 --> 00:34:02.619
what you do, how you're doing it, and how you're

00:34:02.619 --> 00:34:06.980
being connecting to the beekeeping industry to

00:34:06.980 --> 00:34:11.920
give them a foundation of validity. So pat yourself

00:34:11.920 --> 00:34:17.579
on the back. Thanks for joining us on Be Love

00:34:17.579 --> 00:34:20.780
Beekeeping presented by Man Lake. If you like

00:34:20.780 --> 00:34:23.139
this content I hope you'll share it with a friend,

00:34:23.559 --> 00:34:27.079
follow and subscribe to this podcast, and even

00:34:27.079 --> 00:34:29.340
sign up for our newsletter at BeLoveBeekeeping

00:34:29.340 --> 00:34:32.539
.com Also, just a shout out to Vita B Health

00:34:32.539 --> 00:34:35.519
for their support, we appreciate them. Vita's

00:34:35.519 --> 00:34:38.500
Varroa Control range of products includes Epistan,

00:34:38.739 --> 00:34:42.860
Epigard, and now Veroxan, Extended Release Oxalic

00:34:42.860 --> 00:34:46.659
Acid Strips. Thanks guys, and remember, if you're

00:34:46.659 --> 00:34:49.320
not just in it for the honey or the money, you're

00:34:49.320 --> 00:34:51.599
in it for the love. See you next week.