June 12, 2025

Millions of Bees Saved After Truck Rollover - Beekeepers To The Rescue

Millions of Bees Saved After Truck Rollover - Beekeepers To The Rescue
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Millions of Bees Saved After Truck Rollover - Beekeepers To The Rescue

What happens when a truck, carrying 300 beehives, rolls off the side of the road? Mass chaos, bewildered law enforcement, stings... and a few heroic beekeepers.

This is what happened recently in norther Washington State. Our guest on this episode of Bee Love Beekeeping is Derek Condit, just one of the rescuers who helped save those millions of honey bees, and restore some order to the scene. The details are fascinating!

In this episode, we also get a brief synopsis of the great bee die-off of 2025, complete with what you should be doing to protect your hives. We hear wild & crazy beekeeping stories and learn about 'Shungite' beehives.

It's all about having fun while we learn about beekeeping and sharing the love of honey bees!

_____________

Special thanks to our presenting sponsor, Mann Lake! https://www.mannlakeltd.com/

Mann Lake discount code: MLBEELOVE10 for $10 off a $100 order.

https://www.beelovebeekeeping.com/

Eric@BeeLoveBeekeeping.com

MysticalWares.com

Videos of bee recovery effort after accident: https://youtu.be/MkG-wAoribs https://youtu.be/Jv34xidOlTs

WEBVTT

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May I have your attention, please? The following

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is not the real Jeff Fox release. If you no longer

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count how many times you get stung, you might

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be a beekeeper. If when robbing is going on at

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your house, but you don't call the police, Well,

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you might be a beekeeper. If you refer to your

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divorce as swarming behavior, you might be a

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beekeeper. I'm going to give you a minute to

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think about that one. Just in case you missed

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last week's episode, I'd like to give you a quick

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update on the research being done to solve the

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mystery of the U .S.'s great bee die -off of

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2025. The bottom line is all related to Varroa.

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No big surprises there. Bees are dying from viruses

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that are spread by Varroa, and Varroa is becoming

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resistant to some treatments, specifically amitras.

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So... Keep on top of your Varroa and alternate

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between different treatment options. If you're

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new to beekeeping, don't think that your beautiful

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bees are exempt. They're not. You have Varroa

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in your hive and you need an IPM to deal with

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them. Even treatment -free beekeepers work a

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plan to limit the mites. The days of lazy or

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naive beekeeping are over. On another note, Have

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you ever seen a news headline about a semi truckload

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of bees crashing on the highway? It happens and

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I've always been curious how the mess is cleaned

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up and by who or is it whom. So today we're having

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a discussion with a beekeeper in Washington state

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who recently helped with one of those disasters.

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First a quick favor if you haven't yet followed

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or subscribed to the show please do so now. and

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be sure to share it with a friend. Also, if you

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want to be part of the show, reach out to me,

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Eric, at Be Love Beekeeping dot com with your

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ideas for guests, your wild and crazy beekeeping

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stories and your suggestions for the not real

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Jeff Foxworthy on why you might be a beekeeper.

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Thank you. Thank you for all of that. Now, let's

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find out what it's like rescuing a few million

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bees from an overturned semi. I'd like to welcome

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to the show today, and this is going to be so

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fun, everybody. Derek Condit. How are you today,

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Derek? Doing great, Eric. Thank you for having

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me. And you're in Washington state someplace.

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Where are you? I am. So I'm actually located

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in Mount Vernon, Washington, which is a little

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more than an hour from the border of Canada.

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So up north. And I've invited Derek to be on

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the show today because I don't know if you've

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seen the news. But not long ago, there was a

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big semi full of bees that tipped over somewhere

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near him. And it seems like every year we hear

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about one of these crashing someplace. A couple

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of years ago, there was one only about 40 miles

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from me. I didn't have the opportunity to go

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help do the rescue efforts. They specifically,

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the Highway Patrol specifically said, beekeepers,

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please don't come help. So they must have had

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help that was maybe from, I don't know, the insurance

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company or the owner of the bees or something

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they wanted to take care of it themselves. But

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it closed down I -80 for quite some time. Derek,

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please tell us what happened with the truck rollover.

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First of all, let me get to the most important

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thing. Is the driver OK? And then tell me about

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the accident. Sure. Yeah. And my most recent

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update on the driver is he's doing fine. It wasn't

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an exceptional amount of stings to where, you

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know, cause real problems, but he was stung like

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many of the beekeepers were during the recovery

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efforts. But he is doing fine. And I can. So

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I'll give you the as much of the story of the

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accident that I know, Eric. Yeah, do that. And

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then tell me how you got involved. Okay, perfect,

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and I'll actually kind of wind that into the

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story because it kind of plays out that way It

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was the morning of May 30th So just a few days

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ago, and I found out later the accident actually

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happened that evening before Because these released

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beehives and of course, they're doing the moving

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during that evening time putting them on the

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truck and then as the truck was leaving with

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this 300 or so beehives on the back Basically,

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it just took the corner too sharp, and along

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the road there, so you can maybe visualize a

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country road, there's gullies that run along

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them to catch excess water and rain and whatnot.

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So the back axles of that truck are what fell

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into that little gully as he was leaving. And

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it caused the bed of the truck to slant just

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enough to where all the hives broke the straps

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and slid into the brush and trees right off to

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the side of it. And that's where it sat when

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I showed up. So now this is the morning of May

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30th, which I think was a Friday. My wife actually

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sent me a Facebook post talking about the accident

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because I hadn't heard about it yet. It was still

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pretty early in the morning. I realized that

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it was about 45 minutes or so north of our location.

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So I thought, well, you know, I mean, I got all

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the gear and ready to go. So I contacted the

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local sheriff's department in Whatcom County

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and it didn't take many minutes starting from

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that call. to where I was chatting with the person

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on scene who was in charge of the accidents in

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the cleanup, they asked me and said, go ahead

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and grab your gear. We appreciate it and show

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up when you can. So it was probably an hour later

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and I was there on scene. So I'll give you kind

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of a description of the scene I came up on. When

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the beehive slid off, they didn't just fall onto

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the ground. They kind of they fell into some

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shrubs and brushes. So they were still many of

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them. standing or stacked, but they were separated.

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So they all kind of slid. I'm not sure how to

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give you a visual kind of like dominoes or a

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stack of books that aren't quite pushed all the

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way over. So basically, all of the hives were

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exposed. And you could see the frames and all

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of that, which was why there were the millions

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of bees that were flying all around us at the

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time. So I arrive and I'm probably 300 or so

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yards from the accident itself before I approached

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the first barrier or stop where there's news

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media there and then also sheriff's department.

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I let them know who I am. And of course, they

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brought their windows up because by that point,

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the accident had been happened at night and they'd

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all been stung already, of course, even from

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that distance. So they let me through. I pull

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up to the area where the truck is kind of off

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still again country roads. So there's lots of

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room to park out there right now. And of course,

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not letting anybody by. So I see the accident

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and I'm like, oh and I'm in a large white van

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which is good for me because I can just crawl

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right in the back before getting out because

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once you're that close even say a hundred yards

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away The vehicles people everything was just

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bees everywhere Well, that was one of my first

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questions is how far out did this cloud of bees

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spread? Was there about a hundred yards or even

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further than that? well I would say to where

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I would call it a cloud, to where it's just so

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dense of bees with bees, probably 50 yards. And

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then, of course, it tapers off past that to maybe

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100 yards. If you're anywhere within several

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hundred yards, which is where the barrier was

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in the sheriff's farm, they were getting stung

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as well. They just didn't have 2000 bees on them

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at a time. They had a typical few. So I show

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up there and I see what's going on with the truck.

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Luckily, I had the The wear was all quickly to

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grab my cell phone. I turned off the Wi -Fi and

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Bluetooth and all that and just took some footage.

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That's when you get to see the actual and I'll

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mention also, of course, the camera crews, the

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news crews couldn't get anywhere near this scene.

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Some of them had gone to I could tell local hardware

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stores or something about bee hoods thinking

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that was going to protect them from this type

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of scenario. They learned real quickly that wasn't

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that wasn't going to do it. So I would go back

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and forth and talk with them a little bit and

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go back to the scene. And then it was just really

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all hands on deck. And when I showed up, there

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were already two people there that had been there

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from the evening before. And they were already

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just beat tired, working so hard, trying to save

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as many as they could. Because the bigger point

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was to remove the hives that were leaning on

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the truck so we could move the truck out of there

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and get the hives that were not just leaning

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on it and laying in the brush nearby, but under

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it. So we were basically moving box by box and

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they were not all complete boxes, of course,

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from an accident like this, parts and pieces

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everywhere. So you do the best you can and then

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you stack them on the pallets and then, you know,

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try and move them out of the way. And some of

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that's shown in the video. But we get a forklift

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under the back of the truck after so many hours

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and move it out of the way and then we're able

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to access the rest of the hives. There was massive

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losses, of course, on something like this, as

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far as the bees go. Give me an idea of how many

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hours you were there. Oh, maybe three or four

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hours total, because I didn't realize or even

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know the accident had happened until maybe nine

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or 10 that morning. And then it was, again, approximately

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an hour later, I showed up. And that's when I

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spoke to the beekeepers on scene. And he let

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me know that he was there for, again, since that

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evening when it happened. And then throughout

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the day, Other beekeepers would show up I'm not

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sure if all of them were beekeepers But people

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in suits is a lot of them would most of them

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would actually turn away when they saw how many

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bees that were And I don't blame them. Yeah,

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I mean it was and I don't blame anybody because

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Regardless and people brought duct tape to tape

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up there, you know their boots and hoods were

00:10:27.259 --> 00:10:30.120
needed in gloves But regardless bees with that

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many bees they found their way into all of our

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suits and that was happening Well, yeah, this

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is not regular beekeeping. No where you're just

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interrupting their home and giving them a puff

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of smoke. And for the most part, they're not

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going to give you too hard of a time. These are

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angry, angry bees. I mean, wouldn't you be if

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that just happened to your house? And then 300

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of them houses hide. Yeah, then everybody wants

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an all exposed. And so, you know, you get the

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scenario from there. So saying they were agitated

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is an understatement. I would be the same way.

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I was trying not to say pissed off but let's

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face it yeah they were beyond so you had a van

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so you were able to get in the back of the van

00:11:13.460 --> 00:11:16.600
get all suited up before you got out smart guy

00:11:16.600 --> 00:11:18.740
you know what we're just gonna have to post some

00:11:18.740 --> 00:11:21.659
of the video so get on over to our youtube channel

00:11:21.659 --> 00:11:25.059
Bela Beekeeping You'll find it on YouTube. And

00:11:25.059 --> 00:11:27.240
I'm going to post these couple of videos, Derek,

00:11:27.259 --> 00:11:30.220
that you sent over. I appreciate your permission

00:11:30.220 --> 00:11:32.779
on that. And they're not edited fancy or anything

00:11:32.779 --> 00:11:35.360
else, but it'll give you an idea. I mean, I saw

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one of the people there. His back was completely

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covered. You couldn't really tell that he had

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a white bee suit on because it was just be back

00:11:43.519 --> 00:11:46.700
as we call it. So and I can't imagine the guys

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that were there all night. That's exhausting

00:11:48.899 --> 00:11:51.919
because you're lifting heavy things, too. Would

00:11:51.919 --> 00:11:55.019
think that just that many bees that upset I haven't

00:11:55.019 --> 00:11:57.940
been in the middle of something like that It's

00:11:57.940 --> 00:12:00.320
got to be as much as you try to be calm. Isn't

00:12:00.320 --> 00:12:03.019
it a little bit? I don't know Exhausting and

00:12:03.019 --> 00:12:05.639
anxious filled. Yeah, that's good points Eric.

00:12:05.720 --> 00:12:08.919
It was there's a lot going on Personally, you

00:12:08.919 --> 00:12:10.840
know, I try not to get in the heightened state

00:12:10.840 --> 00:12:12.779
because as we know as beekeepers I can heighten

00:12:12.779 --> 00:12:15.340
situations antagonize. So yeah, no I was I've

00:12:15.340 --> 00:12:16.799
been through a lot of stuff in life. We can just

00:12:16.799 --> 00:12:20.059
say so I think really for the most part the ones

00:12:20.059 --> 00:12:22.259
that the beekeepers that actually stuck around

00:12:22.259 --> 00:12:24.779
and were going hands on moving the boxes were

00:12:24.779 --> 00:12:27.299
relatively calm. I mean, they weren't they weren't

00:12:27.299 --> 00:12:30.059
getting heightened at all, just exhaustion. So

00:12:30.059 --> 00:12:32.240
that was a thing. But there were other people

00:12:32.240 --> 00:12:34.500
that showed up that would run around even in

00:12:34.500 --> 00:12:36.980
suits, just swatting the bees on themselves and

00:12:36.980 --> 00:12:39.200
having issues like that. I'm like, yeah, you

00:12:39.200 --> 00:12:41.179
might just want to stand back a little bit. And

00:12:41.179 --> 00:12:43.440
you guys do look calm. So I'll give you a whole

00:12:43.440 --> 00:12:45.899
ton of credit for that, because I imagine that

00:12:45.899 --> 00:12:49.440
wasn't easy. So I have a couple of other questions

00:12:49.440 --> 00:12:52.590
for you. What happened to all the bees afterwards?

00:12:53.190 --> 00:12:56.029
And who owns the bees? And how does the insurance

00:12:56.029 --> 00:12:58.549
kick in? Sorry, I said a question. You just got

00:12:58.549 --> 00:13:01.730
delusional three of them. I know that's OK, and

00:13:01.730 --> 00:13:05.110
I'll do the best I can on this because that's

00:13:05.110 --> 00:13:07.769
we had some issues the following days, but I

00:13:07.769 --> 00:13:10.610
can kind of go in reverse. Somebody reported

00:13:10.610 --> 00:13:14.070
to me yesterday a local resident in that area

00:13:14.070 --> 00:13:16.370
where this accident happened. He drove by giving

00:13:16.370 --> 00:13:18.809
update. He said the better part of the beehives

00:13:18.809 --> 00:13:21.480
are now. gone. So they've been put back together

00:13:21.480 --> 00:13:24.279
and or relocated to another and I don't know

00:13:24.279 --> 00:13:27.220
where another location because they are least

00:13:27.220 --> 00:13:30.200
bees. But there was an issue and you couldn't

00:13:30.200 --> 00:13:33.460
help but have this issue because of the type

00:13:33.460 --> 00:13:35.320
of the accident. There was a lot of damage. So

00:13:35.320 --> 00:13:37.940
the migratory lids, the covers that would keep

00:13:37.940 --> 00:13:41.000
the beehives separate from each other were damaged.

00:13:41.000 --> 00:13:44.019
So in the recovery, there just wasn't enough

00:13:44.019 --> 00:13:46.320
stuff or equipment there to keep them separate

00:13:46.320 --> 00:13:49.019
to move them. So a lot of them ended up being

00:13:50.070 --> 00:13:52.250
stacked where the plan was to move them just

00:13:52.250 --> 00:13:54.529
around the corner onto the farmland will and

00:13:54.529 --> 00:13:56.850
then bring in the parts and pieces to fix them.

00:13:57.009 --> 00:13:58.990
So that was one of the things that needed to

00:13:58.990 --> 00:14:01.970
be done. And we had several volunteers, including

00:14:01.970 --> 00:14:04.070
business owners with all the equipment needed

00:14:04.070 --> 00:14:08.009
to bring that in and make that final recovery

00:14:08.009 --> 00:14:09.730
and you know, separate every beehive because

00:14:09.730 --> 00:14:11.610
you don't want to leave them stacked, of course,

00:14:11.629 --> 00:14:14.269
with no separators in there. But they were left

00:14:14.269 --> 00:14:17.149
that way for a couple days. So there's a whole

00:14:17.149 --> 00:14:19.659
story behind that. I'll get into as much as I

00:14:19.659 --> 00:14:23.919
can, but I was in contact with the owners and

00:14:23.919 --> 00:14:26.299
they're making the moves they could on their

00:14:26.299 --> 00:14:28.299
part, as far as I could tell, and in touch with

00:14:28.299 --> 00:14:29.779
insurance. But I can't really comment on the

00:14:29.779 --> 00:14:32.840
insurance aspect because I don't know how that

00:14:32.840 --> 00:14:35.720
all worked or worked out for them. So from our

00:14:35.720 --> 00:14:38.960
on the ground perspective concerned citizens

00:14:38.960 --> 00:14:41.879
and beekeepers and business owners, we were just

00:14:41.879 --> 00:14:44.639
trying to get all hands on deck as soon as possible

00:14:44.639 --> 00:14:47.000
because we knew the state of these hives and

00:14:47.000 --> 00:14:51.059
there were of course, brood emerging during before

00:14:51.059 --> 00:14:53.340
and after all of this as well into that chaos.

00:14:53.399 --> 00:14:55.440
So that's, that's a part two that hasn't been

00:14:55.440 --> 00:14:57.480
talked about because we usually just think about

00:14:57.480 --> 00:15:00.320
the bees that are flying around. And these boxes

00:15:00.320 --> 00:15:03.240
did have large amounts of brood and honey because

00:15:03.240 --> 00:15:04.899
I was putting them back together, I got to see

00:15:04.899 --> 00:15:09.899
it. Quick break to thank our presenting sponsor

00:15:09.899 --> 00:15:13.789
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00:15:13.789 --> 00:15:16.370
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00:15:16.370 --> 00:15:19.190
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00:15:19.190 --> 00:15:22.039
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00:15:22.039 --> 00:15:25.659
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00:15:34.120 --> 00:15:38.000
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00:15:38.000 --> 00:15:41.059
there, don't forget your discount code MLBlove10,

00:15:41.080 --> 00:15:44.019
it's in the show notes, for $10 off your first

00:15:44.019 --> 00:15:50.049
$100 purchase. I don't really know, to be honest,

00:15:50.289 --> 00:15:52.450
the state of the hives now other than they've

00:15:52.450 --> 00:15:54.629
been relocated because we did draw some attention

00:15:54.629 --> 00:15:57.169
to try and get that done sooner. Well, you did

00:15:57.169 --> 00:15:59.389
send me one video from a couple of days later.

00:15:59.730 --> 00:16:03.409
Did it look like they had calmed down? Not so

00:16:03.409 --> 00:16:06.129
much. I mean, to a percentage, yes, because...

00:16:06.169 --> 00:16:08.350
On that second video is when I went back two

00:16:08.350 --> 00:16:10.929
days later thinking that, oh, these hives should

00:16:10.929 --> 00:16:13.210
have been all repaired and the migratory lids

00:16:13.210 --> 00:16:15.889
put back on kind of thing. When I started watching

00:16:15.889 --> 00:16:17.370
the video and looking a little bit closer, I

00:16:17.370 --> 00:16:18.909
realized, oh, a lot of these are still missing

00:16:18.909 --> 00:16:22.549
that, which explained why there was still so

00:16:22.549 --> 00:16:25.190
many bees swarming around in a heightened state

00:16:25.190 --> 00:16:27.470
because that was still happening. Well, and I'm

00:16:27.470 --> 00:16:29.870
guessing just in all the confusion, there had

00:16:29.870 --> 00:16:33.309
to have been some boxes where were they two deep

00:16:33.309 --> 00:16:37.169
boxes, by the way, most of them. It varied because

00:16:37.169 --> 00:16:38.789
by this time when I got there, of course, it

00:16:38.789 --> 00:16:42.730
was all a mess. Some had deep brew boxes and

00:16:42.730 --> 00:16:45.289
then with a honey on top of it, it just varied.

00:16:45.350 --> 00:16:47.789
So there was a whole mix of them. Yeah. I mean,

00:16:47.970 --> 00:16:50.990
chances are you ended up with a box that didn't

00:16:50.990 --> 00:16:54.210
belong to a queen in this other box and some

00:16:54.210 --> 00:16:56.450
that had... And that was our issue. Yeah. And

00:16:56.450 --> 00:17:01.409
some that had no queen. And so, wow. I imagine

00:17:01.409 --> 00:17:03.769
just putting them on pallets and stacking them

00:17:03.769 --> 00:17:07.460
together. And the one video shows, I don't know,

00:17:07.619 --> 00:17:10.759
50 hives or something on pallets. And you'd think

00:17:10.759 --> 00:17:12.839
they would kind of sort it out after a little

00:17:12.839 --> 00:17:17.740
while. But then again, hey, if I'm a bunch of

00:17:17.740 --> 00:17:20.380
guys in there with no queen. You know, they're

00:17:20.380 --> 00:17:22.299
not going to be very happy and there's all kinds

00:17:22.299 --> 00:17:25.059
of things going on and there's Robbing and I

00:17:25.059 --> 00:17:27.720
mean it just opens such a huge can of worms.

00:17:27.759 --> 00:17:30.299
Yeah for those bees It was confusing to you.

00:17:30.339 --> 00:17:32.299
I'll tell you Eric when I posted I think it was

00:17:32.299 --> 00:17:35.220
yesterday Maybe that image which I extracted

00:17:35.220 --> 00:17:37.220
from that last video you're talking about that

00:17:37.220 --> 00:17:39.740
you'll be sharing it from the average person's

00:17:39.740 --> 00:17:41.920
perspective It looked like a bunch of pretty

00:17:41.920 --> 00:17:44.200
beehives stacked high in a field looking great

00:17:44.200 --> 00:17:47.339
and they're all saved And that's not the case.

00:17:47.680 --> 00:17:49.900
They were stacked there. But again That's why

00:17:49.900 --> 00:17:52.279
I went to verify that and see and I noticed that

00:17:52.279 --> 00:17:55.400
those the lids were missing and and that so many

00:17:55.400 --> 00:17:59.319
bees were still out having a hard time. So that's

00:17:59.319 --> 00:18:01.519
that's that's what I came up on. So now that

00:18:01.519 --> 00:18:04.319
you've done it once, do you have any advice for

00:18:04.319 --> 00:18:06.940
somebody else that may be in that situation sometime

00:18:06.940 --> 00:18:10.809
in the future? Because like I said earlier. Every

00:18:10.809 --> 00:18:13.150
year you see one or two of these someplace in

00:18:13.150 --> 00:18:15.950
the country one of these trucks flips and local

00:18:15.950 --> 00:18:19.089
beekeepers are coming to save the day I have

00:18:19.089 --> 00:18:21.369
lots of tips and believe or not since this happened

00:18:21.369 --> 00:18:23.670
a few days ago. I've already started drafting

00:18:23.670 --> 00:18:28.029
a Nationwide response plan for bee emergencies

00:18:28.029 --> 00:18:31.049
like this so that first responders know We need

00:18:31.049 --> 00:18:33.910
this gear. Here's where we call people. And I've

00:18:33.910 --> 00:18:36.490
already set up on another website I just developed,

00:18:36.869 --> 00:18:39.569
a database where beekeepers nationwide can put

00:18:39.569 --> 00:18:41.009
their name and phone number on there so they

00:18:41.009 --> 00:18:43.970
can be notified if there is an accident anywhere

00:18:43.970 --> 00:18:46.490
on these routes where they take the bees. But

00:18:46.490 --> 00:18:48.869
believe it or not, the recommendations bring

00:18:48.869 --> 00:18:51.170
extra tape with you, like duct tape, things like

00:18:51.170 --> 00:18:54.410
that, especially on an accident because there's

00:18:54.410 --> 00:18:56.250
parts and pieces of the truck that were there,

00:18:56.329 --> 00:18:59.519
pallets, so you can get tears in your suit. and

00:18:59.519 --> 00:19:01.660
of course for taping up your suits like like

00:19:01.660 --> 00:19:03.700
we would do typically and you definitely want

00:19:03.700 --> 00:19:06.160
to do that in this situation and of course I

00:19:06.160 --> 00:19:09.220
can't blame anybody and I appreciate how we were

00:19:09.220 --> 00:19:12.720
provided beverages and food but my tip here is

00:19:12.720 --> 00:19:15.599
for the beekeepers or the responders eat before

00:19:15.599 --> 00:19:18.200
you go things like that because we were brought

00:19:18.200 --> 00:19:21.119
cases of lots of good stuff granola bars to eat

00:19:21.119 --> 00:19:23.279
and things but you're not exactly gonna unzip

00:19:23.279 --> 00:19:25.619
your hood to put some food in there not even

00:19:25.619 --> 00:19:28.650
for a second So that was a thing. Nobody could

00:19:28.650 --> 00:19:30.750
eat or drink. For example, the Gatorade, they

00:19:30.750 --> 00:19:32.849
brought us up against your hood and drink through

00:19:32.849 --> 00:19:36.049
it. Well, in this situation, you're trying to

00:19:36.049 --> 00:19:37.970
boy thousands of these. So it's just not a thing.

00:19:37.990 --> 00:19:40.390
So that was an issue. So I'm working that type

00:19:40.390 --> 00:19:42.190
of stuff into this plan I'm putting together.

00:19:42.829 --> 00:19:45.490
Yeah, I imagine to eat or drink or anything,

00:19:45.529 --> 00:19:47.630
you'd have to get a couple of hundred yards away

00:19:47.630 --> 00:19:50.849
even further and then think restroom as well.

00:19:50.910 --> 00:19:53.750
Yeah, restrooms and where there are hours in

00:19:53.750 --> 00:19:56.809
the heat. So most of us just opted not to eat

00:19:56.809 --> 00:19:59.029
or drink. It wasn't really an option, to be honest.

00:19:59.329 --> 00:20:01.349
It just was what it was. So yeah, that was a

00:20:01.349 --> 00:20:03.230
problem. And if you were in a place where it

00:20:03.230 --> 00:20:05.309
was 100 degrees out, you would have no choice.

00:20:05.309 --> 00:20:07.910
You would have to be drinking. You would. It

00:20:07.910 --> 00:20:11.730
was maybe 70 degrees for us. And we were burning

00:20:11.730 --> 00:20:13.710
up in the suits, of course, lifting all those

00:20:13.710 --> 00:20:17.990
hives. So imagine 90, 80, 100. Yeah, yeah, it

00:20:17.990 --> 00:20:21.049
warms up. Well, tell me a little bit about you

00:20:21.049 --> 00:20:23.910
and your beekeeping. Sure, I'm loosely what's

00:20:23.910 --> 00:20:26.130
called a treatment free beekeeper So I try to

00:20:26.130 --> 00:20:28.809
opt as much as possible for you know, no chemicals

00:20:28.809 --> 00:20:32.009
or treatments where where you can Also, I have

00:20:32.009 --> 00:20:34.970
what's called shungite beehives. Well, I'll kind

00:20:34.970 --> 00:20:37.509
of you know, what in the world is that? I know

00:20:37.509 --> 00:20:40.230
you're like what what is that? Long story short

00:20:40.230 --> 00:20:43.910
as I like to say shungite is a black rock It's

00:20:43.910 --> 00:20:46.750
a mineral that's carbon -based and it's found

00:20:46.750 --> 00:20:49.819
in Russia But what scientists have found out

00:20:49.819 --> 00:20:53.460
is that this mineral called shungite, S -H -U

00:20:53.460 --> 00:20:56.380
-N -G -I -T -E, for those who want to look it

00:20:56.380 --> 00:21:00.180
up, has an effect on frequencies within our environment.

00:21:01.180 --> 00:21:04.720
So one way I use it is I use the shungite powder,

00:21:05.019 --> 00:21:07.619
blend it with paint, paint the exterior of the

00:21:07.619 --> 00:21:10.039
beehive. And when I was in the military, we would

00:21:10.039 --> 00:21:13.019
call things like this Faraday cages. So what

00:21:13.019 --> 00:21:15.140
shungite does, and this has been proven already

00:21:15.140 --> 00:21:17.990
to have an effect. it'll stop much of those harmful

00:21:17.990 --> 00:21:20.650
frequencies that are under power lines, you know,

00:21:20.789 --> 00:21:23.529
Wi -Fi, cell phone, that stuff in our environment

00:21:23.529 --> 00:21:25.589
that does affect the bees, and it's been proven

00:21:25.589 --> 00:21:28.410
to have an effect on. So introducing shungite

00:21:28.410 --> 00:21:31.230
to that environment, you can say energetically,

00:21:31.650 --> 00:21:34.109
keep the bees calm. It keeps a lot of the harmful

00:21:34.109 --> 00:21:36.430
frequencies away from them. So when the bees

00:21:36.430 --> 00:21:39.690
are in their beehive recovering and sleeping

00:21:39.690 --> 00:21:42.410
at night, you can say they're healing themselves.

00:21:42.529 --> 00:21:44.710
So I don't have the colony collapse disorder

00:21:44.710 --> 00:21:48.609
losses. I had pre years using shungite on my

00:21:48.609 --> 00:21:50.930
hives. And I've got a lot of information on this

00:21:50.930 --> 00:21:54.589
on our website and the documented studies verifying

00:21:54.589 --> 00:21:57.170
shungite and its effects on energies and bees.

00:21:57.500 --> 00:21:59.980
and we'll put your website in our show notes

00:21:59.980 --> 00:22:03.079
so anybody that wants to go there mysticalwears

00:22:03.079 --> 00:22:06.859
.com it'll all be in there but so this is a regular

00:22:06.859 --> 00:22:09.660
langstroth hive and you call it shungite because

00:22:09.660 --> 00:22:12.059
of the coating you put on is that correct yeah

00:22:12.059 --> 00:22:14.680
we do and i actually put shungite nuggets so

00:22:14.680 --> 00:22:17.240
again it's a black rock um if you look at it

00:22:17.240 --> 00:22:20.660
at the entrance and what bees will do and i've

00:22:20.660 --> 00:22:23.380
recorded video of this for the most part so a

00:22:23.380 --> 00:22:25.240
highly percentage number of the bees that come

00:22:25.240 --> 00:22:27.990
and go from the hive will opt to land on the

00:22:27.990 --> 00:22:31.069
shungite, it energetically has an effect. And

00:22:31.069 --> 00:22:33.549
again, it's all about, I need the science, I

00:22:33.549 --> 00:22:35.329
won't get too much, but it's about the carbon

00:22:35.329 --> 00:22:38.210
-60 molecule that's in there. It's called a fullerene

00:22:38.210 --> 00:22:41.789
or a buckyball. Buckminster fuller, lots of scientists

00:22:41.789 --> 00:22:44.509
know about it and work with this. So when you

00:22:44.509 --> 00:22:47.930
use those aspects of it, and again, that buckyball

00:22:47.930 --> 00:22:51.130
or a carbon -60 molecule is what's inside of

00:22:51.130 --> 00:22:54.750
shungite that gives it these energetic aspects

00:22:54.750 --> 00:22:57.940
to it. And we're just using those effects of

00:22:57.940 --> 00:23:00.019
shungite in various ways on the beehives to help

00:23:00.019 --> 00:23:03.019
them. So you take this, you grind it up into

00:23:03.019 --> 00:23:04.880
a powder, and you mix it with paint. Is that

00:23:04.880 --> 00:23:07.200
how you explained it to me? Yeah, you actually

00:23:07.200 --> 00:23:08.960
do. So we actually have shungite powder you can

00:23:08.960 --> 00:23:11.619
buy, and you blend it in the paint, and then

00:23:11.619 --> 00:23:13.779
just paint the exterior of the beehive. We have

00:23:13.779 --> 00:23:15.779
rooms, and these have been made in Europe, called

00:23:15.779 --> 00:23:18.279
shungite rooms, where they'll line the walls

00:23:18.279 --> 00:23:22.220
with shungite and or shungite paint. My own clay

00:23:22.220 --> 00:23:24.400
is I brought it to the bees, but shungite's been

00:23:24.400 --> 00:23:27.220
around for a long time. Huh. I think you're going

00:23:27.220 --> 00:23:29.779
to be selling this stuff. I'll take some right

00:23:29.779 --> 00:23:31.559
now. I'll tell you what, Eric, you should go

00:23:31.559 --> 00:23:34.299
to our website because I've done this for seven

00:23:34.299 --> 00:23:36.859
years now. We've gifted free shungite to any

00:23:36.859 --> 00:23:39.099
beekeeper on the planet who's willing to try

00:23:39.099 --> 00:23:42.859
it. If you go to MrGores .com, request the free

00:23:42.859 --> 00:23:45.079
bee kit, you're just going to pay shipping. I'm

00:23:45.079 --> 00:23:46.700
giving it to you for free. You're going to get

00:23:46.700 --> 00:23:49.339
enough powder to make your own gallon of paint

00:23:49.339 --> 00:23:52.019
to paint your beehives and free shungite nuggets.

00:23:52.599 --> 00:23:55.019
And this whole explanation of how to use this

00:23:55.039 --> 00:23:58.500
And a lot of this, like 90 studies, scientific

00:23:58.500 --> 00:24:01.319
studies, not me doing them, I've republished

00:24:01.319 --> 00:24:04.180
on our website showing the effects shungite has.

00:24:04.519 --> 00:24:06.200
So for those that want to get into that part

00:24:06.200 --> 00:24:08.279
of it, it's all available as well. But again,

00:24:08.299 --> 00:24:11.539
we've been gifting this for many years now. Well,

00:24:11.700 --> 00:24:14.079
I didn't mean for this to turn into an infomercial,

00:24:14.099 --> 00:24:15.859
but if you're not making money on it, I guess

00:24:15.859 --> 00:24:19.640
it's not technically so. It's free. Yeah. Hey,

00:24:19.640 --> 00:24:23.079
that's pretty cool. All right. This is the time

00:24:23.079 --> 00:24:25.559
in an interview that I normally ask people to

00:24:25.559 --> 00:24:28.500
tell me their most wild and crazy beekeeping

00:24:28.500 --> 00:24:31.460
story that they can think of. I think you've

00:24:31.460 --> 00:24:34.019
accomplished that already. But can you think

00:24:34.019 --> 00:24:36.180
of anything else, something unusual that happened

00:24:36.180 --> 00:24:39.599
or something embarrassing or painful or give

00:24:39.599 --> 00:24:43.099
us something unusual? One unusual thing from

00:24:43.099 --> 00:24:45.579
my perspective was I found myself for various

00:24:45.579 --> 00:24:48.799
reasons. in the middle. I live in the Cascade

00:24:48.799 --> 00:24:50.680
Mountains here in Washington state, so a lot

00:24:50.680 --> 00:24:53.819
of snow at times. I find myself in a situation

00:24:53.819 --> 00:24:57.400
where I had to relocate three beehives in three

00:24:57.400 --> 00:25:01.039
or four feet of snow. So, and that means full

00:25:01.039 --> 00:25:02.480
beehives and they were probably stacked three

00:25:02.480 --> 00:25:04.779
or four boxes high left over the winter for that

00:25:04.779 --> 00:25:07.019
and there were somebody else's. So having to

00:25:07.019 --> 00:25:10.940
move those was a feat in itself, trying to get

00:25:10.940 --> 00:25:13.819
them up on there and through the snow and even

00:25:13.819 --> 00:25:16.940
though we sealed the openings on it and secured

00:25:16.940 --> 00:25:19.299
the boxes together. During the transport, some

00:25:19.299 --> 00:25:23.180
of the openings or the entrance blockers were

00:25:23.180 --> 00:25:26.079
damaged and were broken off and none of the bees

00:25:26.079 --> 00:25:29.099
tried to come out. Of course, it was pretty cold

00:25:29.099 --> 00:25:30.900
out, so that makes a lot of sense from that perspective,

00:25:31.000 --> 00:25:33.160
but it was interesting that we were able to successfully

00:25:33.160 --> 00:25:36.140
relocate the hives even during winter and we

00:25:36.140 --> 00:25:38.839
had complete success rates in the spring when

00:25:38.839 --> 00:25:41.549
they came out. Were those yours and did they

00:25:41.549 --> 00:25:44.009
just get left up there or what happened? It was

00:25:44.009 --> 00:25:46.410
a chain. I was consulting on these hives So they

00:25:46.410 --> 00:25:48.670
were shungite beehives as we call them So it

00:25:48.670 --> 00:25:50.950
was shungite introduced to them and then they

00:25:50.950 --> 00:25:53.869
were just Basically that land was commercial

00:25:53.869 --> 00:25:55.670
land and I don't know if it was moving hands

00:25:55.670 --> 00:25:57.630
or what was happening exactly But the beehives

00:25:57.630 --> 00:25:59.990
had to had to go off of there So I was the one

00:25:59.990 --> 00:26:02.789
showing up to relocate them and literally lift

00:26:02.789 --> 00:26:04.549
them up into the back of a truck I would didn't

00:26:04.549 --> 00:26:07.230
think for a second. It was gonna work or we'd

00:26:07.230 --> 00:26:08.970
be able to lift them that high in the middle

00:26:08.970 --> 00:26:11.309
of winter in the snow. But, you know, thank goodness

00:26:11.309 --> 00:26:13.970
that they lasted. They were covered. That's kind

00:26:13.970 --> 00:26:18.890
of bizarre. Yeah, it was unusual. Yeah, it's

00:26:18.890 --> 00:26:20.970
been pretty unusual with all my stories with

00:26:20.970 --> 00:26:23.789
the bees, to be honest. Well, Derek, I appreciate

00:26:23.789 --> 00:26:26.549
your time and I appreciate what you did for the

00:26:26.549 --> 00:26:29.930
bees in that rollover and helping everybody out

00:26:29.930 --> 00:26:34.109
there. So thanks for all you do. And hey, keep

00:26:34.109 --> 00:26:36.630
in touch. I will. Thank you. I appreciate you

00:26:36.630 --> 00:26:40.910
having me on the podcast. Thanks again for joining

00:26:40.910 --> 00:26:43.730
us here on Be Love Beekeeping presented by Man

00:26:43.730 --> 00:26:47.730
Lake. Remember right now to follow or subscribe

00:26:47.730 --> 00:26:51.150
and share this podcast. Also a quick shout out

00:26:51.150 --> 00:26:54.390
to Vita Bee Health for their support. Vita's

00:26:54.390 --> 00:26:57.609
Varroa Control range of products includes Apistan,

00:26:57.910 --> 00:27:01.930
Apigard, and now Varroxan Extended Release Oxalic

00:27:01.930 --> 00:27:05.619
Acid Strips. Thanks guys. And remember, if you're

00:27:05.619 --> 00:27:08.460
not just in it for the honey or the money, you're

00:27:08.460 --> 00:27:10.480
in it for the love. See you next week.