Building a Bee Business [Vlog #6]
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- Опубліковано 26 лип 2024
- Progress with the wax dip tank, in spite of a dangerous boil over. Grafting queens, and the 4 P's of retail marketing.
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Nathan , I pulling for you to make this Full time gig happen. Really enjoying the Vlog series
Thanks!
Thanks for all your videos
Thanks Jeffrey!
So…..did you install a cutout between your meter and your sister’s? 😬😬😁😁
Keep charging ahead Nathan. I’ll be visiting this commercial operation one day. Great marketing tips. When you get humidity below 50% (books say 55%, I can send you a copy) it desiccates the SHB eggs and they don’t hatch. I dry my supers the same way with fans and a dehumidifier but actually with cool air. Works fine and no SHB problems. Thanks for the mention. No need for an experiment, I’ll send you the article.
That would be great Mike, thanks!
We just had two of the wettest years on record for Australia and beekeepers up and down the east coast had huge hive beetle losses, the humidity was through the roof. Makes sense the opposite could be true. An interesting observation, nice work.
Thanks Aidan, cool to hear. How long have you guys had beetles?
@@DuckRiverHoneyHive beetle since 2002 in Australia, some colonies are more aggressive towards them, actively biting and harassing them, bailing them up.
Ha ha, stupid tax, Trust me, we all pay that! My plan for spring feeding is moving dead out honey frames to live hives this Friday if the weather cooperates. We are suppose to get flurries Thursday and 50's on Friday, go figure. All medium all the way
Thanks for the video and truthful comments on what is going on. People need to know that things aren't always blue skies and easy, especially new beekeepers.
Thanks Tommy
Good luck with the cold weather. It's really cold up here in MN and we can't get a break. Some of my hives haven't had a cleansing flight yet this year. My two weak hives died but I was expecting that. Hopefully you don't lose the flowers for your spring honey flow. Have a good weekend. Love your knowledge on marketing.
Thanks Russell!
Really enjoying the information from this series. Thank you. Take care.
Thanks!
Thanks for sharing your business start up experience Nathan.
Thanks!
Have you thought about dipping unassembled hive boards? Seems like you can get more wood into the dipping tank that way.
You could, but they’d be harder to get out and I’m not sure how waxed wood would glue up.
Nice job! I’m really enjoying these vlogs.
Appreciate it Chris!
thank you
Thanks Robert!
Good job Nathan, enjoying your Blogs. Good stuff
Thanks!
Great job!!!!!
Thanks Cary
Thank you for the marketing/sales tips!!! I'll be going through this for the first time this summer/fall.
Thanks!
Nathan, good job on this series. I like that you are willing to go over the business end, too. Keep up the good work
Thanks!
It was good to ha e met you at the Hive Life 2023 conference, too. Good Luck
Thanks Joseph!
Love the Series. Very interested in the cost per super to wax them. I have a stainless steel tank for scalding chickens that is 40” long x 36” wide x 44” tall that hope will work.
That would work Dave, but it’s a bit oversized. Not a big deal, but it’ll cost more to fill it the first time.
Hi Nathan thank you for all the vlogs you put out , my question is , would you change to larger brood boxes to save on inspection time . 🇬🇧
I don’t plan to.
As you grow your operation, have you thought about a new strategy for how you're going to feed? I'm not sure how you fed in the past, but I'm curious if you'll be going the tote route or something else and how that will all look.
I’ve got a drum setup currently. I’ll move to totes someday but I’d prefer to have a dedicated bee truck when I do.
Keep up the videos in this series. I am considering doing similar in my area...
Thanks!
Nathan thank you for answering my question on your blog today. Your advice will get put to good use.
Now on the temperature, we are supposed to have a low tonight of 14° and only a high of 28° tomorrow with the low of 19° tomorrow night. I, like you, are nervous because of the chances of bees starving or freezing. I fed them all Hive Alive Foundent and gave them pollen patties with rocket fuel in it yesterday. I hope that sees them through. I haven't been able to check because it is too cold but I'm sure they have brood. I got my business name put on my UA-cam account now instead of just my name. So now, my comments will be from Woodland Harvest Honey Company instead of Kenneth Keime.
Thanks Kenneth, I thought that was an interesting question
Hi Nathan great updates 🐝🐝🐝
I hoping to get live chat with you one day 😉
Thanks, it’s busy right now
What type of grafting tool are you using?
I have tried every type a couple times.
Two items I discovered last year, if using the Chinese grafting tool, sand it down to the right thickness.
Second, grafting from larvae that is well fed is key in being able to pick them up.
On a new starter hive, dropping in a frame of grafts to let them make royal jelly is helpful. The graft is then pulled out the next day and a new graft is put in.
I’ve got every type. I’ve got Chinese tools from Betterbee and Mann Lake, they’re different. Also a German tool that I think I’ll like after filing and polishing it.
I know with my wax tank I have had a few boil overs seems like it really foams when moisture is higher and 2nd to much stuff in there I have done over 2000 boxes now and only boiled over 3 times
Good to know, thanks.
Maybe think about the Nicot system if your grafts don’t turn out. I had great success with it last year.
That’s one I haven’t looked at too much, just read about in passing.
@@DuckRiverHoney I like it. Hands off. You can move eggs if you want and you let the bees pick which ones they prefer.
Selling honey is my weak point... Not very good at interacting with people >.< But you're the second person I watch about presentation. If you want to see a nice, simple rack design for putting honey for sale in a store Old McNally's Honey made a really nice one in a fairly recent video :)
Thanks!
Where do you buy your wax? Are you using your own or a mix of paraffin and beeswax? Thx
The low melting temp of beeswax makes it poorly suited to dipping boxes. I use a 50/50 mix of paraffin and microcrystalline.
Do you sell quarts? At what price? In what container?
No I don’t. I’ve got a 12 oz, 16 oz, and 24 oz currently.
So you use all mediums and should just rotate the boxes instead of messing with frames, right?
Sometimes, but not always. It’s more complicated than that based on conditions and what I want to achieve.
Where did you get your plans to build your wax dip tank and what type of financial investment does it take to get set up in order to wax dip?
If I were to make the same investment that you did and I wanted to offer dipping for others, what is a fair rate to charge per box?
Thanks
I made plans for mine based on some other designs, but made it simpler. Once I have a handle on how much propane and wax I’m using up on each box, and how much labor I have to invest, I’ll figure out what I need to charge.
Hi Nathan, did Bob say whether he builds the product display(14:35) or buys them from somewhere? Thanks
I don’t believe he mentioned it.
OK. Thank you for replying.
No worries. I figure he buys some but also makes or modifies some as well.
What about a shim with 1:1 in a ziplock bag?
Could do…
Wasn't that a freeze proof faucet. Never mind you said you left it on. 🤦♂️
Yep, only freeze proof of you turn it off…stupid tax
WOW... $14lb I have a hard time selling at $10lb
Different markets…where are you at?
wait a minute, ... and you didnt video all the excitement!
Ian, I was more concerned with not setting 600 lbs of wax on fire than filming. My bad, I’ll try to do better next time. Get the film, let it all 🔥🔥🔥 🤣
I know a guy who has a separate steel building to do this all, so he dosent burn down his building
Yep, I put mine under a carport and did a controlled burn around it so if anything goes badly wrong hopefully it won’t set the woods on fire.
Id love to see this in action
Yeah I’ll do a video after I feel like I know what I’m doing. Right now I’m as educated as I can be with the very limited printed and video resources I can find, but I lack experience.
Subs???
???
@@DuckRiverHoney When I play a video that has just been uploaded there are no subs. I guess maybe it's a youtube bug because they need time to generate them. I will now try to watch your videos a few hours or a day after you post them.
Wow, never heard of that bug
all this man-made weather BS is not good
We’re getting more violent weather events.
@@DuckRiverHoney friend from BC said the same thing