in a world brimming with complexity few creatures embody harmony like the honeybee with tireless precision she dances from bloom to bloom each motion guided by millennia upon millennia of instinct each act in service to the whole and then There are the beekeepers, watchful stewards
of this ancient symbiosis. Part agriscientist, part poet, they move along their hives with the efficiency of mow, levy and curly, tending to the bees' needs as best they can comprehend, and with the infrequency of a waterfall in the Sahara, sometimes running off flapping and flailing like a penguin on a hot sidewalk. This is their journey. Welcome, welcome to Be Love Beekeeping presented by our great friends and partners in
beekeeping. Man Lake. Today we're continuing our discussion with two of the most fun beekeepers around, Kim and Steph. Last week we got started with our top 10 list of decisions to make before you take the leap into beekeeping. Today we pick up where we left off discussing all the clothing and equipment you need to get started, hive placement, hive stands, varroa treatment, and a whole bunch more. But first let's take a minute to go Inside the Hive, this feature presented by Primal Bee.
Bees can give each other, oh shall we say, driving directions, specific ones, and they do it by dancing in the dark. When a forager finds a great patch of flowers, she flies home and performs what's called a waggle dance on the face of the comb. She runs in a straight line while shaking her body, then loops back around and does it again. The angle of that straight run tells the other bees which direction to fly relative to the sun. The length of the run tells them how
far away it is. The more enthusiastic the dance, the better the food source. Keep in mind she's doing this on a vertical comb in total darkness, translating a horizontal flight path into a gravity -based code. The other bees crowd around and read the message with their antenna, and it works. Bees can navigate to food sources miles away from a single dance. The scientist who figured this out, Carl von Frisch, spent decades watching bees dance before he cracked the code. He won
the Nobel Prize for it in 1973. Next time on Inside the Hive, we'll talk about where wax actually comes from, and here's a hint, it doesn't come from flowers. And if I could just add a little thing to Inside the Hive, the waggle dance is amazing, but as you can imagine, it's not perfectly accurate. There's a new piece of research just out from the University of Freeburg titled, Honey Bees Navigate More Precisely Than Previously
Thought. In fact, bees will fly the same flight path within just a couple of centimeters to and from resources and their hive. Quoting the study here, it was previously known that the directional information in the waggle dance is good, but it's not entirely accurate. In other words, if I were to use my finger to point a direction for you to walk, it may be just a few degrees inaccurate. And over a few hundred yards or say a mile, you could end up many meters away from
where I thought I was pointing. The research has shown that individual bees navigate much more accurately to destinations that they are already familiar with. Because of this individuality, we may conclude that the inaccuracy of the waggle dance is not due to the bees' limited navigational abilities, but rather individual animals are spatially much more accurately oriented than their dance can possibly communicate. Honey bees, they are amazing. Now, let's circle back with
Kim and Steph. So that was the next thing I wanted to jump into is where do you buy bees? And I know we just covered half of it, but fill in the rest of the blanks for me. So we talked about this and aside from getting them from a supplier such as us, Man Lake, and like you just said, we I think you should get them locally. If they're acclimated to your area, chances are you probably know the beekeeper. If you're getting bees from him, you know where your bees came from, you
know the environment that they've lived in. So I agree in getting your bees locally if you can. Go to, check out your local bee association online. A lot of times they'll post if somebody has nukes for sale. And ask lots of questions. When I first got started, I got packages from a local store, beekeeping store. And because I didn't know what to ask, well, they were actually bees from California. They had just been in the almonds. They had never spent time in the state that I'm in, let alone
the part of the state that I'm in. And so I might as well have just gone to Los Angeles and bought them or something because I didn't know to ask. And if you don't have that, hey, buying them and having them sent to you works great. So you have options out there. Yes, it's important to ask a lot of questions and no question is a dumb question. Absolutely. You don't know how will you learn without asking. So even when you pick
your bees up, what do I do from here? I know that you had a story with your niece where she went to pick up her bees. And she was thinking, well, what do I do now? And the person she bought the bees there from was there and was able to explain to her exactly what to do. And we also will do the same. We love to be able to explain because it's confusing. I did, you know, you're not really sure. And you can go to a place like YouTube and you can see 10 different beekeepers
installing a package 12 different ways. Yeah, absolutely. And that rule applies to anything that you want to talk about in beekeeping. There's so many different ways to do it and what one beekeeper does in their area may or may not work for you and may not fit your beekeeping philosophy. Some people are very rough on their bees. There are also gentler ways to install packages and nooks. Agree. I wholeheartedly agree. All right, let's jump into other equipment that we need.
We already talked about this is going to cost you a few dollars, but it's important to be outfitted right from the start. So let's talk about the essentials. I mean, there's lots of extras people can get, but really the necessities. What do you need to start with? You need to be protected from stings. And I'd like to say you need to be protected to your comfort level. So not everybody's comfort level is the same when it comes to wearing protective gear. I like to be fully suited. My
partner, on the other hand, does not. He only wears a jacket. It's important to go with your comfort level, not what somebody else recommends, but a jacket, gloves, at the very least, a jacket and gloves. And by jacket, you're talking about the veil over your face as well. Right. With the veil, yeah. Let's talk about that protective clothing a little more before we move on. One of the things that I find is it is so important
to be calm with your bees. And for new beekeepers, being fully protected from head to toe can really help us be more calm. Now as you get more used to the bees and you spend lots of time with them, maybe years, and you want to wear a little bit
less protective clothing, That's great. I learned for example the first thing that I got rid of were the big bulky gloves Because I found I was squishing bees I was dropping frames and doing things like that that was not calm for the bees and So I moved on from that, but that's not right for everybody Exactly. We actually talk about this a lot and that Wearing what you feel comfortable helps you to, as you said, be calm and be able to tend to your bees in a little more peaceful
and gentle way. If you're not worried about bees around your face or your hands or your ankles. you tend to be in a calmer space where you're able to do those weekly inspections and focus on gently handling the frames and looking at each, you know, piece of foundation and whatnot. So yeah, we found that we are real big believers in the proper PPE. But obviously, everyone is different with that. And there's nothing wrong
with. everyone having their individual and you're even going to have a different style of glove that you like as you said that you you learned that the gloves you had were actually causing harm. Sometimes you do have to go with the different style too. I prefer the rubber gloves or our new tech yeah the tactical gloves because they fit my fingers better and therefore I'm able to lift those frames up without being too clumsy and I can still feel that my hands are protected.
And I'll say too, I've been beekeeping for the better part of five years now, and I am most comfortable when I'm completely suited up from head to toe. And that's just the way I like to get into the hive is 100 % protection. You also don't know, you know, you could be going in your hive. nine times out of ten and those bees are just fine and you go in there on that tenth time and they're just not having it. And if you're not properly suited at that point, you will regret
it. You absolutely will. Yeah, this is not a competition. If you want to be fully suited up head to toe. Good for you. I have no problem with that whatsoever. Everybody has seen a few people on YouTube that have their hair done and their makeup on and they look perfect and they're handling bees with their bare fingers and everything else. I wouldn't suggest that when you're brand new and for most people never. Okay, do we need anything else on PPE? No, I don't think so. But
just know this isn't a contest. It's not who's the better beekeeper or who's more brave because they're wearing less protective equipment. Doesn't matter. I like that. Do what you're comfortable with, please. What else do people need to buy right off the bat and have on hand? I would say frames. Have some extra frames available. Have an extra hive body. Have an extra super available and the frames to go with both of them. Have an extra hive setup if you can because you never
know what's going to happen. You might catch a swarm. Somebody might call you and say there's a swarm at my house. Can you come get it? And if you want more bees you want to be prepared. Okay a little bit of extra equipment. What else? You'll want a smoker. and that's to go along with your PPE. You'll wanna have a smoker and you'll wanna actually light your smoker before
you go down to your hive each time. Whether or not you use it, that's another thing, but you wanna be prepared and have it going ahead of time just in case. So the smoker, smoker fuel, a hive tool is important. A couple hive tools. A couple of hive tools because you're probably gonna lose one. But a hive tool. is probably your best friend in the bee yard sometimes because you're going to need it to open the hive, pry
your frames out, to do other things. You may have to use it as a screwdriver once, but you never know. And hive tools are inexpensive. Trust me, if you think you don't need one, you need one. Or ten. By the way, do you have a favorite style of hive tool? I personally like a J hook. I love that I can just do a flat end and then a prying end. I love a J hook. I do too, but explain what that is. Oh, sure. I don't have one on me. So it looks just like a regular end
that you can pry, like a flat end. And then the other end is shaped like a J. and but it's also flat but that is so you can literally pry things up. I'm surprised I don't have one on my desk actually. Here's your normal hive tool. That's actually my favorite. The j -hook I'm going to show you is an extreme example. Most of them are not quite this big but this one works awesome and even has a thing here like a lot of them do so you can hang them on a nail or screw or
something. I would say if you're a beginner, buy any hive tool. These are under what? Under 10 bucks. These are maybe 15 or 20. I don't know. You're going to end up buying more than one anyway. So start with one, see what you like and experiment with some others. But you're going to use a hive tool every single time that you're out with the bees. Absolutely. You absolutely are. There have been times when I've been to the bee yard and somehow didn't have a hive tool and couldn't
do anything at all. So I do have a quick story with that too, because we would often go out to our apiary unprepared without a hive tool, thinking there would already be some out there. I've already had to pry open my hive with a mouse guard because I was not going to go all the way back to get my hive tool, and I don't recommend that. So from now on, we have multiple hive tools everywhere, don't we? Everywhere. Everywhere.
any kind of style because whatever gets the job done, whatever you feel comfortable with and being able to pry open from the propolis and everything. And they make tiny ones too, like the same exact thing, but just in a tiny size. So we sound like we like high tools a lot. Well they're an inexpensive thing and we use them all the time so I get it. And if you're a beginner and you've never opened up a hive that the bees have been in for a while, there's a thing called
propolis. And that's why you need a hive tool because you're prying these things apart. Once you get inside you've got frames to get out. There is wax, there's propolis, there's all kinds of sticky stuff going on. and you just need a tool for some help. Did we leave anything out? We talked about PPE. We talked about all the boxes that you need. We talked about smokers, hive tools, bees. Are we done? You did touch
on mentors a little bit. Even before you get started having bees, the whole prospect seems overwhelming. I know that we have thought the same thing. if you're able to take any classes locally. I know not everybody has that opportunity. I've talked to quite a few people who live in the middle of nowhere and are not able to attend any type of B associations or meetings. So there are online classes available and most often they're
for free. I know we always say do your research, but you can definitely do Google searches to find any type of classes. books, of course YouTube, but it is hard when you go to watch YouTube videos. There are going to be so many different ways of doing things that can also seem overwhelming. Are you planning on expanding your apiary this year or are you a beginner thinking about jumping into beekeeping for the very first time? Take it from someone who's purchased beekeeping equipment
from many different suppliers. If you want made in USA woodenware, premium feeds, top quality, and great prices on everything, give Man Lake a try. And whether or not you're a beekeeper, you can help honey bees and other pollinators by planting bee friendly forage. Man Lake has that too. In fact, download the free Man Lake app and learn about some of the best plants for your area. Go to manlakeltd .com and be sure
to use discount code, get started in bees. It's all down in the show notes for savings on live bees, beginner kits, and even seeds. Here's something to ponder on today. Strong colonies fight mites better, they groom more, they remove infected brood, they bounce back faster, but all of that takes energy. Primal beehives reduce thermal stress so your bees have more in the tank when it matters. So if you want to give your colonies an advantage, give the primal beehive a try.
And right now, Primal B is offering a 10 % discount for B -Love listeners. Click on over to primalb .com slash B -Love and use discount code B -Love at checkout. It is that easy. Give it a try. That's so true. And just to add to what Kim said, I found here recently being so new to TikTok, I haven't really been able to get into a beekeeping club. I know that sounds crazy, but Online, your social media platforms are a huge resource. If you don't have a bee club to go to, check out
TikTok. There's a huge community of beekeepers out there giving out so much information that you may not even hear in your local bee club. So your social media platforms are really becoming, I think, the next kind of level of beekeeping associations. And it's a really fun community to be a part of. As long as you brought it up, let's talk about bee clubs for a minute. For those of us that are more introverts, we're going, why do I want to join some sort of a club? What's
the point? the knowledge alone, the knowledge that you're gonna learn, even if you just sit and listen, you don't have to talk, but to sit and listen and hear everybody's stories, you're gonna learn so much just from that itself. And you may have the side benefit of meeting a little beekeeping buddy, and that's always nice too, but just to sit and listen, I think is hugely beneficial. you'll hear what's going on locally.
You'll have beekeepers of all different experience levels, but primarily what are the bees foraging on in your area and what the weather is like and how did the bees acclimate to that environment if someone is having a mite issue. and then multiple people in that area are also experiencing that. It's nice to be able to listen to other people
in your area. As Steph said, even if you don't want to talk, if you just want to sit in the back and just listen, it does help you to feel not alone, that you're not the only one experiencing that, that other people could be going through the same thing in your area. All right. Let's
talk about where to put your bees. I know we have people listening that have a 20 acre farm and other people that have a quarter acre Place in the suburbs and even people that are living in an apartment in an urban area Okay, where are you gonna put your bees? So you're gonna want to make sure that your bees are facing the morning Sun. That's gonna be important But before you do, wherever you're at, you wanna make sure
that your regulations allow for it. And then if you're good, even if you are in an urban area like I am, I just make sure my bees are facing, if I was to have one out here, I'd face the morning sun. So if you have like, if they're gonna be in your yard, you wanna keep them at least 100 feet away from any other things that might be out there. You want to put them on some level land. So where I live, I do live in the woods, but I live on a mountain. So while I have a lot
of area, that's not always really. going to be the best place to put a hive and expect it to stay level. I try to keep it away from our pool because the bees will go to your pool area. They really are attracted to that water. I don't know if it's the chlorine or what, but you will have bees around the pool. So keeping it away from a pool water source, but also having another water source for them to drink from is great.
So you just want to make sure you have some level land and even having it in an area where you won't have to do a lot of weeding or lawn care because while the bees don't tend to really mind a lawnmower, they don't seem to really like a weed whacker. If you're able to keep away the weeds and everything that tends to get near the hives, if you have a spot that you can put them. where they won't get a lot of overgrown. Yeah,
my biggest high beetles as well. So let's say I live in a suburban area on a quarter acre or less or something. With my house, how do I know if it's legal to put bees there? And what are my neighbors going to think? So you want to reach out to, I guess it would be your city count. I'm not sure exactly. You can use the internet. That's what I did. But make sure I reached out to, I just looked online and to see what the regulations are. It's an easy search. And then
you can always call too. Call your local municipal building or whoever runs that for you. They'll know for sure. Ask the people in your B club.
They'll know. They'll know they're sure to it is good to attend a meeting and you can reach out to your county and As for the neighbors if you do plan on keeping these if you have permission to keep the bees on your property It's great to go around to your neighbors and just say hey This is what I want to have here and offer them some honey if you're able they they usually don't have too much of a problem getting some honey. It's good to let the neighbors know too in case
there's somebody who might be allergic. So keep your neighbors in mind when it comes to things like that. One of the things that we left out that I guess can go under this topic and the one that we just left of all the different things that we need to get set up. We didn't talk about any kind of a hive stand. Tell us about hive stands, why they're important. You do want to have some form of hive sand and Man Lake does some really great hive stands whether it be a
plastic variety or a metal. You want to have the stand at least 18 inches off the ground. That's going to help with any type of pests or predators. Typically the 18 inches is more for skunks. Skunks are real interested in beehives and they're going to want to put their noses right up to there. You don't want to have a hive directly on the ground because then you're just encouraging pests like ants and hive beetles and other types of insects to get in there and
wreak havoc. 18 inches is really just the standard, but you could go a little bit. taller than that if you wanted to. And we use all types of hide stands. We've used pallets. We've used cinder blocks. My husband made a hide stand out of scrap wood. It's just my favorite. You don't necessarily have to buy a stand, but you just want to be able to provide a level surface, keeping the hive off the ground. Yeah, a lot of people just
use pallets. That's not 18 inches high. That's what four inches or something Whatever works for you. I like having them a little higher also because I'm not bending over quite so far that way Exactly, they're 18 inches or so off the
ground. It's easier on my back If you were to put a hive right on the ground, you've got moisture issues as well as all the pest issues All right the next thing on my list is sort of a self -evaluation and that is figuring out what kind of beekeeper you are going to be because there are people that are more like commercial beekeepers where it's hey I want the honey I don't want to spend
much time with the bees. I'm going to put in whatever chemicals I need to control varroa etc. There are other people on the far end of the spectrum that just love their bees so much and want to spend time with them. They want to keep chemicals out as much as possible and there's everything in between. I'm going to say take a long look at yourself. One of the things that seems to work for people is if you do any gardening, what kind of a gardener are you? Are you fine
spraying a lot of chemicals in your garden? If you're not fine doing that, you're probably going to be the same way with how you take care of your bees. Ladies, give me some thoughts on this topic. I would say, uh... I am that type of person that will be on my hands and knees picking dandelions off the ground so I can use it to infuse an oil or make mead with. So I am the type of, I do take a little bit more of a natural approach, but understanding boromites and the importance
of treating. And one of the reasons I have a top bar hive is because I like to make a lot of products. I like beeswax. Primarily, I use that in a lot of things that I make. And with a top bar hive, you'll get a lot of wax. I would say I'm the type where I know it's important to inspect your bees, especially in the spring and summer. But I also like to step back a little bit. I don't like to bother them too much. I
like to watch them fly around. I like to sit out front and just watch them go in and out and bringing back the pollen. We like to watch the colors. It sounds like Ag, you could be talking for me too, because I'm the kind of beekeeper that I am going to be nosy if I need to be. I want to see what's going on in the hive. Are you guys doing okay? If not, what can I do to help you along with that? I also like just sitting there and watching my bees. So I'm definitely
a hands on. How can I? you and then I'm gonna research it and see what do I need to do? Do I need to do anything at all? Am I being a little wild about this? But I'm kind of a very hands -on beekeeper. I wasn't to begin with though. I will say that I definitely was not. I was a set it and forget it kind of beekeeper and I regret that. I could have learned so much more had I not done that my first year. And it's okay
to change as you go. You might start with one philosophy and then change, hey, I like to spend more time with my bees or less time with my bees, or I tried being treatment -free, it didn't really work for me, or vice versa. And I don't want to go down the rabbit hole of treatment -free or chemical -free beekeeping today because that could be another couple of sessions. But can you give people just a little background on what the differences are and the differences in philosophy?
Sure. So I used to not want to treat my bees. I didn't want to because I thought I was harming my bees. In reality, I thought I would be harming them by treating them with chemicals. In reality, I harmed them by not treating them because I lost a whole colony due to the varroa mite. So I think where I was a non chemical person. And there's other types. There's people using like mushroom, different types of mushroom organic things that you can put right on the beehive.
Now I just want to make sure the mites are going to, you know, be at their very least. So I will medicate them. I'm choosing oxalic acid because that seems like a better way for me to treat. I'm not ever going to be a non -treater again. I've learned my lesson. And some treatments are much more natural than others. right? The acids and some of those things compared to some of the other chemicals. Some people really believe in some of the other chemicals because they work.
For me, it's also like with the gear that you're going to wear, your medications, it's just your comfort level. What are you comfortable giving your bees? That's just a comfort level thing I believe as well. Thanks again for joining us on Be Love Beekeeping presented by our great friends over at Man Lake. Hey, and don't forget to order your bees. And a shout out to V2B Health for their support. Vita's Varroa Control Ranger products includes Epistan, Epigard, and now Varroxan.
Extended release, Oxalic Acid Strips. Thank you so much guys. If you haven't yet, please subscribe and follow the show, tell your friends about it, and click on over to BeLoveBekeeping .com to sign up for our free newsletter. If you have a guest suggestion or topic that you'd like discussed on the show, shoot me an email, eric at BeLoveBekeeping .com. And remember if you're not just in it for the honey or the money, you're in it for the love. See you next week.