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 --> 00:01:12.170 like a penguin on a hot sidewalk. This is their 00:01:12.170 --> 00:01:29.239 journey. We are so fortunate to have today's 00:01:29.239 --> 00:01:32.219 guest, Debbie Saib, president of the American 00:01:32.219 --> 00:01:35.400 Beekeeping Federation. We'll be discussing everything 00:01:35.400 --> 00:01:39.480 from adulterated and fraudulent honey to varroa 00:01:39.480 --> 00:01:42.599 and tropimites, basically anything and everything 00:01:42.599 --> 00:01:45.480 that's important to today's beekeeping. Also, 00:01:45.560 --> 00:01:47.980 hey, I just wanted to mention that last night 00:01:47.980 --> 00:01:51.159 I saw the first episode of National Geographic's 00:01:51.159 --> 00:01:55.290 new Secrets of the Bees documentary series. And 00:01:55.290 --> 00:01:59.390 I must say the videography is beautiful and amazing, 00:02:00.090 --> 00:02:02.629 especially being able to see many things from 00:02:02.629 --> 00:02:05.989 the perspective of actually being inside the 00:02:05.989 --> 00:02:08.550 hive. Highly recommended. Give it a look and 00:02:08.550 --> 00:02:11.229 let me know what you think. And speaking of inside 00:02:11.229 --> 00:02:14.550 the hive, great segue, huh? Let's take a minute 00:02:14.550 --> 00:02:17.389 for our very own inside the hive feature, which 00:02:17.389 --> 00:02:20.689 is brought to us every week by Primal Bee. Here 00:02:20.689 --> 00:02:24.330 is something amazing about honey bees. The temperature 00:02:24.330 --> 00:02:29.729 inside the brood nest has to be exactly 95 degrees 00:02:29.729 --> 00:02:33.870 Fahrenheit, that's 35 degrees Celsius. Not about 00:02:33.870 --> 00:02:38.729 or close to 95, not maybe in the area, but exactly 00:02:38.729 --> 00:02:42.849 95 degrees. Baby bees developing inside their 00:02:42.849 --> 00:02:46.680 cells are incredibly sensitive. Drop the temperature 00:02:46.680 --> 00:02:49.539 just a few degrees and you start seeing problems. 00:02:50.020 --> 00:02:53.879 Wings don't form right, shorter lifespans, bees 00:02:53.879 --> 00:02:56.180 that can't learn navigation as well, which means 00:02:56.180 --> 00:02:59.219 they get lost on foraging flights and never come 00:02:59.219 --> 00:03:02.539 home. Drop at a few more degrees and a lot of 00:03:02.539 --> 00:03:04.599 them don't even make it out of the cell at all. 00:03:04.810 --> 00:03:09.090 So the colony pays whatever cost it takes to 00:03:09.090 --> 00:03:11.889 keep that temperature in the right range. In 00:03:11.889 --> 00:03:15.550 cold weather, nurse bees press their bodies against 00:03:15.550 --> 00:03:18.949 cat brood cells and vibrate their flight muscles 00:03:18.949 --> 00:03:22.530 to generate heat. They are living space heaters. 00:03:22.870 --> 00:03:26.090 In hot weather, they fan and spread water to 00:03:26.090 --> 00:03:29.250 bring the temperatures back down. This effort 00:03:29.250 --> 00:03:31.810 runs around the clock and it's one of the biggest 00:03:31.810 --> 00:03:35.229 energy drains or as we like to say energy bills 00:03:35.229 --> 00:03:39.689 in the whole hive. In the wild bees choose nesting 00:03:39.689 --> 00:03:42.629 spots with thick walls that hold temperature 00:03:42.629 --> 00:03:45.729 naturally. The less work they have to do to hit 00:03:45.729 --> 00:03:49.009 95 degrees, the more energy they have for everything 00:03:49.009 --> 00:03:52.550 else. Making honey, raising brood, fighting off 00:03:52.550 --> 00:03:56.830 problems and beekeeping, thermodynamics really 00:03:56.830 --> 00:04:04.360 do matter. I'd like to welcome our very special 00:04:04.360 --> 00:04:07.060 guest today, Debbie Seib. How are you, Debbie? 00:04:07.659 --> 00:04:10.639 Great. Nice to see you. Coming to us from the 00:04:10.639 --> 00:04:14.599 very, very cold Indiana right now. Yes. I know 00:04:14.599 --> 00:04:17.639 you've had some crazy storms out there this winter. 00:04:18.259 --> 00:04:20.540 We're going to be talking about everything from 00:04:20.540 --> 00:04:23.720 ABF because you're the new president. Congratulations 00:04:23.720 --> 00:04:27.819 to your own beekeeping business and your own 00:04:27.819 --> 00:04:30.160 love of bees and a little bit of everything in 00:04:30.160 --> 00:04:34.079 between. Where do you want to start? Well, I 00:04:34.079 --> 00:04:36.620 could start with introduction. I would love that. 00:04:36.800 --> 00:04:38.970 Tell us a little bit about you. Yeah, my name 00:04:38.970 --> 00:04:42.050 is Debbie Seib. I am co -owner of Seib's Fisher 00:04:42.050 --> 00:04:45.250 Honey and I am currently the new president for 00:04:45.250 --> 00:04:47.910 the American Beekeeping Federation. I got started 00:04:47.910 --> 00:04:52.970 in bees about 37 years ago, about 39, oops, when 00:04:52.970 --> 00:04:56.470 I met my husband and he was a beekeeper. So on 00:04:56.470 --> 00:04:58.569 one of our dates, he said, let's go get into 00:04:58.569 --> 00:05:01.370 some beehives. And I turned it in and said, are 00:05:01.370 --> 00:05:03.769 you crazy? But I did fall in love with them. 00:05:03.889 --> 00:05:06.670 They're very cool. I like the little creatures. 00:05:07.110 --> 00:05:09.350 I have went through a transition of where when 00:05:09.350 --> 00:05:13.170 I first started, I wore a full suit, gloves, 00:05:13.509 --> 00:05:16.930 hat, veil. And it was the old hot cotton ones 00:05:16.930 --> 00:05:20.670 to graduating to a ventilated. suit and then 00:05:20.670 --> 00:05:23.389 graduating to a ventilated jacket. And that was 00:05:23.389 --> 00:05:26.050 a big thrill for me many years ago. Yeah. So 00:05:26.050 --> 00:05:28.470 that's, that's pretty much how I got into beekeeping. 00:05:28.790 --> 00:05:32.410 How are you with gloves? I use gloves all the 00:05:32.410 --> 00:05:35.269 time. I always use gloves. We've talked about 00:05:35.269 --> 00:05:40.069 this, it seems like a lot recently. PPE. I don't 00:05:40.069 --> 00:05:43.209 want anybody to feel like they are not the coolest 00:05:43.209 --> 00:05:46.129 beekeeper around if they're decked out from head 00:05:46.129 --> 00:05:49.459 to toe. I think everybody should be comfortable 00:05:49.459 --> 00:05:52.879 and if that means just a jacket or if that means 00:05:52.879 --> 00:05:56.620 just a veil or if it means head to toe and thick 00:05:56.620 --> 00:06:00.040 leather gloves, good for you. There's no shame 00:06:00.040 --> 00:06:03.560 and there's also no prizes for some of the people 00:06:03.560 --> 00:06:06.319 on YouTube that are trying to look like they 00:06:06.319 --> 00:06:09.319 can wrangle any kind of bees they want with perfect 00:06:09.319 --> 00:06:12.800 hair and makeup and everything else. Yeah, I 00:06:12.800 --> 00:06:14.959 do not look like this when I'm in the beehives, 00:06:15.019 --> 00:06:17.980 I will tell you that. But I will also tell you, 00:06:18.060 --> 00:06:20.060 this is the fun fact that you will know and a 00:06:20.060 --> 00:06:22.680 lot of people are shocked at. I've never been 00:06:22.680 --> 00:06:26.279 stung by a honeybee. And after doing it for 39 00:06:26.279 --> 00:06:29.220 years, I get the eyebrow raise just like what 00:06:29.220 --> 00:06:32.800 you did. Basically is because I love my bees. 00:06:32.879 --> 00:06:34.819 I'm very comfortable with them. I can go out 00:06:34.819 --> 00:06:36.839 there and I have no problem getting into the 00:06:36.839 --> 00:06:40.500 hives. I can pop them open. I can get, I can 00:06:40.500 --> 00:06:43.500 help my husband do splits. I cannot raise queens. 00:06:43.579 --> 00:06:45.240 I'm not very good at that because I don't have 00:06:45.240 --> 00:06:48.860 the eyesight for it. I wear a jacket with hat 00:06:48.860 --> 00:06:52.319 that has the veil on it, the fencing veil, and 00:06:52.319 --> 00:06:54.800 I wear gloves. They're not heavy, but they're 00:06:54.800 --> 00:06:56.680 heavy enough to where I'm comfortable to not 00:06:56.680 --> 00:07:00.439 get stung. I don't have heart palpitations when 00:07:00.439 --> 00:07:03.379 I go out there because I'm suited. I wear jeans, 00:07:03.379 --> 00:07:06.620 of course, and when it's really hot, I wear a 00:07:06.620 --> 00:07:09.399 short sleeve t -shirt underneath my jacket. That 00:07:09.399 --> 00:07:12.579 is why I do that because I've tried once before. 00:07:12.970 --> 00:07:15.829 not doing it and I got about halfway down to 00:07:15.829 --> 00:07:18.730 the apiary and I could hardly breathe and I'm 00:07:18.730 --> 00:07:21.089 like, why am I doing this to impress somebody 00:07:21.089 --> 00:07:24.430 else who's not even here? So yeah, I'm very comfortable. 00:07:24.670 --> 00:07:27.230 I love my bees. Good for you. Sounds like they 00:07:27.230 --> 00:07:30.550 love you too. If you ever get down to Texas or 00:07:30.550 --> 00:07:32.949 Southern California or Arizona where they have 00:07:32.949 --> 00:07:36.509 Africanized bees, hopefully you still won't ever 00:07:36.509 --> 00:07:39.579 have a sting. We'll see. Well, I have some friends 00:07:39.579 --> 00:07:43.240 that were around Africanized bees and they suited 00:07:43.240 --> 00:07:45.600 up and they had two layer of gloves on and said 00:07:45.600 --> 00:07:48.660 they still got stung. So I'm not sure if I want 00:07:48.660 --> 00:07:51.800 to try it, but someday I may. Well, I want to 00:07:51.800 --> 00:07:54.120 hear a little bit about your beekeeping business 00:07:54.120 --> 00:07:59.459 first. So I will tell you that we grew from having 00:07:59.459 --> 00:08:04.519 just 10 hives to around 150 to 200. Depending 00:08:04.519 --> 00:08:07.019 on the time of year, sometimes we get up to 250 00:08:07.019 --> 00:08:09.620 or three because we split our hives and sell 00:08:09.620 --> 00:08:12.079 off nukes. We have eight different apiaries. 00:08:12.300 --> 00:08:15.279 We do pollination, but we keep all our pollination 00:08:15.279 --> 00:08:17.860 in the state of Indiana. We have never taken 00:08:17.860 --> 00:08:21.600 our bees outside. So some of them, when my husband 00:08:21.600 --> 00:08:24.199 lived in Kentucky, originated down there. Of 00:08:24.199 --> 00:08:26.819 course, those bees... are gone now but they did 00:08:26.819 --> 00:08:29.240 come up into Indiana they were inspected and 00:08:29.240 --> 00:08:31.079 then they were came up to Indiana but we don't 00:08:31.079 --> 00:08:33.259 take them outside for pollination or anything 00:08:33.259 --> 00:08:37.419 like that we sell honey we sell high products 00:08:37.419 --> 00:08:41.139 we have people that stop by the our home to get 00:08:41.139 --> 00:08:44.000 our high products and our honey so we're pretty 00:08:44.000 --> 00:08:46.919 just all around beekeeping we are a man -like 00:08:46.919 --> 00:08:50.700 dealer so we sell equipment so once a year we 00:08:50.700 --> 00:08:53.049 would do what was called the newbie day we would 00:08:53.049 --> 00:08:56.149 bring new beekeepers to our home, and we would 00:08:56.149 --> 00:08:59.190 do about two hours of education session, and 00:08:59.190 --> 00:09:02.269 then we would take them out, we would do a ram 00:09:02.269 --> 00:09:04.269 -robin. So we would teach them about different 00:09:04.269 --> 00:09:06.889 types of equipment, show them how to put it together, 00:09:07.309 --> 00:09:10.049 do some hands -on, and then the third part was 00:09:10.049 --> 00:09:13.370 we take them out and do a hive inspection. Basically 00:09:13.370 --> 00:09:15.610 what we're looking for is a couple things. First 00:09:15.610 --> 00:09:19.690 of all, are they really interested, and they 00:09:19.690 --> 00:09:22.370 so scared that this is really just not a hobby 00:09:22.370 --> 00:09:25.129 for them to get into because I hate getting somebody 00:09:25.129 --> 00:09:27.649 started into it and then a couple years later 00:09:27.649 --> 00:09:30.750 you see all their equipment on Facebook marketplace 00:09:30.750 --> 00:09:34.190 or you know being sold somewhere and I'd really 00:09:34.190 --> 00:09:37.009 like not to do that but so far we've had really 00:09:37.009 --> 00:09:40.129 good luck because all of the people when going 00:09:40.129 --> 00:09:42.789 through our school are still beekeepers That's 00:09:42.789 --> 00:09:45.750 really good that education really makes a difference 00:09:45.750 --> 00:09:48.370 I have a friend who got started in beekeeping 00:09:48.370 --> 00:09:53.049 and I had no idea that he was doing it and After 00:09:53.049 --> 00:09:57.929 his second season I ran into him at another place 00:09:57.929 --> 00:10:00.549 doesn't matter And he said oh, yeah, I tried 00:10:00.549 --> 00:10:04.350 that beekeeping didn't work for me All we did 00:10:04.350 --> 00:10:07.250 is we got one jar of honey and all the bees died 00:10:07.250 --> 00:10:11.419 and I'm like I didn't even know where to start 00:10:11.419 --> 00:10:15.500 because You know the education is just such an 00:10:15.500 --> 00:10:20.080 important part to being not only successful But 00:10:20.080 --> 00:10:23.519 dealing with loss when loss happens So you're 00:10:23.519 --> 00:10:27.039 not just giving up and I like to ask people. 00:10:27.299 --> 00:10:30.019 What is your why? Why are you getting into it? 00:10:30.440 --> 00:10:32.899 If it's only for the honey and that's all you 00:10:32.899 --> 00:10:36.220 care about I Tell people to go to the store and 00:10:36.220 --> 00:10:39.600 buy some Yeah, interestingly, one of the slides 00:10:39.600 --> 00:10:42.100 that we have in our education class was talking 00:10:42.100 --> 00:10:44.059 about why are you getting into beekeeping? Is 00:10:44.059 --> 00:10:46.639 it because love of the bees? Do you want to see 00:10:46.639 --> 00:10:49.679 in help with pollination? Is it to make money? 00:10:49.879 --> 00:10:51.679 And if it's to make money, you're probably in 00:10:51.679 --> 00:10:54.759 the wrong business, unless you want to go really 00:10:54.759 --> 00:10:57.440 big. So those are things that you need to know 00:10:57.440 --> 00:11:00.399 before you get started. Most beekeepers that 00:11:00.399 --> 00:11:03.399 start out, if you don't get them past their third 00:11:03.399 --> 00:11:06.889 year, they will stop being beekeeping. And so 00:11:06.889 --> 00:11:08.909 a couple pieces of advice we always tell them 00:11:08.909 --> 00:11:12.230 is find a local club. That is key. Get around 00:11:12.230 --> 00:11:14.309 other people that are excited about beekeeping. 00:11:15.110 --> 00:11:17.649 Find a mentor. Some people say that they will 00:11:17.649 --> 00:11:20.509 educate, but they will not mentor. And that's 00:11:20.509 --> 00:11:23.250 great. Other people are great mentors. The biggest 00:11:23.250 --> 00:11:26.450 thing is just have somebody that works with you, 00:11:26.490 --> 00:11:30.090 that works your same schedule. So if you're an 00:11:30.090 --> 00:11:32.629 on 12 hours and off 12 hours, you need somebody 00:11:32.629 --> 00:11:34.840 else that can do that. well. And then somebody 00:11:34.840 --> 00:11:39.019 that's like you. So for instance, if you're someone 00:11:39.019 --> 00:11:40.700 who wants to get the bees, but you want to kind 00:11:40.700 --> 00:11:43.019 of joke around a little bit, you need a mentor 00:11:43.019 --> 00:11:44.879 that's going to do that. Because if you've got 00:11:44.879 --> 00:11:47.279 a mentor that's just, you know, let's just do 00:11:47.279 --> 00:11:49.139 this and this and this, that's not going to be 00:11:49.139 --> 00:11:52.720 as much fun for you or them. So you can make 00:11:52.720 --> 00:11:55.279 it work. You can always make beekeeping work. 00:11:55.279 --> 00:11:57.440 And I challenge everybody out there. You can 00:11:57.440 --> 00:12:02.080 do it. What's the fun part for you? Oh, wow. 00:12:04.470 --> 00:12:07.789 Spring. Spring when you start seeing these hives 00:12:07.789 --> 00:12:11.370 start busting out and the queens are laying again 00:12:11.370 --> 00:12:16.190 and the bees are out. Today you cannot see it, 00:12:16.190 --> 00:12:20.210 but it is snowing here. Yesterday we had 70 degree 00:12:20.210 --> 00:12:23.169 weather. So I always say our bees are so confused 00:12:23.169 --> 00:12:25.850 right now, but yesterday as I was standing out 00:12:25.850 --> 00:12:27.850 in the yard and I could see the bees going in 00:12:27.850 --> 00:12:29.950 and out, it was really cool. That's the fun part 00:12:29.950 --> 00:12:33.169 for me. It's making sure that the fun part is 00:12:33.169 --> 00:12:35.210 to see hives that made it through the winter. 00:12:35.730 --> 00:12:38.409 All the things that you do, no matter what, that 00:12:38.409 --> 00:12:40.490 they made it through the winter. That's the fun 00:12:40.490 --> 00:12:43.899 part. Let's talk about spring for a minute. We 00:12:43.899 --> 00:12:46.320 all know that is a time that if we're not careful 00:12:46.320 --> 00:12:49.340 those bees are actually going to starve and it 00:12:49.340 --> 00:12:51.960 is heartbreaking if they make it through winter 00:12:51.960 --> 00:12:56.379 and then come March they starve out. So would 00:12:56.379 --> 00:12:58.419 you just tell me some of the things that you 00:12:58.419 --> 00:13:02.279 and your husband do this time of year and and 00:13:02.279 --> 00:13:05.559 this is being recorded in the second half of 00:13:05.559 --> 00:13:09.559 March 2026. What kinds of things do you do as 00:13:09.559 --> 00:13:13.399 far as Varroa and food and I don't know when 00:13:13.399 --> 00:13:16.120 it's time for splits in your area, but kind of 00:13:16.120 --> 00:13:18.399 run us through some of that Gosh, let me start 00:13:18.399 --> 00:13:20.259 with the things that you ask and hope I don't 00:13:20.259 --> 00:13:23.500 forget any actually our spring starts in the 00:13:23.500 --> 00:13:26.820 fall Because if you don't have enough food on 00:13:26.820 --> 00:13:29.419 the bees in the fall They're not gonna make it 00:13:29.419 --> 00:13:30.860 to winter and if they make it through winter 00:13:30.860 --> 00:13:33.480 They may not make it through the springtime when 00:13:33.480 --> 00:13:36.860 you have cold and hot days You have to make sure 00:13:36.860 --> 00:13:38.879 that the food source is close enough to them 00:13:38.879 --> 00:13:41.299 because bees will move up in a ball as you know. 00:13:41.419 --> 00:13:46.519 So if you have a small frame, if you have a 10 00:13:46.519 --> 00:13:50.860 deep, 10 wide, and you've got two deep boxes 00:13:50.860 --> 00:13:54.519 on it, they'll go up. So once they go up, if 00:13:54.519 --> 00:13:57.159 it's not warm enough to them go to the side, 00:13:57.519 --> 00:13:59.480 they keep going up and at some point if you don't 00:13:59.480 --> 00:14:01.759 have food on the top, that's when they start 00:14:01.759 --> 00:14:04.779 starving. And that can happen anywhere in March 00:14:04.779 --> 00:14:06.639 when it starts warming up and they start getting 00:14:06.639 --> 00:14:09.279 more active and they need food and yet nothing's 00:14:09.279 --> 00:14:11.960 out there. So that's one thing that we want to 00:14:11.960 --> 00:14:14.080 make sure of is that we have enough food on it 00:14:14.080 --> 00:14:17.240 in the fall. But we do on a warm day, we'll go 00:14:17.240 --> 00:14:19.899 out and pop the top or we will, if it's too cold, 00:14:20.039 --> 00:14:22.720 we'll lift the back just to see if we feel like 00:14:22.720 --> 00:14:25.200 there's enough weight on there that they've still 00:14:25.200 --> 00:14:27.820 got food in there. We don't use candy boards, 00:14:28.019 --> 00:14:30.379 but we do something that's more like an igloo. 00:14:31.639 --> 00:14:35.440 We'll make an igloo of sugar and we'll put that 00:14:35.440 --> 00:14:38.659 in there. So it does a couple things. First of 00:14:38.659 --> 00:14:42.340 all, the bees will go up into the sugar. and 00:14:42.340 --> 00:14:45.360 they'll eat from the inside, that sugar will 00:14:45.360 --> 00:14:47.899 absorb moisture, so it does the second thing, 00:14:48.179 --> 00:14:50.379 but it gives them food if they get a warm day, 00:14:50.399 --> 00:14:52.019 but they can't, it's not warm enough for them 00:14:52.019 --> 00:14:54.399 to go outside of the hive, they can actually 00:14:54.399 --> 00:14:58.019 have some food source. We put in things like 00:14:58.019 --> 00:15:01.980 additives, Honey Bee Healthy, we use some supplements 00:15:01.980 --> 00:15:08.789 from Micro - Hive Alive. Yes, thank you. Yeah, 00:15:08.990 --> 00:15:11.470 so we put that in there as well to make sure 00:15:11.470 --> 00:15:13.929 that they're healthy because healthy bees make 00:15:13.929 --> 00:15:16.970 good bees. Basically, if they're not healthy, 00:15:17.090 --> 00:15:19.590 it doesn't matter. So that's a couple things 00:15:19.590 --> 00:15:22.210 that we do. And then the other thing you ask 00:15:22.210 --> 00:15:26.409 is, what do we do for treatments? This past summer, 00:15:27.289 --> 00:15:29.049 we, you know, you hear all these new treatments 00:15:29.049 --> 00:15:30.710 that are coming out and are they good or are 00:15:30.710 --> 00:15:32.389 they bad or are they working or are they not? 00:15:32.830 --> 00:15:35.230 So we wanted to do some tests. So with eight 00:15:35.230 --> 00:15:37.730 different apiaries, we can do tests on different 00:15:37.730 --> 00:15:40.809 ones and see which ones works, which ones didn't 00:15:40.809 --> 00:15:44.490 work. And the ones that worked, we didn't have 00:15:44.490 --> 00:15:47.720 any that didn't work. If you follow the directions, 00:15:48.039 --> 00:15:50.799 I just can't say that enough. Follow the directions. 00:15:51.159 --> 00:15:54.759 We use oxalic acid, we rotate. So sometimes we 00:15:54.759 --> 00:15:58.200 use oxalic acid and sometimes we use other, but 00:15:58.200 --> 00:16:01.980 we check. And that's the key. If you're going 00:16:01.980 --> 00:16:05.000 to treat, you have to check. Was it effective? 00:16:05.139 --> 00:16:06.879 Because it wasn't effective, then you need to 00:16:06.879 --> 00:16:09.200 treat again. And so that's something too, is 00:16:09.200 --> 00:16:11.870 make sure your mic counts are low. or as low 00:16:11.870 --> 00:16:14.049 as you can possibly get them. You certainly do 00:16:14.049 --> 00:16:16.850 not want, you know, 10. You don't want to do 00:16:16.850 --> 00:16:19.690 a mite count of 10. And then looking at other 00:16:19.690 --> 00:16:22.169 pests and diseases, it's not just the Varroa. 00:16:22.529 --> 00:16:25.210 You need to look, have they already spread some 00:16:25.210 --> 00:16:27.649 of the diseases? Do you have other pests in there 00:16:27.649 --> 00:16:30.230 you need to keep down? A lot of that is just 00:16:30.230 --> 00:16:33.909 keeping a healthy hive. So we had one hive this 00:16:33.909 --> 00:16:36.330 year. Actually, there was three of them in a 00:16:36.330 --> 00:16:40.759 row. They were just overridden by yellow jackets. 00:16:41.779 --> 00:16:44.740 So what, and yellow jackets and a healthy hive 00:16:44.740 --> 00:16:47.340 usually do not kill the hive, but the inside, 00:16:47.440 --> 00:16:50.639 the inner cover, inside the frames was just full 00:16:50.639 --> 00:16:53.759 of yellow jackets and it was a dead out. So when 00:16:53.759 --> 00:16:56.220 we got to looking around, we're like, oh, something's 00:16:56.220 --> 00:16:59.279 going on here. There was a yellow jacket nest 00:16:59.279 --> 00:17:02.860 right next to the hive in the ground and it was 00:17:02.860 --> 00:17:06.299 huge. So those are things other pests can also 00:17:06.299 --> 00:17:09.099 bother them. Scratching on the side says you've 00:17:09.099 --> 00:17:11.200 either got you know raccoons or something like 00:17:11.200 --> 00:17:13.359 that trying to get in the hives So in the spring 00:17:13.359 --> 00:17:15.900 we want to make sure we've got healthy hives 00:17:15.900 --> 00:17:19.000 We've got a healthy environment for them on warm 00:17:19.000 --> 00:17:22.480 days. We do go check them As much as we can if 00:17:22.480 --> 00:17:24.200 it's gonna be cold, we don't want to break the 00:17:24.200 --> 00:17:26.559 cluster But those are things we do to try to 00:17:26.559 --> 00:17:29.480 keep them alive in the March time frame because 00:17:29.480 --> 00:17:31.500 it is devastating We don't count our losses. 00:17:31.559 --> 00:17:33.900 We personally don't count our losses till the 00:17:33.900 --> 00:17:36.799 beginning of April, but it's devastating to go 00:17:36.799 --> 00:17:39.059 out Let's say you go out in February and you've 00:17:39.059 --> 00:17:41.779 got 90 % of your hives have made it and you're 00:17:41.779 --> 00:17:44.220 like woohoo. I only have a 10 % loss This is 00:17:44.220 --> 00:17:47.180 great. And then you go out in April and you see 00:17:47.180 --> 00:17:51.910 now you're at 50 % it it is It's sad and it is 00:17:51.910 --> 00:17:54.430 devastating to see that. You know, people come 00:17:54.430 --> 00:17:56.329 to me and say, hey, Debbie, what'd you think 00:17:56.329 --> 00:17:59.109 about this treatment or what would you recommend? 00:17:59.650 --> 00:18:02.769 I like to, I don't recommend a brand either. 00:18:02.829 --> 00:18:04.289 I don't think that's right and I don't think 00:18:04.289 --> 00:18:06.670 it's fair. I will tell them my experience with 00:18:06.670 --> 00:18:09.130 each one and I can't give them an experience 00:18:09.130 --> 00:18:11.990 if I haven't tried it. So. Well, and one thing 00:18:11.990 --> 00:18:14.309 that we learned especially last year is that 00:18:14.309 --> 00:18:17.160 we need to rotate treatments. Right. Something 00:18:17.160 --> 00:18:19.440 that worked three years ago may not work this 00:18:19.440 --> 00:18:22.019 year. There may be a resistance built up, or 00:18:22.019 --> 00:18:24.960 there may be something else going on. If we were 00:18:24.960 --> 00:18:27.720 naming brands, we would never say there's one 00:18:27.720 --> 00:18:31.099 and I'll be all for everything Virola. Because 00:18:31.099 --> 00:18:33.559 there isn't. Just doesn't work that way. Right. 00:18:34.240 --> 00:18:36.619 I wish it were that simple. Yeah, if something 00:18:36.619 --> 00:18:39.339 worked that well. I've had people tell me they've 00:18:39.339 --> 00:18:41.299 never lost their hives for Virola, they don't 00:18:41.299 --> 00:18:45.410 have mites. If that were really true, then that 00:18:45.410 --> 00:18:48.029 person would be a multi -billionaire because 00:18:48.029 --> 00:18:50.450 everybody would be doing what they're doing. 00:18:51.309 --> 00:18:54.170 And that's right. When something that works really 00:18:54.170 --> 00:18:56.529 well this year, you need to rotate so they don't 00:18:56.529 --> 00:19:00.369 get resistant. When do you do splits in your 00:19:00.369 --> 00:19:02.730 area? And I know it's weather dependent. This 00:19:02.730 --> 00:19:04.650 year with all the snow, it may be later than 00:19:04.650 --> 00:19:08.029 usual, but give me an idea of average. Ours is 00:19:08.029 --> 00:19:10.730 usually in May. We wait until we know that we 00:19:10.730 --> 00:19:13.150 have purple -eyed drones. Purple -eyed drones 00:19:13.150 --> 00:19:15.500 are drones that when you you know, open up the 00:19:15.500 --> 00:19:17.700 cell that got pupilized so far. Because that 00:19:17.700 --> 00:19:20.380 means they'll be sexually mature when your splits 00:19:20.380 --> 00:19:22.019 are occurring and you're having to graft for 00:19:22.019 --> 00:19:24.420 queens. You're grafting for queens, you have 00:19:24.420 --> 00:19:27.140 to get them mated. And if you don't have good 00:19:27.140 --> 00:19:29.519 drones, then you can't make them. So that's when 00:19:29.519 --> 00:19:32.319 we do splits. And again, everything is weather 00:19:32.319 --> 00:19:34.400 dependent. We've done them as early as April 00:19:34.400 --> 00:19:37.119 before because the weather was just great. But 00:19:37.119 --> 00:19:39.900 I don't know, this weather this year, we're gonna 00:19:39.900 --> 00:19:42.900 hold off. Yeah. You should come out here to the 00:19:42.900 --> 00:19:46.000 Rocky Mountains because I live in a high mountain 00:19:46.000 --> 00:19:49.980 valley, 5 ,700 feet elevation and we've had hardly 00:19:49.980 --> 00:19:52.400 any snow at all this year and it is supposed 00:19:52.400 --> 00:19:56.900 to get into the upper 70s this week. Wow. It's 00:19:56.900 --> 00:20:01.099 crazy. But there's nothing in bloom yet. So I 00:20:01.099 --> 00:20:04.039 have to make sure those foragers that are going 00:20:04.039 --> 00:20:06.259 out and burning up all those calories that they 00:20:06.259 --> 00:20:08.259 have something to eat when they get back home. 00:20:08.519 --> 00:20:12.029 Right. Yeah, we're a little concerned about that. 00:20:12.109 --> 00:20:15.390 It's such a different year. Well, that is one 00:20:15.390 --> 00:20:17.589 of the things that hurt some of the hives that 00:20:17.589 --> 00:20:20.089 were in sheds this year, is it just didn't get 00:20:20.089 --> 00:20:25.230 cold like it was supposed to. Let's talk about 00:20:25.230 --> 00:20:29.009 ABF. When did you get started with ABF and why? 00:20:30.309 --> 00:20:34.599 15 years ago, I went to my first ABF. Was encouraged 00:20:34.599 --> 00:20:37.180 to go by someone who is in our state association 00:20:37.180 --> 00:20:38.859 and said, oh you got to go You're just gonna 00:20:38.859 --> 00:20:42.960 love this and I'm like, okay, we'll go. I'm not 00:20:42.960 --> 00:20:46.680 real big on all those Sessions and going to session 00:20:46.680 --> 00:20:48.890 after session with something You know, I got 00:20:48.890 --> 00:20:51.390 to have something fun in between. Because you 00:20:51.390 --> 00:20:54.130 have to remember, I was not the original beekeeper. 00:20:54.269 --> 00:20:57.710 I was the married into beekeeper. So I went, 00:20:57.890 --> 00:20:59.569 my husband wanted to go. He's pretty excited 00:20:59.569 --> 00:21:02.789 about it. And that's how I got into it. I got 00:21:02.789 --> 00:21:08.509 into it more on the more level when I was walking 00:21:08.509 --> 00:21:12.259 by. and Michael North was standing outside of 00:21:12.259 --> 00:21:14.339 a door, and Michael North is, you know, part 00:21:14.339 --> 00:21:18.259 of ABF, and he said, are you from Indiana? And 00:21:18.259 --> 00:21:20.319 I said, well, I am, because I had a little name 00:21:20.319 --> 00:21:21.700 tag on it, and he said, oh, you have to come 00:21:21.700 --> 00:21:24.099 in here to the State Delegates Assembly. And 00:21:24.099 --> 00:21:26.579 I said, I have no idea what that is, and he said, 00:21:26.880 --> 00:21:29.480 well, let you know, so come on in. I admit a 00:21:29.480 --> 00:21:32.240 pet peeve of mine is that it seems all beehives 00:21:32.240 --> 00:21:36.319 are white. Yeah, boring old white. And just when 00:21:36.319 --> 00:21:39.480 I get a pet peeve, Man Lake comes to the rescue 00:21:39.480 --> 00:21:42.700 with their new color collection. The vibrant 00:21:42.700 --> 00:21:46.460 new line of colorful beekeeping hive kits designed 00:21:46.460 --> 00:21:49.500 to turn your backyard into a buzzing work of 00:21:49.500 --> 00:21:53.220 art. Each kit comes completely assembled, ready 00:21:53.220 --> 00:21:56.960 to add to your bee yard, but with a big splash 00:21:56.960 --> 00:22:00.980 of personality. 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That's that 00:23:24.670 --> 00:23:27.529 kind of hooked me unfortunately that kind of 00:23:27.529 --> 00:23:29.730 hooked me and then I went back every year I went 00:23:29.730 --> 00:23:31.569 back to see friends I would never get to see 00:23:31.569 --> 00:23:34.329 if I didn't go there and I went back to see the 00:23:34.329 --> 00:23:36.269 the first time I went I did the kids and bees 00:23:36.269 --> 00:23:38.349 thing and I got all these ideals that he took 00:23:38.349 --> 00:23:40.210 back to Indiana and I said oh you guys you got 00:23:40.210 --> 00:23:42.690 it we got to do this for the kids and the auctions 00:23:42.690 --> 00:23:45.589 oh my gosh you know they always say women get 00:23:45.589 --> 00:23:49.089 crazy at auctions let me tell you those men those 00:23:49.089 --> 00:23:52.880 men get like that too but yes so I I that That's 00:23:52.880 --> 00:23:56.680 how I got in it and I absorbed everything. So, 00:23:56.759 --> 00:23:59.740 of course, once you go and you do that and you 00:23:59.740 --> 00:24:01.559 experience all the things about ABF at their 00:24:01.559 --> 00:24:03.839 conference, you're going to go again. And then 00:24:03.839 --> 00:24:06.859 you get more hooked into ABF and you want to 00:24:06.859 --> 00:24:09.240 get involved and you want to help out on committees 00:24:09.240 --> 00:24:12.019 and you just realize all the stuff that we do 00:24:12.019 --> 00:24:14.579 and you want to be a part of that. So I'm sure 00:24:14.579 --> 00:24:17.759 most commercial beekeepers know who and what 00:24:17.759 --> 00:24:21.339 ABF is. If somebody is a hobbyist out there, 00:24:21.700 --> 00:24:23.519 is this something they should get involved with? 00:24:23.640 --> 00:24:27.180 What can it do for them? So absolutely, ABF represents 00:24:27.180 --> 00:24:30.460 all levels. We represent a small scale, which 00:24:30.460 --> 00:24:32.980 would be hobbyist. We represent sideliners, which 00:24:32.980 --> 00:24:35.299 are the people that are hopefully growing into 00:24:35.299 --> 00:24:38.200 commercial beekeepers. And we represent our commercial 00:24:38.200 --> 00:24:41.259 beekeepers as well at all levels. So a lot of 00:24:41.259 --> 00:24:43.559 people think that we only do things for commercials, 00:24:43.680 --> 00:24:47.339 but about 10 years ago, I want to say, there 00:24:47.339 --> 00:24:49.240 was a bill going through Congress and one of 00:24:49.240 --> 00:24:52.000 the bills said that they wanted us to put added 00:24:52.000 --> 00:24:55.279 sugar onto our labels for honey. That meant everybody 00:24:55.279 --> 00:24:57.359 that meant everybody who was selling anything 00:24:57.359 --> 00:25:00.539 in a farmers market had to put added sugar Well, 00:25:00.539 --> 00:25:02.859 of course if you add sugar onto your label No 00:25:02.859 --> 00:25:04.440 one's gonna want to buy that because they think 00:25:04.440 --> 00:25:06.339 it's adulterated honey and you've done something 00:25:06.339 --> 00:25:09.259 to it. Why would I buy that? So we thought that 00:25:09.259 --> 00:25:12.599 I'm sorry to interrupt but it's also not true. 00:25:12.819 --> 00:25:15.880 It's true It's not true. You're not adding sugar 00:25:16.670 --> 00:25:19.589 Sorry, keep going. No, you're absolutely right. 00:25:20.049 --> 00:25:22.069 So those are some of the things. That's a small 00:25:22.069 --> 00:25:24.150 piece of what we do. The other thing that we 00:25:24.150 --> 00:25:30.109 do is we are constantly trying to get bills and 00:25:30.109 --> 00:25:33.069 research money passed when we go to Congress, 00:25:33.150 --> 00:25:35.549 when we go to Washington every year, and that 00:25:35.549 --> 00:25:39.470 helps small and small -scale beekeepers as well. 00:25:40.019 --> 00:25:42.539 You have some beekeepers that say, I don't want 00:25:42.539 --> 00:25:44.579 to treat. I want to be treatment -free. I want 00:25:44.579 --> 00:25:47.059 to be all -natural. And that's great. I am no 00:25:47.059 --> 00:25:50.160 problem against that. But I will tell you that 00:25:50.160 --> 00:25:54.619 if every hive was able to sustain by doing that, 00:25:54.859 --> 00:25:56.400 then we wouldn't have the problems that we have. 00:25:56.519 --> 00:25:59.240 And so what ABF does for the small beekeepers 00:25:59.240 --> 00:26:04.920 is we help with some of the research. And if 00:26:04.920 --> 00:26:06.640 you think about it, this is how this trickles 00:26:06.640 --> 00:26:09.720 down. What we do for commercial beekeepers helps 00:26:09.720 --> 00:26:12.599 commercial beekeepers stay in business and commercial 00:26:12.599 --> 00:26:15.099 beekeepers are where you get your hives from 00:26:15.099 --> 00:26:17.880 if you're a small scale or if you're a sideliner 00:26:17.880 --> 00:26:21.269 in small scale. Small scale can grow their own, 00:26:21.430 --> 00:26:23.789 but they normally, especially when they get started, 00:26:24.150 --> 00:26:27.069 will get them from either a sideline or a commercial. 00:26:27.509 --> 00:26:30.849 So all of that works to where we need all levels. 00:26:31.130 --> 00:26:34.589 And as a small scale beekeeper, the other things 00:26:34.589 --> 00:26:37.089 we do for small scale beekeepers is we put out 00:26:37.089 --> 00:26:39.789 a quarterly magazine. That quarterly magazine 00:26:39.789 --> 00:26:42.309 tells you a lot of different things that are 00:26:42.309 --> 00:26:44.690 in your area, things that are estate delegates, 00:26:44.849 --> 00:26:47.329 things are about a conference that are specifically 00:26:47.329 --> 00:26:50.660 for small scale beekeepers. We have workshops 00:26:50.660 --> 00:26:54.319 at our conference and these workshops are things 00:26:54.319 --> 00:26:56.359 that commercial beekeepers probably won't do 00:26:56.359 --> 00:26:59.079 anymore, like make lip balms and things like 00:26:59.079 --> 00:27:02.839 that, but render wax. Small -scale does and they 00:27:02.839 --> 00:27:04.480 need to know how to do that. Someone needs to 00:27:04.480 --> 00:27:06.660 teach them. So that's what we do for them as 00:27:06.660 --> 00:27:11.160 well. And we do a state delegates assembly which 00:27:11.160 --> 00:27:13.680 takes information back of what's going on in 00:27:13.680 --> 00:27:15.779 the industry and they take that back to all their 00:27:15.779 --> 00:27:19.940 states. We have 87 of them. So each of the states 00:27:19.940 --> 00:27:23.799 are mainly a small -scale and that's how they 00:27:23.799 --> 00:27:26.039 get the information back from ABF as well. So 00:27:26.039 --> 00:27:29.779 we do absolutely a lot. We have a monthly eBuzz 00:27:29.779 --> 00:27:34.420 that goes out. We have a lot of people that small 00:27:34.420 --> 00:27:36.819 -scale beekeepers can contact us. They can say, 00:27:36.839 --> 00:27:39.279 hey, we need a speaker. Can you help us out here? 00:27:39.680 --> 00:27:42.180 Myself and some of my other people on the board 00:27:42.180 --> 00:27:45.299 have went to talk to a lot of the state associations 00:27:45.299 --> 00:27:47.900 at small scale. So there's just a lot of things 00:27:47.900 --> 00:27:51.019 we do. What are some of the really pressing issues 00:27:51.019 --> 00:27:55.079 right now that you're lobbying for or either 00:27:55.079 --> 00:27:58.299 laws that you're seeing that may be a problem 00:27:58.299 --> 00:28:02.369 or laws that we need? Well, there are a lot of 00:28:02.369 --> 00:28:05.269 things that are hurting our industry right now. 00:28:05.569 --> 00:28:08.269 The first thing is that we are losing way too 00:28:08.269 --> 00:28:11.829 many bees. We cannot sustain the loss last year 00:28:11.829 --> 00:28:14.869 that we had. Over 70 % of our bees were lost 00:28:14.869 --> 00:28:17.730 last year. There's disputing whether it was 70 00:28:17.730 --> 00:28:21.880 % or 60%, even if it dropped to 50%. It's way 00:28:21.880 --> 00:28:24.880 too many. And if you took any other industry 00:28:24.880 --> 00:28:28.460 that lost that much in production, they'd be 00:28:28.460 --> 00:28:30.480 screaming all over the place and you'd have lots 00:28:30.480 --> 00:28:32.180 of money thrown at them. And yet beekeeping, 00:28:32.400 --> 00:28:34.880 we just can't get that. We need research on some 00:28:34.880 --> 00:28:37.380 of the pests and diseases that we have, and we 00:28:37.380 --> 00:28:40.319 need to put more research out there. The second 00:28:40.319 --> 00:28:43.259 big thing that's just really hurting a lot of 00:28:43.259 --> 00:28:45.680 our commercial beekeepers is fraudulent honey. 00:28:46.079 --> 00:28:49.039 We've got honey dumping going on from out of 00:28:49.039 --> 00:28:51.619 country. We've got fraudulent honey. We've got 00:28:51.619 --> 00:28:55.359 what we call fake honey is actually lots of different 00:28:55.359 --> 00:28:57.980 things number one It could be blended where if 00:28:57.980 --> 00:29:00.099 it's blended it says it's a hundred percent when 00:29:00.099 --> 00:29:04.359 it's really not the other is mislabeling Right 00:29:04.359 --> 00:29:08.740 now a big thing for Consumers is to say something 00:29:08.740 --> 00:29:12.339 organic if I say it's organic. You'll pay double 00:29:12.339 --> 00:29:15.150 price for it because you think it's better So 00:29:15.150 --> 00:29:18.170 when you see in a store anywhere where it says 00:29:18.170 --> 00:29:21.910 organic honey and you read the label and it says 00:29:21.910 --> 00:29:27.069 USDA grade a Organic honey you automatically 00:29:27.069 --> 00:29:30.990 know one thing that's imported It's imported 00:29:30.990 --> 00:29:34.589 because we do not have a standard in the United 00:29:34.589 --> 00:29:38.440 States for organic honey And we're not allowed 00:29:38.440 --> 00:29:41.720 to label our honey like that. So we're not allowed 00:29:41.720 --> 00:29:44.980 to partake in the additional price increase that 00:29:44.980 --> 00:29:47.559 we could get for organic honey. And in addition 00:29:47.559 --> 00:29:50.059 to that, it's false advertising because as a 00:29:50.059 --> 00:29:52.700 consumer, if I'm not a beekeeper and I don't 00:29:52.700 --> 00:29:56.299 know that, I think I'm getting a very good local 00:29:56.299 --> 00:29:59.460 product from the US that's really healthy for 00:29:59.460 --> 00:30:03.000 me. And that may not be the case. So that's one 00:30:03.000 --> 00:30:05.299 thing that's hurting our industry a lot. Fake 00:30:05.299 --> 00:30:09.619 honey, the anti -dumping, the dumping that's 00:30:09.619 --> 00:30:11.960 going on right now with things that are not really 00:30:11.960 --> 00:30:14.779 honey. Other countries have that issue as well. 00:30:14.839 --> 00:30:18.119 It's not just the U .S. So they're trying to 00:30:18.119 --> 00:30:20.019 clean up their act as we're trying to clean up 00:30:20.019 --> 00:30:22.859 ours. So we've got a lot of collaboration going 00:30:22.859 --> 00:30:25.299 on between us and Europe right now, which I'm 00:30:25.299 --> 00:30:28.029 very excited to see. The other thing that we 00:30:28.029 --> 00:30:30.569 have is a lot of our research funds are drawing 00:30:30.569 --> 00:30:33.670 up. As you know right now, they've got lots of 00:30:33.670 --> 00:30:36.650 tightening of belts, and I understand that, but 00:30:36.650 --> 00:30:38.589 why are we not tightening the belt somewhere 00:30:38.589 --> 00:30:42.180 else and still helping? food source that is going 00:30:42.180 --> 00:30:44.900 to be a food security issue if we don't keep 00:30:44.900 --> 00:30:47.180 our bees alive. And that's basically the thing. 00:30:47.180 --> 00:30:49.460 If we can't keep our bees alive, we can't make 00:30:49.460 --> 00:30:51.700 honey. If we can't make honey, then the beekeepers 00:30:51.700 --> 00:30:54.720 can't stay in business. It's just a very, it 00:30:54.720 --> 00:30:57.980 seems like it's so simple, but yet people really 00:30:57.980 --> 00:31:00.440 make it complicated. The other thing that we 00:31:00.440 --> 00:31:03.400 have a huge issue on is we don't have a standard 00:31:03.400 --> 00:31:06.380 of identity of honey. And I'm shocked about that. 00:31:06.640 --> 00:31:08.579 I'm a farm girl that's very black and white. 00:31:08.599 --> 00:31:12.240 And it says, If it's not from honeybee, it's 00:31:12.240 --> 00:31:15.099 not honey. And if you put something else in it, 00:31:15.319 --> 00:31:18.160 it's not honey. So stop calling it that. And 00:31:18.160 --> 00:31:20.619 yet we don't have that standard of identity. 00:31:20.940 --> 00:31:23.279 So we have worked with some of our senators, 00:31:23.359 --> 00:31:25.779 some of our congressmen. We've got a couple bills 00:31:25.779 --> 00:31:28.880 out there and we're trying to get them passed, 00:31:28.900 --> 00:31:31.779 but we're not making a whole lot of head headway 00:31:31.779 --> 00:31:33.839 right now. We keep pushing for it and we're going 00:31:33.839 --> 00:31:36.200 to keep pushing for it. But just so you know, 00:31:36.200 --> 00:31:39.140 that's a huge issue for us. That's some of the 00:31:39.140 --> 00:31:42.759 big ones. biggest one I guess I would say. Two, 00:31:43.079 --> 00:31:45.319 number one is we need to raise the awareness. 00:31:45.559 --> 00:31:47.880 We need to raise the awareness of the issues 00:31:47.880 --> 00:31:50.539 that the beekeepers are having about the honeybees 00:31:50.539 --> 00:31:53.220 that are dying every year and about adulterated 00:31:53.220 --> 00:31:56.720 honey. That's a huge thing. Just get that awareness 00:31:56.720 --> 00:32:00.240 out there. But I will tell you one of the, in 00:32:00.240 --> 00:32:03.180 my mind, again, my opinion is the biggest issue 00:32:03.180 --> 00:32:06.319 we have is ourselves as beekeepers. That seems 00:32:06.319 --> 00:32:09.319 kind of funny. But basically what happens is 00:32:09.480 --> 00:32:12.549 We can't work together. We just can't seem to 00:32:12.549 --> 00:32:14.829 play in the same sandbox without throwing sand 00:32:14.829 --> 00:32:18.869 in somebody's eyes. And until we learn to do 00:32:18.869 --> 00:32:21.690 that much better than what we are now, we are 00:32:21.690 --> 00:32:25.089 only hurting ourselves. We can't continue to 00:32:25.089 --> 00:32:28.269 divide. And one of the things that we need to 00:32:28.269 --> 00:32:31.789 do is we need to learn that when we go to Congress, 00:32:32.069 --> 00:32:35.450 we need to go to Congress as one entity and one 00:32:35.450 --> 00:32:39.269 voice and one industry. We are so small footprint. 00:32:40.079 --> 00:32:42.940 They just gnat us off like flies and we need 00:32:42.940 --> 00:32:44.940 to be able to grow together and we just don't 00:32:44.940 --> 00:32:46.819 seem to be able to do that yet. If you go out 00:32:46.819 --> 00:32:51.559 to Facebook, what I noticed, because I see some 00:32:51.559 --> 00:32:54.859 of the small scale or the newbies, the new beginner 00:32:54.859 --> 00:32:57.359 ones, they're so nice. They ask a question. You 00:32:57.359 --> 00:32:59.380 got like 20 people helping them out and giving 00:32:59.380 --> 00:33:01.339 them ideas. And you know, well, this is how I 00:33:01.339 --> 00:33:04.299 do it. May not be the only way. The higher up 00:33:04.299 --> 00:33:08.440 you go, it is vicious. Someone asked a question 00:33:08.440 --> 00:33:11.700 and you've got 20 people just knocking them down 00:33:11.700 --> 00:33:14.220 and I'm like, yeah That's not really helping 00:33:14.220 --> 00:33:17.480 us any so I will tell you in my opinion. That's 00:33:17.480 --> 00:33:20.619 one of our big issues is ourselves People don't 00:33:20.619 --> 00:33:23.299 like to hear that No, I appreciate you bringing 00:33:23.299 --> 00:33:27.240 all that up. I mean, that's a lot a lot to deal 00:33:27.240 --> 00:33:30.640 with and We appreciate you and the whole group 00:33:30.640 --> 00:33:33.759 doing something about it the whole organic thing. 00:33:33.880 --> 00:33:38.799 I think some beekeepers just don't know because 00:33:38.799 --> 00:33:42.680 I've seen at local farmers markets honey with 00:33:42.680 --> 00:33:46.400 an organic label on it. And I don't think they're 00:33:46.400 --> 00:33:49.559 trying to be deceptive. I think they go, well, 00:33:49.640 --> 00:33:52.519 I'm treatment free, therefore it's organic. Well, 00:33:53.500 --> 00:33:56.200 half a mile from you is a field being bombed 00:33:56.200 --> 00:34:00.559 with whatever kind of chemicals. That's a big 00:34:00.559 --> 00:34:04.319 deal. And I think probably some people, when 00:34:04.319 --> 00:34:06.900 you were talking about organic, were saying, 00:34:07.000 --> 00:34:10.260 well, wait a minute, I go to Costco and there's 00:34:10.260 --> 00:34:13.820 honey with an organic label on it. And that's 00:34:13.820 --> 00:34:17.210 because it's not from here, right? It'll say 00:34:17.210 --> 00:34:22.010 USDA grade A organic honey and you flip it over. 00:34:22.309 --> 00:34:24.670 One of the things I will tell you a mantra is 00:34:24.670 --> 00:34:27.449 know where your honey comes from and know what's 00:34:27.449 --> 00:34:30.570 in it. You flip it over and it'll say from Argentina, 00:34:31.190 --> 00:34:34.690 China, Brazil. I'm not knocking those countries, 00:34:35.110 --> 00:34:39.050 but if you think you're getting US organic honey, 00:34:39.510 --> 00:34:42.880 you're not. Think about even In order for you 00:34:42.880 --> 00:34:45.980 to have organic bees fly anywhere from debatable 00:34:45.980 --> 00:34:49.400 two to four miles in any direction. So in order 00:34:49.400 --> 00:34:52.500 for you to guarantee that that bee didn't get 00:34:52.500 --> 00:34:56.280 anything that had not been sprayed or treated, 00:34:56.719 --> 00:34:59.440 you would have to be a beehive in the middle 00:34:59.440 --> 00:35:03.780 of like thousands and thousands of acres. One 00:35:03.780 --> 00:35:06.800 beehive. So you can't be producing all this honey 00:35:06.800 --> 00:35:10.190 if that's the case. And you couldn't have a stream 00:35:10.190 --> 00:35:12.590 running through all those acres that came from 00:35:12.590 --> 00:35:14.949 somewhere else That may have gotten a little 00:35:14.949 --> 00:35:17.530 chemicals in it or something else He found an 00:35:17.530 --> 00:35:20.250 orchard and the orchard blooms were about done 00:35:20.250 --> 00:35:23.010 And so now they've been sprayed for because orchards 00:35:23.010 --> 00:35:24.989 do have to spray It's not a bad thing that they 00:35:24.989 --> 00:35:26.710 don't have to spray to keep the worms out because 00:35:26.710 --> 00:35:28.769 you won't buy an apple with a worm in it You 00:35:28.769 --> 00:35:31.250 know, so it's kind of a catch -22 that your bee 00:35:31.250 --> 00:35:35.090 went over and flew on and then came back so That's 00:35:35.090 --> 00:35:38.409 that's why people when they say organic I try 00:35:38.409 --> 00:35:40.730 not to say much, but my husband says, Debra, 00:35:40.730 --> 00:35:43.369 your face says it all because I kind of chuckle 00:35:43.369 --> 00:35:46.670 and walk on by. The thing that I tell everybody 00:35:46.670 --> 00:35:50.630 if they're going out to buy honey, so non beekeepers, 00:35:51.789 --> 00:35:55.070 is get to know the beekeeper. Farmers markets 00:35:55.070 --> 00:35:57.650 are great because you can talk to them and you 00:35:57.650 --> 00:36:00.309 can say, gee, where do you keep your bees? What 00:36:00.309 --> 00:36:02.989 kind of treatment do you use? Now, non beekeepers 00:36:02.989 --> 00:36:05.570 probably won't even understand that answer. But 00:36:05.570 --> 00:36:08.900 if the answer is well we use this and this and 00:36:08.900 --> 00:36:10.860 this then you know they're using chemicals if 00:36:10.860 --> 00:36:12.699 it is we don't use anything you know they're 00:36:12.699 --> 00:36:16.480 not etc etc. Anyway the more questions you ask 00:36:16.480 --> 00:36:19.800 the better decisions that you can make so be 00:36:19.800 --> 00:36:23.099 careful and look at labels carefully and yes 00:36:23.099 --> 00:36:27.360 USDA doesn't mean it was grown in the US. Correct. 00:36:27.900 --> 00:36:31.119 I noticed that you missed some other things that 00:36:31.119 --> 00:36:33.940 I assumed you were going to talk about like tropimites 00:36:33.940 --> 00:36:37.940 and yellow -legged hornets. Yeah, we do have 00:36:37.940 --> 00:36:40.400 a lot of invasive, we have a lot of pests that 00:36:40.400 --> 00:36:42.719 are here already that are invasive like Varroa. 00:36:42.820 --> 00:36:45.659 Varroa has been here for many years and we don't 00:36:45.659 --> 00:36:49.360 seem to have enough research to get rid of it. 00:36:49.400 --> 00:36:51.880 We can knock it down, we knock the levels down, 00:36:52.179 --> 00:36:54.179 but remember it's usually not the Varroa mites 00:36:54.179 --> 00:36:56.820 that kill the bees, it's the viruses that they 00:36:56.820 --> 00:37:00.719 vector. So when you're looking at your hive, 00:37:00.780 --> 00:37:02.480 that's why I said you need to look in the fall, 00:37:02.559 --> 00:37:05.599 you need to look in before the mites got in there 00:37:05.599 --> 00:37:08.360 and multiplied and passed all those viruses in 00:37:08.360 --> 00:37:11.699 there. The other thing was the yellow -legged 00:37:11.699 --> 00:37:15.159 hornet, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina now. 00:37:15.219 --> 00:37:18.019 It just seems to be spreading further and further. 00:37:18.420 --> 00:37:21.199 And I've heard people say, well, I think we've 00:37:21.199 --> 00:37:24.300 eradicated it here. It's not eradicated till 00:37:24.300 --> 00:37:27.059 it's all gone everywhere because it just, it's 00:37:27.059 --> 00:37:29.260 like, oh, it just moves. It started out in Florida, 00:37:29.340 --> 00:37:32.880 moved up to Minnesota, and then it just went 00:37:32.880 --> 00:37:35.190 from there. They've tried in the past things 00:37:35.190 --> 00:37:38.989 like burning hives, isolating hives for treatment, 00:37:39.250 --> 00:37:41.869 and that just doesn't work. We have to go after 00:37:41.869 --> 00:37:45.190 something that's going to kill the mites. And 00:37:45.190 --> 00:37:46.929 like I said, what the treatments are that we 00:37:46.929 --> 00:37:49.829 have right now, knock them down, but they don't 00:37:49.829 --> 00:37:52.329 really kill them. So that's another thing that 00:37:52.329 --> 00:37:56.849 we'd like is speedier ways to get any kind of 00:37:56.849 --> 00:37:59.820 mite treatment through the process. yellow -legged 00:37:59.820 --> 00:38:02.679 hornets the same way. You can put out century 00:38:02.679 --> 00:38:05.280 hives. Those are things that are being done right 00:38:05.280 --> 00:38:08.300 now. Interestingly enough, APHIS is one of the 00:38:08.300 --> 00:38:11.599 groups that monitors invasive species, but APHIS 00:38:11.599 --> 00:38:14.239 cannot really do anything until after the species 00:38:14.239 --> 00:38:18.199 is in the United States. So one of the projects 00:38:18.199 --> 00:38:20.639 that I was on, I know it seems kind of silly, 00:38:21.000 --> 00:38:23.900 One of the projects I was on, I went to Thailand 00:38:23.900 --> 00:38:26.579 with Jeff Williams and his group and 10 apiary 00:38:26.579 --> 00:38:29.559 inspectors. Eye -opening when I saw choppy mites 00:38:29.559 --> 00:38:32.340 over there. It was more than eye -opening. It 00:38:32.340 --> 00:38:35.780 was shocking and gravely concerning. Number one, 00:38:35.780 --> 00:38:38.480 they're very, very fast and they multiply every 00:38:38.480 --> 00:38:42.239 24 hours. So Veroa takes, gosh, I'm going to 00:38:42.239 --> 00:38:46.099 go back and say 16 days, 18 days. Oh, well, they 00:38:46.099 --> 00:38:51.099 go inside the drones for 18 days, but... Trophy 00:38:51.099 --> 00:38:54.820 mites will go every 24 hours. They'll reproduce. 00:38:55.880 --> 00:38:58.380 So, interestingly enough, if they ever got here, 00:38:58.719 --> 00:39:02.300 if we don't have some kind of plan, we will be 00:39:02.300 --> 00:39:06.059 in really bad, bad trouble. Now, again, aphids 00:39:06.059 --> 00:39:09.179 can't get involved until they're here. Well, 00:39:09.639 --> 00:39:12.820 that's kind of a catch -22. So I will tell you 00:39:12.820 --> 00:39:15.539 that APHIS has actually worked on having a plan 00:39:15.539 --> 00:39:17.840 in place. So it's not like they're just sitting 00:39:17.840 --> 00:39:19.920 back and going, okay, we're gonna wait and see 00:39:19.920 --> 00:39:21.360 when they get here and then we'll come up with 00:39:21.360 --> 00:39:24.139 something. They have a plan in place. A lot of 00:39:24.139 --> 00:39:27.119 the states have a plan in place. Most of the 00:39:27.119 --> 00:39:29.719 states cannot or will not share that plan with 00:39:29.719 --> 00:39:34.730 you. I will tell you for a fact that if you come 00:39:34.730 --> 00:39:39.309 up with something that is going to detrimentally 00:39:39.309 --> 00:39:44.349 destroy a commercial beekeeper's business, then 00:39:44.349 --> 00:39:47.230 you're going to have less involvement for them. 00:39:47.909 --> 00:39:49.909 They're not going to be as willing to help you 00:39:49.909 --> 00:39:54.530 out. That's just a livelihood. So when they decided 00:39:54.530 --> 00:39:56.610 with Roa, they were down in Texas and they decided 00:39:56.610 --> 00:39:58.590 they were going to isolate, and this again was 00:39:58.590 --> 00:40:02.519 many years ago, there were hundreds of thousands 00:40:02.519 --> 00:40:04.960 of colonies that were lost down there because 00:40:04.960 --> 00:40:07.179 they would not let them move out of Texas and 00:40:07.179 --> 00:40:09.659 there was no forage for them so they starved 00:40:09.659 --> 00:40:12.980 and So a lot of commercial beekeepers will now 00:40:12.980 --> 00:40:15.880 say I'll be honest with you. I'll tell you I'll 00:40:15.880 --> 00:40:19.820 tell you but okay I have a mortgage a car payment. 00:40:19.820 --> 00:40:23.900 I have food to buy I have kids to feed You know, 00:40:23.900 --> 00:40:26.039 you have to kind of look at that way. So we need 00:40:26.039 --> 00:40:28.880 something in place before they get here and my 00:40:28.880 --> 00:40:31.590 whole point was We need to do research and we 00:40:31.590 --> 00:40:33.690 need to do something that will stop them. Not 00:40:33.690 --> 00:40:36.409 just wait until they get here and our plan is 00:40:36.409 --> 00:40:39.530 going to be do this or do that. I couldn't agree 00:40:39.530 --> 00:40:44.769 more. And we don't want to be reactive like how 00:40:44.769 --> 00:40:48.210 Australia was with Varroa. And no offense, we 00:40:48.210 --> 00:40:50.929 have a lot of listeners in Australia and love 00:40:50.929 --> 00:40:53.849 Australia. But the way that whole thing went 00:40:53.849 --> 00:40:56.150 down where all they did was they freaked out 00:40:56.150 --> 00:40:59.630 and burned hundreds of thousands of hives. and 00:40:59.630 --> 00:41:03.750 then kept sending hives out all over the country 00:41:03.750 --> 00:41:07.130 for pollination. It just didn't work. We just 00:41:07.130 --> 00:41:09.670 need a better plan so that we don't get in that 00:41:09.670 --> 00:41:12.570 kind of situation. We are just about out of time 00:41:12.570 --> 00:41:14.929 and I told you I wouldn't take too much time 00:41:14.929 --> 00:41:18.610 today. So I want to end with something fun. I 00:41:18.610 --> 00:41:21.349 want to hear your wild and crazy beekeeping story. 00:41:22.170 --> 00:41:25.389 Oh, wow. I will tell you and I still see it today 00:41:25.389 --> 00:41:30.300 in my mind. We were in the hives and I had my 00:41:30.300 --> 00:41:35.460 jacket zipped up thought I had my helmet zipped 00:41:35.460 --> 00:41:39.739 on to my jacket and it was not and I'm down in 00:41:39.739 --> 00:41:42.579 this hive and it's in the spring and so there's 00:41:42.579 --> 00:41:44.260 a lot of bees in there and they're coming out 00:41:44.260 --> 00:41:48.420 and I look and there's a bee inside my veil so 00:41:48.679 --> 00:41:51.739 I do talks with people who are linemen, like 00:41:51.739 --> 00:41:54.599 who climb poles and things like that, and I teach 00:41:54.599 --> 00:41:57.380 them what not to do if you come across a hive. 00:41:57.519 --> 00:42:00.079 Bee hive, wasp nest, doesn't matter. And I tell 00:42:00.079 --> 00:42:03.139 them the worst thing you can do is panic and 00:42:03.139 --> 00:42:06.300 you jump in your truck and there's three or four 00:42:06.300 --> 00:42:08.559 bees flying around and then you jump out of your 00:42:08.559 --> 00:42:10.900 truck and there's hundreds because you panicked. 00:42:11.179 --> 00:42:13.739 Don't do that. Just, you know, calmly get in 00:42:13.739 --> 00:42:16.019 your truck. If there's three or four, you know, 00:42:16.159 --> 00:42:18.920 take the hit or try to get them down, but don't 00:42:18.920 --> 00:42:24.820 go swatting. So what did I do? Human nature took 00:42:24.820 --> 00:42:28.440 over. I ran around the truck screaming, there's 00:42:28.440 --> 00:42:31.000 a bee, there's a bee in my suit. And my husband 00:42:31.000 --> 00:42:34.679 kept, and I flew, I threw off my veil and my 00:42:34.679 --> 00:42:37.440 husband kept saying, stop running, stop running. 00:42:38.460 --> 00:42:41.320 So I have to tell you, in my mind, it happened 00:42:41.320 --> 00:42:44.099 yesterday. It was many years ago, but it happened 00:42:44.099 --> 00:42:48.219 yesterday. I'll never forget that. You know, 00:42:48.260 --> 00:42:51.039 sometimes it's a little bit hard to tell whether 00:42:51.039 --> 00:42:53.420 the bee is outside the veil or inside the veil. 00:42:54.400 --> 00:42:57.260 And the secret is, and you don't want to have 00:42:57.260 --> 00:43:00.280 to learn this, if you can see the underside of 00:43:00.280 --> 00:43:03.519 the bee, like the legs, you know it's outside. 00:43:03.880 --> 00:43:06.280 If you're seeing the back of the bee and its 00:43:06.280 --> 00:43:10.760 wings, Time to panic. The other thing is if you 00:43:10.760 --> 00:43:14.239 just tilt your head up, it'll go toward the sun 00:43:14.239 --> 00:43:16.480 or to the light and then you can lift it up and 00:43:16.480 --> 00:43:19.659 it'll go away. I knew how I got down there. I'd 00:43:19.659 --> 00:43:23.920 pulled my jacket down too far, but boy, I laugh 00:43:23.920 --> 00:43:27.159 about it today, but I still remember it like 00:43:27.159 --> 00:43:29.539 it was yesterday. If you don't mind I know you're 00:43:29.539 --> 00:43:32.199 about out of time but I would like to we didn't 00:43:32.199 --> 00:43:36.840 really talk about ABF that much and I would like 00:43:36.840 --> 00:43:40.800 to share that ABF does some other things for 00:43:41.079 --> 00:43:44.519 not only beekeepers but researchers. We have 00:43:44.519 --> 00:43:46.699 scholarships, four scholarships that we give 00:43:46.699 --> 00:43:49.739 out. We are involved with 4 -HSA Contest right 00:43:49.739 --> 00:43:55.019 now. Deadline is May 1st. So I would love for 00:43:55.019 --> 00:43:57.900 people to go out to our website and take a look 00:43:57.900 --> 00:43:59.980 at all the things that we do out there. We have 00:43:59.980 --> 00:44:02.239 research, the latest research we put out there 00:44:02.239 --> 00:44:04.940 every month. It's just a great way for you to 00:44:04.940 --> 00:44:07.119 know everything we do. And if you have any questions, 00:44:07.440 --> 00:44:10.590 certainly feel free to contact us. Fantastic. 00:44:10.590 --> 00:44:13.889 And what link should they go to to find your 00:44:13.889 --> 00:44:19.170 website? It's abfnet .org. That'll be in the 00:44:19.170 --> 00:44:22.510 show notes too, in case you forget. Debbie Seib, 00:44:22.610 --> 00:44:25.150 thank you so much for being with me today. Well, 00:44:25.150 --> 00:44:27.070 thank you Eric for having me. I really appreciate 00:44:27.070 --> 00:44:32.210 it. Thanks again for joining us on Be Love, Be 00:44:32.210 --> 00:44:35.429 Keeping presented by Man Lake. Another big thank 00:44:35.429 --> 00:44:37.690 you goes to Vita B Health for their support. 00:44:38.150 --> 00:44:41.050 Vita's Varroa Control Ranger products includes 00:44:41.050 --> 00:44:45.309 Epistan, Epigard, and now Varroxan Extended Release 00:44:45.309 --> 00:44:48.909 Oxalic Acids Trips. Hey thanks a lot guys. And 00:44:48.909 --> 00:44:51.489 if you haven't yet, please subscribe to and follow 00:44:51.489 --> 00:44:53.769 the show, tell your friends about it, and click 00:44:53.769 --> 00:44:57.050 on over to BeLoveBeKeeping .com to sign up for 00:44:57.050 --> 00:45:00.250 our free newsletter. If you have a guest suggestion 00:45:00.250 --> 00:45:03.349 or topic you'd like discussed on the show, shoot 00:45:03.349 --> 00:45:08.800 me an And remember, if you're not just in it 00:45:08.800 --> 00:45:11.480 for the honey or the money, you're in it for 00:45:11.480 --> 00:45:13.099 the love. See you next week.