Winter Bee Prep & How to Make $$ Managing Beehives

WEBVTT

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In a world brimming with complexity, few creatures

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embody harmony like the honeybee. With tireless

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precision, she dances from bloom to bloom, each

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motion guided by millennia upon millennia of

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instinct, each act in service to the whole. And

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then there are the beekeepers, watchful stewards

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of this ancient symbiosis. Part agriscientist,

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part poet, they move along their hives with the

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efficiency of mow, levy, and curly, tending to

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the bee's needs as best they can comprehend,

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and with the infrequency of a waterfall in the

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Sahara, sometimes running off flapping and flailing

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like a penguin on a hot sidewalk. This is their

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journey. Welcome, welcome to the 100th episode

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of Be Love, Be Keeping presented by our good

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friends over at Man Lake. That's right, we are

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celebrating our 100th episode in just under two

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years. We're so filled with gratitude for all

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of our guests. They are really who make this

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show great. But it's you our listeners who deserve

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a great big hand for making us the number one

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beekeeping podcast. We have listeners now in

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over a hundred countries, all 50 states of the

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U .S. as far away as places like Japan, Argentina,

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Israel, Singapore, even Antarctica. And I can't

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imagine there are very many bees there. By listening,

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you have joined a community of people who share

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a love of honeybees, other beekeepers and the

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natural world we live in. The goal of this show

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has always been to educate through interesting

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and fun conversation. When we started we were

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immediately available on all of the audio podcasting

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apps plus Man Lake's YouTube channel and over

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time with a lot of coaxing we added video which

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you can see on Apple Podcasts, Man Lake's Facebook

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community and our own Be Love Beekeeping YouTube

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channel. So Whether you want to see our guests

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or just listen while you're on the go, we are

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here for you. And a final thank you goes to Rob,

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Jenna, Rose, and all of our other great friends

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over at Man Lake who support the show. They truly

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are great partners in beekeeping. Today's guest

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comes to us from Connecticut and among other

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things we'll be learning all about how to turn

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your beekeeping passion into a business doing

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hive management for clients. Thanks again for

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taking the time to join us and celebrating our

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100th episode. I'd like to welcome our very special

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guest today coming to us from Connecticut on

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the East Coast of the US, Ryan Griffith. How

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are you, Ryan? I'm doing very well. How are you?

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fantastic and Ryan has been with us before and

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was one of my very favorite guests full of knowledge

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and fun and just somebody that you're gonna love

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for those that don't remember him from last time

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and we're gonna be talking quite a bit about

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winter bee prep but believe me a whole bunch

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of other things too today so Ryan I hope you've

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got your your podcast hat on because we're gonna

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hit a lot of stuff real fast today We'll get

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through it and we'll have fun doing it. But before

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we do, I can see up over your right shoulder,

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my left, you've got one of those pull -up bar

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things. Do you want to go do some showing off

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for us and do a few pull -ups first? I have a

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lot of honey to harvest today, so I'm gonna have

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a workout regardless. And we still do it with

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an uncapping fork, so I'm doing it. It's a full

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arm workout. I think I have to go through about

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40 supers today, so that'll be enough workout

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for me. Yeah, we were talking earlier, beekeepers

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do not need to go to the gym. They're doing that

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all day long. Yeah, that arm bar is mostly for

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my daughter. Old man strength kind of stuff.

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Exactly. Let's jump into the winter bee prep

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first. OK. And then I want to talk about hive

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management, which has come up a lot on the show

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lately, by the way. But you're in Connecticut.

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So for those that don't know your climate, give

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us a little bit of an idea of what fall and winter

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are like where you are. So this is a very loaded

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question in Connecticut, and most people don't

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realize that Connecticut actually has three distinct

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growing zones where northwestern Connecticut

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is actually zone five, southwestern Connecticut

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is actually zone seven. I could be literally

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in three growing zones in one day where I'm traveling,

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you know, all the way to the north part of Connecticut.

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It's a very small state. It's just the way the

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wind comes off the Appalachian Mountains that

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affects the weather and also Long Island Sound.

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that affects the weather. So my prep has to be

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very unique and then you have the very micro

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climates that are throughout the state of Connecticut.

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I usually start my winter more in the northern

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part of Connecticut, let's say Goshen, Connecticut.

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That's generally when I pull the goldenrod honey

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in another week or so and that's the final harvest

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and I immediately go and feed two to one sugar

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and make sure they're stacked. A lot of those

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hives in the northern part of the state are a

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lot easier because they shut off very quickly.

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It's the hives that are near the water that linger

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because it's the warm water. The water in Long

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Islands Down can stay around 70 degrees, you

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know, into October. where it's a warm water and

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that's creating anything near the land and our

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farm is right on the water to stay warm. Even

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if you're on the water and you go four miles

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north of where we are, you're gonna see a temperature

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change, especially in the winter. You have to

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be very open -minded on what to do and you have

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to study every... in a case by case situational

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awareness. We manage, now we're up to 70 apiaries

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that we're managing. I say we, I have one person

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that does part -time help and my daughter's help

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a little bit. So it's mostly me. I first have

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to study the health of the bees. My hive management

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starts for overwintering in July. I have to make

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sure that the mite population is down to near

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zero in July because in my climate, we start

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getting winter bees, the eggs are starting to

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get laid right around August. So if you're not

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getting plump bees in the beginning of August

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because you have too many mites or too many viruses,

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you're not going to have a healthy colony going

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into winter. So mites are usually addressed...

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in July. This has been a very odd summer for

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us in Connecticut. We usually have a very dry

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August. This August was very wet where we had

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rain maybe 15 days out of the month and we're

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used to having a dearth. The dearth would make

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it so there's not much in bloom and there's not

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much for the bees to forage. It's been quite

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the opposite where we are still seeing wet supers

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on a lot of our colonies. And we never actually

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had a pause, you know, throughout July, throughout

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August, there was still white comb on a lot of

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the colonies, particularly towards the shore.

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And this created a great obstacle because that

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that little span where they shut down that honey

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production is great to really focus on knocking

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off the mites, putting on winter stores and getting

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them in the right direction to overwinter. This

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winter is going to be unique and this fall is

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going to be unique where they were just constantly

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producing. a lot of times in the middle of July

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we'll actually have to feed because the dearth

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is so bad we'll have 90 degrees for 20 days straight

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and it turns from flowers being you know very

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abundant with nectar to having nothing at all

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so this is going to be a very unique you know

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fall as i say that's first step control the mites

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worry about the food stores. And then we have

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the other obstacles like hive beetles. This is

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something that we never had a problem with. The

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hive beetles have really only taken hold since

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I think I saw a first contact in 2019 in Westport,

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Connecticut, where I saw a hive getting completely

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inundated. And I had a lot of old timers in our

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state. dismiss it, saying that will never be

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a problem. You're doing something wrong. This

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wasn't even a hive that I was managing. It was

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somebody that, a hive that I got brought in,

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help, we need to figure this out ASAP. I don't

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know what to do. And when I got to there, you

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know, there was three, 400 hive beetles in that

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hive and it was already almost a goner. There

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was not much you can do. we're starting to see

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them over winter in large numbers. They can travel

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large distances. It's not like the middle of

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the country where you set up 20 or 30 hives and

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then you might not set them up for another 10

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miles or 15 miles. This is very much you might

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have four hives and a half mile away from there.

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There might be four hives and there's so many

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residential beekeepers in the area where I bee

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keep that A lot of the beekeepers don't have

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the same practices or are not on top of managing

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the hives. They're just, they throw the hives

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in the middle of their yard and they say, all

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right, hopefully we'll get honey. And they don't

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maintain them throughout the entire season. Or

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their idea of maintaining is... popping the lid

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and taking a peek and not actually looking at

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the brood and not actually looking at the, you

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know, the larva. I think most of disease management

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is from the larva. You can see anything wrong

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with a hive by looking at the larva. You're not

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going to necessarily see anything wrong with

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the hive just by popping the lid. One thing that

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You know, I was taught at a very, very young

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age is you may be able to tell something's wrong

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with the hive, but you won't know what it is

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by popping that lid. You can hear the sound when

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they're, when they're frustrated, when they're,

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they're upset, when they're angry, they kind

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of let you know that they're not happy. I know

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when I pop in a hive, something's wrong, but

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that doesn't mean I know what is wrong. You have

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to get in there and you have to look at the larva.

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The larva is going to tell you the disease. The

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larva is going to tell you if they have mite

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issues. You can just see the mite frass if you

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have good enough eyes. You don't need to always

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do that 300 bee kill, you know, mite wash. You

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can see the issues right when you go to an area

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where the bees are hatching out and you see the

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mite frass in those cells and you're like, okay,

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we have a problem. Or you take the drone comb

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and you start plucking them out and you start

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seeing we have a problem. One of the issues we

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have where I am is not only do we have beekeepers

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that are not beekeeping and that could create

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mite bombs and obviously hive beetle issues.

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Have you ever seen a hive that was slimed out

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where thousands of larvae are just pouring out?

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I have only seen pictures luckily because where

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I am we don't have hive beetles yet. Cross our

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fingers you didn't used to either and hopefully

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we never will but I know it could happen even

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though we have cold winters here. but it just

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looks disgusting. I mean, the term slime out,

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it sounds bad enough. I think people know what

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it means. It's terrible. You can't even save

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the honey out of that colony. So the larva will

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actually get, and we've actually, I've made the

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mistake, because this was a learning curve. I

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didn't know any better. I had honey supers that

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I had set aside that I was going to harvest.

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And I think I had them set aside for three or

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four days. In that time, it was only a few beetles

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got into that comb, started laying eggs and created

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a larva and it ruined every single one of those

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supers. And it's not something you can harvest

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because the larva is so tiny. It will get into

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the honey. It will destroy everything. So it

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is a very new issue that we're dealing with the

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Northeast. I know the South has dealt with it

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for a while, but they were prepared for it. And

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I don't think we studied enough because we thought

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the winners, there's no way they can overwinter.

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There's no problem. We don't have to worry about

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it. they are now overwintering in the hives.

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I will find them in February if I'm popping that

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lid open and I'm seeing one or two that are still

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alive. And I've even heard stories of them living

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through a Minnesota winter. They're gonna be

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capable of basically living anywhere in the Northeast

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eventually. So our friends up North, learn from

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us. So you don't put the supers to the side in

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a room temperature room or even hotter room because

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they can survive in the heat. You realize you're

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gonna have to harvest fast because if you don't

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harvest fast the entire harvest is gonna be ruined

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Which I hope what I'm saying right now might

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save somebody down the road and it's not something

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I ever anticipated So I want to summarize a couple

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of things that I'm getting from you as far as

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winter prep be on top of aroha If they need to

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be fed feed them in the colder areas that you're

00:13:09.700 --> 00:13:12.679
dealing with your zone fives Do you do any kind

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of hive insulation or anything like that? I do.

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So I usually use a one inch board, foam board

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right on top of the hive. They do have a lot

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of expensive covers that do work really, really

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well. But when you're managing the amount of

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hives that I am, and you're as small of an operation

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that I am, I try to go the cheapest way possible.

00:13:31.759 --> 00:13:34.840
So the three things that I do is I do the foam

00:13:34.840 --> 00:13:37.620
board on top. And then you know the insulation

00:13:37.620 --> 00:13:39.820
bubble wrap that's reflective that duck workers

00:13:39.820 --> 00:13:43.190
use? that's in every Home Depot, Lowe's or hardware

00:13:43.190 --> 00:13:46.110
store. I use this one layer around the hive and

00:13:46.110 --> 00:13:48.649
that's going to basically seal up any of the

00:13:48.649 --> 00:13:52.429
wind flow of the cracks between the double deeps.

00:13:52.509 --> 00:13:54.610
We overwinter with double deeps or a deep medium.

00:13:54.909 --> 00:13:57.629
Closer to the shore, it's a deep medium. Up north,

00:13:57.830 --> 00:14:00.710
it's a double deep. We do one wrap with the bubble

00:14:00.710 --> 00:14:02.350
wrap, reflective bubble wrap, and that seems

00:14:02.350 --> 00:14:05.190
to do the trick. It's cheap, it's reusable, and

00:14:05.190 --> 00:14:07.490
it doesn't seem to bother the bees at all. And

00:14:07.490 --> 00:14:10.129
then we also use mouse guards. What I use for

00:14:10.129 --> 00:14:12.409
mouse guards is a little different. I'll use

00:14:12.409 --> 00:14:15.470
five sixteenths chicken wire. you know, the coated

00:14:15.470 --> 00:14:17.330
green plastic chicken wire, you can find that

00:14:17.330 --> 00:14:19.470
at a tractor supplier somewhere else. And I just

00:14:19.470 --> 00:14:21.450
cut it up into strips and then just cut it up

00:14:21.450 --> 00:14:23.190
with your tin snips and you put it right on,

00:14:23.330 --> 00:14:25.529
staple it on. I actually leave that on year round.

00:14:25.590 --> 00:14:28.210
So I like to have my mouse guards on year round.

00:14:28.600 --> 00:14:30.919
It is a smaller entrance. I just use a wood block,

00:14:31.100 --> 00:14:33.539
not the typical notched out issue, but I use

00:14:33.539 --> 00:14:35.759
a wood block that gives a two inch entrance and

00:14:35.759 --> 00:14:37.240
then have the mouse guard that goes in front

00:14:37.240 --> 00:14:39.779
of that. That same seems to give them a big enough

00:14:39.779 --> 00:14:41.980
entrance to come and go where I don't have to

00:14:41.980 --> 00:14:43.720
worry about it. Sometimes there's roadblocks,

00:14:43.840 --> 00:14:46.019
but I keep that on year round and that is actually

00:14:46.019 --> 00:14:48.460
technically part of winter prep, but it's it's

00:14:48.460 --> 00:14:50.539
a year round thing. Let's say that colony dies

00:14:50.539 --> 00:14:52.480
out. I don't have to worry about a rodent moving

00:14:52.480 --> 00:14:55.460
in. and being an issue. And it will also keep

00:14:55.460 --> 00:14:57.639
out the bigger wasps. You know, we have European

00:14:57.639 --> 00:15:00.840
wasps where I live and that they are not able

00:15:00.840 --> 00:15:04.179
to enter the hive because of that chicken wire.

00:15:04.500 --> 00:15:06.220
And the drones are still able to get out pretty

00:15:06.220 --> 00:15:08.460
easily without a problem. But those are the three

00:15:08.460 --> 00:15:10.639
things that I basically have to manage and make

00:15:10.639 --> 00:15:12.759
sure of. I would like a hive to weigh at least

00:15:12.759 --> 00:15:16.000
120 pounds. I generally lift each hive, you know,

00:15:16.019 --> 00:15:18.539
and I'm able to tell how much it weighs and how

00:15:18.539 --> 00:15:22.440
much stores it has. I do not try to break the

00:15:22.440 --> 00:15:26.519
wax seal between the top box and the second box

00:15:26.519 --> 00:15:30.159
after October. I try to avoid that at all costs.

00:15:30.440 --> 00:15:32.679
One, if you kill the queen later in the season.

00:15:33.139 --> 00:15:35.419
And again, I think there might be a lot of beginners

00:15:35.419 --> 00:15:37.539
that might be listening to your podcast when

00:15:37.539 --> 00:15:40.059
you're doing your inspections, particularly now.

00:15:40.279 --> 00:15:43.139
you have to realize that the queen can be anywhere.

00:15:43.240 --> 00:15:45.279
She can be at the top, she can be in the top

00:15:45.279 --> 00:15:48.440
honey super. We do a lot of our end of the season

00:15:48.440 --> 00:15:51.500
harvests and we'll have half a brood frame up

00:15:51.500 --> 00:15:53.919
at the top. You don't know where she is. So when

00:15:53.919 --> 00:15:56.000
you're pulling supers, you have to make sure

00:15:56.000 --> 00:15:58.100
you shake all those bees into that colony and

00:15:58.100 --> 00:16:00.600
not in front of that colony, into that colony.

00:16:00.879 --> 00:16:02.659
Because if you miss that queen, that colony is

00:16:02.659 --> 00:16:04.840
almost surely a goner. They're not going to have

00:16:04.840 --> 00:16:08.029
enough time to make an emergency cell. and have

00:16:08.029 --> 00:16:10.090
enough drones out there in another three weeks,

00:16:10.370 --> 00:16:12.070
at least where I live, it's going to be cold.

00:16:12.309 --> 00:16:13.809
It's going to start getting cold very, you know,

00:16:13.889 --> 00:16:15.370
the nights are going to be in the forties and

00:16:15.370 --> 00:16:17.190
the days are going to be in the sixties. We're

00:16:17.190 --> 00:16:19.269
not going to be able to create any more mated

00:16:19.269 --> 00:16:22.190
queens in probably two weeks from now. That harvest

00:16:22.190 --> 00:16:24.870
is very important that that you look at what

00:16:24.870 --> 00:16:27.549
you're pulling. And I see a lot of people that

00:16:27.549 --> 00:16:29.309
will say, well, there's brood up there. I have

00:16:29.309 --> 00:16:31.870
to let them hatch. And I'm like. consider that

00:16:31.870 --> 00:16:34.149
mite management. You're pulling brood out and

00:16:34.149 --> 00:16:37.549
you're managing mites because most of the mites

00:16:37.549 --> 00:16:39.909
are in the brood anyways. I feel particularly

00:16:39.909 --> 00:16:42.710
lucky if I see a frame of drones that's at the

00:16:42.710 --> 00:16:44.590
top and I'm pulling it out from a honey super.

00:16:45.070 --> 00:16:47.669
And I feel like that's great management to pull

00:16:47.669 --> 00:16:49.690
any of the extra mites out of there. And I also

00:16:49.690 --> 00:16:51.909
get to, when I bring it home, I get to go through

00:16:51.909 --> 00:16:53.769
those cells and see what the mite counts are

00:16:53.769 --> 00:16:57.450
in that hive. So it's dual active. I think for

00:16:57.450 --> 00:16:59.909
a beginner, mites are definitely number one.

00:17:00.460 --> 00:17:03.039
but close number two is make sure you don't shake

00:17:03.039 --> 00:17:04.900
off that queen when you're harvesting or make

00:17:04.900 --> 00:17:07.160
sure you don't lose that queen or you're going

00:17:07.160 --> 00:17:10.799
in there too invasively because it'll look like

00:17:10.799 --> 00:17:14.799
that colony is alive well into November and that

00:17:14.799 --> 00:17:17.500
queen has been dead since the end of August early

00:17:17.500 --> 00:17:19.920
September and you wouldn't know any better especially

00:17:19.920 --> 00:17:21.220
if you're a beginner and you're not going through

00:17:21.220 --> 00:17:23.339
there so be very very careful on what you're

00:17:23.339 --> 00:17:25.619
doing when you're you're going through the hives.

00:17:26.000 --> 00:17:30.099
It's good to do a lot of your winter analyzation

00:17:30.099 --> 00:17:33.160
in August. Do your full checks some point in

00:17:33.160 --> 00:17:35.980
August, maybe early September. You look at the

00:17:35.980 --> 00:17:38.349
larva. you study to see if there's any disease.

00:17:38.829 --> 00:17:40.130
You're usually not going to have any issues with

00:17:40.130 --> 00:17:43.930
like sac brood or if you had EFB or God forbid

00:17:43.930 --> 00:17:46.950
AFB, you'll see the early signs usually around

00:17:46.950 --> 00:17:49.329
June or July from what I've noticed. And if,

00:17:49.410 --> 00:17:51.750
if there are any signs of that, you can deal

00:17:51.750 --> 00:17:54.150
with it, you know, usually in June and July by

00:17:54.150 --> 00:17:56.750
if it's August or September, if you have a bad

00:17:56.750 --> 00:17:58.809
issue with EFB, you're not going to save that

00:17:58.809 --> 00:18:01.180
colony. It's just not going to happen. Let me

00:18:01.180 --> 00:18:03.799
throw out some questions that I get asked often

00:18:03.799 --> 00:18:06.559
from less experienced beekeepers and there's

00:18:06.559 --> 00:18:09.640
a few here. One is we're recording this the middle

00:18:09.640 --> 00:18:12.259
of September and you've been telling people all

00:18:12.259 --> 00:18:14.420
these things they need to do in July and August.

00:18:15.019 --> 00:18:18.759
So let's say they're listening at the end of

00:18:18.759 --> 00:18:21.500
September and they're going oh shoot I didn't

00:18:21.500 --> 00:18:23.720
do that or I didn't do that. Is there any way

00:18:23.720 --> 00:18:26.549
to catch up? I mean, you can still do some Varroa

00:18:26.549 --> 00:18:29.309
management, even if it's that late. You may be

00:18:29.309 --> 00:18:33.029
too late, but it's worth trying anyway. So if

00:18:33.029 --> 00:18:35.410
they can have a little bit of OCD, I don't have

00:18:35.410 --> 00:18:37.730
it. I'm very chaotic. That's why I plan ahead.

00:18:38.309 --> 00:18:41.029
If they can be very OCD with feeding, they have

00:18:41.029 --> 00:18:42.589
to make sure that there is enough food in that

00:18:42.589 --> 00:18:44.809
colony. That is a no -brainer. If they starve,

00:18:44.829 --> 00:18:47.380
they're going to die. I'd be very careful about

00:18:47.380 --> 00:18:50.859
putting any miticide treatments that are going

00:18:50.859 --> 00:18:54.000
to potentially kill the bees. So use something

00:18:54.000 --> 00:18:57.319
that's less invasive. I might use formic acid

00:18:57.319 --> 00:19:00.059
this time of year, but I know how risky it is.

00:19:00.200 --> 00:19:02.180
A lot of times I'll use formic acid this time

00:19:02.180 --> 00:19:03.480
of year if I'm trying to change the behavior

00:19:03.480 --> 00:19:06.680
of a hive. It will knock bees down on purpose

00:19:06.680 --> 00:19:10.960
and it will basically wipe out any of the disease

00:19:10.960 --> 00:19:13.720
or the mites that are in that hive last minute.

00:19:14.000 --> 00:19:16.420
I also know it might kill the queen. So I'm very

00:19:16.420 --> 00:19:18.839
aware that I'm doing that. So if you're going

00:19:18.839 --> 00:19:21.240
to take the riskier approach, you have to be

00:19:21.240 --> 00:19:25.500
on top of it. You have to be in there maybe more

00:19:25.500 --> 00:19:27.759
than once a week and really seeing the progress.

00:19:28.180 --> 00:19:29.980
If you're in an area where you don't have high

00:19:29.980 --> 00:19:32.660
beetles, you can feed protein. I feed protein

00:19:32.660 --> 00:19:35.519
sparingly, but I'm only going to feed protein

00:19:35.519 --> 00:19:39.480
this time of year in areas where I can be back

00:19:39.480 --> 00:19:42.839
within a week. It's time right now to prepare

00:19:42.839 --> 00:19:46.180
your bees for winter, and Man Lake is the place

00:19:46.180 --> 00:19:48.940
to help you make it happen. When it comes to

00:19:48.940 --> 00:19:51.859
prep, the first thing to think about is Varroa.

00:19:52.220 --> 00:19:55.240
If your mite levels are high, yeah, you'll be

00:19:55.240 --> 00:19:58.059
buying new bees come spring. Man Lake has the

00:19:58.059 --> 00:20:00.960
Varroa test kits and all the treatments that

00:20:00.960 --> 00:20:05.319
you may need. Next priority is food stores. If

00:20:05.319 --> 00:20:07.279
you're sure your bees have enough honey reserves

00:20:07.279 --> 00:20:10.240
to make it through winter, great! But if the

00:20:10.240 --> 00:20:12.759
hives are a little light, or you're just not

00:20:12.759 --> 00:20:15.380
sure, you can't go wrong with helping them top

00:20:15.380 --> 00:20:18.640
things off with continued feeding. In fact, fall

00:20:18.640 --> 00:20:20.839
is often a dearth period, and even if things

00:20:20.839 --> 00:20:24.059
look good now, by November your colonies might

00:20:24.059 --> 00:20:27.839
be light. Like I say, when in doubt, put the

00:20:27.839 --> 00:20:30.400
food out. And right now, Man Lake is offering

00:20:30.400 --> 00:20:34.660
podcast listeners $10 off your next order. Just

00:20:34.660 --> 00:20:39.299
enter code MLBlove10 at checkout. That's manlakeltd

00:20:39.299 --> 00:20:45.880
.com. Discount code MLBlove10. Man Lake, trusted

00:20:45.880 --> 00:20:50.799
by beekeepers since 1983. If I can't be back

00:20:50.799 --> 00:20:53.460
within a week, I'm going to come back to a whole

00:20:53.460 --> 00:20:57.230
bunch of hive beetle larva. that are basically

00:20:57.230 --> 00:20:59.869
all throughout the hive. So you have to be very,

00:20:59.890 --> 00:21:02.970
very, very careful in this time of year. I do

00:21:02.970 --> 00:21:05.730
love oxalic acid pads. It's something that I've

00:21:05.730 --> 00:21:08.450
been using for a while. I did a lot of research

00:21:08.450 --> 00:21:12.849
on Dr. Randy Oliver's site. And if you're on

00:21:12.849 --> 00:21:15.089
top of it and you do it properly, it does work.

00:21:15.329 --> 00:21:18.069
You're not going to have a magic bullet. If you

00:21:18.069 --> 00:21:20.109
have a high mite population this time of year,

00:21:20.789 --> 00:21:23.430
you're going to have less of a chance to make

00:21:23.430 --> 00:21:26.400
that colony go over winter. And that's the reality

00:21:26.400 --> 00:21:27.880
of it. It also depends on where your climate

00:21:27.880 --> 00:21:29.400
is. If you're in North Carolina, you have a lot

00:21:29.400 --> 00:21:31.680
more time than I do. If you're in a southern

00:21:31.680 --> 00:21:33.680
area, you have more time. But if you're in a

00:21:33.680 --> 00:21:35.220
northern area, you might even have less time.

00:21:35.279 --> 00:21:37.940
If you're in Maine right now, obviously things

00:21:37.940 --> 00:21:40.599
are going a lot faster. Beekeeping has a lot

00:21:40.599 --> 00:21:42.740
of humility in it. You're going to have to learn

00:21:42.740 --> 00:21:46.019
loss. And it also has a lot of patience in there.

00:21:46.480 --> 00:21:49.519
So if you didn't get it this season, you know.

00:21:49.710 --> 00:21:53.089
maybe you plan it out better next season. And

00:21:53.089 --> 00:21:56.450
I have a lot of clients that go on vacation for

00:21:56.450 --> 00:21:59.990
a month in July and thank God I'm their beekeeper

00:21:59.990 --> 00:22:02.029
because I had other people that I took over that

00:22:02.029 --> 00:22:04.069
used to do that all the time and they were they

00:22:04.069 --> 00:22:05.789
were the beekeeper and they just let these colonies

00:22:05.789 --> 00:22:08.369
go for a month in July and you're still swarm

00:22:08.369 --> 00:22:10.730
season. It's not peak swarm season, but you could

00:22:10.730 --> 00:22:13.210
still get a swarm in July. This isn't something

00:22:13.210 --> 00:22:16.490
where you can just let it live. This is very,

00:22:16.490 --> 00:22:18.769
you know, manageable animal that needs help.

00:22:18.859 --> 00:22:21.839
If you're behind the clock, you're going to have

00:22:21.839 --> 00:22:23.920
to get in there. You're going to have to really

00:22:23.920 --> 00:22:26.700
take pictures, send it to the master beekeeper

00:22:26.700 --> 00:22:29.359
in your area or somebody that knows how to teach

00:22:29.359 --> 00:22:31.940
you. There's a lot of us that are for hire that

00:22:31.940 --> 00:22:33.920
will go through your hives on a special day,

00:22:33.920 --> 00:22:36.099
you know, where we'll go through it once and

00:22:36.099 --> 00:22:38.200
we're not, you know, hired full time. It may

00:22:38.200 --> 00:22:40.759
cost a little bit of money, but it can get you

00:22:40.759 --> 00:22:42.759
in the right direction and save you that colony

00:22:42.759 --> 00:22:45.240
and the overwinter colony is so much more valuable

00:22:45.240 --> 00:22:48.019
than buying a package or a nuke or whatnot in

00:22:48.019 --> 00:22:50.200
the spring. because you have a head start. An

00:22:50.200 --> 00:22:51.819
overwintered colony in the northeast, you can

00:22:51.819 --> 00:22:54.660
turn into three colonies and potentially 200

00:22:54.660 --> 00:22:56.720
pounds of honey. And you know they're strong.

00:22:57.240 --> 00:22:58.960
You know you've got a queen that knows how to

00:22:58.960 --> 00:23:01.880
do it for winter in your area. Yes. And that

00:23:01.880 --> 00:23:04.559
is a big, big deal. OK, I want to shift gears

00:23:04.559 --> 00:23:06.759
to that hive management that you just mentioned

00:23:06.759 --> 00:23:10.279
a minute ago. But first, in case anybody missed

00:23:10.279 --> 00:23:13.640
it, about two minutes ago, the quote of the day.

00:23:14.309 --> 00:23:17.150
Beekeeping comes with humility, I believe is

00:23:17.150 --> 00:23:20.450
exactly how you said it. And that is so true.

00:23:21.009 --> 00:23:24.509
You can be a pro and have done this for 20 years

00:23:24.509 --> 00:23:27.529
and you've got a colony that dies over winter

00:23:27.529 --> 00:23:30.930
and you have no idea why. What did I do wrong?

00:23:31.029 --> 00:23:33.769
You may not have done anything wrong. They may

00:23:33.769 --> 00:23:36.349
have had some other kind of issue that's beyond

00:23:36.349 --> 00:23:38.589
your control, but a lot of things are in our

00:23:38.589 --> 00:23:41.960
control. And if we're the managers of the hives,

00:23:42.119 --> 00:23:44.759
we call ourselves beekeepers, but we're really

00:23:44.759 --> 00:23:48.380
managers. We're trying to be helpers, not trying

00:23:48.380 --> 00:23:50.319
to fix what they're doing. They already know

00:23:50.319 --> 00:23:52.359
what they're doing. We're trying not to screw

00:23:52.359 --> 00:23:55.180
it up on them, right? And we're not being good

00:23:55.180 --> 00:23:58.279
beekeepers or managers if we're letting things

00:23:58.279 --> 00:24:01.920
go. And we're all guilty of this. If we're saying,

00:24:02.160 --> 00:24:05.869
oh, crap. It's September 10th, and I don't know

00:24:05.869 --> 00:24:08.890
what my mite levels are right now. I better find

00:24:08.890 --> 00:24:11.910
out today. We can all be better. Yeah, I'm not

00:24:11.910 --> 00:24:14.809
OCD either. I'm all over the place, too. But

00:24:14.809 --> 00:24:17.910
thanks for the humbling, because beekeeping will

00:24:17.910 --> 00:24:20.250
do it to you. Let's talk about hive management.

00:24:21.109 --> 00:24:25.490
A lot of beekeepers are, especially sideliners,

00:24:25.589 --> 00:24:29.240
are looking for a way... How can I make a little

00:24:29.240 --> 00:24:32.660
more income from beekeeping? I'm not quite there

00:24:32.660 --> 00:24:35.940
yet. And I've talked to a lot of people lately

00:24:35.940 --> 00:24:39.339
that are doing hive management. Somebody I talked

00:24:39.339 --> 00:24:42.359
to just last week, they're in Southern California.

00:24:42.700 --> 00:24:45.420
They're doing hive management in Beverly Hills.

00:24:46.240 --> 00:24:50.000
Okay, these are people with money that want to

00:24:50.000 --> 00:24:52.140
have the cool factor of a couple of beehives

00:24:52.140 --> 00:24:55.059
in the backyard. But they're not there all the

00:24:55.059 --> 00:24:57.059
time. They don't want to take the time to learn

00:24:57.059 --> 00:24:59.980
everything there is to learn. And they may not

00:24:59.980 --> 00:25:04.660
even enjoy cracking open a lid. So tell us a

00:25:04.660 --> 00:25:06.779
little bit about your hive management business

00:25:06.779 --> 00:25:09.599
and how you've grown it. And so on the East Coast,

00:25:09.700 --> 00:25:13.339
I guess the mirror area would be Greenwich, Connecticut.

00:25:13.500 --> 00:25:15.640
I have a lot of clients in Greenwich, Connecticut,

00:25:15.740 --> 00:25:18.660
and a lot of clients in lower Fairfield County.

00:25:19.079 --> 00:25:21.759
One thing that I made a decision this season

00:25:21.759 --> 00:25:24.539
was that I was going to step back from a lot

00:25:24.539 --> 00:25:26.940
of the rescues I did. We did a lot of cutouts.

00:25:27.099 --> 00:25:29.400
I think we ended up doing around 200, a little

00:25:29.400 --> 00:25:32.640
over 200, between bumblebees and honeybee rescues

00:25:32.640 --> 00:25:35.480
between swarms and cutouts last year, which...

00:25:35.500 --> 00:25:38.400
Was a lot and it took a lot out of my body. A

00:25:38.400 --> 00:25:40.339
lot of times I'm setting up a staging, you know,

00:25:40.500 --> 00:25:42.319
scaffolding all by myself. This is a full -size

00:25:42.319 --> 00:25:45.259
scaffolding and it'd be five sections up and

00:25:45.259 --> 00:25:47.559
nothing I was doing was safe. And you can only

00:25:47.559 --> 00:25:51.839
imagine going roughly 25 feet up on a, on a staging

00:25:51.839 --> 00:25:55.380
covered in honey. And you're trying to extract

00:25:55.380 --> 00:25:59.299
a colony while you're using power tools and nothing

00:25:59.299 --> 00:26:02.579
is safe there. Was it lucrative? Yes. You know,

00:26:02.660 --> 00:26:05.259
if you you know, have a right customer, they're

00:26:05.259 --> 00:26:08.200
going to pay. And if you have somebody that says,

00:26:08.380 --> 00:26:09.920
well, I'm just going to spray them, don't be

00:26:09.920 --> 00:26:11.779
so quick and say, no, no, no, I'll take care

00:26:11.779 --> 00:26:14.000
of it. Stick to your guns. Because I've noticed

00:26:14.000 --> 00:26:15.920
a lot of people that say they're going to spray

00:26:15.920 --> 00:26:18.359
them. They don't end up doing it. And it doesn't

00:26:18.359 --> 00:26:22.200
take care of the problem. And if you can have

00:26:22.200 --> 00:26:25.339
the right air filter on and maybe a hazmat suit,

00:26:25.599 --> 00:26:28.680
you can still go in there and clean up the mess

00:26:28.680 --> 00:26:31.279
that they just made when the bees die. And it's

00:26:31.279 --> 00:26:34.259
it's the rotten honey is seeping through their

00:26:34.259 --> 00:26:38.089
ceiling. And now they have to spend $3 ,000 to

00:26:38.089 --> 00:26:40.990
get it all fixed. And what I say is you triple

00:26:40.990 --> 00:26:42.809
your price. The second they spray, you triple

00:26:42.809 --> 00:26:44.930
your price, whatever that price might be in your

00:26:44.930 --> 00:26:47.589
area. That sets a precedence. And you make sure

00:26:47.589 --> 00:26:49.549
everybody knows that you're going to triple your

00:26:49.549 --> 00:26:51.690
price the second they spray. That's also going

00:26:51.690 --> 00:26:54.329
to get people to use less pesticides. A lot of

00:26:54.329 --> 00:26:55.829
these people are spraying from the inside of

00:26:55.829 --> 00:26:58.670
the house. Let's say a Yellow Jacket colony comes

00:26:58.670 --> 00:27:00.930
in from the ceiling, and it chews through the

00:27:00.930 --> 00:27:03.710
sheetrock wall. And they unload a can of Raid

00:27:03.710 --> 00:27:06.730
inside their bedroom. And I just baffled that.

00:27:07.029 --> 00:27:09.109
Do you even know what this stuff does to us?

00:27:09.529 --> 00:27:14.089
Did you read the instructions on there? And they

00:27:14.089 --> 00:27:16.190
clearly don't. I wouldn't sleep in your room.

00:27:16.869 --> 00:27:19.549
You just sprayed pesticides inside your bedroom.

00:27:19.890 --> 00:27:21.029
And they said, well, we didn't know what to do.

00:27:21.089 --> 00:27:23.710
I'm like, well, don't do that. I have different

00:27:23.710 --> 00:27:26.609
customers when it comes to maintenance. One type

00:27:26.609 --> 00:27:28.950
of customer is, you know, we have solar yards,

00:27:29.049 --> 00:27:31.549
but they have to have their agricultural certificate

00:27:31.549 --> 00:27:34.069
where they're doing some form of ag on those

00:27:34.069 --> 00:27:37.150
areas. and it'd be a solar yard where I manage

00:27:37.150 --> 00:27:39.390
a certain number of bees. I take care of the

00:27:39.390 --> 00:27:41.769
bees, generally I sell them the hive stand, I

00:27:41.769 --> 00:27:45.009
put the electric fence up, I sell them the beehives,

00:27:45.289 --> 00:27:48.029
and then I manage them for the entire, you know,

00:27:48.250 --> 00:27:50.170
however long they're going to be on that property,

00:27:50.490 --> 00:27:52.569
and they get to keep the honey. That would be,

00:27:52.569 --> 00:27:56.380
you know, just a typical... a lower rate than

00:27:56.380 --> 00:27:58.420
some other areas because I can just go into a

00:27:58.420 --> 00:28:00.359
locked fence. I take care of it and I don't have

00:28:00.359 --> 00:28:02.980
to deal with a customer. It's 100 % autonomous,

00:28:02.980 --> 00:28:05.380
basically. And I could actually send a worker

00:28:05.380 --> 00:28:07.140
there, you know, somebody that works for me to

00:28:07.140 --> 00:28:09.119
actually feed those bees or take care of them

00:28:09.119 --> 00:28:11.640
in the future. And then I have the other customers

00:28:11.640 --> 00:28:14.119
that maybe are celebrity status or, you know,

00:28:14.279 --> 00:28:17.400
hedge fund or they have a lot of expendable money

00:28:17.400 --> 00:28:20.039
and they just want to keep their, the bees on

00:28:20.039 --> 00:28:22.140
the property and they want fresh honey off their

00:28:22.140 --> 00:28:24.140
property. And they also want to help create pollen.

00:28:24.109 --> 00:28:27.930
A selfish reason for honey bees is honey. A non

00:28:27.930 --> 00:28:30.869
-selfish reason is we've been talking for decades

00:28:30.869 --> 00:28:34.210
now that the native pollinators are gone. Whether

00:28:34.210 --> 00:28:36.849
we like it or not, there needs to be a replacement

00:28:36.849 --> 00:28:39.750
to those pollinators, and honey bees can step

00:28:39.750 --> 00:28:42.789
into that role. I think a lot of organizations

00:28:42.789 --> 00:28:46.289
try to villainize the honey bee, but in reality,

00:28:46.529 --> 00:28:48.369
those honey bees are still pollinating a lot

00:28:48.369 --> 00:28:51.000
of trees that... aren't actually getting pollinated

00:28:51.000 --> 00:28:53.079
anymore because there's no pollinators left.

00:28:53.359 --> 00:28:55.599
And that's where they can kind of be a, you know,

00:28:55.779 --> 00:28:58.279
a secret hero. They're not replacing bumblebees.

00:28:58.440 --> 00:29:00.460
There's, there's not a high. And I started with

00:29:00.460 --> 00:29:03.140
bumblebees when I was maybe six, they've been

00:29:03.140 --> 00:29:05.920
dual saturated for years. And one thing I always

00:29:05.920 --> 00:29:09.210
try to tell the younger generation is, and I'll

00:29:09.210 --> 00:29:11.589
ask you this question, do you remember something

00:29:11.589 --> 00:29:14.450
in front of the gas stations in the summertime,

00:29:14.549 --> 00:29:17.450
maybe 20, 30 years ago? Every gas station had

00:29:17.450 --> 00:29:20.069
stacks of this in front of the gas station. No,

00:29:20.130 --> 00:29:22.710
I don't remember what you're talking about. the

00:29:22.710 --> 00:29:24.690
windshield wiper fluid because you had to replace

00:29:24.690 --> 00:29:26.549
the windshield wiper fluid because we would always

00:29:26.549 --> 00:29:29.569
get the insects hitting our windshields. And

00:29:29.569 --> 00:29:31.650
some people are like, well, the aerodynamics

00:29:31.650 --> 00:29:34.869
of the vehicles have changed. I drive a 2001

00:29:34.869 --> 00:29:37.269
truck. I mean, that doesn't have a different

00:29:37.269 --> 00:29:40.349
windshield from 20 years ago. We've quietly watched

00:29:40.349 --> 00:29:44.069
insects population dramatically decrease where

00:29:44.069 --> 00:29:45.589
they're not hitting our windshields to the point

00:29:45.589 --> 00:29:46.950
where we don't need to change the windshield

00:29:46.950 --> 00:29:49.230
wiper fluid. And what's actually ironic is with

00:29:49.230 --> 00:29:52.309
synthetic oil, we're getting our... will change

00:29:52.309 --> 00:29:55.470
every 5 ,000 to 10 ,000 miles as opposed to 3

00:29:55.470 --> 00:29:58.410
,000 miles. So then it really hits home how little

00:29:58.410 --> 00:30:00.970
we're using that windshield wiper fluid in the

00:30:00.970 --> 00:30:03.430
middle of the night. A lot of times you would

00:30:03.430 --> 00:30:06.349
have to use the windshield wipers every minute

00:30:06.349 --> 00:30:08.670
because the insects were so bad. We don't see

00:30:08.670 --> 00:30:10.430
that anymore. There are some groups that try

00:30:10.430 --> 00:30:12.230
to villainize the honeybee and I think that they

00:30:12.230 --> 00:30:15.049
need to re -examine what they're trying to actually

00:30:15.049 --> 00:30:18.049
look at where honeybees are not the villain.

00:30:18.329 --> 00:30:22.109
They are a great insect that provides great pollination.

00:30:23.190 --> 00:30:25.390
And this is what I'm selling to you is exactly

00:30:25.390 --> 00:30:27.190
what you would sell to your customers. If you

00:30:27.190 --> 00:30:29.809
want to make outside money, they are great pollinators.

00:30:30.049 --> 00:30:31.509
You want to have pollinators on your yard? We

00:30:31.509 --> 00:30:33.190
can do it. Guess what? They can also produce

00:30:33.190 --> 00:30:35.549
this medicine that you can eat that can keep

00:30:35.549 --> 00:30:37.509
you healthy. And it'll come right off your yard.

00:30:37.549 --> 00:30:39.890
And we'll produce it right off your yard. You

00:30:39.890 --> 00:30:41.569
don't have to do anything. We'll put them on

00:30:41.569 --> 00:30:44.309
your yard for a fee. We'll manage them. We'll

00:30:44.309 --> 00:30:46.890
make sure they're healthy. And we're going to

00:30:46.890 --> 00:30:48.630
extract the honey. We're going to jar the honey

00:30:48.630 --> 00:30:52.910
for you. And you get to keep it all. Working

00:30:52.910 --> 00:30:56.349
my bees, my genetics on somebody else's property

00:30:56.349 --> 00:31:01.109
is a great lucrative business model. We make

00:31:01.109 --> 00:31:03.609
a lot more than some of the companies that are

00:31:03.609 --> 00:31:07.009
racing around trying to produce honey and fill

00:31:07.009 --> 00:31:09.910
the stores with that honey. And that's their

00:31:09.910 --> 00:31:13.369
number one monetary source. we're doing really

00:31:13.369 --> 00:31:16.369
well doing this. I don't know how many openings

00:31:16.369 --> 00:31:19.109
there are, but I know there's a lot more openings

00:31:19.109 --> 00:31:22.390
than are filled right now for that particular

00:31:22.390 --> 00:31:25.470
job. People that are new at this, how do they

00:31:25.470 --> 00:31:27.710
figure out how to charge for it? And you don't

00:31:27.710 --> 00:31:30.069
have to tell us any secrets or anything, but

00:31:30.069 --> 00:31:32.329
people are wondering, what the heck do I charge?

00:31:32.410 --> 00:31:35.930
How do I figure that out? Examine your job. Are

00:31:35.930 --> 00:31:39.529
you lifting heavy stuff? Yes. Are you putting

00:31:39.529 --> 00:31:42.950
yourself in a dangerous situation? Yes, you know,

00:31:42.950 --> 00:31:45.210
you're gonna get stung multiple times on somebody

00:31:45.210 --> 00:31:48.250
else's property. What is your time worth? If

00:31:48.250 --> 00:31:49.990
you're gonna be a good beekeeper, you have to

00:31:49.990 --> 00:31:53.230
be well -educated. Maybe put yourself at a rate

00:31:53.230 --> 00:31:56.190
that's comparable to, you know, your local nurse.

00:31:56.369 --> 00:31:58.910
Not quite a doctor, but, you know, darn close.

00:31:59.349 --> 00:32:01.390
My rate is a lot higher than anybody would imagine.

00:32:01.670 --> 00:32:03.829
I have different rates depending on what I'm

00:32:03.829 --> 00:32:06.470
doing and depending on where the area is. If

00:32:06.470 --> 00:32:09.269
somebody has me traveling... two to three hours

00:32:09.269 --> 00:32:12.289
to go to take care of something. Let's say I'm

00:32:12.289 --> 00:32:15.029
like Martha's Vineyard. Obviously, I'm going

00:32:15.029 --> 00:32:18.269
to charge a lot more. What I'm charging extra

00:32:18.269 --> 00:32:20.650
on travel time is how much I'm missing out doing

00:32:20.650 --> 00:32:23.069
with customers that are closer to home. This

00:32:23.069 --> 00:32:25.450
season, I kind of opened up the wait list where

00:32:25.450 --> 00:32:26.569
I said, all right, we're going to we're going

00:32:26.569 --> 00:32:28.829
to stop doing the rescues as much. And we're

00:32:28.829 --> 00:32:31.769
going to do this pretty much full time. As long

00:32:31.769 --> 00:32:34.720
as the rain is not. too bad. You're going to

00:32:34.720 --> 00:32:37.500
put in seven days a week, 12 hour days, maybe

00:32:37.500 --> 00:32:40.200
even 14 hour days. You're going to be exhausted.

00:32:40.480 --> 00:32:41.880
There's a lot of times where I'm going to need

00:32:41.880 --> 00:32:44.019
a drink at the end of the day and also to flush

00:32:44.019 --> 00:32:46.119
out the venom. Days I'm still getting stung 60

00:32:46.119 --> 00:32:48.720
times a day and it wears on you when it's every

00:32:48.720 --> 00:32:51.339
day. but it's extremely lucrative. What are you

00:32:51.339 --> 00:32:54.440
gonna charge? I thought I was too high when I

00:32:54.440 --> 00:32:58.279
started charging $40 as a side gig. Then I realized

00:32:58.279 --> 00:33:01.000
that it's not even close. I had a customer the

00:33:01.000 --> 00:33:04.460
other day that, and I'll just be honest, I said

00:33:04.460 --> 00:33:07.740
$125 an hour. And I felt like the way they looked

00:33:07.740 --> 00:33:09.819
at me, they would have paid me $250 an hour.

00:33:09.930 --> 00:33:12.809
In that particular customer, I guess I sold myself

00:33:12.809 --> 00:33:16.009
short, but I like to keep my rates at the same

00:33:16.009 --> 00:33:18.490
for all my customers in a certain area. I don't

00:33:18.490 --> 00:33:21.549
like to take advantage of anybody, and that makes

00:33:21.549 --> 00:33:24.410
it so most of my clients are through word of

00:33:24.410 --> 00:33:26.839
mouth. And they're talking to each other. So

00:33:26.839 --> 00:33:29.579
if you're charging somebody double, they're going

00:33:29.579 --> 00:33:31.440
to hear about it. They're going to resent you

00:33:31.440 --> 00:33:33.720
for that. Right. And you mentioned a wait list.

00:33:33.740 --> 00:33:35.559
You only get a wait list when you've got a lot

00:33:35.559 --> 00:33:37.759
of good word of mouth. Was there anything else

00:33:37.759 --> 00:33:40.460
you wanted to finish up on hive management? No.

00:33:40.559 --> 00:33:42.079
I mean, I think we basically covered it. You

00:33:42.079 --> 00:33:44.359
really have to start in July. I would definitely.

00:33:44.720 --> 00:33:47.740
Spend the money to have each a master beekeeper

00:33:47.740 --> 00:33:49.339
and you're talking about how to make it lucrative

00:33:49.339 --> 00:33:51.460
that master beekeeper the person that's looking

00:33:51.460 --> 00:33:53.440
to make that extra money That's the person that

00:33:53.440 --> 00:33:56.180
you hire that can potentially make extra money

00:33:56.180 --> 00:33:58.180
in beekeeping something somebody That's a professional

00:33:58.180 --> 00:34:00.619
beekeeper that does this to make you know, at

00:34:00.619 --> 00:34:02.900
least a significant portion of their income Those

00:34:02.900 --> 00:34:04.259
are the people that you would hire if you're

00:34:04.259 --> 00:34:06.140
a brand new beekeeper. So that basically answers

00:34:06.140 --> 00:34:08.260
both questions at once. And make sure you're

00:34:08.260 --> 00:34:10.099
paying him well, because if that's his time,

00:34:10.099 --> 00:34:12.039
it's his travel time. And they're going to give

00:34:12.039 --> 00:34:13.619
you a lot of knowledge that could actually save

00:34:13.619 --> 00:34:15.719
your colony. If you care about these bees, it's

00:34:15.719 --> 00:34:18.179
worth the investment. Other things that I wanted

00:34:18.179 --> 00:34:21.079
to talk about, one of the obstacles that has

00:34:21.079 --> 00:34:23.199
to winterizing colonies is what I mentioned,

00:34:23.219 --> 00:34:25.519
the lanternfly. We're now starting to get their

00:34:25.519 --> 00:34:28.420
honeydew into the honey, which has an off -putting

00:34:28.420 --> 00:34:31.860
taste. It's another new thing for management.

00:34:31.980 --> 00:34:35.079
issues. We better back up. It's been a while

00:34:35.079 --> 00:34:37.519
since I've mentioned lantern fly honey on here.

00:34:37.719 --> 00:34:40.440
But for those of us that know what it is, most

00:34:40.440 --> 00:34:43.099
people don't. So go ahead and tell them where

00:34:43.099 --> 00:34:48.119
does it come from? What exactly is it? And then

00:34:48.119 --> 00:34:49.940
they'll get an idea of why it tastes different.

00:34:50.199 --> 00:34:52.199
There's an insect from, I believe, Asia that

00:34:52.199 --> 00:34:54.940
is called the spot on lantern fly. And it started

00:34:54.940 --> 00:34:57.420
showing up in Pennsylvania and now it's just

00:34:57.420 --> 00:34:59.840
spreading across our country. It's moving about

00:34:59.840 --> 00:35:04.159
10 to 20 miles per season where it really just,

00:35:04.159 --> 00:35:06.699
you know, takes over an entire area. Two years

00:35:06.699 --> 00:35:09.440
ago, you could track me on a map. It was heavily

00:35:09.440 --> 00:35:12.920
in Bronx, New York. And then last year it was

00:35:12.920 --> 00:35:15.460
heavily in Larchmont, New York. And then this

00:35:15.460 --> 00:35:17.650
past... it's really starting to show presence

00:35:17.650 --> 00:35:20.610
all the way up to Westport, Connecticut. It feeds

00:35:20.610 --> 00:35:24.130
on trees and it basically eats the dap from the

00:35:24.130 --> 00:35:26.929
tree and it shoots off a honeydew and the bees

00:35:26.929 --> 00:35:28.889
will actually eat that honeydew. So it's actually

00:35:28.889 --> 00:35:31.590
the excrement from the spotted lanternfly. Now

00:35:31.590 --> 00:35:34.389
there's a lot of signs that the excrement that

00:35:34.389 --> 00:35:36.849
turns into honeydew has a lot of health benefits.

00:35:37.190 --> 00:35:39.550
It is apparently very healthy for us what it

00:35:39.550 --> 00:35:41.929
produces and the honey, funny honey that it produces.

00:35:42.679 --> 00:35:45.320
but it does not taste good. As you had mentioned

00:35:45.320 --> 00:35:47.659
earlier, it has a medicine -y taste. I think

00:35:47.659 --> 00:35:50.440
when you mix it with goldenrod nectar that already

00:35:50.440 --> 00:35:53.900
smells like dirty socks, and Japanese knotweed

00:35:53.900 --> 00:35:57.079
nectar that has a very strong, as I call it,

00:35:57.179 --> 00:35:59.119
a dessert flavor, you're going to have a very

00:35:59.119 --> 00:36:01.400
off -putting taste. And now we have to learn

00:36:01.400 --> 00:36:05.260
to harvest in between those different nectars

00:36:05.260 --> 00:36:07.739
that are coming in. And it's just one more obstacle

00:36:07.739 --> 00:36:10.329
that... It's just, we're just getting into the

00:36:10.329 --> 00:36:12.130
managing with hive beetles and now we have another

00:36:12.130 --> 00:36:14.329
obstacle that we have to basically pay attention

00:36:14.329 --> 00:36:17.010
to. And it's, it's all manmade. So a lot of the

00:36:17.010 --> 00:36:19.030
problems we have with honeybees is manmade. You

00:36:19.030 --> 00:36:21.630
know, the, the mites were introduced by humans.

00:36:22.130 --> 00:36:24.369
The hive beetles were introduced by humans. The

00:36:24.369 --> 00:36:26.530
lanternfly is introduced by humans. Granted,

00:36:26.809 --> 00:36:29.809
we've introduced the honeybees into North America's,

00:36:29.809 --> 00:36:31.909
but they've had 200 years without any of those

00:36:31.909 --> 00:36:35.239
issues. So. It's kind of our job to help manage

00:36:35.239 --> 00:36:37.960
those issues because it's our fault. But the

00:36:37.960 --> 00:36:41.000
second thing that I wanted to put on the radar

00:36:41.000 --> 00:36:43.940
is we have a particular type of honey that is

00:36:43.940 --> 00:36:45.639
getting analyzed by the University of Texas.

00:36:45.920 --> 00:36:47.920
I have a doctor friend that is doing a lot of

00:36:47.920 --> 00:36:50.480
research. I've already did research on it and

00:36:50.480 --> 00:36:53.079
I had it tested and we're trying to have three

00:36:53.079 --> 00:36:55.780
different companies that test it. Japanese knotweed

00:36:55.780 --> 00:36:58.380
might have some really exciting news going forward

00:36:58.380 --> 00:37:00.920
that potentially we can raise the price for that

00:37:00.920 --> 00:37:03.849
particular type of honey. Hopefully it shows

00:37:03.849 --> 00:37:06.010
that it can have some great health benefits for

00:37:06.010 --> 00:37:09.710
us that were not seen before. But the AAS is

00:37:09.710 --> 00:37:12.349
basically studying the sample right now. And

00:37:12.349 --> 00:37:15.090
I'm very hopeful that I can have some great news

00:37:15.090 --> 00:37:18.510
coming forward. This is big. We'll get you back

00:37:18.510 --> 00:37:21.050
on the show like next spring or something whenever

00:37:21.050 --> 00:37:23.969
you have some news and want to talk about it.

00:37:24.309 --> 00:37:27.829
Japanese knotweed, I don't understand scientifically.

00:37:28.489 --> 00:37:31.510
what it does or how it works. All I know is my

00:37:31.510 --> 00:37:35.210
wife has some chronic illness issues and she

00:37:35.210 --> 00:37:37.429
takes a lot of supplement and Japanese knotweed

00:37:37.429 --> 00:37:40.889
is one she takes every single day and really

00:37:40.889 --> 00:37:44.110
believes that it's helpful. So we'll learn more

00:37:44.110 --> 00:37:46.409
down the road. It's gonna be fun. There is a

00:37:46.409 --> 00:37:48.469
compound in there that does a lot of good. There's

00:37:48.469 --> 00:37:51.760
another product that has it. in there. I'm just

00:37:51.760 --> 00:37:53.599
not going to say too much yet. I'm not allowed

00:37:53.599 --> 00:37:56.400
to say too much yet. But Japanese knotweed is

00:37:56.400 --> 00:37:58.820
one of the biggest villains for invasive plants.

00:38:00.519 --> 00:38:03.000
And it does, the selfish reason would be it produces

00:38:03.000 --> 00:38:05.199
this great honey. That's good for us. The non

00:38:05.199 --> 00:38:08.039
selfish reason, you know, across at least the

00:38:08.039 --> 00:38:10.000
Northeast, we've made all these green lawns that

00:38:10.000 --> 00:38:13.440
are a void of clover and there's not much blooming

00:38:13.440 --> 00:38:16.980
when Japanese knotweed is blooming. And if you

00:38:16.980 --> 00:38:20.300
ever go actually look at Japanese knotweed blooming,

00:38:20.760 --> 00:38:23.320
there's so many different species of wasps, hornets,

00:38:23.340 --> 00:38:26.280
and bees that are going there because it's literally

00:38:26.280 --> 00:38:28.940
the only source of nectar in the area. These

00:38:28.940 --> 00:38:30.980
colonies are starving and this is where they're

00:38:30.980 --> 00:38:33.719
producing a lot of their queens. So everybody

00:38:33.719 --> 00:38:36.679
talks about not having enough bees and we talked

00:38:36.679 --> 00:38:38.480
about how the insect population is going down.

00:38:38.840 --> 00:38:41.440
This is one of those plants that actually is

00:38:41.440 --> 00:38:44.559
helping the insect population create those queens,

00:38:44.679 --> 00:38:47.159
because we all know it's towards early fall,

00:38:47.340 --> 00:38:50.119
late summer when a lot of these colonies, bumblebees,

00:38:50.159 --> 00:38:51.940
are creating a lot of their queens and they have

00:38:51.940 --> 00:38:54.019
to go out and mate. So if they're not well fed,

00:38:54.159 --> 00:38:56.380
they're not going to produce proper queens for

00:38:56.380 --> 00:38:58.630
the next season. There's not much else blooming,

00:38:58.630 --> 00:39:00.789
at least in our area, other than that. Now, does

00:39:00.789 --> 00:39:02.969
it destroy riverbeds? Does it basically affect

00:39:02.969 --> 00:39:04.670
foundations? Yes. All those things are true.

00:39:04.929 --> 00:39:07.409
Is it an invasive? Yes. Is it non -natural? Yes.

00:39:07.929 --> 00:39:09.829
Technically, we're not natural in the Americas.

00:39:10.329 --> 00:39:12.710
So, you know, we could go technicalities all

00:39:12.710 --> 00:39:16.250
day long, but I do know what helps. other insects.

00:39:16.510 --> 00:39:19.110
I do know it is a prime nectar source for a lot

00:39:19.110 --> 00:39:23.110
of insects. And if what I think I know about

00:39:23.110 --> 00:39:26.010
this particular honey is true, that means that

00:39:26.010 --> 00:39:28.809
that particular nectar is helping those insects

00:39:28.809 --> 00:39:31.050
as well, if that compound has the same relation

00:39:31.050 --> 00:39:33.750
to how it affects us. Does that make sense? You

00:39:33.750 --> 00:39:36.429
know, where if the compound in that nectar is

00:39:36.429 --> 00:39:38.329
helping us, it might be helping the insects as

00:39:38.329 --> 00:39:40.329
well, making stronger insects. Because we don't

00:39:40.329 --> 00:39:42.809
really do a lot of studies on acute environmental

00:39:42.809 --> 00:39:45.769
factors, whether it be pesticides, or anything

00:39:45.769 --> 00:39:49.030
else that we're doing, how it affects insects,

00:39:49.590 --> 00:39:51.809
this might be something that counteracts a lot

00:39:51.809 --> 00:39:54.289
of those effects, which would be tremendous.

00:39:54.989 --> 00:39:57.530
Absolutely. And to get back to that and something

00:39:57.530 --> 00:39:59.929
that you mentioned a little bit earlier about

00:39:59.929 --> 00:40:03.130
pollinators in general. And right now, honeybees

00:40:03.130 --> 00:40:07.010
are getting a little bit of a bad rap from some

00:40:07.010 --> 00:40:09.170
articles that I've seen here and there saying

00:40:09.170 --> 00:40:11.929
that they're pushing out these native bee species

00:40:11.929 --> 00:40:15.380
and these other pollinators and There may be

00:40:15.380 --> 00:40:17.900
some truth to that. I don't know. Here's what

00:40:17.900 --> 00:40:21.679
I do know. When I look at my own yard, for example,

00:40:21.699 --> 00:40:24.559
very early in the spring, we've planted pussy

00:40:24.559 --> 00:40:27.780
willows here on purpose because they are the

00:40:27.780 --> 00:40:31.559
first things that bloom around here. And I not

00:40:31.559 --> 00:40:35.139
only see honeybees, I see, I don't know how many

00:40:35.139 --> 00:40:38.719
different species of native bees, bumblebees,

00:40:39.159 --> 00:40:43.780
butterflies. I see all kinds of things and they're

00:40:43.769 --> 00:40:46.769
They're not chasing each other off. They're all

00:40:46.769 --> 00:40:50.030
out there at the same time. And the same with

00:40:50.030 --> 00:40:51.949
the mint that we have right now and other things

00:40:51.949 --> 00:40:55.110
like that. I just personally, I don't see it.

00:40:55.409 --> 00:40:58.349
But some science says there's a problem. I've

00:40:58.349 --> 00:41:01.230
got to be careful because this is strong opinions.

00:41:01.550 --> 00:41:05.070
And I try not to say strong opinions on anything

00:41:05.070 --> 00:41:07.070
that's going to be published. But there's something

00:41:07.070 --> 00:41:09.250
that changed about our growing practices after

00:41:09.250 --> 00:41:11.429
World War II. The honeybees and the bumblebees

00:41:11.429 --> 00:41:14.849
coexisted fine. during World War II, and that's

00:41:14.849 --> 00:41:18.090
since Jamestown. So if you factor in the fact

00:41:18.090 --> 00:41:21.590
that there was more honeybee colonies alive in

00:41:21.590 --> 00:41:24.829
North America, particularly America, during World

00:41:24.829 --> 00:41:28.449
War II, and there's less colonies alive today,

00:41:28.929 --> 00:41:31.690
and now we're seeing that sudden shift, you can

00:41:31.690 --> 00:41:34.800
see that maybe... The honeybees are not the problem.

00:41:34.920 --> 00:41:37.320
And maybe it's a lot of other factors that we're

00:41:37.320 --> 00:41:39.739
not paying attention to. I would think that that

00:41:39.739 --> 00:41:41.400
argument would be a silver bullet because that's

00:41:41.400 --> 00:41:44.059
just the eye test. But a lot of people want to

00:41:44.059 --> 00:41:46.159
ignore a lot of the research that's right in

00:41:46.159 --> 00:41:48.420
front of you. A lot of the easy answers that

00:41:48.420 --> 00:41:50.139
are right in front of you. Well, you get more

00:41:50.139 --> 00:41:52.699
clicks if there's a good guy and a bad guy and

00:41:52.699 --> 00:41:55.940
a villain and all that kind of stuff. But yeah,

00:41:55.960 --> 00:41:58.880
the truth is there's about half as many managed

00:41:58.880 --> 00:42:01.659
honeybee colonies now as there were that many

00:42:01.659 --> 00:42:04.860
years ago. And bumblebees had no issue back then.

00:42:05.199 --> 00:42:08.300
Yeah. And in the meantime, monocropping has grown

00:42:08.300 --> 00:42:12.199
huge. Herbicides, pesticides have grown huge,

00:42:12.579 --> 00:42:15.280
which goes back to your thing about the bugs

00:42:15.280 --> 00:42:18.940
hitting the windshield. It used to be in the

00:42:18.940 --> 00:42:20.860
summertime, I just remember every time I got

00:42:20.860 --> 00:42:24.059
gas, I'd pull out that, you know, that washer

00:42:24.059 --> 00:42:28.400
thing and scrub it on the windshield and squeegee

00:42:28.400 --> 00:42:31.500
it off. I almost never do that anymore. And the

00:42:31.500 --> 00:42:33.219
younger generation will have no idea because

00:42:33.219 --> 00:42:35.119
it was an inconvenience. It was one of those

00:42:35.119 --> 00:42:36.820
inconveniences that we would never think about

00:42:36.820 --> 00:42:39.059
to teach the next generation. I mean, we have

00:42:39.059 --> 00:42:43.460
a supercharged, very outspoken, energetic youth

00:42:43.460 --> 00:42:46.800
amongst us nowadays. And I feel like this is

00:42:46.800 --> 00:42:49.579
something that they can really latch onto and

00:42:49.579 --> 00:42:52.480
notice because if you have a generation that

00:42:52.480 --> 00:42:56.880
wants to protest all the evil or the bad things

00:42:56.880 --> 00:42:59.010
that they feel are in the world. What's worse

00:42:59.010 --> 00:43:02.010
than losing the tiniest creatures? If you can't

00:43:02.010 --> 00:43:04.789
protect the tiniest creatures, how strong are

00:43:04.789 --> 00:43:08.380
we as a species? If you can't protect... the

00:43:08.380 --> 00:43:11.179
weakest amongst us, how great are we with our

00:43:11.179 --> 00:43:14.340
morals? A lot of times when I say I care more

00:43:14.340 --> 00:43:17.019
about a certain animal, or I care how much an

00:43:17.019 --> 00:43:18.800
animal likes me, or I care more about the animals

00:43:18.800 --> 00:43:21.500
around me more than I do how the people like

00:43:21.500 --> 00:43:24.659
me. And it doesn't matter to me as much as that

00:43:24.659 --> 00:43:26.760
dog coming up to me or that, you know, that will

00:43:26.760 --> 00:43:28.719
be an insult. If a dog doesn't like me, I'll

00:43:28.719 --> 00:43:31.500
be insulted or a cat doesn't like me. I'll feel

00:43:31.500 --> 00:43:33.820
more about, I'll feel terrible about that versus

00:43:33.820 --> 00:43:36.679
if it's a human. But you got to take care of

00:43:36.679 --> 00:43:39.519
the tiniest creatures to be better as a species.

00:43:39.880 --> 00:43:41.860
That's the way I look at it anyways. Hey, I know

00:43:41.860 --> 00:43:44.119
how busy you are this time of year. Well, all

00:43:44.119 --> 00:43:47.599
the year, but especially right now. And so I

00:43:47.599 --> 00:43:49.860
really appreciate your time. This, again, is

00:43:49.860 --> 00:43:52.320
Ryan Griffith from Necker's Farm in Connecticut.

00:43:53.260 --> 00:43:55.599
Thank you so much for being with me today. We'll

00:43:55.599 --> 00:43:58.159
do it again in the future. All right. Have a

00:43:58.159 --> 00:44:00.139
great day. I'm going to be spinning honey all

00:44:00.139 --> 00:44:06.780
day. Thanks again for joining us on the number

00:44:06.780 --> 00:44:10.079
one Be Love Beekeeping podcast presented by Man

00:44:10.079 --> 00:44:12.880
Lake. Another big thank you goes out to Vita

00:44:12.880 --> 00:44:16.139
Bee Health for their support. Vita's Varroa control

00:44:16.139 --> 00:44:19.320
range of products includes Epistan, Epigard,

00:44:19.480 --> 00:44:23.340
and now Varroxan, Extended Release, Oxalic Acids

00:44:23.340 --> 00:44:26.639
Trips. If you haven't yet, hey please subscribe

00:44:26.639 --> 00:44:28.900
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00:44:28.900 --> 00:44:31.980
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00:44:31.980 --> 00:44:35.179
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00:44:35.179 --> 00:44:37.960
a guest suggestion or a topic you'd like discussed

00:44:37.960 --> 00:44:41.739
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00:44:41.739 --> 00:44:45.440
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00:44:45.440 --> 00:44:48.219
in it for the honey or the money you're in it

00:44:48.219 --> 00:44:50.380
for the love. See you next week.