WEBVTT 00:00:00.240 --> 00:00:06.660 in a world brimming with complexity few creatures 00:00:06.660 --> 00:00:12.839 embody harmony like the honeybee with tireless 00:00:12.839 --> 00:00:17.699 precision she dances from bloom to bloom each 00:00:17.699 --> 00:00:22.420 motion guided by millennia upon millennia of 00:00:22.420 --> 00:00:28.800 instinct each act in service to the whole and 00:00:28.800 --> 00:00:34.560 then There are the beekeepers, watchful stewards 00:00:34.560 --> 00:00:40.500 of this ancient symbiosis. Part agriscientist, 00:00:40.840 --> 00:00:45.460 part poet, they move along their hives with the 00:00:45.460 --> 00:00:50.539 efficiency of mow, levy and curly, tending to 00:00:50.539 --> 00:00:54.219 the bees' needs as best they can comprehend, 00:00:54.859 --> 00:00:59.670 and with the infrequency of a waterfall in the 00:00:59.670 --> 00:01:05.569 Sahara, sometimes running off flapping and flailing 00:01:05.569 --> 00:01:12.150 like a penguin on a hot sidewalk. This is their 00:01:12.150 --> 00:01:27.909 journey. I recently attended the North American 00:01:27.909 --> 00:01:30.890 Honey Bee Expo and while there had the pleasure 00:01:30.890 --> 00:01:33.689 of conducting a few interviews for this podcast 00:01:33.689 --> 00:01:37.049 just a quick heads up these interviews were in 00:01:37.049 --> 00:01:40.989 a very busy noisy expo hall with thousands of 00:01:40.989 --> 00:01:43.629 people milling around so our audio and video 00:01:43.629 --> 00:01:45.849 quality may be a little bit below our regular 00:01:45.849 --> 00:01:48.549 standards but I think you'll find the content 00:01:48.549 --> 00:01:51.129 well worth it and we'll be back in the studio 00:01:51.129 --> 00:01:55.530 shortly and speaking of the expo Huge thank yous 00:01:55.530 --> 00:01:57.709 to all the listeners who came up and introduced 00:01:57.709 --> 00:02:00.349 themselves. It was really fun meeting so many 00:02:00.349 --> 00:02:03.390 of you. So over the next few weeks, we'll be 00:02:03.390 --> 00:02:05.849 hearing from beekeepers with various backgrounds 00:02:05.849 --> 00:02:09.289 and beekeeping experiences, discussing new products, 00:02:09.469 --> 00:02:12.409 new methodologies, and of course, some fun stories. 00:02:12.849 --> 00:02:16.050 I hope you'll enjoy as we kick off today's episode 00:02:16.050 --> 00:02:19.349 with someone who really knows his stuff and has 00:02:19.349 --> 00:02:27.189 the PhD to prove it, Dr. Jason Graham. All right, 00:02:27.189 --> 00:02:29.289 we're back here at the North American Honey Bee 00:02:29.289 --> 00:02:33.310 Expo. We've got Dr. Jason Graham with us today. 00:02:33.409 --> 00:02:35.349 Jason, how are you? I'm excellent, Eric. How 00:02:35.349 --> 00:02:39.530 are you? Fantastic. Great. I say, I say doctor. 00:02:40.110 --> 00:02:43.110 Is that medical? Is that PhD? What's it is? PhD. 00:02:43.330 --> 00:02:47.250 Yeah. And I go by Dr. J or, you know, I went, 00:02:47.250 --> 00:02:50.650 I went to get out of the Philadelphia area. So 00:02:50.650 --> 00:02:54.030 Dr. J was, you know, my, my I was a big fan of 00:02:54.030 --> 00:02:57.030 basketball and I thought if I ever become a doctor, 00:02:57.090 --> 00:02:58.469 that's what I'd tell the kids. You know, you 00:02:58.469 --> 00:03:01.669 call me Dr. J, so. Can you slam it like Dr. J? 00:03:01.770 --> 00:03:05.430 Yeah, I could try. I mean, he was such an early 00:03:05.430 --> 00:03:08.610 pioneer in that kind of in that kind of basketball. 00:03:08.610 --> 00:03:11.750 That was kind of fun. So some of these young 00:03:11.750 --> 00:03:14.949 people, if you don't know who Dr. J is, Julius 00:03:14.949 --> 00:03:18.150 Irving. Yeah, yeah. Look him up. OK, but we're 00:03:18.150 --> 00:03:21.110 here to talk about bees today, not NBA basketball. 00:03:22.879 --> 00:03:26.460 So what is your PhD in? It's in entomology and 00:03:26.460 --> 00:03:30.099 nematology. I earned the PhD at University of 00:03:30.099 --> 00:03:32.560 Florida. I got my master's there as well, but 00:03:32.560 --> 00:03:35.460 I went on for my PhD. And so I learned about 00:03:35.460 --> 00:03:38.860 all things insects and also nematodes, which 00:03:38.860 --> 00:03:41.740 are almost microscopic worms that live in the 00:03:41.740 --> 00:03:44.460 soil. And some are very beneficial and some are 00:03:44.460 --> 00:03:47.159 pests to our agriculture. So I kind of learned 00:03:47.159 --> 00:03:51.569 both realms there. but bees were my specialty. 00:03:52.030 --> 00:03:54.229 So when you're an entomologist you almost pick 00:03:54.229 --> 00:03:56.949 a specialty, a different insect or maybe a different 00:03:56.949 --> 00:04:00.770 aspect of entomology. Some are looking at pests 00:04:00.770 --> 00:04:03.669 and diseases, others are looking medical entomology. 00:04:03.990 --> 00:04:06.889 I really got excited about beneficial insects 00:04:06.889 --> 00:04:09.069 and of course bees I think are the most beneficial. 00:04:09.889 --> 00:04:13.770 So that's always my focus. So with you having 00:04:13.770 --> 00:04:16.430 a PhD, we're going to get into some really boring 00:04:16.430 --> 00:04:20.889 data today. I'll try. No, we're not. That never 00:04:20.889 --> 00:04:23.870 happens on this show. We try not. No, we want 00:04:23.870 --> 00:04:27.569 practical advice for beekeepers at all levels. 00:04:28.250 --> 00:04:32.069 Tell me about your beekeeping first. Sure. So 00:04:32.069 --> 00:04:35.569 I first got into beekeeping actually at University 00:04:35.569 --> 00:04:38.360 of Delaware. I was looking for an easy science 00:04:38.360 --> 00:04:41.860 class. So may sound strange now, I am a PhD, 00:04:42.000 --> 00:04:46.060 but at the time I had been a high school dropout. 00:04:46.399 --> 00:04:48.319 Took about 10 years off. I worked lots of different 00:04:48.319 --> 00:04:51.040 jobs. And I was a little intimidated to go back 00:04:51.040 --> 00:04:53.579 to school. And I was always looking for an easy 00:04:53.579 --> 00:04:56.519 science. I wasn't ready to dive into biochemistry 00:04:56.519 --> 00:04:59.040 or anything like that yet, but I saw a beekeeping 00:04:59.040 --> 00:05:03.319 class. And so I wanted to try it out and... I 00:05:03.319 --> 00:05:07.040 met Dewey Karen there. He's a pretty famous beekeeping 00:05:07.040 --> 00:05:10.000 teacher and researcher and educator and great 00:05:10.000 --> 00:05:13.819 guy. I'm learning from him and the first time 00:05:13.819 --> 00:05:16.639 I opened up the hive, I was hooked. I wanted 00:05:16.639 --> 00:05:19.459 to do beekeeping for life. I think that's a big 00:05:19.459 --> 00:05:23.680 part of it is taking the PhD, the heavy science 00:05:23.680 --> 00:05:26.860 and trying to share that with folks so it's not 00:05:26.860 --> 00:05:29.819 so intimidating and more interesting and relatable 00:05:29.819 --> 00:05:32.759 to them is a big part of what I try to do. What 00:05:32.759 --> 00:05:35.500 was it about him that made you fall in love immediately? 00:05:35.819 --> 00:05:38.180 We had a lab portion of the class and also a 00:05:38.180 --> 00:05:40.300 lecture portion. So in the lecture portion, we 00:05:40.300 --> 00:05:42.300 learned all the book stuff, you know, the biology 00:05:42.300 --> 00:05:44.839 of the bee. But he kept it very interesting. 00:05:44.959 --> 00:05:48.579 You know, he's shared the life of the bee, you 00:05:48.579 --> 00:05:50.560 know, even from a human perspective, what they 00:05:50.560 --> 00:05:52.000 were doing, you know, how they were changing 00:05:52.000 --> 00:05:55.079 careers throughout their their lifespan and different 00:05:55.079 --> 00:05:57.399 things like that. They were relatable to me. 00:05:58.339 --> 00:06:02.079 He one day dressed up as a bee and came in and. 00:06:02.060 --> 00:06:04.360 showed everyone he demonstrated the waggle dance 00:06:04.360 --> 00:06:06.879 as a professor in a classroom full of, you know, 00:06:07.100 --> 00:06:09.939 college students and a great professor is amazing. 00:06:10.339 --> 00:06:13.939 So I ended up his teacher assistant the following 00:06:13.939 --> 00:06:17.600 year. And I decided I was going to make my major. 00:06:18.079 --> 00:06:20.459 I was switched it from business, what I was thinking 00:06:20.459 --> 00:06:24.120 to entomology. And I thought I was only going 00:06:24.120 --> 00:06:26.459 to go for my bachelor's and ended up, you know, 00:06:26.579 --> 00:06:28.079 I was talking to him and I was like, you know, 00:06:28.079 --> 00:06:30.069 I'm going to get out and get a job. He said, 00:06:30.129 --> 00:06:32.149 why don't you stick in and go for your master's 00:06:32.149 --> 00:06:35.009 and PhD? And he kind of talked me into reaching 00:06:35.009 --> 00:06:37.029 out to Jamie Ellis at University of Florida. 00:06:37.850 --> 00:06:39.889 He was just getting his lab started up and was 00:06:39.889 --> 00:06:42.870 looking for new graduate students and right timing. 00:06:43.409 --> 00:06:45.430 I went down and visited with Jamie. He drove 00:06:45.430 --> 00:06:48.209 me around the campus. We had lunch and talked 00:06:48.209 --> 00:06:50.209 and he ended up bringing me on as a research 00:06:50.209 --> 00:06:52.329 assistant. That helped out with my school, you 00:06:52.329 --> 00:06:54.509 know, payments, tuition and whatnot. Yeah, I 00:06:54.509 --> 00:06:56.709 got some amazing experience working with him. 00:06:57.009 --> 00:06:59.050 We started the Master Beekeeping program there 00:06:59.050 --> 00:07:03.089 in Florida. We started Bee College, which is 00:07:03.089 --> 00:07:05.709 a really successful other conference that happens, 00:07:05.829 --> 00:07:08.329 you know, in spring now, summer and multiple 00:07:08.329 --> 00:07:12.490 times a year in Florida. So I got to work with... 00:07:12.990 --> 00:07:14.970 Beekeepers that had been keeping bees longer 00:07:14.970 --> 00:07:17.329 than I had but still being able to share new 00:07:17.329 --> 00:07:19.449 things with them and learn from them along the 00:07:19.449 --> 00:07:22.410 way So yeah, I feel really blessed to have kind 00:07:22.410 --> 00:07:24.730 of fell it into the path that I have I like it. 00:07:24.930 --> 00:07:27.790 You mentioned the lifespan of bees This is something 00:07:27.790 --> 00:07:29.970 we haven't talked a lot about on the show. Okay, 00:07:30.230 --> 00:07:32.970 let's so let's dig into that one Yeah, let's 00:07:32.970 --> 00:07:36.629 talk about first a little bit about what people 00:07:36.629 --> 00:07:40.689 call bee time or bee calendar or bee mass Okay, 00:07:40.910 --> 00:07:44.050 let's talk about And I don't want to get too 00:07:44.050 --> 00:07:47.629 scientific. But the life cycle. From the day 00:07:47.629 --> 00:07:51.069 an egg is laid, what happens and how long does 00:07:51.069 --> 00:07:54.769 it take? OK, so after the egg is laid, then you 00:07:54.769 --> 00:07:57.129 have about two, three days while that egg turns 00:07:57.129 --> 00:08:00.129 into a very young larva that they're fed both 00:08:00.129 --> 00:08:03.689 royal jelly and also pollen and nectar. And for 00:08:03.689 --> 00:08:07.449 that three days, that egg, if it's a female egg, 00:08:07.730 --> 00:08:09.949 so if it's been fertilized, then it's going to 00:08:09.949 --> 00:08:12.259 be a female. If it's unfertilized, it'll become 00:08:12.259 --> 00:08:14.939 a male on a drone bait. So the fertilized eggs, 00:08:14.939 --> 00:08:18.180 if it's a female larva, then it could potentially 00:08:18.180 --> 00:08:21.980 be a queen while it's still on royal jelly. When 00:08:21.980 --> 00:08:25.120 they turn it onto pollen and nectar after the 00:08:25.120 --> 00:08:28.379 third day, then it's going to end up being a 00:08:28.379 --> 00:08:31.040 worker and not a queen. It becomes a larva. It 00:08:31.040 --> 00:08:34.200 eats all of its royal jelly. Then it becomes 00:08:34.200 --> 00:08:37.240 the larva. It's fed the pollen and nectar mixture, 00:08:37.720 --> 00:08:41.029 gets older, goes into pupation. And when it emerges 00:08:41.029 --> 00:08:44.929 out as a adult bee for the first time, its first 00:08:44.929 --> 00:08:48.850 job is to go and clean its cell out. So it's 00:08:48.850 --> 00:08:51.769 that I do a lot of talks with elementary school 00:08:51.769 --> 00:08:54.110 students and families and things like that. And 00:08:54.110 --> 00:08:56.110 so I like to tell the kids, you know, their first 00:08:56.110 --> 00:08:58.350 job is to clean their room, probably like, you 00:08:58.350 --> 00:09:00.409 know, the kids first job. So they clean their 00:09:00.409 --> 00:09:02.409 room and then they clean their sister's rooms. 00:09:02.529 --> 00:09:04.549 They go around and start cleaning those. And 00:09:04.549 --> 00:09:09.039 then they're a cleaner bee for a few days. then 00:09:09.039 --> 00:09:12.320 they become a a nurse bee where they're feeding 00:09:12.320 --> 00:09:14.919 their sisters and their their glands develop 00:09:14.919 --> 00:09:16.779 differently so they have the glands where they're 00:09:16.779 --> 00:09:18.759 able to actually feed their sisters royal jelly 00:09:18.759 --> 00:09:21.820 the the young larva they can sense and smell 00:09:21.820 --> 00:09:24.600 when those larvae are hungry and go over and 00:09:24.600 --> 00:09:27.379 feed the hungry ones it's pretty amazing and 00:09:27.379 --> 00:09:29.840 then they get a little bit older and they start 00:09:29.840 --> 00:09:32.379 doing other tasks in the in the hive other you 00:09:32.379 --> 00:09:35.480 know chores jobs they move on to being wax maker 00:09:35.480 --> 00:09:39.480 bees honey store bees. So as the foragers come 00:09:39.480 --> 00:09:42.659 in, they take that nectar and take it up to the 00:09:42.659 --> 00:09:44.659 the nectary and they fan their wings and turn 00:09:44.659 --> 00:09:48.679 it into honey. They cap wax the, put the wax 00:09:48.679 --> 00:09:52.080 cappings on that to preserve it as honey. Some 00:09:52.080 --> 00:09:54.779 are processing the bee bread from pollen as a 00:09:54.779 --> 00:09:56.840 bee bread and most of the jobs kind of work from 00:09:56.840 --> 00:09:58.360 that center of the hive, the heart of the hive, 00:09:58.440 --> 00:10:01.860 the nursery out towards the entrance. So eventually 00:10:01.860 --> 00:10:04.000 they become guard bees and they're spending a 00:10:04.000 --> 00:10:05.970 lot more time out on the porch. and that's when 00:10:05.970 --> 00:10:09.330 they're about 18 days old. So the 18 year olds, 00:10:09.429 --> 00:10:13.210 the teenagers, they're getting new glands and 00:10:13.210 --> 00:10:15.889 they're actually able to defend the hive with 00:10:15.889 --> 00:10:19.289 alarm pheromone at that point. And they also 00:10:19.289 --> 00:10:21.850 are doing some orientation flights and when they 00:10:21.850 --> 00:10:23.769 become foragers, that's kind of the elder bees, 00:10:24.110 --> 00:10:27.149 the about 21 day olds, and they'll forage for 00:10:27.149 --> 00:10:30.210 the rest of their lives. So if you see a bee 00:10:30.210 --> 00:10:33.399 out on a flower, then it's one of the the oldest 00:10:33.399 --> 00:10:35.460 bees in the hive, the elders that are going and 00:10:35.460 --> 00:10:37.720 getting resources for the other bees. How about 00:10:37.720 --> 00:10:40.679 some of the other tasks like the what we call 00:10:40.679 --> 00:10:43.500 the morticians? Yeah. They're cleaning out the 00:10:43.500 --> 00:10:46.580 dead bees. Yeah, the undertakers. Do they all 00:10:46.580 --> 00:10:48.879 have a chance to do that at some point in their 00:10:48.879 --> 00:10:51.019 life or are there some just assigned to that? 00:10:51.240 --> 00:10:54.120 I think we're not 100 % sure. And there's some 00:10:54.120 --> 00:10:56.039 flexibility there. So we're talking about the 00:10:56.039 --> 00:10:58.259 undertaker bees. And so they're very important 00:10:58.259 --> 00:11:00.240 for helping to clean the hive and get rid of 00:11:00.240 --> 00:11:02.480 the you know, the dead decaying bees, some bees 00:11:02.480 --> 00:11:07.080 that may have, they're also kind of nurse, maybe 00:11:07.080 --> 00:11:10.320 not say nurse bees, but healthcare bees that 00:11:10.320 --> 00:11:13.720 are going around to check inside the cells for 00:11:13.720 --> 00:11:18.059 bees that have some type of a pathogen or illness. 00:11:18.200 --> 00:11:21.360 So they would take out those bees as well. And 00:11:21.360 --> 00:11:22.820 so this is helping to keep the hive healthy. 00:11:23.159 --> 00:11:25.200 And I'm not sure that all the bees do all of 00:11:25.200 --> 00:11:29.399 the tasks. The way that they can tell a lot of 00:11:29.399 --> 00:11:31.860 this information is they'll mark the bees with 00:11:31.860 --> 00:11:34.559 little stickers different color codes numbers 00:11:34.559 --> 00:11:37.259 letters and have them in observation hives where 00:11:37.259 --> 00:11:39.019 they're watching you know what's going on in 00:11:39.019 --> 00:11:41.820 the life of these bees and taking notes on okay 00:11:41.820 --> 00:11:45.460 we saw number 48a uh you know taking a dead bee 00:11:45.460 --> 00:11:47.919 out and things like that and so i'm not sure 00:11:47.919 --> 00:11:49.840 that someone's watched every you know bee in 00:11:49.840 --> 00:11:51.960 a hive for their entire lifespan to make sure 00:11:51.960 --> 00:11:54.240 that this happens regularly but there is a lot 00:11:54.240 --> 00:11:57.279 of flexibility so if at one point they need more 00:11:57.279 --> 00:11:59.559 foragers They could, you know, bring some of 00:11:59.559 --> 00:12:03.200 the guard bees faster. Or if, you know, they 00:12:03.200 --> 00:12:05.279 need more guards, some of the foragers may stay 00:12:05.279 --> 00:12:08.100 behind and guard. So much flexibility in the 00:12:08.100 --> 00:12:10.419 bee colony. Here's what I don't get and part 00:12:10.419 --> 00:12:13.860 of what really, really fascinates me. How do 00:12:13.860 --> 00:12:16.879 they make the decision on who's going to do what? 00:12:17.460 --> 00:12:19.659 Now, you would think that would be the queen's 00:12:19.659 --> 00:12:22.379 job. We know that's not realistic. Right. Is 00:12:22.379 --> 00:12:26.470 it just do they somehow instinctively know there's 00:12:26.470 --> 00:12:29.370 a need there, I'm gonna go do it. Or is there 00:12:29.370 --> 00:12:32.149 some boss in charge that's saying, you do that, 00:12:32.169 --> 00:12:34.710 you do that, you do that? Well, a lot of it is 00:12:34.710 --> 00:12:36.750 very pheromone controlled. They're getting a 00:12:36.750 --> 00:12:40.690 lot of their input through smells. So when nurse 00:12:40.690 --> 00:12:43.889 bees are looking for which bees to feed, they're 00:12:43.889 --> 00:12:47.210 smelling which bees are hungriest. When the guard 00:12:47.210 --> 00:12:48.970 bees are trying to see who they need to defend 00:12:48.970 --> 00:12:51.549 against, they're smelling for alarm pheromone. 00:12:52.470 --> 00:12:55.080 Queens... produce queen pheromone and this goes 00:12:55.080 --> 00:12:58.480 through the entire hive because bees pass nectar 00:12:58.480 --> 00:13:01.279 from each other and along with that they're also 00:13:01.279 --> 00:13:04.200 passing pheromones so if you have a very big 00:13:04.200 --> 00:13:07.179 hive that queen pheromone might not get around 00:13:07.179 --> 00:13:10.259 to all of the bees but it does a pretty good 00:13:10.259 --> 00:13:12.299 job because the way they pass the food along 00:13:12.299 --> 00:13:15.360 so I think pheromones is one of the key things. 00:13:15.440 --> 00:13:17.320 It could be instincts, but this is one of the 00:13:17.320 --> 00:13:19.000 great mysteries of life, you know, that we're 00:13:19.000 --> 00:13:21.519 all trying to learn. How do the bees know what 00:13:21.519 --> 00:13:24.539 they're doing and making decisions? And I think 00:13:24.539 --> 00:13:26.620 a lot of it is they're just walking around looking 00:13:26.620 --> 00:13:29.080 for what needs to be done or sensing what needs 00:13:29.080 --> 00:13:31.919 to be done and jumping in and doing it. It's 00:13:31.919 --> 00:13:34.399 one of the things I love about honey bees is 00:13:34.399 --> 00:13:38.509 we don't know at all. We just see them. make 00:13:38.509 --> 00:13:42.250 amazing decisions, work as this perfect community 00:13:42.250 --> 00:13:46.529 somehow. And we're like, as people, we haven't 00:13:46.529 --> 00:13:49.210 figured out how to do that yet. Not even close. 00:13:49.350 --> 00:13:51.750 Our government's all screwed up. Our elections 00:13:51.750 --> 00:13:55.950 are messed up and stuff. And they somehow figured 00:13:55.950 --> 00:13:59.299 out, although... It's really good, but it's not 00:13:59.299 --> 00:14:02.240 perfect. Let's talk about swarming for a second. 00:14:02.580 --> 00:14:05.320 I've read a bunch of Tom Seeley stuff, including 00:14:05.320 --> 00:14:07.500 Honey Bee Democracy. I've had him on the show. 00:14:07.559 --> 00:14:10.960 We've got a couple episodes with him. He's fantastic 00:14:10.960 --> 00:14:15.940 and just the nicest gentleman. I really like 00:14:15.940 --> 00:14:18.580 him a lot. But there still are a few missing 00:14:18.580 --> 00:14:21.700 pieces. That's one of the exciting things for 00:14:21.700 --> 00:14:25.039 me too is constantly learning whether it's techniques 00:14:25.039 --> 00:14:27.659 in beekeeping or our new equipment coming out 00:14:27.659 --> 00:14:30.740 that we're learning how to use or Older equipment 00:14:30.740 --> 00:14:33.679 we're finding out about you know that that is 00:14:33.679 --> 00:14:36.779 coming out again Nectar sources for bees because 00:14:36.779 --> 00:14:38.639 you when you get into beekeeping you start to 00:14:38.639 --> 00:14:40.879 become a miner in botany because you're learning 00:14:40.879 --> 00:14:44.720 What flowers are nearby when the blooms are but 00:14:44.720 --> 00:14:46.259 yeah, there's there's so much to learn. It's 00:14:46.259 --> 00:14:50.039 amazing swarming. It's a is really interesting 00:14:50.039 --> 00:14:54.100 was the bee's natural instinct as a colony. So 00:14:54.100 --> 00:14:56.679 one of the things Jamie was teaching us, you 00:14:56.679 --> 00:14:58.440 know, when I was a graduate student was you can 00:14:58.440 --> 00:15:01.940 also think of the honeybee colony on the individual 00:15:01.940 --> 00:15:03.860 level, each worker, you know, going and doing 00:15:03.860 --> 00:15:05.960 its individual thing. But if you look at the 00:15:05.960 --> 00:15:09.220 hive itself, you can think of it as a super organism. 00:15:09.500 --> 00:15:12.250 This hive is... has its own circulatory system, 00:15:12.470 --> 00:15:16.049 its own nervous system and its own immune system. 00:15:16.110 --> 00:15:18.789 It's defending against pathogens coming in almost 00:15:18.789 --> 00:15:21.970 on an individual level, individual organism level. 00:15:22.289 --> 00:15:24.950 Also has its reproductive system and swarming 00:15:24.950 --> 00:15:27.809 is kind of the reproductive system of the hive. 00:15:27.970 --> 00:15:30.450 They want to get their goal is to get as big 00:15:30.450 --> 00:15:33.769 as they can and then reproduce. So they send 00:15:33.769 --> 00:15:36.070 half their colony out somewhere else. And somehow 00:15:36.070 --> 00:15:39.220 they know when it's time to do that. They know 00:15:39.220 --> 00:15:42.080 how to get the queen prepared. Yes. Will you 00:15:42.080 --> 00:15:44.740 tell us some of the things, some of what they 00:15:44.740 --> 00:15:47.440 do to get the queen prepared? They of course 00:15:47.440 --> 00:15:49.820 have to start making the next queen, the next 00:15:49.820 --> 00:15:51.600 generation. So they pick out the worker that 00:15:51.600 --> 00:15:53.740 this, you know, the egg that they're going to 00:15:53.740 --> 00:15:56.039 turn into queen. They make some queen cells in 00:15:56.039 --> 00:15:58.320 preparation for the swarm. And then they'll chase 00:15:58.320 --> 00:16:01.360 the queen around and stop feeding her as much. 00:16:01.500 --> 00:16:04.279 The queen doesn't really feed. From the the honey 00:16:04.279 --> 00:16:07.340 or pollen, I guess on her own She actually needs 00:16:07.340 --> 00:16:10.279 the attendant bees to follow her around and feed 00:16:10.279 --> 00:16:12.919 her and groom her and so they kind of put her 00:16:12.919 --> 00:16:15.620 on a diet stop feeding her so much and keep her 00:16:15.620 --> 00:16:18.320 moving so that she loses some weight and is ready 00:16:18.320 --> 00:16:21.460 to fly and Yeah, it kind of stops that egg production 00:16:21.460 --> 00:16:24.080 for a little while, but it is fascinating. Yeah, 00:16:24.080 --> 00:16:26.500 it's hilarious Okay, let's talk about drones 00:16:26.500 --> 00:16:30.759 for a second And I just read something and and 00:16:30.759 --> 00:16:34.340 we may talk about it earlier about how drones 00:16:34.340 --> 00:16:38.460 can't feed themselves. Tell me how that works. 00:16:38.700 --> 00:16:43.399 Who feeds them, why, when? Right, so the worker 00:16:43.399 --> 00:16:47.200 bees will feed the drones and the drones are 00:16:47.200 --> 00:16:49.679 voracious eaters. They're constantly hungry too, 00:16:49.799 --> 00:16:52.460 but they're not really contributing much to the 00:16:52.460 --> 00:16:55.259 food stores. They're not foraging at all. Zero? 00:16:55.500 --> 00:16:59.419 Zero. Okay, not much, it's zero. Zero, it's actually 00:16:59.419 --> 00:17:01.500 probably negative because of how much they eat 00:17:01.500 --> 00:17:05.039 too. It may seem early, but right now is a great 00:17:05.039 --> 00:17:08.799 time to order your live bees for 2026 because 00:17:08.799 --> 00:17:12.059 they do sell out and because Man Lake is offering 00:17:12.059 --> 00:17:16.000 a discount for B -Luv podcast listeners. Wait, 00:17:16.319 --> 00:17:18.880 what? I know you're saying live bees, they never 00:17:18.880 --> 00:17:22.519 go on sale. Well, they are now. Click on over 00:17:22.519 --> 00:17:26.250 to Man Lake, order your bees any variety. nukes 00:17:26.250 --> 00:17:29.630 or packages, and anything in the beginner essentials 00:17:29.630 --> 00:17:32.910 category. And when you check out, use the code 00:17:32.910 --> 00:17:35.789 GETSTARTEDINBEEZ, it's down in the show notes 00:17:35.789 --> 00:17:38.230 so you don't have to remember, for a discount 00:17:38.230 --> 00:17:41.930 on everything. So get your orders in early and 00:17:41.930 --> 00:17:45.970 save. But the drones aren't very important because 00:17:45.970 --> 00:17:49.829 if the colony dies, if we lose the queen, what 00:17:49.829 --> 00:17:53.470 happens is the workers are now able to lay eggs. 00:17:53.950 --> 00:17:57.059 But they're laying unfertilized eggs because 00:17:57.059 --> 00:17:59.440 they never mated. So those unfertilized eggs 00:17:59.440 --> 00:18:02.420 will become drones. Those drones will end up 00:18:02.420 --> 00:18:04.880 flying out. And even if that hive crashes and 00:18:04.880 --> 00:18:06.640 totally dies, they were not able to make a new 00:18:06.640 --> 00:18:09.480 queen. The genetics from that hive are carried 00:18:09.480 --> 00:18:11.839 on by those drones to other hives in the county. 00:18:12.619 --> 00:18:15.099 So yeah, it is still the survival of the fittest 00:18:15.099 --> 00:18:17.140 and the mating really carries on those genes. 00:18:17.640 --> 00:18:20.000 I call drones the teenage boys living in the 00:18:20.000 --> 00:18:22.240 basement. Yeah, it is. It is very similar. Yep. 00:18:22.420 --> 00:18:25.819 They don't produce anything. Right. All they 00:18:25.819 --> 00:18:29.359 want to do is go out and mate. And when they 00:18:29.359 --> 00:18:32.779 do, they just die. And if they don't mate, they 00:18:32.779 --> 00:18:36.059 also die. Right. So they either go out with a 00:18:36.059 --> 00:18:41.440 bag or not so much, fizzle out. That is a crazy 00:18:41.440 --> 00:18:44.359 thing. You mentioned new equipment a minute ago. 00:18:45.039 --> 00:18:46.779 Tell me, I don't know how much you've walked 00:18:46.779 --> 00:18:49.220 around this expo yet, but what are some of the 00:18:49.220 --> 00:18:51.599 new things that you've seen over the last even 00:18:51.599 --> 00:18:54.240 a couple of years? to get you excited. Sure. 00:18:54.680 --> 00:18:57.740 So actually, I was working, teaching folks in 00:18:57.740 --> 00:19:01.079 the Bay Area. I'm in Silicon Valley in California. 00:19:01.400 --> 00:19:04.200 And so I was just working with a nonprofit. We 00:19:04.200 --> 00:19:07.539 had sponsors like Google and Genentech. And so 00:19:07.539 --> 00:19:09.579 some of these high tech companies would have 00:19:09.579 --> 00:19:12.240 us come in and they would have their own hives 00:19:12.240 --> 00:19:14.960 on campus. And so the employees wanted to learn 00:19:14.960 --> 00:19:17.400 more and more about beekeeping. and one of them 00:19:17.400 --> 00:19:20.440 had asked if we could do a presentation on innovations 00:19:20.440 --> 00:19:23.380 in beekeeping. Some of the new innovations that 00:19:23.380 --> 00:19:26.759 I came across while doing research on this was 00:19:26.759 --> 00:19:28.740 Primal Bee, which is the company that I'm now 00:19:28.740 --> 00:19:30.400 with, and I could talk a little bit about that. 00:19:30.660 --> 00:19:33.460 BeeWise is another I've worked with them, and 00:19:33.460 --> 00:19:36.799 so I'll kind of scale into each of them a little 00:19:36.799 --> 00:19:39.680 bit more in detail, but there's a lot of new 00:19:39.680 --> 00:19:41.859 sensors that are going into hives, like Broodminder, 00:19:41.960 --> 00:19:45.380 which is looking at... the temperature and humidity 00:19:45.380 --> 00:19:47.500 inside of hives, the number of bees coming in 00:19:47.500 --> 00:19:49.819 and out. We're just learning so much with the 00:19:49.819 --> 00:19:53.559 internet of things. The BeeWise is a large box 00:19:53.559 --> 00:19:56.480 that has multiple hives inside of it that uses 00:19:56.480 --> 00:19:59.920 AI and robotics to lift frames up, take pictures 00:19:59.920 --> 00:20:01.839 of what's going on inside the hive, identify 00:20:01.839 --> 00:20:04.299 the queen, look for pathogens, and that's a pretty 00:20:04.299 --> 00:20:06.759 exciting, interesting thing. I've had them on 00:20:06.759 --> 00:20:09.480 the show, by the way. So if somebody wants to 00:20:09.480 --> 00:20:12.099 hear a whole episode with them, we'll try to 00:20:12.099 --> 00:20:14.819 remember to stick it in the show notes. So you 00:20:14.819 --> 00:20:17.160 can go back a little ways and see it was fascinating. 00:20:17.220 --> 00:20:19.259 I've met the founder going into those hives and 00:20:19.259 --> 00:20:20.819 check them out. And they're amazing. Did some 00:20:20.819 --> 00:20:23.079 work with them. I'm working with Primal B right 00:20:23.079 --> 00:20:25.839 now, and that's a thermodynamic hive. I'm looking 00:20:25.839 --> 00:20:29.380 at the insulation and the brood space. It has 00:20:29.380 --> 00:20:31.900 a triple deep frame in the bottom. So we're getting 00:20:31.900 --> 00:20:34.519 really large populations. And I think it's an 00:20:34.519 --> 00:20:37.170 incredible innovation. You've also had Primal 00:20:37.170 --> 00:20:40.049 B on the show. We've had Alex on the show all 00:20:40.049 --> 00:20:43.750 the way from Italy. He was awesome and so fun 00:20:43.750 --> 00:20:47.529 and actually one of our largest audiences. People 00:20:47.529 --> 00:20:51.329 loved Alex. Alex is great and the whole team 00:20:51.329 --> 00:20:53.490 is really great with Primal B. They're coming 00:20:53.490 --> 00:20:56.089 out with some amazing things and folks should 00:20:56.089 --> 00:20:57.869 definitely check that out. And I'm trying one 00:20:57.869 --> 00:21:01.549 of those hives myself right now. I think it's 00:21:01.549 --> 00:21:04.069 fascinating. I can't wait to see how the bees 00:21:04.069 --> 00:21:08.789 over winter and over summer. Yeah. Because a 00:21:08.789 --> 00:21:11.549 lot of insulation has got to make it easier on 00:21:11.549 --> 00:21:14.950 the bees also when it's hot. They're not expending 00:21:14.950 --> 00:21:18.170 as much energy trying to cool everything. Yeah. 00:21:18.289 --> 00:21:20.430 Yeah. I'm in California, so it's pretty mild 00:21:20.430 --> 00:21:21.990 there. We don't have to worry about snow where 00:21:21.990 --> 00:21:25.710 I'm at. We might get frost or freeze. But I do 00:21:25.710 --> 00:21:27.670 have a primal beehive right outside my kitchen 00:21:27.670 --> 00:21:31.089 and I have a Langstroth wooden hive right next 00:21:31.089 --> 00:21:32.970 to it and I keep an eye on both of them. I also 00:21:32.970 --> 00:21:36.150 have a tap bar hive and a few other styles. But 00:21:36.150 --> 00:21:38.470 my primal beehive I noticed in the heat wave 00:21:38.470 --> 00:21:43.460 when we had 104, 105 degree. days for a week 00:21:43.460 --> 00:21:46.720 or two at a time, my Langstroth, wooden hive 00:21:46.720 --> 00:21:49.579 out front, would all the bees we had outside 00:21:49.579 --> 00:21:52.559 try to ventilate and keep it cool and bearding 00:21:52.559 --> 00:21:55.039 up on the outside of the hive. Whereas the primal 00:21:55.039 --> 00:21:57.940 bee hive, it was still active, but they weren't 00:21:57.940 --> 00:21:59.859 hanging out on the front of the hive. They were 00:21:59.859 --> 00:22:02.720 comfortable inside. They got out earlier in the 00:22:02.720 --> 00:22:04.720 morning. They came back later at night because 00:22:04.720 --> 00:22:06.700 they didn't have to worry about keeping a lot 00:22:06.700 --> 00:22:09.880 of bees in or out in order to keep the hive. 00:22:10.119 --> 00:22:12.460 at a comfortable temperature inside for the brood. 00:22:12.640 --> 00:22:15.660 Tell me about thermodynamics. And one of the 00:22:15.660 --> 00:22:18.700 big questions that I have, because I get differing 00:22:18.700 --> 00:22:21.079 opinions all the time. Welcome to beekeeping. 00:22:21.079 --> 00:22:24.960 Right. For example, in winter, do I need to get 00:22:24.960 --> 00:22:30.279 my hive as closed up as possible and have an 00:22:30.279 --> 00:22:32.799 entrance reducer where they can only get in something 00:22:32.799 --> 00:22:37.400 this big so that it's really warm, but also realizing 00:22:38.169 --> 00:22:40.269 What's going to happen? Moisture is going to 00:22:40.269 --> 00:22:43.269 build up inside. And so I worry about that. Right. 00:22:43.349 --> 00:22:45.569 Sure. And then there's other people that tell 00:22:45.569 --> 00:22:48.529 me, no, air circulation is really important. 00:22:48.829 --> 00:22:51.730 You can get too much moisture. Sure. Tell me 00:22:51.730 --> 00:22:54.650 what the heck you know about this. OK. So I'm 00:22:54.650 --> 00:22:56.589 also I don't have all the answers, but I'm still 00:22:56.589 --> 00:22:58.509 learning along the way what I've learned so far 00:22:58.509 --> 00:23:02.029 that that makes a lot of sense to me. The condensation. 00:23:02.319 --> 00:23:05.200 will run down the sides of the walls a lot of 00:23:05.200 --> 00:23:07.599 times. These actually need a lot of water also 00:23:07.599 --> 00:23:10.240 during the wintertime, right? And it may be less 00:23:10.240 --> 00:23:12.279 accessible to them because they're not leaving 00:23:12.279 --> 00:23:14.519 the hive to go look for water if it's too cold 00:23:14.519 --> 00:23:17.019 outside. So they'll actually go to the side walls 00:23:17.019 --> 00:23:19.279 and pull some of that moisture off of the side 00:23:19.279 --> 00:23:21.940 walls. So it is important to have some condensation 00:23:21.940 --> 00:23:24.500 inside the hive so that your bees can stay hydrated. 00:23:24.759 --> 00:23:27.549 There's also On the primal beehive there's a 00:23:27.549 --> 00:23:29.750 screen bottom board and there's a head space 00:23:29.750 --> 00:23:31.950 of about four inches or so between the bottom 00:23:31.950 --> 00:23:34.930 board and the bottom of the first frame and this 00:23:34.930 --> 00:23:36.970 air and the way that the shape of the inside 00:23:36.970 --> 00:23:39.470 of the hive is is designed really for the you 00:23:39.470 --> 00:23:42.089 know keep the perfect humidity perfect temperature 00:23:42.089 --> 00:23:44.750 in there for the brood so the queen has a great 00:23:44.750 --> 00:23:47.349 nursery and you know the incubation is perfect 00:23:47.349 --> 00:23:50.490 for the bees. You could also wrap a hive with 00:23:50.490 --> 00:23:52.869 insulation but it's going to be very difficult 00:23:52.869 --> 00:23:56.390 to get the same level of thermal efficiency with 00:23:56.390 --> 00:23:58.309 a jacket around the hive and different things 00:23:58.309 --> 00:24:00.490 like that. The material that we're working with 00:24:00.490 --> 00:24:04.769 is EPS and it's at 80 % density and very strong 00:24:04.769 --> 00:24:07.470 and it's made specifically for this purpose for 00:24:07.470 --> 00:24:10.660 insulation. I'm just of the attitude of let's 00:24:10.660 --> 00:24:13.599 look at bees where they came from. When they 00:24:13.599 --> 00:24:15.700 live in the wild, and I'm talking honey bees 00:24:15.700 --> 00:24:18.000 still, not native bees, because some of them 00:24:18.000 --> 00:24:20.420 nest in the ground and things like that. But 00:24:20.420 --> 00:24:23.539 your honey bees, they seek out hollow trees. 00:24:23.859 --> 00:24:25.980 This isn't just a Winnie the Pooh thing. Right. 00:24:26.339 --> 00:24:29.059 They seek out hollow trees. In fact, Dr. Tom 00:24:29.059 --> 00:24:31.539 Seeley was telling me about when he was doing 00:24:31.539 --> 00:24:34.839 some of his study, he actually cut down trees. 00:24:35.099 --> 00:24:38.839 and then cut them open to see exactly how the 00:24:38.839 --> 00:24:41.980 bees were working inside. Yes. And I think as 00:24:41.980 --> 00:24:44.799 close to that natural environment as we can get, 00:24:44.799 --> 00:24:48.519 the better. True. That's nature. Yes. That's 00:24:48.519 --> 00:24:52.420 how they like it. I agree. Yeah. I have a feeling 00:24:52.420 --> 00:24:56.720 that the boxes that we came up with over 150 00:24:56.720 --> 00:24:59.400 years ago, and I'm not slamming on anything, 00:24:59.480 --> 00:25:03.319 it's very old technology, but is that the preferred 00:25:03.319 --> 00:25:05.819 place for a bee? or is it something more like 00:25:05.819 --> 00:25:08.920 inside a tree? And if it's more like inside a 00:25:08.920 --> 00:25:11.380 tree, what can we do to make whatever kind of 00:25:11.380 --> 00:25:13.859 bee setup we have a little bit more like that? 00:25:14.119 --> 00:25:16.539 Right. So when you just look at what the trees 00:25:16.539 --> 00:25:19.299 are and the same thing with even cutouts, we 00:25:19.299 --> 00:25:22.500 can look at what bees prefer to go to when they 00:25:22.500 --> 00:25:25.079 swarm. Sometimes they'll end up in the wall of 00:25:25.079 --> 00:25:27.519 someone's house. So we can look at what the bees 00:25:27.519 --> 00:25:30.839 are looking for, whether it's in. natural materials 00:25:30.839 --> 00:25:33.619 or artificial materials. Some bees also go into 00:25:33.619 --> 00:25:35.900 caves or underground, you know, things like that. 00:25:36.160 --> 00:25:38.700 I had a friend, Anthony Baldo, who went from 00:25:38.700 --> 00:25:40.440 University of Florida that actually went and 00:25:40.440 --> 00:25:42.500 studied with Tom Seeley for a bit before he went 00:25:42.500 --> 00:25:45.400 to Africa to see. what different bees were doing 00:25:45.400 --> 00:25:48.559 there. Some were cave nesters and some were in 00:25:48.559 --> 00:25:52.700 trees. It seems they want a large space in order 00:25:52.700 --> 00:25:55.599 to start making their comb. They want to have 00:25:55.599 --> 00:25:58.619 a very small defendable entrance where they're 00:25:58.619 --> 00:26:02.799 keeping robbers from coming in or pests or thieves 00:26:02.799 --> 00:26:04.559 from coming in and stealing the honey. Yeah, 00:26:04.559 --> 00:26:06.380 they want to be able to control the environment 00:26:06.380 --> 00:26:09.319 inside their hive so they're able to ventilate 00:26:09.319 --> 00:26:12.809 and take care of everything inside. I think the 00:26:12.809 --> 00:26:15.029 primal beehive for me was the first that I saw 00:26:15.029 --> 00:26:17.630 that really kind of captured that pretty well 00:26:17.630 --> 00:26:20.890 with artificial materials and had the ventilation, 00:26:21.309 --> 00:26:23.910 has the small entrances, has the large volume 00:26:23.910 --> 00:26:26.470 for the bees to build as much as they want. When 00:26:26.470 --> 00:26:28.630 we look at a cutout, you know, it's from a wall 00:26:28.630 --> 00:26:31.349 that bees have moved into someone's house, a 00:26:31.349 --> 00:26:33.170 lot of times they'll use as much space as they 00:26:33.170 --> 00:26:36.089 possibly can. to have continuous brood so the 00:26:36.089 --> 00:26:38.609 queen doesn't have to jump over one frame and 00:26:38.609 --> 00:26:41.109 onto another she just has lots and lots of space 00:26:41.109 --> 00:26:44.150 to lay eggs and the nurse bees no obstacles for 00:26:44.150 --> 00:26:46.009 them to get around to be able to make sure all 00:26:46.009 --> 00:26:48.069 the bees are fed yeah it does a great job at 00:26:48.069 --> 00:26:51.069 that we have so many options yeah as beekeepers 00:26:51.069 --> 00:26:53.970 you do and i love experimenting yes some people 00:26:53.970 --> 00:26:56.450 just want just tell me how to do it and i'm just 00:26:56.450 --> 00:26:58.549 going to go do it and make some honey right and 00:26:58.549 --> 00:27:00.849 that's awesome yeah if that's what you're into 00:27:00.849 --> 00:27:03.869 that's awesome I like to try this new stuff. 00:27:04.349 --> 00:27:06.869 I haven't used top bar hives yet. I hear they're 00:27:06.869 --> 00:27:09.630 pretty difficult in our cold climate. But that's 00:27:09.630 --> 00:27:12.369 another thing that I want to do. Yeah. And and 00:27:12.369 --> 00:27:15.269 that's fun. And how to do it and experiment around. 00:27:15.269 --> 00:27:18.849 So before I let you go, Jason or Dr. Jay, sorry. 00:27:20.940 --> 00:27:23.619 I want to hear a wild and crazy beekeeping story. 00:27:23.680 --> 00:27:26.279 You've been around all kinds of things. What 00:27:26.279 --> 00:27:29.579 do you got or more than one? Yeah, sure. So I 00:27:29.579 --> 00:27:31.920 actually I really got into native bees as well. 00:27:31.940 --> 00:27:35.180 I can speak to that for a minute. So I. was in 00:27:35.180 --> 00:27:37.880 Dr. Ellis's lab, Jamie Ellis, University of Florida, 00:27:38.400 --> 00:27:41.680 and it's a honeybee program. It's funded by both 00:27:41.680 --> 00:27:44.279 the state, you know, for honeybee research and 00:27:44.279 --> 00:27:47.519 by beekeepers putting money into beekeeping research. 00:27:47.880 --> 00:27:50.700 And I loved the beekeeping aspect of it. I still 00:27:50.700 --> 00:27:53.059 do, you know, continue beekeeping. But I also 00:27:53.059 --> 00:27:54.980 was really interested in the diversity of bees. 00:27:55.319 --> 00:27:57.440 There's 20 ,000 different species of bees in 00:27:57.440 --> 00:28:00.819 the world. 20 ,000, you know, and the honeybee, 00:28:01.059 --> 00:28:04.089 Apis mellifera. is just one of them. There's 00:28:04.089 --> 00:28:06.250 a couple different apis species, but there's 00:28:06.250 --> 00:28:08.490 so many more. So I wanted to learn more about 00:28:08.490 --> 00:28:11.470 bumblebees. And Jamie was very kind in letting 00:28:11.470 --> 00:28:14.289 me also explore these other bees as well, as 00:28:14.289 --> 00:28:16.630 long as I also tied it into honeybees in some 00:28:16.630 --> 00:28:19.450 way. So I looked at bumblebees and I was interested 00:28:19.450 --> 00:28:22.089 in if small hive beetles went into bumblebee 00:28:22.089 --> 00:28:24.970 colonies. And if so, those small hive beetles 00:28:24.970 --> 00:28:26.970 could be reproducing in bumblebee colonies and 00:28:26.970 --> 00:28:28.430 we could do everything we could to keep them 00:28:28.430 --> 00:28:30.309 out of honeybees, but they would come from the 00:28:30.309 --> 00:28:33.259 bumblebees back into the honeybee colonies. So 00:28:33.259 --> 00:28:35.319 I really wanted to see if small hive beetles 00:28:35.319 --> 00:28:38.519 could live in bumblebee colonies. And so I would 00:28:38.519 --> 00:28:41.640 go out and put some stuff up on Craig's list, 00:28:41.640 --> 00:28:44.160 you know, back in the day. And I said, if anybody 00:28:44.160 --> 00:28:45.880 sees a bumblebee colony in your back yard, let 00:28:45.880 --> 00:28:47.859 me know and I'll come and remove it so that I 00:28:47.859 --> 00:28:50.440 can look into it to see if there's any small 00:28:50.440 --> 00:28:52.480 hive beetles. I got some commercial bumblebee 00:28:52.480 --> 00:28:56.380 colonies and I put them out on blueberries for 00:28:56.380 --> 00:28:58.259 a season. And then I open them up to see if there 00:28:58.259 --> 00:29:00.779 are small hive beetles in them and to open them. 00:29:00.990 --> 00:29:03.690 I was actually working with the USDA. We had 00:29:03.690 --> 00:29:06.829 a lab inside the USDA building, and I brought 00:29:06.829 --> 00:29:10.430 aquatic bumblebees into the USDA building. And 00:29:10.430 --> 00:29:13.069 for those that don't know, honeybee workers are 00:29:13.069 --> 00:29:15.190 the only ones that have a sting that after they 00:29:15.190 --> 00:29:17.210 sting you once, they're done, right? They try 00:29:17.210 --> 00:29:19.470 to fly away, their stinger gets stuck in your 00:29:19.470 --> 00:29:22.130 skin, and they die. Well, not the case with bumblebees. 00:29:22.190 --> 00:29:24.630 They can sting you. as many times as they want 00:29:24.630 --> 00:29:27.069 they can you know put the stinger in move somewhere 00:29:27.069 --> 00:29:30.369 else put stinger in so anyway i had the bumblebees 00:29:30.369 --> 00:29:32.710 open in a lab and i had a piece of paper on the 00:29:32.710 --> 00:29:35.450 door that said you know bumblebees live bumblebees 00:29:35.450 --> 00:29:38.069 inside you know please don't open the door and 00:29:38.069 --> 00:29:40.990 I was opening four or five colonies. I was collecting 00:29:40.990 --> 00:29:43.730 all the bumblebees into one jar, all their pollen 00:29:43.730 --> 00:29:45.650 into another jar, all their honey into another 00:29:45.650 --> 00:29:48.130 jar, so I could test that and looking for small 00:29:48.130 --> 00:29:50.890 high beetles all the way along. And a couple 00:29:50.890 --> 00:29:53.589 bumblebees got into my bee suit inside this lab. 00:29:53.710 --> 00:29:56.529 They're loose. I got 20, 30 bumblebees flying 00:29:56.529 --> 00:29:59.069 around in the lab, trying to catch them with 00:29:59.069 --> 00:30:02.920 butterfly net and forceps. Love it. Love it couple 00:30:02.920 --> 00:30:04.779 getting inside my suit and I learned that lesson 00:30:04.779 --> 00:30:06.940 really You know quick that they can sting as 00:30:06.940 --> 00:30:09.539 many times as they want and yeah It was it was 00:30:09.539 --> 00:30:11.559 painful a different kind of painful that honeybee 00:30:11.559 --> 00:30:13.880 stings in what way? How does it feel different? 00:30:14.140 --> 00:30:17.180 Guess honeybee felt more like a burn honeybee 00:30:17.180 --> 00:30:19.140 sting kind of feels like a match burn or something 00:30:19.140 --> 00:30:22.160 like that This was it was almost more like a 00:30:22.160 --> 00:30:25.279 sharp poke and then yeah like fire under your 00:30:25.279 --> 00:30:28.259 skin But it didn't go away quite as quickly as 00:30:28.259 --> 00:30:30.359 as honey bees did and I had a different feel 00:30:30.359 --> 00:30:32.420 There's different chemistry there. So I'm sure 00:30:32.420 --> 00:30:34.400 my body was fighting different types of chemicals 00:30:34.400 --> 00:30:38.160 and it was doing different things But yeah, it 00:30:38.160 --> 00:30:40.519 was it's interesting. They they also have an 00:30:40.519 --> 00:30:43.160 alarm pheromone bumblebees. So, you know, they 00:30:43.160 --> 00:30:45.339 would have a different smell to them than honey 00:30:45.339 --> 00:30:48.339 bees did. All right, if you could leave one tip 00:30:48.339 --> 00:30:51.039 or one piece of advice for everybody before we 00:30:51.039 --> 00:30:53.900 sign off. And I know that's hard to come up with 00:30:53.900 --> 00:30:56.619 just one, but what would that be? I think one 00:30:56.619 --> 00:30:59.160 recommendation is to get to know the other bees 00:30:59.160 --> 00:31:02.500 in your area as well, and also the flowers, the 00:31:02.500 --> 00:31:04.900 flower sources that your bees have. Not everyone 00:31:04.900 --> 00:31:07.339 gets interested in the flowers and things like 00:31:07.339 --> 00:31:09.799 that, but there's an app that's very helpful. 00:31:10.019 --> 00:31:12.680 So I've used field guides in the past to be able 00:31:12.680 --> 00:31:14.680 to tell what flower is which and when's it blooming 00:31:14.680 --> 00:31:16.660 and things like that. But there's an app called 00:31:16.660 --> 00:31:19.700 iNaturalist that's made by National Geographic 00:31:19.700 --> 00:31:21.660 and California Academy of Science. It's a free 00:31:21.660 --> 00:31:23.839 app. You can take a picture of any living thing. 00:31:24.029 --> 00:31:29.450 bees or flowers or fish or birds and it'll identify 00:31:29.450 --> 00:31:32.750 it for you and link off to a wikipedia type page 00:31:32.750 --> 00:31:35.130 that tells you their life cycle and all kinds 00:31:35.130 --> 00:31:37.609 of information about it so i use that a lot of 00:31:37.609 --> 00:31:39.349 times if i'm trying to figure out what honeybees 00:31:39.349 --> 00:31:42.410 are on different flowers in my yard i also use 00:31:42.410 --> 00:31:44.450 it for citizen science to figure out what the 00:31:44.450 --> 00:31:47.329 diversity of bees are in different areas so that's 00:31:47.329 --> 00:31:49.730 a great great tool and so i'd recommend that 00:31:49.730 --> 00:31:52.049 to folks it's one that i've enjoyed along the 00:31:52.049 --> 00:31:54.670 way All right, thanks a lot, Dr. J. I appreciate 00:31:54.670 --> 00:32:00.029 your time. Yeah, thank you. Thanks again for 00:32:00.029 --> 00:32:02.710 joining us on Bee Love Beekeeping presented by 00:32:02.710 --> 00:32:05.009 our great friends over at Man Lake. Hey, and 00:32:05.009 --> 00:32:07.500 don't forget to order your bees. and a shout 00:32:07.500 --> 00:32:10.500 out to Vita B Health for their support. Vita's 00:32:10.500 --> 00:32:13.160 Varroa Control Ranger products includes Epistan, 00:32:13.359 --> 00:32:17.680 Epigard, and now Varroxan Extended Release Oxalic 00:32:17.680 --> 00:32:21.559 Acid Strips. Thank you so much guys. If you haven't 00:32:21.559 --> 00:32:24.680 yet, please subscribe and follow the show, tell 00:32:24.680 --> 00:32:27.599 your friends about it, and click on over to BeLoveBekeeping 00:32:27.599 --> 00:32:31.339 .com to sign up for our free newsletter. If you 00:32:31.339 --> 00:32:34.319 have a guest suggestion or topic that you'd like 00:32:34.319 --> 00:32:39.950 discussed on the show, shoot me an And remember, 00:32:40.329 --> 00:32:42.509 if you're not just in it for the honey or the 00:32:42.509 --> 00:32:45.029 money, you're in it for the love. See you next 00:32:45.029 --> 00:32:45.369 week.