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 --> 00:00:50.560 efficiency of mow, levy and curly, tending to 00:00:50.560 --> 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 --> 00:01:05.549 Sahara, sometimes running off flapping and flailing 00:01:05.549 --> 00:01:12.129 like a penguin on a hot sidewalk. This is their 00:01:12.129 --> 00:01:23.709 journey. Welcome, welcome to Be Love Beekeeping 00:01:23.709 --> 00:01:26.510 presented by our great friends and partners in 00:01:26.510 --> 00:01:30.400 beekeeping. Man Lake. Today we're traveling to 00:01:30.400 --> 00:01:32.500 Gloucestershire, England to have a conversation 00:01:32.500 --> 00:01:36.219 with a beekeeper slash inventor who's created 00:01:36.219 --> 00:01:39.019 a chemical -free way to help bees get rid of 00:01:39.019 --> 00:01:42.739 varroa mites. This is pretty cool. But first 00:01:42.739 --> 00:01:45.819 it's time for our inside the hive feature presented 00:01:45.819 --> 00:01:49.359 by Primal Bee. We talk a lot about how bees stay 00:01:49.359 --> 00:01:52.620 warm in winter, but what about when it's 100 00:01:52.620 --> 00:01:55.719 degrees outside and there are babies in there 00:01:55.719 --> 00:01:58.879 that can die if they're overheated? Turns out 00:01:58.879 --> 00:02:02.519 bees basically invented air conditioning. Here's 00:02:02.519 --> 00:02:06.299 how they do it. First, water foragers fly out 00:02:06.299 --> 00:02:08.680 and collect water from wherever they can find 00:02:08.680 --> 00:02:11.060 it. You know where they go, puddles, creeks, 00:02:11.219 --> 00:02:14.460 bird baths, or swimming pool. They bring it back 00:02:14.460 --> 00:02:18.219 and spread thin films of it across the comb. 00:02:19.360 --> 00:02:22.680 Then hundreds of bees line up, fan their wings 00:02:22.680 --> 00:02:26.099 in a coordinated pattern, creating airflow that 00:02:26.099 --> 00:02:29.740 evaporates the water and pulls heat out of the 00:02:29.740 --> 00:02:33.879 hive. Same principle as sweating. It's evaporative 00:02:33.879 --> 00:02:37.219 cooling invented by insects millions of years 00:02:37.219 --> 00:02:40.340 before we even figured it out. On really hot 00:02:40.340 --> 00:02:43.639 days you'll see bees hanging on the outside of 00:02:43.639 --> 00:02:47.080 the hive in what beekeepers call bearding. It 00:02:47.080 --> 00:02:49.620 looks kind of alarming but they're actually helping. 00:02:49.939 --> 00:02:54.319 You see fewer bodies inside means less heat for 00:02:54.319 --> 00:02:58.050 the cooling crew to deal with. All of this takes 00:02:58.050 --> 00:03:01.330 energy and worker hours that could be going towards 00:03:01.330 --> 00:03:04.289 foraging and making honey. Temperature management 00:03:04.289 --> 00:03:07.889 isn't just a winter problem, it's an all year 00:03:07.889 --> 00:03:11.030 round situation. Next time on Inside the Hive, 00:03:11.349 --> 00:03:14.550 we'll get into why bees build comb in the weirdest 00:03:14.550 --> 00:03:17.490 places and what they're actually trying to tell 00:03:17.490 --> 00:03:20.409 you. Now let's go across the pond and have a 00:03:20.409 --> 00:03:23.629 great discussion with our inventor friend, Stuart. 00:03:28.459 --> 00:03:30.900 I'd like to welcome our very special guest to 00:03:30.900 --> 00:03:33.560 the show today, Stuart Rohith. Did I pronounce 00:03:33.560 --> 00:03:36.460 that right? You got it right. Good. Well, here's 00:03:36.460 --> 00:03:38.580 the part I'm going to pronounce wrong. You're 00:03:38.580 --> 00:03:42.520 from Gloucestershire. Got that right too. Yes. 00:03:43.360 --> 00:03:46.659 All right. Over in England, we'll clear across 00:03:46.659 --> 00:03:49.020 the pond today and welcome, welcome. It's good 00:03:49.020 --> 00:03:52.379 to see you. Thanks. Good to be here. We're going 00:03:52.379 --> 00:03:54.659 to be talking about all kinds of things today, 00:03:55.000 --> 00:03:58.969 including your invention, the Bee Gym. which 00:03:58.969 --> 00:04:02.430 is very cool. I saw it at Appamondia a few months 00:04:02.430 --> 00:04:05.229 ago. But you know what? Let's talk beekeeping 00:04:05.229 --> 00:04:08.169 first and then we'll get into this cool thing. 00:04:08.650 --> 00:04:10.490 Give me just a little bit of background, Stuart. 00:04:10.770 --> 00:04:13.270 How'd you get going in beekeeping and what do 00:04:13.270 --> 00:04:17.970 you love about it? Well, I was completely new 00:04:17.970 --> 00:04:21.709 to beekeeping in 2012 and I was making a little 00:04:21.709 --> 00:04:25.189 film with some some kind of underprivileged kids 00:04:25.189 --> 00:04:29.220 in the East End of London. They're called NEETs, 00:04:29.220 --> 00:04:31.720 they're not in education, employment or training. 00:04:32.660 --> 00:04:36.000 And this company called The Golden Company, we're 00:04:36.000 --> 00:04:38.420 training them up as beekeepers to give them some 00:04:38.420 --> 00:04:41.459 responsibility, you know, teach them some skills. 00:04:41.920 --> 00:04:45.540 So I was making a film about these young people 00:04:45.540 --> 00:04:48.500 from my website, Bright Green Kids. I did an 00:04:48.500 --> 00:04:51.800 extended interview with, I think it was a 13 00:04:51.800 --> 00:04:55.240 -year -old beekeeper called Abe. And he was so 00:04:55.240 --> 00:04:58.139 knowledgeable on the subject. And I was really 00:04:58.139 --> 00:05:00.920 intrigued by what he was saying, because I showed 00:05:00.920 --> 00:05:03.860 some interest in what he was saying. His father, 00:05:03.860 --> 00:05:07.620 who is an experienced beekeeper, his name's Peter 00:05:07.620 --> 00:05:10.680 Buckhoek, he sort of showed up at my doorstep 00:05:10.680 --> 00:05:14.220 two weeks later. And you've probably had this 00:05:14.220 --> 00:05:16.720 sort of thing yourself. He showed up with a little 00:05:16.720 --> 00:05:19.980 cardboard box with some holes in the top, a little 00:05:19.980 --> 00:05:23.689 warm cardboard box. It was a small swamp. And 00:05:23.689 --> 00:05:27.170 he said he knew I was interested in, and in the 00:05:27.170 --> 00:05:30.569 back of the car, he had a little meek box. So 00:05:30.569 --> 00:05:33.050 he said, this is the best way to get into beekeeping 00:05:33.050 --> 00:05:36.529 is to make a fast start. And I mean, that would 00:05:36.529 --> 00:05:39.949 be difficult in a way, but he became my mentor 00:05:39.949 --> 00:05:43.850 answering lots of my questions on the subject. 00:05:43.850 --> 00:05:47.589 And he kind of oversaw all my little problems 00:05:47.589 --> 00:05:49.990 in the first year and gave me lots of advice. 00:05:50.550 --> 00:05:53.079 So yeah, that's how I made a start. What do you 00:05:53.079 --> 00:05:55.620 love about it? Did you get hooked on it? Yeah, 00:05:55.639 --> 00:06:00.100 I I got hooked on beekeeping I got hooked in 00:06:00.100 --> 00:06:05.339 the sense of I just find the life of the colony 00:06:05.339 --> 00:06:08.420 Absolutely fascinating. So I was reading a lot 00:06:08.420 --> 00:06:11.579 of books I think the first book I read was by 00:06:11.579 --> 00:06:13.779 Butler and it's called the world of the honeybee 00:06:13.779 --> 00:06:17.579 and it's a very unassuming title, but it's brilliantly 00:06:17.579 --> 00:06:20.879 written with some fantastic insights, especially 00:06:20.879 --> 00:06:24.199 into the life of the Queen. As a first book to 00:06:24.199 --> 00:06:27.459 introduce you to the subject, it's just ideal. 00:06:28.000 --> 00:06:31.779 I've never lost that fascination. I don't think 00:06:31.779 --> 00:06:34.660 I'm your typical beekeeper in the sense that 00:06:34.660 --> 00:06:38.439 I don't want 20 hives or 100 hives in the yard. 00:06:39.220 --> 00:06:43.879 I think I'll always be a beekeeper, but I just 00:06:43.879 --> 00:06:46.829 find it so fascinating. Two or three hives is 00:06:46.829 --> 00:06:49.129 plenty for me because as we know it's really 00:06:49.129 --> 00:06:51.970 time -consuming But I just love to watch them. 00:06:52.209 --> 00:06:54.529 We actually had a sunny day believe it or not 00:06:54.529 --> 00:06:58.629 two days ago in Gloucestershire. We had 16 degrees 00:06:58.629 --> 00:07:01.750 Celsius Which I'm not very good at converting 00:07:01.750 --> 00:07:04.509 into Fahrenheit a nice sunny day. So t -shirt 00:07:04.509 --> 00:07:08.389 weather I Opened up a hive in the garden for 00:07:08.389 --> 00:07:12.060 the first time and it's just so joyful seeing 00:07:12.060 --> 00:07:15.079 them at this time of year. They're looking really 00:07:15.079 --> 00:07:17.620 good. They built up much more than I thought 00:07:17.620 --> 00:07:20.420 they would, because we've had quite a long, damp, 00:07:20.500 --> 00:07:25.079 cold winter. And it's a joyful experience. I 00:07:25.079 --> 00:07:28.459 love the smells. I love getting the smoke going. 00:07:28.879 --> 00:07:33.240 I love the smells of harvesting wax and honey. 00:07:33.420 --> 00:07:36.160 It's just fantastic. But yeah, I don't think 00:07:36.160 --> 00:07:39.550 I'll ever be... commercial beekeeper in any sense 00:07:39.550 --> 00:07:43.550 at all? That's okay. A lot of us love to stay 00:07:43.550 --> 00:07:47.490 a hobbyist where we can just enjoy it and not 00:07:47.490 --> 00:07:51.589 have it be a business and really spend time with 00:07:51.589 --> 00:07:54.569 the bees. And when you're a commercial beekeeper, 00:07:55.509 --> 00:07:58.209 yeah, it becomes a business. And they're great 00:07:58.209 --> 00:08:00.629 people and a lot of them love their bees too, 00:08:00.629 --> 00:08:03.810 but it's it's wham -bam. We've got to keep moving 00:08:03.810 --> 00:08:06.889 here quickly. Yep, and not so much time to enjoy 00:08:06.889 --> 00:08:11.870 it. So by the way 16c is about 60 degrees Fahrenheit 00:08:11.870 --> 00:08:14.930 That was either done in my brain or Google one 00:08:14.930 --> 00:08:18.069 or the other I'll let you decide so along your 00:08:18.069 --> 00:08:21.470 journey at some point you run into this horrible 00:08:21.470 --> 00:08:25.430 thing called varroa mites and Your thought is 00:08:25.430 --> 00:08:28.769 I know Instead of bombing them with chemicals, 00:08:29.089 --> 00:08:31.389 I'm going to figure out how to get those darn 00:08:31.389 --> 00:08:34.970 mites off the bees. So tell us a little bit about 00:08:34.970 --> 00:08:38.370 what you came up with. Well, this is a long story. 00:08:38.370 --> 00:08:42.549 Um, but it started with one of these young beekeepers 00:08:42.549 --> 00:08:45.509 I was working with was telling me about Puroa 00:08:45.509 --> 00:08:52.389 and he showed me a bee actually on a flower with 00:08:52.389 --> 00:08:55.490 a Varroa mite on its back. So there must've been 00:08:55.490 --> 00:08:59.470 quite a serious infestation in one of the hives 00:08:59.470 --> 00:09:02.870 nearby, because you don't tend to see Varroa 00:09:02.870 --> 00:09:06.009 mites on the back of bees very often. I was absolutely 00:09:06.009 --> 00:09:10.370 blown away by the relative size of the mite in 00:09:10.370 --> 00:09:15.149 relation to the bee. I was just thinking, I'd 00:09:15.149 --> 00:09:18.870 assumed that it was barely visible to the naked 00:09:18.870 --> 00:09:22.370 eye. I just thought, nobody's going to enjoy 00:09:22.370 --> 00:09:25.730 putting basically a sort of insecticide into 00:09:25.730 --> 00:09:29.490 a box full of insects. And even these young beekeepers 00:09:29.490 --> 00:09:32.049 were saying that, you know, it's really problematic. 00:09:32.889 --> 00:09:36.950 It's the side of beekeeping that they don't really 00:09:36.950 --> 00:09:39.210 want to have to deal with, you know, becoming 00:09:39.210 --> 00:09:43.250 an expert in miticides. I was just thinking, 00:09:43.330 --> 00:09:45.549 like immediately I did have a gut feeling that 00:09:45.549 --> 00:09:48.590 there must be some mechanical way of separating 00:09:48.590 --> 00:09:52.029 the mite from the bee. My first approach was 00:09:52.029 --> 00:09:57.230 to put a an entrance over the hive. So a sort 00:09:57.230 --> 00:10:00.549 of restriction over the entrance, which meant 00:10:00.549 --> 00:10:03.210 that any bees coming and going from the hive 00:10:03.210 --> 00:10:06.850 just had a very, very fine thread, which is actually 00:10:06.850 --> 00:10:09.990 made of cotton, which was suspended. There was 00:10:09.990 --> 00:10:13.429 a bunch of them, like a kind of violin bow, suspended 00:10:13.429 --> 00:10:16.649 in the entrance of the hive, allowing a small 00:10:16.649 --> 00:10:19.549 gap. So every time a bee came and went, one of 00:10:19.549 --> 00:10:22.669 these threads would be pulled along its back. 00:10:22.879 --> 00:10:25.419 and that meant if there was a mite on the bee's 00:10:25.419 --> 00:10:29.019 back it could be pulled off. It was incredibly 00:10:29.019 --> 00:10:32.320 successful in a way because the day after we 00:10:32.320 --> 00:10:39.840 trialled it there was 172, sorry, 119 mites in 00:10:39.840 --> 00:10:42.159 the little collection tray underneath. I didn't 00:10:42.159 --> 00:10:45.059 know enough about the subject to realise that 00:10:45.059 --> 00:10:48.960 that was a big strong hive in September with 00:10:48.960 --> 00:10:52.259 a big mite population inside. So the results 00:10:52.259 --> 00:10:56.779 are not remarkable, but it was really interesting, 00:10:56.980 --> 00:10:59.620 like a really good start, and it certainly gave 00:10:59.620 --> 00:11:02.720 me a lot of enthusiasm to carry on. And various 00:11:02.720 --> 00:11:05.740 bee inspectors, their interest was piqued as 00:11:05.740 --> 00:11:08.019 well. So I made quite a few of these kind of 00:11:08.019 --> 00:11:12.000 entrance traps and handed them out to bee inspectors 00:11:12.000 --> 00:11:14.899 in England, getting really good feedback from 00:11:14.899 --> 00:11:18.460 them. But I mean, sorry, this goes on and on 00:11:18.460 --> 00:11:22.100 and on, I'm afraid. The most useful feedback 00:11:22.100 --> 00:11:27.220 was that actually the real problem is that the 00:11:27.220 --> 00:11:31.360 mites are holding on underneath the bee's abdomen. 00:11:32.759 --> 00:11:36.460 The bee has protective plates under its abdomen 00:11:36.460 --> 00:11:39.980 and the mites do an amazing job of tucking in 00:11:39.980 --> 00:11:44.220 under these plates. I've actually taken a bee 00:11:44.220 --> 00:11:47.679 with a mite on it and taken a mascara brush and 00:11:47.679 --> 00:11:52.799 tried to brush one off. And it's incredible how 00:11:52.799 --> 00:11:55.879 well those little Varroa mites hold on in that 00:11:55.879 --> 00:12:01.220 position. So I guess that's partly their success, 00:12:01.220 --> 00:12:03.720 but certainly not the success of my invention 00:12:03.720 --> 00:12:08.320 because it wasn't targeting those mites at all. 00:12:08.460 --> 00:12:12.080 And also it's a problematic idea. I mean, what 00:12:12.080 --> 00:12:14.799 happens with the drones and the queens if there's 00:12:14.799 --> 00:12:18.710 a restriction over the entrance? So yeah, but 00:12:18.710 --> 00:12:21.230 it did get me thinking and it led to the next 00:12:21.230 --> 00:12:23.889 idea Well, it's also not getting to the nurse 00:12:23.889 --> 00:12:25.950 bees because they're not flying in and out the 00:12:25.950 --> 00:12:29.809 entrance With the bees that were coming in was 00:12:29.809 --> 00:12:32.750 it also pulling off the pollen? No, it wasn't 00:12:32.750 --> 00:12:36.289 actually because the This kind of violin bow 00:12:36.289 --> 00:12:40.990 affair was only running over their backs So it 00:12:40.990 --> 00:12:43.049 didn't cause a problem from that point of view. 00:12:43.169 --> 00:12:47.250 But as you say, it doesn't target the nurse bees 00:12:47.759 --> 00:12:51.399 which we know are much more likely to have those, 00:12:51.399 --> 00:12:54.159 they call them phoretic mites, don't they? They're 00:12:54.159 --> 00:12:56.299 much more likely to have the mites attached to 00:12:56.299 --> 00:12:59.580 them. I mean, it was an interesting start. And 00:12:59.580 --> 00:13:02.299 what it led to was that I noticed, I was doing 00:13:02.299 --> 00:13:06.639 a lot of video at the time, and I noticed that 00:13:06.639 --> 00:13:09.279 quite a few of the bees seemed to go through 00:13:09.279 --> 00:13:13.320 underneath my kind of violin bow type thing repeatedly. 00:13:14.029 --> 00:13:17.190 They go through turn around come back out upside 00:13:17.190 --> 00:13:19.690 down and I was thinking oh they seem to be quite 00:13:19.690 --> 00:13:23.230 enjoying this So I made a version that was completely 00:13:23.230 --> 00:13:26.090 voluntary so they could come and go as they want 00:13:26.090 --> 00:13:29.970 or they could go and use the the kind of restricted 00:13:29.970 --> 00:13:34.470 entrance and Loads of the bees were using the 00:13:34.470 --> 00:13:37.269 restricted entrance. So I was thinking this is 00:13:37.269 --> 00:13:39.090 really interesting. They seem to be grooming 00:13:39.800 --> 00:13:42.679 or attempting to groom off these rower mics. 00:13:43.179 --> 00:13:45.460 And that was the kind of a start that led me 00:13:45.460 --> 00:13:50.559 into the various versions. And that's a super 00:13:50.559 --> 00:13:54.080 interesting behavioral thing that I had not really 00:13:54.080 --> 00:13:56.919 heard of before, and that is that they, I don't 00:13:56.919 --> 00:13:59.480 know, they get some kind of enjoyment out of 00:13:59.480 --> 00:14:04.440 a tool that helps them groom. Yeah. I mean, cows 00:14:04.440 --> 00:14:08.340 be the same thing. You often see And it's becoming 00:14:08.340 --> 00:14:12.139 more popular. You see in a milking parlour, when 00:14:12.139 --> 00:14:15.820 the cows come in, I've noticed that the dairy 00:14:15.820 --> 00:14:20.500 hands attach brushes and these kind of rubbery 00:14:20.500 --> 00:14:23.340 spikes and things to the wall of the milking 00:14:23.340 --> 00:14:25.539 parlour, and the cows just go and have a really 00:14:25.539 --> 00:14:28.159 good scratch on them. Yeah, we just don't think 00:14:28.159 --> 00:14:32.159 about that with little bugs, though. So that's 00:14:32.159 --> 00:14:34.679 really interesting. OK, so that led to the next 00:14:34.679 --> 00:14:37.200 step. Yeah, I mean, one thing about honeybees 00:14:37.200 --> 00:14:42.539 is that everyone is always telling me how intelligent 00:14:42.539 --> 00:14:45.620 they are, and they can do all these tricks. Scientists 00:14:45.620 --> 00:14:48.360 do all these studies and get them to, you know, 00:14:48.480 --> 00:14:51.679 tell the difference between this button and that 00:14:51.679 --> 00:14:53.620 button, and they get a sugary treat or whatever. 00:14:54.059 --> 00:14:57.500 So it's not a quantum leap to imagine that they 00:14:57.500 --> 00:15:00.279 might want to go and scrap chop a parasol. Okay. 00:15:00.539 --> 00:15:05.120 Well, what came next? What came next was a much 00:15:05.120 --> 00:15:09.279 smaller version of the idea that was inside the 00:15:09.279 --> 00:15:12.600 hive. Because I was thinking if there's a voluntary 00:15:12.600 --> 00:15:17.019 aspect to this, if the bees want to go and have 00:15:17.019 --> 00:15:19.779 a scratch and hopefully rid themselves of some 00:15:19.779 --> 00:15:24.279 Varroa, then it doesn't have to be compulsory. 00:15:24.379 --> 00:15:26.740 It doesn't have to be a sort of entrance restriction. 00:15:27.460 --> 00:15:29.879 Are you planning on expanding your apiary this 00:15:29.879 --> 00:15:33.210 year? Or are you a beginner thinking about jumping 00:15:33.210 --> 00:15:36.210 into beekeeping for the very first time? Take 00:15:36.210 --> 00:15:38.830 it from someone who's purchased beekeeping equipment 00:15:38.830 --> 00:15:42.870 from many different suppliers. If you want made 00:15:42.870 --> 00:15:46.909 in USA woodenware, premium feeds, top quality, 00:15:47.110 --> 00:15:50.090 and great prices on everything, give Man Lake 00:15:50.090 --> 00:15:53.019 a try. 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So I made 00:16:59.039 --> 00:17:03.649 a version of what I produce now. a basic version 00:17:03.649 --> 00:17:06.390 of the kind of square B -Gym that sits on the 00:17:06.390 --> 00:17:09.390 floor of the hive. And then we started doing 00:17:09.390 --> 00:17:13.609 various trials to see what effect it was having. 00:17:14.309 --> 00:17:17.289 Well, let's fast forward to the finished products 00:17:17.289 --> 00:17:19.470 that you have now. Tell us what they are and 00:17:19.470 --> 00:17:21.710 how they work and what they look like. So there's 00:17:21.710 --> 00:17:24.829 two versions of the B -Gym at the moment. The 00:17:24.829 --> 00:17:30.230 first one is a square frame and it has various 00:17:30.230 --> 00:17:34.349 little plastic flippers, a little bit like fingernails 00:17:34.349 --> 00:17:37.630 that stick up from the surface of this square 00:17:37.630 --> 00:17:41.670 frame. It also has some little spikes on it and 00:17:41.670 --> 00:17:47.490 it also has some little wires and what I've observed 00:17:47.490 --> 00:17:51.970 and filmed, which I can show you the film of 00:17:51.970 --> 00:17:55.950 them using it, we've observed them going and 00:17:55.950 --> 00:17:59.269 having a scratch. Unfortunately I don't have 00:17:59.269 --> 00:18:03.529 the kind of million dollar shot of a bee kind 00:18:03.529 --> 00:18:07.849 of on one of these flippers, flipping off a Varroa 00:18:07.849 --> 00:18:10.710 mite that then sort of flies out of frame, you 00:18:10.710 --> 00:18:14.390 know, screaming. I don't have that shot. That's 00:18:14.390 --> 00:18:19.970 what AI is for. Yeah. Yeah, that is tempting, 00:18:19.970 --> 00:18:22.730 but you know, you've got to be completely honest 00:18:22.730 --> 00:18:26.690 in these things in my opinion. Yes. What I do 00:18:26.690 --> 00:18:31.619 have is a really interesting study. from 2016, 00:18:32.119 --> 00:18:38.019 which actually Vita did in Argentina. And what 00:18:38.019 --> 00:18:40.640 it shows is that that square version of the Bee 00:18:40.640 --> 00:18:45.019 Gym, when it was put into a controlled trial, 00:18:45.819 --> 00:18:49.559 it created a huge amount of Varroa mite drop, 00:18:49.980 --> 00:18:52.799 much more than the control hives. Statistically, 00:18:52.900 --> 00:18:57.000 it's really impressive. But the one thing that 00:18:57.000 --> 00:19:01.440 didn't go particularly well is that After the 00:19:01.440 --> 00:19:04.980 controlled trial, all of the hives were given 00:19:04.980 --> 00:19:09.740 a chemical shock. I'm not sure exactly with what 00:19:09.740 --> 00:19:13.759 might aside, but basically they were given a 00:19:13.759 --> 00:19:17.400 controlled chemical shock. All of the varroa 00:19:17.400 --> 00:19:20.779 mites were counted from the B -Gym hives and 00:19:20.779 --> 00:19:23.720 the control hives. And the B -Gym hives had produced 00:19:23.720 --> 00:19:27.920 a vast amount of mitre drop that was all counted. 00:19:28.259 --> 00:19:31.450 But what they hadn't really done... was solved 00:19:31.450 --> 00:19:35.230 the whole problem. It's almost as if the mites 00:19:35.230 --> 00:19:39.509 had started multiplying faster. So this was 2016, 00:19:40.450 --> 00:19:43.549 trialling the square version of the B -Gym. Really 00:19:43.549 --> 00:19:45.829 quite impressive results, except for the fact 00:19:45.829 --> 00:19:50.549 that it hadn't emptied the hive of Varroa mites. 00:19:50.849 --> 00:19:53.829 Yeah, so that was 2016. That's the square version 00:19:53.829 --> 00:19:57.589 of the B -Gym. After a lot of experimentation 00:19:57.589 --> 00:20:02.009 and trials, we came up with a much thinner, smaller 00:20:02.009 --> 00:20:05.109 version of the Bee Gym, which is basically a 00:20:05.109 --> 00:20:10.329 sort of a plate with various of these devices, 00:20:10.529 --> 00:20:13.750 especially these little flippers, which are like 00:20:13.750 --> 00:20:16.549 kind of flexible kind of fingernails in a long 00:20:16.549 --> 00:20:22.269 row. This plate is attached, it's suspended from 00:20:22.269 --> 00:20:27.500 the brood frames. down in amongst the combs in 00:20:27.500 --> 00:20:29.859 the brood box, partly for that reason you were 00:20:29.859 --> 00:20:32.519 talking about earlier of really targeting the 00:20:32.519 --> 00:20:36.259 nurse bees, which we know have a greater incidence 00:20:36.259 --> 00:20:40.940 of Varroa on them. So a few of these kind of 00:20:40.940 --> 00:20:44.339 flat bee jim plates, we call them the bee jim 00:20:44.339 --> 00:20:48.619 slim, are suspended amongst your brood combs. 00:20:48.859 --> 00:20:53.230 What we have now From 2023, we have a really 00:20:53.230 --> 00:20:59.869 good controlled trial from a group here in the 00:20:59.869 --> 00:21:03.069 West of England called the Devon Apicultural 00:21:03.069 --> 00:21:07.390 Research Group. We have a really good trial of 00:21:07.390 --> 00:21:13.569 135 hives, which I'm not sure all the beekeepers 00:21:13.569 --> 00:21:16.480 stayed the whole of the trial. which is a tough 00:21:16.480 --> 00:21:19.640 thing to do. It's really not so easy to organise 00:21:19.640 --> 00:21:22.380 a big trial, but they had a really good response 00:21:22.380 --> 00:21:27.440 rate of 110 beekeepers stayed the whole course 00:21:27.440 --> 00:21:30.519 of the 19 -week trial. So there's loads and loads 00:21:30.519 --> 00:21:34.240 of data in that trial. Basically, the hives were 00:21:34.240 --> 00:21:36.819 divided in two with half of the hive was the 00:21:36.819 --> 00:21:40.059 control side, the bee jim device was on the other 00:21:40.059 --> 00:21:43.000 half. So it was a comparison of mite drop from 00:21:43.000 --> 00:21:46.700 one hive. one half of the hive compared to the 00:21:46.700 --> 00:21:51.019 other. These slim, medium slims that are suspended 00:21:51.019 --> 00:21:55.660 amongst the brood frames had a much, much higher 00:21:55.660 --> 00:21:59.299 incidence of mitrop on their side. For me, it's 00:21:59.299 --> 00:22:03.119 become a really useful trial because instead 00:22:03.119 --> 00:22:06.779 of just imagining what to do next, imagining 00:22:07.130 --> 00:22:10.410 how to make these things better. There's a real 00:22:10.410 --> 00:22:12.549 kind of benchmark with this trial to say that 00:22:12.549 --> 00:22:15.490 the bees are definitely using it. It's resulting 00:22:15.490 --> 00:22:19.490 in a higher mite drop. So this isn't brand new. 00:22:19.490 --> 00:22:22.829 This thing's been around a few years. It's been 00:22:22.829 --> 00:22:26.289 trialed. Is it distributed through Vita Bee Health? 00:22:26.609 --> 00:22:29.369 That's right. It's distributed through Vita Europe 00:22:29.369 --> 00:22:33.849 Limited. In the UK and the US, I think Dadan 00:22:33.849 --> 00:22:39.119 are the supplier in the U .S. So I just want 00:22:39.119 --> 00:22:41.019 to make sure I'm clear and I'm looking at your 00:22:41.019 --> 00:22:44.460 website right now. So I still see the Square 00:22:44.460 --> 00:22:48.960 Bee Jim and I see the Bee Jim Slim. I like that. 00:22:49.660 --> 00:22:51.740 Do we need both? Do we need one or the other? 00:22:52.099 --> 00:22:55.079 If somebody wants to give it a try. It's interesting. 00:22:55.279 --> 00:22:58.779 I've put so much effort into producing the Bee 00:22:58.779 --> 00:23:01.759 Jim Slim and it's got this really good trial 00:23:01.759 --> 00:23:05.420 behind it. But most of my sales are actually 00:23:05.420 --> 00:23:09.029 of the old. square version of the bee tomb. And 00:23:09.029 --> 00:23:11.009 I think it appeals to people because it sits 00:23:11.009 --> 00:23:13.950 on the floor of the hive. It sits on the open 00:23:13.950 --> 00:23:19.089 mesh floor. Any mites that the bees might scrape 00:23:19.089 --> 00:23:22.549 off fall through the mesh floor immediately. 00:23:22.849 --> 00:23:26.349 So it's got that nice, there's a nice idea of 00:23:26.349 --> 00:23:29.970 the benefits of dislodging some of these mites 00:23:29.970 --> 00:23:32.690 result in the mite just disappearing out the 00:23:32.690 --> 00:23:36.539 hive. Some beekeepers have said that. It sells 00:23:36.539 --> 00:23:39.799 really well and beekeepers come back for more 00:23:39.799 --> 00:23:43.319 time and time again. But we have this new version 00:23:43.319 --> 00:23:46.400 which targets the nurse bees. It's right in amongst 00:23:46.400 --> 00:23:49.200 the combs and it has this really good trial, 00:23:50.359 --> 00:23:52.640 has this really good kind of results attached 00:23:52.640 --> 00:23:56.960 to it. So I'm just hoping that people will read 00:23:56.960 --> 00:23:59.279 the study and the study is available from my 00:23:59.279 --> 00:24:03.119 website and Vita do have a link to this study. 00:24:03.640 --> 00:24:05.750 But yeah. Yeah, that's where we're at at the 00:24:05.750 --> 00:24:08.890 moment. Well, I appreciate your very soft sell 00:24:08.890 --> 00:24:11.509 approach. Some people would be pushing this down 00:24:11.509 --> 00:24:14.589 our throats and I and I always tell guests this 00:24:14.589 --> 00:24:17.089 is not an infomercial, so don't go there. But 00:24:17.089 --> 00:24:20.670 but I appreciate it. And just to give a little 00:24:20.670 --> 00:24:23.150 background on, I have a fairly good pulse of 00:24:23.150 --> 00:24:27.589 a lot of beekeepers out there. And there's a 00:24:27.589 --> 00:24:30.650 couple of bottom lines going on here. One is 00:24:30.650 --> 00:24:33.819 for always a thing. If you're new to beekeeping 00:24:33.819 --> 00:24:36.799 and you think you could ignore it, you can't. 00:24:37.119 --> 00:24:39.859 Okay? But you have to do what you're comfortable 00:24:39.859 --> 00:24:43.140 with and a lot of people are comfortable with 00:24:43.140 --> 00:24:46.880 some of the I'll just call them chemical miticides 00:24:46.880 --> 00:24:49.619 that are out there. Some of them work very well. 00:24:49.980 --> 00:24:52.380 Some people are not comfortable with that and 00:24:52.380 --> 00:24:55.950 so they're looking for alternative methods. of 00:24:55.950 --> 00:24:58.630 getting rid of those mites this would be one 00:24:58.630 --> 00:25:01.609 of those alternative methods and like everything 00:25:01.609 --> 00:25:07.569 else that you use the key is test before and 00:25:07.569 --> 00:25:12.230 then test after and if it worked for you great 00:25:12.230 --> 00:25:16.769 if it worked but maybe you need something else 00:25:16.769 --> 00:25:20.769 then do something else too and in your situation 00:25:20.769 --> 00:25:23.240 may be a little different than the guy's down 00:25:23.240 --> 00:25:28.599 the street. So experiment, try different things, 00:25:28.759 --> 00:25:32.599 be open -minded to sometimes I might need a miticide, 00:25:33.099 --> 00:25:37.039 sometimes something like this or like a more 00:25:37.039 --> 00:25:40.299 organic type of miticide might be the answer, 00:25:40.619 --> 00:25:44.660 or it may be a combination. So be open -minded, 00:25:45.259 --> 00:25:48.759 test, test, test, see what works for you. And 00:25:48.759 --> 00:25:52.200 if you want another tool in your box, Here's 00:25:52.200 --> 00:25:55.319 another tool. Give it a shot. I think that's 00:25:55.319 --> 00:25:59.180 a really good approach to to see what works for 00:25:59.180 --> 00:26:01.559 you. Some beekeepers are going to be more comfortable 00:26:01.559 --> 00:26:05.880 working with non -chemical approaches. I would 00:26:05.880 --> 00:26:08.920 say personally be open -minded because if you 00:26:08.920 --> 00:26:12.180 suddenly have a really big infestation of Varroa, 00:26:12.480 --> 00:26:16.079 then you might have to do all it takes to get 00:26:16.079 --> 00:26:18.880 rid of them. But at the same time, like you said, 00:26:19.279 --> 00:26:23.440 So many beekeepers are at their heart, experimentational. 00:26:24.119 --> 00:26:27.079 They're people who can fix things and love to 00:26:27.079 --> 00:26:30.880 make things and come up with new ideas. So I 00:26:30.880 --> 00:26:32.759 would suggest if they want to try the Bee Gym 00:26:32.759 --> 00:26:37.539 approach, maybe try it in conjunction with other 00:26:37.539 --> 00:26:40.160 approaches as well. There's other sort of non 00:26:40.160 --> 00:26:43.200 -chemical approaches to do with bee husbandry. 00:26:43.640 --> 00:26:47.460 Those work well together. Yeah, it's a tool. 00:26:48.089 --> 00:26:51.910 That you can use in your arsenal of other tools 00:26:51.910 --> 00:26:54.890 That's where I'm coming from. Well, I appreciate 00:26:54.890 --> 00:26:57.890 that Hey Stuart, there's something that I ask 00:26:57.890 --> 00:26:59.970 all of our guests and I should have warned you 00:26:59.970 --> 00:27:02.609 upfront But I didn't so I'm gonna let you take 00:27:02.609 --> 00:27:04.509 a minute to think about this next one if you 00:27:04.509 --> 00:27:09.849 want to Every beekeeper has had some kind of 00:27:09.849 --> 00:27:12.970 wild and crazy beekeeping experience. Maybe a 00:27:12.970 --> 00:27:16.079 hundred of them I want you to think of something 00:27:16.079 --> 00:27:18.259 that you've had that you can share. This is something 00:27:18.259 --> 00:27:22.519 that could be funny or painful or just ridiculous 00:27:22.519 --> 00:27:25.119 in some way. Do you have a story you can share 00:27:25.119 --> 00:27:28.079 with us? I've got a few stories I'm just thinking 00:27:28.079 --> 00:27:30.920 through. It can be more than one, that's okay. 00:27:31.880 --> 00:27:35.720 Last year I had a novel beekeeping experience. 00:27:36.279 --> 00:27:39.380 for me. And that is, you can probably tell from 00:27:39.380 --> 00:27:42.339 my approach that I'm really into experimentation 00:27:42.339 --> 00:27:45.980 and I find honey bees really fascinating. So 00:27:45.980 --> 00:27:48.299 in a way, I don't need loads of hives. I just, 00:27:48.299 --> 00:27:51.579 I just observe honey bees. I do a lot of filming. 00:27:52.119 --> 00:27:55.640 I do a lot of thinking about how I might improve 00:27:55.640 --> 00:27:58.880 my invention for instance. But this guy was calling 00:27:58.880 --> 00:28:02.539 me from From Bristol, which is a city not so 00:28:02.539 --> 00:28:04.900 far away from here It's like 30 miles away from 00:28:04.900 --> 00:28:07.599 here and he really wanted me to come and remove 00:28:07.599 --> 00:28:12.980 some bees from his roof and So I think it's what 00:28:12.980 --> 00:28:16.599 you call a cutout and the bees have been there 00:28:16.599 --> 00:28:20.039 some time and this is quite unusual for a kind 00:28:20.039 --> 00:28:25.599 of Wild hive in the UK. It had really prospered. 00:28:25.599 --> 00:28:27.259 I didn't want to do it because it's not really 00:28:27.259 --> 00:28:31.789 my thing and I I suggested quite a few other 00:28:31.789 --> 00:28:34.950 beekeepers, really experienced beekeepers. Somebody 00:28:34.950 --> 00:28:39.250 quoted him like 8 ,000 pounds to take the bees 00:28:39.250 --> 00:28:42.430 out and he wasn't going to do it at that price. 00:28:42.930 --> 00:28:45.309 And what I was really impressed with is that 00:28:45.309 --> 00:28:48.109 he wasn't going to, he needed to remove the bees, 00:28:48.109 --> 00:28:49.890 but he wasn't going to kill them. He was going 00:28:49.890 --> 00:28:52.609 to do anything he could to get them out alive. 00:28:53.009 --> 00:28:57.710 So eventually I agreed to go and do it and he 00:28:58.000 --> 00:29:00.460 built a little scaffold he had a little tower 00:29:00.460 --> 00:29:03.359 there he had a roofer who had peeled away all 00:29:03.359 --> 00:29:06.579 the roof tiles and then it was my job to remove 00:29:06.579 --> 00:29:10.900 the colony but it's not really my thing i i love 00:29:10.900 --> 00:29:13.220 working with swarms and collecting swarms and 00:29:13.220 --> 00:29:16.059 stuff but this was something else it was just 00:29:16.190 --> 00:29:19.289 rafter after rafter after rafter in the roof 00:29:19.289 --> 00:29:22.730 was full of comb and the comb just went on and 00:29:22.730 --> 00:29:26.650 on. I had a bee vac with me but it was full and 00:29:26.650 --> 00:29:29.849 I was trying to empty it into other boxes and 00:29:29.849 --> 00:29:33.390 and it was just buckets of honey, buckets of 00:29:33.390 --> 00:29:37.109 comb, not really something from my beekeeping 00:29:37.109 --> 00:29:39.569 experience. I mean in the end I did manage it 00:29:39.569 --> 00:29:42.730 and I got the bees into a whopping great big 00:29:42.730 --> 00:29:46.440 hive back where I am in Gloucestershire. But 00:29:46.440 --> 00:29:50.319 at the end of the day, I was exhausted and I 00:29:50.319 --> 00:29:54.160 just could never do that again. Hats off to people 00:29:54.160 --> 00:29:57.700 who do that for a living. I didn't get a single 00:29:57.700 --> 00:30:03.920 sting. The bees were just so well mannered and 00:30:03.920 --> 00:30:07.220 really, really passive. I hardly used any smoke. 00:30:07.519 --> 00:30:09.339 It was a great experience from that point of 00:30:09.339 --> 00:30:13.000 view, but the sheer effort was something I never 00:30:13.000 --> 00:30:16.099 want to do again. I can add another hats off 00:30:16.099 --> 00:30:20.339 to people that do that in places like Texas where 00:30:20.339 --> 00:30:24.519 it's a hundred degrees Fahrenheit and and nearly 00:30:24.519 --> 00:30:27.859 a hundred percent humidity Imagine if it was 00:30:27.859 --> 00:30:30.099 that hot I'll bet it wasn't that hot where you 00:30:30.099 --> 00:30:35.259 are or if you're in an area that has Africanized 00:30:35.259 --> 00:30:39.619 bees, so they are really mean and We've had people 00:30:39.619 --> 00:30:43.009 on the show that do cutouts and removals from 00:30:43.009 --> 00:30:46.589 places like that. And yeah, they don't get paid 00:30:46.589 --> 00:30:51.289 enough. That is a skill in itself, really. Yeah. 00:30:51.329 --> 00:30:54.190 Hats off to people who can do that because fundamentally 00:30:54.190 --> 00:30:57.009 they're trying to save a colony. It's really 00:30:57.009 --> 00:30:59.589 good, a really good practice. Well, and here 00:30:59.589 --> 00:31:02.150 in the States, there are quite a few States where 00:31:02.150 --> 00:31:06.049 it's actually become illegal to just call an 00:31:06.049 --> 00:31:08.609 exterminator to kill them, to just spray them 00:31:08.609 --> 00:31:12.789 with poison, which is Wonderful that that's illegal, 00:31:12.789 --> 00:31:15.750 but it's not illegal everywhere. And so there 00:31:15.750 --> 00:31:18.750 are people that will go and they don't know the 00:31:18.750 --> 00:31:21.829 difference between bees hornets wasps or whatever. 00:31:22.109 --> 00:31:24.390 So they'll just call an exterminator and say 00:31:24.390 --> 00:31:27.910 just kill it. It's a lot cheaper than paying 00:31:27.910 --> 00:31:32.730 somebody like Stewart 8 ,000 pounds. You wish 00:31:32.730 --> 00:31:36.710 to come and remove this big thing. So, you know, 00:31:36.789 --> 00:31:38.690 hats off to everybody that's saving the bees 00:31:38.690 --> 00:31:41.799 out there. Absolutely. There's so impressive 00:31:41.799 --> 00:31:45.420 that that kind of work. And as you say, the economics 00:31:45.420 --> 00:31:48.220 of it, I mean, killing all the bees and buying 00:31:48.220 --> 00:31:52.059 a nuke to replace them would be a fraction of 00:31:52.059 --> 00:31:56.420 the cost. But it's really such a poor thing to 00:31:56.420 --> 00:32:01.079 do. And the opposite is a really great gesture 00:32:01.079 --> 00:32:06.180 that you value insects in that way. I won't be 00:32:06.180 --> 00:32:10.819 doing it again. Lesson learned and they're not 00:32:10.819 --> 00:32:13.660 all that big not all of them are as difficult 00:32:13.660 --> 00:32:16.380 as the one that you're talking about That thing 00:32:16.380 --> 00:32:19.839 sounds huge. If you have pictures Send me a picture 00:32:19.839 --> 00:32:23.039 too. I'd love to see it. Anyway, let's just wrap 00:32:23.039 --> 00:32:25.059 up with this This show is all about the love 00:32:25.059 --> 00:32:27.940 of honeybees and I can tell that you have that 00:32:27.940 --> 00:32:31.960 love Leave us with some kind of great message 00:32:31.960 --> 00:32:34.059 either of love for the bees or just some good 00:32:34.059 --> 00:32:38.009 advice Yeah, I mean I've never seen myself to 00:32:38.009 --> 00:32:43.970 be a sort of professional beekeeper. I'm really 00:32:43.970 --> 00:32:47.990 interested in honeybees and I'm really interested 00:32:47.990 --> 00:32:51.289 in just having them and working with them and 00:32:51.289 --> 00:32:54.230 what I can learn from them. I think if I had 00:32:54.230 --> 00:32:59.769 any advice to give is to really... Enjoy working 00:32:59.769 --> 00:33:02.089 with honeybees, but also we don't we haven't 00:33:02.089 --> 00:33:05.329 learned everything about them. I would experiment 00:33:05.329 --> 00:33:09.650 and think about what they're doing and and Yeah 00:33:09.650 --> 00:33:12.589 trying to improve your beekeeping experience 00:33:12.589 --> 00:33:15.289 by really getting to know them and maybe not 00:33:15.289 --> 00:33:17.849 necessarily worry too much about the quantity 00:33:17.849 --> 00:33:23.009 of of honey you're gonna Get from the hives I'd 00:33:23.009 --> 00:33:26.890 say even with one hive you can you can sit by 00:33:26.890 --> 00:33:30.309 the hive entrance and watch them. And you can 00:33:30.309 --> 00:33:33.890 just learn so much stuff. I mean, sometimes to 00:33:33.890 --> 00:33:36.170 the extent that you might not need to open up 00:33:36.170 --> 00:33:39.109 the hive, you can just see so much from their 00:33:39.109 --> 00:33:44.170 behavior. And I think for me, apart from swarming, 00:33:44.430 --> 00:33:48.369 which is just amazing, the watching what they're 00:33:48.369 --> 00:33:50.450 doing as they're coming and going, what are they 00:33:50.450 --> 00:33:52.710 bringing back with them? Their behavior is what 00:33:52.710 --> 00:33:56.299 I really love. And I lied. I have one more question. 00:33:57.059 --> 00:33:59.720 We'll call it a bonus question. You mentioned 00:33:59.720 --> 00:34:02.220 that you like filming the bees. Give us an idea 00:34:02.220 --> 00:34:04.400 of how you do it. Like what kind of equipment, 00:34:04.839 --> 00:34:09.019 how hard is it to do? I think some of us that 00:34:09.019 --> 00:34:11.199 have tried have not done a very good job. So 00:34:11.199 --> 00:34:13.940 give us some advice on that. Yeah, I started 00:34:13.940 --> 00:34:17.800 filming my honeybee colonies right from the start. 00:34:18.679 --> 00:34:21.800 My first approach was to build a brood box with 00:34:21.800 --> 00:34:26.099 some cutout panels and Perspex sort of inserted 00:34:26.099 --> 00:34:29.820 so that you could look into the combs. That kind 00:34:29.820 --> 00:34:32.679 of worked. I was using a conventional camera, 00:34:32.840 --> 00:34:35.579 a video camera that had quite a good macro lens. 00:34:36.440 --> 00:34:40.780 So I could actually zero in on a fairly small 00:34:40.780 --> 00:34:46.579 area of a comb and record that. I think I had 00:34:46.579 --> 00:34:51.139 more success with one of these plug -in microscopes. 00:34:52.010 --> 00:34:55.610 So you can get these kind of low power video 00:34:55.610 --> 00:35:00.150 microscopes that plug into a USB port in your 00:35:00.150 --> 00:35:04.190 computer. And what I have done in the past is 00:35:04.190 --> 00:35:08.670 kind of cover them in sort of cling film or plastic 00:35:08.670 --> 00:35:12.070 or something and embed them within the hive. 00:35:12.409 --> 00:35:14.690 If you're thinking about a particular spot you 00:35:14.690 --> 00:35:19.469 might want to film. In my case, I removed one 00:35:19.469 --> 00:35:22.829 of the broodcombs and had the camera. built into 00:35:22.829 --> 00:35:26.769 a brood frame. Some of these cameras have little 00:35:26.769 --> 00:35:32.489 LED lighting rings around the lens. So it's actually 00:35:32.489 --> 00:35:34.869 you've got everything you need there. You've 00:35:34.869 --> 00:35:36.889 got the camera, you've got your little lighting 00:35:36.889 --> 00:35:40.610 set up. You can vary the power of the LED lights 00:35:40.610 --> 00:35:44.389 and then it feeds back into your computer into 00:35:44.389 --> 00:35:48.110 various apps that can record on that. It's quite 00:35:48.110 --> 00:35:51.190 a commitment to actually kind of embed a little 00:35:51.260 --> 00:35:55.019 Micro camera into the hive, but you can get great 00:35:55.019 --> 00:35:57.860 results. You're gonna get a really sticky camera 00:35:57.860 --> 00:36:03.900 when you Yeah, yeah, I'd say that's that's one 00:36:03.900 --> 00:36:06.719 way to go. I mean some people use observation 00:36:06.719 --> 00:36:11.699 hives for me that's Interesting, but I don't 00:36:11.699 --> 00:36:14.139 really I don't have an observation hive and I 00:36:14.139 --> 00:36:16.480 don't really have anywhere to put it But yeah, 00:36:16.480 --> 00:36:19.820 I had really good results from this this way 00:36:19.820 --> 00:36:24.179 of embedding I think the brand is Celestron or 00:36:24.179 --> 00:36:27.519 something. They make these low -powered microscopes. 00:36:28.139 --> 00:36:30.199 And the little cameras, there's all kinds of, 00:36:30.280 --> 00:36:32.619 we used to call them lipstick cameras because 00:36:32.619 --> 00:36:35.719 they were about that size. They make them now 00:36:35.719 --> 00:36:39.079 that are on little, you've probably seen them 00:36:39.079 --> 00:36:42.079 in some kind of spy movie or something, but I 00:36:42.079 --> 00:36:44.960 think plumbers and other people use them. They're 00:36:44.960 --> 00:36:48.380 a little teeny camera on the end of a bendable. 00:36:49.150 --> 00:36:52.449 Deal and so you can stick them up and in and 00:36:52.449 --> 00:36:54.590 around but remember you need lights pretty dark 00:36:54.590 --> 00:36:57.329 in there but another fun experimental thing to 00:36:57.329 --> 00:37:01.070 do with your bees. Yeah absolutely and again 00:37:01.070 --> 00:37:04.469 you might observe things that nobody else's observed 00:37:04.469 --> 00:37:09.309 it could happen we know their behaviors is really. 00:37:10.050 --> 00:37:13.070 Quite extraordinary you might. get some really 00:37:13.070 --> 00:37:15.170 good original video. I like the sound of these 00:37:15.170 --> 00:37:16.869 little cameras you're talking about they're probably 00:37:16.869 --> 00:37:19.929 more practical than kind of embedding a video 00:37:19.929 --> 00:37:22.969 microscope but you know the times have changed 00:37:22.969 --> 00:37:24.989 and by the sound of it you can get a more appropriate 00:37:24.989 --> 00:37:28.530 camera. One thing that you mentioned that is 00:37:28.530 --> 00:37:31.050 so important is to get some light in there but 00:37:31.050 --> 00:37:33.389 you can use an external light again if you had 00:37:33.389 --> 00:37:37.889 a cutout panel in your brood box with a perspex 00:37:37.889 --> 00:37:41.050 side on it you could bring a light in from the 00:37:41.050 --> 00:37:43.989 side. feasibly and that would make it a huge 00:37:43.989 --> 00:37:45.969 difference. I guess if you've got an open mesh 00:37:45.969 --> 00:37:48.469 floor, you could put a light in from below, but 00:37:48.469 --> 00:37:51.150 I never tried that. I'm not not sure exactly 00:37:51.150 --> 00:37:54.429 how that would work, but yeah. They make little 00:37:54.429 --> 00:37:58.550 lights. In fact, I have one when I do this podcast 00:37:58.550 --> 00:38:02.349 remotely sometimes instead of these little studio 00:38:02.349 --> 00:38:05.360 lights that I have to plug in. They make little 00:38:05.360 --> 00:38:09.920 LEDs that are about this big that are rechargeable 00:38:09.920 --> 00:38:14.300 just through a USB port. And I would think you 00:38:14.300 --> 00:38:17.960 could take off either the inner cover or if you 00:38:17.960 --> 00:38:20.579 had like a feeder box on top, you could just 00:38:20.579 --> 00:38:23.199 stick it in there, aim it down, put the cover 00:38:23.199 --> 00:38:27.340 back on. Beekeepers are smart and they're inventive. 00:38:27.719 --> 00:38:29.900 Share with us everybody some of the things that 00:38:29.900 --> 00:38:32.739 you're using out there. And anyway, Stuart, I 00:38:32.739 --> 00:38:35.320 will let you go. It's been fun to see you again 00:38:35.320 --> 00:38:40.320 after seeing you in Copenhagen last fall. And 00:38:40.320 --> 00:38:42.900 let's do it again sometime. Absolutely. Thank 00:38:42.900 --> 00:38:45.400 you so much, Eric. And yeah, good luck to everybody 00:38:45.400 --> 00:38:50.829 out there watching the podcast. Thanks again 00:38:50.829 --> 00:38:53.469 for joining us on Bee Love Beekeeping presented 00:38:53.469 --> 00:38:56.050 by our great friends over at Man Lake. Hey, and 00:38:56.050 --> 00:38:58.550 don't forget to order your bees. And a shout 00:38:58.550 --> 00:39:01.570 out to Vita Bee Health for their support. Vita's 00:39:01.570 --> 00:39:04.230 Varroa Control Ranger products includes Epistan, 00:39:04.389 --> 00:39:08.730 Epigard, and now Varroxan Extended Release Oxalic 00:39:08.730 --> 00:39:12.670 Acid Strips. Thank you so much guys. If you haven't 00:39:12.670 --> 00:39:15.719 yet, please subscribe and follow the show, tell 00:39:15.719 --> 00:39:17.980 your friends about it, and click on over to Be 00:39:17.980 --> 00:39:20.900 Love Beekeeping dot com to sign up for our free 00:39:20.900 --> 00:39:24.320 newsletter. If you have a guest suggestion or 00:39:24.320 --> 00:39:26.480 topic that you'd like discussed on the show, 00:39:26.860 --> 00:39:29.219 shoot me an email, eric at Be Love Beekeeping 00:39:29.219 --> 00:39:32.219 dot com. And remember, if you're not just in 00:39:32.219 --> 00:39:34.699 it for the honey or the money, you're in it for 00:39:34.699 --> 00:39:36.420 the love. See you next week.