Live From NAHBE Interview With Josh Scott - Seasoned Beekeeper

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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. Welcome, welcome to Be Love, Be Keeping

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presented by our great friend, Man Lake. First

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up on the podcast today is our new weekly feature

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called Inside the Hive and it's brought to you

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by Primal Bee. When the outside temperatures

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drop, have you ever wondered exactly what's going

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on inside a beehive? Imagine if you and 20 ,000

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of your best friends were stuck in an ice box.

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The first thing you'd want to do is all gather

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close together to share your body heat. Honey

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bees are much the same. When the temperatures

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drop outside, they try to keep warm inside by

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clustering together. In fact, they cluster in

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a three -dimensional ball and vibrate similar

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to our shivering to keep warm. Bees on the inside

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of the cluster take turns moving to the outside

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to share the duties of generating heat. At the

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same time, the bees inside the cluster are uncapping

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cells of honey and eating their stores which

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in turn helps them generate heat and keeps them

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alive. When honey is depleted in one area of

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the hive, the entire cluster slowly moves to

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another area with more honey stores. The colder

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it is, the more food they need. Winter bees,

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they are absolutely amazing. Next time on Inside

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the Hive, we'll look at how a queen bee gets

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made and it all comes down to what she eats for

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lunch. Now give a warm welcome to our very special

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guest. All right, one last time we're here at

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the North American Honey Bee Expo and we've got

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Joshua Scott with us today. Do you go by Joshua

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or Josh? Josh, thank you. Josh, how are you?

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I'm doing good. How are you? I'm great. This

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has been fun. It's the last day. Are you worn

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out yet? I am worn out. I mean, I tell every

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new beekeeper that comes to the North American

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Honey Bee Expo for the first time that it's an

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absolute marathon. You got to pace yourself.

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Don't try to get done with everything in one

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day. I know they sell a one day ticket, but I

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don't know how anybody could possibly see everything

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within just one day. Well, and if you do you're

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gonna miss all the seminar all the seminars and

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the honey show and I mean they have the Silent

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auctions and of course this trade show is absolutely

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massive. They didn't give me a free pass So I'm

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not gonna pitch them any more than that. We're

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done with that No, it's been a lot of fun and

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just the energy. There's really a but sorry almost

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said buzz around here I don't mean to be puns,

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but Josh you live here in the Louisville area.

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I do How did you get into beekeeping in the first

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place? Or I should say why? Well, yeah, so I

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actually started about five years ago when the

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pandemic started. And just like a lot of people,

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you know, that were stuck at home, I was thinking,

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you know, maybe I need a new hobby. And my mother

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-in -law visited and she had mentioned to me

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that she was going to get a nuke of bees. And

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I'm an engineer by trade. I'm like, okay, so

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what is a nuke of bees? And she said, well, it's

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a nucleus. It's the start of a beehive to be

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able to keep bees. And that's all it took. And

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then I immediately went down the rabbit hole

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and started reading every book on bees I could

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get my hands on, watching hundreds of hours of

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YouTube videos. And then, of course, getting

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my first nuke back in 2020. Let's talk about

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YouTube videos for a minute. Because I love this

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topic in so many ways, because it's great and

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it's horrible both. Oh yeah. Because there's

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so much of it. There's a lot of it. And as you

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know, every beekeeper's heard the old thing about

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you ask 10 beekeepers the same question, you

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get 11 different answers. YouTube has taken that

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to the millionth degree. Absolutely. And so I'm

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wondering if you have advice for people on, without

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naming specific channels. How do they know what

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they can believe on YouTube? Yeah, it's not easy.

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It's difficult, especially for somebody that's

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just getting started in beekeeping. The main

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advice that I generally give people that are

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just starting out, almost all beekeepers can

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agree as far as a book that beekeeping for dummies

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is a great start. So I will point people in that

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direction. And then when it comes to actual content,

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I do point people towards the ones, the more

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trusted names. We won't name any of them, but

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those of you probably listening know who I'm

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talking about. A lot of them are here at the

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North American Honey Bee Expo. But it's like

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anything in life. You want to learn from someone

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that has experience and a lot of experience.

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And so that's what I did. So when I first started

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watching YouTube videos to try to learn... I

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did some research and I found out who some of

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the top YouTube beekeeping personalities were,

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looked at their background to see how many years

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they had been keeping bees. A lot of them were

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commercial beekeepers and that you have to be

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careful with that because if you just want to

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start out as a hobbyist, some of the advice that

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they're going to be giving is going to be geared

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towards being a commercial beekeeper and not

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necessarily a backyard beekeeper, but it's a

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good place to start. You're not going to be able

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to get all your information and all you're learning

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from YouTube, but it is a tremendous resource

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that we have that beekeepers many years ago never

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never had never had that opportunity. Yeah, it

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really can be. If you're thinking, oh, wow, I'm

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going to do my first split this spring. I don't

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know how to do it. Well, the split bees. But

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there is a nice thing about YouTube, and that

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is that you can learn 10 different methods. Yep.

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And then you can look at it and say, this one

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kind of rings true with me. Yeah. or my mentor

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here in wherever I live, Minnesota or South Dakota

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or South Florida recommends doing this kind.

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Now I can actually see it and do something about

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it. So that's some of the good things about it,

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but start with a mentor. Start with somebody

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local too. Exactly. Yeah, I'd tell, I recommend

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all new beekeepers. The first thing I do is join

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your local bee club if you have one in your area.

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If they have a Facebook group page, I recommend

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that they join that Facebook group page because

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you'll be able to start interacting with them

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I think it's very important as a new beekeeper

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that you attend field days if your local club

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offers though because you truly don't know how

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you're going to feel or react when you have tens

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of thousands of bees buzzing and flying around

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your head until you experience it and Beekeeping

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can be very expensive to get into So you want

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to avoid spending thousands of dollars until

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you know that you're actually going to be comfortable

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around a bunch of bees, a bunch of stinging insects,

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right? And so I always recommend that you participate

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in your local club's field days to get that experience.

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And usually, you know, if you truly are going

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to become a beekeeper, you're going to get hooked.

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There's something about the love of bees. Well,

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that's what this is all about, but... What is

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it? Why do we fall in love with them? They're

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just bugs. They're bugs, but they're God's little

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miracles. I mean, they're so amazing. They're

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a super organism. How is it that thousands of

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insects can work in perfect harmony to produce

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all of these amazing products like beeswax and

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honey and propolis and do it in complete darkness

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while silently communicating with each other?

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and then they can swarm and bivouac out on a

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tree and find a new colony miles away with pinpoint

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accuracy because of a thing called the waggle

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dance. Eric, I mean, it's it's absolutely mind

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blowing. And I think anybody that starts to go

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down the rabbit hole of beekeeping and honeybees

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quickly becomes fascinated with these creatures.

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Let's see what we can learn today. Sure. I hear

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you know a lot about winterization, even midwinter

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checks and things like that. Let's talk about

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that. What do you recommend? And again, it's

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different for wherever you live. That's exactly

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right. Your winter is not as harsh as mine or

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somebody in Canada or something like that. That's

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exactly right. But give me some recommendations

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or tips. Yeah. So I mean, I think the main thing

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when you're preparing, at least and I'm going

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to speak to this, I'm in the Kentucky Midwest

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United States region. So we have cold winters,

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but they're not brutally cold winters. So we

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only have like maybe two or three months here.

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where our bees are truly stuck inside. And so

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late fall is generally when I'm focused, I've

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already extracted the honey, and now I'm in the

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mind frame of preparing my bees for the winter.

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So what exactly does that mean? Well, the number

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one thing that you got to make sure is that you're

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taking care of mites. You know, Varroa destructor,

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public enemy number one, we've all heard of it.

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So you absolutely have to get your mite load

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down in the late summer. an early fall heading

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into the winter. The beekeeping calendar starts

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in August. That's when that queen is going to

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start raising those fat bees that have the higher

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fat bodies that have to be able to live for four

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or five months in the colony all the way through

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the winter. If those bees are sick, your colony

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is not going to make it. So the number one thing

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you have to do, and there's a large variety of

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ways to kill the Varroa mites, but you have to

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get your mite loads down as low as you can. I'm

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sorry to interject, but I need to emphasize something

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you said a minute ago. Late summer and fall,

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do not wait till October. It's too late. To test

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and then do something about it. That's exactly

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right. You've got to keep these things under

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control all year long, especially as you're getting

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later and later in the summer. And later in the

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summer, when the bee population is on decline,

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the Varroa population is actually on the increase

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still. So that's why it's extremely important

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in that time of year to really knock the mites

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down. Whether you use a formic acid or use a

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thymol -based treatment or whatever, you need

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to get a large knockdown and do your mite checks.

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Now, once you get your mites under control, the

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other thing that you need to double check and

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make sure is that your colonies are at the appropriate

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weight. If you've extracting a lot of the honey

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or taking most of the honey from the bees, you

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need to feed your bees. You have to feed them.

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You've got to get that colony weight up to where

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it needs to be heading into winter. Now in my

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own apiary, I exclusively run single brood management,

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which means that my target weight for each colony

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is somewhere in the 60 to 70 pound total weight,

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everything, including not just the brood chamber,

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but everything. And so if I can get my bees,

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by feeding them a thick two to one syrup and

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I can get them up to 60 or 70 pounds, I know

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that that colony is going to be pretty good going

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into the wintertime. Let's just jump into single

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brood management for a minute, because a lot

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of people have never heard of it. I don't know

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enough about it. You were telling me earlier

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it's different than the Demery method, which

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is a form of single brood management. Tell me

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how you do it. Yeah, so I mean. Basically, when

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I first started beekeeping, I think the very

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first year with my very first colony, I ended

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up using double deeps, which that means is there's

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two brood chambers for the queen to lay in, which

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if you're using the American Langstroth with

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10 frames, that's a total of 20 frames. And that

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can produce some pretty large colonies, which

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is fine. But as a brand new beekeeper, there

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are times where you need to find and locate the

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queen. And that can be quite challenging. with

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these supermassive large colonies, right? And

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so I don't exactly know how I got turned on to

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it, but I think it was my buddy Cody who actually

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mentioned he runs some singles as part of his

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operations. I said, singles, what's that? And

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he said, oh, just a single brood management.

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Well, that was enough to pique my interest. So

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then of course, you know me, I went down the

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rabbit hole of singer brood management and did

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a bunch of research on it. And there's just a

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lot of advantages with single brood management.

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Of course, there are some disadvantages and we

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can talk about that. There's less equipment to

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maintain. It's easier if you need to find the

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queen. You're only looking in 10 frames versus

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20 or 30 if you run triple deeps. The manipulation

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is easier. There's just a lot of advantages to

00:13:47.820 --> 00:13:51.019
the single brood management. And so I just, Eric,

00:13:51.039 --> 00:13:52.460
I just turned to single brood management and

00:13:52.460 --> 00:13:54.620
I never looked back and I've been doing it ever

00:13:54.620 --> 00:13:57.549
since. using queen excluders above that box.

00:13:57.549 --> 00:14:00.549
That's correct. So when I place honey supers

00:14:00.549 --> 00:14:03.210
on, I will place a metal queen excluder right

00:14:03.210 --> 00:14:05.230
above the brood chamber, and then I'll put my

00:14:05.230 --> 00:14:08.009
honey supers on. But if you look at the actual

00:14:08.009 --> 00:14:11.110
math, and how many cells per frame, you know,

00:14:11.190 --> 00:14:14.190
you could get, what, 2, 3 ,000 cells per frame,

00:14:14.529 --> 00:14:17.389
and then you multiply that times 10, that queen

00:14:17.389 --> 00:14:20.460
has plenty of room to lay in there. Now, that

00:14:20.460 --> 00:14:23.139
you have to be more active in terms of your management

00:14:23.139 --> 00:14:25.460
with single brood because one of the downsides

00:14:25.460 --> 00:14:28.259
is you'll have a lot more swarming behavior.

00:14:28.539 --> 00:14:31.080
Because it's quicker for those bees and that

00:14:31.080 --> 00:14:33.779
queen to run out of room, fill up with brood,

00:14:34.059 --> 00:14:36.740
that brood pheromone triggers the urge for those

00:14:36.740 --> 00:14:39.399
bees to want to swarm, so you just have to be

00:14:39.399 --> 00:14:42.100
careful and you have to really kind of manage

00:14:42.100 --> 00:14:44.620
the colonies a little closer than if you just

00:14:44.620 --> 00:14:47.399
had a double deep and you can kind of walk away

00:14:47.399 --> 00:14:49.440
maybe for a while and come back and check later.

00:14:49.629 --> 00:14:51.710
So what do you do if they're filling up? Yeah,

00:14:51.830 --> 00:14:54.149
if I mean, if they're filling up, generally speaking,

00:14:54.309 --> 00:14:57.330
I'll make sure that they have enough room for

00:14:57.330 --> 00:14:59.929
supers. So if my flow is just start right before

00:14:59.929 --> 00:15:02.289
the flow actually begins, I'll just make sure

00:15:02.289 --> 00:15:04.330
that I have plenty of drawn comb and that I would

00:15:04.330 --> 00:15:06.970
say I'll pause there. That's probably the biggest

00:15:06.970 --> 00:15:10.110
advantage is if you already have drawn comb and

00:15:10.110 --> 00:15:13.730
you can provide drawn comb to your bees, that's

00:15:13.730 --> 00:15:16.840
going to suppress that urge to swarm. It may

00:15:16.840 --> 00:15:19.480
seem early, but right now is a great time to

00:15:19.480 --> 00:15:23.259
order your live bees for 2026 because they do

00:15:23.259 --> 00:15:26.799
sell out and because Man Lake is offering a discount

00:15:26.799 --> 00:15:30.600
for Beelove Podcast listeners. Wait, what? I

00:15:30.600 --> 00:15:33.340
know you're saying live bees, they never go on

00:15:33.340 --> 00:15:36.799
sale. Well, they are now. Click on over to Man

00:15:36.799 --> 00:15:40.840
Lake. order your bees any variety nukes or packages

00:15:40.840 --> 00:15:44.340
and anything in the beginner essentials category

00:15:44.340 --> 00:15:47.539
and when you check out use the code get started

00:15:47.539 --> 00:15:50.039
in bees it's down in the show notes so you don't

00:15:50.039 --> 00:15:53.279
have to remember for a discount on everything

00:15:53.279 --> 00:15:58.240
so get your orders in early and save our honey

00:15:58.240 --> 00:16:01.000
bees work hard to keep warm and stay alive all

00:16:01.000 --> 00:16:03.779
winter While we can't change the temperature

00:16:03.779 --> 00:16:07.779
outside, we can make their work easier by providing

00:16:07.779 --> 00:16:11.840
a better hive with more insulation. Primal Bee

00:16:11.840 --> 00:16:15.100
builds hives around that idea, thick insulated

00:16:15.100 --> 00:16:17.740
walls designed to work the way a tree cavity

00:16:17.740 --> 00:16:22.059
works. And come spring, more live, happy, healthy

00:16:22.059 --> 00:16:25.279
bees. To me it just makes sense, that's why I'm

00:16:25.279 --> 00:16:28.460
giving it a try. A hive built more like a bee's

00:16:28.460 --> 00:16:32.480
home in a tree, only better. Go to PrimalB .com

00:16:32.480 --> 00:16:36.200
to learn more. And so what I will do is if I

00:16:36.200 --> 00:16:38.580
have a colony that's just absolutely taken off

00:16:38.580 --> 00:16:41.419
and that queen is laying like crazy and there's

00:16:41.419 --> 00:16:44.360
brood all over in that brood nest, I can pull

00:16:44.360 --> 00:16:47.220
some of those brood frames and I can donate it

00:16:47.220 --> 00:16:50.559
to colonies that are behind or smaller colonies

00:16:50.559 --> 00:16:54.080
and then I can take a frame that has nothing

00:16:54.080 --> 00:16:57.240
but drawn open comb, put that in that colony

00:16:57.240 --> 00:16:59.639
and now that queen has a whole new place to lay.

00:16:59.789 --> 00:17:02.590
and that helps suppress that urge to swarm. Explain

00:17:02.590 --> 00:17:06.190
why the drawn out comb is so important versus

00:17:06.190 --> 00:17:08.769
just empty frames with foundation. That's right.

00:17:08.930 --> 00:17:11.750
Well, for one, bees are not going to draw wax

00:17:11.750 --> 00:17:15.130
unless they have to, right? It takes energy,

00:17:15.349 --> 00:17:17.730
it consumes resources for the bees, and they're

00:17:17.730 --> 00:17:20.869
just not going to do it. So they won't draw wax

00:17:20.869 --> 00:17:23.730
all year round. So we always like to say in the

00:17:23.730 --> 00:17:26.849
beekeeping world that drawn comb is a beekeeper's

00:17:26.849 --> 00:17:30.410
gold. because the resource is there and ready

00:17:30.410 --> 00:17:32.910
for the bees to use right away. So if you have

00:17:32.910 --> 00:17:35.849
drawn comb and you put that into a brood chamber

00:17:35.849 --> 00:17:38.910
or your single deep, your queen is going to immediately

00:17:38.910 --> 00:17:41.549
seek that out and start to lay in those cells.

00:17:41.670 --> 00:17:44.230
Now, if the bees also are running out of room,

00:17:44.269 --> 00:17:46.150
let's say you're in the middle of a nectar flow.

00:17:46.750 --> 00:17:48.910
And with one of the downsides of single brood

00:17:48.910 --> 00:17:51.730
management is that your colony can become what's

00:17:51.730 --> 00:17:54.950
called honey bound or nectar bound easier than

00:17:54.950 --> 00:17:57.500
in a double deep. you have to keep an eye on

00:17:57.500 --> 00:18:00.200
that. If your bees are starting to plug the brood

00:18:00.200 --> 00:18:03.640
chamber and the nest with nectar during a strong

00:18:03.640 --> 00:18:06.259
flow, you got to have that drawn comb on hand

00:18:06.259 --> 00:18:09.420
so you can pull those frames out, put the drawn

00:18:09.420 --> 00:18:12.579
empty comb back in there so the queen has a place

00:18:12.579 --> 00:18:17.140
to lay. Yeah. And if the queen sees a frame of

00:18:17.140 --> 00:18:20.509
just foundation with no drawn comb, She doesn't

00:18:20.509 --> 00:18:22.930
see it as a place to lay. Correct. She's out

00:18:22.930 --> 00:18:24.890
of space. That's right. Time to head out. It's

00:18:24.890 --> 00:18:26.789
time to head out. It's gonna trigger that urge

00:18:26.789 --> 00:18:29.549
to swarm. The bees need time. They've got those

00:18:29.549 --> 00:18:33.289
wax producing glands that are only active during

00:18:33.289 --> 00:18:36.470
a few days of a worker bee's life. It takes time

00:18:36.470 --> 00:18:38.890
to draw that comb out. That queen bee is wanting

00:18:38.890 --> 00:18:42.049
to lay one to two thousand eggs a day during

00:18:42.049 --> 00:18:45.089
the strong, during a strong flow. And so really

00:18:45.089 --> 00:18:46.910
only during a strong flow when there's plenty

00:18:46.910 --> 00:18:49.299
of nectar around. is when the bees are going

00:18:49.299 --> 00:18:52.259
to want to draw that wax. Outside of that, they're

00:18:52.259 --> 00:18:55.140
not going to want to draw wax. OK, I know I got

00:18:55.140 --> 00:18:56.960
a soft track. Yeah. Let's get back to winter

00:18:56.960 --> 00:19:00.660
for just a second. Do you do any kind of winter

00:19:00.660 --> 00:19:04.480
checks? I mean, how do you know come end of January

00:19:04.480 --> 00:19:07.900
they've got enough to eat in there? No. So I

00:19:07.900 --> 00:19:12.019
use a device called a Vivaldi board and it is

00:19:12.019 --> 00:19:14.769
basically it's a quilt box. And every single

00:19:14.769 --> 00:19:17.369
one of my colonies, I place a Vivaldi board on

00:19:17.369 --> 00:19:20.490
top of those colonies. Inside the Vivaldi board,

00:19:20.750 --> 00:19:24.730
I make a custom shim. And now I'm a fan of the

00:19:24.730 --> 00:19:28.049
Hive Alive winter fondant patty. So every single

00:19:28.049 --> 00:19:32.069
one of my colonies gets a fondant patty prophylactically.

00:19:32.569 --> 00:19:35.809
Meaning, even if that colony, and I do weigh

00:19:35.809 --> 00:19:38.509
my colonies going into winter, is up to the proper

00:19:38.509 --> 00:19:40.849
weight, like we talked about, 60 or 70 pounds,

00:19:41.200 --> 00:19:43.539
There are some colonies that will still chew

00:19:43.539 --> 00:19:45.519
through and eat a lot of that, and you have to

00:19:45.519 --> 00:19:49.779
be careful in terms of starvation risks towards

00:19:49.779 --> 00:19:53.140
early spring before the flow starts. And so every

00:19:53.140 --> 00:19:54.920
one of my colonies gets one of those fondant

00:19:54.920 --> 00:19:57.359
patties, and the Volity Board makes it really

00:19:57.359 --> 00:20:00.680
easy to where you can open the top, open the

00:20:00.680 --> 00:20:03.789
inner cover, and you can visually see... if they've

00:20:03.789 --> 00:20:06.569
started to consume the paddy that's inside of

00:20:06.569 --> 00:20:08.869
them. So even on a cold day. Even on a cold day,

00:20:09.009 --> 00:20:11.490
that's like it. And I put insulation inside of

00:20:11.490 --> 00:20:13.710
a volatility board. So again, it functions in

00:20:13.710 --> 00:20:16.490
two ways. It functions as a quilt box, and it

00:20:16.490 --> 00:20:19.210
also allows me to feed the bees throughout the

00:20:19.210 --> 00:20:22.990
winter time, which really, I mean, really helps

00:20:22.990 --> 00:20:26.289
any sort of starvation issues. Yeah, great. All

00:20:26.289 --> 00:20:29.390
right. Where else do you go? I mean, we talked

00:20:29.390 --> 00:20:31.910
a little bit about swarms of where we came on

00:20:31.910 --> 00:20:36.289
camera here. And if this single brood management

00:20:36.289 --> 00:20:40.230
creates more swarms, are you only trying to control

00:20:40.230 --> 00:20:42.369
it or are you trying to catch swarms? Are you

00:20:42.369 --> 00:20:44.190
doing a lot of splits? What are you doing? Yeah,

00:20:44.309 --> 00:20:46.769
I don't do a lot as funny because I was just

00:20:46.769 --> 00:20:48.390
talking to some other beekeepers about this.

00:20:48.650 --> 00:20:51.190
I don't do a lot of active swarm suppression.

00:20:51.730 --> 00:20:54.670
I guess in my particular setup, my apiary is

00:20:54.670 --> 00:20:57.230
on my property, so I'm able to go out there and

00:20:57.230 --> 00:20:59.549
just visually inspect two or three times a day.

00:20:59.829 --> 00:21:03.920
And if I happen to see a swarm, Generally, a

00:21:03.920 --> 00:21:07.319
lot of times they will bivouac into a tree or

00:21:07.319 --> 00:21:09.880
a branch that's very close to my apiary before

00:21:09.880 --> 00:21:12.319
they actually relocate to their final destination

00:21:12.319 --> 00:21:14.880
and I'll just go capture that swarm and provide

00:21:14.880 --> 00:21:17.740
them with a new home. So I just don't, I don't

00:21:17.740 --> 00:21:21.039
actively try to suppress the urge to swarm. Every

00:21:21.039 --> 00:21:24.720
single colony wants to swarm and it can just,

00:21:24.740 --> 00:21:26.839
it can be a lot of manipulation to act if you're

00:21:26.839 --> 00:21:28.559
going to, you know, maybe some people like to

00:21:28.559 --> 00:21:31.890
clip their queen's wings. Some people will inspect

00:21:31.890 --> 00:21:34.849
every frame and if they see swarm cells, they'll

00:21:34.849 --> 00:21:38.009
go in and pinch those swarm cells. I just kind

00:21:38.009 --> 00:21:39.910
of keep an eye on them. I can tell the ones that

00:21:39.910 --> 00:21:42.269
are doing really well that want to swarm. And

00:21:42.269 --> 00:21:44.410
really, Eric, I just hope to catch them in their

00:21:44.410 --> 00:21:47.410
biv -lack state within my apiary. I'm sure I

00:21:47.410 --> 00:21:50.690
lose a few every year that just take off. I just

00:21:50.690 --> 00:21:53.089
kind of look at it like I'm helping the natural

00:21:53.089 --> 00:21:56.630
bee population. Cool. Let's talk about your business

00:21:56.630 --> 00:21:58.789
a little bit. Sure. Is this a business for you

00:21:58.789 --> 00:22:02.500
or a hobby? I did officially form it as an LLC

00:22:02.500 --> 00:22:06.859
last year, but it is just a hobby. So my normal

00:22:06.859 --> 00:22:09.420
day job, like I mentioned, I'm an engineer. So

00:22:09.420 --> 00:22:13.339
this is just a hobby for me, but it's, you know,

00:22:13.460 --> 00:22:15.000
it's just something that kind of took off on

00:22:15.000 --> 00:22:18.000
its own. And I started participating in the local

00:22:18.000 --> 00:22:20.779
farmers market and being able to provide value

00:22:20.779 --> 00:22:24.099
added products like honey and beeswax and propolis

00:22:24.099 --> 00:22:27.119
and things for my local community. really just

00:22:27.119 --> 00:22:30.559
kind of energize me. It makes me feel good when

00:22:30.559 --> 00:22:32.740
people approach me and say, I love your honey

00:22:32.740 --> 00:22:34.819
or really appreciate you doing this to provide

00:22:34.819 --> 00:22:36.839
for the local community. How many colonies are

00:22:36.839 --> 00:22:40.220
you managing? So I'm currently managing 22 colonies,

00:22:40.220 --> 00:22:43.799
yeah, by myself. That's a lot for a hobbyist.

00:22:43.859 --> 00:22:46.400
It is a lot, but you know how B math works. You

00:22:46.400 --> 00:22:48.339
start with one, then you have four, then you

00:22:48.339 --> 00:22:51.759
have 10, now you have 20. So it's funny, you

00:22:51.759 --> 00:22:54.859
actually have to actively try to keep your numbers

00:22:54.859 --> 00:22:59.299
down. at a certain point. And so, but yeah. I

00:22:59.299 --> 00:23:01.559
like it. And you do a lot of educational stuff

00:23:01.559 --> 00:23:04.079
out there. Yeah. Tell us what you do and why.

00:23:04.279 --> 00:23:07.559
Okay. So I started a YouTube channel, I think

00:23:07.559 --> 00:23:10.720
it was a couple years ago called Bees in the

00:23:10.720 --> 00:23:14.240
Weeds. And with the intent to just try to help

00:23:14.240 --> 00:23:17.140
out newer beekeepers. So I was getting asked

00:23:17.140 --> 00:23:19.680
a lot of questions from newer beekeepers. Josh,

00:23:19.779 --> 00:23:22.980
you know, how do I do a walk away split? Josh,

00:23:23.019 --> 00:23:25.859
how do I mark a queen? How do I do this? How

00:23:25.859 --> 00:23:28.220
do I do that? And I found that I was answering

00:23:28.220 --> 00:23:31.240
the same questions over and over again. And I

00:23:31.240 --> 00:23:33.680
thought there's a better way to do this. And

00:23:33.680 --> 00:23:36.420
so I just I was like, I'm going to record myself.

00:23:36.579 --> 00:23:38.079
I'm just going to go out there in the bee yard.

00:23:38.400 --> 00:23:40.200
I'm going to record myself doing a walk away

00:23:40.200 --> 00:23:42.660
split. I'm going to upload it to YouTube. And

00:23:42.660 --> 00:23:44.460
the next time I get asked that question, I'm

00:23:44.460 --> 00:23:46.559
just going to send him the link and say, watch

00:23:46.559 --> 00:23:48.819
this video. If you have any follow up questions,

00:23:48.900 --> 00:23:51.599
reach out to me. I think it's great for business,

00:23:51.859 --> 00:23:55.890
too. And if people see you there, and they realize,

00:23:56.309 --> 00:23:59.250
oh, this guy knows what he's talking about. Okay.

00:24:00.150 --> 00:24:02.849
So, therefore, if I need to get a nuke or something

00:24:02.849 --> 00:24:05.829
else, he'd be a good guy to talk. Yeah, exactly.

00:24:06.269 --> 00:24:08.690
Yeah, and I think, you know, credibility is a

00:24:08.690 --> 00:24:14.369
big thing. Certainly, you have to, I don't know

00:24:14.369 --> 00:24:17.190
what the right word is, have thick skin and a

00:24:17.190 --> 00:24:19.569
high tolerance for some of the comments because

00:24:19.569 --> 00:24:22.569
I'd say one of my biggest pet peeves, Eric, is

00:24:22.569 --> 00:24:25.599
when I hear... Beekeepers say that there's only

00:24:25.599 --> 00:24:29.480
one way to do something. You have to do it this

00:24:29.480 --> 00:24:34.380
way. There's only the X way to do this wrong.

00:24:34.819 --> 00:24:38.519
There are so many different ways to successfully

00:24:38.519 --> 00:24:40.940
keep bees. And I remind people that of all the

00:24:40.940 --> 00:24:43.380
time. And so I'll get a lot of comments on the

00:24:43.380 --> 00:24:45.700
channel that, oh, you shouldn't do that. You

00:24:45.700 --> 00:24:47.660
have to do it this way. And I'm like, no, your

00:24:47.660 --> 00:24:50.839
way is is correct. Also, both are fine. You know,

00:24:50.839 --> 00:24:53.200
it's like like beekeepers debating on screen

00:24:53.200 --> 00:24:55.420
bottom boards versus solid bottom boards. They

00:24:55.420 --> 00:24:58.220
both work. There's lots of different ways to

00:24:58.220 --> 00:25:00.940
successfully keep bees. And so a lot of the education

00:25:00.940 --> 00:25:04.200
that I do out there is demonstrating one method.

00:25:04.660 --> 00:25:07.660
This is the method I use. If it speaks to you

00:25:07.660 --> 00:25:09.700
and you think it seems like a good method you

00:25:09.700 --> 00:25:12.319
want to try, give it a try. If you don't like

00:25:12.319 --> 00:25:14.220
it and you want to try something else, great.

00:25:14.619 --> 00:25:17.079
But it's like we were talking before we started

00:25:17.079 --> 00:25:21.190
the podcast that folks that are beekeeping is

00:25:21.190 --> 00:25:24.509
a very difficult hobby for those that are indecisive

00:25:24.509 --> 00:25:28.250
because you have to just make a decision and

00:25:28.250 --> 00:25:30.589
go with it. There is a lot of trial and error

00:25:30.589 --> 00:25:34.130
with beekeeping. You will fail. Failure is fine.

00:25:34.450 --> 00:25:36.569
You learn from your failures. And that's what

00:25:36.569 --> 00:25:38.670
ends up making the really good beekeepers are

00:25:38.670 --> 00:25:41.009
the ones that learn from the mistakes because

00:25:41.009 --> 00:25:43.769
you just have to get in there and try. And that's

00:25:43.769 --> 00:25:45.890
really what it's all about. That's such a good

00:25:45.890 --> 00:25:49.509
attitude. How do you know who to trust? How do

00:25:49.509 --> 00:25:53.029
you if you're brand new? Okay, and maybe you

00:25:53.029 --> 00:25:56.349
are just a little bit indecisive because It's

00:25:56.349 --> 00:25:58.990
ten answers to this one question. What do I do?

00:25:59.549 --> 00:26:02.109
I I don't know. How do you do? Well, how do you

00:26:02.109 --> 00:26:04.569
decide? I think you have to find a mentor you

00:26:04.569 --> 00:26:07.009
have to find somebody local that you trust, right?

00:26:07.329 --> 00:26:09.529
And if you if you're in an area where you don't

00:26:09.529 --> 00:26:12.069
have a local bee club or somebody that can mentor

00:26:12.069 --> 00:26:17.160
you You just have to find maybe a YouTube channel

00:26:17.160 --> 00:26:19.480
or somebody that speaks to you that's like, I

00:26:19.480 --> 00:26:21.180
really like the way that they're doing it. It

00:26:21.180 --> 00:26:23.000
seems like that would work for me. I'm going

00:26:23.000 --> 00:26:25.920
to give it a try. If it doesn't work, then maybe

00:26:25.920 --> 00:26:28.440
try a different method and look on YouTube or

00:26:28.440 --> 00:26:30.299
Google something different and try something

00:26:30.299 --> 00:26:33.180
else. There's just a lot of trial and error and

00:26:33.180 --> 00:26:35.559
beekeeping and that's okay. I think some people

00:26:35.559 --> 00:26:38.339
get discouraged from that, but you should not

00:26:38.339 --> 00:26:40.720
be discouraged from that. It's all about learning.

00:26:40.900 --> 00:26:43.539
And bottom line, You're helping bees. You're

00:26:43.539 --> 00:26:45.819
helping bees no matter what. And so that's why

00:26:45.819 --> 00:26:48.420
I try to encourage new beekeepers. You're going

00:26:48.420 --> 00:26:51.500
to feel overwhelmed. You're going to. It's going

00:26:51.500 --> 00:26:54.660
to happen. But keep at it. That's why the retention

00:26:54.660 --> 00:26:57.380
rate for beekeeping is so low. I want to say

00:26:57.380 --> 00:27:00.680
I had an EAS Master Beekeeper tell me that, at

00:27:00.680 --> 00:27:03.019
least in the state of Kentucky, it's as low as

00:27:03.019 --> 00:27:06.420
15 % to 20 % the retention rate for new beekeepers

00:27:06.420 --> 00:27:09.700
because it's challenging and it's frustrating.

00:27:10.309 --> 00:27:12.670
But you just have to stick with it. You have

00:27:12.670 --> 00:27:15.349
to want to learn. You have to want to keep learning.

00:27:16.049 --> 00:27:18.670
And I really believe in using your intuition.

00:27:18.769 --> 00:27:22.869
Yes. There are times when it's like, both of

00:27:22.869 --> 00:27:25.769
these will probably work. I just want to try

00:27:25.769 --> 00:27:27.910
to be in tune with my bees. And that sounds a

00:27:27.910 --> 00:27:30.430
little silly. Yeah. And you just can't be afraid

00:27:30.430 --> 00:27:33.809
to try. You can't. And the best experience is

00:27:33.809 --> 00:27:36.829
time in your bees. time with your bees. That

00:27:36.829 --> 00:27:38.710
is the best experience you're going to have.

00:27:38.789 --> 00:27:41.029
You can watch all the videos, read all the books,

00:27:41.470 --> 00:27:43.529
go to all the bee conferences that you want,

00:27:43.970 --> 00:27:46.349
but you're going to learn the most by spending

00:27:46.349 --> 00:27:49.089
time with your bees. And they may give you a

00:27:49.089 --> 00:27:51.289
different answer one day than another day. Yeah,

00:27:51.289 --> 00:27:52.990
they don't read all the books, Eric. They don't

00:27:52.990 --> 00:27:53.789
read all the books. I don't really follow the

00:27:53.789 --> 00:27:56.410
rules, right? And have you noticed their personality

00:27:56.410 --> 00:27:59.349
changes? It does change. Yeah. Weather can change

00:27:59.349 --> 00:28:02.910
it, environment, all sorts. I mean, they could

00:28:02.910 --> 00:28:05.190
turn on you. That's right. Yeah. What happened

00:28:05.190 --> 00:28:08.150
to my sweet, gentle bees? And then the next day,

00:28:08.230 --> 00:28:10.410
they're just, it's turned into a hot colony and

00:28:10.410 --> 00:28:12.190
they're chasing me out of the bee yard all the

00:28:12.190 --> 00:28:14.130
way back to the truck. Yeah. And that doesn't

00:28:14.130 --> 00:28:17.529
mean they need to be requited. Something else

00:28:17.529 --> 00:28:20.430
may be going on. Maybe a raccoon or a skunk has

00:28:20.430 --> 00:28:22.529
been bothering them at the night, you know? And

00:28:22.529 --> 00:28:25.210
so they're extra defensive, you know? So the

00:28:25.210 --> 00:28:28.069
more time that you spend in your colonies, you're

00:28:28.069 --> 00:28:31.059
going to be able to read your bees better. And

00:28:31.059 --> 00:28:32.720
you're going to be able to determine, like, well,

00:28:32.720 --> 00:28:35.119
this is unusual behavior for this colony right

00:28:35.119 --> 00:28:37.539
now. I wonder what's going on. And it even could

00:28:37.539 --> 00:28:40.140
be genetics. It could be that the particular

00:28:40.140 --> 00:28:42.619
drone that the queen mated with at that time,

00:28:43.140 --> 00:28:47.339
that that drone, which the drones carry the defensive

00:28:47.339 --> 00:28:50.859
characteristics, it could be that that particular

00:28:50.859 --> 00:28:53.859
drone that was defensive, that those are the

00:28:53.859 --> 00:28:56.599
bees that are coming out now. And if you just

00:28:56.599 --> 00:28:59.440
give it time, the different drone, you know,

00:28:59.539 --> 00:29:01.279
comes out later, and then all of a sudden you

00:29:01.279 --> 00:29:02.940
have very common gentle bees again, and it's

00:29:02.940 --> 00:29:05.579
the same queen. Yeah, because your queen's mating

00:29:05.579 --> 00:29:08.539
with how many different drones? 15, 20 different

00:29:08.539 --> 00:29:10.759
drones. And if one of those... So all those different

00:29:10.759 --> 00:29:12.700
genetics are in there? Exactly right. If one

00:29:12.700 --> 00:29:15.099
of the genetics is extremely hot and an angry

00:29:15.099 --> 00:29:18.200
bee, you know, there's going to be a set of workers

00:29:18.200 --> 00:29:20.519
that comes from that drone that's going to have

00:29:20.519 --> 00:29:24.140
the aggressive trait. OK, last question. I should

00:29:24.140 --> 00:29:27.690
have warned you about this up front, Josh. Every

00:29:27.690 --> 00:29:30.529
beekeeper has had some kind of wild and crazy

00:29:30.529 --> 00:29:34.089
story happen to them. Okay. Or embarrassing or

00:29:34.089 --> 00:29:38.569
painful or hugely mistake or something. Do you

00:29:38.569 --> 00:29:41.950
mind sharing one or two with us? Sure. I have

00:29:41.950 --> 00:29:44.990
a video that's called What a Mess. And the reason

00:29:44.990 --> 00:29:48.369
why it's called that is because one of my colonies,

00:29:48.589 --> 00:29:52.009
and it's a Langstroth, and I just have it on

00:29:52.009 --> 00:29:55.960
four by fours on concrete blocks, but... an entire

00:29:55.960 --> 00:29:59.819
colony decided to take residence underneath of

00:29:59.819 --> 00:30:01.779
the Langstroth colony. And it's a screen bottom

00:30:01.779 --> 00:30:04.599
board. And when I mean take residence, I'm talking

00:30:04.599 --> 00:30:08.380
a massive open hive. And so they actually built

00:30:08.380 --> 00:30:10.559
out calm and everything, everything, everything.

00:30:10.759 --> 00:30:14.440
I mean, it had to be 30, 40 ,000 bees underneath

00:30:14.440 --> 00:30:17.880
this colony in between four by fours, tons of

00:30:17.880 --> 00:30:20.779
drawn comb. So this video is me and my friend,

00:30:20.920 --> 00:30:24.289
Jason, just fumbling around. trying to figure

00:30:24.289 --> 00:30:27.650
out how to remove this open colony from underneath

00:30:27.650 --> 00:30:30.849
this existing colony because they're not supposed

00:30:30.849 --> 00:30:32.750
to be there. Now, I've been asked many questions,

00:30:32.750 --> 00:30:35.190
Josh, why do you think this happened? The answer

00:30:35.190 --> 00:30:37.430
is I don't know. What I think may have happened

00:30:37.430 --> 00:30:40.049
is a queen returning from her mating flight and

00:30:40.049 --> 00:30:42.250
she missed the landing board and went underneath.

00:30:42.430 --> 00:30:44.609
And then all the worker bees were like, well,

00:30:44.690 --> 00:30:46.269
she's under here. We're going to go under here

00:30:46.269 --> 00:30:48.250
and we're going to this is our new home. And

00:30:48.250 --> 00:30:50.069
so they just started building it from there.

00:30:50.109 --> 00:30:53.730
But it. It was kind of embarrassing just because

00:30:53.730 --> 00:30:57.170
I neglected it. I looked at it for weeks, and

00:30:57.170 --> 00:31:00.170
I was like, I don't want to tackle that. Not

00:31:00.170 --> 00:31:03.309
today. Not today. Maybe tomorrow. And of course,

00:31:03.690 --> 00:31:05.869
it didn't fix itself. It's a problem that's not

00:31:05.869 --> 00:31:08.529
going to fix itself. So eventually, I just had

00:31:08.529 --> 00:31:10.490
to tackle it. And it took me a little while to

00:31:10.490 --> 00:31:12.789
get it all corrected. I tried to harvest as much

00:31:12.789 --> 00:31:15.029
of the brood and the comus I could. I actually

00:31:15.029 --> 00:31:17.549
found the queen, which was crazy. I didn't think

00:31:17.549 --> 00:31:19.210
I would find her, but I was like, oh, there she

00:31:19.210 --> 00:31:21.940
is. rehomed them, put them in a different spot

00:31:21.940 --> 00:31:24.119
in the apiary, tried to scrape everything away

00:31:24.119 --> 00:31:26.359
so that it didn't happen again. What's the most

00:31:26.359 --> 00:31:29.440
you've ever been stung in one day? Most I've

00:31:29.440 --> 00:31:32.920
ever been stung in one day. Honestly, it was

00:31:32.920 --> 00:31:39.279
probably in the apiary during dearthy conditions.

00:31:40.279 --> 00:31:42.200
I just, you know, sometimes I glove up, sometimes

00:31:42.200 --> 00:31:44.740
I don't. Just getting into a colony and I could

00:31:44.740 --> 00:31:46.480
tell right away that they weren't having it.

00:31:46.480 --> 00:31:48.559
But I had to get in there and do an inspection

00:31:48.559 --> 00:31:50.599
and they were just kind of... they weren't happy

00:31:50.599 --> 00:31:53.140
with me and they were letting me know. All right,

00:31:53.160 --> 00:31:55.680
Josh Scott, bees in the weeds. Yeah, if you want

00:31:55.680 --> 00:31:57.759
to check out the channel, bees in the weeds.

00:31:58.059 --> 00:31:59.920
Thanks for spending time. Oh, thank you so much

00:31:59.920 --> 00:32:05.519
for having me. This was a blast. Thank you. Thanks

00:32:05.519 --> 00:32:08.400
again for joining us on Bee Love Beekeeping presented

00:32:08.400 --> 00:32:10.980
by our great friends over at Man Lake. Hey, and

00:32:10.980 --> 00:32:13.480
don't forget to order your bees. And a shout

00:32:13.480 --> 00:32:16.819
out to V2B Health for their support. Vita's Viroa

00:32:16.819 --> 00:32:19.960
Control Ranger products includes Epistan, Epigard,

00:32:20.519 --> 00:32:23.940
and now Veroxan. Extended release, Oxalic Acid

00:32:23.940 --> 00:32:27.579
Strips. Thank you so much guys. If you haven't

00:32:27.579 --> 00:32:30.660
yet, please subscribe and follow the show, tell

00:32:30.660 --> 00:32:33.579
your friends about it, and click on over to BeLoveBekeeping

00:32:33.579 --> 00:32:37.319
.com to sign up for our free newsletter. If you

00:32:37.319 --> 00:32:40.299
have a guest suggestion or topic that you'd like

00:32:40.299 --> 00:32:43.220
discussed on the show, shoot me an email, erik

00:32:43.220 --> 00:32:46.000
at Be Love Beekeeping dot com. And remember,

00:32:46.299 --> 00:32:48.480
if you're not just in it for the honey or the

00:32:48.480 --> 00:32:51.019
money, you're in it for the love. See you next

00:32:51.019 --> 00:32:51.339
week.