WEBVTT 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:03.660 May I have your attention, please? The following 00:00:03.660 --> 00:00:10.320 is not the real Jeff Fox release. If you have 00:00:10.320 --> 00:00:15.800 enough beeswax lip balm to last your family for 00:00:15.800 --> 00:00:24.620 300 years, you might be a beekeeper. If you failed 00:00:24.620 --> 00:00:29.059 freshman science, but now teach honeybee enough, 00:00:29.230 --> 00:00:34.369 to be at your local bee club. You might be a 00:00:34.369 --> 00:00:41.429 beekeeper. If you buy bags of sugar, buy the 00:00:41.429 --> 00:00:57.590 pallet load and you're not a baker. Welcome welcome 00:00:57.590 --> 00:01:00.409 to Be Love Beekeeping presented by our good friends 00:01:00.409 --> 00:01:05.010 at Man Lake. Today we're traveling over 7 ,000 00:01:05.010 --> 00:01:08.469 miles for a discussion with a beekeeper in Nigeria. 00:01:09.049 --> 00:01:11.590 I know you may be thinking what does beekeeping 00:01:11.590 --> 00:01:14.329 in Africa have to do with my beekeeping here 00:01:14.329 --> 00:01:17.549 in North America or Europe or wherever else in 00:01:17.549 --> 00:01:20.030 the world you are, but I think it's fun hearing 00:01:20.030 --> 00:01:22.209 from our fellow beekeepers in other parts of 00:01:22.209 --> 00:01:25.079 the world. Their struggles and successes may 00:01:25.079 --> 00:01:27.659 be different than ours, but we all share a common 00:01:27.659 --> 00:01:31.260 love for these amazing insects. And maybe there 00:01:31.260 --> 00:01:33.799 are ways that we can help each other. Up front, 00:01:33.799 --> 00:01:36.280 let me say that we do have some language barrier 00:01:36.280 --> 00:01:39.620 issues and there are some extraneous noises, 00:01:39.640 --> 00:01:42.620 so please give him a little grace. It'll be worth 00:01:42.620 --> 00:01:45.439 listening closely. Hopefully we'll have some 00:01:45.439 --> 00:01:48.219 fun and we'll learn something. Before we jump 00:01:48.219 --> 00:01:51.340 into that, how about we catch up on more honeybee 00:01:51.340 --> 00:01:56.959 fun facts? Did you know that drone bees develop 00:01:56.959 --> 00:02:01.200 from unfertilized eggs? So they have no father. 00:02:01.359 --> 00:02:05.340 They only have a mother and a grandfather. Speaking 00:02:05.340 --> 00:02:07.680 of drones, did you know that they don't have 00:02:07.680 --> 00:02:11.500 stingers? Only female bees have stingers. Did 00:02:11.500 --> 00:02:13.979 you know that worker bees, and these are all 00:02:13.979 --> 00:02:16.960 female by the way, the drones don't do any work 00:02:16.960 --> 00:02:20.080 around the hive. Worker bees have different jobs 00:02:20.080 --> 00:02:23.120 throughout their life, including cleaning the 00:02:23.120 --> 00:02:25.939 hive, feeding larvae, guarding the entrance, 00:02:26.259 --> 00:02:29.819 gathering nectar and pollen, and more. And lastly, 00:02:30.259 --> 00:02:32.360 did you know that bees collect pollen on their 00:02:32.360 --> 00:02:36.139 legs and use it as a source of protein? A single 00:02:36.139 --> 00:02:40.560 bee can carry up to 35 % of her body weight in 00:02:40.560 --> 00:02:44.180 pollen. Now, let's get with our guest and see 00:02:44.180 --> 00:02:51.680 what it's like doing beekeeping in Nigeria. I 00:02:51.680 --> 00:02:54.159 would like to welcome our very special guest 00:02:54.159 --> 00:02:59.580 today, all the way from Nigeria, Mr. Osida Unumene. 00:02:59.680 --> 00:03:04.360 Did I say that okay? Unumene. Unumene. Thank 00:03:04.360 --> 00:03:08.379 you. Fine, that's good. Hey, tell me about where 00:03:08.379 --> 00:03:12.020 you live and what your farm is like. All right, 00:03:12.120 --> 00:03:16.780 I live in Nigeria. I live in the capital of Nigeria, 00:03:17.259 --> 00:03:21.520 Abuja. I'm a beekeeper. We're into modern beekeeping 00:03:21.520 --> 00:03:27.840 and honey production. We not only practice beekeeping, 00:03:28.300 --> 00:03:31.719 we also empower Nigerians to encourage people 00:03:31.719 --> 00:03:35.840 to come into this sector because we know it can 00:03:35.840 --> 00:03:41.000 alleviate poverty. It can... helped to create 00:03:41.000 --> 00:03:44.879 financial sustainability and alternative farming 00:03:44.879 --> 00:03:49.639 for Nigerians as well. So we started since 2017 00:03:49.639 --> 00:03:53.719 and we've been practicing up to this day. So 00:03:53.719 --> 00:03:56.000 that's a little I can tell you about Salasita 00:03:56.000 --> 00:04:00.860 Farms. Yeah, that's fantastic. So you help new 00:04:00.860 --> 00:04:03.740 beekeepers get started as well as doing your 00:04:03.740 --> 00:04:07.699 own honey production, correct? Yes, very correct, 00:04:07.939 --> 00:04:10.780 sir. Do you teach classes? How do you do that? 00:04:11.159 --> 00:04:14.539 Yes, I teach physical classes and I also run 00:04:14.539 --> 00:04:17.720 an online WhatsApp class as well. In that WhatsApp 00:04:17.720 --> 00:04:20.579 class, everything I do in the firm, I've been 00:04:20.579 --> 00:04:26.060 able to convert them into video formats, written, 00:04:26.899 --> 00:04:30.699 explanatory, detailed write -ups that people 00:04:30.699 --> 00:04:34.740 can read, videos people can watch, and as they 00:04:34.740 --> 00:04:36.819 replicate what I teach, they can also achieve 00:04:36.819 --> 00:04:39.540 the same results. Let's get down to some of the 00:04:39.540 --> 00:04:43.620 basics, okay? Yes. In the area where you're keeping 00:04:43.620 --> 00:04:47.060 bees, give us an idea of what it looks like. 00:04:47.220 --> 00:04:49.439 If you had a camera and could show around, are 00:04:49.439 --> 00:04:52.639 we looking at mountains or desert or rivers or 00:04:52.639 --> 00:04:55.540 what does it look like? Well, there are mountains 00:04:55.540 --> 00:05:01.540 around, but where I run my prairie is only five 00:05:01.540 --> 00:05:04.879 hectare land that is very plain. There are hills 00:05:04.879 --> 00:05:09.449 around, but not on. my apiary. But it's a very 00:05:09.449 --> 00:05:14.529 big land, and that's where I practice my agricultural 00:05:14.529 --> 00:05:20.149 venture. He was far away from my apiary. What 00:05:20.149 --> 00:05:24.930 kinds of plants and flowers are your bees foraging 00:05:24.930 --> 00:05:29.250 on? Well, we have cashew trees around, we have 00:05:29.250 --> 00:05:34.069 palm trees around, and we just have local plants 00:05:34.069 --> 00:05:36.230 that bring out flowers. I may not know their 00:05:36.230 --> 00:05:41.259 names. But I don't plant flowers because we just 00:05:41.259 --> 00:05:44.959 have natural flowers growing everywhere around 00:05:44.959 --> 00:05:48.300 where my prairie is. Tell us a little bit about 00:05:48.300 --> 00:05:51.120 the kinds of bees that you have there. Here in 00:05:51.120 --> 00:05:55.879 the U .S. we're used to European honeybees, Italians, 00:05:56.279 --> 00:06:00.360 etc. Do you have stingless bees? Do you have 00:06:00.360 --> 00:06:04.480 some other kind of bees there? I have bees, Apis 00:06:04.480 --> 00:06:09.230 malifera. very aggressive kind of bees. In fact, 00:06:10.290 --> 00:06:13.209 we wouldn't mind if they are still called killer 00:06:13.209 --> 00:06:17.649 bees because they are very, very harsh. And that's 00:06:17.649 --> 00:06:21.009 why we always make sure that we are well protected 00:06:21.009 --> 00:06:24.730 before visiting our parry or doing anything that 00:06:24.730 --> 00:06:27.889 has to do with inspection. And as for stingless 00:06:27.889 --> 00:06:30.850 bees, I've not been fortunate enough to get a 00:06:30.850 --> 00:06:34.319 colony of stingless bees. But all I've been working 00:06:34.319 --> 00:06:37.160 with for these past few years have been apis 00:06:37.160 --> 00:06:41.420 mellifera, the aggressive African bees. So what 00:06:41.420 --> 00:06:44.019 are the secrets to dealing with those bees? Do 00:06:44.019 --> 00:06:47.579 you use a lot of smoke or just really good protective 00:06:47.579 --> 00:06:51.720 gear? Yeah, we use a lot of smoke and despite 00:06:51.720 --> 00:06:55.540 the protective gear too, understanding bee biology 00:06:55.540 --> 00:07:00.339 comes to play when they get colonized newly. 00:07:00.920 --> 00:07:04.879 and have not started storing honey. Their level 00:07:04.879 --> 00:07:09.100 of aggressiveness is not like when they have 00:07:09.100 --> 00:07:12.139 already started storing honey or have already 00:07:12.139 --> 00:07:15.319 started honey production. Their characters before 00:07:15.319 --> 00:07:19.079 honey production and during honey production 00:07:19.079 --> 00:07:22.699 are a bit different. So we understand these stages 00:07:22.699 --> 00:07:25.839 and know what to do at interval. By the way, 00:07:25.879 --> 00:07:27.860 you have a YouTube channel, some pretty cool 00:07:27.860 --> 00:07:30.680 videos there. Thank you very much. One of the 00:07:30.680 --> 00:07:33.160 ones that I was looking at showed you harvesting 00:07:33.160 --> 00:07:36.379 honey at night. Yeah. That's something a little 00:07:36.379 --> 00:07:39.360 bit foreign to some of us. Do you always do it 00:07:39.360 --> 00:07:42.139 at night and how come? Yeah, we discovered that 00:07:42.139 --> 00:07:44.939 harvesting honey during the night, especially 00:07:44.939 --> 00:07:49.620 when dealing with apis malifera, kind of bees, 00:07:50.500 --> 00:07:53.540 they are usually calm. They are not aggressive. 00:07:54.220 --> 00:07:58.759 like how they used to be during the day. So the 00:07:58.759 --> 00:08:03.000 night is very peaceful for Apis melifera. They 00:08:03.000 --> 00:08:06.519 can allow you, get in, do what you want to do, 00:08:06.980 --> 00:08:09.540 and they won't follow you around to a far distance, 00:08:09.560 --> 00:08:12.860 and they will all leave you alone. Tell me about 00:08:12.860 --> 00:08:16.019 what kinds of hives you use. Are you using mostly 00:08:16.019 --> 00:08:19.379 top bar? Yeah, we use the boat. We use the Langstroth 00:08:19.379 --> 00:08:22.860 hives and Kenya top bar hives. You say Kenya 00:08:22.860 --> 00:08:24.959 top bar hive. Is that different than the kind 00:08:24.959 --> 00:08:29.420 that I've seen before? Yeah, KTB hives. Oh, okay. 00:08:29.800 --> 00:08:32.840 So you're using a combination of both. Yes. How 00:08:32.840 --> 00:08:35.779 do you decide which ones you want to use for 00:08:35.779 --> 00:08:40.299 which bees? Okay, we don't decide which one we 00:08:40.299 --> 00:08:44.000 want to use for a particular colony. We just 00:08:44.000 --> 00:08:47.740 put them into any hive of our choice that we 00:08:47.740 --> 00:08:50.919 want at any given time. How many hives do you 00:08:50.919 --> 00:08:55.679 have? Yeah, so far we have about 72 hives at 00:08:55.679 --> 00:08:59.539 the moment. Oh that's awesome. Yes. Tell me how 00:08:59.539 --> 00:09:02.259 in a place like that do you obtain your bees? 00:09:02.840 --> 00:09:05.840 Do you have a way to buy them or are you trapping 00:09:05.840 --> 00:09:08.940 them or how do you find them? Yes, funny enough 00:09:08.940 --> 00:09:15.500 we don't buy bees in Nigeria. What we do is we 00:09:15.500 --> 00:09:20.769 bait and wait for new colonies to colonize our 00:09:20.769 --> 00:09:24.929 hives. I've never seen where bees are sold here 00:09:24.929 --> 00:09:30.409 in Nigeria. We only bait new hives, and we've 00:09:30.409 --> 00:09:33.289 learned to, at Salasita Farms, we've learned 00:09:33.289 --> 00:09:37.230 to formulate our own attractants, very effective 00:09:37.230 --> 00:09:42.009 on that, that always gets almost all our swarm 00:09:42.009 --> 00:09:45.070 traps colonized within a very short period of 00:09:45.070 --> 00:09:49.169 time. What do you use as an attractant? Well, 00:09:49.470 --> 00:09:53.490 B -Wax is the major aspect of it. Then we use 00:09:53.490 --> 00:09:57.830 other Luka plants as well. Did you say Luka plant? 00:09:58.129 --> 00:10:01.690 Yes. I'm not familiar with that. Is that spelled 00:10:01.690 --> 00:10:07.409 L -U -C -A? No, Luka, Luka. Or general plants 00:10:07.409 --> 00:10:11.409 that anyone can find around, like rose flower 00:10:11.409 --> 00:10:15.519 plants, lemongrass. We also use other plants, 00:10:15.700 --> 00:10:18.279 too, that we mix with it. That is just like a 00:10:18.279 --> 00:10:21.559 secret that we keep as lacita farms, because 00:10:21.559 --> 00:10:26.299 people buy from us as well. You don't have to 00:10:26.299 --> 00:10:29.539 tell me your secrets. It's okay. Thank you very 00:10:29.539 --> 00:10:32.940 much. One of the things that I've used is lemongrass 00:10:32.940 --> 00:10:36.620 oil. It works very well. Okay. What do your swarm 00:10:36.620 --> 00:10:40.120 traps look like? We use nucleus hive, the wooden 00:10:40.120 --> 00:10:45.200 nucleus hive. And we use the bucket's plastic 00:10:45.200 --> 00:10:49.419 bucket container too for it. Give me an idea 00:10:49.419 --> 00:10:51.799 of how that works. What does it look like with 00:10:51.799 --> 00:10:54.200 the bucket? Are you drilling a big hole or what 00:10:54.200 --> 00:10:58.419 do you do? Yes, what we do with the bucket swam 00:10:58.419 --> 00:11:02.519 trap is that we make a bigger hole or a big hole 00:11:02.519 --> 00:11:06.279 for the entrance. Then we now make other smaller 00:11:06.279 --> 00:11:09.720 holes at the bottom. and around the bucket for 00:11:09.720 --> 00:11:14.700 proper ventilation and if at any point there 00:11:14.700 --> 00:11:18.980 is a rainfall water can get into the bucket but 00:11:18.980 --> 00:11:22.399 will not stay they will all pass out under through 00:11:22.399 --> 00:11:26.100 the bottom of the bucket so it can still serve 00:11:26.100 --> 00:11:32.639 the bees to get it colonized. a conducive and 00:11:32.639 --> 00:11:36.320 well ventilated container for them to stay. And 00:11:36.320 --> 00:11:39.080 within the space of one month, we can transfer 00:11:39.080 --> 00:11:42.100 them into a permanent hive. How do you use a 00:11:42.100 --> 00:11:48.120 nuc? Yeah, the nuc, we divide a hive into three 00:11:48.120 --> 00:11:51.659 parts or two parts. And then because it is very, 00:11:51.659 --> 00:11:56.019 very convenient for us to hang on trees and then 00:11:56.019 --> 00:11:58.919 keep them in different locations, very comfortable. 00:11:59.389 --> 00:12:03.230 And as soon as they get colonized, we also wait 00:12:03.230 --> 00:12:06.210 for the period of four weeks, or maximum five 00:12:06.210 --> 00:12:13.350 weeks. The wooden nook is very, very easy for 00:12:13.350 --> 00:12:16.350 us to transfer because you're just taking the 00:12:16.350 --> 00:12:20.590 bars with the bees and the combs, okay, straight 00:12:20.590 --> 00:12:24.850 to another sizeable hive. And all we just do 00:12:24.850 --> 00:12:30.000 is to turn the bees inside there. the nook into 00:12:30.000 --> 00:12:34.299 the new hive and we are done. But it is different 00:12:34.299 --> 00:12:36.620 with the bucket one because the bucket one we 00:12:36.620 --> 00:12:40.500 have to cut the combs and then attach it to the 00:12:40.500 --> 00:12:44.659 bars again. The plastic bucket is always good 00:12:44.659 --> 00:12:48.480 when we are using a Kenya top bar hive because 00:12:48.480 --> 00:12:51.799 we have to attach the combs to the bars with 00:12:51.799 --> 00:12:55.940 the aid of ropes and all that. Then that's how 00:12:55.940 --> 00:12:58.470 it's done here. Yeah, that sounds interesting 00:12:58.470 --> 00:13:01.789 and a little bit complicated. Yeah. What kinds 00:13:01.789 --> 00:13:04.809 of pests do you have there? We deal with varroa 00:13:04.809 --> 00:13:08.350 mites and small hive beetles and various diseases. 00:13:08.610 --> 00:13:11.289 What kinds of things are pestering your bees? 00:13:11.809 --> 00:13:15.830 Yeah, the two major challenging pests we have, 00:13:16.750 --> 00:13:21.330 I have discovered, is the small hive beetle and 00:13:21.330 --> 00:13:25.440 wax moth. Okay, the wax moth is something that 00:13:25.440 --> 00:13:29.820 we take control of at every given time we do 00:13:29.820 --> 00:13:33.480 constant inspection. So we don't allow wax moths 00:13:33.480 --> 00:13:37.120 to infest our hive. But the small hive beetle 00:13:37.120 --> 00:13:40.940 is something one cannot control to an extent. 00:13:41.539 --> 00:13:43.779 But thanks to the kind of bees that we have here 00:13:43.779 --> 00:13:47.539 in Africa, they are strong enough to combat and 00:13:47.539 --> 00:13:50.929 withstand some certain attacks from. wax moths 00:13:50.929 --> 00:13:54.730 and hive beetles. How about varroa mites? Yeah, 00:13:54.990 --> 00:13:59.009 I've not come across varroa mites in all my years 00:13:59.009 --> 00:14:02.769 of practice. Yes. Oh, wow. I have not. Oh, you're 00:14:02.769 --> 00:14:05.970 lucky. Thank you very much. I hope you don't 00:14:05.970 --> 00:14:10.509 ever get them. I pray to. Tell me more about 00:14:10.509 --> 00:14:13.830 Salisita Farm. What is it all about beekeeping 00:14:13.830 --> 00:14:16.730 or do you do other things there? At the moment, 00:14:16.769 --> 00:14:20.460 it's all about beekeeping. We are so thrilled, 00:14:20.879 --> 00:14:25.179 we are so interested in not just venturing into 00:14:25.179 --> 00:14:29.000 it or practicing it. We're also interested in 00:14:29.000 --> 00:14:33.419 enlightening people, educating people, empowering 00:14:33.419 --> 00:14:37.559 people with our technical know -how to see that 00:14:37.559 --> 00:14:41.539 beekeeping is one of the ventures many people 00:14:41.539 --> 00:14:45.470 can. actually take up. Because here in Africa, 00:14:45.870 --> 00:14:48.409 here in Nigeria, we are blessed with lands and 00:14:48.409 --> 00:14:54.909 vegetation. And farmers don't actually have good 00:14:54.909 --> 00:14:58.509 knowledge about modern beekeeping and honey production. 00:14:59.330 --> 00:15:03.610 Okay, so many of them have different plantations, 00:15:03.929 --> 00:15:07.470 cashew plantations, banana and plantain plantations. 00:15:08.059 --> 00:15:11.220 And after that season of production, they don't 00:15:11.220 --> 00:15:16.799 do any other thing with this farmland. So teaching 00:15:16.799 --> 00:15:21.539 them how to utilize this land, to go into modern 00:15:21.539 --> 00:15:25.720 beekeeping, so as to help them create alternative 00:15:25.720 --> 00:15:30.519 farming and alternative financial income is one 00:15:30.519 --> 00:15:33.639 of our major priorities. Yeah, that's a fantastic 00:15:33.639 --> 00:15:36.830 mission. Thank you very much. Way to go. Tell 00:15:36.830 --> 00:15:38.950 me a little bit more about your honey production 00:15:38.950 --> 00:15:43.590 process. So you're pulling frames at night. Yeah. 00:15:44.169 --> 00:15:47.190 And what is your method for extracting the honey 00:15:47.190 --> 00:15:51.190 from the comb? Our kind of extraction is very, 00:15:51.190 --> 00:15:57.330 very simple because we have an extractor. We 00:15:57.330 --> 00:16:00.269 know so many people find it very difficult extracting 00:16:00.269 --> 00:16:05.470 honey, especially when they don't have an extractor. 00:16:06.649 --> 00:16:09.929 But at La Cita Farms, we don't have any challenge 00:16:09.929 --> 00:16:16.610 harvesting honey. Quick break to thank our presenting 00:16:16.610 --> 00:16:20.389 sponsor, Man Lake. I've found that Man Lake has 00:16:20.389 --> 00:16:23.330 absolutely everything I need to take care of 00:16:23.330 --> 00:16:25.940 the health of my bees. mite checks and treatments, 00:16:26.240 --> 00:16:28.460 beetle management, hive health and nutrition, 00:16:29.039 --> 00:16:32.580 pollen substitutes, food and feeders, and the 00:16:32.580 --> 00:16:35.039 knowledge base to help you know how to use it. 00:16:35.259 --> 00:16:38.600 Including Bella, their AI beekeeping genius. 00:16:39.039 --> 00:16:41.019 Just look for her icon in the bottom right hand 00:16:41.019 --> 00:16:45.019 corner of your screen at manlakeltd .com. While 00:16:45.019 --> 00:16:47.059 you're there, don't forget your discount code 00:16:47.059 --> 00:16:50.700 MLBlove10, it's in the show notes, for $10 off 00:16:50.700 --> 00:16:56.529 your first $100 purchase. And the reason why 00:16:56.529 --> 00:17:01.909 we love cutting them all of it is because we're 00:17:01.909 --> 00:17:05.269 also interested in the extraction of bee combs 00:17:05.269 --> 00:17:10.309 for the production of bee wax. Do you just sell 00:17:10.309 --> 00:17:14.089 the beeswax in blocks by the pound or do you 00:17:14.089 --> 00:17:17.190 make candles or other things out of them? For 00:17:17.190 --> 00:17:20.789 the fact that I train people a lot, I always 00:17:20.789 --> 00:17:25.740 use the extracted them. combs we use for the 00:17:25.740 --> 00:17:30.059 production of bee wax. We formulate it as an 00:17:30.059 --> 00:17:33.079 attractant and also give it out to our students. 00:17:33.759 --> 00:17:36.440 All right, that's all the questions I have. Just 00:17:36.440 --> 00:17:39.720 tell me some stories about beekeeping. If we're 00:17:39.720 --> 00:17:41.900 just old friends and we're just sitting around 00:17:41.900 --> 00:17:44.579 at night chatting and I don't know much about 00:17:44.579 --> 00:17:47.720 beekeeping, just tell me why you love it. Yes, 00:17:47.940 --> 00:17:51.839 and beekeeping is actually a very fascinating 00:17:51.839 --> 00:17:55.750 venture. because it has to do with the bees. 00:17:56.869 --> 00:18:01.910 And many people don't know that bees are like 00:18:01.910 --> 00:18:05.190 the cats you have in the house, the dog you have 00:18:05.190 --> 00:18:12.490 at home, the chickens, the mother hen, any other 00:18:12.490 --> 00:18:16.150 thing you can think of as pets. I see bees as 00:18:16.150 --> 00:18:20.430 not being aggressive in nature, but protective. 00:18:20.730 --> 00:18:23.269 This is the message I go around telling people 00:18:23.269 --> 00:18:26.970 because when you tell them about beekeeping and 00:18:26.970 --> 00:18:30.710 it has to do with bees, some people get frightened 00:18:30.710 --> 00:18:34.869 because they feel bees actually can kill, they 00:18:34.869 --> 00:18:38.630 can attack, they are stinks, it's painful and 00:18:38.630 --> 00:18:41.829 all that. But I always give them this message 00:18:41.829 --> 00:18:44.710 that when you come close to a mother hen, you 00:18:44.710 --> 00:18:47.490 always see her reaction. Okay, that mother hen 00:18:47.490 --> 00:18:51.019 is not aggressive. she's only protective and 00:18:51.019 --> 00:18:55.079 that is how bees are too. When a stranger is 00:18:55.079 --> 00:18:57.259 coming to your home and your dog doesn't know 00:18:57.259 --> 00:19:01.680 that stranger, you kind of see a reaction from 00:19:01.680 --> 00:19:05.160 that dog letting you know that I'm not familiar 00:19:05.160 --> 00:19:09.240 with you. Bees also play or have the same characteristics 00:19:09.240 --> 00:19:14.400 too. When you're coming to a colony of bees or 00:19:14.400 --> 00:19:18.480 to a pier or to a hive where bees are, expect 00:19:18.480 --> 00:19:23.299 same reaction because they want to protect their 00:19:23.299 --> 00:19:26.299 colony, they want to protect their food, they 00:19:26.299 --> 00:19:30.660 want to protect themselves from danger. And if 00:19:30.660 --> 00:19:32.799 you can give them a shelter to stay, they can 00:19:32.799 --> 00:19:35.680 give you honey in return as a reward. This has 00:19:35.680 --> 00:19:38.519 been my message and it's always been my message. 00:19:39.019 --> 00:19:41.900 Wow, that is a great way to put it. You're welcome. 00:19:42.250 --> 00:19:45.210 Thank you for that. I appreciate that. So one 00:19:45.210 --> 00:19:47.589 of the things I know that you've I know that 00:19:47.589 --> 00:19:50.490 you've listened to this podcast before and I 00:19:50.490 --> 00:19:53.250 didn't warn you upfront that I was going to ask 00:19:53.250 --> 00:19:56.450 you for a wild and crazy beekeeping story. But 00:19:56.450 --> 00:19:59.529 if you can take a minute to think about one and 00:19:59.529 --> 00:20:03.569 this could be anything that was either embarrassing 00:20:03.569 --> 00:20:08.490 or funny or painful or just very unusual experience 00:20:08.490 --> 00:20:11.390 that you had beekeeping. How about give us one 00:20:11.390 --> 00:20:15.569 of those? Okay, I have one of my staff working 00:20:15.569 --> 00:20:19.289 with me. We had a very terrible experience one 00:20:19.289 --> 00:20:23.509 fateful day, because as a beekeeper, it is very, 00:20:23.509 --> 00:20:27.009 very necessary and important that you check your 00:20:27.009 --> 00:20:32.250 bee suit, especially the facial net, because 00:20:32.250 --> 00:20:35.190 anytime it has a crack and you don't know, you 00:20:35.190 --> 00:20:39.809 will pay dearly for it. This staff of mine, we 00:20:39.809 --> 00:20:45.339 forgot to check his facial net thoroughly and 00:20:45.339 --> 00:20:50.240 there was an opening. Oh my God. He encountered 00:20:50.240 --> 00:20:53.220 a lot of bee stings because we had almost 20 00:20:53.220 --> 00:20:58.599 bees that entered his bee suit. The veil? Yes, 00:20:58.680 --> 00:21:02.519 the veil. And he was badly stung. You know, we 00:21:02.519 --> 00:21:05.279 ran out of the apiary where I was trying to calm 00:21:05.279 --> 00:21:09.980 him down. I don't know how I'm going to put it, 00:21:10.220 --> 00:21:17.880 if he ran mad for like 20 minutes. But we were 00:21:17.880 --> 00:21:23.259 able to calm him down, do what we had to do. 00:21:23.680 --> 00:21:26.759 And at the end of the day, everything was fine. 00:21:27.119 --> 00:21:29.819 So were the stings mostly on his face or all 00:21:29.819 --> 00:21:34.789 over? Yes, yes, just his face. because the net 00:21:34.789 --> 00:21:38.589 had a little tear and the bees went in through 00:21:38.589 --> 00:21:43.190 that place. Oh, poor guy. Yeah. All right. So 00:21:43.190 --> 00:21:45.029 it's one of the hardest lessons we've learned 00:21:45.029 --> 00:21:48.309 that you must check your bee suit thoroughly. 00:21:48.930 --> 00:21:50.970 Yes. That was somebody else. Have you ever had 00:21:50.970 --> 00:21:54.690 anything crazy happen to you yourself? Yes, yes, 00:21:54.690 --> 00:21:58.509 yes. I've had one experience too because in beekeeping 00:21:58.509 --> 00:22:01.720 we said... When you experience something going 00:22:01.720 --> 00:22:05.839 down your body, it can be sweat. It can be a 00:22:05.839 --> 00:22:09.319 sweat. But when you feel the sensation of something 00:22:09.319 --> 00:22:12.480 coming up, then just prepare your mind because 00:22:12.480 --> 00:22:19.500 it's a bee. Yes. So we had, I had that experience 00:22:19.500 --> 00:22:26.180 too, that a bee was crawling up into my suit. 00:22:26.819 --> 00:22:29.900 And at the end of the day, I got stung. at the 00:22:29.900 --> 00:22:33.319 left part of my ear. I couldn't squash the bee, 00:22:34.019 --> 00:22:37.680 okay, because I know one bee won't sting. And 00:22:37.680 --> 00:22:41.279 I kept laughing all through because the bee kept 00:22:41.279 --> 00:22:45.240 tickling my nose, tickling my ear, tickling my 00:22:45.240 --> 00:22:48.240 jaw. While I was doing inspection, I was just 00:22:48.240 --> 00:22:51.299 laughing all through. Nobody knew I was laughing 00:22:51.299 --> 00:22:54.500 until I told them that a bee is right inside 00:22:54.500 --> 00:22:59.230 my suit. And it was as if that bee was... trying 00:22:59.230 --> 00:23:01.670 to make me laugh all through my inspection period. 00:23:02.430 --> 00:23:07.269 So that was my own experience. I love it. You 00:23:07.269 --> 00:23:10.269 know how we have our not Jeff Fox worthy talk 00:23:10.269 --> 00:23:13.130 about, you know, you're a beekeeper if I think 00:23:13.130 --> 00:23:16.069 that one fits in. Yeah, you know, you're a beekeeper 00:23:16.069 --> 00:23:20.789 if there is a mean bee inside your veil and you're 00:23:20.789 --> 00:23:25.990 laughing about it. Way to go. Yeah. The other 00:23:25.990 --> 00:23:29.470 thing I've learned from you today is If you feel 00:23:29.470 --> 00:23:32.450 something going down, it's sweat. If it's coming 00:23:32.450 --> 00:23:37.009 up, it's a bee. So hold on. That's true. And 00:23:37.009 --> 00:23:39.809 you learned about how fast your friend can run. 00:23:41.430 --> 00:23:45.589 Yeah, yeah. That is excellent. Hey, Mr. Osita, 00:23:45.849 --> 00:23:48.329 you're doing great work over there in Nigeria. 00:23:48.430 --> 00:23:51.170 Keep it up. Thank you very much. It's good to 00:23:51.170 --> 00:23:55.190 talk to you and yeah, just keep it up and hopefully 00:23:55.190 --> 00:23:57.849 we'll talk again in the future. There's no problem. 00:23:58.170 --> 00:24:03.490 I look forward to meeting you on this. Thanks 00:24:03.490 --> 00:24:05.829 again for joining us here on Be Love Beekeeping 00:24:05.829 --> 00:24:09.809 presented by Man Lake. Remember right now to 00:24:09.809 --> 00:24:13.609 follow or subscribe and share this podcast. Also 00:24:13.609 --> 00:24:15.910 a quick shout out to Vita Bee Health for their 00:24:15.910 --> 00:24:19.400 support. Vita's Varroa Control range of products 00:24:19.400 --> 00:24:23.400 includes Apistan, Apigard, and now Varroxan, 00:24:23.700 --> 00:24:27.019 Extended Release Oxalic Acid Strips. Thanks guys. 00:24:27.660 --> 00:24:29.839 And remember, if you're not just in it for the 00:24:29.839 --> 00:24:32.559 honey or the money, you're in it for the love. 00:24:32.859 --> 00:24:33.700 See you next week.