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 --> 00:01:05.590 Sahara, sometimes running off flapping and flailing 00:01:05.590 --> 00:01:12.150 like a penguin on a hot sidewalk. This is their 00:01:12.150 --> 00:01:23.620 journey. Welcome, welcome to Be Love Beekeeping 00:01:23.620 --> 00:01:26.700 presented by our great friends and partners in 00:01:26.700 --> 00:01:30.299 beekeeping, Man Lake. Today's guest recently 00:01:30.299 --> 00:01:33.840 spoke to almost 2 ,000 beekeepers at the North 00:01:33.840 --> 00:01:37.500 American Honey Bee Expo giving dozens and dozens, 00:01:37.579 --> 00:01:40.700 maybe even a hundred of useful tips for both 00:01:40.700 --> 00:01:43.840 new beekeepers as well as seasoned professionals. 00:01:44.299 --> 00:01:48.219 Her presentation was so useful and so popular 00:01:48.219 --> 00:01:51.109 that I just had to get her on the show. We're 00:01:51.109 --> 00:01:54.510 going to discuss tips for everything from melting 00:01:54.510 --> 00:01:58.269 wax, creaming honey, and catching swarms, to 00:01:58.269 --> 00:02:00.569 mite check, small hive beetle vacuums, and how 00:02:00.569 --> 00:02:04.189 many times you should get stung every year. We 00:02:04.189 --> 00:02:06.290 have so much to cover that I'm going to shut 00:02:06.290 --> 00:02:14.050 up now and just get right to it. I'm so happy 00:02:14.050 --> 00:02:17.449 to welcome Deb Klugers to the show today, or 00:02:17.449 --> 00:02:21.300 do we say Deborah? I'll answer to almost anything 00:02:21.300 --> 00:02:28.840 Hey beekeeper Anyway, hey, thank you We met at 00:02:28.840 --> 00:02:32.780 at the expo and it's great to see you again I 00:02:32.780 --> 00:02:34.979 hope I'm not dragging you away from anything 00:02:34.979 --> 00:02:38.520 But I figure you're in the state of New York 00:02:38.520 --> 00:02:41.939 on Long Island and with this huge cold snap You 00:02:41.939 --> 00:02:44.259 probably can't do much outside anyway, can you? 00:02:44.599 --> 00:02:47.699 Not much. Right after the snow I went outside 00:02:47.699 --> 00:02:51.879 and made sure the entrances were clear and that's 00:02:51.879 --> 00:02:54.319 about that. Take a few pictures and that's our 00:02:54.319 --> 00:02:57.039 beekeeping for the week. We're under about a 00:02:57.039 --> 00:03:00.240 foot of snow and more to come this weekend. I 00:03:00.240 --> 00:03:02.919 promised our listeners all kinds of tips from 00:03:02.919 --> 00:03:05.539 you. So why don't we start with one that you 00:03:05.539 --> 00:03:08.639 just accidentally dropped which is clearing the 00:03:08.639 --> 00:03:12.099 snow out from the front of hives. Tell me why 00:03:12.099 --> 00:03:15.360 and when. Let's just say that the way that I 00:03:15.360 --> 00:03:18.300 manage my bees which is in condensing condensing 00:03:18.300 --> 00:03:21.379 hives You often don't have to clear the snow 00:03:21.379 --> 00:03:23.879 from the front of the hive because the heat generated 00:03:23.879 --> 00:03:27.039 within is Actually going to take care of it The 00:03:27.039 --> 00:03:30.539 bees are warm and the only vent that the bees 00:03:30.539 --> 00:03:33.400 have on the way that I manage them is out the 00:03:33.400 --> 00:03:36.919 front door So typically there's gonna be they're 00:03:36.919 --> 00:03:38.939 gonna take care of it themselves. So I just went 00:03:38.939 --> 00:03:41.960 around and made sure You know, um, that's what 00:03:41.960 --> 00:03:44.000 I do make sure they have food make sure their 00:03:44.000 --> 00:03:47.580 engines are cleared You know, I like to uh, leave 00:03:47.580 --> 00:03:50.900 the problems before they happen. So i'm um Hey 00:03:50.900 --> 00:03:54.639 before we jump into too many more tips give everybody 00:03:54.639 --> 00:03:57.659 an idea of who's deb What kind of beekeeping 00:03:57.659 --> 00:04:00.139 do you do? How long have you been doing it? Well, 00:04:00.139 --> 00:04:03.039 i've been a beekeeper I think for about 15 or 00:04:03.039 --> 00:04:06.259 16 years and when I first got started it was 00:04:06.259 --> 00:04:10.400 just to uh see what this be thing was all about 00:04:10.400 --> 00:04:13.219 i always grew food and i never knew the connection 00:04:13.219 --> 00:04:15.300 i have a degree in environmental studies and 00:04:15.300 --> 00:04:18.300 my master's in marine conservation policy and 00:04:18.300 --> 00:04:22.379 united degree did we ever discuss food systems 00:04:22.379 --> 00:04:25.160 pollination. You know anything of that nature 00:04:25.160 --> 00:04:29.259 so i was i was clueless and once i learned about 00:04:29.259 --> 00:04:31.540 the bees and i started keeping them people started 00:04:31.540 --> 00:04:34.579 asking me for help. And I created a business 00:04:34.579 --> 00:04:37.240 which quickly grew, but I realized I really knew 00:04:37.240 --> 00:04:39.560 nothing. There's so much to know even to this 00:04:39.560 --> 00:04:44.649 day. know that I need to know a lot more as we 00:04:44.649 --> 00:04:47.050 all do with bees, they're just magical and we 00:04:47.050 --> 00:04:49.230 just don't, you know, the biggest experts in 00:04:49.230 --> 00:04:52.149 the world besides the bees themselves don't really 00:04:52.149 --> 00:04:55.730 know as much about the bees as we would like. 00:04:55.990 --> 00:04:59.269 So I learned about the Eastern Apicultural Society 00:04:59.269 --> 00:05:02.889 Master Beekeeping Program, which is a program 00:05:02.889 --> 00:05:05.209 where they test you, they don't train you. So 00:05:05.209 --> 00:05:07.310 you have to come fully prepared to sit for four 00:05:07.310 --> 00:05:09.990 rigorous examinations, a field, an oral, a written 00:05:09.990 --> 00:05:12.240 and a verse. When you have five years to pass, 00:05:12.240 --> 00:05:14.920 I passed them all in three. Still learning, going 00:05:14.920 --> 00:05:17.680 to these conferences, sitting in on demonstrations, 00:05:18.079 --> 00:05:20.980 lectures, reading, everything that I can. It's 00:05:20.980 --> 00:05:23.519 just so fascinating. The more that I learn, the 00:05:23.519 --> 00:05:25.980 better beekeeper I'm becoming. And I like to 00:05:25.980 --> 00:05:28.079 share that knowledge with other people as well. 00:05:28.319 --> 00:05:31.339 So I created this business where I basically 00:05:31.339 --> 00:05:35.800 place hives on residential and organic farms, 00:05:36.279 --> 00:05:38.620 residential estate out here in the Hamptons and 00:05:38.620 --> 00:05:41.100 organic farms. The bees belong to the clients, 00:05:41.420 --> 00:05:44.120 the hives belong to the clients, the honey all 00:05:44.120 --> 00:05:45.959 belongs to the clients, and I'm their beekeeper. 00:05:46.319 --> 00:05:49.100 And that's how it grew from one to, I think I 00:05:49.100 --> 00:05:52.160 have about 40 clients today. And I also have 00:05:52.160 --> 00:05:55.800 a beautiful oceanfront farmland in Sagoponic, 00:05:56.060 --> 00:05:58.600 where I keep my own bees. About 30 colonies, 00:05:58.839 --> 00:06:02.000 30, 50, something like that, for my own hive 00:06:02.000 --> 00:06:06.250 product. We need some pictures. It's glorious. 00:06:06.470 --> 00:06:09.949 I mean, it's a 25 acres with me bees and trees 00:06:09.949 --> 00:06:13.810 and a gorgeous I think about a 40 foot flagpole 00:06:13.810 --> 00:06:16.730 flying that American flag. I just love it there 00:06:16.730 --> 00:06:20.829 Sounds fantastic Let's jump into winter just 00:06:20.829 --> 00:06:23.990 a bit Most of what needed to happen for winter 00:06:23.990 --> 00:06:26.689 needed to happen a few months ago in the fall 00:06:26.689 --> 00:06:30.250 Right now and and people listen to these podcasts 00:06:30.860 --> 00:06:33.639 when they're brand new like this week and in 00:06:33.639 --> 00:06:35.800 the summer and all you know and down the road. 00:06:36.160 --> 00:06:39.379 So just to let people know this is the end of 00:06:39.379 --> 00:06:44.639 January 2026. Great big storm just hit New York 00:06:44.639 --> 00:06:48.800 and a bunch of the East Coast. What is there 00:06:48.800 --> 00:06:50.800 that you can do? You mentioned clearing snow 00:06:50.800 --> 00:06:53.480 from the front of hives. You also mentioned pictures. 00:06:53.639 --> 00:06:56.300 Is that just for fun or is there something you're 00:06:56.300 --> 00:06:59.050 checking with those? Well, the thermal imaging 00:06:59.050 --> 00:07:02.569 camera I basically use for doing cutouts. So 00:07:02.569 --> 00:07:05.389 I use it to find the bees, to locate the bees 00:07:05.389 --> 00:07:08.470 and structures, and I never cut until I find 00:07:08.470 --> 00:07:10.589 the bees and I always find the bees. If I don't 00:07:10.589 --> 00:07:12.930 use my thermal imaging camera, I'll use an endoscopic 00:07:12.930 --> 00:07:16.329 camera, depending on the needs of each job. But 00:07:16.329 --> 00:07:19.110 thermal imaging is just for fun. It's cute. It 00:07:19.110 --> 00:07:21.050 takes all different colors, you know, whether 00:07:21.050 --> 00:07:24.110 it's rainbow or black and white or red and grayscale. 00:07:24.449 --> 00:07:28.370 And so it's just nice to get an eye on the colony 00:07:28.370 --> 00:07:30.709 inside the hive so that you know that it's alive 00:07:30.709 --> 00:07:33.129 from the heat that it's generating. Getting the 00:07:33.129 --> 00:07:36.680 bees ready for winter actually starts. probably 00:07:36.680 --> 00:07:39.459 right about now for next winter. You know, everything 00:07:39.459 --> 00:07:44.019 we do is getting them ready to be able to overwinter 00:07:44.019 --> 00:07:46.600 on the common season. Keeping bees is kind of 00:07:46.600 --> 00:07:49.139 easy when there's a good nectar flow and there's 00:07:49.139 --> 00:07:51.139 not much going on besides the bees gathering 00:07:51.139 --> 00:07:53.319 and you're staying ahead of the swarming and 00:07:53.319 --> 00:07:55.339 making sure that they're good. That's the easy 00:07:55.339 --> 00:07:57.319 part. The hard part is getting them through winter. 00:07:57.680 --> 00:08:00.860 And what's the number one key to that? I think 00:08:00.860 --> 00:08:05.120 having healthy, well -fed, mite -free colonies, 00:08:05.360 --> 00:08:08.420 pretty simple, in addition to the hive in which 00:08:08.420 --> 00:08:11.439 they're kept. So I mentioned earlier the condensing 00:08:11.439 --> 00:08:13.699 hive system that I use, and that's basically, 00:08:13.699 --> 00:08:16.139 you could say, the opposite of the ventilated 00:08:16.139 --> 00:08:18.600 hive, which is really the common way to keep 00:08:18.600 --> 00:08:21.540 bees and screen bottoms and upper entrances and 00:08:21.540 --> 00:08:23.360 screen dinner covers and all this stuff. And 00:08:23.360 --> 00:08:26.360 it actually goes against how bees would live 00:08:26.360 --> 00:08:29.560 in nature. These are cavity dwellers, and they 00:08:29.560 --> 00:08:33.279 live in an airtight, light -tight cavity. I've 00:08:33.279 --> 00:08:35.659 never found a bee colony in a tree with a bunch 00:08:35.659 --> 00:08:38.480 of screens and openings on top. They typically 00:08:38.480 --> 00:08:42.960 look for a dark, dry cavity with one entrance, 00:08:42.980 --> 00:08:45.580 and if there's too much of an entrance, they'll 00:08:45.580 --> 00:08:49.519 propolize it to seal it up. Keeping the bees 00:08:49.519 --> 00:08:51.980 in the condensing hive gives them higher humidity, 00:08:52.580 --> 00:08:55.360 higher CO2, both of which are detrimental to 00:08:55.360 --> 00:08:58.740 mites. So if there's anything I can do to undermine 00:08:58.740 --> 00:09:02.080 the Varroa mite, and hopefully not the soon -to 00:09:02.080 --> 00:09:05.299 -be Triple Aleph mite, but anything that I can 00:09:05.299 --> 00:09:08.639 do to keep those species at bay, including multiple 00:09:08.639 --> 00:09:11.139 treatments. different treatments multiple times 00:09:11.139 --> 00:09:14.100 a year. All these things that I'm doing is of 00:09:14.100 --> 00:09:16.120 course to keep them healthy for the day, but 00:09:16.120 --> 00:09:18.639 to get them through the winter. With a heavy 00:09:18.639 --> 00:09:21.600 mite load or even a heavy viral load going into 00:09:21.600 --> 00:09:23.759 the winter, you're not going to have as robust 00:09:23.759 --> 00:09:26.340 a colony coming out in the spring. As long as 00:09:26.340 --> 00:09:29.559 we're on the mite subject, what's your favorite 00:09:29.559 --> 00:09:32.919 treatment? What's your philosophy? Well, my least 00:09:32.919 --> 00:09:35.679 favorite treatment is oxalate acid vaporization 00:09:35.679 --> 00:09:38.980 because it's dangerous to the beekeeper I think 00:09:38.980 --> 00:09:42.019 it's one of the best treatments When the bees 00:09:42.019 --> 00:09:44.360 are broodless because that treatment does not 00:09:44.360 --> 00:09:46.360 penetrate the brood capping. So it basically 00:09:46.759 --> 00:09:50.019 gets rid of the mites that are on the bees themselves. 00:09:50.320 --> 00:09:53.340 But I guess maybe I guess I would say my favorite 00:09:53.340 --> 00:09:55.340 treatment could be the formic acid because it 00:09:55.340 --> 00:09:58.440 actually penetrates the brood cappings in times 00:09:58.440 --> 00:10:01.460 when the bees are brooding and kills where most 00:10:01.460 --> 00:10:03.820 of the mites are is underneath the brood cappings 00:10:03.820 --> 00:10:06.159 when they have brood. So I'd say formic pro. 00:10:06.200 --> 00:10:09.940 I like Apigard. It's good for warmer temperatures 00:10:09.940 --> 00:10:12.100 in the summertime. I use the Apigard on smaller 00:10:12.100 --> 00:10:16.059 colonies, nukes. I've been doing the impregnated 00:10:16.080 --> 00:10:19.779 strips with the oxalic acid vaporization. But 00:10:19.779 --> 00:10:22.139 it's just, I think the trick is multiple treatments, 00:10:22.360 --> 00:10:24.379 the right treatments at the right time. Timing 00:10:24.379 --> 00:10:26.960 is everything. Beekeeping, if you don't get that 00:10:26.960 --> 00:10:30.519 right, you could mess things up. All right. You 00:10:30.519 --> 00:10:34.960 gave it your presentation about 100 tips in an 00:10:34.960 --> 00:10:38.149 hour or so. I don't know where else we want to 00:10:38.149 --> 00:10:39.830 jump in. Do you have some favorites you want 00:10:39.830 --> 00:10:43.850 to lead off with? Well, I love catching swarms. 00:10:44.330 --> 00:10:46.590 I manage my bees against swarming, so they're 00:10:46.590 --> 00:10:50.750 not my bees that I'm catching. But I use this 00:10:50.750 --> 00:10:55.149 device. It's a basically a water jug or a five 00:10:55.149 --> 00:10:58.509 gallon pail or some kind of a vessel at the end 00:10:58.509 --> 00:11:01.730 of a pool telescoping pool pole. And I can get 00:11:01.730 --> 00:11:04.570 30, 40 feet up. you know, without getting on 00:11:04.570 --> 00:11:08.009 a ladder to catch a swarm out of a tree. The 00:11:08.009 --> 00:11:11.470 people watching are pretty interested in watching 00:11:11.470 --> 00:11:15.190 how it goes, because I typically catch swarms 00:11:15.190 --> 00:11:18.110 dressed like this. I mean, I'm not suited up, 00:11:18.110 --> 00:11:20.309 and that's another thing. You know, I do wear... 00:11:20.409 --> 00:11:23.669 protective gear when needed, but most of the 00:11:23.669 --> 00:11:25.730 times it's not needed. We're in New York. We 00:11:25.730 --> 00:11:28.710 don't have very much, if any, Africanized genetics 00:11:28.710 --> 00:11:31.970 here. Our bees are calm. They're gentle. I even 00:11:31.970 --> 00:11:34.970 do cutouts like that. No gloves. Usually no gear. 00:11:35.200 --> 00:11:37.419 I guess the tip there is to know the beast, you 00:11:37.419 --> 00:11:39.860 know, know what's going on in the environment 00:11:39.860 --> 00:11:42.279 and how their temperament could be. I like that. 00:11:42.440 --> 00:11:44.759 The other tip that stands out to me with the 00:11:44.759 --> 00:11:46.860 thing with the pole, which a lot of us have done, 00:11:47.120 --> 00:11:50.419 I've used one of those painter poles that telescopes 00:11:50.419 --> 00:11:54.820 out and had not thought of a pool one, which 00:11:54.820 --> 00:11:58.659 would be longer and much, much stronger. Absolutely. 00:11:58.860 --> 00:12:02.860 Go to your pole supply store, right? Yep. You 00:12:02.860 --> 00:12:05.019 know, I put a lot of things on Facebook market 00:12:05.019 --> 00:12:08.059 or Facebook different sites, you know local free 00:12:08.059 --> 00:12:11.340 cycles or local By us. It's called bonnock yard 00:12:11.340 --> 00:12:14.720 sale and I just put in anyone have a telescoping 00:12:14.720 --> 00:12:18.000 pool pole or does anyone have a a dorm refrigerator 00:12:18.000 --> 00:12:21.779 which I Did in order to get the little dorm refrigerator 00:12:21.779 --> 00:12:24.750 for that other device that I talked about Let's 00:12:24.750 --> 00:12:28.029 jump to that one. The tip about the dorm refrigerator. 00:12:28.409 --> 00:12:34.549 Yeah, so I was at EAS at a talk given by, oh, 00:12:34.549 --> 00:12:37.190 oh geez, I'm going to forget his name. He had 00:12:37.190 --> 00:12:39.049 shown a device that he made with an old dorm 00:12:39.049 --> 00:12:42.899 refrigerator and a lizard warming. pad, you know, 00:12:42.919 --> 00:12:45.980 that you would put in a lizard tank. And however 00:12:45.980 --> 00:12:49.039 he built it, I went home and I said, huh, I think 00:12:49.039 --> 00:12:52.019 I'm going to try that. But instead of the lizard 00:12:52.019 --> 00:12:55.299 warming pad, I used a 100 watt light bulb and 00:12:55.299 --> 00:12:57.340 a little, I guess a light bulb holder, like a 00:12:57.340 --> 00:12:59.480 little tiny little lamp that would hold the light 00:12:59.480 --> 00:13:02.659 bulb and a non -working dorm refrigerator. But 00:13:02.659 --> 00:13:05.519 you can use a working one as well for other purposes. 00:13:05.519 --> 00:13:08.240 And I'll try to get to that. But basically it 00:13:08.240 --> 00:13:11.240 was Mark Friedel. That's who it was at EAS. he 00:13:11.240 --> 00:13:15.700 showed it to render beeswax. And so I was like, 00:13:15.700 --> 00:13:19.019 huh, this is great. So I set up my device with 00:13:19.019 --> 00:13:22.039 the dorm refrigerator, 100 watt light bulb, and 00:13:22.039 --> 00:13:25.519 a thermostat, like a $30 thermostat that I purchased 00:13:25.519 --> 00:13:29.620 on Amazon. And I set the thermostat at 150 degrees, 00:13:29.659 --> 00:13:32.960 and within a day, you can literally render beeswax. 00:13:33.039 --> 00:13:35.659 I love rendering the beeswax outside in the summertime. 00:13:35.960 --> 00:13:38.299 with my solar wax melter, but that only works 00:13:38.299 --> 00:13:41.379 from about maybe June through August. So in the 00:13:41.379 --> 00:13:43.559 wintertime when we have more time or if it's 00:13:43.559 --> 00:13:47.139 raining or what have you, the device that I made 00:13:47.139 --> 00:13:49.480 is a really good way to render your beeswax, 00:13:49.500 --> 00:13:52.279 but it can also be used as a honey decrystallizing 00:13:52.279 --> 00:13:55.639 cabinet. Just set it at 100. It takes a couple 00:13:55.639 --> 00:13:58.440 of days, and you have to turn the jars a little 00:13:58.440 --> 00:14:00.879 bit. I do that because I have a few clients, 00:14:01.279 --> 00:14:04.419 these bodybuilder guys, that they like to drizzle 00:14:04.419 --> 00:14:06.980 the honey on their yogurt and such. But for the 00:14:06.980 --> 00:14:09.759 most part, I sell my honey as natural sed or 00:14:09.759 --> 00:14:12.759 crystallized honey. But some people really want 00:14:12.759 --> 00:14:15.399 the liquid, and it's easier for me to decrystallize 00:14:15.399 --> 00:14:17.799 it than them. And the other thing that I can 00:14:17.799 --> 00:14:20.179 use it for, if it was a working refrigerator, 00:14:20.559 --> 00:14:23.940 is to make creamed honey, set it at 53 degrees. 00:14:23.950 --> 00:14:27.129 And the last thing is when I make candles, in 00:14:27.129 --> 00:14:30.269 order to not have that severe tunneling or cracking 00:14:30.269 --> 00:14:34.789 that sometimes happens in candle making, by slowly 00:14:34.789 --> 00:14:38.570 cooling the candles down, you can avoid that 00:14:38.570 --> 00:14:40.870 cracking and things of that nature. And basically 00:14:40.870 --> 00:14:44.049 I'll set it to about 80, maybe 85. Then I put 00:14:44.049 --> 00:14:46.289 it down to 80. And then eventually, you know, 00:14:46.289 --> 00:14:49.629 I just leave it shut. You can do that same technique 00:14:49.629 --> 00:14:51.529 with your candles just by putting them in an 00:14:51.529 --> 00:14:54.559 oven and just the warmth. of the candles in the 00:14:54.559 --> 00:14:58.679 sealed oven, or a cooler, or a paper box with 00:14:58.679 --> 00:15:01.059 some styrofoam around it, something like that. 00:15:01.220 --> 00:15:04.799 But just cooling the candle slowly stops that 00:15:04.799 --> 00:15:07.340 cracking and tunneling. And a lot of ovens, if 00:15:07.340 --> 00:15:10.100 you just turn the light on in the oven, it'll 00:15:10.100 --> 00:15:13.419 get that thing at 80 degrees or whatever. Let's 00:15:13.419 --> 00:15:15.340 get back to the creamed honey. You mentioned 00:15:15.340 --> 00:15:19.700 53 degrees. What is your particular method for 00:15:19.700 --> 00:15:21.879 creaming honey? Do you do stirring? What do you 00:15:21.879 --> 00:15:25.659 do? I just basically will use a mixture, about 00:15:25.659 --> 00:15:29.220 10 % of a already creamed honey that I find to 00:15:29.220 --> 00:15:32.720 be superior. Something that's got very little 00:15:32.720 --> 00:15:36.340 grit in the mouth and just a smooth texture. 00:15:36.600 --> 00:15:39.259 And those crystals will be the blueprint, so 00:15:39.259 --> 00:15:41.799 to speak, for the honey that you're attempting 00:15:41.799 --> 00:15:43.879 to cream. They'll kind of replicate those same 00:15:43.879 --> 00:15:46.220 size crystals. So if you have larger crystals, 00:15:46.240 --> 00:15:48.700 you're going to get a larger crystal sized creamed 00:15:48.700 --> 00:15:50.440 honey. And all of the creamed honey is great, 00:15:50.440 --> 00:15:52.340 but when you're entering these shows, They want 00:15:52.340 --> 00:15:54.980 that really smooth smooth feel with no no grid 00:15:54.980 --> 00:15:57.580 or texture so when you if you have a Creamed 00:15:57.580 --> 00:15:59.980 honey that you found that you like save it and 00:15:59.980 --> 00:16:03.259 use that and you mix about 90 % put it in a 53 00:16:03.259 --> 00:16:07.340 is the Optimal temperature 50 to 53. It's time 00:16:07.340 --> 00:16:09.960 and temperature really that gets your honey to 00:16:09.960 --> 00:16:12.679 become natural set or if you're making the creamed 00:16:12.679 --> 00:16:15.580 honey All right with the creamed honey. How often 00:16:15.580 --> 00:16:18.399 are you stirring it? And how many days are you 00:16:18.399 --> 00:16:20.500 leaving it at that temperature? I don't really 00:16:20.500 --> 00:16:22.460 have all that written down, but I just kind of 00:16:22.460 --> 00:16:25.740 mix it up and put it in the jars and I'm done. 00:16:25.840 --> 00:16:28.480 Put it in that 53 and I'm not really stirring 00:16:28.480 --> 00:16:30.519 it any more than that. I don't know if that's 00:16:30.519 --> 00:16:33.840 the proper way to make it. Well, everybody does 00:16:33.840 --> 00:16:36.019 it different and that's why I love to ask. When 00:16:36.019 --> 00:16:37.960 I make like chocolate honey or cinnamon honey 00:16:37.960 --> 00:16:40.279 or something like that. It's really once and 00:16:40.279 --> 00:16:43.019 done. I, I try to optimize my time. Yeah. Some 00:16:43.019 --> 00:16:47.700 people believe that during that 28 days at X 00:16:47.700 --> 00:16:50.279 temperature, they need to stir it twice a day 00:16:50.279 --> 00:16:52.940 or something like that. And you're saying stir 00:16:52.940 --> 00:16:55.980 it once and forget it. And it'll be great. I've 00:16:55.980 --> 00:17:01.940 taken a few ribbons. We can overcomplicate things 00:17:01.940 --> 00:17:07.410 a lot more than we need to. Okay. You also devised 00:17:07.410 --> 00:17:10.710 your very clever person. You devised something 00:17:10.710 --> 00:17:13.509 that I saw a picture of that was like a fan on 00:17:13.509 --> 00:17:15.750 top of a hive. Would you tell me what in the 00:17:15.750 --> 00:17:20.230 world was going on with that? So I have always 00:17:20.230 --> 00:17:23.789 tapped and brush up to four or five thousand 00:17:23.789 --> 00:17:26.910 pounds of honey one frame at a time. Tap and 00:17:26.910 --> 00:17:31.529 brush, tap and brush. And it was quite the. assemblage 00:17:31.529 --> 00:17:34.470 of bees by the end of each each harvest you know 00:17:34.470 --> 00:17:37.450 and and i have i have connie's on about. I'd 00:17:37.450 --> 00:17:40.230 say forty some odd forty somewhat site so it's 00:17:40.230 --> 00:17:42.289 not like i've got a hundred colonies on one property 00:17:42.289 --> 00:17:45.460 cuz that would be crazy. But yeah, so that's 00:17:45.460 --> 00:17:48.660 the way I did it and it just took a lot of time 00:17:48.660 --> 00:17:51.039 and a lot of disruption to the bees, honestly, 00:17:51.119 --> 00:17:52.619 you know, of course you smoke them down a little 00:17:52.619 --> 00:17:55.059 bit. I don't like to use a lot of smoke when 00:17:55.059 --> 00:17:57.880 I'm harvesting my honey because that soot can 00:17:57.880 --> 00:18:01.359 coat the wax. I manage my honey and stuff like 00:18:01.359 --> 00:18:05.420 that as if I'm entering honey shows. And so, 00:18:05.460 --> 00:18:07.539 you know, it's a high quality product that I 00:18:07.539 --> 00:18:10.319 try to achieve. So I'm still not going to, I'm 00:18:10.319 --> 00:18:13.130 not going to. put a lot of smoke into a colony 00:18:13.130 --> 00:18:15.910 I'm trying to drag the bees down that I could 00:18:15.910 --> 00:18:18.390 put in some soot and things of that nature into 00:18:18.390 --> 00:18:22.299 the into the honey. So I had In the past tried, 00:18:22.420 --> 00:18:23.640 I don't know if you've ever seen it, it's like 00:18:23.640 --> 00:18:27.819 an elbow, a white PVC pipe that's an elbow and 00:18:27.819 --> 00:18:30.640 the idea behind that is you face that opening 00:18:30.640 --> 00:18:33.619 into the wind and the wind would come in and 00:18:33.619 --> 00:18:35.960 gently drive the bees down. I tried that. Again, 00:18:35.960 --> 00:18:38.500 it's okay if you have a few colonies or something 00:18:38.500 --> 00:18:40.380 like that, but when you've got a hundred colonies 00:18:40.380 --> 00:18:43.279 to go through during the harvest, time is of 00:18:43.279 --> 00:18:45.599 the essence. So the other thing that I never 00:18:45.599 --> 00:18:47.980 used in the past was a fume board and you know, 00:18:47.980 --> 00:18:50.180 you spray it with a Bee Gone or Bee Quick or 00:18:50.180 --> 00:18:52.529 whatever. That Bee Gone and Bee Quick stuff, 00:18:52.529 --> 00:18:54.950 I use that in my cutouts if I'm at the point 00:18:54.950 --> 00:18:58.250 where I've got some bees hiding down in the rafters 00:18:58.250 --> 00:19:00.690 or something like that. I'm gonna spray a very, 00:19:00.730 --> 00:19:03.089 very little bit to dry them out. You know, that's 00:19:03.089 --> 00:19:04.990 the only way to get them. You can't get 12 feet 00:19:04.990 --> 00:19:07.779 in, but you can spray a little Bee Quick. It 00:19:07.779 --> 00:19:10.500 may seem early, but right now is a great time 00:19:10.500 --> 00:19:14.200 to order your live bees for 2026 because they 00:19:14.200 --> 00:19:17.220 do sell out and because Man Lake is offering 00:19:17.220 --> 00:19:21.140 a discount for Be Love podcast listeners. Wait, 00:19:21.440 --> 00:19:24.039 what? I know you're saying live bees, they never 00:19:24.039 --> 00:19:27.680 go on sale. Well, they are now. Click on over 00:19:27.680 --> 00:19:31.440 to Man Lake. Order your bees any variety nukes 00:19:31.440 --> 00:19:34.779 or packages and anything in the beginner essentials 00:19:34.779 --> 00:19:38.039 category and when you check out use the code 00:19:38.039 --> 00:19:40.940 get started in bees it's down in the show notes 00:19:40.940 --> 00:19:43.359 so you don't have to remember for a discount 00:19:43.359 --> 00:19:47.119 on everything so get your orders in early and 00:19:47.119 --> 00:19:50.680 save But what I made was what I would call a 00:19:50.680 --> 00:19:54.000 power fume board and I had a Commercial beekeeper 00:19:54.000 --> 00:19:56.980 friend just say mentioned that the big guys I 00:19:56.980 --> 00:19:59.160 call them the big guys the big boys They they 00:19:59.160 --> 00:20:01.680 use some of them might use like some sort of 00:20:01.680 --> 00:20:03.819 a fan and he kind of explained it But I went 00:20:03.819 --> 00:20:06.619 huh, you know, let me again, you know You hear 00:20:06.619 --> 00:20:08.779 things and all of us beekeepers do it and then 00:20:08.779 --> 00:20:10.799 we kind of make it our own with what we have 00:20:10.799 --> 00:20:13.240 around the house So what I had around the house 00:20:13.240 --> 00:20:16.119 with these two pieces of plywood with the holes 00:20:16.119 --> 00:20:21.250 in it that I had already used for those PVC elbow 00:20:21.250 --> 00:20:24.430 type devices. So I already had those cut and 00:20:24.430 --> 00:20:27.549 then I had shims and I decided let me get this 00:20:27.549 --> 00:20:30.369 fan. I got two $10 fans on Amazon because I made 00:20:30.369 --> 00:20:33.829 two of these devices. In between the shim and 00:20:33.829 --> 00:20:36.869 I used a a comb honey super so it was a little 00:20:36.869 --> 00:20:39.769 bit shorter and then a shim and in between that 00:20:39.769 --> 00:20:42.730 I put some burlap and on that burlap I sprayed 00:20:42.730 --> 00:20:45.069 the be gone or be quick or whatever and then 00:20:45.069 --> 00:20:48.230 on top of that is the fan battery operated little 00:20:48.230 --> 00:20:51.970 small 3c batteries not a big deal, and I would 00:20:51.970 --> 00:20:56.480 put that Device on top of the hive and just two 00:20:56.480 --> 00:20:59.039 or three minutes that smell drove the bees down 00:20:59.039 --> 00:21:03.500 and out and the reason why I didn't use the customary 00:21:03.500 --> 00:21:07.440 fume board is because a you need heat and sunlight 00:21:07.440 --> 00:21:11.500 and time and again time is is a The essence when 00:21:11.500 --> 00:21:13.619 you've got all these colonies to harvest from 00:21:13.619 --> 00:21:16.539 but also sometimes there is no Sun It's not that 00:21:16.539 --> 00:21:19.740 hot out or some of my my hives could be in shade 00:21:19.740 --> 00:21:21.940 so that the customary fume board wasn't gonna 00:21:21.940 --> 00:21:26.150 work So using this fan on top, it gently just 00:21:26.150 --> 00:21:30.490 blew this Be Gone or Be Quick down, and the bees 00:21:30.490 --> 00:21:32.990 would just come out the bottom, a lot of them, 00:21:33.069 --> 00:21:36.029 and all be right there. And any stragglers left 00:21:36.029 --> 00:21:38.890 up in the honey supers, I used a blower that 00:21:38.890 --> 00:21:41.430 was battery operated that used the same batteries 00:21:41.430 --> 00:21:46.349 that my Instavep, my oxalic acid vaporizer blower. 00:21:46.349 --> 00:21:49.940 So like a leaf blower? Exactly and it cut my 00:21:49.940 --> 00:21:53.460 harvest time down. I'd say 75 to 80 percent the 00:21:53.460 --> 00:21:57.039 time I was usually what took me a two full two 00:21:57.039 --> 00:21:59.420 weeks because again I'm going from site to site 00:21:59.420 --> 00:22:01.980 it's not all on one property is a lot of driving 00:22:01.980 --> 00:22:04.859 a lot of traffic out here in the Hamptons and 00:22:04.859 --> 00:22:07.880 It was literally we were done in like five days 00:22:07.880 --> 00:22:11.079 So it was tremendous amount of time saving and 00:22:11.079 --> 00:22:13.359 it would be great if you have one hive or if 00:22:13.359 --> 00:22:16.599 you've got 100 easy to make and expensive make 00:22:16.599 --> 00:22:18.480 it your own with what you've got around the house, 00:22:19.259 --> 00:22:22.640 and these items are all on my Instagram and stuff 00:22:22.640 --> 00:22:25.920 like that. And all inexpensive, especially when 00:22:25.920 --> 00:22:27.920 you're getting them off Marketplace or something. 00:22:28.220 --> 00:22:31.740 I like the leaf blower thing. You mentioned the 00:22:31.740 --> 00:22:35.200 tap and brush, and I like to do the tap and blow. 00:22:35.779 --> 00:22:38.559 So I can take a frame out. I don't use queen 00:22:38.559 --> 00:22:40.859 excluders, so I'm quickly looking, make sure 00:22:40.859 --> 00:22:44.519 there's no queen. and shake the bees off, hand 00:22:44.519 --> 00:22:47.960 it to somebody else who's got the electric leaf 00:22:47.960 --> 00:22:52.859 blower done, stick it in something to take to 00:22:52.859 --> 00:22:55.700 the honey house. So I felt it was so much less 00:22:55.700 --> 00:22:57.680 disruptive to the bees because again, with the 00:22:57.680 --> 00:23:00.460 tap and brush, there are bees everywhere. I mean, 00:23:00.579 --> 00:23:03.960 it just is what it was. And now they're they're 00:23:03.960 --> 00:23:06.980 all down at the bottom. Sometimes they're they're 00:23:06.980 --> 00:23:08.819 coming at the front and it looks kind of cool 00:23:08.819 --> 00:23:10.660 It kind of looks like a swarm when they're all 00:23:10.660 --> 00:23:13.579 funneling out But it's not it's just that they're 00:23:13.579 --> 00:23:15.220 just trying to get away from the smell which 00:23:15.220 --> 00:23:17.640 doesn't harm them and it doesn't impact the honey 00:23:17.640 --> 00:23:21.180 So cool. Okay. Next thing I had in my notes was 00:23:21.180 --> 00:23:24.900 feeders My favorite feeder would have to be the 00:23:24.900 --> 00:23:27.619 baggie feeder. It's got so much merit to it. 00:23:27.819 --> 00:23:29.660 The first is that there's no drowning. So I'll 00:23:29.660 --> 00:23:32.319 just explain what it is. You take a shim, maybe 00:23:32.319 --> 00:23:35.079 a one inch shim or so or two inch shim or whatever 00:23:35.079 --> 00:23:38.299 you've got really, and a baggie. I buy baggies 00:23:38.299 --> 00:23:41.000 that are, I think they're about 18 by 15 inches. 00:23:41.079 --> 00:23:44.599 It holds a bit over a gallon. You could use regular 00:23:44.599 --> 00:23:46.700 baggies that you have in your house, but here's 00:23:46.700 --> 00:23:49.599 a tip. Don't overfill it because what happens 00:23:49.599 --> 00:23:52.670 is you're going to put holes or slits on the 00:23:52.670 --> 00:23:55.329 top of the baggie and if it's over full that 00:23:55.329 --> 00:23:58.170 syrup can leak out so you know just make it so 00:23:58.170 --> 00:24:01.150 it's not over full and then I usually put a hundred 00:24:01.150 --> 00:24:03.589 holes on top some people and I count I'm like 00:24:03.589 --> 00:24:06.170 with my two little nails and some people do a 00:24:06.170 --> 00:24:07.950 slit whatever I find the slits the bees could 00:24:07.950 --> 00:24:10.849 get into it more than just a bunch of holes so 00:24:10.849 --> 00:24:14.730 you have no drowning the syrup stays warm it's 00:24:14.730 --> 00:24:18.829 right on top of the hive. So the heat from the 00:24:18.829 --> 00:24:21.250 colony is warming the syrup. And that's especially 00:24:21.250 --> 00:24:23.890 important in the springtime, early spring, or 00:24:23.890 --> 00:24:26.849 even the fall, that the bees are not going to 00:24:26.849 --> 00:24:29.650 take cold syrup. So if you put a syrup, my second 00:24:29.650 --> 00:24:32.569 favorite syrup besides the division board feeders, 00:24:32.609 --> 00:24:35.170 which are inside the hive, which could also help 00:24:35.170 --> 00:24:37.609 the syrups to stay warm, but the top feeder with 00:24:37.609 --> 00:24:40.210 the wood with the floats, I just love that feeder 00:24:40.210 --> 00:24:43.779 too. But that Syrup is going to get cold and 00:24:43.779 --> 00:24:45.480 the bees aren't going to go up and take cold 00:24:45.480 --> 00:24:48.039 syrup down So with the baggie feeder, yes, we 00:24:48.039 --> 00:24:51.819 have baggie waste But what I do is in the fall 00:24:51.819 --> 00:24:54.380 when I'm using my baggie feeders and I'm done 00:24:54.380 --> 00:24:56.779 with the baggie feeding I leave that baggie on 00:24:56.779 --> 00:24:59.720 top and on top of that. I'll put my sugar slurry 00:24:59.720 --> 00:25:03.819 my Have a life fondant my fondant my sugar cakes 00:25:03.819 --> 00:25:06.019 whatever goes right on top of that and I'll do 00:25:06.019 --> 00:25:07.680 a slit right in the middle the bees could get 00:25:07.680 --> 00:25:10.140 up from the edges because I only made it like 00:25:10.140 --> 00:25:13.559 18 by 15 and the baggy and the bees absolutely 00:25:13.559 --> 00:25:16.799 love it. Again, it lands to this condensing hive 00:25:16.799 --> 00:25:20.960 system where all the warm moist air stays right 00:25:20.960 --> 00:25:23.299 inside the hive and they can come up and get 00:25:23.299 --> 00:25:26.000 their feed from on top. Brilliant. So when you 00:25:26.000 --> 00:25:28.059 say baggy, are you talking about just a regular 00:25:28.059 --> 00:25:30.880 Ziploc bag that's a gallon size or a two gallon 00:25:30.880 --> 00:25:33.660 size? Yeah, well for nukes, I'll use a gallon 00:25:33.660 --> 00:25:37.829 size, something like that. For my full size colonies, 00:25:38.029 --> 00:25:41.650 I buy baggies on, you can go search by the size 00:25:41.650 --> 00:25:45.390 and mine are 18 by 15 inches. And so they come 00:25:45.390 --> 00:25:48.029 almost all the way to the edges and you can get 00:25:48.029 --> 00:25:51.690 about a gallon and a quarter in each one. For 00:25:51.690 --> 00:25:56.690 you new beekeepers, exactly 100 little holes 00:25:56.690 --> 00:26:01.730 is the way to do it. One more or one less, kill 00:26:01.730 --> 00:26:06.569 the bees. Yeah. Somebody had written Do you have 00:26:06.569 --> 00:26:09.369 a device for that? And I went, huh, well, no, 00:26:09.390 --> 00:26:11.329 but I'm going to make one. So I took a piece 00:26:11.329 --> 00:26:14.029 of my, um, my styrofoam, but I use it on the 00:26:14.029 --> 00:26:16.890 tops and I cut it and I shove the two nails through 00:26:16.890 --> 00:26:19.049 it and taped it up. Now I could do it with one 00:26:19.049 --> 00:26:20.990 hand and I could film it with the other one so 00:26:20.990 --> 00:26:23.529 I can do it instead of two hands. I love that. 00:26:23.609 --> 00:26:26.529 I just would never count. I would just go, okay, 00:26:26.769 --> 00:26:30.450 done. We were kidding. Newbie keepers out there. 00:26:30.630 --> 00:26:33.519 Okay. No, it's actually two, a hundred. And you 00:26:33.519 --> 00:26:36.240 have to do exactly what I say. And I'm just kidding, 00:26:36.279 --> 00:26:39.839 because if we have five beekeepers telling us 00:26:39.839 --> 00:26:42.599 10 different things, it doesn't mean that they're 00:26:42.599 --> 00:26:45.920 wrong. It just means that that's how they do 00:26:45.920 --> 00:26:49.279 it at that time for their bees in that environment. 00:26:50.000 --> 00:26:51.559 So, you know, that's why we like to take a lot 00:26:51.559 --> 00:26:54.019 of information from lots of beekeepers and kind 00:26:54.019 --> 00:26:56.940 of make it your own what works for you. All right. 00:26:57.019 --> 00:27:00.640 Any great tips or ideas for hive stands? Or was 00:27:00.640 --> 00:27:04.500 this your wild and crazy story? You can do both. 00:27:04.920 --> 00:27:07.440 I don't know about a wild and crazy story. It 00:27:07.440 --> 00:27:09.880 is kind of wild and crazy. It's kind of sad actually 00:27:10.200 --> 00:27:13.279 I was short on a couple of hive stands and I 00:27:13.279 --> 00:27:16.660 was like, oh, let me go get a few cinder blocks. 00:27:16.700 --> 00:27:19.579 So I went to my local lumber, it's not a lumber 00:27:19.579 --> 00:27:21.500 yard, whoever sells sand and stone, that kind 00:27:21.500 --> 00:27:24.420 of place. And I bought four cinder blocks and 00:27:24.420 --> 00:27:26.779 I kind of thought they smelled funky, but whatever. 00:27:26.940 --> 00:27:29.740 I put them in my car, brought them out to Montauk, 00:27:29.779 --> 00:27:32.799 New York and put them down, put the bottom board 00:27:32.799 --> 00:27:35.619 on. Still got this weird feeling. Oh, these things 00:27:35.619 --> 00:27:38.079 kind of smell weird, but whatever. And I put 00:27:38.079 --> 00:27:41.730 the... Packages in the hives and I felt weird 00:27:41.730 --> 00:27:43.650 so I go back the next day and they were all dead 00:27:43.650 --> 00:27:46.589 and it was like there was something emanating 00:27:46.589 --> 00:27:48.269 from these cinder blocks cinder blocks are made 00:27:48.269 --> 00:27:52.190 from coal ash and and basically toxins and whatever 00:27:52.190 --> 00:27:56.369 I think that Older cinder box would be okay because 00:27:56.369 --> 00:27:59.150 they have time over the years for that. Whatever 00:27:59.150 --> 00:28:04.569 is in them to Seep out the off -gassing Yeah, 00:28:04.670 --> 00:28:06.990 off -gassing exactly. So I would say also not 00:28:06.990 --> 00:28:09.410 to use them in your home gardens. People are 00:28:09.410 --> 00:28:11.289 building raised garden beds and things like that. 00:28:11.309 --> 00:28:13.950 Do not go get brand new cinder blocks. You just 00:28:13.950 --> 00:28:16.589 don't know what's in them. And the other toxic 00:28:16.589 --> 00:28:20.549 thing is pallets. Some pallets are heat treated 00:28:20.549 --> 00:28:22.789 and others are chemically treated and they're 00:28:22.789 --> 00:28:25.529 treated against insects and things of that nature. 00:28:25.569 --> 00:28:28.829 So if you're putting your bees on a pesticide 00:28:28.829 --> 00:28:32.009 impregnated wooden platform, that might not be 00:28:32.009 --> 00:28:34.930 the best for the bees. So just check the pallets 00:28:34.930 --> 00:28:37.190 to make sure that they're heat treated. What 00:28:37.190 --> 00:28:40.430 did you do with those bad cinder blocks? I actually 00:28:40.430 --> 00:28:43.079 brought them back and They were only like four 00:28:43.079 --> 00:28:45.319 or five dollars, first of all, you know, so I 00:28:45.319 --> 00:28:48.400 was like, oh, this is great and affordable, whatever, 00:28:48.480 --> 00:28:50.799 which killed two colonies. But they were like, 00:28:50.880 --> 00:28:52.740 no refunds. I said, I understand. I don't want 00:28:52.740 --> 00:28:55.119 a refund. I just don't want them. So I just brought 00:28:55.119 --> 00:28:57.279 them back to the store. Yeah, just take them. 00:28:57.339 --> 00:28:59.920 I don't care what you do with them. I had down 00:28:59.920 --> 00:29:03.539 that you had an interesting story about starting 00:29:03.539 --> 00:29:08.079 a smoker. Oh, the one that fell over. Have you 00:29:08.079 --> 00:29:11.880 had problems with smokers in the past? No, I 00:29:11.880 --> 00:29:17.200 don't anymore. I was in a on a property and it 00:29:17.200 --> 00:29:21.950 was all pine needles and I didn't Need the smoker, 00:29:21.950 --> 00:29:24.329 but it was already lit, so I put it down on top 00:29:24.329 --> 00:29:26.809 of something I forget what it was but in my mind 00:29:26.809 --> 00:29:28.710 I was like oh boy that would stink if it fell 00:29:28.710 --> 00:29:31.349 over wouldn't it when I came back it had fallen 00:29:31.349 --> 00:29:34.190 over and it was a small little fire going which 00:29:34.190 --> 00:29:37.690 I stomped out But I guess the tip here is to 00:29:37.690 --> 00:29:42.049 always place your smoker on a solid non flammable 00:29:42.049 --> 00:29:46.289 surface it seems pretty simple I've melted a 00:29:46.289 --> 00:29:49.349 few because I use the insulation on top of my 00:29:49.349 --> 00:29:51.809 hives underneath the inner cover underneath the 00:29:51.809 --> 00:29:53.849 outer cover. In between the inner and outer cover, 00:29:54.049 --> 00:29:57.089 I put insulation, but also on top. I'll put it. 00:29:57.329 --> 00:30:00.430 And occasionally I've placed my smoker on top 00:30:00.430 --> 00:30:04.109 of that and it makes a nice round melted spot. 00:30:04.650 --> 00:30:08.890 Well, they're hot. Yeah, very hot. You know, 00:30:08.890 --> 00:30:11.549 and I do place my smokers because I'm going from 00:30:11.549 --> 00:30:14.509 site to site. So traveling in my car, I put them 00:30:14.509 --> 00:30:18.630 in an ammunition metal ammo box and it air tight, 00:30:19.029 --> 00:30:23.480 heat tight. I also put my oxalate acid vaporizers 00:30:23.480 --> 00:30:26.920 in there to keep them warm between sites because 00:30:26.920 --> 00:30:29.359 if you're using the battery operated one, it 00:30:29.359 --> 00:30:32.339 says that the battery will give about I think 00:30:32.339 --> 00:30:35.220 30 treatments, 20 to 34, something like that, 00:30:35.619 --> 00:30:37.900 treatments per battery, the certain size. I was 00:30:37.900 --> 00:30:39.599 getting eight or nine. I was like, what's going 00:30:39.599 --> 00:30:42.380 on here? Well, I was going from site to site 00:30:42.380 --> 00:30:45.039 and it takes a lot of energy for the battery 00:30:45.039 --> 00:30:49.339 to reheat the equipment back up to the. Proper 00:30:49.339 --> 00:30:53.079 temperature, so I put it in a hot box so to speak 00:30:53.079 --> 00:30:55.759 in between It extended the battery life greatly 00:30:55.759 --> 00:30:58.519 by doing that brilliant tips. Okay ammunition 00:30:58.519 --> 00:31:02.460 boxes yeah, or a kitty litter thing, but it's 00:31:02.460 --> 00:31:05.640 plastic but Some of us may have them lying around 00:31:05.640 --> 00:31:07.599 the house and they work pretty good as well. 00:31:08.019 --> 00:31:12.640 How many cats do you have? I only have two And 00:31:12.640 --> 00:31:15.240 they love the bees they absolutely love the bees 00:31:15.240 --> 00:31:18.960 they'll sit and just watch them and you know 00:31:18.960 --> 00:31:21.460 when I do some open feeding they just sit there 00:31:21.460 --> 00:31:24.420 and they love the bees it's really interesting. 00:31:25.440 --> 00:31:28.599 The majority of people have one way of doing 00:31:28.599 --> 00:31:31.839 a mite check. Okay, we've got an alcohol wash, 00:31:32.380 --> 00:31:35.519 we've got a sugar shake, which is a similar kind 00:31:35.519 --> 00:31:38.519 of thing. But of course Deb does something different. 00:31:38.680 --> 00:31:41.380 Okay, here's tip number 190. How do you check 00:31:41.380 --> 00:31:44.160 for mites? Yeah, so as I mentioned earlier, when 00:31:44.160 --> 00:31:47.779 the bees are brooding, I'd say 50 to 90 percent 00:31:47.779 --> 00:31:49.779 of the mites are underneath the brood cappings. 00:31:50.220 --> 00:31:53.940 And let's just say that colony has 50 ,000 bees 00:31:53.940 --> 00:31:58.420 in it. and you're taking a sample of 300 bees 00:31:58.420 --> 00:32:02.799 from a colony of 50 ,000 and you're hoping that 00:32:02.799 --> 00:32:04.920 that sample that you're going to later do an 00:32:04.920 --> 00:32:07.380 alcohol wash on, you're hoping that that sample 00:32:07.380 --> 00:32:10.859 is a proper representation of the mite load within 00:32:10.859 --> 00:32:15.440 the hive. And I kind of disagree because if most 00:32:15.440 --> 00:32:17.259 of the mites are underneath the brood cappings 00:32:17.259 --> 00:32:20.480 and you're taking a sample of 300 bees from a 00:32:20.480 --> 00:32:24.099 frame, first of all, how do you know that that 00:32:24.009 --> 00:32:28.059 sample that you've gathered. is a proper representation 00:32:28.059 --> 00:32:31.359 of the hive in general. There's a lot of room 00:32:31.359 --> 00:32:33.819 for user error, especially newbie keepers, if 00:32:33.819 --> 00:32:35.900 they don't know where to take the sample from 00:32:35.900 --> 00:32:40.599 or what have you. So what I do whenever I see 00:32:40.599 --> 00:32:44.240 drone brood within my hives, I'm opening that 00:32:44.240 --> 00:32:47.299 up and looking for mites. Now we've learned that 00:32:47.299 --> 00:32:50.200 the mites seem to gravitate toward the drone 00:32:50.200 --> 00:32:52.259 brood more so than worker brood because they 00:32:52.259 --> 00:32:55.240 just have a few extra days to reproduce. So they're 00:32:55.240 --> 00:32:58.430 going to reproduce. a mite or two more so I just 00:32:58.430 --> 00:33:01.779 you can either just break it open And observe, 00:33:02.019 --> 00:33:06.519 you can uncap. I like to uncap 100 drone brood. 00:33:07.079 --> 00:33:10.259 Exactly a hundred. It's because it's easy to 00:33:10.259 --> 00:33:13.140 do the math, but if I see one mite, I'm done. 00:33:13.240 --> 00:33:16.299 I'm treating and I treat all my colonies. I don't 00:33:16.299 --> 00:33:18.920 treat that one on that property. Everyone is 00:33:18.920 --> 00:33:22.559 getting treated. Everyone, every colony in North 00:33:22.559 --> 00:33:26.059 America has or will have mites. It's just how 00:33:26.059 --> 00:33:29.079 it is. I don't believe that there is a treatment 00:33:29.079 --> 00:33:34.329 free. ability. That's just my belief. Maybe there's 00:33:34.329 --> 00:33:37.049 some people that are successful at it, but where 00:33:37.049 --> 00:33:39.869 I live, there's a lot of beekeepers and a lot 00:33:39.869 --> 00:33:42.150 of new beekeepers that don't want to treat. And 00:33:42.150 --> 00:33:44.109 I was one of them. I was like, Oh, I'm going 00:33:44.109 --> 00:33:46.210 to do this natural. I don't need to do that. 00:33:46.269 --> 00:33:49.430 My bees are good. They all died. They all died. 00:33:49.430 --> 00:33:52.009 And I literally saw mites running around. I was 00:33:52.009 --> 00:33:54.950 like, Oh my gosh. Like, and if you see mites, 00:33:55.029 --> 00:33:56.869 the colonies are already dead there. There's 00:33:56.869 --> 00:33:59.549 probably, if you see like mites everywhere, you 00:33:59.549 --> 00:34:02.240 just go order yourself some more bees or just 00:34:02.240 --> 00:34:05.279 learn learn how to better treat them. But by 00:34:05.279 --> 00:34:10.139 doing the drone brood inspection, you are looking 00:34:10.139 --> 00:34:12.300 right where the mites where you would expect 00:34:12.300 --> 00:34:17.019 them to be. And then I treat and also I'll remove 00:34:17.019 --> 00:34:19.139 that drone brood. I do a drone brood culling 00:34:19.139 --> 00:34:21.380 as well as a part of an integrated pest management 00:34:21.380 --> 00:34:25.039 because if the mites are under in those drone 00:34:25.039 --> 00:34:28.880 brood under the cappings, just remove them and 00:34:28.880 --> 00:34:32.119 you're you're being able to get a bunch of mites 00:34:32.119 --> 00:34:33.800 out of the hive. The other problem also with 00:34:33.800 --> 00:34:37.739 doing the alcohol wash method by taking 300 bees, 00:34:38.079 --> 00:34:40.880 if your bees had swarmed, you're losing a good 00:34:40.880 --> 00:34:44.019 portion of those mites as well. So you might 00:34:44.019 --> 00:34:47.099 have a false negative. You also might get a false 00:34:47.099 --> 00:34:49.960 positive in the fall when there's not a lot of... 00:34:50.190 --> 00:34:53.929 not a false positive, but a higher than normal 00:34:53.929 --> 00:34:57.050 number because in the fold, there's not a lot 00:34:57.050 --> 00:34:59.449 of brood going on. So the mites are more phoretic, 00:34:59.469 --> 00:35:02.090 more on the bees. You might get a much larger 00:35:02.090 --> 00:35:04.570 number than really what's your proper representation 00:35:04.570 --> 00:35:07.429 within the hive. I need to throw out a quick 00:35:07.429 --> 00:35:10.010 public service announcement. And that is that 00:35:10.010 --> 00:35:14.909 we do need drones. So I don't advise taking out 00:35:14.909 --> 00:35:17.110 all of the drone brood in all of your hives. 00:35:17.449 --> 00:35:20.050 No, I don't take it all out. I'll just I actually 00:35:20.050 --> 00:35:23.809 make the bees make more so that I can take it 00:35:23.809 --> 00:35:27.250 out. So I could put an empty wooden frame with 00:35:27.250 --> 00:35:31.190 no foundation in it, say in spot three. So three 00:35:31.190 --> 00:35:34.550 in from the edges. and the bees will draw that 00:35:34.550 --> 00:35:39.550 out typically with drone. brood size comb and 00:35:39.550 --> 00:35:42.929 then the queen will lay and so i'm actually manipulating 00:35:42.929 --> 00:35:45.869 them to make more drone brood so i can take that 00:35:45.869 --> 00:35:49.130 out i think the colonies know exactly what they're 00:35:49.130 --> 00:35:51.550 doing and when you start seeing drone brood it's 00:35:51.550 --> 00:35:54.050 a good sign that everything is good in that in 00:35:54.050 --> 00:35:56.250 that colony that they're actually making drones 00:35:56.250 --> 00:35:58.650 that they think things are good so of course 00:35:58.650 --> 00:36:02.130 we need them i overdo it i make them make more 00:36:03.329 --> 00:36:05.590 And another tip that you could do if you had 00:36:05.590 --> 00:36:08.449 deep sized boxes, you could put in that medium 00:36:08.449 --> 00:36:11.630 frame. It could also have foundation in it. It 00:36:11.630 --> 00:36:14.510 could have worker foundation in it, but the bees 00:36:14.510 --> 00:36:17.190 will typically draw it down. If you put that 00:36:17.190 --> 00:36:20.690 medium in a deep box, they'll draw it down underneath 00:36:20.690 --> 00:36:23.269 that medium frame and it's typically going to 00:36:23.269 --> 00:36:28.190 be drawn, brewed, and once they cap it, you can 00:36:28.190 --> 00:36:29.889 cut that right off, feed it to your chickens. 00:36:30.750 --> 00:36:32.809 I'm just going to throw out there because we're 00:36:32.809 --> 00:36:34.650 going to be running out of time here real quick. 00:36:35.070 --> 00:36:38.510 Deb has so many more tips on her social media 00:36:38.510 --> 00:36:40.409 and website, and I'll put a link to that down 00:36:40.409 --> 00:36:42.550 in the show notes so that people can find you, 00:36:42.710 --> 00:36:45.210 Deb. Thank you. And I want to shift gears for 00:36:45.210 --> 00:36:47.730 just a minute and talk a little bit about BeeVenom 00:36:47.730 --> 00:36:50.889 because you mentioned something to me the other 00:36:50.889 --> 00:36:55.150 day. About the fact that you think beekeepers 00:36:55.150 --> 00:36:59.429 need to get X amount of stings every year. Would 00:36:59.429 --> 00:37:02.650 you please explain that and the whys behind it? 00:37:02.650 --> 00:37:04.510 One of the talks that I gave is called get your 00:37:04.510 --> 00:37:08.269 sting on and The it's not really my thought it's 00:37:08.269 --> 00:37:11.250 just from doing research that I came across some 00:37:11.250 --> 00:37:14.829 research that showed that the average person 00:37:14.829 --> 00:37:19.179 their incidence of having an anaphylactic allergic 00:37:19.179 --> 00:37:21.880 reaction to bee venom is about 1 to 3 percent 00:37:21.880 --> 00:37:24.880 in the general population. But the study claimed 00:37:24.880 --> 00:37:28.960 that I think it was between 35 and 48 percent. 00:37:29.130 --> 00:37:33.449 of beekeepers and their families and pets actually 00:37:33.449 --> 00:37:37.110 can develop allergies to be venom whereas they 00:37:37.110 --> 00:37:39.610 weren't born with it but it develops over time 00:37:39.610 --> 00:37:42.070 and the reason why is because they're being all 00:37:42.070 --> 00:37:44.570 they're all suited up and gloves and duct tape 00:37:44.570 --> 00:37:46.889 and everything is they don't want to get stung. 00:37:47.190 --> 00:37:51.269 but they're getting low dose venom by squishing 00:37:51.269 --> 00:37:54.750 bees or breathing it in. And your body is reacting 00:37:54.750 --> 00:37:58.849 to that exposure to a toxin in a small amount. 00:37:59.170 --> 00:38:02.309 But over time, when your body finally gets that 00:38:02.309 --> 00:38:07.860 one full dose of venom, and your body has already 00:38:07.860 --> 00:38:10.980 signaled that as being a very dangerous thing, 00:38:11.199 --> 00:38:14.079 you go into an anaphylactic reaction. That also 00:38:14.079 --> 00:38:16.440 can happen to your pets, your kids, your wife, 00:38:16.480 --> 00:38:19.059 husband, because if you come in and you've got 00:38:19.059 --> 00:38:20.920 all this venom, and maybe you're getting stung 00:38:20.920 --> 00:38:24.000 all the time and it's fine, and you have no issues, 00:38:24.079 --> 00:38:27.059 but if you're giving your family and pets this 00:38:27.059 --> 00:38:30.139 constant low dose, their body is also signaling 00:38:30.139 --> 00:38:32.559 as this is danger, danger, and it's taking care 00:38:32.559 --> 00:38:34.539 of these low doses, but once it gets the full 00:38:34.539 --> 00:38:39.420 dose, it goes into overdrive. So this study claimed 00:38:39.420 --> 00:38:43.159 that under 25 stings a year is you're asking 00:38:43.159 --> 00:38:46.840 for trouble as a beekeeper and then over 200 00:38:46.840 --> 00:38:50.500 and over is a prophylactic dose to perhaps not 00:38:50.500 --> 00:38:54.219 develop an allergy. I've got three or four clients 00:38:54.219 --> 00:38:57.239 that started out as beekeepers but were tied 00:38:57.239 --> 00:39:00.539 up, duct taped and you know they did not ever 00:39:00.539 --> 00:39:03.300 want to get stung and they ended up when they 00:39:03.300 --> 00:39:06.920 did get stung going into an anaphylaxis emergency 00:39:06.920 --> 00:39:10.579 room type of issue and seeing allergists now 00:39:10.579 --> 00:39:14.420 to try to reverse the damage. So, I mean, it's 00:39:14.420 --> 00:39:18.199 part of the job. B -venom is medicine. It cures 00:39:18.199 --> 00:39:21.360 all kinds of different diseases and disorders, 00:39:21.739 --> 00:39:27.099 anything from cosmetic to arthritis to MS, Lyme 00:39:27.099 --> 00:39:30.199 disease, different types of cancers. I mean, 00:39:30.340 --> 00:39:34.900 so it's medicine. We did a whole series on Apitherapy 00:39:34.900 --> 00:39:38.019 and all of the useful products from The Hive, 00:39:38.079 --> 00:39:42.380 in addition to Bee Venom, back at the end of 00:39:42.380 --> 00:39:46.199 Season 2. And it's a three -part series. It's 00:39:46.199 --> 00:39:50.139 well worth listening to. Wonderful. One of the, 00:39:50.320 --> 00:39:53.739 if not the leading authority on Apitherapy in 00:39:53.739 --> 00:39:57.920 the world, Dr. Ilver in Romania was the guest 00:39:57.920 --> 00:40:00.219 for that three -part series. So I would recommend 00:40:00.219 --> 00:40:04.349 that. 200 stings just sounds like really a lot. 00:40:04.429 --> 00:40:08.170 It's not. I get that in a day. When you said 00:40:08.170 --> 00:40:11.110 25, I was like, oh, that's a pretty good number. 00:40:11.829 --> 00:40:14.389 One thing that has concerned me in the past on 00:40:14.389 --> 00:40:18.590 this topic is I get stings in the spring, summer 00:40:18.590 --> 00:40:21.010 and fall. And in the winter, I'm not around the 00:40:21.010 --> 00:40:24.449 bees at all. I don't have any that I use for 00:40:24.449 --> 00:40:26.750 any kind of apotherapy or anything in the winter. 00:40:27.280 --> 00:40:30.840 Am I a little bit more vulnerable or susceptible 00:40:30.840 --> 00:40:33.239 in the spring when I get stung again? Because 00:40:33.239 --> 00:40:35.920 I haven't for a while. I worry about that. Yeah, 00:40:35.920 --> 00:40:38.039 absolutely. And that that was talked about in 00:40:38.039 --> 00:40:41.260 these these studies as well. So I do order bees 00:40:41.260 --> 00:40:44.739 in the wintertime or on a warm day. I can go 00:40:44.739 --> 00:40:47.519 out there and take a willing or a non willing 00:40:47.519 --> 00:40:51.360 participant to my therapy pursuits. But there's 00:40:51.360 --> 00:40:54.699 Ferris and Allen's Ferris is in, I think, South 00:40:54.699 --> 00:40:57.760 Carolina. Allen's bees, I think, is in California. 00:40:58.179 --> 00:41:01.380 So there are places that you can purchase a little 00:41:01.380 --> 00:41:04.340 box of bees. It could be 30, 40 dollars. You 00:41:04.340 --> 00:41:07.280 get 50, 60 bees and you could use it for all 00:41:07.280 --> 00:41:09.800 kinds of purposes or even inviting your friends 00:41:09.800 --> 00:41:12.280 and family over and get a little sting fest going. 00:41:13.539 --> 00:41:17.139 Most people don't think that sounds fun. It's 00:41:17.139 --> 00:41:22.130 a lot of fun. All right. Last thing. When I've 00:41:22.130 --> 00:41:24.329 stung people, like, that they complain, I had 00:41:24.329 --> 00:41:28.070 a client, Boxer, one of my bee clients. Every 00:41:28.070 --> 00:41:29.889 time I'm there, this was one guy that did want 00:41:29.889 --> 00:41:31.789 to come out occasionally and check out the bees. 00:41:32.110 --> 00:41:34.170 Always complaining about his shoulder, his shoulder. 00:41:34.190 --> 00:41:35.809 And I kept telling him, you gotta sting it, you 00:41:35.809 --> 00:41:38.070 gotta sting it. He did not want to get stung. 00:41:38.489 --> 00:41:40.809 I'm tired of hearing this complaint every time 00:41:40.809 --> 00:41:43.309 I see this guy. It's the same thing. So I just 00:41:43.309 --> 00:41:45.389 kind of lifted up a shirt, took a bee, stung 00:41:45.389 --> 00:41:49.690 him. And I was like... hoping we were still friends 00:41:49.690 --> 00:41:51.789 i did tell him take off his wedding ring and 00:41:51.789 --> 00:41:53.989 he was like why and i said well in case your 00:41:53.989 --> 00:41:56.409 arm swells it might be a good idea take it off 00:41:56.409 --> 00:41:58.650 he called me that night he said i have to thank 00:41:58.650 --> 00:42:00.969 you. I'm like, all right, so we're still friends. 00:42:00.969 --> 00:42:03.050 That's good. And he said, first of all, thank 00:42:03.050 --> 00:42:04.710 you for telling me to take my wedding ring off 00:42:04.710 --> 00:42:06.849 because my whole arm swelled. I was like, OK. 00:42:07.230 --> 00:42:10.190 And he said, and the pain is like 85 % gone. 00:42:10.409 --> 00:42:13.730 And he was just amazed. I've heard this multiple 00:42:13.730 --> 00:42:16.369 times, one sting. People can sleep through the 00:42:16.369 --> 00:42:19.050 night after not having slept for a very long 00:42:19.050 --> 00:42:23.170 time. So it's alleged to be 100 times more potent 00:42:23.170 --> 00:42:25.769 as a bee venom is about 100 times more potent 00:42:25.769 --> 00:42:28.750 as an anti -inflammatory than a shot of cortisone. 00:42:28.650 --> 00:42:31.769 Cortisone is poison. You can only get it three 00:42:31.769 --> 00:42:34.650 times in a specific joint. Whereas bee venom, 00:42:34.670 --> 00:42:38.630 it doesn't harm much. It heals, so there's so 00:42:38.630 --> 00:42:41.710 much to it. I'm a big believer. I've used it 00:42:41.710 --> 00:42:45.769 for all kinds of things myself. It's funny. My 00:42:45.769 --> 00:42:50.010 brain has a hard time going, it's a super strong 00:42:50.010 --> 00:42:53.369 anti -inflammatory if it makes me swell. It just 00:42:53.369 --> 00:42:56.030 seems counterintuitive, but there's a lot of 00:42:56.030 --> 00:42:58.429 science behind that. Yeah. It's amazing. It's 00:42:58.429 --> 00:43:01.110 been years since, since, since, since history 00:43:01.110 --> 00:43:03.809 has been written. The ancient Greek texts, the 00:43:03.809 --> 00:43:06.769 ancient Romans, Egyptians, you name it, China, 00:43:07.030 --> 00:43:09.210 they've all done it. The other countries have 00:43:09.210 --> 00:43:12.869 been happily pursuing AP therapy. There's whole 00:43:12.869 --> 00:43:15.889 institutes devoted to it. It's just here. It's 00:43:15.889 --> 00:43:18.550 the big farm doesn't want, you know, they cannot 00:43:18.550 --> 00:43:21.190 recreate it in a lab. They can't hire us with 00:43:21.190 --> 00:43:24.809 our expertise. So they make it illegal and it 00:43:24.809 --> 00:43:27.030 cures people. So. All right, I'm going to give 00:43:27.030 --> 00:43:30.849 you the last word. If there's any favorite tip 00:43:30.849 --> 00:43:33.349 or advice out there that you have that we haven't 00:43:33.349 --> 00:43:36.670 covered yet, hit us with it now. I would say 00:43:36.670 --> 00:43:39.670 to listen to the bees. And it seems it's a silly, 00:43:39.889 --> 00:43:42.510 simple thing to say. But here's a good example. 00:43:42.769 --> 00:43:45.849 If you've got this upper entrance that you've 00:43:45.849 --> 00:43:48.150 put on the bees and event and whatever it is, 00:43:48.210 --> 00:43:51.199 and the bees propolize it shut. Then you go and 00:43:51.199 --> 00:43:53.559 you open it up and then the bees propel eyes 00:43:53.559 --> 00:43:56.179 it shut you should listen to the bees They know 00:43:56.179 --> 00:43:59.239 they are the foremost experts in the world on 00:43:59.239 --> 00:44:02.579 beekeeping and AP culture and even AP therapy 00:44:02.579 --> 00:44:06.000 if we just listen to them, you know and observe 00:44:06.000 --> 00:44:08.000 them and what are they what are they trying to 00:44:08.000 --> 00:44:10.159 tell us and Another thing, you know, sometimes 00:44:10.159 --> 00:44:12.599 people like all my bees are so hot I'm gonna 00:44:12.599 --> 00:44:15.260 I'm gonna kill his colony. It's hot hive and 00:44:15.260 --> 00:44:18.880 my first questions are Are they well fed and 00:44:18.880 --> 00:44:21.909 are they sick? and then they have no mites and 00:44:21.909 --> 00:44:24.389 they've got plenty of food, I would then ask, 00:44:24.389 --> 00:44:26.090 you know, is there something disrupting them? 00:44:26.190 --> 00:44:27.710 Is there something coming at night? Are their 00:44:27.710 --> 00:44:29.929 boys throwing rocks? You know, what is it? Let's 00:44:29.929 --> 00:44:33.989 not go blame the bees immediately for their demeanor. 00:44:34.010 --> 00:44:36.750 Let's first check it out and see what's going 00:44:36.750 --> 00:44:39.269 on with them. And sometimes even the weather 00:44:39.269 --> 00:44:42.489 can change their demeanor. Exactly. Absolutely. 00:44:43.210 --> 00:44:45.769 Yeah, one day nice, the next day not so nice. 00:44:46.369 --> 00:44:49.050 Yeah. All right. Deb, thank you so very much. 00:44:49.500 --> 00:44:53.320 I appreciate you coming back on with me and we're 00:44:53.320 --> 00:44:55.099 gonna have to do it again down the road because 00:44:55.099 --> 00:44:56.960 there's so much more that we could talk about. 00:44:57.199 --> 00:45:02.840 My pleasure. Thank you so much. Thanks again 00:45:02.840 --> 00:45:05.480 for joining us on Bee Love Beekeeping presented 00:45:05.480 --> 00:45:08.019 by our great friends over at Man Lake. Hey and 00:45:08.019 --> 00:45:10.559 don't forget to order your bees. And a shout 00:45:10.559 --> 00:45:13.579 out to Vita B Health for their support. Vita's 00:45:13.579 --> 00:45:16.219 Varroa Control Ranger products includes Epistan, 00:45:16.420 --> 00:45:20.739 Epigard, and now Varroxan Extended Release Oxalic 00:45:20.739 --> 00:45:24.639 Acid Strips. Thank you so much guys. If you haven't 00:45:24.639 --> 00:45:27.739 yet, please subscribe and follow the show, tell 00:45:27.739 --> 00:45:30.659 your friends about it, and click on over to BeLoveBekeeping 00:45:30.659 --> 00:45:34.400 .com to sign up for our free newsletter. If you 00:45:34.400 --> 00:45:37.380 have a guest suggestion or topic that you'd like 00:45:37.380 --> 00:45:40.300 discussed on the show, shoot me an email, eric 00:45:40.300 --> 00:45:43.079 at Be Love Beekeeping dot com. And remember, 00:45:43.360 --> 00:45:45.559 if you're not just in it for the honey or the 00:45:45.559 --> 00:45:48.079 money, you're in it for the love. See you next 00:45:48.079 --> 00:45:48.420 week.