This casual tour inside Blue Ridge Honey Company includes honey processing equipment, retail honey sales, beekeeping supplies, warehousing issues, supply chain issues and much more.
Hi Mark. It turned out mediocre. The bees south of the shop did well because there was a dry warm spell through much of the bloom period but the bloom north of the shop, which was later, occurred during a rainy spell so those bees did poorly. All in all we made some but it was under half of what could have been made if Mother Nature would have cooperated.
Recently we visited my cousin in Homer and was thrilled she brought us to your store. We have considered having bees on our farm, so we purchased a couple books from your store that will be very helpful in beginning beekeeping. Loved your store and the girls behind the counter were very friendly and helpful.....thank you!
So many aspects in your working the colonies you have. I can relate a lot but only on a small 100-150-200 hive sideline Apairie. Though as a friend of mine in our beekeeping club says you can always learn something new about honeybees, the keeping, working, and reevaluating and adjusting accordingly is a must. For me it was a main broken branch from an almond tree in pollination in Northern California. In a wet winter the shallow root system being in soil with a lot of sand and rich valley river silt sometimes causes such a blow down of leave less trees with beginning swollen flower buds. When almonds set heavy and there are late winter early spring winds they sometimes are so overloaded with young almonds and hulls they break. A lot of winter firewood and a need to clean up the rows before beekeepers bring in their pallets of honeybees for early, mid, and late blooming varieties is a must. And just before I was going to take them out. And no chainsaw being a hour and a half away. I got it settled though. Will be prepared next time I said to myself. Yeah! And to all those growers that want hives in the middle of the orchard in shady no flying damp conditions. They don't understand that setting groups of colonies on or not with pallets in a good open air sunny spot for forager flying is the best. They are going to go to your more closer trees than to others farmers nearby orchards. And if some of them do, some of their rented bees will come over to yours also. Just a little commend sense. Blimey, Shut the door and Holy Smokes! For not taking my colonies out sooner. Sometimes a few growers want you to keep your hives in the orchard until every last almond flower is pollinated and there is a large petal fall. I keep them in for my contacts so they are happy per dollar amount/8 frame minimum average accepted. Besides I most always do queen excluder splits. Taking the best most populated hives 5 miles down the road, drop off and bring the same, knock on wood, hives back to my other contracted yard putting new bottom board and migratory cedar lids on top of the split. I then put in queens cells in the queen less ones in a day or two, couple of days and hope to get a good mating with all the other beekeepers drones in the area. Works for me. Plus there are prune orchards and fields of mustard and wild radish, spicy nectar, growing within a mile or two around these areas. Just don't make, like I did, the mistake of bringing those 5 frames of sealed brood with wall to wall bees in 10 frame deep boxes back home into the hills, 2,750' foot forest filled Elevation and not feed them because you are working long hours out of town commuting to and from home in new building construction. Then the weather turns ugly for a month and they can't get out to fly and gather food to sustain the hives and you are to busy to feed syrup and pollen patties to keep them from starving. Not to mention late winter early spring once in five to ten years 6" inch snow storms. Ask Randy Oliver and his son's about that. It sucks! Thanks for the video Bob. 🐝
You are a great organizer Bob!! You have helped me bee a much better beekeeper!!! Thank you for helping all of us save the bees and bee blessed with making a few dollars along the way!
One of the most interesting videos I've seen for a while. I really liked the behind the scenes of the shop. I have been looking for some good video of things like this along with some sideliner to small bee and honey operations to get a feel of what I need to be looking for or into in my new bee and honey endeavors. I'm looking to be at a 50 hive operation within the next few years. Your video gave me a window into some things I hadn't thought of yet. Thanks for sharing Bob!
Bob, How did you make out with your honey drier that you were having a problem with? This is a great video. Look forward to seeing you in January. Craig
I like the taste sampling area. We give taste samples out also and it really helps our sales. Of course Molly could sell ice cubes to eskimos. LOL She cleans up nice and can work with the guys. Exceptional young lady. The tour was so interesting. We are about the same age and it is so hard to know how to move forward with projects. But my thought is keep moving forward or get out of the way and let someone else move the ship. It's always so much easier when there is a son or daughter that is willing and ready. My two cents worth.
Looks great on video but much better in person. Went down this past Spring to pick-up 30 queens and enjoyed the visit. If you get a chance to visit the store you won’t be disappointed!
It was great to meet you and see your store Saturday. It was quite the trip from Texas but the highlight of my vacation.😁 I look forward to using my new double-screen board this winter to house a small hive on top of a strong hive. Thanks for all the great content.
Thanks. I was at your state meeting in Alexandria last week and noticed everyone with honey had tallow and loved it The other thing that caught my attention was the amount of cayenne pepper on food when we went out to eat at local restaurants. I enjoyed my visit. 👍
Thank you Mr. Binnie. We have the same issue over in Northwest Alabama. Seems the only people who mention Kudzu honey are in North Carolina. Lol sounds something like the Indiana Jones myth... Lol Thank you again.
Great job bob !! For off hip video, you provided me with a couple solutions I didn’t think about! One being samples I managed to harvest 3 different honeys this year , I’m going to offer samples at my booth at our county fair ! You sir are a blessing to so many ! God new what he was doing when he blessed you with bees !!! Blessing thank you!
I wish you shipped queens...? atleast on your website it says pick up only ? I would love trying out some of your caucasian genetics next spring !! Either way the wisdom is much appreciated thank you!
That was useful info for any beekeeper, even with a few hives I have some of those issues just not at that scale. Thanks. You forgot to mention your observation hive in the store. That’s really great for children.
Bob cant wait to meet you next month when you come to Bee Needz in sofia NC, im a big fan of your work. Thanks for all such important information you share..
Great tour of your business and I really appreciate your help you give out on your videos. Most people that are selling anything really don't care what you buy as long as you are spending money. ❤️🐝🇺🇸
Thank you very much for the video, you have build a very impressive operation and you can see the love you and many others have put into it. Back to old school inventories like it use to be, so is it time for a new pole building for storage?
Bob great video, I got the golden opportunity to meet you personally right before you went to Louisiana Bee Convention. We enjoyed talking to you as we are from Spartanburg SC. It was a great day trip and will have to do it again in the near future. Keep up the great work.
"Best of the best " The lady in red said , not far wrong , you come across as a nice man , and your employees are happy , one of your best videos , I take bets it wasn't edited ?? Peter Australia 🇦🇺 Any chance we can have a video on seth's bee operation , last one was interesting . You said in the video you got the chainsaw off your father , was he a bee-keeper. ??
Hi Peter. I do need to do another on Seth. He's up to about 160 now. Money needs has kept him from getting bigger this year. My dad wasn't a beekeeper but the deal was if I would do all the firewood cutting he would sell me the saw very cheap. It was (and still is) a nice saw when it was new.
Great video! I'm sure you have plenty of ideas for more videos. Have you ever covered an apiary that specialises in pollen collection? I'd love to know more about that. Thanks for what you do.
25mins I have a story- I bought a chainsaw for my girlfriend for her grade 12 grad(1990) I made her my wife in sept ‘91(we dated 4 years at that point) She still has yet to use that saw. I still have it. Thanks for the great video. Keep up all your hard work guys.
Bob, you mention the queen stops laying after Apiguard application, I've just made the second application to some 6 frame medium nucs (12 MLS 1 week apart) how long can I expect the queen to be out of lay. I'm in Wisconsin and it's a concern. By the way, great video as always.
Hey David, I noticed when I got into my colonies 11 days after i put the second round on that the queen was laying like crazy and even had some sheets of capped brood in most of my boxes. I had 1 hive go queenless out of 45 not sure if it was related!
Great video as usual. Okay great honey and bee extraordinare... I'm looking for some kudzu honey. Do you have any connections that might be able to. Sell me a little? Again, you and your team are a credit to the bee world. Thank you!
LOL, Love your operation tour, you run a tight ship. Interesting to hear about stock piling sugar. Our sugar hasn’t changed much except for the increase of transportation
I'm obviously not Bob 😂. Hive top feeders don't allow the beekeeper to control the rate at which the bees take the feed. The buckets with the tint plugs allow the beekeeper to control the rate based on the number of holes drilled in the plug.
It's not that they don't have any affect because they do. It's just that the inflow is sudden and for a limited time and doesn't have the same overall affect.
My, oh my..how lucky for you and your employee when he narrowly avoided falling face first into your running chainsaw when he caught his toe on the electric fence. Sure made me pucker and cringe. Reinforced a lesson to avoid something similar for me. Wow!
You can view our web site at www.blueridgehoneycompany.com/ Our store is located at 6306 Hwy 441 S, Lakemont, GA or call our store at 706 782 6722. Thanks.
Bob, I want to come to your store but I know it’s going to be very expensive for me. I would probably buy a bottle of every flavor of honey that you sell.
if you took a frame of bees out of hive and placed queen on it their reaction to her would tell you if she belonged there, they would pretty much ignore her if she belonged there, get lots of ''attention'' if she didn't....
Hello, greetings, I am Alejandro Arce, I am a Mexican beekeeper with 28 years of experience. I am looking for a job opportunity in a bee farm. I appreciate any information. My mother tongue is Spanish. Thank you very much.
Bob I always enjoy the videos on Sunday. Actually I keep an eye out for them.
Just wondering how your sourwood crop turned out.
Hi Mark. It turned out mediocre. The bees south of the shop did well because there was a dry warm spell through much of the bloom period but the bloom north of the shop, which was later, occurred during a rainy spell so those bees did poorly. All in all we made some but it was under half of what could have been made if Mother Nature would have cooperated.
Recently we visited my cousin in Homer and was thrilled she brought us to your store. We have considered having bees on our farm, so we purchased a couple books from your store that will be very helpful in beginning beekeeping. Loved your store and the girls behind the counter were very friendly and helpful.....thank you!
Congratulations Bob 👍 on the 2014 Grand Champion award. Thanks for the tour buddy, good health and God bless
Thanks 👍
You have a magnificent company. I do see a lot of logistics involved. Thanks for being American proud.
👍
Ga I miss this place. I gotta get back there. Thanks for sharing Bob!
This was a good sales swipe, I have to get some of those shirts!😅
Appreciate your transparency with all you do Bob
So many aspects in your working the colonies you have. I can relate a lot but only on a small 100-150-200 hive sideline Apairie. Though as a friend of mine in our beekeeping club says you can always learn something new about honeybees, the keeping, working, and reevaluating and adjusting accordingly is a must. For me it was a main broken branch from an almond tree in pollination in Northern California. In a wet winter the shallow root system being in soil with a lot of sand and rich valley river silt sometimes causes such a blow down of leave less trees with beginning swollen flower buds. When almonds set heavy and there are late winter early spring winds they sometimes are so overloaded with young almonds and hulls they break. A lot of winter firewood and a need to clean up the rows before beekeepers bring in their pallets of honeybees for early, mid, and late blooming varieties is a must. And just before I was going to take them out. And no chainsaw being a hour and a half away. I got it settled though. Will be prepared next time I said to myself. Yeah! And to all those growers that want hives in the middle of the orchard in shady no flying damp conditions. They don't understand that setting groups of colonies on or not with pallets in a good open air sunny spot for forager flying is the best. They are going to go to your more closer trees than to others farmers nearby orchards. And if some of them do, some of their rented bees will come over to yours also. Just a little commend sense. Blimey, Shut the door and Holy Smokes! For not taking my colonies out sooner. Sometimes a few growers want you to keep your hives in the orchard until every last almond flower is pollinated and there is a large petal fall. I keep them in for my contacts so they are happy per dollar amount/8 frame minimum average accepted. Besides I most always do queen excluder splits. Taking the best most populated hives 5 miles down the road, drop off and bring the same, knock on wood, hives back to my other contracted yard putting new bottom board and migratory cedar lids on top of the split. I then put in queens cells in the queen less ones in a day or two, couple of days and hope to get a good mating with all the other beekeepers drones in the area. Works for me. Plus there are prune orchards and fields of mustard and wild radish, spicy nectar, growing within a mile or two around these areas. Just don't make, like I did, the mistake of bringing those 5 frames of sealed brood with wall to wall bees in 10 frame deep boxes back home into the hills, 2,750' foot forest filled Elevation and not feed them because you are working long hours out of town commuting to and from home in new building construction. Then the weather turns ugly for a month and they can't get out to fly and gather food to sustain the hives and you are to busy to feed syrup and pollen patties to keep them from starving. Not to mention late winter early spring once in five to ten years 6" inch snow storms. Ask Randy Oliver and his son's about that. It sucks! Thanks for the video Bob. 🐝
You have a fantastic operation there with wonderful people. You are obviously a great mentor and boss.
Some really cool pictures in your shop Bob
Thanks for the tour and video post
Congrats on winning first place Bob! That has to make all the hard work worth it. 🙂👍🏼
Nice video Bob ! Your store and business is top notch. I’m very happy to see you flying old glory inside and out!!
Bob I really enjoy these days impromptu “Day in the life of Bob Binnie” videos. 😀
Thanks Nathan.
Those photos are ace!
You are awesome bob
I'm from California
Thanks for the tour
Thanks for posting, I really enjoyed the tour, congratulations for your company. Kind regards from a chilean beekeeper. 🇨🇱 🐝
Thank you.
You are a great organizer Bob!! You have helped me bee a much better beekeeper!!! Thank you for helping all of us save the bees and bee blessed with making a few dollars along the way!
👍
That was a very interesting video. Enjoyed the tour and the quick trip out into one of your bee yards. Enjoy your Labor Day!
Thanks. I've been seeing your videos pop a lot. 👍,
Was at your store last October visiting Warwomen WMA. Nice clean store you keep!
Thank you.
Enjoyed the tour and the interaction with employees and customers. I’m really putting it on my list of places to visit. Thanks.
One of the most interesting videos I've seen for a while. I really liked the behind the scenes of the shop. I have been looking for some good video of things like this along with some sideliner to small bee and honey operations to get a feel of what I need to be looking for or into in my new bee and honey endeavors. I'm looking to be at a 50 hive operation within the next few years. Your video gave me a window into some things I hadn't thought of yet. Thanks for sharing Bob!
Thank you and good luck.
Great video and wow, what a wonderful shop!
Thank you for sharing Bob. You and the team put a lot of pride and attention to details in your operation ☺️
Great video bob,keep them coming
Thank you! It’s nice to start my day off with information about bees and your business.
Bob, How did you make out with your honey drier that you were having a problem with? This is a great video. Look forward to seeing you in January. Craig
Hi Craig. The dryer works, but the temperature of the honey has to be much hotter than we were led to believe when we purchased it.
I like the taste sampling area. We give taste samples out also and it really helps our sales. Of course Molly could sell ice cubes to eskimos. LOL She cleans up nice and can work with the guys. Exceptional young lady. The tour was so interesting. We are about the same age and it is so hard to know how to move forward with projects. But my thought is keep moving forward or get out of the way and let someone else move the ship. It's always so much easier when there is a son or daughter that is willing and ready. My two cents worth.
Lots of good stuff I hope to visit you there someday
Ask if I'm here when you come.
Looks great on video but much better in person. Went down this past Spring to pick-up 30 queens and enjoyed the visit. If you get a chance to visit the store you won’t be disappointed!
Great looking store Bob , hope to make it out your way one day , look around myself.
It was great to meet you and see your store Saturday. It was quite the trip from Texas but the highlight of my vacation.😁 I look forward to using my new double-screen board this winter to house a small hive on top of a strong hive. Thanks for all the great content.
Thanks for coming.👍
It's nice to see clover honey. I live in Goodwin SD i got bee's on the farm clover is my fav.
Need to add Louisiana honey from The Bee Commander to that list 😂
I noticed your samples didn't have any tallow honey, we love it down here in Louisiana. Great video.
Thanks. I was at your state meeting in Alexandria last week and noticed everyone with honey had tallow and loved it The other thing that caught my attention was the amount of cayenne pepper on food when we went out to eat at local restaurants. I enjoyed my visit. 👍
Fun video!! Enjoyed seeing everyone! Molly sure is good with the honey! You have a great crew!
Thanks Greg.
Impressive content thanks for sharing, happy Labor day Bob 👍🇺🇲
Thank you. 🇺🇲
Thank you Mr. Binnie. We have the same issue over in Northwest Alabama. Seems the only people who mention Kudzu honey are in North Carolina. Lol sounds something like the Indiana Jones myth... Lol Thank you again.
Great job bob !! For off hip video, you provided me with a couple solutions I didn’t think about! One being samples I managed to harvest 3 different honeys this year , I’m going to offer samples at my booth at our county fair ! You sir are a blessing to so many ! God new what he was doing when he blessed you with bees !!! Blessing thank you!
I wish you shipped queens...? atleast on your website it says pick up only ? I would love trying out some of your caucasian genetics next spring !! Either way the wisdom is much appreciated thank you!
This video was wonderful thanks for doing it
Thanks for the tour. You have quite an interesting operation.
Thanks Al.
That was useful info for any beekeeper, even with a few hives I have some of those issues just not at that scale. Thanks. You forgot to mention your observation hive in the store. That’s really great for children.
Yes, I overlooked that. Thanks.
It's always good to get away from the desk isn't it. thank you for sharing
Yes it was!
Another FANTASTIC video !!!!
Thank you.
Bob cant wait to meet you next month when you come to Bee Needz in sofia NC, im a big fan of your work. Thanks for all such important information you share..
That's coming up soon . I'm looking forward to it.
Such an interesting video. Thank you!
Great tour of your business and I really appreciate your help you give out on your videos. Most people that are selling anything really don't care what you buy as long as you are spending money. ❤️🐝🇺🇸
👍 Thanks.
Just loved the sounds of how busy your store is. Congratulations!
Thanks.
Great video and amazingly organized! Great to see the behind the scenes operation too. 👍👍
Thank you.
Thank you very much for the video, you have build a very impressive operation and you can see the love you and many others have put into it. Back to old school inventories like it use to be, so is it time for a new pole building for storage?
We could sure use another building. I have an old pole barn at my house that we're going to use again so that will help. Thanks.
A great video bob
Bob great video, I got the golden opportunity to meet you personally right before you went to Louisiana Bee Convention. We enjoyed talking to you as we are from Spartanburg SC. It was a great day trip and will have to do it again in the near future. Keep up the great work.
Thanks.
That chainsaw sounds like a well tuned carburator. Is like a well tuned hive, crushing varroa. It's a maintenance issue.
Another great video.
Thank You Love the Farmer-Crazy Person-Beekeeper shirt😄
My favorite tee shirt. 👍
Wish I had your store by me Bob
Mr Bob. Please please make a tshirt with a side profile of your face in pencil and your honey quote underneath “id eat that on my peanut butter”
Great crew of people.
We're lucky to have them all.
"Best of the best " The lady in red said , not far wrong , you come across as a nice man , and your employees are happy , one of your best videos , I take bets it wasn't edited ?? Peter Australia 🇦🇺 Any chance we can have a video on seth's bee operation , last one was interesting . You said in the video you got the chainsaw off your father , was he a bee-keeper. ??
Hi Peter. I do need to do another on Seth. He's up to about 160 now. Money needs has kept him from getting bigger this year. My dad wasn't a beekeeper but the deal was if I would do all the firewood cutting he would sell me the saw very cheap. It was (and still is) a nice saw when it was new.
New videos for me. Enjoy ur Bee channel , I just wondered if ur employs work ever Sunday ? Do you ever give your employees a day off ? 🤔 I hope so .
Yes, they all get Sundays off. Thanks.
Great Video, Thank you for sharing. Have you considered adding more pallet racks for additional storage? We really enjoy visiting your store.
We have and there are a few that weren't seen in this video.
Hope to see you soon . It will be an expensive shopping list . Hahaha
It seems to be expensive anytime beekeeping equipment is involved. 😂
Great video! I'm sure you have plenty of ideas for more videos. Have you ever covered an apiary that specialises in pollen collection? I'd love to know more about that. Thanks for what you do.
That would be a good subject but I actually don't have much experience with it. I purchase it in bulk from someone else. Thanks.
25mins I have a story- I bought a chainsaw for my girlfriend for her grade 12 grad(1990) I made her my wife in sept ‘91(we dated 4 years at that point) She still has yet to use that saw. I still have it.
Thanks for the great video. Keep up all your hard work guys.
Could you show me how to melt the wax? At 4.09 minutes, did your wax melter show up in the shot? Thanks in advance!
Yes, that is our wax melter. I'll try to get a video out on it soon.
Bob, you mention the queen stops laying after Apiguard application, I've just made the second application to some 6 frame medium nucs (12 MLS 1 week apart) how long can I expect the queen to be out of lay. I'm in Wisconsin and it's a concern. By the way, great video as always.
As soon as the Apiguard dissipates she'll start up again. Sometimes sooner.
@@bobbinnie9872 thanks the reply, it's my first time using it and I was a little nervous that my winter brood buildup was going to be compromised.
Hey David,
I noticed when I got into my colonies 11 days after i put the second round on that the queen was laying like crazy and even had some sheets of capped brood in most of my boxes. I had 1 hive go queenless out of 45 not sure if it was related!
Which 8 frame spacers are those and where to buy? Love the videos! I keep learning and learning from you!
We purchase them from both Dadant & Sons and Mann Lake. Thanks.
Love your content question do you know where I can order box joint machines and frames machines
Sorry I don't know but I know they are out there.
Great video as usual. Okay great honey and bee extraordinare... I'm looking for some kudzu honey. Do you have any connections that might be able to. Sell me a little? Again, you and your team are a credit to the bee world. Thank you!
Sorry, I don't know of any. Kudzu nectar doesn't come in strong enough to generate surplus in our area. Thanks.
Are those ceiling mounted fans in the drying room?
I like that idea.
Yes. They are actually construction site fans purchased from Home Depot.
Love your videos Bob
Thanks.
That rock star can run a chainsaw
Yes I can, but from watching your videos this season and seeing what you've done, I would say that you're the rock star.
LOL,
Love your operation tour, you run a tight ship. Interesting to hear about stock piling sugar. Our sugar hasn’t changed much except for the increase of transportation
Bob, I’m curious, why you feel hive top feeders aren’t good for stimulative feeding?
I'm obviously not Bob 😂. Hive top feeders don't allow the beekeeper to control the rate at which the bees take the feed. The buckets with the tint plugs allow the beekeeper to control the rate based on the number of holes drilled in the plug.
It's not that they don't have any affect because they do. It's just that the inflow is sudden and for a limited time and doesn't have the same overall affect.
Funny that you say “I just don’t want to work as hard anymore” and the next thing you’re doing is wielding a chainsaw! 😂
Great point!
My, oh my..how lucky for you and your employee when he narrowly avoided falling face first into your running chainsaw when he caught his toe on the electric fence. Sure made me pucker and cringe. Reinforced a lesson to avoid something similar for me. Wow!
I want to do some shopping, what's your address? Also, do you have an option for ordering online?
You can view our web site at www.blueridgehoneycompany.com/ Our store is located at 6306 Hwy 441 S, Lakemont, GA or call our store at 706 782 6722. Thanks.
I too hate paper work.. it more fun working outside.
Bob, I want to come to your store but I know it’s going to be very expensive for me. I would probably buy a bottle of every flavor of honey that you sell.
Don, if you come I'll give you some.😇
I've found that around 80% or so of people like the first honey I give them to taste over the ones that follow.
if you took a frame of bees out of hive and placed queen on it their reaction to her would tell you if she belonged there, they would pretty much ignore her if she belonged there, get lots of ''attention'' if she didn't....
Do you ship Nuc’s?
Sorry, pick up only.
👏👏👏👏
Hey Bob, sir, do you ship to Europe please?
Sorry, we do not.
Hello, greetings, I am Alejandro Arce, I am a Mexican beekeeper with 28 years of experience. I am looking for a job opportunity in a bee farm. I appreciate any information. My mother tongue is Spanish. Thank you very much.
Congratulations on your Capital flag. Mr. Binnie where does you buckwheat honey come from?
Thank you. Our last buckwheat came from North Dakota.
👍✌
Address for store please
Blue Ridge Honey Co., 6306 Hwy 441 S, Lakemont, GA 30552
No video this weekend ☹ hope everything alright
All good. Busy week last week.
@@bobbinnie9872 👍👍👍
Bob, now you are bragging but you have every right too
I didn't mean too. 😇