Ever wondered what happens when a childhood fascination becomes a thriving business? Meet Terri Faloney, the passionate force behind Hammer Hives, whose journey from curious novice to "bee whisperer" offers a masterclass in following your calling.
Terri's story begins with loss and a farm that had lost its vitality. Looking to bring life back to her family property, she turned to honeybees after learning about their plight against pesticides and habitat loss. What started as an experiment to "reconnect with her inner child" quickly became an all-consuming passion. Despite losing her first colonies, Terri persevered, sought mentors, and developed expertise that now allows her to work confidently among thousands of bees without protective gear, a sight that leaves most visitors (and podcast hosts) amazed.
The conversation dives deep into the fascinating world of beekeeping, from the 16-day development cycle of queen bees to the meticulous process of queen rearing that involves precise temperature control and careful handling. Terri shares insider knowledge about running double brood chambers versus singles, the threats facing honeybee populations today, and how her sustainable approach to beekeeping supports both bee health and business prosperity. Her Italian-Carniolan genetic line of docile bees, developed over generations in Ontario, allows her to work with bare hands in shorts and a tank top while surrounded by buzzing colonies.
Beyond the technical aspects, Terri's approach reveals something profound about our relationship with nature. The "vibrational connection" she describes – being aware, gentle, and respectful when working with bees – creates harmony between keeper and hive. Whether you're a curious gardener tired of hand-pollinating cucumber plants or someone seeking a meaningful business that benefits the planet, Terri's journey shows how reconnecting with nature can become a sustainable passion that helps save our most important pollinators while building community. Ready to peek behind the veil and discover what all the buzz is about?
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
so then I heard about honeybees and that the
honeybees were suffering andthey didn't have spaces to
pollinate, they didn't haveplaces to live, they were
getting slammed by pesticidesand all sorts of other issues.
And I'm, like you know what,going to get a couple of
beehives and I'm just going toreconnect with my inner child
(00:28):
and see what this is all about.
Well, lo and behold, I found anobsession.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
This week on the Outdoor Journal Radio podcast
Networks Diaries of a LodgeOwner Stories of the North Folks
.
Today we leave the lodge andjump into the buzzing world of
beekeeping with a guest who'sturning honey into money and a
way of life.
This awesome girl's story issweet, sustainable and deeply
(00:56):
rooted in community, and itmight just leave you feeling
differently about the tinycreatures working tirelessly
behind the scenes.
And it is now my pleasure tointroduce to the Diaries family
the passionate force behindHammer Hives, Terry Filoni.
On this show.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
Terry and I talk about her grassroots beekeeping
business, how she got started,what it takes to run a hive, and
for her, beekeeping has becomea mission, one that supports
local ecosystems, educatescommunities and, all the while,
she's building a business withmeaning.
(01:39):
Whether you're curious abouthoney production, pollination or
business resilience, terry'sgot insights that stick.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
So if you love starting from the ground up
stories or want to peek frombehind the veil and smoker,
stick around, because this girlis buzzing with inspiration,
baby buzzing with inspiration,baby.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
Here's my conversation with Terry Filoni.
Welcome folks, to anotherepisode of Diaries of a Lodge
Owner Stories of the North.
And I am really, really excitedto have a friend of mine and I
just met her only once.
I've talked a few times, butTerry is the Bee Whisperer.
(02:28):
And Terry Filoni, you totallyimpressed me when I came with
Gary, our mutual friend, andbought some nukes, and I wanted
(02:48):
to have you on today becausewhen I saw you doing what you
were doing, it reminded me a lotof me in my business.
I used to own a fishing lodgeon the upper French River and
being a small business owner issomething that's very cool, in
my opinion, and when you canactually find that passion for
(03:12):
what you're doing in life which,like I mean, I totally saw it
that is something very, veryspecial.
So I'd like to just start offwith hearing a little bit about
your story and how you got intobees.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
Okay, well, thank you so much for having me.
First of all, it was anabsolute pleasure to meet you
and share my beautiful littlepassion with you, my beautiful
little passion with you.
It all started well, really,when I was a kid.
I have been obsessed with bugsmy entire life.
I just found them to be themost fascinating creatures.
(03:54):
So that aside, as I grew intomy adulthood, I feel like I
started to lose the ability tointeract with bugs.
I was busy focusing on schooland trying to go to university
and I just kind of lost touchwith nature on that sort of
(04:15):
level.
So fast forward ahead, Idiscovered bees when I was about
24 years old.
Discovered bees when I wasabout 24 years old, and it was
actually kind of an unfortunatething as my dad had just passed
(04:36):
and I was struggling to find mypath Right, so that happened.
And then on the farm, we usedto raise horses, so they all
passed away.
And I'm like we used to raisehorses, so they all passed away,
and I'm like there's just nolife here at the farm anymore.
What are we doing?
So then I heard about honeybeesand that the honeybees were
suffering and they didn't havespaces to pollinate, they didn't
(04:57):
have places to live.
They were getting slammed bypesticides and all sorts of
other issues.
And I'm like you know what?
I'm going to get a couple ofbeehives and I'm just going to
reconnect with my inner childand see what this is all about.
Well, lo and behold, I found anobsession.
My first two beehives didn'tsurvive, of course, because I
(05:21):
had no idea what I was doing,but it made me seek out mentors
and network with the communityand I just learned as much as I
could.
And as time went on, theystarted surviving and then I
started growing my numbers andnow I'm, pretty happy and pretty
confidently, what I would callan expert in beekeeping.
(05:44):
Of course, I still have so muchto learn and the bees always
keep us on our toes.
But yeah, that's just a littlebit of how it started.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
That is very cool.
And so, like I mean, I'mlooking at you now and listening
to your story and you're kindof like the Ocean Ramsey of bees
, like have you seen that girlwith the sharks?
Yes, well, you're the OceanRamsey of bees and I got to tell
(06:15):
you folks, I went with GaryTebow you all know him, he's a
friend of the show and we wentto Hamilton and right downtown,
kind of by the university Gary'sdriving into Hamilton, and we
(06:35):
found your beautiful spot like afarm right in the middle of of
Hamilton.
You wouldn't even know you werein Hamilton, you would.
You would think you were infarm country in.
You know out where I'm at.
And, um, we pull in and and the,the, the, we drive down and
(06:58):
Gary had kind of warned me.
He said you know, you know,this girl is very nice looking
but she knows her shit, like sheknows her shit.
And I'm like, oh, okay, that'scool.
So we come into your farm, pulldown around and there you are
(07:18):
with one of the girls that youwork with or a girl that works
for you, and I was surprised athow young you were because I
looked over at you.
Guys, you're out helpinganother customer.
I said is that the girls?
He said yeah, I said wow and wegot out and Gary was very
nervous about like he wasnervous about getting stung,
(07:40):
like he had grabbed someplantain or something from the
ground because it's like it'llhelp if he has an allergic
reaction.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
He was ready with that.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
I know, I know he was ready to chew on it and the
whole way down, gary suggestedthat I bring my bee suit and
like I'm new, but I see peoplelike there's this one guy from
the University of Guelph, Ithink his name is Ken, he's like
one of the leading guys and Iwatch him on YouTube and I see
(08:16):
him sitting amongst all thesebees and you know he doesn't
have any protection on and Iknow protection is probably a
good idea, but I know people doit At that point I never seen
anybody do it without protection.
But I know it's done because Isee this guy and Gary's like oh,
(08:37):
I don't know, better bring yourbeast suit, geez.
And I said okay, and then I seeyou and you're in your shorts
and like a uh, um, a short topand it's and you're right in the
heart of these bees and they'regoing all over the place and we
made a video and you're sittingon top of one hive with your
(08:58):
legs crossed and this, and thatyou're just totally natural
right in the middle of the beesand I'm like fuck, yeah, see,
you can do it, gary, that's that, that's what I'm, that's that's
what I'm gonna do, and I knowI'm gonna get stung here and
there, and you know what that is, what it is like, I mean.
(09:20):
Sometimes friends argue yeah,and, and, and, if, if, if I get
in a bit of a an argument hey,listen, I'll just back off,
right?
I?
Speaker 1 (09:32):
always say if you're gonna touch a butt without
consent, you're gonna get stung.
And that's most of the time.
What happens is youaccidentally touch a butt when
you're working on a frame and,yeah, they're going to sting you
because you squished them a bit.
Speaker 3 (09:46):
Yeah, yeah, but it was very cool and the nukes that
you make and I'd love to talkabout that because I took a B
course and that's another greatbusiness avenue within your
(10:06):
business.
There's a guy in Collingwood,ontario I forget his name, but
he's got like Collingwoodapiaries and he's got I don't
know five I forget how manyhives a lot.
He's a young guy.
He's a young guy and his mainrevenue source is more well, he
(10:34):
does bee products, honey, wax,all that stuff but it's a
pollination thing with all ofthe apple orchards and stuff in
Collingwood.
So he's shipping a lot of hishives around Ontario for
pollination, which is anotherrevenue source.
But I took a course with him andum, um, the course was was
(10:56):
awesome and but I tried to buynukes from the guy.
The course was like, I mean, Ithink it was in April, in April
sometime, and he had alreadytaken all of his orders for his
nukes and folks out there, whata nuke is is it's just a colony
(11:20):
of bees that are on anywherefrom three to five frames.
And, um, after the course I waslike, okay, I'm going to need
to buy some nukes.
And he's like, well, you know,I'm, I'm already, um, I've
already sold all my nukes, but Ican't rightfully take your
money in a B course and thentell you you can't have any Bs.
(11:43):
So he said I'll help you out.
And now this is in all fairnesshe sent me an invoice for these
nukes and I forgot to pay it.
And then I'm looking like twoweeks before I'm supposed to
pick up these nukes and Ithought I better reach out to
(12:06):
this guy.
And he never answered his phone.
And he never answered his phone.
And he never answered his phoneand I had already been talking
to Gary and Gary's like hey, Igot this girl, she makes the
best nukes.
Like I mean it's amazing.
And I'm like Gary, tell her Ineed six.
And that's where you come intothe picture.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
Oh, no way.
Speaker 3 (12:27):
That's cool.
Yeah, and those five framenukes, man, there's a shit ton
of bees in there and they'reworking hard.
Like Gary texted me yesterdaysaying hey, I got to check the
hives here.
We may have to put supers onthem soon.
And I said I'm not going to behome.
(12:50):
I'm going and I'm heading on ashoot up to Buck Lake out of
Hornpain, ontario, and I'm notgoing to be home for a week, so
Gary's going over and checkingmy hives.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
Oh, that's great, yeah, so, but yeah, and checking
my uh, yeah.
Speaker 3 (13:06):
So, but yeah, the the the work that you did on those,
and I don't know, um, my assfrom a hole in the ground when
it comes to beekeeping, but, um,I know those hives are really,
really strong.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
And I did.
Gary had a lot of success lastyear with his hives too.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
Oh yeah, Well, the hive that you, the hive that he
or one of them, that he got fromyou last year, this year he
told me he's already taken ahundred pounds off.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
Yep.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
It's been a really good honey year too, which is
interesting because we had sucha late spring, right yeah, but
I'm I'm in the same boat.
I've got full supers on a lotof my hives already, so yeah,
let's just talk about so youstart with your new hive.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
I buy a nuke from my friend Terry from hammerhivescom
, by the way, folks check it out.
And I also noticed you were onanother podcast with another
friend of the show, nicoleVachel.
I had her.
Yeah, I had Nicole on about ayear ago.
(14:23):
No way.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
What a small world.
Yeah, I know.
Speaker 3 (14:28):
It was because I was doing a little bit of research
and well, actually I was justlooking for your email, but I
got onto your Instagram andnoticed that you were on with
Nicole.
So shout out to Nicole and headon over to listen to that one
as well.
Oh my God, so great, yeah.
(14:50):
So we take the nuc, we put itin a brand new hive, we set that
hive up and I guess it wouldhave been maybe June 15th,
middle of June when I got them,june 15th, middle of June when I
got them.
How do you know when to put ahoney super on that hive?
And, folks, if you don't, ifyou miss your opportunity to put
(15:14):
that honey super on, you'rerunning the risk of that hive
swarming, because when they runout of room, you're kind of
screwed right.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
Yes, absolutely.
You definitely want to keep aneye on your bees and you notice
so when you put a five-frame nucin, you're also going to be
filling up the rest of the spacewith foundation frames.
If you already have bees andyou're lucky enough to have
built out comb on thosefoundation frames, then you're
(15:45):
adding a super even sooner.
So it takes about six pounds ofhoney consumption to make one
pound of beeswax, which is goingto be what's laid out on that
frame.
So if you're dealing withfoundation, you're looking at
when have they built out most ofthat foundation.
If you have one frame offoundation left or no frames,
you want to add a super on rightaway.
The key to bringing them upinto that next box, if it's all
(16:10):
foundation again, is to bring aframe up from the bottom box.
This time of year it's super,super warm.
So if you bring a frame ofbrood up, that's going to bring
all the bees up really, reallyquickly and it's going to make
them want to start building outon the rest of the frames.
Speaker 3 (16:26):
So you would bring a foundation of brood up into that
box.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
Yes, like a frame of capped brood up into the box of
your foundation.
Speaker 3 (16:37):
And that's the honey super the bees up.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
So this also depends on how you want to run your
hives.
If you want to run them assingles and then have honey
supers on top of them, then youwould just put that.
It depends on the size of yourhoney super too.
There's so many avenues here.
But if you're running a deephoney super, like I do, and you
(17:01):
want to run a single with thequeen excluder and then the deep
, I do find that if I put that asingle with the queen excluder
and then the deep I do find thatif I put that honey super on
without the excluder, if it'sfull of foundation, and bring up
a couple frames of honey, it'sgoing to bring the bees up a lot
easier than if you just put theexcluder on with a box of just
foundation.
You do risk them swarming stillif you do that, because it's
(17:25):
foreign ground to them, itdoesn't smell like anything,
they don't have any reason towant to go up.
Plus, they're kind of blockedby that queen excluder.
Speaker 3 (17:33):
Yeah, and the queen excluder folks is.
Just imagine a grill and it's awire grill and it's a wire
grill and the spacing of thatgrill keeps the queen out of
that box because she's muchbigger than the workers.
And the drones, by the way,because they're bigger Drones
(17:55):
will get stuck up there, yeah,yeah.
So it just keeps the queen outof that box, and the key to that
is she's laying eggs constantlyand making bees.
So when you keep the queen outof that box, all you get is
honey storage.
So now, this is my thought, andI don't know if I'm right or
(18:15):
wrong, but do people do this?
So I've got my box on thebottom like my hive.
Rather than add a half honeysuper on top with an excluder,
would it be a better idea tothrow another super large super
(18:36):
on top and then move the brood,stock up like a frame or two of
brood and let them have thatwhole 10 frames and build the
colony, rather than put a honeysuper on top and then not give
them any space to do anythingunderneath?
(18:56):
Yes, gotcha, and then once Ithink that's super right.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
That's how I run.
My hives is double broodchambers, and then I start
building the honey.
One of the main benefits forthat is you're going to have a
stronger colony to go into thewinter with and you're also
going to prevent that swarmingbecause the queen has more space
to lay and a little morefreedom.
If you run a single with honeysupers, you have to have to feed
(19:23):
them in the fall.
There is no other way that thatcolony is going to make it,
because they just simply don'thave enough space to store their
honey at the end of the season.
Speaker 3 (19:33):
Yeah, gotcha.
So I should be watching now formy frames to be filling up the
five frames that were, and Ididn't have built a comb for
them.
They're going to have to do itthemselves, so I'll be watching
for that and then, once theyhave not a whole lot of room,
I'll throw another brood chamberon top of it.
(19:54):
Yes, gotcha.
Speaker 5 (19:57):
That's very cool.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
That's what I suggest if you want your colony to
thrive, more so than your honeyharvest right, which our focus
is always, always on the colony.
Speaker 3 (20:09):
Well, it's like any good business.
It's like going back to thelodge.
There's guys in your business.
You can focus on money, right?
Or I always chose to focus onthe experience that my guests
were going to get my family andbuilt out.
(20:30):
I never, even when I used to owna sheet metal shop, and even in
the sheet metal shop, I neverthought about money ever In the
shop.
You know you make a quote for ajob and you send the quote out
and I never like, unless the guycome and said I need this extra
.
If I made a quote and I didn'tmake any money, I didn't charge
(20:55):
any extra.
That's me Like I mean, hey, Isaid I could do it for this and
yeah, you know what.
I didn't think of this, thisand this which cost me X dollars
.
But that's not your fault.
It's the same with what I thinkwith anything.
And if you focus on the healthof the bees which you should
(21:16):
really then they're going to payyou back tenfold.
You know what I mean.
So that's the way that I wantto do it.
Speaker 1 (21:28):
So, for instance, this spring since I do run
doubles this spring was reallyreally harsh and a lot of people
lost bees to starvation.
Now, a lot of those people thatlost bees to starvation are
commercial honey producersbecause they run singles so they
can maximize their honey yield.
So they're running around likecrazy trying to feed their bees
and barrel feed and they've got80 yards.
(21:49):
And I'm listening to this panicall around me and I'm like, oh,
should I be scared?
And I keep popping out to myhives and sure, I had maybe five
hives that were a little lighton food and I could give them a
little top feeder full of foodor put out a little bucket of
honey or, sorry, sugar syrup.
And yeah, I, just I didn't havethat problem.
(22:11):
Like they, their weight wasalways really good all spring.
And a lot of these boys arelike, well, you should, you
should be like focusing ongetting that honey money.
And I'm like no man, like myfocus is queens and nukes and
like, remember who was franticthis spring?
I wasn't.
My bees are happy.
Speaker 3 (22:29):
Yeah, no doubt.
Well, it's.
It's a different business modeland I gotta, I've gotta, think
that, um, when you're losing,and like they, they've got to
lose more hives than you with asingle brew chamber and that's
got to cost, right yeah?
Speaker 1 (22:51):
So honey is more expensive than sugar syrup in
the end of it.
These guys are so huge, they'respending like $30,000 on sugar
syrup a year and they do havebig crews so they are able to
run around and do this work.
Um, that's just somethingthat's not like viable for me.
(23:12):
You know what I mean.
So their hives, honestly, theydo they do well, as long as they
can make it to them in time,and they do work crazy long
hours to ensure that their hivesdo survive as best as possible.
And over winter their hives dofine.
It's just, you know, you gethit with a rough spring and
(23:33):
things can get a little sketchy,but the singles do overwinter
as long as you are on it, right?
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (23:40):
Yeah, yeah.
Now if you've got a double, isit just that first season that
you're under the gun, with lessproduction?
Is what I'm trying to say buildthat second brood chamber and
(24:02):
then you let them winter withthat second brood chamber and
then in the springtime, whenthey start to build that colony
up again, your, your um, um,your production must go up like
a second season double broodchamber hive.
How many pounds of honey wouldyou make off of that Um, versus
(24:26):
a single brood chamber?
Or do you make more honey ifyou split the two and let them
go on their own and make honeyin both of them?
You know what I mean.
So.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
I think more than anything like a single and a
double can produce the sameamount of honey.
They still make the same amount.
The only difference is in adouble you're going to be
leaving a lot of honey for them,so you're going to lose
probably one box of honey inorder to drop down those frames
(25:00):
so that that double hassufficient honey the entire year
and then going into winter, sosingle will probably make you
one extra box of honey, buttechnically they would do that
anyways.
It's just you would leave itfor them and they'd have space
to store that honey.
Speaker 3 (25:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
A nuc is obviously going to take a lot more time to
be established.
But I would say in terms oftheir actual honey production, a
single and a double makes thesame.
It's just what we can yieldfrom.
It is maybe one box less onyour double because they have so
much other focus and otherstorage in that double.
Speaker 3 (25:36):
Gotcha, gotcha.
So that's why the big guys aregoing with singles.
Speaker 5 (25:41):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (25:42):
Yeah, but that's not the way I'm going to go.
I don't think.
Because, we love these here, Iknow, I know I'm going to put a
couple up here on the island,because we love bees here.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
I know, I know I'm going to put a couple up here on
the island too, up north here,so that's really cool.
So Guelph University has anisland isolated for their queen
rearing and their geneticresearch on honeybees, which is
fascinating honeybees.
Which is fascinating because,as much as I can isolate my
(26:15):
queens and my workers, what Ican't control is the fact that
there are drones within the fivekilometers from other people's
beehives that are inevitablypotentially going to mate with
my queens.
So I can run a pretty specificgenetic, but there is always
that little factor thatsomething might come in from
somewhere else.
Speaker 3 (26:33):
Yeah, well, I know, up here when I had the lodge, we
always used to put lots offlowers in and everything else
and I would always see a weirdlooking strain of honeybees and
I know there's nobody up hererunning hives and there they
were.
Um, they had a really reallydeep orange color on their, on
(26:59):
their, on their back, and, um, I, I, I, I and they were
honeybees.
I knew that.
Um, so there was a local wildhive somewhere around here with
this really deep orange kind ofcoloring on them and I always
thought that that was very cool.
(27:20):
It was actually a beekeeperthat pointed them out to me.
One of the guests had looked atthem and said, wow, that thing,
that's very cool.
I'm not sure where the hive is,but it's around here somewhere,
that's so neat.
Yeah.
So I thought and up here, likeI mean we have a shit ton of
wild blueberries, so I thinkthere's lots of, I think there's
(27:43):
lots of food for them.
So you know.
Speaker 1 (27:46):
Yeah, definitely, they do get good nectar off of
blueberries.
Speaker 3 (27:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:50):
And the honey is so cool.
It's also a very deep orangecolor, so maybe those bees are
just blueberry bees.
Speaker 3 (27:58):
Yeah, yeah, that sounds interesting.
Yeah, right on.
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(29:20):
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(30:02):
people that will help you findyour outdoor passion and help
you live a life close to natureand under the canopy.
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Speaker 3 (30:20):
So this queen rearing , how do you well tell us a
little bit about the life cycleof the queen and what she does
within the hive?
Because when I was there and wedid that YouTube video for Gary
, that was one of the coolestthings that we talked about
because I had no idea.
Speaker 1 (30:41):
So a queen bee.
Her incubation is 16 days, asopposed to a worker bee, which
is 21, and a drone bee, which is24.
And it's super fascinatingbecause she's the biggest bee
but her incubation cycle is muchshorter than everybody else's.
What makes her a queen is thatshe's fed exclusively this huge
(31:03):
store of royal jelly.
All the other bees they getroyal jelly in their larval
stage, but only for a couple ofdays.
She gets it her entireincubation.
After that, when she comes out,she is still fed royal jelly.
She still gets some honey inbetween there she gets fed by
her nurse bees.
But that seems to be the whole.
(31:26):
Magic of the longevity of herlife is that she is always,
always fed royal jelly andshe'll live for up to five years
.
Her laying might be a littlespotty after then, depending on
how good her mating flight was.
She will live up to five years,whereas her worker beef
comrades they only live for fourto six weeks in the summer and
(31:49):
in the winter they'll live.
You know, they'll overwinter,which is fascinating in itself
that they can slow down theirmetabolism enough to live longer
than they would in the summer.
The whole, like breeding queens,is really fun for me because
it's a little more scientific.
You get to go in there and geta two day old larva and you
scoop it out.
You put it's a little morescientific.
(32:10):
You get to go in there and geta two-day-old larva and you
scoop it out, you put it in aqueen cup that I make with a
device that I dip in beeswax andthen I press onto a wooden
piece that goes into a frame andyou insert that in a nurse
colony, which is a colony thatdoesn't have a queen.
I've taken away their queen.
(32:30):
They're making cells.
They want a queen.
You insert that in and theyjust go straight to work and
they rapidly produce multiplecells and then I incubate them.
Then they're virgins.
Then they have to go into ahive without a queen and they
have to go on a mating flight.
The whole process.
It does take quite a bit oftime and it's definitely risky
(32:52):
in the spring because, theweather being shoddy, drones
only really fly at over 15degrees Celsius.
So even if she tries to leaveand it's too cold, she's not
going to have a good matingflight.
So the springtime queen rearingis definitely very difficult.
But I love a good challenge.
Speaker 3 (33:10):
Yeah, no doubt.
And you say a virgin queen whenshe leaves on her mating flight
.
That's the only time she mates,is once right.
Speaker 1 (33:21):
Correct.
Well, she could potentially gofor a couple of mating flights,
but it depends on how successfulthe previous one was.
So she might go on a couple.
But if she gets all filled upand all good to go on the first
one and she finds a few mates,then she'll just come back and
(33:41):
it'll grow and she'll startlaying eggs.
Speaker 3 (33:45):
Very cool, and she goes straight up in the air and
the strongest man to chase herdown wins.
Speaker 1 (33:52):
Correct Strongest, fastest, highest flying Yep.
Speaker 3 (33:55):
Yeah, and it's something ridiculously high that
they can go.
Speaker 1 (34:00):
Yeah, I can't remember the exact number, but
it's pretty impressive.
Bees can fly very, very high.
Speaker 3 (34:08):
Yeah, no doubt Gary had that stat and I was amazed
by the whole situation.
So you said you incubate thelarva, the cells.
Do you have to have bees withthem, like when you put them in
(34:28):
a rearing colony?
Do they just make the queen cupfill it with royal jelly and
then you take that one frame outand then you put it in an
incubator, or does the wholenurse colony go with her?
Speaker 1 (34:45):
Oh no.
So at that point I take thecells out.
When they're fully capped,which takes about five days, I
cut the cells off of that pieceof wood and then I actually put
them in like a test tube with alittle bit of wood shavings and
a little tiny ball of queencandy at the bottom.
Then I put the cells in like apan and I put it in to the
(35:10):
incubator at about 34 degreesCelsius.
So the incubation of a queencell is very temperature
specific.
It's got to be between 31.5 and35.5 degrees Celsius and I
found 34 is the perfect sweetspot.
I do have friends that incubateon a cooler temperature and
(35:33):
sometimes that actually, um, itslows down the hatching process
of the queen.
And this is like for really,really big queen producers.
This is kind of a trick thatthey use just so that things
aren't hatching in the incubatorand they just have a little
more control and it seems to bejust fine at 31.5,.
(35:54):
But I'm I'm always kind of likeokay, I want my queens, like 34
is good, it's, it's, it's theexact temperature that the nurse
colony will incubate theirqueen at because they're sure as
heck, not trying to slow itdown Right, they're like, let's
go, we're efficient, so um, yeah, sorry.
Speaker 3 (36:15):
No, go ahead, she comes out.
Speaker 1 (36:16):
So when she comes out .
The whole point of the, thesawdust or the shavings is
because they will go to thebathroom and sometimes they get
a little soaked, so that absorbsthat.
And then the queen candy is sothat she has food source,
because if she came out in ahive she's being fed immediately
.
And it's also very crucial thatI'm watching my incubator, so
(36:36):
when the first one hatches itcould be four in the morning I'm
setting an alarm and I'm goingdown there to make sure that
none of them are left in theincubator, Because for some
reason they overheat once theycome out.
They don't have anybody takingcare of them, so you got to take
(36:57):
them out, get them in a cageand, within 12 hours, put
attendants or bees from thenurse colony in with her.
Speaker 3 (37:02):
I saw you doing that when we were there.
Yeah, that's right.
Yeah, yeah, you had like nine,nine queen cages with queens and
you were just picking workerbees off of the, off of the um,
the, the, the racks, just, uh,just you know, talking to them
and picking them up, puttingthem in no stings.
Speaker 1 (37:22):
It's very cool no, yeah, they're very.
I I do have a very docilegenetic of bees.
Um, I think I was telling youit's an italian and carniolan
like splice, but at the sametime it's like a whole bunch of
generations of just ontariobread queens yeah, that's very
cool.
Speaker 3 (37:42):
Very cool reminds of well, when you're talking about,
um, uh, incubating.
It reminds me of chickens,because you know if you're a
little bit hot, because chickensit's between like 99.5 degrees
Fahrenheit and a hundred, andyou know 102.
And the warmer you incubate at,the faster they'll hatch.
(38:09):
Yes, that's another one of mylittle secrets or obsessions.
I love chickens, but I reallyshould have a farm.
Speaker 1 (38:24):
It sounds like it yeah.
Speaker 3 (38:26):
I know Well, they got expensive, awful quick, so I'm
just going to hang out on theisland for a while, don't?
Speaker 1 (38:33):
blame you.
They're a lot of work.
Speaker 3 (38:36):
Yeah, yeah, farms are a lot of work, yeah, and I did
see that you had chickens andeverything else.
So now tell me a little bitabout your business, because the
beekeeping and everything is isa passion and and um, but
you're running a successfulbusiness too.
(38:56):
Um, tell me a little bit aboutthat experience and how did you
figure it out?
Because it took me a lot ofyears in owning a sheet metal
shop and then owning a fishinglodge to really figure out
business.
Speaker 1 (39:16):
So I mean, it definitely took me some time and
, honestly, if I pulled out apiece of a document that I made
when I first started thisbusiness, like the whole
business model proposal,whatever you want to call it is
completely different, because Ihad no idea what I was doing.
I didn't understand bees enoughto really make a successful
(39:39):
business model, and I had donethat so that I could apply for
grants within the city.
And now it's it's funny like Ishould frame this because it's
just completely not what I do.
I'm like I'm going to rentbeehives to people and teach
them about bees and it's justlike no, no, that's not how it
works.
And then, honestly, the successcame from networking and just
(40:03):
finding people in the communityand seeing their practices,
seeing what they do, and thenkind of just blending everything
together to make my own versionof what I wanted my business to
be in order to be successful.
I do find that my main source ofincome is from nukes and queens
, because that's just what I'mthe best at, and I do find that
(40:27):
it's really, really good for mybees to be able to go through
and get new equipment everysingle year.
Keep them fresh, sell lastyear's equipment in my nucs,
replenish it and then give thembrood breaks so I can protect
them against varroa mite too.
So that seems to work the bestfor me.
And then, on top of that, themarkets have been absolutely
(40:51):
amazing.
I mean I I wouldn't be talkingto you right now if I didn't go
to the sportsman show and meetGary at the sportsman show.
So I found that those marketsreally helped.
Um, I'm taking a bit of a stepback from them now, just because
they've served their purpose.
I've established my business toum my limits of how much I can
work it until I hire anotherhand.
(41:13):
I need to chill out on how manypeople I'm like.
Yeah, I do tours, but I alsomanage 120 hives, but I'm also
managing 50 client hives.
And oh, by the way, I'm justgoing to run down and make some
beeswax candles now.
Oh, by the way, I'm just goingto run down and make some
beeswax candles now.
It's a little all over theplace, but I've got a good
(41:35):
handle on it right now and I'mgetting pretty good at mediating
, where I'm exerting all of myenergy and what works best for
my company.
Speaker 3 (41:48):
That's awesome, that is really awesome.
And it sounds like there's lotsof space to grow in this
business.
And it's like when I bought thelodge, there was all kinds of
(42:15):
space that I needed to fill andthere were other lodges kicking
around and back then, you know,everybody was scared of each
other, like it seemed likepeople didn't want to help each
other because they were worriedthat you were going to take
clientele.
And you know, I rememberthinking to myself you know, all
ships rise with the tide andyou know, I think my dad said
(42:38):
that to me at one point when Iwas a kid.
I love that and I didn't reallyget it until, you know, when I
needed some help or whatever,and I found one kind of mentor
guy up here who, um, who helpedme out and um, um, he had a
(42:58):
lodge across uh, across uh fromme and I used to rent boats from
.
His name was Brian Parker, fromum, casablanca Lodge and um,
and it sounds like in thebeekeeping community, people get
it, you know, and when you canfind those mentors and work with
(43:22):
them and build businessestogether, the sky seems to be
the limit, which is very cool,you know, the sky seems to be
the limit, which is very cool,you know.
Speaker 1 (43:30):
Yeah, I know, it's actually.
It's so beautiful.
We're all in this just tryingto keep the bees alive and
thriving, right?
So it's like any informationanybody has, just share it so
that all of our bees can behealthy, so that your bees don't
hurt my bees and that all ofour bees can survive, you know.
Speaker 3 (43:49):
So let's just talk quickly about that.
Like I mentioned the shark girlOcean and I'm wondering and
I've heard lots about the beesand they're dying and I know the
varroa mite.
(44:09):
For a long time they didn'treally know what it was and
hives were just dying.
But what are the factors outthere that are affecting the
bees and are they really indanger?
Like are we?
Like you know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (44:30):
Yeah, so definitely, like you mentioned, the varroa
mite is a really big factor.
It's it's like draining on acolony and they grow
exponentially fast.
So if you have two mites like,they're going to turn into
thousands of mites very, veryquickly.
And the the problem we'refacing is that a lot of our
(44:52):
treatments are they're like apesticide treatment, so it
doesn't hurt the bees, it killsthe varroa mite, but now they're
getting a resilience like aresistance to these treatments.
So I found the best treatmentto be oxalic acid dribbles and
strips, because it's not apesticide, it's natural, it
(45:15):
doesn't hurt the bees, itdoesn't affect your queen, you
can use it in varioustemperatures and what it does is
it suffocates the mite asopposed to being a poison for
the mite.
So that's a huge factor, thevarroa absolutely.
And then they carry viruseswhich are spread, and if one
(45:35):
varroa is on a bee and it swarmsand goes somewhere and another
bee is next to it, it can crawlover to that bee and then it
affects another colony.
So, that aside, we also haveother little mites, but they
aren't as devastating.
You have a tracheal mite andthen there's a new mite that
they're doing research on.
(45:56):
I can't remember the name, butI think it comes from Russia and
they're a little scared aboutthis one coming over and it's
tiny, it's like a speck of dust.
So a varroa mite you can seeought to be, but this other new
mite you can't.
So fingers crossed they justget it contained and figured out
and researched quick enough.
(46:17):
On top of that we also havesystemic insecticides.
That is a really big issue.
It stays within our system.
It stays in the earth.
When it rains it goes into ourwater systems.
If the bees drink from that, ifthey pollinate a plant that
grows from that, they're goingto feel the effects and what it
does is it affects theirneurotransmitters, so it renders
(46:40):
them kind of incapable of justperforming regular tasks.
So too much of it can make themunable to even fly or get home
and you'll just realize, oh myGod, all my bees are gone
because they all got braindamage and they couldn't find
their way home.
It's actually just so crazy andthe fact we still use these in
our environment and that, likegolf courses, golf courses are
(47:03):
allowed to use it Like come on.
Speaker 3 (47:05):
Yeah, and one of the major ones is glyphosates.
Is it not Like Roundup Readyand the glyphosates they use?
Speaker 1 (47:15):
So those are actually more detrimental to us than
they are the bees.
Like, roundup isn't necessarilykilling the bees.
It's like imidacloprid andclothianidin.
These are systemic insecticides, and then glyphosate is more of
like an herbicide.
That being said, it will stillsynergize with those
(47:36):
insecticides.
It'll amplify the effects ofthe insecticides, as will
fungicides, right, so they usethose mostly on like fruit farms
and, of course, a lot ofbeekeepers pollinate fruit farms
so as long as you have a reallygood working relationship with
the farmer that you're bringingyour bees in to pollinate.
(47:57):
trust me, they don't want tohurt your bees but they have a
job to do too.
Yeah, as long as they'respraying at hours where they're
not spraying that bee in theface, likely you're gonna come
out of it okay.
Your bees aren't gonna take toomuch of a hit.
You're going to get lots ofreally good nectar from that
fruit farmer and it all worksout.
But you just have to make surethat you really communicate with
(48:20):
your farmer and you know whenthey're going to spray.
So for me I was told like, oh,get your bees out.
I got to spray tomorrow and I'mlike I don't care what time it
is at night, I'm going and I'mgetting my bees out.
I got to spray tomorrow and I'mlike I don't care what time it
is at night, I'm going and I'mgetting my bees out of there
because he's got a job to do andyou know he's being good to me
(48:42):
by warning me, and it's justthat.
Speaker 3 (48:43):
That working relationship yeah, yeah, gotcha,
that's, uh, that's very cooland and um.
So I guess, as somebody fromthe outside looking, we should
all look at these bees assomething that is not something
to be scared of.
You know, they're doing a jobthat's necessary for life on
(49:07):
this planet.
Like, if you boil it down,they're probably the most
important organism on the planetbecause they're responsible for
pollinating, and I got tired ofpollinating all of my cucumber
plants in my garden because it'sa pain in the nuts.
(49:30):
Like to take a Q-tip out thereand stick it in every cucumber
flower to make sure I getcucumbers is a pain.
Speaker 1 (49:38):
It's just not natural .
Speaker 3 (49:40):
It's not natural.
And ensuring that we've gotthese healthy, thriving colonies
of pollinators out there is soimportant to the planet and us
as human beings it's awesome,and us as human beings, it's
awesome.
And what would you say topeople out there that want to
(50:04):
get themselves a hive butthey're scared, they're not sure
when would you start if you hadthat passion or that idea that
you wanted a hive?
Speaker 1 (50:21):
So I run into this a lot actually and I'm like, first
of all, you need to go just benear a beehive.
You should have a lesson, youshould have an experience around
them.
There's lots of people that aregung-ho, like I was.
I just went straight out andgot beehives.
I'm like researching?
Speaker 2 (50:37):
where do I?
Speaker 1 (50:38):
get these, but I've always, always been comfortable
around bugs and things thatcould bite me or sting me
because, frankly, like theydon't usually do it
intentionally right you sit on aspider.
You're going to get bit by aspider, yeah.
So I definitely suggest you,just before you just jump in,
just go visit an apiary thatoffers that ability to go
(51:02):
interact with the bees and youknow, go hold a drone and go
look at a frame and hold a frameand see how comfortable you are
with it.
Get an understanding too,because it's a lot more work
than people think it is.
It's a lot more of aninteraction than people think it
is.
Um, and I, I swear just like,don't even try to wear gloves
(51:26):
because you can't.
You can't handle anything withthose gloves.
You are going to squish so manybees and the more bees you
squish every time you go in thathive, the more pissy your hive
is going to be every time you goin that hive.
So it's very important.
Like I said, I have certaingenetics for my bees and make
them very docile, but it's alsohow I work my bees.
(51:49):
That's why I don't wear a suit,because it makes you slower,
more gentle, more aware and morein tune with what's going on in
the hive.
Speaker 3 (51:57):
Yeah Well, they talk about hive, mind.
I think you mentioned it a fewtimes and basically, from what I
gather, what that means is thebees have a way of communicating
with each other, like whenyou've got a hive, and in the
height of the summer they canget to be as many as 50 or
60,000 bees in a hive, yes, andthey've all got individual jobs.
(52:21):
They all know what they'redoing.
They deal with things as a onemind.
Speaker 1 (52:29):
Yes, yeah.
Speaker 3 (52:33):
And it has to be vibrational.
And it has to be vibrationaland I mentioned it to you before
and, folks, you all know thatI'm a person who felt my way
through my business.
I would be lying to you if Itold you it was all calculated
(52:53):
and extrapolated.
Speaker 1 (52:56):
Everything went 100% according to plan.
Speaker 3 (52:58):
Yeah, well, like I mean, I had the plan.
Yeah, no, I felt my way throughit right and I really believe
that the feelings and vibrationsthat you give off are key,
because as soon as we got out ofthe truck, I felt your
(53:18):
positivity, your positivevibrations, like I mean, it was
just flowing right and you cantell when people are smiling and
the interaction that you getwhen you make eye contact and
how enthusiastic you are aboutwhat you're doing and and and
just how happy you are, right.
So I think those bees feelthose vibrations.
(53:43):
They're very vibrationalcreatures and when you put
yourself out there and and um,uh, you're very aware and that
was the key that that you saidwhen you're aware of of um, of
aware of your movements and howyou're dealing with them, it is
very cool and I think that is Iwould like to say that it's
(54:08):
something that people learn, butI think there's a lot of really
lucky people out there that arejust born with that and,
whether it be in beekeeping orwhether it be feeling the
emotions and vibrations of yourguests in the dining room, to
know whether they're having anoutstanding experience or
(54:29):
whether that experience is notwhat they thought you need to be
able to feel that and when youcan, I don't know yet.
To be honest with you, I haven'teven opened up my hives because
I, you know.
It was one of those thingswhere I thought I think that you
(54:50):
should leave them alone for thefirst two, three weeks and then
deal with it.
I did move three.
I did move three of them.
That's good, which was a verycool experience, but it's
something that I think folks outthere if you want to do this or
feel like you can, you'relooking for something.
(55:12):
This is a very cool way ofspending your time and helping
the environment and maybe makinga little bit of money.
Speaker 1 (55:21):
Yeah, win, win, win.
Speaker 3 (55:23):
Yeah, so listen, I know you're very busy.
Tell all those folks out therewhere they can get your products
and what.
In particular, I know thatyou're very good at queen
rearing and um nukes, especiallylike they're freaking awesome
Um and five frame.
Speaker 1 (55:43):
I don't know whether you do five frame for everybody
or if they're a special orderyeah, three, four, five,
whatever you need Sometimes,sometimes, people just need one
frame of brood.
Speaker 3 (55:54):
Well, I'll tell you what five frames are awesome.
So tell people yeah, tellpeople your product where they
can find you and we'll go fromthere All right.
Speaker 1 (56:09):
So, as you know, my company is called Hammer Hives.
You can find all of my productson our online store,
hammerhivescom.
Find all of my products on ouronline store hammerhivescom.
And you can check out all ofour updates on our Instagram.
Again, just simple.
It's our name, hammer Hives.
My name is Terry Filoni and Iam a beekeeper in Dundas.
(56:30):
I deal with selling nukes,queens and I do beekeeping
lessons, tours, as well as allthe fun products We've got soaps
, chapsticks, raw organic notorganic, sorry raw unpasteurized
honey and beeswax candles.
Speaker 3 (56:47):
That's very cool, very cool.
Well, listen, thank you so muchfor doing this with us all.
I know the Diaries family lovesit and they'll be checking out
your stuff and the Instagram andeverything else.
It's very cool, like I mean,you got to see this girl work,
guys and ladies out there.
(57:09):
Thank you, check out theInstagram.
It's very cool Even if you'renot into bees to see you, terry,
in the middle of all that cloudof bees and throwing me frames
and you're setting them on yourlap.
It's very impressive.
So, thank you very much.
(57:29):
Thank you for doing this and,folks, if you've got to this
point, thank you very much forlistening and get out there and
leave a comment somewhere andtell somebody to come and listen
to Diaries.
We're a tight-knit family andwe're always looking to bring
(57:50):
more people into what we do hereand I really, really appreciate
you.
I appreciate all of our supportout there Lakeside Marina up in
the far north, where Will is innorth of Kenora.
(58:11):
Thank you very much, reallyappreciate you guys.
Look them up.
The customer service is secondto none and it is a wonderful,
wonderful business that they'vegot going up there.
And you know what?
I'm pretty sure the countessover at fishincanadacom has
(58:37):
turned on the free giveawaysagain.
So listen, folks, head on overto fishincanadacom, get your
names in the hat for all thosegiveaways.
You know, you never know what'sgoing to be there, right, and
it's free.
All you got to do is go and putyour name in as many times as
you can and again, thank you all.
(58:58):
Thus brings us to theconclusion of another episode of
Diaries of a Lodge Owner.
Stories of the North.
Speaker 2 (59:08):
I'll be all you ever saw, been railing in the hog
Since the day I was born,bending my rock, stretching my
line.
Someday I might own a lodge,and that'd be fine.
(59:31):
I'll be making my way the onlyway I know how, working hard and
sharing the north with all ofmy pals.
Well, I'm a good old boy.
I bought a lodge and lived mydream.
And now I'm here talking abouthow life can be as good as it
(59:56):
seems.
Yeah, and now I'm here talkingabout how life can be as good as
it seems.
Speaker 4 (01:00:00):
Yeah, back in 2016, frank and I had a vision To
amass the single largestdatabase of muskie angling
education material anywhere inthe world.
Speaker 6 (01:00:12):
Our dream was to harness the knowledge of this
amazing community and share itwith passionate anglers just
like you.
Speaker 4 (01:00:18):
Thus the Ugly Pike Podcast was born and quickly
grew to become one of the topfishing podcasts in North
America.
Speaker 6 (01:00:26):
Step into the world of angling adventures and
embrace the thrill of the catchwith the Ugly Pike Podcast.
Join us on our quest tounderstand what makes us
different as anglers and touncover what it takes to go
after the infamous fish of10,000 casts.
Speaker 4 (01:00:40):
The Ugly Pike podcast isn't just about fishing.
It's about creating atight-knit community of
passionate anglers who share thesame love for the sport.
Through laughter, throughcamaraderie and an unwavering
spirit of adventure, thispodcast will bring people
together.
Speaker 6 (01:00:54):
Subscribe now and never miss a moment of our
angling adventures.
Tight lines everyone.
Speaker 4 (01:00:59):
Find Ugly Pike now on Spotify, apple Podcasts or
wherever else you get yourpodcasts.
Speaker 2 (01:01:10):
Hi everybody.
I'm Angelo Viola and I'm PeteBowman.
Now you might know us as thehosts of Canada's Favorite
Fishing Show.
Speaker 6 (01:01:16):
but now we're hosting a podcast that's right.
Every Thursday, Ange and I willbe right here in your ears
bringing you a brand new episodeof Outdoor Journal Radio.
Speaker 2 (01:01:26):
Hmm, Now what are we going to talk about for two
hours every week?
Speaker 6 (01:01:29):
Well, you know there's going to be a lot of
fishing.
Speaker 4 (01:01:31):
I knew exactly where those fish were going to be and
how to catch them, and they wereeasy to catch.
Speaker 2 (01:01:36):
Yeah, but it's not just a fishing show.
We're going to be talking topeople from all facets of the
outdoors, from athletes, All theother guys would go golfing Me
and Garth and Turk and all theRussians would go fishing.
Speaker 6 (01:01:48):
To scientists.
Speaker 4 (01:01:54):
But now that we're reforesting and letting things
breathe, it's the perfecttransmission environment for
life To chefs.
Speaker 6 (01:01:56):
If any game isn't cooked properly, marinated, you
will taste it and whoever elsewill pick up the phone, wherever
you are.
Speaker 2 (01:02:05):
Outdoor Journal Radio seeks to answer the questions
and tell the stories of allthose who enjoy being outside.
Speaker 6 (01:02:11):
Find us on.
Speaker 4 (01:02:11):
Spotify, apple Podcasts or wherever you get
your podcasts.
so then I heard about honeybees and that the
honeybees were suffering andthey didn't have spaces to
pollinate, they didn't haveplaces to live, they were
getting slammed by pesticidesand all sorts of other issues.
And I'm, like you know what,going to get a couple of
beehives and I'm just going toreconnect with my inner child
(00:28):
and see what this is all about.
Well, lo and behold, I found anobsession.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
This week on the Outdoor Journal Radio podcast
Networks Diaries of a LodgeOwner Stories of the North Folks
.
Today we leave the lodge andjump into the buzzing world of
beekeeping with a guest who'sturning honey into money and a
way of life.
This awesome girl's story issweet, sustainable and deeply
(00:56):
rooted in community, and itmight just leave you feeling
differently about the tinycreatures working tirelessly
behind the scenes.
And it is now my pleasure tointroduce to the Diaries family
the passionate force behindHammer Hives, Terry Filoni.
On this show.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
Terry and I talk about her grassroots beekeeping
business, how she got started,what it takes to run a hive, and
for her, beekeeping has becomea mission, one that supports
local ecosystems, educatescommunities and, all the while,
she's building a business withmeaning.
(01:39):
Whether you're curious abouthoney production, pollination or
business resilience, terry'sgot insights that stick.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
So if you love starting from the ground up
stories or want to peek frombehind the veil and smoker,
stick around, because this girlis buzzing with inspiration,
baby buzzing with inspiration,baby.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
Here's my conversation with Terry Filoni.
Welcome folks, to anotherepisode of Diaries of a Lodge
Owner Stories of the North.
And I am really, really excitedto have a friend of mine and I
just met her only once.
I've talked a few times, butTerry is the Bee Whisperer.
(02:28):
And Terry Filoni, you totallyimpressed me when I came with
Gary, our mutual friend, andbought some nukes, and I wanted
(02:48):
to have you on today becausewhen I saw you doing what you
were doing, it reminded me a lotof me in my business.
I used to own a fishing lodgeon the upper French River and
being a small business owner issomething that's very cool, in
my opinion, and when you canactually find that passion for
(03:12):
what you're doing in life which,like I mean, I totally saw it
that is something very, veryspecial.
So I'd like to just start offwith hearing a little bit about
your story and how you got intobees.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
Okay, well, thank you so much for having me.
First of all, it was anabsolute pleasure to meet you
and share my beautiful littlepassion with you, my beautiful
little passion with you.
It all started well, really,when I was a kid.
I have been obsessed with bugsmy entire life.
I just found them to be themost fascinating creatures.
(03:54):
So that aside, as I grew intomy adulthood, I feel like I
started to lose the ability tointeract with bugs.
I was busy focusing on schooland trying to go to university
and I just kind of lost touchwith nature on that sort of
(04:15):
level.
So fast forward ahead, Idiscovered bees when I was about
24 years old.
Discovered bees when I wasabout 24 years old, and it was
actually kind of an unfortunatething as my dad had just passed
(04:36):
and I was struggling to find mypath Right, so that happened.
And then on the farm, we usedto raise horses, so they all
passed away.
And I'm like we used to raisehorses, so they all passed away,
and I'm like there's just nolife here at the farm anymore.
What are we doing?
So then I heard about honeybeesand that the honeybees were
suffering and they didn't havespaces to pollinate, they didn't
(04:57):
have places to live.
They were getting slammed bypesticides and all sorts of
other issues.
And I'm like you know what?
I'm going to get a couple ofbeehives and I'm just going to
reconnect with my inner childand see what this is all about.
Well, lo and behold, I found anobsession.
My first two beehives didn'tsurvive, of course, because I
(05:21):
had no idea what I was doing,but it made me seek out mentors
and network with the communityand I just learned as much as I
could.
And as time went on, theystarted surviving and then I
started growing my numbers andnow I'm, pretty happy and pretty
confidently, what I would callan expert in beekeeping.
(05:44):
Of course, I still have so muchto learn and the bees always
keep us on our toes.
But yeah, that's just a littlebit of how it started.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
That is very cool.
And so, like I mean, I'mlooking at you now and listening
to your story and you're kindof like the Ocean Ramsey of bees
, like have you seen that girlwith the sharks?
Yes, well, you're the OceanRamsey of bees and I got to tell
(06:15):
you folks, I went with GaryTebow you all know him, he's a
friend of the show and we wentto Hamilton and right downtown,
kind of by the university Gary'sdriving into Hamilton, and we
(06:35):
found your beautiful spot like afarm right in the middle of of
Hamilton.
You wouldn't even know you werein Hamilton, you would.
You would think you were infarm country in.
You know out where I'm at.
And, um, we pull in and and the,the, the, we drive down and
(06:58):
Gary had kind of warned me.
He said you know, you know,this girl is very nice looking
but she knows her shit, like sheknows her shit.
And I'm like, oh, okay, that'scool.
So we come into your farm, pulldown around and there you are
(07:18):
with one of the girls that youwork with or a girl that works
for you, and I was surprised athow young you were because I
looked over at you.
Guys, you're out helpinganother customer.
I said is that the girls?
He said yeah, I said wow and wegot out and Gary was very
nervous about like he wasnervous about getting stung,
(07:40):
like he had grabbed someplantain or something from the
ground because it's like it'llhelp if he has an allergic
reaction.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
He was ready with that.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
I know, I know he was ready to chew on it and the
whole way down, gary suggestedthat I bring my bee suit and
like I'm new, but I see peoplelike there's this one guy from
the University of Guelph, Ithink his name is Ken, he's like
one of the leading guys and Iwatch him on YouTube and I see
(08:16):
him sitting amongst all thesebees and you know he doesn't
have any protection on and Iknow protection is probably a
good idea, but I know people doit At that point I never seen
anybody do it without protection.
But I know it's done because Isee this guy and Gary's like oh,
(08:37):
I don't know, better bring yourbeast suit, geez.
And I said okay, and then I seeyou and you're in your shorts
and like a uh, um, a short topand it's and you're right in the
heart of these bees and they'regoing all over the place and we
made a video and you're sittingon top of one hive with your
(08:58):
legs crossed and this, and thatyou're just totally natural
right in the middle of the beesand I'm like fuck, yeah, see,
you can do it, gary, that's that, that's what I'm, that's that's
what I'm gonna do, and I knowI'm gonna get stung here and
there, and you know what that is, what it is like, I mean.
(09:20):
Sometimes friends argue yeah,and, and, and, if, if, if I get
in a bit of a an argument hey,listen, I'll just back off,
right?
I?
Speaker 1 (09:32):
always say if you're gonna touch a butt without
consent, you're gonna get stung.
And that's most of the time.
What happens is youaccidentally touch a butt when
you're working on a frame and,yeah, they're going to sting you
because you squished them a bit.
Speaker 3 (09:46):
Yeah, yeah, but it was very cool and the nukes that
you make and I'd love to talkabout that because I took a B
course and that's another greatbusiness avenue within your
(10:06):
business.
There's a guy in Collingwood,ontario I forget his name, but
he's got like Collingwoodapiaries and he's got I don't
know five I forget how manyhives a lot.
He's a young guy.
He's a young guy and his mainrevenue source is more well, he
(10:34):
does bee products, honey, wax,all that stuff but it's a
pollination thing with all ofthe apple orchards and stuff in
Collingwood.
So he's shipping a lot of hishives around Ontario for
pollination, which is anotherrevenue source.
But I took a course with him andum, um, the course was was
(10:56):
awesome and but I tried to buynukes from the guy.
The course was like, I mean, Ithink it was in April, in April
sometime, and he had alreadytaken all of his orders for his
nukes and folks out there, whata nuke is is it's just a colony
(11:20):
of bees that are on anywherefrom three to five frames.
And, um, after the course I waslike, okay, I'm going to need
to buy some nukes.
And he's like, well, you know,I'm, I'm already, um, I've
already sold all my nukes, but Ican't rightfully take your
money in a B course and thentell you you can't have any Bs.
(11:43):
So he said I'll help you out.
And now this is in all fairnesshe sent me an invoice for these
nukes and I forgot to pay it.
And then I'm looking like twoweeks before I'm supposed to
pick up these nukes and Ithought I better reach out to
(12:06):
this guy.
And he never answered his phone.
And he never answered his phone.
And he never answered his phoneand I had already been talking
to Gary and Gary's like hey, Igot this girl, she makes the
best nukes.
Like I mean it's amazing.
And I'm like Gary, tell her Ineed six.
And that's where you come intothe picture.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
Oh, no way.
Speaker 3 (12:27):
That's cool.
Yeah, and those five framenukes, man, there's a shit ton
of bees in there and they'reworking hard.
Like Gary texted me yesterdaysaying hey, I got to check the
hives here.
We may have to put supers onthem soon.
And I said I'm not going to behome.
(12:50):
I'm going and I'm heading on ashoot up to Buck Lake out of
Hornpain, ontario, and I'm notgoing to be home for a week, so
Gary's going over and checkingmy hives.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
Oh, that's great, yeah, so, but yeah, and checking
my uh, yeah.
Speaker 3 (13:06):
So, but yeah, the the the work that you did on those,
and I don't know, um, my assfrom a hole in the ground when
it comes to beekeeping, but, um,I know those hives are really,
really strong.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
And I did.
Gary had a lot of success lastyear with his hives too.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
Oh yeah, Well, the hive that you, the hive that he
or one of them, that he got fromyou last year, this year he
told me he's already taken ahundred pounds off.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
Yep.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
It's been a really good honey year too, which is
interesting because we had sucha late spring, right yeah, but
I'm I'm in the same boat.
I've got full supers on a lotof my hives already, so yeah,
let's just talk about so youstart with your new hive.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
I buy a nuke from my friend Terry from hammerhivescom
, by the way, folks check it out.
And I also noticed you were onanother podcast with another
friend of the show, nicoleVachel.
I had her.
Yeah, I had Nicole on about ayear ago.
(14:23):
No way.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
What a small world.
Yeah, I know.
Speaker 3 (14:28):
It was because I was doing a little bit of research
and well, actually I was justlooking for your email, but I
got onto your Instagram andnoticed that you were on with
Nicole.
So shout out to Nicole and headon over to listen to that one
as well.
Oh my God, so great, yeah.
(14:50):
So we take the nuc, we put itin a brand new hive, we set that
hive up and I guess it wouldhave been maybe June 15th,
middle of June when I got them,june 15th, middle of June when I
got them.
How do you know when to put ahoney super on that hive?
And, folks, if you don't, ifyou miss your opportunity to put
(15:14):
that honey super on, you'rerunning the risk of that hive
swarming, because when they runout of room, you're kind of
screwed right.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
Yes, absolutely.
You definitely want to keep aneye on your bees and you notice
so when you put a five-frame nucin, you're also going to be
filling up the rest of the spacewith foundation frames.
If you already have bees andyou're lucky enough to have
built out comb on thosefoundation frames, then you're
(15:45):
adding a super even sooner.
So it takes about six pounds ofhoney consumption to make one
pound of beeswax, which is goingto be what's laid out on that
frame.
So if you're dealing withfoundation, you're looking at
when have they built out most ofthat foundation.
If you have one frame offoundation left or no frames,
you want to add a super on rightaway.
The key to bringing them upinto that next box, if it's all
(16:10):
foundation again, is to bring aframe up from the bottom box.
This time of year it's super,super warm.
So if you bring a frame ofbrood up, that's going to bring
all the bees up really, reallyquickly and it's going to make
them want to start building outon the rest of the frames.
Speaker 3 (16:26):
So you would bring a foundation of brood up into that
box.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
Yes, like a frame of capped brood up into the box of
your foundation.
Speaker 3 (16:37):
And that's the honey super the bees up.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
So this also depends on how you want to run your
hives.
If you want to run them assingles and then have honey
supers on top of them, then youwould just put that.
It depends on the size of yourhoney super too.
There's so many avenues here.
But if you're running a deephoney super, like I do, and you
(17:01):
want to run a single with thequeen excluder and then the deep
, I do find that if I put that asingle with the queen excluder
and then the deep I do find thatif I put that honey super on
without the excluder, if it'sfull of foundation, and bring up
a couple frames of honey, it'sgoing to bring the bees up a lot
easier than if you just put theexcluder on with a box of just
foundation.
You do risk them swarming stillif you do that, because it's
(17:25):
foreign ground to them, itdoesn't smell like anything,
they don't have any reason towant to go up.
Plus, they're kind of blockedby that queen excluder.
Speaker 3 (17:33):
Yeah, and the queen excluder folks is.
Just imagine a grill and it's awire grill and it's a wire
grill and the spacing of thatgrill keeps the queen out of
that box because she's muchbigger than the workers.
And the drones, by the way,because they're bigger Drones
(17:55):
will get stuck up there, yeah,yeah.
So it just keeps the queen outof that box, and the key to that
is she's laying eggs constantlyand making bees.
So when you keep the queen outof that box, all you get is
honey storage.
So now, this is my thought, andI don't know if I'm right or
(18:15):
wrong, but do people do this?
So I've got my box on thebottom like my hive.
Rather than add a half honeysuper on top with an excluder,
would it be a better idea tothrow another super large super
(18:36):
on top and then move the brood,stock up like a frame or two of
brood and let them have thatwhole 10 frames and build the
colony, rather than put a honeysuper on top and then not give
them any space to do anythingunderneath?
(18:56):
Yes, gotcha, and then once Ithink that's super right.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
That's how I run.
My hives is double broodchambers, and then I start
building the honey.
One of the main benefits forthat is you're going to have a
stronger colony to go into thewinter with and you're also
going to prevent that swarmingbecause the queen has more space
to lay and a little morefreedom.
If you run a single with honeysupers, you have to have to feed
(19:23):
them in the fall.
There is no other way that thatcolony is going to make it,
because they just simply don'thave enough space to store their
honey at the end of the season.
Speaker 3 (19:33):
Yeah, gotcha.
So I should be watching now formy frames to be filling up the
five frames that were, and Ididn't have built a comb for
them.
They're going to have to do itthemselves, so I'll be watching
for that and then, once theyhave not a whole lot of room,
I'll throw another brood chamberon top of it.
(19:54):
Yes, gotcha.
Speaker 5 (19:57):
That's very cool.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
That's what I suggest if you want your colony to
thrive, more so than your honeyharvest right, which our focus
is always, always on the colony.
Speaker 3 (20:09):
Well, it's like any good business.
It's like going back to thelodge.
There's guys in your business.
You can focus on money, right?
Or I always chose to focus onthe experience that my guests
were going to get my family andbuilt out.
(20:30):
I never, even when I used to owna sheet metal shop, and even in
the sheet metal shop, I neverthought about money ever In the
shop.
You know you make a quote for ajob and you send the quote out
and I never like, unless the guycome and said I need this extra
.
If I made a quote and I didn'tmake any money, I didn't charge
(20:55):
any extra.
That's me Like I mean, hey, Isaid I could do it for this and
yeah, you know what.
I didn't think of this, thisand this which cost me X dollars
.
But that's not your fault.
It's the same with what I thinkwith anything.
And if you focus on the healthof the bees which you should
(21:16):
really then they're going to payyou back tenfold.
You know what I mean.
So that's the way that I wantto do it.
Speaker 1 (21:28):
So, for instance, this spring since I do run
doubles this spring was reallyreally harsh and a lot of people
lost bees to starvation.
Now, a lot of those people thatlost bees to starvation are
commercial honey producersbecause they run singles so they
can maximize their honey yield.
So they're running around likecrazy trying to feed their bees
and barrel feed and they've got80 yards.
(21:49):
And I'm listening to this panicall around me and I'm like, oh,
should I be scared?
And I keep popping out to myhives and sure, I had maybe five
hives that were a little lighton food and I could give them a
little top feeder full of foodor put out a little bucket of
honey or, sorry, sugar syrup.
And yeah, I, just I didn't havethat problem.
(22:11):
Like they, their weight wasalways really good all spring.
And a lot of these boys arelike, well, you should, you
should be like focusing ongetting that honey money.
And I'm like no man, like myfocus is queens and nukes and
like, remember who was franticthis spring?
I wasn't.
My bees are happy.
Speaker 3 (22:29):
Yeah, no doubt.
Well, it's.
It's a different business modeland I gotta, I've gotta, think
that, um, when you're losing,and like they, they've got to
lose more hives than you with asingle brew chamber and that's
got to cost, right yeah?
Speaker 1 (22:51):
So honey is more expensive than sugar syrup in
the end of it.
These guys are so huge, they'respending like $30,000 on sugar
syrup a year and they do havebig crews so they are able to
run around and do this work.
Um, that's just somethingthat's not like viable for me.
(23:12):
You know what I mean.
So their hives, honestly, theydo they do well, as long as they
can make it to them in time,and they do work crazy long
hours to ensure that their hivesdo survive as best as possible.
And over winter their hives dofine.
It's just, you know, you gethit with a rough spring and
(23:33):
things can get a little sketchy,but the singles do overwinter
as long as you are on it, right?
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (23:40):
Yeah, yeah.
Now if you've got a double, isit just that first season that
you're under the gun, with lessproduction?
Is what I'm trying to say buildthat second brood chamber and
(24:02):
then you let them winter withthat second brood chamber and
then in the springtime, whenthey start to build that colony
up again, your, your um, um,your production must go up like
a second season double broodchamber hive.
How many pounds of honey wouldyou make off of that Um, versus
(24:26):
a single brood chamber?
Or do you make more honey ifyou split the two and let them
go on their own and make honeyin both of them?
You know what I mean.
So.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
I think more than anything like a single and a
double can produce the sameamount of honey.
They still make the same amount.
The only difference is in adouble you're going to be
leaving a lot of honey for them,so you're going to lose
probably one box of honey inorder to drop down those frames
(25:00):
so that that double hassufficient honey the entire year
and then going into winter, sosingle will probably make you
one extra box of honey, buttechnically they would do that
anyways.
It's just you would leave itfor them and they'd have space
to store that honey.
Speaker 3 (25:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
A nuc is obviously going to take a lot more time to
be established.
But I would say in terms oftheir actual honey production, a
single and a double makes thesame.
It's just what we can yieldfrom.
It is maybe one box less onyour double because they have so
much other focus and otherstorage in that double.
Speaker 3 (25:36):
Gotcha, gotcha.
So that's why the big guys aregoing with singles.
Speaker 5 (25:41):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (25:42):
Yeah, but that's not the way I'm going to go.
I don't think.
Because, we love these here, Iknow, I know I'm going to put a
couple up here on the island,because we love bees here.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
I know, I know I'm going to put a couple up here on
the island too, up north here,so that's really cool.
So Guelph University has anisland isolated for their queen
rearing and their geneticresearch on honeybees, which is
fascinating honeybees.
Which is fascinating because,as much as I can isolate my
(26:15):
queens and my workers, what Ican't control is the fact that
there are drones within the fivekilometers from other people's
beehives that are inevitablypotentially going to mate with
my queens.
So I can run a pretty specificgenetic, but there is always
that little factor thatsomething might come in from
somewhere else.
Speaker 3 (26:33):
Yeah, well, I know, up here when I had the lodge, we
always used to put lots offlowers in and everything else
and I would always see a weirdlooking strain of honeybees and
I know there's nobody up hererunning hives and there they
were.
Um, they had a really reallydeep orange color on their, on
(26:59):
their, on their back, and, um, I, I, I, I and they were
honeybees.
I knew that.
Um, so there was a local wildhive somewhere around here with
this really deep orange kind ofcoloring on them and I always
thought that that was very cool.
(27:20):
It was actually a beekeeperthat pointed them out to me.
One of the guests had looked atthem and said, wow, that thing,
that's very cool.
I'm not sure where the hive is,but it's around here somewhere,
that's so neat.
Yeah.
So I thought and up here, likeI mean we have a shit ton of
wild blueberries, so I thinkthere's lots of, I think there's
(27:43):
lots of food for them.
So you know.
Speaker 1 (27:46):
Yeah, definitely, they do get good nectar off of
blueberries.
Speaker 3 (27:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:50):
And the honey is so cool.
It's also a very deep orangecolor, so maybe those bees are
just blueberry bees.
Speaker 3 (27:58):
Yeah, yeah, that sounds interesting.
Yeah, right on.
Speaker 2 (28:07):
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Speaker 3 (30:20):
So this queen rearing , how do you well tell us a
little bit about the life cycleof the queen and what she does
within the hive?
Because when I was there and wedid that YouTube video for Gary
, that was one of the coolestthings that we talked about
because I had no idea.
Speaker 1 (30:41):
So a queen bee.
Her incubation is 16 days, asopposed to a worker bee, which
is 21, and a drone bee, which is24.
And it's super fascinatingbecause she's the biggest bee
but her incubation cycle is muchshorter than everybody else's.
What makes her a queen is thatshe's fed exclusively this huge
(31:03):
store of royal jelly.
All the other bees they getroyal jelly in their larval
stage, but only for a couple ofdays.
She gets it her entireincubation.
After that, when she comes out,she is still fed royal jelly.
She still gets some honey inbetween there she gets fed by
her nurse bees.
But that seems to be the whole.
(31:26):
Magic of the longevity of herlife is that she is always,
always fed royal jelly andshe'll live for up to five years
.
Her laying might be a littlespotty after then, depending on
how good her mating flight was.
She will live up to five years,whereas her worker beef
comrades they only live for fourto six weeks in the summer and
(31:49):
in the winter they'll live.
You know, they'll overwinter,which is fascinating in itself
that they can slow down theirmetabolism enough to live longer
than they would in the summer.
The whole, like breeding queens,is really fun for me because
it's a little more scientific.
You get to go in there and geta two day old larva and you
scoop it out.
You put it's a little morescientific.
(32:10):
You get to go in there and geta two-day-old larva and you
scoop it out, you put it in aqueen cup that I make with a
device that I dip in beeswax andthen I press onto a wooden
piece that goes into a frame andyou insert that in a nurse
colony, which is a colony thatdoesn't have a queen.
I've taken away their queen.
(32:30):
They're making cells.
They want a queen.
You insert that in and theyjust go straight to work and
they rapidly produce multiplecells and then I incubate them.
Then they're virgins.
Then they have to go into ahive without a queen and they
have to go on a mating flight.
The whole process.
It does take quite a bit oftime and it's definitely risky
(32:52):
in the spring because, theweather being shoddy, drones
only really fly at over 15degrees Celsius.
So even if she tries to leaveand it's too cold, she's not
going to have a good matingflight.
So the springtime queen rearingis definitely very difficult.
But I love a good challenge.
Speaker 3 (33:10):
Yeah, no doubt.
And you say a virgin queen whenshe leaves on her mating flight
.
That's the only time she mates,is once right.
Speaker 1 (33:21):
Correct.
Well, she could potentially gofor a couple of mating flights,
but it depends on how successfulthe previous one was.
So she might go on a couple.
But if she gets all filled upand all good to go on the first
one and she finds a few mates,then she'll just come back and
(33:41):
it'll grow and she'll startlaying eggs.
Speaker 3 (33:45):
Very cool, and she goes straight up in the air and
the strongest man to chase herdown wins.
Speaker 1 (33:52):
Correct Strongest, fastest, highest flying Yep.
Speaker 3 (33:55):
Yeah, and it's something ridiculously high that
they can go.
Speaker 1 (34:00):
Yeah, I can't remember the exact number, but
it's pretty impressive.
Bees can fly very, very high.
Speaker 3 (34:08):
Yeah, no doubt Gary had that stat and I was amazed
by the whole situation.
So you said you incubate thelarva, the cells.
Do you have to have bees withthem, like when you put them in
(34:28):
a rearing colony?
Do they just make the queen cupfill it with royal jelly and
then you take that one frame outand then you put it in an
incubator, or does the wholenurse colony go with her?
Speaker 1 (34:45):
Oh no.
So at that point I take thecells out.
When they're fully capped,which takes about five days, I
cut the cells off of that pieceof wood and then I actually put
them in like a test tube with alittle bit of wood shavings and
a little tiny ball of queencandy at the bottom.
Then I put the cells in like apan and I put it in to the
(35:10):
incubator at about 34 degreesCelsius.
So the incubation of a queencell is very temperature
specific.
It's got to be between 31.5 and35.5 degrees Celsius and I
found 34 is the perfect sweetspot.
I do have friends that incubateon a cooler temperature and
(35:33):
sometimes that actually, um, itslows down the hatching process
of the queen.
And this is like for really,really big queen producers.
This is kind of a trick thatthey use just so that things
aren't hatching in the incubatorand they just have a little
more control and it seems to bejust fine at 31.5,.
(35:54):
But I'm I'm always kind of likeokay, I want my queens, like 34
is good, it's, it's, it's theexact temperature that the nurse
colony will incubate theirqueen at because they're sure as
heck, not trying to slow itdown Right, they're like, let's
go, we're efficient, so um, yeah, sorry.
Speaker 3 (36:15):
No, go ahead, she comes out.
Speaker 1 (36:16):
So when she comes out .
The whole point of the, thesawdust or the shavings is
because they will go to thebathroom and sometimes they get
a little soaked, so that absorbsthat.
And then the queen candy is sothat she has food source,
because if she came out in ahive she's being fed immediately
.
And it's also very crucial thatI'm watching my incubator, so
(36:36):
when the first one hatches itcould be four in the morning I'm
setting an alarm and I'm goingdown there to make sure that
none of them are left in theincubator, Because for some
reason they overheat once theycome out.
They don't have anybody takingcare of them, so you got to take
(36:57):
them out, get them in a cageand, within 12 hours, put
attendants or bees from thenurse colony in with her.
Speaker 3 (37:02):
I saw you doing that when we were there.
Yeah, that's right.
Yeah, yeah, you had like nine,nine queen cages with queens and
you were just picking workerbees off of the, off of the um,
the, the, the racks, just, uh,just you know, talking to them
and picking them up, puttingthem in no stings.
Speaker 1 (37:22):
It's very cool no, yeah, they're very.
I I do have a very docilegenetic of bees.
Um, I think I was telling youit's an italian and carniolan
like splice, but at the sametime it's like a whole bunch of
generations of just ontariobread queens yeah, that's very
cool.
Speaker 3 (37:42):
Very cool reminds of well, when you're talking about,
um, uh, incubating.
It reminds me of chickens,because you know if you're a
little bit hot, because chickensit's between like 99.5 degrees
Fahrenheit and a hundred, andyou know 102.
And the warmer you incubate at,the faster they'll hatch.
(38:09):
Yes, that's another one of mylittle secrets or obsessions.
I love chickens, but I reallyshould have a farm.
Speaker 1 (38:24):
It sounds like it yeah.
Speaker 3 (38:26):
I know Well, they got expensive, awful quick, so I'm
just going to hang out on theisland for a while, don't?
Speaker 1 (38:33):
blame you.
They're a lot of work.
Speaker 3 (38:36):
Yeah, yeah, farms are a lot of work, yeah, and I did
see that you had chickens andeverything else.
So now tell me a little bitabout your business, because the
beekeeping and everything is isa passion and and um, but
you're running a successfulbusiness too.
(38:56):
Um, tell me a little bit aboutthat experience and how did you
figure it out?
Because it took me a lot ofyears in owning a sheet metal
shop and then owning a fishinglodge to really figure out
business.
Speaker 1 (39:16):
So I mean, it definitely took me some time and
, honestly, if I pulled out apiece of a document that I made
when I first started thisbusiness, like the whole
business model proposal,whatever you want to call it is
completely different, because Ihad no idea what I was doing.
I didn't understand bees enoughto really make a successful
(39:39):
business model, and I had donethat so that I could apply for
grants within the city.
And now it's it's funny like Ishould frame this because it's
just completely not what I do.
I'm like I'm going to rentbeehives to people and teach
them about bees and it's justlike no, no, that's not how it
works.
And then, honestly, the successcame from networking and just
(40:03):
finding people in the communityand seeing their practices,
seeing what they do, and thenkind of just blending everything
together to make my own versionof what I wanted my business to
be in order to be successful.
I do find that my main source ofincome is from nukes and queens
, because that's just what I'mthe best at, and I do find that
(40:27):
it's really, really good for mybees to be able to go through
and get new equipment everysingle year.
Keep them fresh, sell lastyear's equipment in my nucs,
replenish it and then give thembrood breaks so I can protect
them against varroa mite too.
So that seems to work the bestfor me.
And then, on top of that, themarkets have been absolutely
(40:51):
amazing.
I mean I I wouldn't be talkingto you right now if I didn't go
to the sportsman show and meetGary at the sportsman show.
So I found that those marketsreally helped.
Um, I'm taking a bit of a stepback from them now, just because
they've served their purpose.
I've established my business toum my limits of how much I can
work it until I hire anotherhand.
(41:13):
I need to chill out on how manypeople I'm like.
Yeah, I do tours, but I alsomanage 120 hives, but I'm also
managing 50 client hives.
And oh, by the way, I'm justgoing to run down and make some
beeswax candles now.
Oh, by the way, I'm just goingto run down and make some
beeswax candles now.
It's a little all over theplace, but I've got a good
(41:35):
handle on it right now and I'mgetting pretty good at mediating
, where I'm exerting all of myenergy and what works best for
my company.
Speaker 3 (41:48):
That's awesome, that is really awesome.
And it sounds like there's lotsof space to grow in this
business.
And it's like when I bought thelodge, there was all kinds of
(42:15):
space that I needed to fill andthere were other lodges kicking
around and back then, you know,everybody was scared of each
other, like it seemed likepeople didn't want to help each
other because they were worriedthat you were going to take
clientele.
And you know, I rememberthinking to myself you know, all
ships rise with the tide andyou know, I think my dad said
(42:38):
that to me at one point when Iwas a kid.
I love that and I didn't reallyget it until, you know, when I
needed some help or whatever,and I found one kind of mentor
guy up here who, um, who helpedme out and um, um, he had a
(42:58):
lodge across uh, across uh fromme and I used to rent boats from
.
His name was Brian Parker, fromum, casablanca Lodge and um,
and it sounds like in thebeekeeping community, people get
it, you know, and when you canfind those mentors and work with
(43:22):
them and build businessestogether, the sky seems to be
the limit, which is very cool,you know, the sky seems to be
the limit, which is very cool,you know.
Speaker 1 (43:30):
Yeah, I know, it's actually.
It's so beautiful.
We're all in this just tryingto keep the bees alive and
thriving, right?
So it's like any informationanybody has, just share it so
that all of our bees can behealthy, so that your bees don't
hurt my bees and that all ofour bees can survive, you know.
Speaker 3 (43:49):
So let's just talk quickly about that.
Like I mentioned the shark girlOcean and I'm wondering and
I've heard lots about the beesand they're dying and I know the
varroa mite.
(44:09):
For a long time they didn'treally know what it was and
hives were just dying.
But what are the factors outthere that are affecting the
bees and are they really indanger?
Like are we?
Like you know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (44:30):
Yeah, so definitely, like you mentioned, the varroa
mite is a really big factor.
It's it's like draining on acolony and they grow
exponentially fast.
So if you have two mites like,they're going to turn into
thousands of mites very, veryquickly.
And the the problem we'refacing is that a lot of our
(44:52):
treatments are they're like apesticide treatment, so it
doesn't hurt the bees, it killsthe varroa mite, but now they're
getting a resilience like aresistance to these treatments.
So I found the best treatmentto be oxalic acid dribbles and
strips, because it's not apesticide, it's natural, it
(45:15):
doesn't hurt the bees, itdoesn't affect your queen, you
can use it in varioustemperatures and what it does is
it suffocates the mite asopposed to being a poison for
the mite.
So that's a huge factor, thevarroa absolutely.
And then they carry viruseswhich are spread, and if one
(45:35):
varroa is on a bee and it swarmsand goes somewhere and another
bee is next to it, it can crawlover to that bee and then it
affects another colony.
So, that aside, we also haveother little mites, but they
aren't as devastating.
You have a tracheal mite andthen there's a new mite that
they're doing research on.
(45:56):
I can't remember the name, butI think it comes from Russia and
they're a little scared aboutthis one coming over and it's
tiny, it's like a speck of dust.
So a varroa mite you can seeought to be, but this other new
mite you can't.
So fingers crossed they justget it contained and figured out
and researched quick enough.
(46:17):
On top of that we also havesystemic insecticides.
That is a really big issue.
It stays within our system.
It stays in the earth.
When it rains it goes into ourwater systems.
If the bees drink from that, ifthey pollinate a plant that
grows from that, they're goingto feel the effects and what it
does is it affects theirneurotransmitters, so it renders
(46:40):
them kind of incapable of justperforming regular tasks.
So too much of it can make themunable to even fly or get home
and you'll just realize, oh myGod, all my bees are gone
because they all got braindamage and they couldn't find
their way home.
It's actually just so crazy andthe fact we still use these in
our environment and that, likegolf courses, golf courses are
(47:03):
allowed to use it Like come on.
Speaker 3 (47:05):
Yeah, and one of the major ones is glyphosates.
Is it not Like Roundup Readyand the glyphosates they use?
Speaker 1 (47:15):
So those are actually more detrimental to us than
they are the bees.
Like, roundup isn't necessarilykilling the bees.
It's like imidacloprid andclothianidin.
These are systemic insecticides, and then glyphosate is more of
like an herbicide.
That being said, it will stillsynergize with those
(47:36):
insecticides.
It'll amplify the effects ofthe insecticides, as will
fungicides, right, so they usethose mostly on like fruit farms
and, of course, a lot ofbeekeepers pollinate fruit farms
so as long as you have a reallygood working relationship with
the farmer that you're bringingyour bees in to pollinate.
(47:57):
trust me, they don't want tohurt your bees but they have a
job to do too.
Yeah, as long as they'respraying at hours where they're
not spraying that bee in theface, likely you're gonna come
out of it okay.
Your bees aren't gonna take toomuch of a hit.
You're going to get lots ofreally good nectar from that
fruit farmer and it all worksout.
But you just have to make surethat you really communicate with
(48:20):
your farmer and you know whenthey're going to spray.
So for me I was told like, oh,get your bees out.
I got to spray tomorrow and I'mlike I don't care what time it
is at night, I'm going and I'mgetting my bees out.
I got to spray tomorrow and I'mlike I don't care what time it
is at night, I'm going and I'mgetting my bees out of there
because he's got a job to do andyou know he's being good to me
(48:42):
by warning me, and it's justthat.
Speaker 3 (48:43):
That working relationship yeah, yeah, gotcha,
that's, uh, that's very cooland and um.
So I guess, as somebody fromthe outside looking, we should
all look at these bees assomething that is not something
to be scared of.
You know, they're doing a jobthat's necessary for life on
(49:07):
this planet.
Like, if you boil it down,they're probably the most
important organism on the planetbecause they're responsible for
pollinating, and I got tired ofpollinating all of my cucumber
plants in my garden because it'sa pain in the nuts.
(49:30):
Like to take a Q-tip out thereand stick it in every cucumber
flower to make sure I getcucumbers is a pain.
Speaker 1 (49:38):
It's just not natural .
Speaker 3 (49:40):
It's not natural.
And ensuring that we've gotthese healthy, thriving colonies
of pollinators out there is soimportant to the planet and us
as human beings it's awesome,and us as human beings, it's
awesome.
And what would you say topeople out there that want to
(50:04):
get themselves a hive butthey're scared, they're not sure
when would you start if you hadthat passion or that idea that
you wanted a hive?
Speaker 1 (50:21):
So I run into this a lot actually and I'm like, first
of all, you need to go just benear a beehive.
You should have a lesson, youshould have an experience around
them.
There's lots of people that aregung-ho, like I was.
I just went straight out andgot beehives.
I'm like researching?
Speaker 2 (50:37):
where do I?
Speaker 1 (50:38):
get these, but I've always, always been comfortable
around bugs and things thatcould bite me or sting me
because, frankly, like theydon't usually do it
intentionally right you sit on aspider.
You're going to get bit by aspider, yeah.
So I definitely suggest you,just before you just jump in,
just go visit an apiary thatoffers that ability to go
(51:02):
interact with the bees and youknow, go hold a drone and go
look at a frame and hold a frameand see how comfortable you are
with it.
Get an understanding too,because it's a lot more work
than people think it is.
It's a lot more of aninteraction than people think it
is.
Um, and I, I swear just like,don't even try to wear gloves
(51:26):
because you can't.
You can't handle anything withthose gloves.
You are going to squish so manybees and the more bees you
squish every time you go in thathive, the more pissy your hive
is going to be every time you goin that hive.
So it's very important.
Like I said, I have certaingenetics for my bees and make
them very docile, but it's alsohow I work my bees.
(51:49):
That's why I don't wear a suit,because it makes you slower,
more gentle, more aware and morein tune with what's going on in
the hive.
Speaker 3 (51:57):
Yeah Well, they talk about hive, mind.
I think you mentioned it a fewtimes and basically, from what I
gather, what that means is thebees have a way of communicating
with each other, like whenyou've got a hive, and in the
height of the summer they canget to be as many as 50 or
60,000 bees in a hive, yes, andthey've all got individual jobs.
(52:21):
They all know what they'redoing.
They deal with things as a onemind.
Speaker 1 (52:29):
Yes, yeah.
Speaker 3 (52:33):
And it has to be vibrational.
And it has to be vibrationaland I mentioned it to you before
and, folks, you all know thatI'm a person who felt my way
through my business.
I would be lying to you if Itold you it was all calculated
(52:53):
and extrapolated.
Speaker 1 (52:56):
Everything went 100% according to plan.
Speaker 3 (52:58):
Yeah, well, like I mean, I had the plan.
Yeah, no, I felt my way throughit right and I really believe
that the feelings and vibrationsthat you give off are key,
because as soon as we got out ofthe truck, I felt your
(53:18):
positivity, your positivevibrations, like I mean, it was
just flowing right and you cantell when people are smiling and
the interaction that you getwhen you make eye contact and
how enthusiastic you are aboutwhat you're doing and and and
just how happy you are, right.
So I think those bees feelthose vibrations.
(53:43):
They're very vibrationalcreatures and when you put
yourself out there and and um,uh, you're very aware and that
was the key that that you saidwhen you're aware of of um, of
aware of your movements and howyou're dealing with them, it is
very cool and I think that is Iwould like to say that it's
(54:08):
something that people learn, butI think there's a lot of really
lucky people out there that arejust born with that and,
whether it be in beekeeping orwhether it be feeling the
emotions and vibrations of yourguests in the dining room, to
know whether they're having anoutstanding experience or
(54:29):
whether that experience is notwhat they thought you need to be
able to feel that and when youcan, I don't know yet.
To be honest with you, I haven'teven opened up my hives because
I, you know.
It was one of those thingswhere I thought I think that you
(54:50):
should leave them alone for thefirst two, three weeks and then
deal with it.
I did move three.
I did move three of them.
That's good, which was a verycool experience, but it's
something that I think folks outthere if you want to do this or
feel like you can, you'relooking for something.
(55:12):
This is a very cool way ofspending your time and helping
the environment and maybe makinga little bit of money.
Speaker 1 (55:21):
Yeah, win, win, win.
Speaker 3 (55:23):
Yeah, so listen, I know you're very busy.
Tell all those folks out therewhere they can get your products
and what.
In particular, I know thatyou're very good at queen
rearing and um nukes, especiallylike they're freaking awesome
Um and five frame.
Speaker 1 (55:43):
I don't know whether you do five frame for everybody
or if they're a special orderyeah, three, four, five,
whatever you need Sometimes,sometimes, people just need one
frame of brood.
Speaker 3 (55:54):
Well, I'll tell you what five frames are awesome.
So tell people yeah, tellpeople your product where they
can find you and we'll go fromthere All right.
Speaker 1 (56:09):
So, as you know, my company is called Hammer Hives.
You can find all of my productson our online store,
hammerhivescom.
Find all of my products on ouronline store hammerhivescom.
And you can check out all ofour updates on our Instagram.
Again, just simple.
It's our name, hammer Hives.
My name is Terry Filoni and Iam a beekeeper in Dundas.
(56:30):
I deal with selling nukes,queens and I do beekeeping
lessons, tours, as well as allthe fun products We've got soaps
, chapsticks, raw organic notorganic, sorry raw unpasteurized
honey and beeswax candles.
Speaker 3 (56:47):
That's very cool, very cool.
Well, listen, thank you so muchfor doing this with us all.
I know the Diaries family lovesit and they'll be checking out
your stuff and the Instagram andeverything else.
It's very cool, like I mean,you got to see this girl work,
guys and ladies out there.
(57:09):
Thank you, check out theInstagram.
It's very cool Even if you'renot into bees to see you, terry,
in the middle of all that cloudof bees and throwing me frames
and you're setting them on yourlap.
It's very impressive.
So, thank you very much.
(57:29):
Thank you for doing this and,folks, if you've got to this
point, thank you very much forlistening and get out there and
leave a comment somewhere andtell somebody to come and listen
to Diaries.
We're a tight-knit family andwe're always looking to bring
(57:50):
more people into what we do hereand I really, really appreciate
you.
I appreciate all of our supportout there Lakeside Marina up in
the far north, where Will is innorth of Kenora.
(58:11):
Thank you very much, reallyappreciate you guys.
Look them up.
The customer service is secondto none and it is a wonderful,
wonderful business that they'vegot going up there.
And you know what?
I'm pretty sure the countessover at fishincanadacom has
(58:37):
turned on the free giveawaysagain.
So listen, folks, head on overto fishincanadacom, get your
names in the hat for all thosegiveaways.
You know, you never know what'sgoing to be there, right, and
it's free.
All you got to do is go and putyour name in as many times as
you can and again, thank you all.
(58:58):
Thus brings us to theconclusion of another episode of
Diaries of a Lodge Owner.
Stories of the North.
Speaker 2 (59:08):
I'll be all you ever saw, been railing in the hog
Since the day I was born,bending my rock, stretching my
line.
Someday I might own a lodge,and that'd be fine.
(59:31):
I'll be making my way the onlyway I know how, working hard and
sharing the north with all ofmy pals.
Well, I'm a good old boy.
I bought a lodge and lived mydream.
And now I'm here talking abouthow life can be as good as it
(59:56):
seems.
Yeah, and now I'm here talkingabout how life can be as good as
it seems.
Speaker 4 (01:00:00):
Yeah, back in 2016, frank and I had a vision To
amass the single largestdatabase of muskie angling
education material anywhere inthe world.
Speaker 6 (01:00:12):
Our dream was to harness the knowledge of this
amazing community and share itwith passionate anglers just
like you.
Speaker 4 (01:00:18):
Thus the Ugly Pike Podcast was born and quickly
grew to become one of the topfishing podcasts in North
America.
Speaker 6 (01:00:26):
Step into the world of angling adventures and
embrace the thrill of the catchwith the Ugly Pike Podcast.
Join us on our quest tounderstand what makes us
different as anglers and touncover what it takes to go
after the infamous fish of10,000 casts.
Speaker 4 (01:00:40):
The Ugly Pike podcast isn't just about fishing.
It's about creating atight-knit community of
passionate anglers who share thesame love for the sport.
Through laughter, throughcamaraderie and an unwavering
spirit of adventure, thispodcast will bring people
together.
Speaker 6 (01:00:54):
Subscribe now and never miss a moment of our
angling adventures.
Tight lines everyone.
Speaker 4 (01:00:59):
Find Ugly Pike now on Spotify, apple Podcasts or
wherever else you get yourpodcasts.
Speaker 2 (01:01:10):
Hi everybody.
I'm Angelo Viola and I'm PeteBowman.
Now you might know us as thehosts of Canada's Favorite
Fishing Show.
Speaker 6 (01:01:16):
but now we're hosting a podcast that's right.
Every Thursday, Ange and I willbe right here in your ears
bringing you a brand new episodeof Outdoor Journal Radio.
Speaker 2 (01:01:26):
Hmm, Now what are we going to talk about for two
hours every week?
Speaker 6 (01:01:29):
Well, you know there's going to be a lot of
fishing.
Speaker 4 (01:01:31):
I knew exactly where those fish were going to be and
how to catch them, and they wereeasy to catch.
Speaker 2 (01:01:36):
Yeah, but it's not just a fishing show.
We're going to be talking topeople from all facets of the
outdoors, from athletes, All theother guys would go golfing Me
and Garth and Turk and all theRussians would go fishing.
Speaker 6 (01:01:48):
To scientists.
Speaker 4 (01:01:54):
But now that we're reforesting and letting things
breathe, it's the perfecttransmission environment for
life To chefs.
Speaker 6 (01:01:56):
If any game isn't cooked properly, marinated, you
will taste it and whoever elsewill pick up the phone, wherever
you are.
Speaker 2 (01:02:05):
Outdoor Journal Radio seeks to answer the questions
and tell the stories of allthose who enjoy being outside.
Speaker 6 (01:02:11):
Find us on.
Speaker 4 (01:02:11):
Spotify, apple Podcasts or wherever you get
your podcasts.
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