Feb. 14, 2025
Beekeeping In Warblington, Severe Honey Bee Losses, Wild & Crazy Beekeeping Stories
The player is loading ...
The U.S. is experiencing "Sudden and Severe Losses" to honey bee colonies, anywhere from 50% - 100%. Is it time to panic?
In today's episode we discuss those bee losses, hear some wild & crazy beekeeping stories, and have a discussion with James Wheeldon, a beekeeper in Warblington, Hampshire, England.
We also learn about James' new charity organization, Beekeeping For Hope. It's a way for beekeepers to give back through donating a small portion of their honey harvest to people around the world suffering from food insecurity.
Other topics include Varroa Mites, Queen Retirement Communities, and much more!
Beekeeping and the beekeepers, it's all about he love of honey bees!
_______________
Special thanks to our presenting sponsor, Mann Lake! https://www.mannlakeltd.com/
Mann Lake discount code: MLBEELOVE10 for $10 off a $100 order.
Transcript
1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:03,000
May I have your attention please?
2
00:00:03,000 --> 00:00:06,640
The following is not the real Jeff Vox really.
3
00:00:06,640 --> 00:00:17,640
If you smell a newly opened jar of honey before tasting it,
4
00:00:17,640 --> 00:00:22,840
you might be a beekeeper.
5
00:00:22,840 --> 00:00:27,000
If you can tell the difference between a honey bee
6
00:00:27,000 --> 00:00:34,000
and a fly just by listening, you might be a beekeeper.
7
00:00:34,000 --> 00:00:43,000
If you learned what working but don't build a stick of furniture,
8
00:00:43,000 --> 00:00:48,000
you might be a beekeeper.
9
00:00:53,000 --> 00:00:56,000
Welcome, welcome to Be Love Beekeeping podcast presented by our good friend,
10
00:00:56,000 --> 00:00:58,000
over at Man Lake.
11
00:00:58,000 --> 00:01:03,000
At Bee Love, we're all about the honey bees and of course the beekeepers.
12
00:01:03,000 --> 00:01:08,000
Today, we're going to learn from our guest another way that we as beekeepers
13
00:01:08,000 --> 00:01:11,000
can do some good in the world through beekeeping.
14
00:01:11,000 --> 00:01:17,000
But first, as you've probably already heard, there's something a little scary going on with honey bees this winter.
15
00:01:17,000 --> 00:01:20,000
Massive die-offs are being reported.
16
00:01:20,000 --> 00:01:31,000
In fact, depending on which source you read, anywhere from 50% to 70% to even 100% of bee die-offs with commercial beekeepers.
17
00:01:31,000 --> 00:01:37,000
This last week, the Honey Bee Health Coalition sent an email outlining some of the concerns,
18
00:01:37,000 --> 00:01:43,000
saying that commercial beekeepers are discovering quote, alarming colony losses.
19
00:01:43,000 --> 00:01:51,000
These losses are severe, broad, and may impact food security through inadequate pollination services.
20
00:01:51,000 --> 00:01:57,000
It continues, the symptoms of loss are reminiscent of colony collapse disorder conditions,
21
00:01:57,000 --> 00:02:04,000
which occurred in 2007 and 2008 when bees suddenly disappeared from their colonies.
22
00:02:04,000 --> 00:02:12,000
During recent inspections by field scientists, decreased colonies often died with ample honey stores,
23
00:02:12,000 --> 00:02:18,000
leaving small patches of brood with most or all of the adult honey bees missing.
24
00:02:18,000 --> 00:02:26,000
Another symptom has been the rapid dwindling of surviving colonies, often within 10 days of passing health inspections.
25
00:02:26,000 --> 00:02:32,000
Immediate action is being taken in the form of a study sampling of commercial beekeepers.
26
00:02:32,000 --> 00:02:40,000
I have reached out to those involved with the study, including the USDA, and I can't get anyone who's in the know to comment.
27
00:02:40,000 --> 00:02:48,000
The only thing I got, and sorry for the rant, but the only thing I got was the following from the USDA's PR department.
28
00:02:48,000 --> 00:02:54,000
Quote, please see the statement from the Agricultural Research Service.
29
00:02:54,000 --> 00:03:00,000
Please attribute the statement to a USDA ARS spokesperson.
30
00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:04,000
By the way, they wouldn't give me the name of that spokesperson.
31
00:03:04,000 --> 00:03:16,000
So here's the quote, USDA is aware of the unusual losses to our nation's honey bee colonies and is concerned about its potential impact on food production and supply.
32
00:03:16,000 --> 00:03:29,000
USDA Agricultural Research Service scientists are working closely with federal partners, stakeholders, and impacted parties to identify the source of this agricultural challenge.
33
00:03:29,000 --> 00:03:34,000
USDA will share more information when data is available.
34
00:03:34,000 --> 00:03:36,000
Okay, all right.
35
00:03:36,000 --> 00:03:40,000
I realize the research is far from being completed, but I have questions.
36
00:03:40,000 --> 00:03:48,000
Beekeepers have questions, and I think we have a right to ask them, and I think we have a right to get answers on what is known so far.
37
00:03:48,000 --> 00:03:53,000
But instead of being able to do that, I'm getting the bureaucratic two-step.
38
00:03:53,000 --> 00:03:59,000
But listeners, fellow beekeepers, I promise as soon as I know more, you will know more.
39
00:03:59,000 --> 00:04:06,000
And if you know more before I know more, please reach out to me so that we can both know more.
40
00:04:06,000 --> 00:04:17,000
In the meantime, I'll try to get over my rant with a little fun here, and the best way to do that is with some wild and crazy beekeeping stories from our listeners.
41
00:04:17,000 --> 00:04:23,000
This was six hours after inspection. I did an inspection in the late morning.
42
00:04:23,000 --> 00:04:29,000
It was 100 yards from the hive in my garage doing something entirely un-bee-related.
43
00:04:29,000 --> 00:04:34,000
The bees came and found me and went straight for my eye.
44
00:04:34,000 --> 00:04:37,000
This was the beginning of the end for that queen.
45
00:04:37,000 --> 00:04:43,000
I had been tolerating this overly aggressive hive for months, but this was the final straw.
46
00:04:43,000 --> 00:04:47,000
She was stomped in the driveway three weeks ago and replaced.
47
00:04:47,000 --> 00:04:49,000
Next one.
48
00:04:49,000 --> 00:04:54,000
I got out of the truck one day without my veil on and immediately got stung in the ear.
49
00:04:54,000 --> 00:04:56,000
Fine, I thought. It happens.
50
00:04:56,000 --> 00:05:04,000
We were extracting from a yard that we had expected was pestered by a skunk during the night, so they were really pissed off.
51
00:05:04,000 --> 00:05:10,000
One of them found its way inside my veil and that bastard went straight for my eye.
52
00:05:10,000 --> 00:05:13,000
I'm just quoting here.
53
00:05:13,000 --> 00:05:17,000
My coworker and I decided we were just going to call it eventually.
54
00:05:17,000 --> 00:05:22,000
They were relentless as we got into the truck and removed our veils.
55
00:05:22,000 --> 00:05:28,000
One of the bees that got into the truck sent after me and stung my ear again.
56
00:05:28,000 --> 00:05:32,000
He was saying how he wishes he had a picture to show us.
57
00:05:32,000 --> 00:05:35,000
I don't know, maybe the theme today is pain.
58
00:05:35,000 --> 00:05:37,000
Here we go with another one.
59
00:05:37,000 --> 00:05:50,000
I put the grass around my hives without a suit on, stopped 20 yards away, proceeded to be flogged by a swarm of angry bees from about seven different hives at the same time.
60
00:05:50,000 --> 00:05:58,000
I ran 300 yards as fast as I could while simultaneously flailing my arms around my head like a maniac.
61
00:05:58,000 --> 00:06:03,000
Literally had to dive into one of my storage sheds and shut the doors.
62
00:06:03,000 --> 00:06:13,000
While laying on the floor in my shed trying to recover, I noticed the wasp nest in the building covered in about 20 angry wasps.
63
00:06:13,000 --> 00:06:16,000
It was a long day that day.
64
00:06:16,000 --> 00:06:21,000
And the only thing I have to say and this is not an easy thing is when you are getting chased,
65
00:06:21,000 --> 00:06:25,000
sure run as fast as you can, but don't do the flailing.
66
00:06:25,000 --> 00:06:29,000
That's like an attractant to them. They go after it.
67
00:06:29,000 --> 00:06:33,000
Alright, let's end on a happy note. Here we go.
68
00:06:33,000 --> 00:06:39,000
I held a frame up for inspection once and a hummingbird showed up and drank right out of it.
69
00:06:39,000 --> 00:06:41,000
That sounds cool.
70
00:06:41,000 --> 00:06:44,000
Alright, let's get to today's guest.
71
00:06:47,000 --> 00:06:52,000
And a special welcome all the way from across the pond.
72
00:06:52,000 --> 00:06:55,000
Sir James Wilden, how are you?
73
00:06:55,000 --> 00:06:58,000
Hello, I'm very well. Thank you.
74
00:06:58,000 --> 00:07:02,000
I hope that's a compliment and not offensive to call you sir over there.
75
00:07:02,000 --> 00:07:04,000
Oh, not at all. No, no.
76
00:07:04,000 --> 00:07:05,000
Alright.
77
00:07:05,000 --> 00:07:07,000
Never get called sir. It's nice.
78
00:07:07,000 --> 00:07:14,000
And you're in Warbling. I don't know if I can even say it. Warblington?
79
00:07:14,000 --> 00:07:19,000
Perfect. Yeah, Warblington. Yeah. So down in Havond in the very bottom of England, the very bottom.
80
00:07:19,000 --> 00:07:21,000
Very south end.
81
00:07:21,000 --> 00:07:23,000
Yeah, the very south.
82
00:07:23,000 --> 00:07:38,000
Alright, we're going to talk about your beekeeping journey in a couple of minutes and sort of like, like, what's the weather there so we can learn about it for other beekeepers around the world that may be in sort of a similar type of client.
83
00:07:38,000 --> 00:07:53,000
But the thing that I got my interest in wanting to talk to you is your charity, which I think is so cool. It's called Beekeeping for Hope. And from time to time on this show, we like to feature beekeepers that are giving back.
84
00:07:53,000 --> 00:08:00,000
And that's exactly what you're doing. And you are a registered charity in the UK, but a fairly new one.
85
00:08:00,000 --> 00:08:10,000
And we don't mind giving you a shout out. Tell us just a little bit about beekeeping for hope. Where did the idea come from and how can people participate?
86
00:08:10,000 --> 00:08:22,000
Well, yes. So I went to Moldova in 2021. And I saw it like extreme poverty. I saw people so poor their houses powered by a car battery.
87
00:08:22,000 --> 00:08:30,000
Their bed was covered in mold. So I wanted to help the people out in Moldova, Ukraine, Romania, all those sort of areas.
88
00:08:30,000 --> 00:08:38,000
It's just sort of, I couldn't think of a way to help them. So I tried to use the fundraising where I went for a run all the way around the place named Paul Smith, all the way around.
89
00:08:38,000 --> 00:08:50,000
It's like 14 miles. I didn't raise a lot. I didn't raise a lot of money. So I thought, how else can I help them? And then beekeeping started to, because I'm big with insects and wildlife and bits and bobs like that.
90
00:08:50,000 --> 00:09:00,000
So when I saw random advert on the internet about come and have a beekeeping course. So I thought, why not I'll go on this course and see what it's like.
91
00:09:00,000 --> 00:09:07,000
And I went on the course and just came naturally. I knew a lot about bees anyway. So it all came quite naturally.
92
00:09:07,000 --> 00:09:20,000
And then I got my first swarm in May of 2023. And it was a prime swarm. So a nice big yellow mark queen was in this swarm. They caught, they gave it to me. I put it in the hive.
93
00:09:20,000 --> 00:09:33,000
And it soon grew. I had another guy who gave me a hive. He said, I want to help you build it up a bit. So he gave me a big polystyrene big hive with a queen in there, a red queen at this time.
94
00:09:33,000 --> 00:09:42,000
And then I caught my own swarm. I put my now caught a swarm. So it started to build. And then I suddenly thought I can actually use my beekeeping to help people.
95
00:09:42,000 --> 00:09:53,000
So I started to send. So all the honey I was making from the hive, I started to make course a profit out of it. So I wanted to give all of that to hope for in more over Ukraine.
96
00:09:53,000 --> 00:10:08,000
And then I had a guy reach out to me in Uganda saying, can you help our orphanage? So I talked to him for a little while back and forth and saw all his legal documents and everything to make sure he was genuinely legit and stuff.
97
00:10:08,000 --> 00:10:24,000
And his name was Synoga out in Uganda and yet an orphanage just full of young orphan children. And I started to dedicate one of my hives to that cause. So one of my highs was to, it's called the Greenlight Foundation Uganda.
98
00:10:24,000 --> 00:10:32,000
So every bit of honey that came off that went straight to them. Not the honey itself, but I sell the honey. Then that way straight to them or the money.
99
00:10:32,000 --> 00:10:43,000
And then I gave one to hope for the guys out in Moldova. They had their own beehive. And then since then, sorry, this December, December just gone. Sorry.
100
00:10:43,000 --> 00:10:56,000
I had another people come out to me in Pakistan. See if I could help their orphanage out there. Again, we went for the paperwork together and so it's the Holy Purpose Gospel Ministry in Pakistan.
101
00:10:56,000 --> 00:11:05,000
So they feed poor children, orphans, dry families. And I help them with highly from another hive I've given to them.
102
00:11:05,000 --> 00:11:11,000
That's awesome. The idea of taking something of your bounty, right?
103
00:11:11,000 --> 00:11:12,000
Yeah.
104
00:11:12,000 --> 00:11:26,000
And I think it's, you know, scripturally, we'd probably take the first jar of honey from every year and donate it or something. But you took a whole hive and did it. And I just love the whole concept.
105
00:11:26,000 --> 00:11:37,000
Now, now people can look you up at bekeepingforhope.org. There are ways to donate there. And I hope you don't mind me just adding this.
106
00:11:37,000 --> 00:11:57,000
In your community, if it's too hard for you to go online and do this, take a jar of honey to your local food pantry or sell your first couple of jars of honey at the farmers market and donate it to bekeeping forhope where it'll go to a good place or your local food bank or something like that.
107
00:11:57,000 --> 00:12:07,000
So now you've had people do these donations from not just the UK, but Australia. Give me an idea of where some people are jumping in from already.
108
00:12:07,000 --> 00:12:22,000
Yes. To try and get people to help and to get our name out of there a bit more. I put on social media on Instagram just to say that I'm willing to give you one of these, which is a little tag called, it says, I'm bekeeping for hope.
109
00:12:22,000 --> 00:12:35,000
They stick on their beehive and it's a little like it's metal metal tag. And they stick on their beehive. Then that beehive sort of becomes my beehive as well.
110
00:12:35,000 --> 00:12:47,000
So they donate how as many jars as they want, they can do one jar to me so they sell that one jar. And one of the ladies who so I got in touch with me was a lady called Christian from Australia.
111
00:12:47,000 --> 00:12:56,000
And she donated two jars of honey. So she sold these jars and then she got the money and transferred it to me. I sent that one to Uganda.
112
00:12:56,000 --> 00:13:06,000
I've got people locally as well. So one guy in Little Hampton, which is about 40 miles away, he donated a whole super of honey to me. All jarred up, everything already.
113
00:13:06,000 --> 00:13:17,000
So what I've got to do is put my label on it and we can start selling that. I've got some guys in the UK who as well. So they get one of my jars and they put it up for auction.
114
00:13:17,000 --> 00:13:27,000
So they have a stall to see how much money they can get from it. And then they donate the proceeds to me and they go off to wherever they want it to go to.
115
00:13:27,000 --> 00:13:42,000
I love it. And I like your sticker idea that you talked about because whether you have five hives or 25 or 2005, kind of fun to put a sticker on one and say, hey, this one is going for a good cause.
116
00:13:42,000 --> 00:13:44,000
This one's not going in my pocket.
117
00:13:44,000 --> 00:13:45,000
Right. Yeah.
118
00:13:45,000 --> 00:13:51,000
And if you ever give tours or have people come over that want to see your hives, it's something to talk about too.
119
00:13:51,000 --> 00:14:01,000
So anyway, nice job, James. Tell us what it's like to do beekeeping where you are. First of all, what is the weather like? Does it rain a lot?
120
00:14:01,000 --> 00:14:13,000
Yeah. So it rains a lot. The skies are always gray. It's cold, especially now. And it's just quite stodgy everywhere. So my April at the moment is just waterlogged.
121
00:14:13,000 --> 00:14:23,000
So that's pretty much it. It's just really cold. It doesn't start to warm up till sort of the end of March, April. And then it gets quite mild.
122
00:14:23,000 --> 00:14:31,000
We don't get very hot summers here. We have a whole week where it's like intense heat. And then it goes back to being cold again or big storm or something like that.
123
00:14:31,000 --> 00:14:32,000
One whole week.
124
00:14:32,000 --> 00:14:41,000
Yeah. So our listeners in Arizona or Houston or someplace like that are actually going to be very jealous.
125
00:14:41,000 --> 00:14:47,000
But is it cold enough in the winter that you have snow or just cold enough to keep the bees in?
126
00:14:47,000 --> 00:14:58,000
It's, we don't really get snow where I am. We've not had snow here since about 2012. All we get is just a dust of the frost sometimes. That's all we seem to get.
127
00:14:58,000 --> 00:15:06,000
But the bees do generally stay in. You get your one or two coming out for to like relieve themselves or whatever, then they come back.
128
00:15:06,000 --> 00:15:13,000
But it's not many really. But we do get a really cold snap. For us, a cold snap is minus three or something.
129
00:15:13,000 --> 00:15:14,000
Yeah.
130
00:15:14,000 --> 00:15:16,000
Sometimes we'll actually.
131
00:15:16,000 --> 00:15:18,000
And we're talking Celsius here, not so that's.
132
00:15:18,000 --> 00:15:19,000
Yeah.
133
00:15:19,000 --> 00:15:22,000
High twenties or something Fahrenheit. Yeah.
134
00:15:22,000 --> 00:15:23,000
That's right. Yeah.
135
00:15:23,000 --> 00:15:33,000
We don't feel too bad. But of course the bees there, they're okay. They're in the hive. They're keeping themselves warm. Do you have to feed them quite a bit in winter?
136
00:15:33,000 --> 00:15:43,000
Yeah. So what I do, I don't take off all the honey. So I leave one super on for the bees. So I take off the excess. So I take off say my main hive last year did five supers.
137
00:15:43,000 --> 00:15:53,000
So I took four off and I left them one on for the winter. My nukes are smaller colonies. I do feed them with Bakers Fondant. They take that down quite well.
138
00:15:53,000 --> 00:16:02,000
Okay. You and I, when we talked previously, we were talking about Varroa a little bit. And just a minute ago, you were showing me, go ahead and hold it up again.
139
00:16:02,000 --> 00:16:06,000
Audio listeners can't see it, but describe what you're holding right there.
140
00:16:06,000 --> 00:16:18,000
I'm holding a freely printing of a Varroa mite. So it's a life-sized Varroa mite as if this was on me. If I was a bee and this thing was crawling all over me drinking my plasma.
141
00:16:18,000 --> 00:16:26,000
So, yeah, it's a pretty good teaching tool. But there's one thing I've learned about Varroa mites is you really can't underestimate them.
142
00:16:26,000 --> 00:16:37,000
Just a quick break here to thank our presenting sponsor, Man Lake. Hey, if your weather is anything like mine, it is freezing out.
143
00:16:37,000 --> 00:16:45,000
So let's put our creative brains together and visualize spring. Birds chirping, flowers blooming and bees buzzing.
144
00:16:45,000 --> 00:16:50,000
Now let's visualize you enjoying beekeeping so much more with some new gear.
145
00:16:50,000 --> 00:16:59,000
Or if you're new to beekeeping and not sure what you need, give Man Lake a call and their experienced beekeepers will help every step of the way.
146
00:16:59,000 --> 00:17:06,000
Protective gear, hives and tools, even packaged bees, nukes and queens, Man Lake has it all.
147
00:17:06,000 --> 00:17:21,000
And don't forget your discount code MLBLOV10, it's in the show notes, for $10 off your first $100 purchase. I'm feeling better already. Now, back to the guest.
148
00:17:21,000 --> 00:17:30,000
I mean, I've left. The first year I did that, I treated my bees and all of them survived. All my seven colonies in my first year survived.
149
00:17:30,000 --> 00:17:36,000
This year, I was a bit, we went through a bit of a phase where I was moving house and moving our bees to the apiary.
150
00:17:36,000 --> 00:17:42,000
I got the treatment in a bit too late, so I lost a few of my hives this year already, and it's all down to the rower.
151
00:17:42,000 --> 00:17:48,000
You go in there, we do it in investigations, we get a frame out of some capped brood.
152
00:17:48,000 --> 00:17:54,000
We open it up and inside there, it was just the poor little thing in there, it was just covered in varroa mites, all dead of course.
153
00:17:54,000 --> 00:17:57,000
But yeah, just don't underestimate them, get them treatments in.
154
00:17:57,000 --> 00:18:00,000
So what do you use for treatment over there?
155
00:18:00,000 --> 00:18:11,000
So we have a, I haven't got any on me, but it's a, we've got this stuff called api-bioxal, so it's an acid, and you just, you fill it up to a certain amount and you spray it between the frames, up and down.
156
00:18:11,000 --> 00:18:17,000
And the first year, it wiped out all my mites. My bees came out into the spring really healthy, really strong.
157
00:18:17,000 --> 00:18:22,000
This year, I did the same treatment. It didn't seem to do anything to the mites.
158
00:18:22,000 --> 00:18:29,000
So I'm actually currently running a GoFundMe to try and get this, is it alloxic acid?
159
00:18:29,000 --> 00:18:31,000
Axolic acid.
160
00:18:31,000 --> 00:18:37,000
Axolic acid, yeah, that's right. So it's this big like, it's a mist that goes into the hives and it killed them.
161
00:18:37,000 --> 00:18:42,000
So I've been advised to get one of those. So I've almost got enough to pick up one.
162
00:18:42,000 --> 00:18:50,000
Well, good luck on that. And just a reminder to everybody, the way you put it, I loved it, do not underestimate varroa mites.
163
00:18:50,000 --> 00:18:59,000
But that one, the 3D printing one that you were holding up, I saw something similar to it at the North American Honey Bee Expo recently.
164
00:18:59,000 --> 00:19:08,000
And it's kind of terrifying when you see it in human size, because if you were to hold it up, it'd probably cover your whole face.
165
00:19:08,000 --> 00:19:21,000
It's about that size. And then imagine if it's say, on your back and you're like a bee that doesn't have arms that can reach to their back and knock things off.
166
00:19:21,000 --> 00:19:28,000
And it's the things nightmares are made of. In fact, let's make a horror film. James, let's do it.
167
00:19:28,000 --> 00:19:31,000
Yeah. Varroa Destructor.
168
00:19:31,000 --> 00:19:40,000
I'm not sure if you can tell, but it's just a shame that these things are here and they just, they weaken the colony so much that they just can't fight off disease, can they?
169
00:19:40,000 --> 00:19:46,000
Yeah. Yeah, that's the problem. They can even carry some of the disease with them from one hive to another.
170
00:19:46,000 --> 00:19:51,000
Do you have the yellow-legged hornets that I'm hearing are all over Europe already?
171
00:19:51,000 --> 00:20:03,000
Dude, I've got one here actually. So I use these as teaching aids for the kids. So this guy here, that's a queen, they call them yellow-legged hornets, but sometimes they get called Asian hornets as well.
172
00:20:03,000 --> 00:20:06,000
So they could be El Vespa Valentino.
173
00:20:06,000 --> 00:20:14,000
I've not seen any here, but we have had some about 40 miles away in a place called Southampton. They have some there this year.
174
00:20:14,000 --> 00:20:17,000
But nothing down my way, which has been good.
175
00:20:17,000 --> 00:20:27,000
Yeah, I've got lots of size comparisons. I've got what you would call a yellow jacket here, Asian hornet in the middle, and we've got our European hornet. I think European hornets are your way as well.
176
00:20:27,000 --> 00:20:39,000
They have found some down in the southeast in two or three states. They're trying to eradicate them before they spread all over the country. So we have our fingers crossed. We're wishing them well.
177
00:20:39,000 --> 00:20:50,000
You had mentioned just in passing a couple of minutes ago about catching swarms, a yellow queen and a red queen.
178
00:20:50,000 --> 00:20:58,000
Now, for brand new beekeepers, they might go, what in the world is that? So why don't you explain what you mean by that, the colors?
179
00:20:58,000 --> 00:21:14,000
Yeah, so as you know, well, as some most beekeepers know, when you have a queen, of course, you give them a color mark and the color is determined by the year. So when I first got my bees back in 2023, the swarm was from a 2022 queen.
180
00:21:14,000 --> 00:21:20,000
So she was yellow. And then 2023, the universal coders red.
181
00:21:20,000 --> 00:21:24,000
And I think this year is it blue. I think it's blue.
182
00:21:24,000 --> 00:21:32,000
So we call our queens by that. So we've got the red queen. It sounds like something of Game of Thrones, the red queen, the yellow queen.
183
00:21:32,000 --> 00:21:36,000
And yeah, I got again, I put my queens in resin.
184
00:21:36,000 --> 00:21:44,000
So because I don't like killing queens, because I find I get a little bit of relationship with them. So we name all of our queens.
185
00:21:44,000 --> 00:21:51,000
When they die, I'm devastated when they die. We had one queen, our very first one called Queen Phoenix, the yellow one.
186
00:21:51,000 --> 00:22:04,000
She was our best queen. She produced literally all the queens in our apiary and she started to lay drone brood, which is where they where the queen starts to lay just drone eggs, boy bees.
187
00:22:04,000 --> 00:22:12,000
And everyone was telling me kill her, get rid of her, replace her. And I thought now I'll retire her. So I put her in a little nuke with a few bees.
188
00:22:12,000 --> 00:22:17,000
Now she got better. She started to stop laying drones started laying workers again.
189
00:22:17,000 --> 00:22:26,000
So the other bees didn't like her much. They kept on trying to overthrow her by making queen cells, but she just killed them and killed the other queens.
190
00:22:26,000 --> 00:22:30,000
Sadly today, I found her dead in her beehive.
191
00:22:30,000 --> 00:22:31,000
Oh, James.
192
00:22:31,000 --> 00:22:36,000
Yeah, she died. So that's Phoenix. So I'm going to get. So at the moment she's an alcohol solution.
193
00:22:36,000 --> 00:22:39,000
And she is going to be put into resin as well.
194
00:22:39,000 --> 00:22:50,000
I'm quite sad she died. She was a lovely queen jet black, the bright yellow shape of a Phoenix on her back because where they the bees nibbled the mark of yellow circle and they nibbled it into a Phoenix shape.
195
00:22:50,000 --> 00:22:52,000
So that's why we called her Phoenix.
196
00:22:52,000 --> 00:23:03,000
So it's a very common term again if we're talking to brand new beekeepers here, it's a very common term to just pinch an old queen and replace her with a new one.
197
00:23:03,000 --> 00:23:09,000
As if it's no big deal. And I love to hear someone that absolutely loves their queens like you do.
198
00:23:09,000 --> 00:23:13,000
It's almost like you formed a retirement community for her.
199
00:23:13,000 --> 00:23:15,000
Yeah, that's why she was there. She was doing so well.
200
00:23:15,000 --> 00:23:20,000
Again, the reason I think she died again was for over again. I underestimated him this year.
201
00:23:20,000 --> 00:23:25,000
We got quite a few colonies left, which is good, which is fine, but I just didn't want her to go this year.
202
00:23:25,000 --> 00:23:28,000
I want to have to literally have another year in her to see how she goes.
203
00:23:28,000 --> 00:23:31,000
How many colonies did you go into winter with this year?
204
00:23:31,000 --> 00:23:37,000
I went into winter with 11 and we got six left.
205
00:23:37,000 --> 00:23:42,000
We lost, I lost one early on in September to wasps.
206
00:23:42,000 --> 00:23:52,000
They literally, they found a weakness in the colony and they piled in there in the autumn and they just, there's a strong colony as well, but obviously not strong enough for the wasps.
207
00:23:52,000 --> 00:23:56,000
So yellow jackets got in there and wiped them out.
208
00:23:56,000 --> 00:24:00,000
Yellow jackets are horrible. We have them where I am too.
209
00:24:00,000 --> 00:24:07,000
And I used to hear they can only kill a weak colony and I have found that did not be true.
210
00:24:07,000 --> 00:24:10,000
I've seen strong colonies get wiped out by them.
211
00:24:10,000 --> 00:24:11,000
Definitely.
212
00:24:11,000 --> 00:24:18,000
And I have learned when they, what time of year that they attack bee colonies where I am.
213
00:24:18,000 --> 00:24:21,000
It's right around September 1st every year.
214
00:24:21,000 --> 00:24:26,000
And so I've learned to put some kind of an entrance reducer.
215
00:24:26,000 --> 00:24:35,000
It's still hot here. So I just use like a screen, leave a small opening because a healthy colony, they can protect a small opening.
216
00:24:35,000 --> 00:24:38,000
Just not a big wide open opening.
217
00:24:38,000 --> 00:24:44,000
If there are that many voracious, ready to go into winter yellow jackets.
218
00:24:44,000 --> 00:24:47,000
Oh, and it's an ugly thing just to see it happen.
219
00:24:47,000 --> 00:24:56,000
Because you'll see the guard bees come out, try to defend the hive and those yellow jackets just take them out.
220
00:24:56,000 --> 00:24:57,000
It's not a fair fight.
221
00:24:57,000 --> 00:25:00,000
Well, I used to have my bees. I used to have them in my garden.
222
00:25:00,000 --> 00:25:04,000
So I had seven colonies in the garden, tucked around the back and I could watch them out of the window.
223
00:25:04,000 --> 00:25:09,000
So I could see if I saw a wasp walking around there, I got there getting that catch it, dispose of it.
224
00:25:09,000 --> 00:25:14,000
Normally the bees would, I'd give it to the bee or injure it, but he'd give it to the bees and they would just all pile on it.
225
00:25:14,000 --> 00:25:19,000
So I thought, well, then I had to move my colonies because I can't see them all the time.
226
00:25:19,000 --> 00:25:25,000
I come that onto it as I used to be on that on it at protecting them from stuff.
227
00:25:25,000 --> 00:25:30,000
But like I said, I got a job now where I'm working with my bees in the same area.
228
00:25:30,000 --> 00:25:35,000
So if I get a sneaky five minutes, I'll have a quick pop over there and have a look, see what's going on.
229
00:25:35,000 --> 00:25:40,000
So tell us a little bit about that. What kind of place do you work at that would allow that?
230
00:25:40,000 --> 00:25:47,000
So I work at a retirement village. So when people retire, these are like very, very well off rich people.
231
00:25:47,000 --> 00:25:56,000
So when they retire, they downsize into a small community and I'm like the gardener, I will go around and do our jobs around everywhere.
232
00:25:56,000 --> 00:26:05,000
Plus my bees are in the corner. So in the summer comes in, a lot of them want to go get a bee through Island, I'll take them into the hives to have a look.
233
00:26:05,000 --> 00:26:12,000
That is awesome. Did you have a hard time getting permission to have bees there? Were they worried about the liability?
234
00:26:12,000 --> 00:26:24,000
They seemed to, where I had my bees before, because they were at my old work, I lived there on a school paying field, a massive big sports field.
235
00:26:24,000 --> 00:26:31,000
And when I moved out, my bees were asked to go and my bosses were getting a bit funny and they said, we want these bees to go, they're a danger,
236
00:26:31,000 --> 00:26:41,000
but they've been there a year or so, they hadn't stung anyone. So they got a bit funny. So I went on BBC radio and put our plea for anyone who can offer me some land,
237
00:26:41,000 --> 00:26:52,000
ASAP this coming Saturday, I will move my bees there and this lady reached out to me in the retirement village and said, you can put your bees here.
238
00:26:52,000 --> 00:26:59,000
And ended up me getting a job there as well. So I moved him in there literally two or three days after the radio went out.
239
00:26:59,000 --> 00:27:06,000
So the people in the retirement community, what do they think about it? I mean, they put on a bee suit. What kind of experience do they have?
240
00:27:06,000 --> 00:27:16,000
Well, I haven't, they haven't had a bee suit on yet, but they love the four bees being there, being around the bees, having honey produced where they are basically.
241
00:27:16,000 --> 00:27:25,000
So if they do get hay fever or any allergens to pollen or anything, then they got some honey right there they can, you know, they can use.
242
00:27:25,000 --> 00:27:33,000
But our lessons are going to start this summer. I see I go by duties, children talk children for two years now, and that's good fun.
243
00:27:33,000 --> 00:27:37,000
Tell us about that. Is that through the local school or your city?
244
00:27:37,000 --> 00:27:49,000
Yeah, so I we home educate our children. I've got two sons. We home educate them. So it's that community. And then we get weekly we used to get seven or eight families coming in.
245
00:27:49,000 --> 00:27:55,000
All kids of all varying ages, none under six because I found the six year olds were a bit, they didn't really listen.
246
00:27:55,000 --> 00:28:02,000
I was like, I remember one girl, she she got some honey on her finger and she wanted to lick it.
247
00:28:02,000 --> 00:28:10,000
So she started to take her veil off as the bees have all out flying around to lick the honey. So I said to my wife, no under six.
248
00:28:10,000 --> 00:28:23,000
And since then it's been fine. I've had people who are absolutely petrified of bees, some children who are petrified. But I find the key to getting them sort of to break that scaredness.
249
00:28:23,000 --> 00:28:30,000
Getting them to hold a drone bee because there's no male drone bees don't sting. They're quite cute looking. They've got big compound eyes.
250
00:28:30,000 --> 00:28:38,000
So I would always catch a drone bee on the on the frame and put it in their hand and the confidence this gives them, then when other bees start landing on them for a rest,
251
00:28:38,000 --> 00:28:47,000
they're fine. They don't mind their holder frame as well full of bees. And yes, the drone bees key for children, I find, for building confidence.
252
00:28:47,000 --> 00:28:56,000
Cool. Well, I love talking to people that love honeybees. That's what this show is all about. You obviously do. You definitely qualify.
253
00:28:56,000 --> 00:29:03,000
I'm going to give you a chance to tell us a wild and crazy beekeeping story. And you haven't been a beekeeper all that long.
254
00:29:03,000 --> 00:29:05,000
But have you had anything unusual happen to you?
255
00:29:05,000 --> 00:29:15,000
So before I got my own eyes, I was helping an old chap a little way away from me up on a hill. It's called Portstown Hill near where I live.
256
00:29:15,000 --> 00:29:22,000
And he had beehives everywhere, but he was getting on. So he said, can you have some help? So I didn't really know what to wear.
257
00:29:22,000 --> 00:29:27,000
So I had just my my bee suit on, but I didn't have wedding boots. So my ankles were showing.
258
00:29:27,000 --> 00:29:36,000
And I wore cotton gloves for some reason. So we're going to this hive and it was really aggressive. They were so aggressive.
259
00:29:36,000 --> 00:29:43,000
They literally pulled all over my hands, stinging my hands. I got about 30 stings on my hands, on my ankles.
260
00:29:43,000 --> 00:29:48,000
I'd never been stung by a bee before. So I came out on a rash and everything.
261
00:29:48,000 --> 00:29:53,000
But I had trigger finger, which is where when I woke up in the morning, my middle finger was always stuck down.
262
00:29:53,000 --> 00:29:58,000
I had to prize it up. Something happened. Not every single night I'll get this trigger finger.
263
00:29:58,000 --> 00:30:02,000
But for some reason, the bees concentrated all their stings on my middle finger.
264
00:30:02,000 --> 00:30:08,000
And ever since I've had them stings, I've never had trigger finger again. So I find that quite crazy.
265
00:30:08,000 --> 00:30:11,000
That is so cool.
266
00:30:11,000 --> 00:30:19,000
It swelled up like a big balloon. I've had a massive big finger. But since then, I've never had a problem with my finger.
267
00:30:19,000 --> 00:30:25,000
I think that is awesome. And apotherapy is something we've only touched on a little bit on this podcast.
268
00:30:25,000 --> 00:30:31,000
I do want to get into it more. It's something that I personally have experimented with it myself.
269
00:30:31,000 --> 00:30:40,000
And we're not giving medical advice here, but wow. So if that trigger finger were to come back, what would you do?
270
00:30:40,000 --> 00:30:42,000
Purposely sting?
271
00:30:42,000 --> 00:30:47,000
I was thinking this the other day because I was going to test it. Just get a bee on my finger and try and get stinging me.
272
00:30:47,000 --> 00:30:52,000
And I couldn't do it. I couldn't get it because I know it does really hurt when it first stings you.
273
00:30:52,000 --> 00:30:59,000
But if they attack me again, then it'll be all right because I wouldn't notice it as much because I'm concentrating on other things.
274
00:30:59,000 --> 00:31:05,000
But if I'm trying to get it to sting me, I couldn't do it. I was trying to test it, but I couldn't do it.
275
00:31:05,000 --> 00:31:08,000
I've done it. The first time is really hard.
276
00:31:08,000 --> 00:31:09,000
Yeah.
277
00:31:09,000 --> 00:31:12,000
If you've been stung a bunch, you'd think, oh, it wouldn't be a big deal.
278
00:31:12,000 --> 00:31:21,000
But when you get a tweezer or something and you hold a bee and you're like, okay, I'm going to sting, get stung right here on purpose.
279
00:31:21,000 --> 00:31:25,000
It's like everything in your DNA is saying, don't do it, don't do it, don't do it.
280
00:31:25,000 --> 00:31:31,000
And you have to overcome that. It does get easier after you do it the first time.
281
00:31:31,000 --> 00:31:37,000
But yeah, our human nature is just to avoid it at all costs.
282
00:31:37,000 --> 00:31:42,000
But how crazy that they actually went for a place where you needed help?
283
00:31:42,000 --> 00:31:55,000
Yeah, because I've read somewhere that some bees know that a beekeeper is going to look after them and protect them to the best they can from, like, say, mites and wasps and hornets and hive beetles and stuff, all stuff like that.
284
00:31:55,000 --> 00:31:57,000
Somehow I think they do know that.
285
00:31:57,000 --> 00:31:58,000
So they want to help us.
286
00:31:58,000 --> 00:32:00,000
And in a way, they don't help us in the way we can help them.
287
00:32:00,000 --> 00:32:06,000
So I guess by stinging me, they sort of doubt my hand in the only way they knew how.
288
00:32:06,000 --> 00:32:09,000
Oh, yeah, absolutely.
289
00:32:09,000 --> 00:32:13,000
I guess we just don't give them near enough credit for how smart they are.
290
00:32:13,000 --> 00:32:16,000
Yeah, I've read some of the recognized faces as well. I don't know, smells.
291
00:32:16,000 --> 00:32:21,000
I've read that as well. Faces and smells.
292
00:32:21,000 --> 00:32:27,000
And so don't get on the bad side of your bees. They may recognize you next time around.
293
00:32:27,000 --> 00:32:30,000
That's one thing your beekeeper said to me when I first started.
294
00:32:30,000 --> 00:32:36,000
He said I was too clunky. I was too like lifting up the crown board or moving a box.
295
00:32:36,000 --> 00:32:43,000
I was too fast to do it nice and a slow, gentle pace just so it doesn't make the bees too mad.
296
00:32:43,000 --> 00:32:45,000
Clearly fast movements. They're going to start coming up, aren't they?
297
00:32:45,000 --> 00:32:48,000
The guards will come up and have a poke at you.
298
00:32:48,000 --> 00:32:50,000
Well, that is exactly right.
299
00:32:50,000 --> 00:32:53,000
And there's more advice for new beekeepers today.
300
00:32:53,000 --> 00:32:55,000
I did the same thing.
301
00:32:55,000 --> 00:33:03,000
When I was new, I had great big gloves and they made it so it was hard to pull out a frame without squishing a bee.
302
00:33:03,000 --> 00:33:11,000
It was hard to not drop one and kind of hard way back in and those kinds of things they do not like.
303
00:33:11,000 --> 00:33:17,000
And either use no gloves or nitrile gloves now because then I can be precise.
304
00:33:17,000 --> 00:33:20,000
I can keep from squishing any bees accidentally.
305
00:33:20,000 --> 00:33:23,000
I'm not dropping frames. I can just go.
306
00:33:23,000 --> 00:33:36,000
And also just the fact that you get used to them means you can go slower and not be as much in a hurry and not get your anxiety up because they love calmness, don't they?
307
00:33:36,000 --> 00:33:37,000
That's right.
308
00:33:37,000 --> 00:33:45,000
When I was teaching a guy last year and he was reopening a nuker box to transfer it into a big national hive.
309
00:33:45,000 --> 00:33:48,000
We use nationals here. That's the most common one here.
310
00:33:48,000 --> 00:33:50,000
You guys are Langstroth, is that right?
311
00:33:50,000 --> 00:33:54,000
Yeah, Langstroth is the most common here.
312
00:33:54,000 --> 00:33:56,000
Yeah. And he was so known.
313
00:33:56,000 --> 00:34:01,000
As I said, all you've got to do is just concentrate on the task of getting these bees from the nuker into there.
314
00:34:01,000 --> 00:34:03,000
Don't worry about the bees buzzing around us and all this.
315
00:34:03,000 --> 00:34:05,000
And he said it was fine.
316
00:34:05,000 --> 00:34:08,000
After that, he's focused and he's just got the frames out.
317
00:34:08,000 --> 00:34:12,000
I mean, took one out, another one in and he was fine.
318
00:34:12,000 --> 00:34:13,000
He says, that's what you've got to do.
319
00:34:13,000 --> 00:34:16,000
Just don't worry about them all buzzing around because you're sealed up tight.
320
00:34:16,000 --> 00:34:17,000
So they're not going to get in.
321
00:34:17,000 --> 00:34:20,000
And yeah, he did really well actually. He was really good.
322
00:34:20,000 --> 00:34:24,000
Nice and slow and just focused on the task at hand.
323
00:34:24,000 --> 00:34:28,000
All right. Any other advice for new beekeepers before I let you go?
324
00:34:28,000 --> 00:34:31,000
New beekeepers. Well, that's what I think.
325
00:34:31,000 --> 00:34:33,000
Got a good advice.
326
00:34:33,000 --> 00:34:37,000
So when you come into beekeeping, you're going to get a lot of advice from you.
327
00:34:37,000 --> 00:34:43,000
Some one beekeeper wants you to do a certain thing this way and no one wants you to do the same thing, but a different way.
328
00:34:43,000 --> 00:34:48,000
And then if you do it one way, the other one gets mad and so much information comes away.
329
00:34:48,000 --> 00:34:53,000
My best advice is listen to every bit of advice you can get and just adapt it to how you work.
330
00:34:53,000 --> 00:35:02,000
You know, I found when I first came into beekeeping, I was getting so much advice and a lot of people were getting mad at me for doing advice differently to what they told me.
331
00:35:02,000 --> 00:35:05,000
If that makes sense, because they wanted me to do it their way.
332
00:35:05,000 --> 00:35:08,000
But I was learning so many different things. I was doing it away.
333
00:35:08,000 --> 00:35:11,000
What I could work well with, if that makes sense.
334
00:35:11,000 --> 00:35:16,000
We have a saying here, ask 10 different beekeepers and you'll get 11 different answers.
335
00:35:16,000 --> 00:35:18,000
Yeah, that's totally right.
336
00:35:18,000 --> 00:35:26,000
Yeah. And it's so true. So I think you just have to somehow get in harmony with your bees, be intuitive.
337
00:35:26,000 --> 00:35:33,000
If you're really there and you really care like that, I think it's going to come to you to know how to take care of them.
338
00:35:33,000 --> 00:35:35,000
That's right. Yeah.
339
00:35:35,000 --> 00:35:44,000
I realized commercial beekeepers, they've got hundreds or thousands of hives and it's a matter of just bang, bang, bang, get in and get the work done.
340
00:35:44,000 --> 00:35:53,000
But for hobbyists and sidelineers that have the time to take and to really get in tune with those bees, I don't know how to explain how to do it.
341
00:35:53,000 --> 00:35:57,000
But yeah, it works.
342
00:35:57,000 --> 00:36:09,000
The one thing I don't like doing either is when you had to move, say you got your brew box and on top you got your soup of honey, when you had to put them back, I would try my hardest not to squash a bee because I hate the...
343
00:36:09,000 --> 00:36:15,000
Because it can be completely clear and then you put the box down and you hear, it's like, ah, I got one.
344
00:36:15,000 --> 00:36:18,000
And I feel, again, I feel really bad for that bee.
345
00:36:18,000 --> 00:36:20,000
So how do you avoid that?
346
00:36:20,000 --> 00:36:29,000
So what I try and do is I give a really big puff of smoke so that honey soup is quite close to me, the big puff and then get on slowly but quickly.
347
00:36:29,000 --> 00:36:30,000
That makes sense.
348
00:36:30,000 --> 00:36:33,000
So it's slow movements, but at a fast pace.
349
00:36:33,000 --> 00:36:36,000
And then when I put it down, you might get one.
350
00:36:36,000 --> 00:36:41,000
I really try my hardest not to squash a bee because I don't like it.
351
00:36:41,000 --> 00:36:47,000
I found in addition to that, also just sliding that box on slightly.
352
00:36:47,000 --> 00:36:53,000
In other words, put it down instead of straight down exactly where it's going to fit.
353
00:36:53,000 --> 00:36:57,000
Have it off just a little and then kind of slide it into place a little bit.
354
00:36:57,000 --> 00:36:58,000
Yeah.
355
00:36:58,000 --> 00:36:59,000
Can also help.
356
00:36:59,000 --> 00:37:00,000
Yeah.
357
00:37:00,000 --> 00:37:02,000
Good advice.
358
00:37:02,000 --> 00:37:03,000
All right.
359
00:37:03,000 --> 00:37:05,000
Well, it's great to talk to you, Sir James.
360
00:37:05,000 --> 00:37:11,000
And we'll put in the show notes, be keeping for hope if anybody wants to get involved.
361
00:37:11,000 --> 00:37:17,000
Or just read about how they can do something similar in their community because it's a great idea.
362
00:37:17,000 --> 00:37:23,000
And the educational side, we didn't talk about much, but I know there's that too and they can learn about that as well.
363
00:37:23,000 --> 00:37:25,000
So thank you for being with me.
364
00:37:25,000 --> 00:37:26,000
No problem.
365
00:37:26,000 --> 00:37:27,000
Thank you very much.
366
00:37:30,000 --> 00:37:35,000
Thank you so much for joining us here on Be Love Be Keeping presented by Man Lake.
367
00:37:35,000 --> 00:37:41,000
Please right now before you forget, hit that follow or subscribe button, rate and comment on the show.
368
00:37:41,000 --> 00:37:43,000
Then be sure to share it with a friend.
369
00:37:43,000 --> 00:37:47,000
We're building a community here and we want to hear from you.
370
00:37:47,000 --> 00:37:58,000
Send your crazy stories, guest recommendations, new gadgets or anything else that you'd like to hear about on the show to Eric at belovebekeeping.com.
371
00:37:58,000 --> 00:38:04,000
And remember, if you're not just in it for the honey or the money, you're in it for the love.
372
00:38:04,000 --> 00:38:06,000
See you next week.
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:03,000
May I have your attention please?
2
00:00:03,000 --> 00:00:06,640
The following is not the real Jeff Vox really.
3
00:00:06,640 --> 00:00:17,640
If you smell a newly opened jar of honey before tasting it,
4
00:00:17,640 --> 00:00:22,840
you might be a beekeeper.
5
00:00:22,840 --> 00:00:27,000
If you can tell the difference between a honey bee
6
00:00:27,000 --> 00:00:34,000
and a fly just by listening, you might be a beekeeper.
7
00:00:34,000 --> 00:00:43,000
If you learned what working but don't build a stick of furniture,
8
00:00:43,000 --> 00:00:48,000
you might be a beekeeper.
9
00:00:53,000 --> 00:00:56,000
Welcome, welcome to Be Love Beekeeping podcast presented by our good friend,
10
00:00:56,000 --> 00:00:58,000
over at Man Lake.
11
00:00:58,000 --> 00:01:03,000
At Bee Love, we're all about the honey bees and of course the beekeepers.
12
00:01:03,000 --> 00:01:08,000
Today, we're going to learn from our guest another way that we as beekeepers
13
00:01:08,000 --> 00:01:11,000
can do some good in the world through beekeeping.
14
00:01:11,000 --> 00:01:17,000
But first, as you've probably already heard, there's something a little scary going on with honey bees this winter.
15
00:01:17,000 --> 00:01:20,000
Massive die-offs are being reported.
16
00:01:20,000 --> 00:01:31,000
In fact, depending on which source you read, anywhere from 50% to 70% to even 100% of bee die-offs with commercial beekeepers.
17
00:01:31,000 --> 00:01:37,000
This last week, the Honey Bee Health Coalition sent an email outlining some of the concerns,
18
00:01:37,000 --> 00:01:43,000
saying that commercial beekeepers are discovering quote, alarming colony losses.
19
00:01:43,000 --> 00:01:51,000
These losses are severe, broad, and may impact food security through inadequate pollination services.
20
00:01:51,000 --> 00:01:57,000
It continues, the symptoms of loss are reminiscent of colony collapse disorder conditions,
21
00:01:57,000 --> 00:02:04,000
which occurred in 2007 and 2008 when bees suddenly disappeared from their colonies.
22
00:02:04,000 --> 00:02:12,000
During recent inspections by field scientists, decreased colonies often died with ample honey stores,
23
00:02:12,000 --> 00:02:18,000
leaving small patches of brood with most or all of the adult honey bees missing.
24
00:02:18,000 --> 00:02:26,000
Another symptom has been the rapid dwindling of surviving colonies, often within 10 days of passing health inspections.
25
00:02:26,000 --> 00:02:32,000
Immediate action is being taken in the form of a study sampling of commercial beekeepers.
26
00:02:32,000 --> 00:02:40,000
I have reached out to those involved with the study, including the USDA, and I can't get anyone who's in the know to comment.
27
00:02:40,000 --> 00:02:48,000
The only thing I got, and sorry for the rant, but the only thing I got was the following from the USDA's PR department.
28
00:02:48,000 --> 00:02:54,000
Quote, please see the statement from the Agricultural Research Service.
29
00:02:54,000 --> 00:03:00,000
Please attribute the statement to a USDA ARS spokesperson.
30
00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:04,000
By the way, they wouldn't give me the name of that spokesperson.
31
00:03:04,000 --> 00:03:16,000
So here's the quote, USDA is aware of the unusual losses to our nation's honey bee colonies and is concerned about its potential impact on food production and supply.
32
00:03:16,000 --> 00:03:29,000
USDA Agricultural Research Service scientists are working closely with federal partners, stakeholders, and impacted parties to identify the source of this agricultural challenge.
33
00:03:29,000 --> 00:03:34,000
USDA will share more information when data is available.
34
00:03:34,000 --> 00:03:36,000
Okay, all right.
35
00:03:36,000 --> 00:03:40,000
I realize the research is far from being completed, but I have questions.
36
00:03:40,000 --> 00:03:48,000
Beekeepers have questions, and I think we have a right to ask them, and I think we have a right to get answers on what is known so far.
37
00:03:48,000 --> 00:03:53,000
But instead of being able to do that, I'm getting the bureaucratic two-step.
38
00:03:53,000 --> 00:03:59,000
But listeners, fellow beekeepers, I promise as soon as I know more, you will know more.
39
00:03:59,000 --> 00:04:06,000
And if you know more before I know more, please reach out to me so that we can both know more.
40
00:04:06,000 --> 00:04:17,000
In the meantime, I'll try to get over my rant with a little fun here, and the best way to do that is with some wild and crazy beekeeping stories from our listeners.
41
00:04:17,000 --> 00:04:23,000
This was six hours after inspection. I did an inspection in the late morning.
42
00:04:23,000 --> 00:04:29,000
It was 100 yards from the hive in my garage doing something entirely un-bee-related.
43
00:04:29,000 --> 00:04:34,000
The bees came and found me and went straight for my eye.
44
00:04:34,000 --> 00:04:37,000
This was the beginning of the end for that queen.
45
00:04:37,000 --> 00:04:43,000
I had been tolerating this overly aggressive hive for months, but this was the final straw.
46
00:04:43,000 --> 00:04:47,000
She was stomped in the driveway three weeks ago and replaced.
47
00:04:47,000 --> 00:04:49,000
Next one.
48
00:04:49,000 --> 00:04:54,000
I got out of the truck one day without my veil on and immediately got stung in the ear.
49
00:04:54,000 --> 00:04:56,000
Fine, I thought. It happens.
50
00:04:56,000 --> 00:05:04,000
We were extracting from a yard that we had expected was pestered by a skunk during the night, so they were really pissed off.
51
00:05:04,000 --> 00:05:10,000
One of them found its way inside my veil and that bastard went straight for my eye.
52
00:05:10,000 --> 00:05:13,000
I'm just quoting here.
53
00:05:13,000 --> 00:05:17,000
My coworker and I decided we were just going to call it eventually.
54
00:05:17,000 --> 00:05:22,000
They were relentless as we got into the truck and removed our veils.
55
00:05:22,000 --> 00:05:28,000
One of the bees that got into the truck sent after me and stung my ear again.
56
00:05:28,000 --> 00:05:32,000
He was saying how he wishes he had a picture to show us.
57
00:05:32,000 --> 00:05:35,000
I don't know, maybe the theme today is pain.
58
00:05:35,000 --> 00:05:37,000
Here we go with another one.
59
00:05:37,000 --> 00:05:50,000
I put the grass around my hives without a suit on, stopped 20 yards away, proceeded to be flogged by a swarm of angry bees from about seven different hives at the same time.
60
00:05:50,000 --> 00:05:58,000
I ran 300 yards as fast as I could while simultaneously flailing my arms around my head like a maniac.
61
00:05:58,000 --> 00:06:03,000
Literally had to dive into one of my storage sheds and shut the doors.
62
00:06:03,000 --> 00:06:13,000
While laying on the floor in my shed trying to recover, I noticed the wasp nest in the building covered in about 20 angry wasps.
63
00:06:13,000 --> 00:06:16,000
It was a long day that day.
64
00:06:16,000 --> 00:06:21,000
And the only thing I have to say and this is not an easy thing is when you are getting chased,
65
00:06:21,000 --> 00:06:25,000
sure run as fast as you can, but don't do the flailing.
66
00:06:25,000 --> 00:06:29,000
That's like an attractant to them. They go after it.
67
00:06:29,000 --> 00:06:33,000
Alright, let's end on a happy note. Here we go.
68
00:06:33,000 --> 00:06:39,000
I held a frame up for inspection once and a hummingbird showed up and drank right out of it.
69
00:06:39,000 --> 00:06:41,000
That sounds cool.
70
00:06:41,000 --> 00:06:44,000
Alright, let's get to today's guest.
71
00:06:47,000 --> 00:06:52,000
And a special welcome all the way from across the pond.
72
00:06:52,000 --> 00:06:55,000
Sir James Wilden, how are you?
73
00:06:55,000 --> 00:06:58,000
Hello, I'm very well. Thank you.
74
00:06:58,000 --> 00:07:02,000
I hope that's a compliment and not offensive to call you sir over there.
75
00:07:02,000 --> 00:07:04,000
Oh, not at all. No, no.
76
00:07:04,000 --> 00:07:05,000
Alright.
77
00:07:05,000 --> 00:07:07,000
Never get called sir. It's nice.
78
00:07:07,000 --> 00:07:14,000
And you're in Warbling. I don't know if I can even say it. Warblington?
79
00:07:14,000 --> 00:07:19,000
Perfect. Yeah, Warblington. Yeah. So down in Havond in the very bottom of England, the very bottom.
80
00:07:19,000 --> 00:07:21,000
Very south end.
81
00:07:21,000 --> 00:07:23,000
Yeah, the very south.
82
00:07:23,000 --> 00:07:38,000
Alright, we're going to talk about your beekeeping journey in a couple of minutes and sort of like, like, what's the weather there so we can learn about it for other beekeepers around the world that may be in sort of a similar type of client.
83
00:07:38,000 --> 00:07:53,000
But the thing that I got my interest in wanting to talk to you is your charity, which I think is so cool. It's called Beekeeping for Hope. And from time to time on this show, we like to feature beekeepers that are giving back.
84
00:07:53,000 --> 00:08:00,000
And that's exactly what you're doing. And you are a registered charity in the UK, but a fairly new one.
85
00:08:00,000 --> 00:08:10,000
And we don't mind giving you a shout out. Tell us just a little bit about beekeeping for hope. Where did the idea come from and how can people participate?
86
00:08:10,000 --> 00:08:22,000
Well, yes. So I went to Moldova in 2021. And I saw it like extreme poverty. I saw people so poor their houses powered by a car battery.
87
00:08:22,000 --> 00:08:30,000
Their bed was covered in mold. So I wanted to help the people out in Moldova, Ukraine, Romania, all those sort of areas.
88
00:08:30,000 --> 00:08:38,000
It's just sort of, I couldn't think of a way to help them. So I tried to use the fundraising where I went for a run all the way around the place named Paul Smith, all the way around.
89
00:08:38,000 --> 00:08:50,000
It's like 14 miles. I didn't raise a lot. I didn't raise a lot of money. So I thought, how else can I help them? And then beekeeping started to, because I'm big with insects and wildlife and bits and bobs like that.
90
00:08:50,000 --> 00:09:00,000
So when I saw random advert on the internet about come and have a beekeeping course. So I thought, why not I'll go on this course and see what it's like.
91
00:09:00,000 --> 00:09:07,000
And I went on the course and just came naturally. I knew a lot about bees anyway. So it all came quite naturally.
92
00:09:07,000 --> 00:09:20,000
And then I got my first swarm in May of 2023. And it was a prime swarm. So a nice big yellow mark queen was in this swarm. They caught, they gave it to me. I put it in the hive.
93
00:09:20,000 --> 00:09:33,000
And it soon grew. I had another guy who gave me a hive. He said, I want to help you build it up a bit. So he gave me a big polystyrene big hive with a queen in there, a red queen at this time.
94
00:09:33,000 --> 00:09:42,000
And then I caught my own swarm. I put my now caught a swarm. So it started to build. And then I suddenly thought I can actually use my beekeeping to help people.
95
00:09:42,000 --> 00:09:53,000
So I started to send. So all the honey I was making from the hive, I started to make course a profit out of it. So I wanted to give all of that to hope for in more over Ukraine.
96
00:09:53,000 --> 00:10:08,000
And then I had a guy reach out to me in Uganda saying, can you help our orphanage? So I talked to him for a little while back and forth and saw all his legal documents and everything to make sure he was genuinely legit and stuff.
97
00:10:08,000 --> 00:10:24,000
And his name was Synoga out in Uganda and yet an orphanage just full of young orphan children. And I started to dedicate one of my hives to that cause. So one of my highs was to, it's called the Greenlight Foundation Uganda.
98
00:10:24,000 --> 00:10:32,000
So every bit of honey that came off that went straight to them. Not the honey itself, but I sell the honey. Then that way straight to them or the money.
99
00:10:32,000 --> 00:10:43,000
And then I gave one to hope for the guys out in Moldova. They had their own beehive. And then since then, sorry, this December, December just gone. Sorry.
100
00:10:43,000 --> 00:10:56,000
I had another people come out to me in Pakistan. See if I could help their orphanage out there. Again, we went for the paperwork together and so it's the Holy Purpose Gospel Ministry in Pakistan.
101
00:10:56,000 --> 00:11:05,000
So they feed poor children, orphans, dry families. And I help them with highly from another hive I've given to them.
102
00:11:05,000 --> 00:11:11,000
That's awesome. The idea of taking something of your bounty, right?
103
00:11:11,000 --> 00:11:12,000
Yeah.
104
00:11:12,000 --> 00:11:26,000
And I think it's, you know, scripturally, we'd probably take the first jar of honey from every year and donate it or something. But you took a whole hive and did it. And I just love the whole concept.
105
00:11:26,000 --> 00:11:37,000
Now, now people can look you up at bekeepingforhope.org. There are ways to donate there. And I hope you don't mind me just adding this.
106
00:11:37,000 --> 00:11:57,000
In your community, if it's too hard for you to go online and do this, take a jar of honey to your local food pantry or sell your first couple of jars of honey at the farmers market and donate it to bekeeping forhope where it'll go to a good place or your local food bank or something like that.
107
00:11:57,000 --> 00:12:07,000
So now you've had people do these donations from not just the UK, but Australia. Give me an idea of where some people are jumping in from already.
108
00:12:07,000 --> 00:12:22,000
Yes. To try and get people to help and to get our name out of there a bit more. I put on social media on Instagram just to say that I'm willing to give you one of these, which is a little tag called, it says, I'm bekeeping for hope.
109
00:12:22,000 --> 00:12:35,000
They stick on their beehive and it's a little like it's metal metal tag. And they stick on their beehive. Then that beehive sort of becomes my beehive as well.
110
00:12:35,000 --> 00:12:47,000
So they donate how as many jars as they want, they can do one jar to me so they sell that one jar. And one of the ladies who so I got in touch with me was a lady called Christian from Australia.
111
00:12:47,000 --> 00:12:56,000
And she donated two jars of honey. So she sold these jars and then she got the money and transferred it to me. I sent that one to Uganda.
112
00:12:56,000 --> 00:13:06,000
I've got people locally as well. So one guy in Little Hampton, which is about 40 miles away, he donated a whole super of honey to me. All jarred up, everything already.
113
00:13:06,000 --> 00:13:17,000
So what I've got to do is put my label on it and we can start selling that. I've got some guys in the UK who as well. So they get one of my jars and they put it up for auction.
114
00:13:17,000 --> 00:13:27,000
So they have a stall to see how much money they can get from it. And then they donate the proceeds to me and they go off to wherever they want it to go to.
115
00:13:27,000 --> 00:13:42,000
I love it. And I like your sticker idea that you talked about because whether you have five hives or 25 or 2005, kind of fun to put a sticker on one and say, hey, this one is going for a good cause.
116
00:13:42,000 --> 00:13:44,000
This one's not going in my pocket.
117
00:13:44,000 --> 00:13:45,000
Right. Yeah.
118
00:13:45,000 --> 00:13:51,000
And if you ever give tours or have people come over that want to see your hives, it's something to talk about too.
119
00:13:51,000 --> 00:14:01,000
So anyway, nice job, James. Tell us what it's like to do beekeeping where you are. First of all, what is the weather like? Does it rain a lot?
120
00:14:01,000 --> 00:14:13,000
Yeah. So it rains a lot. The skies are always gray. It's cold, especially now. And it's just quite stodgy everywhere. So my April at the moment is just waterlogged.
121
00:14:13,000 --> 00:14:23,000
So that's pretty much it. It's just really cold. It doesn't start to warm up till sort of the end of March, April. And then it gets quite mild.
122
00:14:23,000 --> 00:14:31,000
We don't get very hot summers here. We have a whole week where it's like intense heat. And then it goes back to being cold again or big storm or something like that.
123
00:14:31,000 --> 00:14:32,000
One whole week.
124
00:14:32,000 --> 00:14:41,000
Yeah. So our listeners in Arizona or Houston or someplace like that are actually going to be very jealous.
125
00:14:41,000 --> 00:14:47,000
But is it cold enough in the winter that you have snow or just cold enough to keep the bees in?
126
00:14:47,000 --> 00:14:58,000
It's, we don't really get snow where I am. We've not had snow here since about 2012. All we get is just a dust of the frost sometimes. That's all we seem to get.
127
00:14:58,000 --> 00:15:06,000
But the bees do generally stay in. You get your one or two coming out for to like relieve themselves or whatever, then they come back.
128
00:15:06,000 --> 00:15:13,000
But it's not many really. But we do get a really cold snap. For us, a cold snap is minus three or something.
129
00:15:13,000 --> 00:15:14,000
Yeah.
130
00:15:14,000 --> 00:15:16,000
Sometimes we'll actually.
131
00:15:16,000 --> 00:15:18,000
And we're talking Celsius here, not so that's.
132
00:15:18,000 --> 00:15:19,000
Yeah.
133
00:15:19,000 --> 00:15:22,000
High twenties or something Fahrenheit. Yeah.
134
00:15:22,000 --> 00:15:23,000
That's right. Yeah.
135
00:15:23,000 --> 00:15:33,000
We don't feel too bad. But of course the bees there, they're okay. They're in the hive. They're keeping themselves warm. Do you have to feed them quite a bit in winter?
136
00:15:33,000 --> 00:15:43,000
Yeah. So what I do, I don't take off all the honey. So I leave one super on for the bees. So I take off the excess. So I take off say my main hive last year did five supers.
137
00:15:43,000 --> 00:15:53,000
So I took four off and I left them one on for the winter. My nukes are smaller colonies. I do feed them with Bakers Fondant. They take that down quite well.
138
00:15:53,000 --> 00:16:02,000
Okay. You and I, when we talked previously, we were talking about Varroa a little bit. And just a minute ago, you were showing me, go ahead and hold it up again.
139
00:16:02,000 --> 00:16:06,000
Audio listeners can't see it, but describe what you're holding right there.
140
00:16:06,000 --> 00:16:18,000
I'm holding a freely printing of a Varroa mite. So it's a life-sized Varroa mite as if this was on me. If I was a bee and this thing was crawling all over me drinking my plasma.
141
00:16:18,000 --> 00:16:26,000
So, yeah, it's a pretty good teaching tool. But there's one thing I've learned about Varroa mites is you really can't underestimate them.
142
00:16:26,000 --> 00:16:37,000
Just a quick break here to thank our presenting sponsor, Man Lake. Hey, if your weather is anything like mine, it is freezing out.
143
00:16:37,000 --> 00:16:45,000
So let's put our creative brains together and visualize spring. Birds chirping, flowers blooming and bees buzzing.
144
00:16:45,000 --> 00:16:50,000
Now let's visualize you enjoying beekeeping so much more with some new gear.
145
00:16:50,000 --> 00:16:59,000
Or if you're new to beekeeping and not sure what you need, give Man Lake a call and their experienced beekeepers will help every step of the way.
146
00:16:59,000 --> 00:17:06,000
Protective gear, hives and tools, even packaged bees, nukes and queens, Man Lake has it all.
147
00:17:06,000 --> 00:17:21,000
And don't forget your discount code MLBLOV10, it's in the show notes, for $10 off your first $100 purchase. I'm feeling better already. Now, back to the guest.
148
00:17:21,000 --> 00:17:30,000
I mean, I've left. The first year I did that, I treated my bees and all of them survived. All my seven colonies in my first year survived.
149
00:17:30,000 --> 00:17:36,000
This year, I was a bit, we went through a bit of a phase where I was moving house and moving our bees to the apiary.
150
00:17:36,000 --> 00:17:42,000
I got the treatment in a bit too late, so I lost a few of my hives this year already, and it's all down to the rower.
151
00:17:42,000 --> 00:17:48,000
You go in there, we do it in investigations, we get a frame out of some capped brood.
152
00:17:48,000 --> 00:17:54,000
We open it up and inside there, it was just the poor little thing in there, it was just covered in varroa mites, all dead of course.
153
00:17:54,000 --> 00:17:57,000
But yeah, just don't underestimate them, get them treatments in.
154
00:17:57,000 --> 00:18:00,000
So what do you use for treatment over there?
155
00:18:00,000 --> 00:18:11,000
So we have a, I haven't got any on me, but it's a, we've got this stuff called api-bioxal, so it's an acid, and you just, you fill it up to a certain amount and you spray it between the frames, up and down.
156
00:18:11,000 --> 00:18:17,000
And the first year, it wiped out all my mites. My bees came out into the spring really healthy, really strong.
157
00:18:17,000 --> 00:18:22,000
This year, I did the same treatment. It didn't seem to do anything to the mites.
158
00:18:22,000 --> 00:18:29,000
So I'm actually currently running a GoFundMe to try and get this, is it alloxic acid?
159
00:18:29,000 --> 00:18:31,000
Axolic acid.
160
00:18:31,000 --> 00:18:37,000
Axolic acid, yeah, that's right. So it's this big like, it's a mist that goes into the hives and it killed them.
161
00:18:37,000 --> 00:18:42,000
So I've been advised to get one of those. So I've almost got enough to pick up one.
162
00:18:42,000 --> 00:18:50,000
Well, good luck on that. And just a reminder to everybody, the way you put it, I loved it, do not underestimate varroa mites.
163
00:18:50,000 --> 00:18:59,000
But that one, the 3D printing one that you were holding up, I saw something similar to it at the North American Honey Bee Expo recently.
164
00:18:59,000 --> 00:19:08,000
And it's kind of terrifying when you see it in human size, because if you were to hold it up, it'd probably cover your whole face.
165
00:19:08,000 --> 00:19:21,000
It's about that size. And then imagine if it's say, on your back and you're like a bee that doesn't have arms that can reach to their back and knock things off.
166
00:19:21,000 --> 00:19:28,000
And it's the things nightmares are made of. In fact, let's make a horror film. James, let's do it.
167
00:19:28,000 --> 00:19:31,000
Yeah. Varroa Destructor.
168
00:19:31,000 --> 00:19:40,000
I'm not sure if you can tell, but it's just a shame that these things are here and they just, they weaken the colony so much that they just can't fight off disease, can they?
169
00:19:40,000 --> 00:19:46,000
Yeah. Yeah, that's the problem. They can even carry some of the disease with them from one hive to another.
170
00:19:46,000 --> 00:19:51,000
Do you have the yellow-legged hornets that I'm hearing are all over Europe already?
171
00:19:51,000 --> 00:20:03,000
Dude, I've got one here actually. So I use these as teaching aids for the kids. So this guy here, that's a queen, they call them yellow-legged hornets, but sometimes they get called Asian hornets as well.
172
00:20:03,000 --> 00:20:06,000
So they could be El Vespa Valentino.
173
00:20:06,000 --> 00:20:14,000
I've not seen any here, but we have had some about 40 miles away in a place called Southampton. They have some there this year.
174
00:20:14,000 --> 00:20:17,000
But nothing down my way, which has been good.
175
00:20:17,000 --> 00:20:27,000
Yeah, I've got lots of size comparisons. I've got what you would call a yellow jacket here, Asian hornet in the middle, and we've got our European hornet. I think European hornets are your way as well.
176
00:20:27,000 --> 00:20:39,000
They have found some down in the southeast in two or three states. They're trying to eradicate them before they spread all over the country. So we have our fingers crossed. We're wishing them well.
177
00:20:39,000 --> 00:20:50,000
You had mentioned just in passing a couple of minutes ago about catching swarms, a yellow queen and a red queen.
178
00:20:50,000 --> 00:20:58,000
Now, for brand new beekeepers, they might go, what in the world is that? So why don't you explain what you mean by that, the colors?
179
00:20:58,000 --> 00:21:14,000
Yeah, so as you know, well, as some most beekeepers know, when you have a queen, of course, you give them a color mark and the color is determined by the year. So when I first got my bees back in 2023, the swarm was from a 2022 queen.
180
00:21:14,000 --> 00:21:20,000
So she was yellow. And then 2023, the universal coders red.
181
00:21:20,000 --> 00:21:24,000
And I think this year is it blue. I think it's blue.
182
00:21:24,000 --> 00:21:32,000
So we call our queens by that. So we've got the red queen. It sounds like something of Game of Thrones, the red queen, the yellow queen.
183
00:21:32,000 --> 00:21:36,000
And yeah, I got again, I put my queens in resin.
184
00:21:36,000 --> 00:21:44,000
So because I don't like killing queens, because I find I get a little bit of relationship with them. So we name all of our queens.
185
00:21:44,000 --> 00:21:51,000
When they die, I'm devastated when they die. We had one queen, our very first one called Queen Phoenix, the yellow one.
186
00:21:51,000 --> 00:22:04,000
She was our best queen. She produced literally all the queens in our apiary and she started to lay drone brood, which is where they where the queen starts to lay just drone eggs, boy bees.
187
00:22:04,000 --> 00:22:12,000
And everyone was telling me kill her, get rid of her, replace her. And I thought now I'll retire her. So I put her in a little nuke with a few bees.
188
00:22:12,000 --> 00:22:17,000
Now she got better. She started to stop laying drones started laying workers again.
189
00:22:17,000 --> 00:22:26,000
So the other bees didn't like her much. They kept on trying to overthrow her by making queen cells, but she just killed them and killed the other queens.
190
00:22:26,000 --> 00:22:30,000
Sadly today, I found her dead in her beehive.
191
00:22:30,000 --> 00:22:31,000
Oh, James.
192
00:22:31,000 --> 00:22:36,000
Yeah, she died. So that's Phoenix. So I'm going to get. So at the moment she's an alcohol solution.
193
00:22:36,000 --> 00:22:39,000
And she is going to be put into resin as well.
194
00:22:39,000 --> 00:22:50,000
I'm quite sad she died. She was a lovely queen jet black, the bright yellow shape of a Phoenix on her back because where they the bees nibbled the mark of yellow circle and they nibbled it into a Phoenix shape.
195
00:22:50,000 --> 00:22:52,000
So that's why we called her Phoenix.
196
00:22:52,000 --> 00:23:03,000
So it's a very common term again if we're talking to brand new beekeepers here, it's a very common term to just pinch an old queen and replace her with a new one.
197
00:23:03,000 --> 00:23:09,000
As if it's no big deal. And I love to hear someone that absolutely loves their queens like you do.
198
00:23:09,000 --> 00:23:13,000
It's almost like you formed a retirement community for her.
199
00:23:13,000 --> 00:23:15,000
Yeah, that's why she was there. She was doing so well.
200
00:23:15,000 --> 00:23:20,000
Again, the reason I think she died again was for over again. I underestimated him this year.
201
00:23:20,000 --> 00:23:25,000
We got quite a few colonies left, which is good, which is fine, but I just didn't want her to go this year.
202
00:23:25,000 --> 00:23:28,000
I want to have to literally have another year in her to see how she goes.
203
00:23:28,000 --> 00:23:31,000
How many colonies did you go into winter with this year?
204
00:23:31,000 --> 00:23:37,000
I went into winter with 11 and we got six left.
205
00:23:37,000 --> 00:23:42,000
We lost, I lost one early on in September to wasps.
206
00:23:42,000 --> 00:23:52,000
They literally, they found a weakness in the colony and they piled in there in the autumn and they just, there's a strong colony as well, but obviously not strong enough for the wasps.
207
00:23:52,000 --> 00:23:56,000
So yellow jackets got in there and wiped them out.
208
00:23:56,000 --> 00:24:00,000
Yellow jackets are horrible. We have them where I am too.
209
00:24:00,000 --> 00:24:07,000
And I used to hear they can only kill a weak colony and I have found that did not be true.
210
00:24:07,000 --> 00:24:10,000
I've seen strong colonies get wiped out by them.
211
00:24:10,000 --> 00:24:11,000
Definitely.
212
00:24:11,000 --> 00:24:18,000
And I have learned when they, what time of year that they attack bee colonies where I am.
213
00:24:18,000 --> 00:24:21,000
It's right around September 1st every year.
214
00:24:21,000 --> 00:24:26,000
And so I've learned to put some kind of an entrance reducer.
215
00:24:26,000 --> 00:24:35,000
It's still hot here. So I just use like a screen, leave a small opening because a healthy colony, they can protect a small opening.
216
00:24:35,000 --> 00:24:38,000
Just not a big wide open opening.
217
00:24:38,000 --> 00:24:44,000
If there are that many voracious, ready to go into winter yellow jackets.
218
00:24:44,000 --> 00:24:47,000
Oh, and it's an ugly thing just to see it happen.
219
00:24:47,000 --> 00:24:56,000
Because you'll see the guard bees come out, try to defend the hive and those yellow jackets just take them out.
220
00:24:56,000 --> 00:24:57,000
It's not a fair fight.
221
00:24:57,000 --> 00:25:00,000
Well, I used to have my bees. I used to have them in my garden.
222
00:25:00,000 --> 00:25:04,000
So I had seven colonies in the garden, tucked around the back and I could watch them out of the window.
223
00:25:04,000 --> 00:25:09,000
So I could see if I saw a wasp walking around there, I got there getting that catch it, dispose of it.
224
00:25:09,000 --> 00:25:14,000
Normally the bees would, I'd give it to the bee or injure it, but he'd give it to the bees and they would just all pile on it.
225
00:25:14,000 --> 00:25:19,000
So I thought, well, then I had to move my colonies because I can't see them all the time.
226
00:25:19,000 --> 00:25:25,000
I come that onto it as I used to be on that on it at protecting them from stuff.
227
00:25:25,000 --> 00:25:30,000
But like I said, I got a job now where I'm working with my bees in the same area.
228
00:25:30,000 --> 00:25:35,000
So if I get a sneaky five minutes, I'll have a quick pop over there and have a look, see what's going on.
229
00:25:35,000 --> 00:25:40,000
So tell us a little bit about that. What kind of place do you work at that would allow that?
230
00:25:40,000 --> 00:25:47,000
So I work at a retirement village. So when people retire, these are like very, very well off rich people.
231
00:25:47,000 --> 00:25:56,000
So when they retire, they downsize into a small community and I'm like the gardener, I will go around and do our jobs around everywhere.
232
00:25:56,000 --> 00:26:05,000
Plus my bees are in the corner. So in the summer comes in, a lot of them want to go get a bee through Island, I'll take them into the hives to have a look.
233
00:26:05,000 --> 00:26:12,000
That is awesome. Did you have a hard time getting permission to have bees there? Were they worried about the liability?
234
00:26:12,000 --> 00:26:24,000
They seemed to, where I had my bees before, because they were at my old work, I lived there on a school paying field, a massive big sports field.
235
00:26:24,000 --> 00:26:31,000
And when I moved out, my bees were asked to go and my bosses were getting a bit funny and they said, we want these bees to go, they're a danger,
236
00:26:31,000 --> 00:26:41,000
but they've been there a year or so, they hadn't stung anyone. So they got a bit funny. So I went on BBC radio and put our plea for anyone who can offer me some land,
237
00:26:41,000 --> 00:26:52,000
ASAP this coming Saturday, I will move my bees there and this lady reached out to me in the retirement village and said, you can put your bees here.
238
00:26:52,000 --> 00:26:59,000
And ended up me getting a job there as well. So I moved him in there literally two or three days after the radio went out.
239
00:26:59,000 --> 00:27:06,000
So the people in the retirement community, what do they think about it? I mean, they put on a bee suit. What kind of experience do they have?
240
00:27:06,000 --> 00:27:16,000
Well, I haven't, they haven't had a bee suit on yet, but they love the four bees being there, being around the bees, having honey produced where they are basically.
241
00:27:16,000 --> 00:27:25,000
So if they do get hay fever or any allergens to pollen or anything, then they got some honey right there they can, you know, they can use.
242
00:27:25,000 --> 00:27:33,000
But our lessons are going to start this summer. I see I go by duties, children talk children for two years now, and that's good fun.
243
00:27:33,000 --> 00:27:37,000
Tell us about that. Is that through the local school or your city?
244
00:27:37,000 --> 00:27:49,000
Yeah, so I we home educate our children. I've got two sons. We home educate them. So it's that community. And then we get weekly we used to get seven or eight families coming in.
245
00:27:49,000 --> 00:27:55,000
All kids of all varying ages, none under six because I found the six year olds were a bit, they didn't really listen.
246
00:27:55,000 --> 00:28:02,000
I was like, I remember one girl, she she got some honey on her finger and she wanted to lick it.
247
00:28:02,000 --> 00:28:10,000
So she started to take her veil off as the bees have all out flying around to lick the honey. So I said to my wife, no under six.
248
00:28:10,000 --> 00:28:23,000
And since then it's been fine. I've had people who are absolutely petrified of bees, some children who are petrified. But I find the key to getting them sort of to break that scaredness.
249
00:28:23,000 --> 00:28:30,000
Getting them to hold a drone bee because there's no male drone bees don't sting. They're quite cute looking. They've got big compound eyes.
250
00:28:30,000 --> 00:28:38,000
So I would always catch a drone bee on the on the frame and put it in their hand and the confidence this gives them, then when other bees start landing on them for a rest,
251
00:28:38,000 --> 00:28:47,000
they're fine. They don't mind their holder frame as well full of bees. And yes, the drone bees key for children, I find, for building confidence.
252
00:28:47,000 --> 00:28:56,000
Cool. Well, I love talking to people that love honeybees. That's what this show is all about. You obviously do. You definitely qualify.
253
00:28:56,000 --> 00:29:03,000
I'm going to give you a chance to tell us a wild and crazy beekeeping story. And you haven't been a beekeeper all that long.
254
00:29:03,000 --> 00:29:05,000
But have you had anything unusual happen to you?
255
00:29:05,000 --> 00:29:15,000
So before I got my own eyes, I was helping an old chap a little way away from me up on a hill. It's called Portstown Hill near where I live.
256
00:29:15,000 --> 00:29:22,000
And he had beehives everywhere, but he was getting on. So he said, can you have some help? So I didn't really know what to wear.
257
00:29:22,000 --> 00:29:27,000
So I had just my my bee suit on, but I didn't have wedding boots. So my ankles were showing.
258
00:29:27,000 --> 00:29:36,000
And I wore cotton gloves for some reason. So we're going to this hive and it was really aggressive. They were so aggressive.
259
00:29:36,000 --> 00:29:43,000
They literally pulled all over my hands, stinging my hands. I got about 30 stings on my hands, on my ankles.
260
00:29:43,000 --> 00:29:48,000
I'd never been stung by a bee before. So I came out on a rash and everything.
261
00:29:48,000 --> 00:29:53,000
But I had trigger finger, which is where when I woke up in the morning, my middle finger was always stuck down.
262
00:29:53,000 --> 00:29:58,000
I had to prize it up. Something happened. Not every single night I'll get this trigger finger.
263
00:29:58,000 --> 00:30:02,000
But for some reason, the bees concentrated all their stings on my middle finger.
264
00:30:02,000 --> 00:30:08,000
And ever since I've had them stings, I've never had trigger finger again. So I find that quite crazy.
265
00:30:08,000 --> 00:30:11,000
That is so cool.
266
00:30:11,000 --> 00:30:19,000
It swelled up like a big balloon. I've had a massive big finger. But since then, I've never had a problem with my finger.
267
00:30:19,000 --> 00:30:25,000
I think that is awesome. And apotherapy is something we've only touched on a little bit on this podcast.
268
00:30:25,000 --> 00:30:31,000
I do want to get into it more. It's something that I personally have experimented with it myself.
269
00:30:31,000 --> 00:30:40,000
And we're not giving medical advice here, but wow. So if that trigger finger were to come back, what would you do?
270
00:30:40,000 --> 00:30:42,000
Purposely sting?
271
00:30:42,000 --> 00:30:47,000
I was thinking this the other day because I was going to test it. Just get a bee on my finger and try and get stinging me.
272
00:30:47,000 --> 00:30:52,000
And I couldn't do it. I couldn't get it because I know it does really hurt when it first stings you.
273
00:30:52,000 --> 00:30:59,000
But if they attack me again, then it'll be all right because I wouldn't notice it as much because I'm concentrating on other things.
274
00:30:59,000 --> 00:31:05,000
But if I'm trying to get it to sting me, I couldn't do it. I was trying to test it, but I couldn't do it.
275
00:31:05,000 --> 00:31:08,000
I've done it. The first time is really hard.
276
00:31:08,000 --> 00:31:09,000
Yeah.
277
00:31:09,000 --> 00:31:12,000
If you've been stung a bunch, you'd think, oh, it wouldn't be a big deal.
278
00:31:12,000 --> 00:31:21,000
But when you get a tweezer or something and you hold a bee and you're like, okay, I'm going to sting, get stung right here on purpose.
279
00:31:21,000 --> 00:31:25,000
It's like everything in your DNA is saying, don't do it, don't do it, don't do it.
280
00:31:25,000 --> 00:31:31,000
And you have to overcome that. It does get easier after you do it the first time.
281
00:31:31,000 --> 00:31:37,000
But yeah, our human nature is just to avoid it at all costs.
282
00:31:37,000 --> 00:31:42,000
But how crazy that they actually went for a place where you needed help?
283
00:31:42,000 --> 00:31:55,000
Yeah, because I've read somewhere that some bees know that a beekeeper is going to look after them and protect them to the best they can from, like, say, mites and wasps and hornets and hive beetles and stuff, all stuff like that.
284
00:31:55,000 --> 00:31:57,000
Somehow I think they do know that.
285
00:31:57,000 --> 00:31:58,000
So they want to help us.
286
00:31:58,000 --> 00:32:00,000
And in a way, they don't help us in the way we can help them.
287
00:32:00,000 --> 00:32:06,000
So I guess by stinging me, they sort of doubt my hand in the only way they knew how.
288
00:32:06,000 --> 00:32:09,000
Oh, yeah, absolutely.
289
00:32:09,000 --> 00:32:13,000
I guess we just don't give them near enough credit for how smart they are.
290
00:32:13,000 --> 00:32:16,000
Yeah, I've read some of the recognized faces as well. I don't know, smells.
291
00:32:16,000 --> 00:32:21,000
I've read that as well. Faces and smells.
292
00:32:21,000 --> 00:32:27,000
And so don't get on the bad side of your bees. They may recognize you next time around.
293
00:32:27,000 --> 00:32:30,000
That's one thing your beekeeper said to me when I first started.
294
00:32:30,000 --> 00:32:36,000
He said I was too clunky. I was too like lifting up the crown board or moving a box.
295
00:32:36,000 --> 00:32:43,000
I was too fast to do it nice and a slow, gentle pace just so it doesn't make the bees too mad.
296
00:32:43,000 --> 00:32:45,000
Clearly fast movements. They're going to start coming up, aren't they?
297
00:32:45,000 --> 00:32:48,000
The guards will come up and have a poke at you.
298
00:32:48,000 --> 00:32:50,000
Well, that is exactly right.
299
00:32:50,000 --> 00:32:53,000
And there's more advice for new beekeepers today.
300
00:32:53,000 --> 00:32:55,000
I did the same thing.
301
00:32:55,000 --> 00:33:03,000
When I was new, I had great big gloves and they made it so it was hard to pull out a frame without squishing a bee.
302
00:33:03,000 --> 00:33:11,000
It was hard to not drop one and kind of hard way back in and those kinds of things they do not like.
303
00:33:11,000 --> 00:33:17,000
And either use no gloves or nitrile gloves now because then I can be precise.
304
00:33:17,000 --> 00:33:20,000
I can keep from squishing any bees accidentally.
305
00:33:20,000 --> 00:33:23,000
I'm not dropping frames. I can just go.
306
00:33:23,000 --> 00:33:36,000
And also just the fact that you get used to them means you can go slower and not be as much in a hurry and not get your anxiety up because they love calmness, don't they?
307
00:33:36,000 --> 00:33:37,000
That's right.
308
00:33:37,000 --> 00:33:45,000
When I was teaching a guy last year and he was reopening a nuker box to transfer it into a big national hive.
309
00:33:45,000 --> 00:33:48,000
We use nationals here. That's the most common one here.
310
00:33:48,000 --> 00:33:50,000
You guys are Langstroth, is that right?
311
00:33:50,000 --> 00:33:54,000
Yeah, Langstroth is the most common here.
312
00:33:54,000 --> 00:33:56,000
Yeah. And he was so known.
313
00:33:56,000 --> 00:34:01,000
As I said, all you've got to do is just concentrate on the task of getting these bees from the nuker into there.
314
00:34:01,000 --> 00:34:03,000
Don't worry about the bees buzzing around us and all this.
315
00:34:03,000 --> 00:34:05,000
And he said it was fine.
316
00:34:05,000 --> 00:34:08,000
After that, he's focused and he's just got the frames out.
317
00:34:08,000 --> 00:34:12,000
I mean, took one out, another one in and he was fine.
318
00:34:12,000 --> 00:34:13,000
He says, that's what you've got to do.
319
00:34:13,000 --> 00:34:16,000
Just don't worry about them all buzzing around because you're sealed up tight.
320
00:34:16,000 --> 00:34:17,000
So they're not going to get in.
321
00:34:17,000 --> 00:34:20,000
And yeah, he did really well actually. He was really good.
322
00:34:20,000 --> 00:34:24,000
Nice and slow and just focused on the task at hand.
323
00:34:24,000 --> 00:34:28,000
All right. Any other advice for new beekeepers before I let you go?
324
00:34:28,000 --> 00:34:31,000
New beekeepers. Well, that's what I think.
325
00:34:31,000 --> 00:34:33,000
Got a good advice.
326
00:34:33,000 --> 00:34:37,000
So when you come into beekeeping, you're going to get a lot of advice from you.
327
00:34:37,000 --> 00:34:43,000
Some one beekeeper wants you to do a certain thing this way and no one wants you to do the same thing, but a different way.
328
00:34:43,000 --> 00:34:48,000
And then if you do it one way, the other one gets mad and so much information comes away.
329
00:34:48,000 --> 00:34:53,000
My best advice is listen to every bit of advice you can get and just adapt it to how you work.
330
00:34:53,000 --> 00:35:02,000
You know, I found when I first came into beekeeping, I was getting so much advice and a lot of people were getting mad at me for doing advice differently to what they told me.
331
00:35:02,000 --> 00:35:05,000
If that makes sense, because they wanted me to do it their way.
332
00:35:05,000 --> 00:35:08,000
But I was learning so many different things. I was doing it away.
333
00:35:08,000 --> 00:35:11,000
What I could work well with, if that makes sense.
334
00:35:11,000 --> 00:35:16,000
We have a saying here, ask 10 different beekeepers and you'll get 11 different answers.
335
00:35:16,000 --> 00:35:18,000
Yeah, that's totally right.
336
00:35:18,000 --> 00:35:26,000
Yeah. And it's so true. So I think you just have to somehow get in harmony with your bees, be intuitive.
337
00:35:26,000 --> 00:35:33,000
If you're really there and you really care like that, I think it's going to come to you to know how to take care of them.
338
00:35:33,000 --> 00:35:35,000
That's right. Yeah.
339
00:35:35,000 --> 00:35:44,000
I realized commercial beekeepers, they've got hundreds or thousands of hives and it's a matter of just bang, bang, bang, get in and get the work done.
340
00:35:44,000 --> 00:35:53,000
But for hobbyists and sidelineers that have the time to take and to really get in tune with those bees, I don't know how to explain how to do it.
341
00:35:53,000 --> 00:35:57,000
But yeah, it works.
342
00:35:57,000 --> 00:36:09,000
The one thing I don't like doing either is when you had to move, say you got your brew box and on top you got your soup of honey, when you had to put them back, I would try my hardest not to squash a bee because I hate the...
343
00:36:09,000 --> 00:36:15,000
Because it can be completely clear and then you put the box down and you hear, it's like, ah, I got one.
344
00:36:15,000 --> 00:36:18,000
And I feel, again, I feel really bad for that bee.
345
00:36:18,000 --> 00:36:20,000
So how do you avoid that?
346
00:36:20,000 --> 00:36:29,000
So what I try and do is I give a really big puff of smoke so that honey soup is quite close to me, the big puff and then get on slowly but quickly.
347
00:36:29,000 --> 00:36:30,000
That makes sense.
348
00:36:30,000 --> 00:36:33,000
So it's slow movements, but at a fast pace.
349
00:36:33,000 --> 00:36:36,000
And then when I put it down, you might get one.
350
00:36:36,000 --> 00:36:41,000
I really try my hardest not to squash a bee because I don't like it.
351
00:36:41,000 --> 00:36:47,000
I found in addition to that, also just sliding that box on slightly.
352
00:36:47,000 --> 00:36:53,000
In other words, put it down instead of straight down exactly where it's going to fit.
353
00:36:53,000 --> 00:36:57,000
Have it off just a little and then kind of slide it into place a little bit.
354
00:36:57,000 --> 00:36:58,000
Yeah.
355
00:36:58,000 --> 00:36:59,000
Can also help.
356
00:36:59,000 --> 00:37:00,000
Yeah.
357
00:37:00,000 --> 00:37:02,000
Good advice.
358
00:37:02,000 --> 00:37:03,000
All right.
359
00:37:03,000 --> 00:37:05,000
Well, it's great to talk to you, Sir James.
360
00:37:05,000 --> 00:37:11,000
And we'll put in the show notes, be keeping for hope if anybody wants to get involved.
361
00:37:11,000 --> 00:37:17,000
Or just read about how they can do something similar in their community because it's a great idea.
362
00:37:17,000 --> 00:37:23,000
And the educational side, we didn't talk about much, but I know there's that too and they can learn about that as well.
363
00:37:23,000 --> 00:37:25,000
So thank you for being with me.
364
00:37:25,000 --> 00:37:26,000
No problem.
365
00:37:26,000 --> 00:37:27,000
Thank you very much.
366
00:37:30,000 --> 00:37:35,000
Thank you so much for joining us here on Be Love Be Keeping presented by Man Lake.
367
00:37:35,000 --> 00:37:41,000
Please right now before you forget, hit that follow or subscribe button, rate and comment on the show.
368
00:37:41,000 --> 00:37:43,000
Then be sure to share it with a friend.
369
00:37:43,000 --> 00:37:47,000
We're building a community here and we want to hear from you.
370
00:37:47,000 --> 00:37:58,000
Send your crazy stories, guest recommendations, new gadgets or anything else that you'd like to hear about on the show to Eric at belovebekeeping.com.
371
00:37:58,000 --> 00:38:04,000
And remember, if you're not just in it for the honey or the money, you're in it for the love.
372
00:38:04,000 --> 00:38:06,000
See you next week.
