Sept. 4, 2025

New Beehive Design - 120 R-Value, Twice The Honey

New Beehive Design - 120 R-Value, Twice The Honey
The player is loading ...
New Beehive Design - 120 R-Value, Twice The Honey

This episode features a beekeeper-engineer’s quest to copy what a honey bee colony does naturally in a hollow tree—and to put that into a production hive.

Alex Gamberoni of Primal Bee, shares how repeated winter losses drove him and his co-founder to model nest shape, airflow, and dew point, ultimately designing the insulated, trapezoidal “Primal Bee” nest that aims to reduce winter losses (reported <10%, sometimes ~5%) and increase honey yields—without changing your honey supers or extractors.

Along the way, we cover forage in the Italian Alps, chestnut honey’s “sweet-then-spicy” flavor, and a delightfully chaotic bee-in-the-Jeep 'Wild & Crazy' beekeeping story.

Beekeeping takeaways abound for every beekeeper, from winter management and feeding density to why nest shape may matter more than insulation thickness for honey bee thermoregulation.

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

__________________

Video version of this episode: https://youtu.be/taiIW_Xpcrk

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

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

https://www.beelovebeekeeping.com/

Eric@BeeLoveBeekeeping.com

https://primalbee.com/

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09431-y

WEBVTT

00:00:00.240 --> 00:00:06.660
in a world brimming with complexity few creatures

00:00:06.660 --> 00:00:12.839
embody harmony like the honeybee with tireless

00:00:12.839 --> 00:00:17.699
precision she dances from bloom to bloom each

00:00:17.699 --> 00:00:22.399
motion guided by millennia upon millennia of

00:00:22.399 --> 00:00:28.800
instinct each act in service to the whole and

00:00:28.800 --> 00:00:34.560
then There are the beekeepers, watchful stewards

00:00:34.560 --> 00:00:40.479
of this ancient symbiosis. Part agriscientist,

00:00:40.840 --> 00:00:45.460
part poet, they move along their hives with the

00:00:45.460 --> 00:00:50.560
efficiency of mow, levy and curly, tending to

00:00:50.560 --> 00:00:54.219
the bee's needs as best they can comprehend,

00:00:54.859 --> 00:00:59.700
and with the infrequency of a waterfall in the

00:00:59.700 --> 00:01:05.599
Sahara, sometimes running off flapping and flailing

00:01:05.599 --> 00:01:12.120
like a penguin on a hot sidewalk. This is their

00:01:12.120 --> 00:01:22.980
journey. Welcome, welcome to Be Love, Be Keep

00:01:22.980 --> 00:01:26.069
being presented by Man Lake. we're going over

00:01:26.069 --> 00:01:29.030
to Europe again today to discuss a whole new

00:01:29.030 --> 00:01:32.370
kind of beehive design that creators claim can

00:01:32.370 --> 00:01:36.430
cut your winter colony losses down to five percent

00:01:36.430 --> 00:01:41.150
and double your honey yield. And our guest's

00:01:41.150 --> 00:01:43.930
wild and crazy beekeeping story is one for the

00:01:43.930 --> 00:01:47.329
ages. But first in beekeeping related news, a

00:01:47.329 --> 00:01:50.250
really sad story out of Ireland. Board -winning

00:01:50.250 --> 00:01:53.920
longtime beekeeper Kathleen Devine dies after

00:01:53.920 --> 00:01:57.140
suffering multiple stings. This was just earlier

00:01:57.140 --> 00:01:59.939
this week and details are still a little sketchy.

00:02:00.299 --> 00:02:03.959
One report has her being stung only twice. Another

00:02:03.959 --> 00:02:06.920
says it may have been up to 20 times. Either

00:02:06.920 --> 00:02:09.460
way, how does someone who's been beekeeping for

00:02:09.460 --> 00:02:13.759
decades suddenly die from a few stings? Well,

00:02:13.819 --> 00:02:17.000
here's what we do know. Kathleen was in her early

00:02:17.000 --> 00:02:20.560
70s and had recently taken a step back from beekeeping

00:02:20.560 --> 00:02:24.569
because she had quote, suffered some reactions

00:02:24.569 --> 00:02:28.050
from stings. Early Monday evening she went to

00:02:28.050 --> 00:02:31.050
help another beekeeper with his hives and that's

00:02:31.050 --> 00:02:34.409
when it all happened. She received stings, had

00:02:34.409 --> 00:02:37.449
a reaction, and was transferred by air ambulance

00:02:37.449 --> 00:02:41.370
to a hospital where she passed away. A post mortem

00:02:41.370 --> 00:02:44.479
examination will be carried out. I guess it's

00:02:44.479 --> 00:02:47.460
just a really sobering reminder that even though

00:02:47.460 --> 00:02:49.680
you haven't been allergic to bee stings in the

00:02:49.680 --> 00:02:52.699
past, you can develop an allergy in the future.

00:02:53.520 --> 00:02:56.840
If you have reactions, especially new ones, don't

00:02:56.840 --> 00:02:59.539
take them lightly. Seek proper medical advice.

00:03:00.139 --> 00:03:02.560
These situations are rare but they do happen

00:03:02.560 --> 00:03:05.719
so be careful out there and consider having an

00:03:05.719 --> 00:03:09.219
EpiPen on hand just in case. Mrs. Devine and

00:03:09.219 --> 00:03:12.580
her husband Des were hobby beekeepers. well loved

00:03:12.580 --> 00:03:15.560
by the local beekeeping community. They had won

00:03:15.560 --> 00:03:19.060
numerous prizes for their honey at various agricultural

00:03:19.060 --> 00:03:23.180
shows country -wide. Sympathies and prayers for

00:03:23.180 --> 00:03:26.340
her and her family at this time. On a more upbeat

00:03:26.340 --> 00:03:29.860
note, British and Danish researchers have just

00:03:29.860 --> 00:03:32.979
engineered a super food to protect honey bees

00:03:32.979 --> 00:03:35.960
from growing threats. Their results are published

00:03:35.960 --> 00:03:38.419
in the weekly science and technology journal

00:03:38.419 --> 00:03:42.030
Nature. The work we did here represents a major

00:03:42.030 --> 00:03:44.930
technology breakthrough for the beekeeping industry

00:03:44.930 --> 00:03:49.090
and for food security and global pollination,"

00:03:49.090 --> 00:03:52.189
noted University of Oxford researcher Professor

00:03:52.189 --> 00:03:55.909
Geraldine Wright. The scientists first identified

00:03:55.909 --> 00:03:59.050
the key compounds in pollen that benefit bees

00:03:59.050 --> 00:04:03.680
which involve six plant sterols. They then genetically

00:04:03.680 --> 00:04:07.520
engineered a strain of yeast to produce a precise

00:04:07.520 --> 00:04:10.639
mixture of these ingredients in a sustainable

00:04:10.639 --> 00:04:14.419
and affordable way. The colonies fed the superfood

00:04:14.419 --> 00:04:17.399
thrived and boosted reproduction when compared

00:04:17.399 --> 00:04:20.220
to the control group. There's a lot of scientific

00:04:20.220 --> 00:04:22.800
details. If you're interested, we'll post a link

00:04:22.800 --> 00:04:26.480
to the study in the show notes. Okay, let's get

00:04:26.480 --> 00:04:29.040
to our interview. By the way, if you like awesome

00:04:29.040 --> 00:04:32.079
Italian accents, you're going to love what's

00:04:32.079 --> 00:04:38.600
coming up. Hey, I'd like to welcome to the show

00:04:38.600 --> 00:04:41.220
today super special guest all the way coming

00:04:41.220 --> 00:04:44.300
to us from Italy, Alex Scamberoni. How are you

00:04:44.300 --> 00:04:47.990
doing today? I'm fine, I'm really very happy.

00:04:48.110 --> 00:04:52.750
I will harvest my last honey flow next Friday

00:04:52.750 --> 00:04:55.970
with the Primal Beehive in the mountains. So

00:04:55.970 --> 00:04:58.670
far so good. And we're going to be talking about

00:04:58.670 --> 00:05:01.290
Primal Beehive. That's one thing that I love

00:05:01.290 --> 00:05:04.730
doing on this show is finding out about new products

00:05:04.730 --> 00:05:08.709
and new ways to do things before we jump into

00:05:08.709 --> 00:05:11.079
that. I want to get into a little bit of your

00:05:11.079 --> 00:05:14.540
history. Tell me what got you into beekeeping

00:05:14.540 --> 00:05:17.199
and when, and then we'll kind of go from there.

00:05:17.699 --> 00:05:20.540
Yeah, actually, it's pretty easy. In my home

00:05:20.540 --> 00:05:26.600
village, we have two long, very long standing

00:05:26.600 --> 00:05:30.180
traditions, centuries old tradition. One is the

00:05:30.180 --> 00:05:33.839
silkworms. No one is working with silkworms in

00:05:33.839 --> 00:05:37.639
my area anymore. But beekeeping, oh, that's for

00:05:37.639 --> 00:05:41.939
sure. So since I was in elementary school, my

00:05:41.939 --> 00:05:46.620
mother would use it to buy honey from local beekeepers.

00:05:47.199 --> 00:05:51.040
And I always loved the smell of the beeswax of

00:05:51.040 --> 00:05:54.579
the honey. We mainly have two blossoms here,

00:05:54.939 --> 00:05:57.699
two main nectar flow. One is the acacia and the

00:05:57.699 --> 00:06:00.480
other one is the sweet chestnut, which is my

00:06:00.480 --> 00:06:04.990
preferred honey. So yeah. Years ago when I had

00:06:04.990 --> 00:06:09.569
finally time free time because I closed my machine

00:06:09.569 --> 00:06:12.490
tools company and I started to keep bees just

00:06:12.490 --> 00:06:16.970
for fun It was love at first sight. It was also

00:06:16.970 --> 00:06:20.470
a dream come true because Really where every

00:06:20.470 --> 00:06:24.050
time I I was making breakfast with the milk and

00:06:24.050 --> 00:06:28.269
honey from my local beekeepers I was always thinking

00:06:28.269 --> 00:06:31.689
I should have my own bees. So as soon as I was

00:06:31.689 --> 00:06:37.000
able but it was 2006, so almost 20 years ago,

00:06:37.360 --> 00:06:40.879
I started keeping bees by my own. So before we

00:06:40.879 --> 00:06:43.259
started recording, you were telling me about

00:06:43.259 --> 00:06:46.540
this sweet chestnut honey. Describe the flavor.

00:06:46.660 --> 00:06:49.699
What's it like? When it's really, really harvested

00:06:49.699 --> 00:06:53.920
at the right moment, it's really dense, dark.

00:06:54.459 --> 00:06:58.980
It's not black, but it's pretty brown, dark brown,

00:06:58.980 --> 00:07:04.279
and it has kind of two sensations the first one

00:07:04.279 --> 00:07:08.939
when you start testing it mainly is the sweet

00:07:08.939 --> 00:07:13.180
part of the chestnut that comes to you but then

00:07:13.180 --> 00:07:18.160
when it goes down into the throat it became I'll

00:07:18.160 --> 00:07:23.339
just say you said before spicy spicy and it's

00:07:23.339 --> 00:07:26.160
a kind of a second experience after a few seconds

00:07:26.160 --> 00:07:29.939
that that was I really like the most and yeah

00:07:29.939 --> 00:07:33.220
it's a It's everywhere here because from the

00:07:33.220 --> 00:07:36.279
hill behind my village up to the mountains in

00:07:36.279 --> 00:07:40.139
Switzerland, this part of the Alps, the valley

00:07:40.139 --> 00:07:44.399
that goes from the Lago Maggiore up to the main

00:07:44.399 --> 00:07:48.139
ridge of the Alps, it's full of sweet chestnut

00:07:48.139 --> 00:07:51.139
forest. So it's something that we really like

00:07:51.139 --> 00:07:54.019
a lot in the area, both on the Italian and on

00:07:54.019 --> 00:07:57.000
the Switzerland side. Here in the U .S. there's

00:07:57.000 --> 00:08:00.930
a thing called hot honey now. It's a spicy honey,

00:08:01.250 --> 00:08:04.269
but people are doing it by infusing things like

00:08:04.269 --> 00:08:07.430
jalapeno peppers in their honey. And it's really

00:08:07.430 --> 00:08:10.350
good, but I think it's a lot more fun when it

00:08:10.350 --> 00:08:13.069
just comes directly from the bees with whatever

00:08:13.069 --> 00:08:16.430
flavor it is. There's just something very special

00:08:16.430 --> 00:08:19.050
about that. What other kinds of things do they

00:08:19.050 --> 00:08:22.889
forage on in your area? The very first blossom

00:08:22.889 --> 00:08:28.250
is the wild cherry, following with apricots.

00:08:28.589 --> 00:08:32.490
And then we also have another English word for

00:08:32.490 --> 00:08:36.690
dandelion. Dandelion. Dandelion. And then we

00:08:36.690 --> 00:08:41.690
have acacia, on which we usually harvest honey.

00:08:42.549 --> 00:08:46.769
After acacia, we have wild flowers, different

00:08:46.769 --> 00:08:49.710
kind. And then it depends from the season. It

00:08:49.710 --> 00:08:55.990
could be late June, beginning of July, we have

00:08:55.990 --> 00:09:01.440
the sweet chestnut. Here, at the end of the Alps

00:09:01.440 --> 00:09:04.460
and the foothill, it's almost the last blossom

00:09:04.460 --> 00:09:08.019
that we have. Then we move up in the mountains,

00:09:08.480 --> 00:09:11.960
our colonies, to have a second wave of sweet

00:09:11.960 --> 00:09:16.759
chestnut and wild flowers until beginning of

00:09:16.759 --> 00:09:20.080
September, more or less. That's mainly what happened

00:09:20.080 --> 00:09:23.559
during the blossoming season. We go to the mountains

00:09:23.559 --> 00:09:26.480
because it's a time machine, it's a dramatic

00:09:26.480 --> 00:09:30.090
operation. So we go back in time to harvest more,

00:09:30.350 --> 00:09:32.970
at least to forage, to have the bee foraging

00:09:32.970 --> 00:09:37.549
on natural flowers and not feeding syrup so early

00:09:37.549 --> 00:09:40.710
in the season. Now climate -wise, how cold is

00:09:40.710 --> 00:09:42.629
it where you are? What are the winters like?

00:09:43.570 --> 00:09:48.409
It depends, but on average, we have winters that

00:09:48.409 --> 00:09:53.830
can be as cold as minus seven, minus 10 Celsius.

00:09:54.120 --> 00:09:58.519
that is about 14 degrees fahrenheit and then

00:09:58.519 --> 00:10:04.559
we have a hot summer that can be as hot as 36

00:10:04.559 --> 00:10:09.500
celsius which is kind of i think close to 90

00:10:09.500 --> 00:10:14.000
or 100 fahrenheit very humid okay and so that's

00:10:14.000 --> 00:10:16.519
a huge range did you find that you had a lot

00:10:16.519 --> 00:10:19.870
of winter die -off At the beginning, yes, and

00:10:19.870 --> 00:10:23.169
the problem was related to the dissipation of

00:10:23.169 --> 00:10:27.570
the hive. Nowadays, still, people using the dandt

00:10:27.570 --> 00:10:31.230
langstroth hives, they are used to feed not less

00:10:31.230 --> 00:10:36.629
than 26, even more, sometimes even 50 liters

00:10:36.629 --> 00:10:40.490
of syrup to overwinter colonies. And this comes

00:10:40.490 --> 00:10:44.149
with other problems like nosema disease because

00:10:44.149 --> 00:10:48.970
of those very liquid syrups. Since the first

00:10:48.970 --> 00:10:52.190
industrial prototype that we built, Giammario

00:10:52.190 --> 00:10:57.169
and I with Primal B, we went down to less than

00:10:57.169 --> 00:11:02.049
10 liters of CO2 over winter colony. And we also

00:11:02.049 --> 00:11:06.470
reduced the winter losses at the same time. In

00:11:06.470 --> 00:11:12.409
the actual version of the Primal B hive and the

00:11:12.409 --> 00:11:15.830
test that we did last winter, we went down to

00:11:15.830 --> 00:11:20.179
no more than 4 liters of syrup and less than

00:11:20.179 --> 00:11:24.340
10 % of colony losses. Actually, last winter

00:11:24.340 --> 00:11:31.080
we lost less than 5%. But on average, I'm comfortable

00:11:31.080 --> 00:11:36.139
to say that we can work with less than 10 % colony

00:11:36.139 --> 00:11:39.080
losses during the winter time. So I live in an

00:11:39.080 --> 00:11:43.720
area where the common losses is at least 50 %

00:11:43.720 --> 00:11:46.759
per year. It's just, it's very, very, it's very,

00:11:46.759 --> 00:11:49.200
very cold here in the winter and a lot of snow.

00:11:49.659 --> 00:11:52.840
And if your bees are weak, you know, from Varroa

00:11:52.840 --> 00:11:54.860
or whatever, or don't have enough food, they

00:11:54.860 --> 00:11:58.559
just, they just don't survive period. Now you

00:11:58.559 --> 00:12:02.419
were telling me previously that your first three

00:12:02.419 --> 00:12:06.259
years or so in beekeeping, you had a lot of losses.

00:12:08.240 --> 00:12:12.460
100%. Yeah. 100 % is a lot. And that was what

00:12:12.460 --> 00:12:16.519
led you and your partner into thinking there's

00:12:16.519 --> 00:12:19.240
got to be a better way. Tell me that story. How

00:12:19.240 --> 00:12:22.500
did that all come about? Yeah, actually, again,

00:12:22.500 --> 00:12:27.440
I had a wife and three small kids and I was not

00:12:27.440 --> 00:12:30.100
able to enjoy my family because of my previous

00:12:30.100 --> 00:12:34.139
job. I founded and owned a machine tools company

00:12:34.139 --> 00:12:37.120
with my brother and we were working. too much,

00:12:37.159 --> 00:12:40.200
too many hours, even all weekends. So when I

00:12:40.200 --> 00:12:42.700
decided with my brother to quit the company,

00:12:42.799 --> 00:12:47.460
to have a better lifetime, and I started to keep

00:12:47.460 --> 00:12:51.539
busy, I told Gianmario and he said, okay, let's

00:12:51.539 --> 00:12:54.919
do it together so we can spend more time together

00:12:54.919 --> 00:12:57.840
because Gianmario and I, we met at high school

00:12:57.840 --> 00:13:02.179
and I mean, you cannot choose your brothers,

00:13:02.220 --> 00:13:05.299
but if I could, it would have been John Mario.

00:13:05.919 --> 00:13:09.299
So we were always looking for each other to spend

00:13:09.299 --> 00:13:12.460
time in the mountains, climbing ice falls, ski

00:13:12.460 --> 00:13:15.279
touring, whatever it could be in the mountains.

00:13:16.019 --> 00:13:20.740
And bees in our area, they really were the first

00:13:20.740 --> 00:13:24.700
excuse to meet each other more often and to be

00:13:24.700 --> 00:13:28.299
outside in the outdoors. So we started together.

00:13:28.940 --> 00:13:32.379
But At the very beginning, as you said, for three

00:13:32.379 --> 00:13:36.820
years in a row, we lost everything. We were buying

00:13:36.820 --> 00:13:40.720
B package, not B package, nucleus at the beginning

00:13:40.720 --> 00:13:44.519
of spring. And we tried to harvest honey. We

00:13:44.519 --> 00:13:47.860
were not able to harvest even one drop of honey.

00:13:48.539 --> 00:13:52.419
And then by November, more or less, in the best

00:13:52.419 --> 00:13:57.519
case, it could have been January, all of our

00:13:57.519 --> 00:14:02.080
colony died. So we were really close to give

00:14:02.080 --> 00:14:08.460
up and then it was the fourth year and a friend

00:14:08.460 --> 00:14:13.639
of mine called me, the guy Herman from German

00:14:13.639 --> 00:14:16.519
origin, he is a professional tree climber and

00:14:16.519 --> 00:14:23.419
he was cutting down a huge cedar tree in a beautiful

00:14:23.419 --> 00:14:28.460
centuries old villa. in the park of this villa

00:14:28.460 --> 00:14:30.980
and he called me because he's allergic and he

00:14:30.980 --> 00:14:33.320
said, look, there is a swarm of bees here. I

00:14:33.320 --> 00:14:36.860
cannot do my job. People are paying me to do

00:14:36.860 --> 00:14:41.059
this job I cannot do. So just run, come here,

00:14:41.340 --> 00:14:44.740
grab the swarm and let me work. And when I arrived,

00:14:44.919 --> 00:14:47.440
that was not a swarm. That was a huge colony

00:14:47.440 --> 00:14:50.600
inside this incredible, huge hollow tree. I'm

00:14:50.600 --> 00:14:53.529
talking about a tree that was two meter maybe

00:14:53.529 --> 00:14:58.450
more at the bottom and up to 12 more or less

00:14:58.450 --> 00:15:02.809
12 meters high there was this hole in the in

00:15:02.809 --> 00:15:06.730
the hole tree and literally a black pipe of bees

00:15:06.730 --> 00:15:11.830
coming in and out pretty angry because chainsaw

00:15:11.830 --> 00:15:15.629
is not something they like they like so I was

00:15:15.629 --> 00:15:18.889
I was a fool actually because when I saw that

00:15:18.889 --> 00:15:22.250
thing I was thinking probably this is a I don't

00:15:22.250 --> 00:15:27.909
know, kind of a better strain of a queen. So

00:15:27.909 --> 00:15:32.230
with Hermann, he literally opened a one -meter

00:15:32.230 --> 00:15:35.990
door with the chain so that we were pushing the

00:15:35.990 --> 00:15:38.950
chain into the hollow tree until we saw honey

00:15:38.950 --> 00:15:42.429
coming in, not chips. And also I called Gianmario.

00:15:42.429 --> 00:15:46.610
Gianmario was giving a lecture at the university,

00:15:46.710 --> 00:15:49.519
and I remember him telling to the classroom.

00:15:50.500 --> 00:15:53.179
Okay, guys, the lesson is over. I have more important

00:15:53.179 --> 00:15:56.639
stuff to do. And one hour later, he was showing

00:15:56.639 --> 00:15:59.779
up in the place where Herman and I were trying

00:15:59.779 --> 00:16:03.379
to understand what was going on inside the tree.

00:16:03.879 --> 00:16:05.960
If you're a beekeeper like me, we're getting

00:16:05.960 --> 00:16:09.080
into that favorite time of year, honey harvest.

00:16:09.419 --> 00:16:11.980
But it can be a lot of work. That's where Man

00:16:11.980 --> 00:16:14.460
Lake comes in. They have everything you need

00:16:14.460 --> 00:16:17.940
to make the job easier, cleaner, and more efficient.

00:16:18.190 --> 00:16:21.909
Removal aids, refractometers, uncapping tools,

00:16:22.429 --> 00:16:25.529
extractors, tanks, wax melters, even the jars

00:16:25.529 --> 00:16:28.190
and labels. Plus they have free shipping on glass

00:16:28.190 --> 00:16:30.889
containers. Whether you're a hobbyist with two

00:16:30.889 --> 00:16:33.909
hives or a full -blown commercial operation,

00:16:34.570 --> 00:16:36.850
Man Lake has it all. And don't forget your discount

00:16:36.850 --> 00:16:40.629
code MLBlove10. It's in the show notes. For $10

00:16:40.629 --> 00:16:45.330
off your first $100 purchase. So we tried to

00:16:45.330 --> 00:16:49.700
move a colony that was with combs that were more

00:16:49.700 --> 00:16:55.360
than one meter high and there was four or six

00:16:55.360 --> 00:16:59.440
those huge combs and and we were trying to move

00:16:59.440 --> 00:17:03.179
this colony into the dam which is pretty much

00:17:03.179 --> 00:17:06.240
the same of a Langstroth wooden hive and now

00:17:06.240 --> 00:17:11.460
when I look back of this event I cannot believe

00:17:11.460 --> 00:17:14.440
how full I was because even in terms of volume

00:17:14.440 --> 00:17:17.779
that doesn't fit that it was not possible. we

00:17:17.779 --> 00:17:20.839
killed that colony actually and that was very

00:17:20.839 --> 00:17:24.539
very sad. Gianmario didn't sleep he went back

00:17:24.539 --> 00:17:28.160
to his lab and the day after he woke me up telling

00:17:28.160 --> 00:17:31.559
me we need to change the box because what we

00:17:31.559 --> 00:17:35.819
really what he really did was to redesign everything

00:17:35.819 --> 00:17:40.259
in a three -dimensional software where he can

00:17:40.259 --> 00:17:45.640
assign mechanical and thermal property to every

00:17:45.640 --> 00:17:48.240
component that he designed. He designed the holotree,

00:17:48.460 --> 00:17:51.160
the combs and the bees in a way that he could

00:17:51.160 --> 00:17:55.799
apply mathematical simulation, mainly Navier

00:17:55.799 --> 00:18:00.519
-Stroke's equation to understand what was going

00:18:00.519 --> 00:18:04.259
on inside, starting from the idea that they need

00:18:04.259 --> 00:18:09.619
to keep energy in a better way in order to have

00:18:09.619 --> 00:18:13.480
those huge combs that we saw. the following morning

00:18:13.480 --> 00:18:18.440
when he woke me up he told me look in your email

00:18:18.440 --> 00:18:21.880
so I look at the email and I saw this drawing

00:18:21.880 --> 00:18:24.960
that he built with the mathematical simulation

00:18:24.960 --> 00:18:28.180
and the drawing was showing me a different shape

00:18:28.180 --> 00:18:31.779
mainly a different shape of a comb compared to

00:18:31.779 --> 00:18:35.720
the dead ant we were working with the same day

00:18:35.720 --> 00:18:39.619
we started prototyping something that was kind

00:18:39.619 --> 00:18:43.789
of simulation of the hollow tree And from that

00:18:43.789 --> 00:18:47.210
moment on, we built many, many different kinds

00:18:47.210 --> 00:18:51.750
of prototypes, even from concrete. And you can

00:18:51.750 --> 00:18:57.789
imagine an empty hive made of concrete, 80 kilo

00:18:57.789 --> 00:19:01.690
of a prototype. And we were trying to move those

00:19:01.690 --> 00:19:05.269
empty hives waiting, just the hardware was waiting

00:19:05.269 --> 00:19:09.210
80 kilo. And then we put bees inside and swarm

00:19:09.210 --> 00:19:13.380
and testing. we started really seeing differences

00:19:13.380 --> 00:19:19.240
in the colony behavior. So we improved our prototype

00:19:19.240 --> 00:19:24.259
and then as he was and he still was last year

00:19:24.259 --> 00:19:27.220
a professor at university in Lugano, we were

00:19:27.220 --> 00:19:31.720
allowed to apply mainly from what is the Swiss

00:19:31.720 --> 00:19:35.990
startup ecosystem. We realized after me visiting

00:19:35.990 --> 00:19:39.430
the U .S. relatives and traveling and asking

00:19:39.430 --> 00:19:42.589
to meet beekeepers in the U .S., we realized

00:19:42.589 --> 00:19:45.569
that we may have a business opportunity or something

00:19:45.569 --> 00:19:48.789
that eventually could be good for the beekeeping

00:19:48.789 --> 00:19:54.029
community worldwide. But we like the money, so

00:19:54.029 --> 00:19:57.349
we applied for competition, kind of the shark

00:19:57.349 --> 00:20:03.019
tanks that you have in the U .S. pretty much

00:20:03.019 --> 00:20:06.640
everything that we could win in the ecosystem

00:20:06.640 --> 00:20:09.779
in Switzerland. And with that money, we built

00:20:09.779 --> 00:20:13.500
better prototypes and we traveled extensively,

00:20:13.500 --> 00:20:17.940
I may say, for three weeks from Southern California

00:20:17.940 --> 00:20:20.900
to Vancouver Island and from Baltimore to Atlanta

00:20:20.900 --> 00:20:26.019
in three weeks, meeting every beekeeper that

00:20:26.019 --> 00:20:30.019
was willing to meet us, hobbyists, sideliners,

00:20:30.420 --> 00:20:33.359
commercials. Everybody that was willing to meet

00:20:33.359 --> 00:20:36.819
us, we were willing to spend our time and sharing

00:20:36.819 --> 00:20:39.539
our experience and learning along the way. So

00:20:39.539 --> 00:20:42.640
when we came back, we decided to build something

00:20:42.640 --> 00:20:46.799
better from the previous prototype. And we made

00:20:46.799 --> 00:20:50.900
the mistake to think that that could be the product

00:20:50.900 --> 00:20:53.980
to put on the market. And we really under evaluated

00:20:53.980 --> 00:20:57.500
the amount of time, the amount of effort and

00:20:57.500 --> 00:21:00.529
the amount of money that we needed. to enter

00:21:00.529 --> 00:21:03.509
a market and then the pandemic hit and with the

00:21:03.509 --> 00:21:07.849
pandemic we were in where I live I live less

00:21:07.849 --> 00:21:13.289
than one hour from the very hot spot first hot

00:21:13.289 --> 00:21:17.509
spot of the pandemic in Europe because I am between

00:21:17.509 --> 00:21:20.250
Milano and Lugano between Italy and Switzerland

00:21:20.250 --> 00:21:24.569
and the first hot spot was a small village just

00:21:24.569 --> 00:21:28.049
south was from Milano so we were stuck in our

00:21:28.240 --> 00:21:32.779
houses no not allowed even to go outside in our

00:21:32.779 --> 00:21:37.859
street we decided to do something and to redesign

00:21:37.859 --> 00:21:40.819
everything from scratch this time knowing what

00:21:40.819 --> 00:21:44.720
the performance could be but also scaling down

00:21:44.720 --> 00:21:47.700
the manufacturing cost. Because before the pandemic,

00:21:48.140 --> 00:21:51.779
when we realized that we can really deliver something

00:21:51.779 --> 00:21:55.180
better for the colony, we traveled also to test

00:21:55.180 --> 00:21:58.380
our solution. So we delivered some of the previous

00:21:58.380 --> 00:22:02.960
version in the very hot Negev desert in Israel,

00:22:03.039 --> 00:22:06.779
but also we over winter colony in Alaska, few

00:22:06.779 --> 00:22:11.089
hours. westward from Anchorage on the Kinaipan

00:22:11.089 --> 00:22:15.609
Isola. And when we were able to talk again, to

00:22:15.609 --> 00:22:18.569
travel again and meeting potential suppliers

00:22:18.569 --> 00:22:24.670
in US and in Europe, we knew that we could deliver

00:22:24.670 --> 00:22:29.750
a good hive, a primal bee hive at a fair retail

00:22:29.750 --> 00:22:34.769
price and all the related activity that we needed

00:22:34.769 --> 00:22:36.980
to do. I just want to catch up and make sure

00:22:36.980 --> 00:22:40.039
we're on the same page here. So we've got a couple

00:22:40.039 --> 00:22:44.500
of brothers living in Italy in Switzerland and

00:22:44.500 --> 00:22:48.180
the winter is killing off your bees and then

00:22:48.180 --> 00:22:53.420
you come across this giant hive in a hollow tree

00:22:53.420 --> 00:22:57.690
end up cutting it apart and realize None of the

00:22:57.690 --> 00:23:00.650
beehives being made right now are good old buddy

00:23:00.650 --> 00:23:04.130
Langstroth. It doesn't fit what bees actually

00:23:04.130 --> 00:23:07.990
do inside a hollow tree. So that's what we're

00:23:07.990 --> 00:23:10.490
going to do. And we're going to figure out how

00:23:10.490 --> 00:23:13.410
to do it. So so a couple of you guys, are you

00:23:13.410 --> 00:23:16.380
both engineers or just? Your brother. Gianmario

00:23:16.380 --> 00:23:21.420
is an engineer. I am by college. I am a mechanic,

00:23:21.640 --> 00:23:25.559
a mechanical technician. I was used to design

00:23:25.559 --> 00:23:29.440
machine tools, huge CNC machine tools. So our

00:23:29.440 --> 00:23:31.859
background is both mechanical, but I was more

00:23:31.859 --> 00:23:34.440
on the manufacturing side and Gianmario was more

00:23:34.440 --> 00:23:37.500
on the theoretical and simulation side of the

00:23:37.500 --> 00:23:40.140
mechanical stuff. So you guys know how to design

00:23:40.140 --> 00:23:42.789
and build things. And you came up with what sounds

00:23:42.789 --> 00:23:45.450
like a good design. At what point did you say,

00:23:46.170 --> 00:23:49.210
hey, this thing weighs way, way, way, way too

00:23:49.210 --> 00:23:51.930
much to be practical. We're going to shift to

00:23:51.930 --> 00:23:55.089
polystyrene. What made you think that's the material

00:23:55.089 --> 00:23:59.170
you wanted to use? Actually, it's a bit different.

00:24:00.009 --> 00:24:03.230
First, thanks to John Mario's simulation and

00:24:03.230 --> 00:24:07.529
then to the first prototype that we did, we realized

00:24:07.529 --> 00:24:12.640
that we have a good explanation. about the whole

00:24:12.640 --> 00:24:16.640
system. So the colony, the bees, the hardware

00:24:16.640 --> 00:24:20.039
where you keep the bees, the hive and the outside

00:24:20.039 --> 00:24:22.880
temperature, the outside environment, which means

00:24:22.880 --> 00:24:26.920
mainly temperature and seasonality. From that

00:24:26.920 --> 00:24:31.940
good explanation, we then decided to build something

00:24:31.940 --> 00:24:35.940
and we can build with different materials. But

00:24:35.940 --> 00:24:40.890
when we went down to manufacturing cost, I grade,

00:24:41.250 --> 00:24:45.150
high density, food grade EPS. It's a technology

00:24:45.150 --> 00:24:50.730
that is mature, I may say, and can be used at

00:24:50.730 --> 00:24:54.950
scale. So when we were thinking about the U .S.

00:24:55.150 --> 00:24:58.309
market and the huge number that bees are in the

00:24:58.309 --> 00:25:00.490
U .S. market and in North America, generally

00:25:00.490 --> 00:25:04.430
speaking, we realized that we really need something

00:25:04.430 --> 00:25:08.309
that can be used at scale. And so we started

00:25:08.309 --> 00:25:11.400
the partnering up with one of the best companies

00:25:11.400 --> 00:25:16.440
in Europe. They are now our first supplier and

00:25:16.440 --> 00:25:20.140
they manage that technology very well. They manage

00:25:20.140 --> 00:25:22.680
the technology so well that they are now helping

00:25:22.680 --> 00:25:27.160
us to move the manufacturing into the U .S. And

00:25:27.160 --> 00:25:30.880
this is not only because of the wonderful tariff

00:25:30.880 --> 00:25:35.619
that we love so much. Yeah, but also because

00:25:35.619 --> 00:25:39.250
even before that, we are paying transportation

00:25:39.250 --> 00:25:41.049
costs because now we are shipping containers

00:25:41.049 --> 00:25:43.769
from Europe to the US and this is killing us

00:25:43.769 --> 00:25:47.130
in terms of cost and time to deliver. So the

00:25:47.130 --> 00:25:50.309
idea to move the manufacturing process in the

00:25:50.309 --> 00:25:54.589
US was born more than one year ago when we closed

00:25:54.589 --> 00:25:58.410
our seed round and then we waited to have the

00:25:58.410 --> 00:26:02.500
first good and not good feedback from the early

00:26:02.500 --> 00:26:06.539
adopters in the US, not only hobbyist, but also

00:26:06.539 --> 00:26:09.539
commercial guy, because there are a few features

00:26:09.539 --> 00:26:12.240
that we really need to change in order to allow

00:26:12.240 --> 00:26:15.500
those people to work with Primal B and to take

00:26:15.500 --> 00:26:20.240
advantage of the results. So now we are planning

00:26:20.240 --> 00:26:22.880
to have manufacturing up and running by the end

00:26:22.880 --> 00:26:26.059
of the year in the US. Hopefully, we will be

00:26:26.059 --> 00:26:29.720
able to deliver from the US in February. On the

00:26:29.720 --> 00:26:32.640
video version of this podcast, I'm going to insert

00:26:32.640 --> 00:26:35.200
some pictures of what this actually looks like

00:26:35.200 --> 00:26:37.880
for those that are just listening to the audio.

00:26:38.140 --> 00:26:42.019
I want you to describe what does your hive actually

00:26:42.019 --> 00:26:44.299
look like because it doesn't look like a regular

00:26:44.299 --> 00:26:47.819
Langstroth hive or even a top bar hive. Yeah

00:26:47.819 --> 00:26:51.740
okay in the primal bee hive we changed the nest

00:26:51.740 --> 00:26:53.900
and the nest only this is the first things that

00:26:53.900 --> 00:26:56.500
people need to know there's no need to change

00:26:56.500 --> 00:26:59.480
extraction equipment for our vesting honey because

00:26:59.480 --> 00:27:03.460
we can put supers above the nest as usual and

00:27:03.460 --> 00:27:08.160
in our supers the beekeeper can still use the

00:27:08.160 --> 00:27:11.480
deep or the medium langstroth frames that he's

00:27:11.480 --> 00:27:15.259
already working with. But the nest itself is

00:27:15.259 --> 00:27:19.400
a different shape because the shape of the nest

00:27:19.400 --> 00:27:24.490
really, really matters. in terms of thermal efficiency.

00:27:25.210 --> 00:27:27.710
It's much more the shape than the insulation.

00:27:28.470 --> 00:27:32.329
You can insulate a lag strut or a double dip

00:27:32.329 --> 00:27:36.029
as much as you want, as much as you can, but

00:27:36.029 --> 00:27:39.130
you cannot go... even closer to the performance

00:27:39.130 --> 00:27:43.710
that we can achieve using LA Primal B Nest which

00:27:43.710 --> 00:27:47.529
is made by eight frames with the trapezoidal

00:27:47.529 --> 00:27:55.170
shape they are as high as 70 centimeters 700

00:27:55.170 --> 00:27:59.309
millimeters and you have this trapezoidal shape

00:27:59.309 --> 00:28:02.109
because especially at the spring at the end of

00:28:02.109 --> 00:28:06.809
the winter in the spring build up The upper part

00:28:06.809 --> 00:28:11.210
of our frames provide a larger surface for the

00:28:11.210 --> 00:28:16.009
colony to develop and a whole single surface

00:28:16.009 --> 00:28:20.230
from top to bottom. These allow the queen to

00:28:20.230 --> 00:28:25.150
lay eggs in a more efficient way. That means

00:28:25.150 --> 00:28:28.150
that with the same amount of energy, they can

00:28:28.150 --> 00:28:33.069
have larger surface of brood, which also means

00:28:33.069 --> 00:28:37.259
every cycle you have more bees that can go back

00:28:37.259 --> 00:28:41.180
into the system to perform when you have those

00:28:41.180 --> 00:28:45.220
eight frames one stuck by the other then you

00:28:45.220 --> 00:28:48.240
have something that is a little bit bigger than

00:28:48.240 --> 00:28:52.720
a double deep and the external dimensions are

00:28:52.720 --> 00:28:56.140
such that you can place four primer bee nests

00:28:56.140 --> 00:29:00.339
on a four -way palette so that the external dimension

00:29:00.339 --> 00:29:08.329
is four centimeters wide and 60 cm length. On

00:29:08.329 --> 00:29:13.349
top of this nest, we put a nest lid, what we

00:29:13.349 --> 00:29:17.289
call a nest lid, an empty super and a top lid

00:29:17.289 --> 00:29:23.849
for a total amount of more than 120 air value

00:29:23.849 --> 00:29:26.829
as a closure of the cross -section of the nest

00:29:26.829 --> 00:29:31.740
and this provides most of the efficiency that

00:29:31.740 --> 00:29:36.900
we can deliver to the colony. Did you say 120

00:29:36.900 --> 00:29:40.319
R value? Yeah, it depends which kind of empty

00:29:40.319 --> 00:29:43.799
super you can use, but we are between 120 and

00:29:43.799 --> 00:29:50.440
150 as the wall call it winter closure of the

00:29:50.440 --> 00:29:54.500
nest, which is made by three components. Nest

00:29:54.500 --> 00:29:59.519
lead, empty super, one empty super made of a

00:29:59.519 --> 00:30:04.779
solid APS and the top lid and the nylon strap

00:30:04.779 --> 00:30:07.859
to tie everything together. The coupling profile

00:30:07.859 --> 00:30:11.160
between the components is that such which is

00:30:11.160 --> 00:30:16.660
airtight. So the air inside the empty super provide

00:30:16.660 --> 00:30:19.119
better insulation. And when we overwinter in

00:30:19.119 --> 00:30:22.880
Alaska, we instead of just an empty super, we

00:30:22.880 --> 00:30:28.240
put kind of a mattress of additional EPS as an

00:30:28.240 --> 00:30:31.259
insulation material to better survive the long

00:30:31.259 --> 00:30:34.299
Alaska winter. And the same thing goes when you

00:30:34.299 --> 00:30:38.380
are in very hot climate. Yeah. Let me just interpret

00:30:38.380 --> 00:30:41.559
this for everybody a little bit. So this does

00:30:41.559 --> 00:30:44.579
not look like a normal beehive. You see this

00:30:44.579 --> 00:30:49.420
EPS material and the brood box, there's not two,

00:30:49.539 --> 00:30:52.099
there's one, and you call it a nest, which I

00:30:52.099 --> 00:30:55.200
absolutely love that term, by the way, the frames

00:30:55.200 --> 00:30:58.789
inside are you said 70 centimeters, which is

00:30:58.789 --> 00:31:04.170
about 27 and a half inches tall. Exactly. And

00:31:04.170 --> 00:31:07.269
the width is roughly the regular width. Yeah,

00:31:07.269 --> 00:31:10.210
a little shorter, a little bit shorter. Just

00:31:10.210 --> 00:31:14.609
a little bit shorter. And so in the nest, you're

00:31:14.609 --> 00:31:17.630
going to be pulling out frames that are 27 and

00:31:17.630 --> 00:31:22.009
a half inches tall. Now, above that goes a brood

00:31:22.009 --> 00:31:24.529
box made out of the same material, same kind

00:31:24.529 --> 00:31:29.180
of insulation. But we can put our regular Langstroth

00:31:29.180 --> 00:31:33.059
frames in it. Exactly. Which also means we can

00:31:33.059 --> 00:31:36.079
pull them out and put them in our regular extractors.

00:31:36.119 --> 00:31:38.619
We don't have to do anything special, different,

00:31:38.819 --> 00:31:41.019
or anything else to extract honey from them.

00:31:41.420 --> 00:31:45.509
That's a big deal. Yeah, and also because we

00:31:45.509 --> 00:31:47.970
don't want to harvest the honey from the primal

00:31:47.970 --> 00:31:52.630
bee nest frames, matched with the thermal efficiency

00:31:52.630 --> 00:31:56.309
of the nest itself, this is why we can really

00:31:56.309 --> 00:31:59.250
feed less and less compared to every other solution.

00:31:59.809 --> 00:32:04.009
Because the cluster of the bees during the winter

00:32:04.009 --> 00:32:07.150
start at the very bottom of the primal bee frames

00:32:07.150 --> 00:32:11.119
and then the cluster moves very, very little

00:32:11.119 --> 00:32:16.759
by little upwards when they need some honey for

00:32:16.759 --> 00:32:20.779
the winter consumption. But most of the time,

00:32:21.180 --> 00:32:25.359
between 10 and 12 centimeters of honey on top

00:32:25.359 --> 00:32:28.880
of the frame is more than enough to overwinter

00:32:28.880 --> 00:32:32.960
the colony, at least in the place where we made

00:32:32.960 --> 00:32:36.240
our experiment. Okay, now your R value, you mentioned

00:32:36.240 --> 00:32:39.619
120. which I don't know of anything that's that

00:32:39.619 --> 00:32:43.380
high in our regular length strut hives, which

00:32:43.380 --> 00:32:46.059
are three quarter inch wood. I believe the R

00:32:46.059 --> 00:32:50.059
value is like one or two. Yeah, maybe five. It

00:32:50.059 --> 00:32:53.880
depends from the thickness of the play. So hardly

00:32:53.880 --> 00:32:58.000
insulated at all, but a big fat tree has a ton

00:32:58.000 --> 00:33:01.200
of insulation. So you're trying to reproduce

00:33:01.200 --> 00:33:05.599
this tree like atmosphere. The last thing I don't

00:33:05.599 --> 00:33:08.319
want to get too technical here. But could you

00:33:08.319 --> 00:33:10.859
talk about the thermal dynamics just a little

00:33:10.859 --> 00:33:14.200
bit? Because we've had various people on the

00:33:14.200 --> 00:33:18.680
show talking about how important airflow is even

00:33:18.680 --> 00:33:21.940
when it's really cold in the winter. And other

00:33:21.940 --> 00:33:25.039
philosophies are, no, shut them down and don't

00:33:25.039 --> 00:33:28.140
have very much airflow at all. What's the airflow

00:33:28.140 --> 00:33:32.140
like on this? The critical point is the dew point.

00:33:32.799 --> 00:33:36.500
People that are used to open some hole or something

00:33:36.970 --> 00:33:41.289
on top of the nest, they do so because they think

00:33:41.289 --> 00:33:44.329
that the circulation of air between the bottom

00:33:44.329 --> 00:33:50.619
and the top can help the bees to evacuate. to

00:33:50.619 --> 00:33:54.720
put away the moisture inside the nest. But the

00:33:54.720 --> 00:33:57.480
real question is why those colonies have moisture

00:33:57.480 --> 00:34:00.740
inside the nest? And the answer is because the

00:34:00.740 --> 00:34:04.359
dew point is inside the nest. So when you provide

00:34:04.359 --> 00:34:07.740
because of the shape and then the material, you

00:34:07.740 --> 00:34:11.769
provide such thermal efficiency. we move the

00:34:11.769 --> 00:34:15.190
dew point outside. That means that they don't

00:34:15.190 --> 00:34:19.130
need an air flow inside the nest during winter

00:34:19.130 --> 00:34:21.789
time. They need to stabilize the temperature

00:34:21.789 --> 00:34:26.170
and to do that with the minimal effort possible,

00:34:26.230 --> 00:34:28.869
with the minimal possible effort in a way that

00:34:28.869 --> 00:34:33.690
they really can keep the queen alive at the right

00:34:33.690 --> 00:34:38.630
temperature, almost just with their metabolic

00:34:38.630 --> 00:34:41.769
energy. That goes with the less consumption during

00:34:41.769 --> 00:34:46.010
the winter passage and at the beginning of spring

00:34:46.010 --> 00:34:50.010
when the cluster opens up and the queen understands

00:34:50.010 --> 00:34:52.309
that the queen feels that it's time to lay eggs,

00:34:53.090 --> 00:34:56.789
this operation to open the cluster and to raise

00:34:56.789 --> 00:35:00.440
the temperature from the winter queen passage

00:35:00.440 --> 00:35:05.119
to the brood temperature of 36 degrees comes

00:35:05.119 --> 00:35:10.460
with the five or even more five times less effort

00:35:10.460 --> 00:35:13.860
than compared to the landstock hive. This is

00:35:13.860 --> 00:35:17.429
key because And this is much more related to

00:35:17.429 --> 00:35:21.150
the shape of the nest than the material itself.

00:35:21.269 --> 00:35:23.449
This is one of the things that we struggle the

00:35:23.449 --> 00:35:27.349
most to communicate because insulation is easy

00:35:27.349 --> 00:35:31.929
to understand. And even in our own houses, we

00:35:31.929 --> 00:35:35.230
see that when we put insulation in the house,

00:35:35.670 --> 00:35:38.690
we can consume less energy to stay warm during

00:35:38.690 --> 00:35:43.190
the winter. But the shape is really key. One

00:35:43.190 --> 00:35:46.630
of the things that Gianmario always try to explain

00:35:46.630 --> 00:35:51.610
to me first is a comparison between the shape,

00:35:51.829 --> 00:35:56.570
the small difference in shapes on a race car.

00:35:56.869 --> 00:36:01.090
When they change millimeters of the spoiler of

00:36:01.090 --> 00:36:05.110
the wings or whatever, the effect, the downside

00:36:05.110 --> 00:36:08.070
effect or the differences in the performance,

00:36:08.289 --> 00:36:11.050
it's huge. And mainly this is the same thing,

00:36:11.710 --> 00:36:15.099
changing the nest the shape of the nest improve

00:36:15.099 --> 00:36:18.239
a lot what the bees can do. And the bees, they

00:36:18.239 --> 00:36:21.920
know better than us. So when they feel they are

00:36:21.920 --> 00:36:28.380
in a nest that is well made and easy to manage,

00:36:28.820 --> 00:36:32.940
they just act doing what they do best. So the

00:36:32.940 --> 00:36:35.420
conservation of energy and the better use of

00:36:35.420 --> 00:36:39.420
resources is in their DNA, and they just keep

00:36:39.420 --> 00:36:43.070
doing what they were able to do for. billions

00:36:43.070 --> 00:36:45.409
of years, for many, many years, thousands of

00:36:45.409 --> 00:36:49.010
years. And they go back to do what they were

00:36:49.010 --> 00:36:54.389
used to do before wrong wooden highs. Have you

00:36:54.389 --> 00:36:57.389
found that the bees also produce more honey?

00:36:57.650 --> 00:37:00.949
And if so, why? Correct. The bees produce more

00:37:00.949 --> 00:37:04.409
honey because, again, it's in their DNA. They

00:37:04.409 --> 00:37:09.030
know that when the net flow comes, it's time

00:37:09.030 --> 00:37:14.579
to put energy let's say in the ziagonal cells

00:37:14.579 --> 00:37:17.400
for when the winter will come and they don't

00:37:17.400 --> 00:37:21.000
have a limit. I mean, the limit is the nectar

00:37:21.000 --> 00:37:25.619
flow itself. So when they understand by instinct

00:37:25.619 --> 00:37:30.199
that they don't need so much energy to keep the

00:37:30.199 --> 00:37:33.400
temperature of the brood inside the nest, they

00:37:33.400 --> 00:37:37.380
keep going harvesting nectar and this nectar

00:37:37.719 --> 00:37:40.920
will not be used during the same season, will

00:37:40.920 --> 00:37:44.380
be stored for the winter to come. The key point

00:37:44.380 --> 00:37:48.139
in the primal bee is that using the same last

00:37:48.139 --> 00:37:51.320
medium or deep to harvest honey and having the

00:37:51.320 --> 00:37:55.300
nest which consume, which require so less energy

00:37:55.300 --> 00:37:58.400
compared to what we were used to work with, it's

00:37:58.400 --> 00:38:01.460
a win -win situation because what we leave into

00:38:01.460 --> 00:38:05.860
the nest for the colony is enough. or close to

00:38:05.860 --> 00:38:09.860
enough to survive an average winter everywhere

00:38:09.860 --> 00:38:13.820
in Europe and I can say everywhere in the US,

00:38:14.039 --> 00:38:18.239
maybe excluding Alaska or the cold state or the

00:38:18.239 --> 00:38:22.179
northeast of the US. But at the same time, we

00:38:22.179 --> 00:38:25.179
can harvest more honey. And from the comparison

00:38:25.179 --> 00:38:28.239
that we have already done in Europe and in Israel,

00:38:28.670 --> 00:38:32.289
On average, we harvest double the quantity compared

00:38:32.289 --> 00:38:35.010
to the wooden Langstock type. Sometimes it's

00:38:35.010 --> 00:38:37.929
even more, it depends. There are beekeepers in

00:38:37.929 --> 00:38:41.969
my area working with Primal Bee. They are already

00:38:41.969 --> 00:38:46.320
used to harvest the wild cherry honey. which

00:38:46.320 --> 00:38:49.440
is something that people forgot about because

00:38:49.440 --> 00:38:53.400
since the Varroa came in and the colony became

00:38:53.400 --> 00:38:57.000
weaker and weaker they were not able to harvest

00:38:57.000 --> 00:39:00.659
the wild cherry which is the very very first

00:39:00.659 --> 00:39:03.440
blossom that we have but with the primal bee

00:39:03.440 --> 00:39:06.780
and overwintery a strong colony and now they

00:39:06.780 --> 00:39:09.820
start going back to collect this honey that has

00:39:09.820 --> 00:39:12.380
not been collected since the 18 more or less.

00:39:12.710 --> 00:39:15.190
Alright, so what I'm gonna say, and I don't want

00:39:15.190 --> 00:39:17.550
this to sound rude in any way shape or form,

00:39:18.070 --> 00:39:21.210
you're putting a lot of promises out there, right?

00:39:21.449 --> 00:39:24.429
Less bee die -off, twice as much honey made.

00:39:25.210 --> 00:39:28.889
I decided to put this thing to the test and your

00:39:28.889 --> 00:39:32.150
marketing people were kind enough to send me

00:39:32.150 --> 00:39:35.630
one of your hives, the whole package, and even

00:39:35.630 --> 00:39:38.989
though This is going to be close to the end of

00:39:38.989 --> 00:39:41.969
August before I get bees in it. I'm going to

00:39:41.969 --> 00:39:44.949
try one this year and see how these bees overwinter.

00:39:45.530 --> 00:39:48.289
That's probably not fair because that's not enough

00:39:48.289 --> 00:39:50.349
of a head start before winter. Now you will need

00:39:50.349 --> 00:39:55.289
to feed them probably very very dense syrup as

00:39:55.289 --> 00:39:59.289
dense as honey and not less than probably between

00:39:59.289 --> 00:40:02.940
8 and 12 kilo. until they will build at least

00:40:02.940 --> 00:40:06.199
four or five full comms. And then I'm pretty

00:40:06.199 --> 00:40:08.800
sure that you will overwinter very well. Okay,

00:40:09.179 --> 00:40:11.940
I will do that. I'll feed the crap out of them

00:40:11.940 --> 00:40:15.300
and we'll see how it goes. And our listeners

00:40:15.300 --> 00:40:17.920
know here, I'll be very honest. If it works,

00:40:17.960 --> 00:40:20.639
and I really hope it does, and I think it will

00:40:20.639 --> 00:40:23.360
because everything you're saying just makes sense,

00:40:23.599 --> 00:40:26.659
then I'll report on that. And if for some reason

00:40:26.659 --> 00:40:30.329
it doesn't, then We'll learn and we'll talk about

00:40:30.329 --> 00:40:34.650
that come spring. I will be traveling again and

00:40:34.650 --> 00:40:38.699
again in the U .S. we should also create the

00:40:38.699 --> 00:40:41.820
opportunity for me to visit you in your place.

00:40:41.920 --> 00:40:44.679
Not only meeting in person in Appimondia, but

00:40:44.679 --> 00:40:47.820
really, I really would like to visit you in person

00:40:47.820 --> 00:40:51.840
so we can share our own experience. Yeah, it

00:40:51.840 --> 00:40:53.840
would be great. I would love that. That'll be

00:40:53.840 --> 00:40:56.320
really fun. And we are going to meet at Appimondia

00:40:56.320 --> 00:40:59.480
coming up here soon. Alex, I hope I remember

00:40:59.480 --> 00:41:01.940
to warn you of this when we talked previously.

00:41:02.679 --> 00:41:05.940
Everybody that comes on this show gets to tell

00:41:05.940 --> 00:41:10.440
about a wild or crazy or embarrassing or painfully

00:41:10.440 --> 00:41:13.780
unusual beekeeping story that they personally

00:41:13.780 --> 00:41:16.019
have had. Would you have something you want to

00:41:16.019 --> 00:41:19.380
share with us? Yeah, actually, the craziest things

00:41:19.380 --> 00:41:22.719
that Gianmario and I did when we were using our

00:41:22.719 --> 00:41:26.960
first prototype was starting moving the colony

00:41:26.960 --> 00:41:29.519
from where we are up to the mountains on the

00:41:29.519 --> 00:41:32.559
Switzerland border. In this ballet that it's

00:41:32.780 --> 00:41:39.099
25 kilometers long, full of sweet chestnut. It's

00:41:39.099 --> 00:41:42.059
a valley where you only have sweet chestnut trees.

00:41:42.860 --> 00:41:45.739
And I remember one night, and we were used to

00:41:45.739 --> 00:41:49.239
move our hive with my pickup truck. I have an

00:41:49.239 --> 00:41:54.820
old 99 Dodge pickup truck. It's my hobby. I dismantle,

00:41:54.820 --> 00:41:58.199
I modify it. But that night it was not available.

00:41:58.320 --> 00:42:03.300
So we use the John Mario's car. a old four wheel

00:42:03.300 --> 00:42:09.199
drive Jeep that has not picked up bad. So we

00:42:09.199 --> 00:42:12.760
put the hives inside the car. And there were

00:42:12.760 --> 00:42:17.559
prototypes, so not very well made with bees that

00:42:17.559 --> 00:42:22.400
can eventually get out. And driving during the

00:42:22.400 --> 00:42:25.840
night on this mountain road. every time we were

00:42:25.840 --> 00:42:28.920
looking for just to see just to because it was

00:42:28.920 --> 00:42:32.780
fun to see wild boars and deers and actually

00:42:32.780 --> 00:42:37.500
after that we were going up and in the middle

00:42:37.500 --> 00:42:41.739
of the road there was a beautiful deer and Giammario

00:42:41.739 --> 00:42:45.199
loves animals but I was back then I was also

00:42:45.199 --> 00:42:48.840
a deer hunter. When Giammario saw the deer he

00:42:48.840 --> 00:42:51.400
saw a beautiful animal and when I saw the deer

00:42:51.400 --> 00:42:57.139
I saw mainly uh yeah goulash and uh and steaks

00:42:57.139 --> 00:43:01.340
and kind of so i i was trying to stop the car

00:43:01.340 --> 00:43:03.900
and i was shouting to him no don't stop don't

00:43:03.900 --> 00:43:06.920
stop grab the deal we have space we have room

00:43:06.920 --> 00:43:09.599
inside for the deal as well so there was a moment

00:43:09.599 --> 00:43:14.900
of uh doubt and the car was shaking left and

00:43:14.900 --> 00:43:18.840
right and the eyes the prototypes open up so

00:43:18.840 --> 00:43:22.179
in a matter of a few seconds we were covered

00:43:22.179 --> 00:43:25.400
with thousands of bees and we were forced to

00:43:25.400 --> 00:43:28.400
stop the car ran out in the middle of the road

00:43:28.400 --> 00:43:32.019
in the mountains and shouting to each other how

00:43:32.019 --> 00:43:37.460
full we were. And at the end, we spent the following

00:43:37.460 --> 00:43:40.380
two hours trying to recover the bees inside the

00:43:40.380 --> 00:43:43.559
car, close the prototype and go on to the mountain

00:43:43.559 --> 00:43:47.519
apiary. And when we arrived at home, I was swallowing

00:43:47.519 --> 00:43:52.309
like, wow, it was the craziest night. as he might

00:43:52.309 --> 00:43:56.130
be keeping experience, and we still laugh about

00:43:56.130 --> 00:43:59.210
that and remember about that. And that was when

00:43:59.210 --> 00:44:02.570
we decided that we needed a nylon strap to tie

00:44:02.570 --> 00:44:06.429
everything down and not have these things happening

00:44:06.429 --> 00:44:10.829
again. That was really crazy. That is an awesome

00:44:10.829 --> 00:44:13.650
story. I wish we had video of that. I'm just

00:44:13.650 --> 00:44:18.650
picturing it in my mind. open hives in the car.

00:44:19.230 --> 00:44:20.989
You know that reminds me of something I'm going

00:44:20.989 --> 00:44:23.789
to tell this little story real quick. The first

00:44:23.789 --> 00:44:26.710
time that I ever caught a swarm and it was a

00:44:26.710 --> 00:44:29.389
really big one. It's one of the biggest swarms

00:44:29.389 --> 00:44:33.210
I have ever seen. And I had been told you can

00:44:33.210 --> 00:44:36.250
just take a cardboard box, shake it from the

00:44:36.250 --> 00:44:40.179
tree into the box. Well Let's just say it was

00:44:40.179 --> 00:44:43.139
a big swarm and it took a couple of boxes and

00:44:43.139 --> 00:44:46.500
I did that. And then I put some tape on the boxes,

00:44:46.539 --> 00:44:49.800
but I didn't want to make it, you know, airtight.

00:44:50.380 --> 00:44:52.340
Not that you can really get cardboard airtight,

00:44:52.820 --> 00:44:54.880
but there were a little teeny gap so that there

00:44:54.880 --> 00:44:57.300
was air flow going in and out. And I was driving

00:44:57.300 --> 00:45:00.199
my wife's car. That's a little Toyota hatchback.

00:45:00.340 --> 00:45:03.480
And I have these boxes of bees in the back seat.

00:45:03.960 --> 00:45:06.659
And as I'm driving along, they start getting

00:45:06.659 --> 00:45:10.159
out. and one gets out and then two and then three

00:45:10.159 --> 00:45:13.980
and then thirty and forty and thank goodness

00:45:13.980 --> 00:45:17.539
they weren't coming after me they wanted to get

00:45:17.539 --> 00:45:20.639
out so they were against the windows and by the

00:45:20.639 --> 00:45:23.460
time i got home i couldn't even see out of the

00:45:23.460 --> 00:45:26.199
back window or the back side windows because

00:45:26.199 --> 00:45:29.500
they were completely blabbered with colon by

00:45:29.500 --> 00:45:33.079
bees And, uh, you know, we learned these lessons

00:45:33.079 --> 00:45:37.380
the hard way and it ended up being fun and a

00:45:37.380 --> 00:45:40.739
fun story. Yeah. But honestly, uh, now it's,

00:45:40.739 --> 00:45:44.420
uh, it's a startup companies with Israeli startup.

00:45:44.519 --> 00:45:47.360
Uh, we have the team in the U S, uh, all amazing

00:45:47.360 --> 00:45:50.559
people. They are doing a great job, but, uh,

00:45:50.559 --> 00:45:53.539
at the bottom, the bottom is when we started

00:45:53.539 --> 00:45:56.320
working with the bees, uh, there was nothing

00:45:56.320 --> 00:45:59.489
like working with the bees. in our previous experience.

00:45:59.710 --> 00:46:02.650
And it's really something that you became addicted

00:46:02.650 --> 00:46:07.610
to. And even the way we look around on every

00:46:07.610 --> 00:46:11.510
season changed. We didn't notice flowers before

00:46:11.510 --> 00:46:14.650
working with bees. We didn't notice the different

00:46:14.650 --> 00:46:17.730
blossom of big trees before keeping bees. We

00:46:17.730 --> 00:46:21.869
didn't look at the nature around us in the same

00:46:21.869 --> 00:46:25.230
way that we look at now. It's amazing. It's just

00:46:25.230 --> 00:46:28.210
amazing. That's so true, and one of the beauties

00:46:28.210 --> 00:46:31.090
of beekeeping. All right, I need to let you go.

00:46:31.570 --> 00:46:33.969
Alex Gamberoni, thank you so much for being with

00:46:33.969 --> 00:46:38.170
me. Best of luck to Primal B. And by the way,

00:46:38.170 --> 00:46:40.250
we'll stick a link in the show notes if anybody

00:46:40.250 --> 00:46:42.889
wants to look it up and have a look at exactly

00:46:42.889 --> 00:46:45.289
what this thing looks like and how it works.

00:46:45.590 --> 00:46:48.250
And I'll see you at Appimondia. Yeah, yeah. Thank

00:46:48.250 --> 00:46:51.730
you very much, Eric, to host me in this wonderful

00:46:51.730 --> 00:46:54.690
conversation. And really, I'm looking forward

00:46:54.690 --> 00:46:57.610
to meet you in person in Appimondia. I will have

00:46:57.610 --> 00:47:01.010
those samples of the sweet chestnut for you to

00:47:01.010 --> 00:47:04.750
taste and bring back home. And yeah. We should

00:47:04.750 --> 00:47:09.510
also plan me to visit you in in Huta. Yeah, perfect.

00:47:09.730 --> 00:47:12.289
You come out here and do some skiing or in the

00:47:12.289 --> 00:47:14.750
summer and see the bees, either way. Yeah, yeah,

00:47:14.750 --> 00:47:20.429
I will. Thanks for joining us on Be Love Beekeeping

00:47:20.429 --> 00:47:23.769
presented by Man Lake. If you like this content,

00:47:23.829 --> 00:47:26.210
I hope you'll share it with a friend. Follow

00:47:26.210 --> 00:47:29.710
and subscribe to this podcast and even sign up

00:47:29.710 --> 00:47:32.010
for our newsletter at Be Love Beekeeping dot

00:47:32.010 --> 00:47:34.800
com. Also, just a shout out to Vita B Health

00:47:34.800 --> 00:47:37.760
for their support, we appreciate them. Vita's

00:47:37.760 --> 00:47:40.719
Varroa Control range of products includes Apistan,

00:47:40.980 --> 00:47:45.099
Apigard, and now Varroxan, Extended Release Oxalic

00:47:45.099 --> 00:47:48.900
Acid Strips. Thanks guys, and remember, if you're

00:47:48.900 --> 00:47:51.579
not just in it for the honey or the money, you're

00:47:51.579 --> 00:47:53.940
in it for the love. See you next week.