I have not watched your channel in quite awhile and am amazed at the progress you have made in building your honey business!! Your dedication and perseverance shows. Success looks good on you as does your new merch. 🧢👕 The sign with your business logo is such a beautiful and thoughtful gift. Wishing you continued success and much happiness.
When my wife and I opened our nature store in 2003 in Clayton, Georgia I was invited to take a hike with a AJC journalist and the story was written up in the Atlanta Journal. I was really surprised when a framed version of the article arrived in the mail for a vendor I bought product from who was from Columbus, Mo.. It's always nice when people appreciate your efforts.
Nathan, another great video! I have a couple of questions, I have noticed that in your yards it looks like you have killed the grass and weeds around the hives, what did you use? And, where do (did) you get your hats and shirts made? Keep 'em coming, you doing great and helping us little guys with a lot of awesome info!
Man I had the same thing happen to me this year with the swarms the virgin queens didn’t make it back I went from 27 down to 15 hives it was rough year and it ain’t over just had a hive swarm and I have a virgin in the box and also have a boxes making drones I’m guessing because I’ve been feeding heavy and the golden rod just started to bloom here I’m down in south east Texas south of Houston
Love your videos. I’m at about the same level in building my bee business. I use an ink stamp to mark my cases of jarred honey. It’s a cheap option that’s quick and easy to apply to the cardboard boxes.
Are you up for an experiment? What if you placed two swiffer sheet, one on top of the other with some sort of thin spacer between them, just enough to allow beetles to get in. Beetles check in an never check out! I believe that phrase is trademarked.
Hive beetles just won’t leave you alone. I have about 60 acres of goldenrod across the street. Bees don’t seem very interested. They are bringing in fall Nectar but it doesn’t have the locker room smell of goldenrod so I’m not sure what they are harvesting. The sign that couple made is awesome and your subscribers are a very nice people. Hope the conference you are speaking at is a good experience for you. If anyone has not seen you speak in person they need to make that a priority for the future. I loved what you spoke about in St Louis at Hiveorama
Our farmer planted corn this year hoping for soybeans next year that are nectar producers. Been working on my wildflowers at my out yards. I've been trying lots of melliferous stuff. Been making a list of what grows well in the different kinds of soil. Hoping to perfect my mix to extend the nectar flow around here as Eastern NC has such bad flows. Luckily I have abundant amounts of goldenrod so a decent flow of dark honey is coming in now. Also can confirm the VSH italians don't ever stop laying like that around here. I got mine from Eric Talley a local guy I missed out on Cory's stuff. Lining up a few hundred cells for the spring *fingers crossed* he doesn't like to sale cells so I'm hoping I can convince him to make an exception.
@@DuckRiverHoney around here they do use a variety that produces a lot of nectar I’m just out of foraging range but a small 14 hive apiary I manage on a pine straw farm is loaded up with the nectar right now.
@@DuckRiverHoney that’s what I hear as well. Mt. Olive pickles has come out with a self pollinating cucumber somewhat recently up this way so they have switched a lot of their farmers to that which sucks for us pollination guys.
Another great video Nathan! Question for you...have you ever thought about using duck canvas as an inner cover? I decided to experiment with some as we expanded our apiary this year, as I didn't have any wooden inner covers at the time. To be honest, I've been pleasantly surprised with it. Our bees propilize the cover down, keeping the lid from sticking, and they are very calm when I pull it back to check on them. Even my spicy hives were well less defensive with it. The only downside is there is no top entrance if you like to run hives w/ those. But maybe it would help reduce some of those "surprise" stings for you. Thanks again for sharing this journey and giving us things to consider.
I'm curious how you handle your honey shipping. People ask me all the time about shipping but it always seems cost prohibitive. I bought a bottle from you and your prices were...super cheap for shipping!
I eat some cost in shipping on every order. On most I still make more than wholesale, and it’s more efficient if multiple bottles are ordered. But really I look at it as a customer acquisition and advertising cost.
LOL Let Ian brag about his tall corn we've got wingstem and the bees love it! Mine is towering over the gutters on the house so at least 10-12 foot tall! Huge plant that comes back every year with multiple stems and the stems get thicker and thicker. Wingstem seeds need a winter stratification in order to germinate. Goldenrod here is past peak and asters are in full bloom so everything is winding down fast. I think aster bloom smells like butterscotch. This week we will have temps again into the upper 70's low 80's which will be a treat after a full week of rainly cloudy weather here in south central PA. Bees sucked down a lot of syrup during that rainy weather to keep them on track in spite of the rain! Time for me to get the feeders off, winter shims on and install the mouse guards.
I need to sort through the last of my singles and decide to winter them alone or on a double screen on top of another colony. This week is warm but next week we’ll start getting into the 40’s at night.
Good video. Lots to ponder. Like your business analysis. Cash flow always seems to be a problem with startups. Everything looking great in your honey house. Bee looking good. Thanks for the information. Take care.
The Wife. Michael Palmer says that his wife's income was a big factor enabling him to become a full time beek and it probably will be for you also. The health insurance alone is such a big factor. I think in a year or two it will settle down but for now just keep moving forward one step at a time.
Okay, there's more. I had a weak "queenless" hive last week that I decided to add a nuc to using the newspaper method. When I was putting the newspaper on I thought, oh, I better check for swarm cells in the stronger hive. Got a bit excited doing so and once finished I put it together without the newspaper, thinking Bob Bennie puts frames right in hives from other hives saying he doesn't see much fighting. Well, he likely doesn't just combine 2 hives. I was just in too much of a hurry. There was some fighting that day but, the next day they were fine. I need to go and see how many dead bees are on the bottom board, I guess. My hives are in part shade there in that yard so, I have a few small hive beetles in there, too. Going to get some Swiffer Sheets for them, too. Good video. Thanks.
Lol! Love your 7-8’ annual wild flowers! We take pride in these certain aspects because we are simply in awe in the natural world. It is what makes us good Beekeeper’s :)
Nathan since we're talking about cash flow I have a question. I know you have your honey on Amazon and I have been thinking about trying that with the honey I produce. I am not really sure how to go about it. Amazon has some tutorials on selling but they are not too helpful on describing the differences so one can figure what is a good fit for their operation. I would love to hear you talk about the ways you can sell on Amazon and cost vs profit and is it worth the trouble. I sell my honey in a couple grocery stores and some other venues but want to see the volume increase. Any advice will be greatly appreciated.
@@DuckRiverHoney Thank you and I'm sorry I mistakenly thought you were selling on Amazon. The more I look into it the more I think it wouldn't work for me.
Good save on that Hive. 😊 Honey house looks great. 👌 Can you talk more in a video on how next season going to look for you and what things you should of done differently this season. Have a blessed week. Thanks 😊😊
Can't wait to see Stepplers comment on your corn remark 😂 I'm glad at least at this point I haven't had a hive beetle yet. I like that label holder in your honey house, did you make that or purchase it somewhere? Thanks for another great video!
