Episode-1029- Jack Jones on Bee Keeping
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While it Can Appear Frightening a Swarm is Easy to Work With and Non Aggressive – Photo Credit to sean cumiskey via flickr
Jack Jones is a small business owner in Ardmore, Oklahoma. He is a 3rd generation owner of his family’s plumbing business. Currently 33 years young and the proud father of 3 beautiful children.
Jack and his family live on their family farm and raise chickens, beef, and pigs. He also enjoys gardening, hunting, shooting. He’s been member of his towns local volunteer fire department for 7 years.
He has now been involved in beekeeping about 3 years. At one time he had 21 hives but last year but lost 15 hive because of colony collapse disorder (CCD).
Even with that set back he has now built his hives back up to 15 and done so at no real cost by catching swarms and splitting hives. Today he joins us to discuss how you can begin bee keeping and some ways to get started easy. He covers how to process your own honey and the basics of hive care.
Jack Joins Us Today To Discuss…
- Why Jack became a beekeeper, it’s different reason then many have
- The difference between real/raw local honey and grocery store “honey”
- How do you process honey
- What are some current threats to honeybees
- What to do if you think your hive is “Africanized”
- What do words like “super” and “nuke” mean
- How to “catch a swarm” and why it is very safe to do
- Why your first step should be reading, reading and reading
- How to start a new hive from square one the EASY way
Resources for Today’s Show…
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- TSP Copper
- Back Yard Food Production – (sponsor of the day)
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Remember to comment, chime in and tell us your thoughts, this podcast is one man’s opinion, not a lecture or sermon. Also please enter our listener appreciation contest and help spread the word about our show. Also remember you can call in your questions and comments to 866-65-THINK and you might hear yourself on the air.
“Welcome Back to Turner Falls” !
Thanks Crispy!
I too got dramatically better pollination last year with Bees on the property. Jack Jones, thanks for sharing.
Great show!
Excellent. Removed the mystery
I respectfully have to say that I’m just uninterested in the shows about bees and beekeeping…I thought jack said that last one was it…Don’t blow a gasket Jack just voicing my opinion lol…
@BeesNo I ain’t going to jump on you or nothing I just don’t get the need to post a negative comment like this? We cover hundreds of subjects everyone will likely not be interested in a few.
I have to say it went through my mind too that it was another beekeeping show so soon. But I listen to all the shows because you never know and I know Jack has a madness to his method. Even if I am “not interested” in a subject, which is rare, I listen.
Lo and behold, it was a damn good show. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Makes me feel like I could go out tomorrow and start keeping hives.
Thanks Jack.
I agree. I think I’m about to O.B. (over bee).
This was the best show yet on bees.
Jack Jones cleared up a lot of misunderstandings on my part about bees, especially about their behaviors of bees with regard to their queens. I will have to talk to my local apiary lady about whether she “re-queens” her hives. In North Carolina, I don’t think we have the Africanized thing as much as in OK/TX. Also, I found the discussion on moving hives fascinating. Just a great interview.
I’d vote for Jack Jones coming back on and talking more about processing and using honey, and general homesteading stuff. He seems very hands-on and relates very well. He is able to break down subjects into simple terms (much like our own Jack).
Also, is there a way that we can get in touch with Jack Jones? A website or at least an email address?
He doesn’t have a site and I don’t give out addresses of others but I am sure he will be visiting the comments section here.
I appreciate your kind words. I’d be willing to discuss beekeeping or answer any related questions you might have. jack_jones2 at yahoo dot com
Great show. I’ll send it to my mother who wants to give bee keeping a try.
Jose Garcia
Nice and simple. Down to earth. Thanks Jack(s) !
I really want to give beekeeping a go next spring your laid back view defiantly boosts my confidence that I can do it!
Would you recommend starting out with a couple of hives or just a single? My thought being if something goes wrong and there is only 1 hive I would be shut down where as a couple you could tweak management, environment or whatnot to keep it going..
You’re absolutely correct in your thinking. Start with two hives if possible. Not only can you compare the two hives you can also “experiment” with one hive and not worry about messing up both hives.
I have my hive in place and will be ordering a package this spring. This was very helpful for me. I appreciate the free information he shared which was very practical how to type things. Its easier to listen to advice thanto try to find time to read about it. thanks to both Jacks. A great show.
EXCELLENT show. This is definitely one I’ll have to listen to again, as it was so chock-full of info. Knowledgeable and relate-able: repeat guest material if I’ve ever heard it. Thanks!
This was the best broadcast of all the beekeeping series. I’ve read 3 books on starting a hive and watched one very expensive video, but none of them addressed the Africanization, location, and re-queening issues. I’ve been inspired to try to catch a swarm next spring. Thanks!
Keep putting up info on Bees. They can be a great asset for us all.
I’m not sure if I’d want to have active hives on the homestead because of my wife’s allergies to stings but I definitely appreciate the sharing of your knowledge Jack, especially the part(s) about the swarming.
One question I’d like to ask though about raw honey – if/when it crystallizes what’s the “safest” temperature that one can reheat it to for liquefaction w/o killing all the good nutrients in it? I bought some raw product through the food co-op I belong to and it was shipped in a refrigerated truck, thus a huge jar of solidified “bee juice”. Can you help? Thanks!
@Brian I don’t know what is too hot but I always just put the jar in a boiling pot and that way I know it won’t get over 212 max and it gets soft again way before that.
Oh and hey if you have someone with bee allergies you can always do mason bees, they don’t sting. No honey but GREAT pollinators.
Don’t put it in boiling water, or even in a boiling double boiler. It’ll definitely diminish the quality and affect the taste.
If you have a dehydrator, you can put it in there on a low setting.
100F would be safe.
The dehydrator at 100 deg F for about 24 hours works well. The hive is right at that temp during the summer. I don’t like to heat my honey, but if I have to….. THAT WORKs and it doesn’t make the honey dark or seem to hurt the flavor.
I borrowed this from a friend, how a small beekeeper converts from crystal back to liquid honey.
I have an electric turkey roaster. It will hold a full case of glass pint canning jars.
I put the jars in, fill with warm water and bring up to 120F with a thermometer. It will may take a day or more.
If I am in a hurry, I bring it up to 150F for 1hr. Then they are done.
Sometimes I just leave the honey jars sitting inside my truck just to warm up a bit.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Usdq7R2wQMY
Good Idea on Mason Bees. Just learned about them tonight by accident. anyone making bee boxes from wooden pallets??
The only thing I would be concerned about with pallets is if the wood had been treated with any chemicals that would be harmful to the occupants.
Some additional things to ponder:
1. I’ve never had issues with a package of bees (3# package with queen here is $85) leaving the hive. Installation was taught to me by a long time beekeeper and is as follows: Lightly spray the bees in the package with a 1:1 cane sugar/water syrup mix just prior to installation into the hive body. Do the installation just before dusk. The syrup is sticky enough to keep the bees from flying until they can groom it all off of each other. By the time they can fly again it is dark and the critters have all night to settle in. Be careful not to over spray them and drown them.
2. If you are buying used equipment, especially the hive bodies, supers, and frames, be aware that they can contain the virus for foul brood. Any used equipment I’ve acquired is sprayed with a light chlorine bleach solution until damp, and then allowed to sit out for a few days for the chlorine to evaporate.
3. The general rule for moving hives as told to me is either less than 2 feet or more than 2 miles, because the bees navigate at least in part visually. So far I’ve not tried either rule, so I’m just passing this along.
4. Although my wife, and my good friend and fellow beekeeper are not allergic to bee stings, I explained to my doctor that I kept bees and she wrote me a script for Epipens. They com 2 in a box, cost me $60.00 and need to be replaced every year. I’ve never needed them and hope I never do, but having them on hand is just good insurance, plus they’re a good item for the general prepper first aid kit.
5. One of the beekeepers who taught a class I took has been keeping bees for more than15 years and manages about 100 hives, and has his personal perspective on Colony Collapse Disorder. He has rarely seen hive simply up and disappear and thinks that many cases of CCD are actually PPB (Piss poor Beekeeping). He doesn’t doubt that CCD exists, but has the opinion that many beekeepers, especially the commercial pollinators who drag hives all over the country by the truckload, are PPB who uses CCD as a convenient excuse when colonies have problems.
#3 is accurate. I have done both, including moving hives through the yard a foot or two every couple of days until they reach their new location.
It can be easier though to just move them several miles away…. Wait a week or two and them move them back to where you want them.
#5 I don’t know if it is PPB or what. I just wonder how many times a colony is taken out by something the beekeeper is unaware of and just gets the diagnosis of CCD. I have yet to lose a colony to the classic symptoms. I haven’t seen any documentation on it, but I still feel as though there is a genetic component at play with CCD. I would love to find documentation on the source of the bees in colonies that are taken out by KNOWN CCD in a certain year.
Thoroughly enjoyed the information. Those of us who are interested in beekeeping look forward to the interviews. Those of us who are not particularly interested in weapons training listen to learn but don’t complain about another “weapons” show. Appreciate the information we get, regardless of the subject.
When my bee mentor needs to move a hive a very short distance, he puts up a temporary screen in front of the entrance.
For the screen, he uses a 4 foot tall by 3-4 feet wide lattice wood screen commonly used for trellising plants.
The bees see the screen, think they moved, and do their re-orienteering flights so they know where they are.
A week later he takes down the screen, the bees re-orient themselves again, and he does not loose any bees going to the old location
Hey, my brother referred me to your podcast and he was correct, you are worth listening to. Thank you sir for your efforts. Regards joe
I know this is a late comment, and it’s OK if nobody reads it. I just want to say that I finally worked my way back to listening to this podcast and loved it. In fact, I just went out and signed up for a course on beekeeping. This was the final push I needed. Thanks, Jack!