WEBVTT 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:03.640 May I have your attention, please? The following 00:00:03.640 --> 00:00:10.359 is not the real Jeff Fox review. If you have 00:00:10.359 --> 00:00:15.880 ever considered sewing little tiny uniforms for 00:00:15.880 --> 00:00:24.129 your scout bees, you might be a beekeeper. that 00:00:24.129 --> 00:00:28.829 a bee vacuum is really too big for bees to use 00:00:28.829 --> 00:00:32.929 to clean the floors in their hive. You might 00:00:32.929 --> 00:00:38.570 be a beekeeper. If you have ever said, it'll 00:00:38.570 --> 00:00:41.869 feel good to get stung for the first time this 00:00:41.869 --> 00:00:48.009 spring, and you weren't being sarcastic, you 00:00:48.009 --> 00:00:52.890 might be a beekeeper. You might also be nuts. 00:00:59.030 --> 00:01:02.090 Welcome, welcome to Be Love Beekeeping presented 00:01:02.090 --> 00:01:05.530 by Man Lake. Our question of the day is this, 00:01:05.909 --> 00:01:08.469 have you ever created something for your own 00:01:08.469 --> 00:01:11.870 beekeeping or maybe modified equipment to better 00:01:11.870 --> 00:01:15.189 fit your needs? Lots of beekeepers do. Today 00:01:15.189 --> 00:01:18.069 our guest is Dan Long and we'll find out how 00:01:18.069 --> 00:01:22.189 his creativity and his 3D printer created something 00:01:22.189 --> 00:01:25.750 better and more useful for his queen rearing 00:01:25.750 --> 00:01:29.709 operation. But first, While scientists are still 00:01:29.709 --> 00:01:31.930 working hard to figure out the cause of the great 00:01:31.930 --> 00:01:34.890 bee die -off here in the states, another theory 00:01:34.890 --> 00:01:38.510 comes in from some new studies about microplastics. 00:01:39.310 --> 00:01:41.950 Recent studies have shown that tiny pieces of 00:01:41.950 --> 00:01:45.510 plastic, which may originate from everyday products 00:01:45.510 --> 00:01:48.989 such as food packaging, disposable cutlery, or 00:01:48.989 --> 00:01:52.109 plastic toys, anything out there that's plastic 00:01:52.109 --> 00:01:56.109 can make bees more susceptible to bacteria and 00:01:56.109 --> 00:02:00.189 viruses. When, say, a plastic water bottle ends 00:02:00.189 --> 00:02:03.129 up in a ditch or in a river, it disintegrates 00:02:03.129 --> 00:02:06.370 with the help of the sun, water, and wind into 00:02:06.370 --> 00:02:09.289 even smaller pieces which float into the air, 00:02:09.750 --> 00:02:13.789 seep into soils, and settle on vegetation. Other 00:02:13.789 --> 00:02:17.449 microplastics are made minuscule from the start, 00:02:17.830 --> 00:02:21.370 such as glitter or microbeads and body scrubs. 00:02:21.469 --> 00:02:24.509 They make it washed off from our skin into wastewater, 00:02:24.889 --> 00:02:28.610 which is then used for irrigation of crops. Bees 00:02:28.610 --> 00:02:31.930 can accumulate microplastics from many sources, 00:02:32.509 --> 00:02:36.530 like air, water, soil, and also flowers, said 00:02:36.530 --> 00:02:39.969 David Baracci, a behavioral ecologist at the 00:02:39.969 --> 00:02:44.530 University of Florence in Italy. In 2021, a study 00:02:44.530 --> 00:02:49.500 conducted in Denmark detected 13 types of microplastics 00:02:49.500 --> 00:02:53.039 on honey bees' bodies. Since then, other studies 00:02:53.039 --> 00:02:56.020 have confirmed that bees are often covered in 00:02:56.020 --> 00:02:59.599 tiny plastics, which stick to their wings, their 00:02:59.599 --> 00:03:04.419 heads, and their abdomens. Bees can swallow microplastics 00:03:04.419 --> 00:03:07.379 with nectar, too, so that they accumulate in 00:03:07.379 --> 00:03:10.979 their guts. The consequences may be serious. 00:03:11.300 --> 00:03:15.349 A 2024 study by Baracci and his colleagues found 00:03:15.349 --> 00:03:18.750 that certain microplastics mixed together may 00:03:18.750 --> 00:03:23.849 kill bees. In other studies, honey bees fed microplastics 00:03:23.849 --> 00:03:27.490 developed worse infections with a pathogen that's 00:03:27.490 --> 00:03:31.050 been linked with colony collapse. Microplastics 00:03:31.050 --> 00:03:34.069 can also reach honeybee brains and may affect 00:03:34.069 --> 00:03:37.610 their thinking and memory. Microplastic -laden 00:03:37.610 --> 00:03:41.370 bees can also mean microplastic -laden honey. 00:03:42.229 --> 00:03:45.960 Oh man. When Turkish scientists tested samples 00:03:45.960 --> 00:03:49.120 of honey, they discovered that a vast majority 00:03:49.120 --> 00:03:53.099 contained microplastics, with single flower honeys 00:03:53.099 --> 00:03:56.759 the most affected. In Germany, commercial honey 00:03:56.759 --> 00:04:01.639 contained almost 300 pieces of microplastics 00:04:01.639 --> 00:04:05.659 per pound, or about five pieces in each teaspoonful. 00:04:06.169 --> 00:04:10.909 In short, research shows microplastics can enter 00:04:10.909 --> 00:04:14.629 bees' guts and brains, damaging memory, weakening 00:04:14.629 --> 00:04:18.069 immune responses, and increasing death rates. 00:04:18.670 --> 00:04:22.990 Folks, let's get this thing figured out. Alright, 00:04:23.129 --> 00:04:25.529 on a lighter note, let's have some fun. Let's 00:04:25.529 --> 00:04:28.310 head to the southeastern United States for our 00:04:28.310 --> 00:04:35.389 discussion today with beekeeper Dan Long. Hey, 00:04:35.490 --> 00:04:38.129 Dan, how are you? I'm great. Thanks for having 00:04:38.129 --> 00:04:41.910 me on. Good. And we're going all the way out 00:04:41.910 --> 00:04:45.750 to Athens, Georgia, home of the famous Georgia 00:04:45.750 --> 00:04:48.629 Bulldogs. And you're their number one fan, aren't 00:04:48.629 --> 00:04:52.629 you? I'm sorry. I set you in a trap for that 00:04:52.629 --> 00:04:56.569 one. Well, I've been down here for 15 years now, 00:04:56.569 --> 00:04:58.930 and I've learned that that is the equivalent 00:04:58.930 --> 00:05:03.649 of sun. You just got here. So I'm a Northerner 00:05:03.649 --> 00:05:07.399 in Georgia. Sounds like where I live I have people 00:05:07.399 --> 00:05:10.040 down the street from me in their 90s that have 00:05:10.040 --> 00:05:12.759 lived here their entire life and Their parents 00:05:12.759 --> 00:05:15.620 were here their entire life and we've been here 00:05:15.620 --> 00:05:18.579 10 or 12 years. We will always be the newbies 00:05:18.579 --> 00:05:22.399 and Yep. Oh, well, that's life. Hey, we're gonna 00:05:22.399 --> 00:05:25.019 be talking about all kinds of fun stuff today 00:05:25.019 --> 00:05:29.199 Queen rearing we're gonna talk about your crazy 00:05:29.199 --> 00:05:33.389 mad professor Isms that you have developed which 00:05:33.389 --> 00:05:37.170 is awesome and a lot of beekeepers have a new 00:05:37.170 --> 00:05:40.550 product that you've developed and how and why 00:05:40.550 --> 00:05:44.110 and But first if you wouldn't mind, can you give 00:05:44.110 --> 00:05:48.149 us a very brief? What got you started in beekeeping? 00:05:48.839 --> 00:05:51.339 How many hives do you run? Give us an idea of 00:05:51.339 --> 00:05:54.839 who Dan is. Sure. Well, I started beekeeping 00:05:54.839 --> 00:05:58.759 officially in 1996, but I wasn't really serious 00:05:58.759 --> 00:06:01.360 about it until I moved to Georgia again about 00:06:01.360 --> 00:06:07.480 about 15 years ago. And it was essentially born 00:06:07.480 --> 00:06:09.939 out of the idea of homesteading. You know, we 00:06:09.939 --> 00:06:11.959 have a big vegetable garden. We have some fruit 00:06:11.959 --> 00:06:14.240 trees that have chickens, that kind of thing. 00:06:14.300 --> 00:06:16.139 And I thought, well, you know, I need a couple 00:06:16.139 --> 00:06:20.930 of hives and. I found I absolutely loved it. 00:06:21.410 --> 00:06:25.889 It is challenging, frustrating, hot, sweaty, 00:06:26.250 --> 00:06:30.350 hard lifting, getting stung. But when you get 00:06:30.350 --> 00:06:34.009 the hang of it, it's absolutely wonderful. You 00:06:34.009 --> 00:06:35.889 have really hot summers out there, don't you? 00:06:36.370 --> 00:06:39.550 We do. It gets pretty brutal here in the summertime. 00:06:40.449 --> 00:06:44.199 So what's it like? quote overwintering, since 00:06:44.199 --> 00:06:47.300 you don't have a real winter, but you certainly 00:06:47.300 --> 00:06:50.199 have a downtime. Do you do your bees run through 00:06:50.199 --> 00:06:53.399 a long dearth during the winter? Actually, we 00:06:53.399 --> 00:06:56.220 get a pretty short nectar flow followed by a 00:06:56.220 --> 00:07:00.800 long summer dearth, and then it stays warm enough 00:07:00.800 --> 00:07:03.800 that the queens often don't shut down entirely. 00:07:03.879 --> 00:07:06.259 But we hit brood minimum, you know, right around 00:07:06.259 --> 00:07:09.959 the just before the winter solstice. which is 00:07:09.959 --> 00:07:13.079 obviously a great time to treat with oxalic acid. 00:07:13.420 --> 00:07:16.600 Yeah. We haven't talked much about queen rearing 00:07:16.600 --> 00:07:19.339 on this show yet. That's something that you have 00:07:19.339 --> 00:07:22.620 some experience with. If somebody has never done 00:07:22.620 --> 00:07:25.500 it before, can you give us a little background? 00:07:25.819 --> 00:07:28.519 And I know you're not like a professor, but from 00:07:28.519 --> 00:07:31.480 your experience, what kind of method do you like 00:07:31.480 --> 00:07:34.899 to use? How does it work? Give us a little tutorial. 00:07:35.230 --> 00:07:38.250 Sure. Well, what's really cool about it is that 00:07:38.250 --> 00:07:42.689 the beekeeper can work with the bees own instinctive 00:07:42.689 --> 00:07:46.569 responses to being queenless in order to generate 00:07:46.569 --> 00:07:49.810 new queens in various ways. Basically, when she's 00:07:49.810 --> 00:07:52.810 gone, they know it right away and they can start 00:07:52.810 --> 00:07:57.389 to raise their own replacement queens. And if 00:07:57.389 --> 00:08:00.230 you do that under the right conditions, you can 00:08:00.230 --> 00:08:03.129 use a colony or you can set up a particular box. 00:08:03.439 --> 00:08:07.879 to create high quality queens at larger numbers 00:08:07.879 --> 00:08:10.540 than they would normally do. It wouldn't be a 00:08:10.540 --> 00:08:13.339 unreasonable thing for a backyard beekeeper to 00:08:13.339 --> 00:08:16.699 produce 30 queens at a time. I guess I've tried 00:08:16.699 --> 00:08:20.360 different techniques before. I tend to fall back 00:08:20.360 --> 00:08:23.480 on the cloak board method. Harry Cloak, I believe 00:08:23.480 --> 00:08:26.279 out of New Zealand, developed this. And it's 00:08:26.279 --> 00:08:29.379 essentially an opening and closing double screen 00:08:29.379 --> 00:08:33.600 board technique. where you create, the hive is 00:08:33.600 --> 00:08:36.299 called a starter finisher at that point, and 00:08:36.299 --> 00:08:39.600 you create a queen -less condition in the upper 00:08:39.600 --> 00:08:42.519 box of a double deep. You can use an 8 frame 00:08:42.519 --> 00:08:45.480 or a 10 frame. You create a queen -less condition 00:08:45.480 --> 00:08:48.919 with a lot of young bees up top. You feed them 00:08:48.919 --> 00:08:52.360 very well, and then you graft, and then sort 00:08:52.360 --> 00:08:56.039 of graft frame into that top box. and they go 00:08:56.039 --> 00:08:58.559 to town on it, and you leave it there for usually 00:08:58.559 --> 00:09:03.419 24, sometimes 48 hours. Then you reintegrate 00:09:03.419 --> 00:09:07.620 the lower box by opening up the door, in essence, 00:09:08.360 --> 00:09:11.279 and it becomes just queen excluder there. So 00:09:11.279 --> 00:09:14.200 it becomes queen right, which tends to finish 00:09:14.200 --> 00:09:17.360 better. And then after a few days, they've capped 00:09:17.360 --> 00:09:20.039 those off. You can pull them out to an incubator. 00:09:20.279 --> 00:09:22.860 You can protect them with cages in the finisher 00:09:22.860 --> 00:09:25.580 if you want. There are different techniques used 00:09:25.580 --> 00:09:28.279 from there to finish. You use some terms that 00:09:28.279 --> 00:09:31.379 some people haven't heard of yet. And by the 00:09:31.379 --> 00:09:33.539 way, we have on this podcast, we have listeners 00:09:33.539 --> 00:09:37.019 that are commercial beekeepers that know a hundred 00:09:37.019 --> 00:09:39.779 times more than I ever will. We also have beginners. 00:09:40.419 --> 00:09:43.220 So give us an idea what the heck is grafting 00:09:43.220 --> 00:09:46.600 and a couple of the other terms you used. Sure, 00:09:46.600 --> 00:09:49.820 right. Yeah, grafting. is basically transferring 00:09:49.820 --> 00:09:54.000 larvae from a frame that you've chosen. And they 00:09:54.000 --> 00:09:57.940 have to be very young larvae, just one day hatched, 00:09:57.940 --> 00:10:00.600 basically. You want them, if you're looking visually, 00:10:00.720 --> 00:10:03.639 you can see how larvae are. They're C -shaped 00:10:03.639 --> 00:10:05.980 when they develop. You want to get them when 00:10:05.980 --> 00:10:08.559 they are comma -shaped, not even a C -shape yet. 00:10:08.600 --> 00:10:11.620 So very, very young, recently hatched larvae. 00:10:11.620 --> 00:10:15.299 And you carefully scoop them out of the cell. 00:10:15.639 --> 00:10:18.259 and you put them into a cell that you choose 00:10:18.259 --> 00:10:24.299 that is on a bar that then faces vertically downward 00:10:24.299 --> 00:10:27.600 like a queen cell, they will under those conditions 00:10:27.600 --> 00:10:31.340 I mentioned before about good nutrition and being 00:10:31.340 --> 00:10:35.580 queenless, they will create a queen cell from 00:10:35.580 --> 00:10:39.840 that and you can put whole bars of 15, 30, 45 00:10:39.840 --> 00:10:43.399 at a time depending on the strength of your starter. 00:10:43.669 --> 00:10:45.990 the strength is determined by how many nurse 00:10:45.990 --> 00:10:49.149 bees you can pack in. So that's grafting. Double 00:10:49.149 --> 00:10:51.789 screen board, I mentioned that. It's important 00:10:51.789 --> 00:10:55.470 in this starter -finisher box that if you're 00:10:55.470 --> 00:10:58.730 going to have a queen in it, in the lower box, 00:10:59.490 --> 00:11:02.230 they can't communicate pheromones to the upper 00:11:02.230 --> 00:11:06.610 box. So in the case of the cloak board, there's 00:11:06.610 --> 00:11:09.929 actually a slide that acts as a door that closes 00:11:09.929 --> 00:11:13.580 the upper box from the lower box so that Pheromone 00:11:13.580 --> 00:11:16.019 is no longer being transmitted back and forth. 00:11:16.539 --> 00:11:19.879 They believe they're queenless upstairs and they 00:11:19.879 --> 00:11:22.340 will then generate queen cells. You don't want 00:11:22.340 --> 00:11:24.139 to provide them with any brood of their own to 00:11:24.139 --> 00:11:26.720 do that. You want the larvae that you have chosen 00:11:26.720 --> 00:11:32.000 only. Not only because you're looking for your 00:11:32.000 --> 00:11:34.299 favorite queen, your favorite hive, the genetics 00:11:34.299 --> 00:11:37.860 you're after, various other selected traits, 00:11:38.320 --> 00:11:42.320 but you want them to focus only on the larvae 00:11:42.320 --> 00:11:44.860 that you have put in there for that. If you leave 00:11:44.860 --> 00:11:47.840 other open larvae in the upper box, they'll continue 00:11:47.840 --> 00:11:51.360 to feed them. And you want those nurse bees, 00:11:51.460 --> 00:11:54.539 those worker bees, to do nothing but focus on 00:11:54.539 --> 00:11:57.779 your grafts. And how are they going to be doing 00:11:57.779 --> 00:12:00.120 that? What exactly are they going to do to your 00:12:00.120 --> 00:12:03.000 grafts? They are going to feed the heck out of 00:12:03.000 --> 00:12:05.289 them with royal jelly. and they're going to pack 00:12:05.289 --> 00:12:07.470 those cells full of royal jelly hopefully more 00:12:07.470 --> 00:12:10.350 than the larvae will ever possibly consume and 00:12:10.350 --> 00:12:13.450 they're going to make a big beefy happy virgin 00:12:13.450 --> 00:12:17.549 queen for you all right any secrets after that 00:12:17.549 --> 00:12:19.549 you've got these virgin queens what are you doing 00:12:19.549 --> 00:12:24.990 next well if you once you open that slide door 00:12:24.990 --> 00:12:28.370 back up again you want to finish off those cells 00:12:28.370 --> 00:12:32.210 for a few days until they're capped now there's 00:12:32.210 --> 00:12:35.580 some Conditions that can occur in there, cold 00:12:35.580 --> 00:12:39.600 nights, sometimes workers will tear cells back 00:12:39.600 --> 00:12:42.320 down again, sometimes you can get a rogue queen 00:12:42.320 --> 00:12:44.940 flying into the upper box. There are any number 00:12:44.940 --> 00:12:49.039 of things that can put those cells at risk. So 00:12:49.039 --> 00:12:52.139 what I like to do after they're capped, all they 00:12:52.139 --> 00:12:54.779 need is warmth and humidity. I like to pull them 00:12:54.779 --> 00:12:57.779 out and put them into an incubator. I prefer 00:12:57.779 --> 00:13:00.240 93 Fahrenheit. Some people go a little warmer, 00:13:00.340 --> 00:13:03.519 some people go a little cooler. And the choice 00:13:03.519 --> 00:13:06.960 of incubator is up to you. It depends on how 00:13:06.960 --> 00:13:09.019 many you have, whether you need portability. 00:13:09.759 --> 00:13:12.600 Some commercial guys have giant ones that look 00:13:12.600 --> 00:13:15.659 like the size of a refrigerator. Some people 00:13:15.659 --> 00:13:19.879 use chicken egg incubators, for example, or reptile 00:13:19.879 --> 00:13:22.480 egg incubators. Anything will work as long as 00:13:22.480 --> 00:13:24.960 it holds a steady temperature. And then these 00:13:24.960 --> 00:13:27.360 queens hatch. And then what are you doing with 00:13:27.360 --> 00:13:29.980 them so they go out and get mated? Right. So 00:13:29.980 --> 00:13:33.629 once they emerge, Sorry, emerge, not hatch. Thank 00:13:33.629 --> 00:13:36.570 you for correcting me on that one. I didn't mean 00:13:36.570 --> 00:13:39.309 to use the wrong term there. Yeah. Yeah. Thank 00:13:39.309 --> 00:13:42.169 you. Yeah. Yeah. Eggs hatch, virgins emerge. 00:13:42.889 --> 00:13:45.509 Yeah. So the virgins will emerge. I like to emerge 00:13:45.509 --> 00:13:48.190 them and look at them. Now you talk to the commercial 00:13:48.190 --> 00:13:50.870 guys and they're like, no, that's a lot of extra 00:13:50.870 --> 00:13:52.809 work. We don't have time for that. And they're 00:13:52.809 --> 00:13:56.590 right. Time is money. In my case, what I really 00:13:56.590 --> 00:13:58.909 like to do, I like to emerge those virgins. I 00:13:58.909 --> 00:14:01.620 like to get a good look at them. make sure they've 00:14:01.620 --> 00:14:04.080 got all six legs, all their wings are looking 00:14:04.080 --> 00:14:07.039 good, they're big fat healthy girls, and cull 00:14:07.039 --> 00:14:11.899 the ones that don't meet the standard. Let me 00:14:11.899 --> 00:14:13.899 just take a minute here to thank our presenting 00:14:13.899 --> 00:14:17.120 sponsor, Man Lake. One of the things I love about 00:14:17.120 --> 00:14:20.440 Man Lake is their commitment to education, because 00:14:20.440 --> 00:14:22.919 that commitment shows how much they want you 00:14:22.919 --> 00:14:26.289 to be successful at beekeeping. One great resource 00:14:26.289 --> 00:14:28.809 is their mobile app. You know, it's not just 00:14:28.809 --> 00:14:32.090 for shopping. It's packed full of all kinds of 00:14:32.090 --> 00:14:35.230 helpful information including videos, articles, 00:14:35.669 --> 00:14:38.309 plus a plant identification feature designed 00:14:38.309 --> 00:14:41.350 to help beekeepers identify and plant bee healthy 00:14:41.350 --> 00:14:44.529 plants for their area. It's free, so download 00:14:44.529 --> 00:14:47.610 the Man Lake app today. And speaking of shopping, 00:14:47.950 --> 00:14:51.129 don't forget your discount code MLBlove10, it's 00:14:51.129 --> 00:14:54.629 in the show notes, for $10 off your first $100 00:14:54.629 --> 00:15:02.269 purchase. Now, back to the guest. So once I've 00:15:02.269 --> 00:15:05.710 got those virgins, I can put them into mating 00:15:05.710 --> 00:15:09.169 nukes. And a mating nuke is just a nucleus colony 00:15:09.169 --> 00:15:12.700 that you've got set aside. that you rotate virgins 00:15:12.700 --> 00:15:16.779 in and mated queens out. Mating nucs are on a 00:15:16.779 --> 00:15:19.340 commercial scale or teeny tiny little styrofoam 00:15:19.340 --> 00:15:21.960 things, but it can be a full -size colony if 00:15:21.960 --> 00:15:25.559 you really want it to. What I prefer is a five 00:15:25.559 --> 00:15:29.039 frame nuc box with a gallon and a half feeder 00:15:29.039 --> 00:15:33.000 in place. So I've really got a three frame box, 00:15:33.259 --> 00:15:35.500 but I can put some feed in there when needed. 00:15:35.840 --> 00:15:38.259 I like working with the deep frames. I like a 00:15:38.259 --> 00:15:41.019 bigger mating nuc than normal. It is a little 00:15:41.019 --> 00:15:43.600 harder to find the queen, but you've got a little 00:15:43.600 --> 00:15:47.600 buffer here and there on the timing on pulling 00:15:47.600 --> 00:15:49.679 those queens back out again once they're mated. 00:15:50.159 --> 00:15:52.120 I find it's a little more comfortable to use 00:15:52.120 --> 00:15:54.440 three deep frames. How do you know when those 00:15:54.440 --> 00:15:57.480 queens have successfully mated? Oh, well, you 00:15:57.480 --> 00:15:59.919 definitely check back on them after a while. 00:15:59.980 --> 00:16:02.200 It takes them a little time to mature. Then they 00:16:02.200 --> 00:16:04.259 go on mating flights and then they come back. 00:16:04.559 --> 00:16:08.600 What I like is to see a really good pattern of 00:16:08.600 --> 00:16:11.019 brood. You need to make sure they're not drone 00:16:11.019 --> 00:16:14.519 layers. You need to make sure they've come back 00:16:14.519 --> 00:16:16.600 from their mating flight. Sometimes they don't 00:16:16.600 --> 00:16:19.360 make it home. They get pecked off by a bird or 00:16:19.360 --> 00:16:21.559 something. And I like to see a good pattern develop. 00:16:22.059 --> 00:16:25.279 I believe the science has shown that the queen 00:16:25.279 --> 00:16:27.600 will be healthier if she's got a three -week 00:16:27.600 --> 00:16:31.500 cycle between installing and pulling or catching. 00:16:32.120 --> 00:16:34.500 That there is some maturation. You can see that 00:16:34.500 --> 00:16:37.679 she's a good queen after a couple of weeks, but 00:16:37.679 --> 00:16:40.179 waiting a little bit longer. she'll mature a 00:16:40.179 --> 00:16:42.679 little bit more. So it takes a little bit longer. 00:16:43.000 --> 00:16:46.580 Again, time is money. And the commercial beekeepers 00:16:46.580 --> 00:16:49.120 are like, no, we don't have time for that. We 00:16:49.120 --> 00:16:51.000 see that she's a good queen. We can we can send 00:16:51.000 --> 00:16:54.360 her on. I'm not on such a tight schedule. So 00:16:54.360 --> 00:16:56.860 I like a three week schedule. All right. I like 00:16:56.860 --> 00:16:59.879 it. I called you earlier mad scientist. That 00:16:59.879 --> 00:17:02.559 was a loving term, not a discriminatory kind 00:17:02.559 --> 00:17:05.700 of thing. OK, let's explain why now, because 00:17:05.700 --> 00:17:09.400 like a lot of beekeepers, you found, oh, here's 00:17:09.400 --> 00:17:11.880 something I like, but I can make it better. Go 00:17:11.880 --> 00:17:14.700 for it. Tell us what you've created. Right, right. 00:17:14.819 --> 00:17:16.559 Well, a lot of us, you know, beekeepers were 00:17:16.559 --> 00:17:18.859 tinkerers in a lot of different ways. We were 00:17:18.859 --> 00:17:22.500 either building boxes or making gizmos and gadgets. 00:17:22.579 --> 00:17:26.319 And I'm a big fan of the JZBZ Queen Cell Cup. 00:17:26.519 --> 00:17:28.779 That's for grafting. That's the larval transfer 00:17:28.779 --> 00:17:32.519 we talked about. But JZBZ does not manufacture 00:17:32.519 --> 00:17:37.460 a corresponding cage. So I had to rig up this 00:17:37.460 --> 00:17:41.000 and that and use other manufacturers' components 00:17:41.000 --> 00:17:45.660 to properly cage those cells to emerge the virgins 00:17:45.660 --> 00:17:48.660 safely to protect them from each other. Because 00:17:48.660 --> 00:17:50.740 as you know, but maybe some of the audience don't 00:17:50.740 --> 00:17:53.900 know, when those virgins emerge, if they're out 00:17:53.900 --> 00:17:55.559 there running around with each other, they're 00:17:55.559 --> 00:17:58.460 going to fight each other to the death. So I 00:17:58.460 --> 00:18:00.779 want to protect them from each other and from 00:18:00.779 --> 00:18:03.420 being torn down in the finish or all that So 00:18:03.420 --> 00:18:05.519 I fiddled with this and that and the other thing, 00:18:05.680 --> 00:18:09.000 you know duct tape and wire mesh and what we 00:18:09.000 --> 00:18:12.460 call roller cages and a few other ideas and then 00:18:12.460 --> 00:18:16.119 I learned how to 3d print and Then I learned 00:18:16.119 --> 00:18:22.180 how to design 3d models for 3d printing and Developed 00:18:22.180 --> 00:18:24.539 over time and with help and input from other 00:18:24.539 --> 00:18:28.670 beekeepers a cage that works very well for the 00:18:28.670 --> 00:18:34.849 JZBZ Queen Cell Cup and goes on the bar and since 00:18:34.849 --> 00:18:37.589 then I've developed an entire line of accessories 00:18:37.589 --> 00:18:41.049 to help make your beekeeping, help make your 00:18:41.049 --> 00:18:46.190 queen rearing easier. And I named it EZPZ. You 00:18:46.190 --> 00:18:49.809 can keep going. Well, I think you can tell us 00:18:49.809 --> 00:18:52.670 more about it. I'm looking at your website right 00:18:52.670 --> 00:18:54.490 now, and that'll be in the show notes, by the 00:18:54.490 --> 00:18:57.089 way, so everybody can look it up. I know these 00:18:57.089 --> 00:18:59.430 aren't in mass production yet. In other words, 00:19:00.430 --> 00:19:02.890 a lot of the suppliers are not going to have 00:19:02.890 --> 00:19:04.369 these. They're going to have to go to your website 00:19:04.369 --> 00:19:07.230 if they want to take a look at them because they're 00:19:07.230 --> 00:19:12.230 individually 3D printed at this point. But yeah, 00:19:12.230 --> 00:19:13.990 I'm scrolling through. This stuff looks pretty 00:19:13.990 --> 00:19:16.299 cool. Tell us about some of the things you have. 00:19:16.680 --> 00:19:19.579 Sure. Well, it all started with the cage and 00:19:19.579 --> 00:19:22.259 the original idea of protecting the virgin when 00:19:22.259 --> 00:19:25.680 she emerged. But then I realized, well, now that 00:19:25.680 --> 00:19:28.559 same cage could be used for introduction. So 00:19:28.559 --> 00:19:31.680 I developed a candy cap that you take the JZBZ 00:19:31.680 --> 00:19:35.339 cell cup out and plug it with the candy cap so 00:19:35.339 --> 00:19:38.279 that it can be used either for releasing the 00:19:38.279 --> 00:19:40.960 virgin slowly, which isn't normally necessary, 00:19:41.400 --> 00:19:44.799 or for releasing a mated queen slowly. can also 00:19:44.799 --> 00:19:48.980 be used for transport. Then I got a different 00:19:48.980 --> 00:19:52.940 kind of incubator and realized that a tray to 00:19:52.940 --> 00:19:55.859 hold these cages would be really handy. And so 00:19:55.859 --> 00:19:58.079 there's a tray that goes with it as well now. 00:19:58.279 --> 00:20:02.299 And then I designed and built a bracket device 00:20:02.299 --> 00:20:09.180 that holds the JZBZ cell bars and a little grafting 00:20:09.180 --> 00:20:12.410 stand, you know, You can buy a really, really 00:20:12.410 --> 00:20:15.809 fancy grafting stand or grafting station as they're 00:20:15.809 --> 00:20:17.910 called, but all you really need is something 00:20:17.910 --> 00:20:21.269 that'll hold your frame for grafting. You just 00:20:21.269 --> 00:20:23.369 prop it up just nicely, and it doesn't have to 00:20:23.369 --> 00:20:26.390 be all that fancy to work right. So those are 00:20:26.390 --> 00:20:31.250 the main products, and more and more things have 00:20:31.250 --> 00:20:35.269 kind of spawned from that. I don't know if you 00:20:35.269 --> 00:20:37.269 know about the yellow -legged hornet down here. 00:20:37.480 --> 00:20:40.359 We've talked about it on the show. Yeah, it's 00:20:40.359 --> 00:20:43.920 pretty scary. It's coming over from Europe, originally 00:20:43.920 --> 00:20:46.960 from Asia. Tell us how much of it's going on 00:20:46.960 --> 00:20:50.859 there. Well, it's confined so far to the coastal 00:20:50.859 --> 00:20:53.380 area of Georgia and South Carolina down near 00:20:53.380 --> 00:20:57.000 Savannah. What I did was I developed an easy 00:20:57.000 --> 00:21:00.200 little track device that works with mason jars 00:21:00.200 --> 00:21:03.319 and donated a bunch of them to beekeepers down 00:21:03.319 --> 00:21:07.680 in the Savannah area. In order to help them monitor 00:21:07.680 --> 00:21:10.680 it was a it's a monitoring device. I suppose 00:21:10.680 --> 00:21:14.039 that you could spin it out for a full effective 00:21:14.039 --> 00:21:19.880 not eradication, but reduction of The population 00:21:19.880 --> 00:21:23.339 of the actual insect I just wanted some kind 00:21:23.339 --> 00:21:26.059 of a zapper right one of those yellow -legged 00:21:26.059 --> 00:21:29.279 Hornets gets around one of my colonies. I just 00:21:29.279 --> 00:21:33.670 want to zap it Can you develop that for me? If 00:21:33.670 --> 00:21:36.309 only it could be that selective, that would be 00:21:36.309 --> 00:21:39.650 pretty awesome. And that simple, nothing is. 00:21:40.289 --> 00:21:42.170 A couple of the other things that I've developed 00:21:42.170 --> 00:21:45.470 with the input from other beekeepers, oftentimes 00:21:45.470 --> 00:21:47.609 existing customers will say, well, you know, 00:21:47.609 --> 00:21:50.289 I'd really like to do this. Once those queens 00:21:50.289 --> 00:21:54.269 are mated, a lot of folks like to bank them in 00:21:54.269 --> 00:21:58.569 either a queenless upper or a queenless hive 00:21:58.569 --> 00:22:03.019 entirely. And so I developed the banker that 00:22:03.019 --> 00:22:05.519 goes on a frame, either a Langstroth deep or 00:22:05.519 --> 00:22:08.339 a Langstroth medium that will hold a number of 00:22:08.339 --> 00:22:12.440 the easy peasy cages. And then just recently, 00:22:12.519 --> 00:22:15.700 this is a really fun thing, just recently I was 00:22:15.700 --> 00:22:18.579 contacted by a guy in Florida who's really good 00:22:18.579 --> 00:22:22.240 at cutting queen cells off of foundation. And 00:22:22.240 --> 00:22:24.259 he said, I really want to try to figure out a 00:22:24.259 --> 00:22:28.160 way to make your cage work so that I can... do 00:22:28.160 --> 00:22:30.599 more, you know, when I've got five really nice 00:22:30.599 --> 00:22:35.259 looking cells on a frame, in order to really 00:22:35.259 --> 00:22:37.200 get the most out of that, instead of just putting 00:22:37.200 --> 00:22:41.220 that whole frame into a queen -less nuke, I want 00:22:41.220 --> 00:22:43.180 to be able to make five queen -less nukes out 00:22:43.180 --> 00:22:47.799 of that instead. And so I developed a cage that 00:22:47.799 --> 00:22:51.740 you put the, you harvest the queen cell off of 00:22:51.740 --> 00:22:54.420 the foundation, and you put it in the cage and 00:22:54.420 --> 00:22:57.480 it closes over clamshell fashion. and you can 00:22:57.480 --> 00:23:00.720 emerge the virgin safely in that cage as well. 00:23:01.079 --> 00:23:04.220 I call that one the cut cell cage. That's something 00:23:04.220 --> 00:23:07.019 I haven't done yet. Once you cut those cells, 00:23:07.380 --> 00:23:11.640 how difficult is that to successfully stick them 00:23:11.640 --> 00:23:15.700 to another frame somewhere or foundation? That's 00:23:15.700 --> 00:23:17.700 just it. It's depending on how it is hanging. 00:23:17.950 --> 00:23:20.710 You can put it on another frame. You can kind 00:23:20.710 --> 00:23:22.509 of mash it in there as long as you don't mash 00:23:22.509 --> 00:23:25.490 the cell itself. But what he likes to do is he 00:23:25.490 --> 00:23:29.009 also likes to emerge those virgins just as if 00:23:29.009 --> 00:23:32.390 he wanted to use the easy peasy cage. But I developed 00:23:32.390 --> 00:23:35.529 this entire cage that it closes over. Instead 00:23:35.529 --> 00:23:38.089 of trying to stick it down the opening, it closes 00:23:38.089 --> 00:23:42.390 over the entire cell and encases it and holds 00:23:42.390 --> 00:23:45.569 it steady for that virgin to emerge in the cage. 00:23:45.819 --> 00:23:48.519 It's been surprisingly popular. We're going to 00:23:48.519 --> 00:23:50.880 have to start adding video to this podcast in 00:23:50.880 --> 00:23:53.460 the future so that you can actually demonstrate 00:23:53.460 --> 00:23:56.200 some of that stuff. It would be cool to see. 00:23:56.579 --> 00:24:00.299 It would be. It would be. Tell us about Tallahassee 00:24:00.299 --> 00:24:04.819 Highlands. Oh, sure. Well, that's the the name 00:24:04.819 --> 00:24:07.099 of the official name of the area is Tallahassee 00:24:07.099 --> 00:24:11.140 Highlands Apiary. The area right here is high 00:24:11.140 --> 00:24:14.140 ground just outside of Athens, Georgia. We're 00:24:14.140 --> 00:24:16.910 right at the edge of the county. The Talisie 00:24:16.910 --> 00:24:20.329 King was a Native American chief who lived here 00:24:20.329 --> 00:24:24.349 many, many years ago. And the area is, it's really 00:24:24.349 --> 00:24:26.730 informally known as Talisie Highlands, but we 00:24:26.730 --> 00:24:29.589 liked it a lot. So we chose that as the apiary 00:24:29.589 --> 00:24:33.289 name. I like it. Do you mind telling us what 00:24:33.289 --> 00:24:35.130 you know, you don't have to tell us any secrets 00:24:35.130 --> 00:24:37.869 or anything, but I think it's good for beekeepers 00:24:37.869 --> 00:24:40.190 to hear a little bit about the business model 00:24:40.190 --> 00:24:44.430 of other beekeepers. Or is this your full time 00:24:44.430 --> 00:24:49.250 gig? And if so, how do you make money? I like 00:24:49.250 --> 00:24:52.690 to refer to it as my obsession. I actually I 00:24:52.690 --> 00:24:55.650 own and operate a mail order plant nursery. So 00:24:55.650 --> 00:24:59.740 I am. super busy in the springtime. I probably 00:24:59.740 --> 00:25:02.480 shouldn't even be a beekeeper, but I can't help 00:25:02.480 --> 00:25:08.200 myself. I just, I love it way too much. So I 00:25:08.200 --> 00:25:13.759 manage about 50 colonies and I would say 25 of 00:25:13.759 --> 00:25:16.960 them are what I would consider to be in actual 00:25:16.960 --> 00:25:20.839 honey production. And our nectar flow is on right 00:25:20.839 --> 00:25:24.119 now. It's on strong right now. It won't last 00:25:24.119 --> 00:25:28.809 very long. And I am a small producer. I produce 00:25:28.809 --> 00:25:30.809 in the hundreds of pounds, not the thousands 00:25:30.809 --> 00:25:33.769 of pounds. The local wildflower honey is pretty 00:25:33.769 --> 00:25:38.670 tasty here. And then I also will, after we pull 00:25:38.670 --> 00:25:43.509 supers and bottle up the local wildflower honey, 00:25:43.630 --> 00:25:47.049 I will take a number of hives up into the Blue 00:25:47.049 --> 00:25:51.099 Ridge Mountains for the sourwood flow. and it's 00:25:51.099 --> 00:25:54.099 a lot of work hauling bees. And to ask any migratory 00:25:54.099 --> 00:25:55.859 beekeeper, it's a lot of work and I don't even 00:25:55.859 --> 00:25:59.140 move that many, but I just, I love sourwood honey 00:25:59.140 --> 00:26:02.960 and it commands a premium price. I'm a little 00:26:02.960 --> 00:26:05.680 low for boutique. I'm at $12 a pound for the 00:26:05.680 --> 00:26:09.319 wildflower and $18 a pound for the sourwood, 00:26:09.700 --> 00:26:12.099 but it's profitable enough for me. I make a decent 00:26:12.099 --> 00:26:15.980 amount of money on it. Most years I'll sell a 00:26:15.980 --> 00:26:19.720 couple of dozen nukes as well. as a part of swarm 00:26:19.720 --> 00:26:23.380 prevention, and it's profitable. I like selling 00:26:23.380 --> 00:26:26.839 bees. And then hopefully I'm going to be ramping 00:26:26.839 --> 00:26:29.680 up queen sales. I've had a bit of a rough time 00:26:29.680 --> 00:26:31.940 getting started this spring for various reasons, 00:26:32.019 --> 00:26:35.160 but hopefully we'll get going. This year, I hope 00:26:35.160 --> 00:26:39.000 to produce 150 vaccinated queens. From Dalen? 00:26:39.240 --> 00:26:42.259 Yes, the Dalen vaccine. Yeah, they've been on 00:26:42.259 --> 00:26:46.000 this podcast too. So if anybody wants to hear 00:26:46.000 --> 00:26:49.589 more about the vaccine, Go back to that episode. 00:26:49.589 --> 00:26:51.930 I don't know the number off the top of my head, 00:26:52.009 --> 00:26:54.890 but we had a couple of people from Dalen on and 00:26:54.890 --> 00:26:58.250 they were excellent explaining how that works 00:26:58.250 --> 00:27:01.809 and explaining how you don't have to catch each 00:27:01.809 --> 00:27:05.130 queen and get a needle and vaccinator like that. 00:27:06.829 --> 00:27:09.609 All right. Yeah, it's pretty cool stuff they're 00:27:09.609 --> 00:27:12.630 doing. It's time, Dan. Have you thought of a 00:27:12.630 --> 00:27:18.299 wild and crazy story yet? Oh, no, no. You know, 00:27:18.900 --> 00:27:22.000 again, migratory beekeepers would say, oh, that's 00:27:22.000 --> 00:27:26.000 nothing. But I always think of how crazy it is 00:27:26.000 --> 00:27:28.619 driving through the Blue Ridge Mountains with 00:27:28.619 --> 00:27:31.759 a trailer load full of bees weaving and turning 00:27:31.759 --> 00:27:36.099 in the mountain roads at night. And it's classed 00:27:36.099 --> 00:27:38.519 as a temperate rainforest. So it's usually pretty 00:27:38.519 --> 00:27:41.819 wet up there, too. And we haven't lost anything 00:27:41.819 --> 00:27:44.440 yet, but it gets a little bit hairy sometimes. 00:27:44.809 --> 00:27:47.849 I wish I had something better for you. I really 00:27:47.849 --> 00:27:52.269 You keep thinking about it for a minute Anyway, 00:27:52.269 --> 00:27:55.369 I need to try that sour wood honey. I'll have 00:27:55.369 --> 00:27:58.069 to can I order some from your website? I'd be 00:27:58.069 --> 00:28:00.769 happy to send you some it's it's delicious. I 00:28:00.769 --> 00:28:04.069 can't wait to try it I love tasting honey from 00:28:04.069 --> 00:28:07.970 all over Every place that I travel it is so fun 00:28:07.970 --> 00:28:10.990 to try different honeys and I don't mean infused 00:28:10.990 --> 00:28:13.529 honeys because you can do that anywhere, but 00:28:13.529 --> 00:28:17.599 honey's from Different local pollination so and 00:28:17.599 --> 00:28:20.900 in different nectar flows. So anyway back to 00:28:20.900 --> 00:28:24.160 your wild and crazy beekeeping story Can you 00:28:24.160 --> 00:28:26.799 tell me what is the most times you've been stung 00:28:26.799 --> 00:28:29.779 in one day? Oh, well, there was the time my wife 00:28:29.779 --> 00:28:34.339 had my veil and jacket in the back of the truck 00:28:34.339 --> 00:28:38.559 and There was a swarm it had it had formed the 00:28:38.559 --> 00:28:41.940 bivouac on a branch very high up I it was early 00:28:41.940 --> 00:28:44.180 on in my beekeeping. I think I had probably had 00:28:44.119 --> 00:28:46.039 you know, just a few years under my belt and 00:28:46.039 --> 00:28:49.039 I needed that swarm. I needed it badly. You know 00:28:49.039 --> 00:28:52.740 how it is. Got my Poland bucket and got it extended 00:28:52.740 --> 00:28:54.960 up and it was right near a power line too. So 00:28:54.960 --> 00:28:57.000 I was being a little bit careful how I was handling 00:28:57.000 --> 00:29:00.160 things. I bopped that branch with the bucket 00:29:00.160 --> 00:29:05.180 and I missed and the entire bivouac came down. 00:29:05.359 --> 00:29:07.539 It seemed like about half of it came down on 00:29:07.539 --> 00:29:10.500 me. You know a bivouac is pretty peaceful until 00:29:10.500 --> 00:29:14.059 it drops 30 feet down hard. Yeah. I got stung 00:29:14.059 --> 00:29:16.640 up, as they say here in Georgia, I got ed up. 00:29:16.839 --> 00:29:19.539 Probably, I don't know, probably 25, 30 stings 00:29:19.539 --> 00:29:22.940 before I got out of there. Yeah, that's a that's 00:29:22.940 --> 00:29:25.440 a pretty crazy thing. When you're up there and 00:29:25.440 --> 00:29:27.480 you're not suited up and all of a sudden you 00:29:27.480 --> 00:29:30.279 realize that thousands of bees are falling on 00:29:30.279 --> 00:29:33.400 you. You know, at least I didn't climb 30 feet 00:29:33.400 --> 00:29:37.099 in the air. You know, I always I hear these people 00:29:37.099 --> 00:29:40.140 that have fallen off of their ladder over. You 00:29:40.140 --> 00:29:42.099 know, a swarm is a beautiful thing, but it's 00:29:42.099 --> 00:29:44.900 not worth a trip to the hospital. Now, the long 00:29:44.900 --> 00:29:47.599 poles make a lot more sense than 20 foot tall 00:29:47.599 --> 00:29:51.700 ladders. Yeah. Yeah. Safety wise. Absolutely. 00:29:52.259 --> 00:29:54.680 Hey, Dan, I appreciate your time today. Your 00:29:54.680 --> 00:29:57.859 knowledge, your insights. Thank you so very much. 00:29:57.920 --> 00:30:00.480 Keep in touch with the show. People can find 00:30:00.480 --> 00:30:03.599 you in the show notes and we'll talk again soon. 00:30:04.000 --> 00:30:08.880 All right. Thanks very much. Thanks again for 00:30:08.880 --> 00:30:11.400 joining us here on Be Love Beekeeping, presented 00:30:11.400 --> 00:30:15.339 by Man Lake. Remember right now to follow or 00:30:15.339 --> 00:30:18.920 subscribe and share this podcast. Also a quick 00:30:18.920 --> 00:30:21.359 shout out to Vita Bee Health for their support. 00:30:22.140 --> 00:30:25.000 Vita's Varroa Control range of products includes 00:30:25.000 --> 00:30:29.339 Apistan, Apigard, and now Varroxan Extended Release 00:30:29.339 --> 00:30:33.319 Oxalic Acid Strips. Thanks guys. Enjoy spring 00:30:33.319 --> 00:30:36.380 everybody, enjoy your bees, and remember, if 00:30:36.380 --> 00:30:38.640 you're not just in it for the honey or the money, 00:30:38.980 --> 00:30:41.440 you're in it for the love. See you next week.