Building a Bee Business Vlog #32

[@hughreynolds6183]

Great blog. I'm pleased you're finding time off. I'm in the woodshop. Feels like I'm in there 24/7. Come the end of February there will be no time for woodwork or frames.

[@odelllawson6250]

Hey Brother! I have enjoyed your “ Building a Bee Business “ blogs ! I hope that you are doing well! I want to wish you and your family a Merry Christmas and a very blessed New Year! Keep those videos coming! Odell

[@OutdoorsandCountryLiving]

Nice elk. Looks like the deer blind is setup well too. Glad the bees are holding on. Have a Happy Thanksgiving and stay well.

[@DuckRiverHoney]

Thanks, Happy Thanksgiving to you as well!

[@OutdoorsandCountryLiving]

@@DuckRiverHoney yes sir. One of my favorite times of the year. It’s been fairly warm up here in IN. We have been feeding some sugar and fondant as well. Normally it’s cooler and our bees are in for winter but they are still out flying even today. Have to stay after them so they don’t burn up all their food. Cooler weather the next few weeks so so that will keep them in and clustered.

[@dcsblessedbees]

Grats, nice elk. It's great that your buddy was able to get one.

[@DuckRiverHoney]

He did a good job of not getting one, but I drug him across the finish line 🤣🤣🤣

[@chuckgross6024]

Big ol Boy! Nice job!

[@DuckRiverHoney]

Thanks!

[@josephrawls]

The beginning was great, the middle was great and the ending is priceless. 👍

[@user-lk2ci9qv6x]

I didnt know bees stored fondant. I always thought it was just consumed.

[@ronbrendag7131]

To store the fondant they have to add water to make it "thick syrup"to store in "ready to eat" condition. If they need food immediately they will consume it without storage. If they are storing it the water they add will add additional weight. Sugar syrup fed to bees has to be dehydrated as nectar does for storage and energy expended to dry it.

[@daverowden-RowdyBeeFarms]

Congrats on the Elk, what a beautiful area to hunt. I recently went from 31 hives to 26 by combining queen death hives to weaker hives. I am hoping for at least 20 hives to start 2024. Thanks for the video like always.

[@3Beehivesto300]

Moving packaged honey. I use milk crates and set them 4 high on furniture dollies

[@russellkoopman3004]

Good job on the hunt. Elk are some big critters and I hope he isn't too tough. My deer hunt wasn't successful but since I got two last year I still have a good supply. Hope the hive loss is minimal the next couple of months. Hope to see you in Jan.

[@DuckRiverHoney]

Thanks Russell, mine was an old bull so I’m making a lot of jerky and sausage. I got an old bull years ago that ate great but it was pre rut.

[@claybunner1059]

Man that’s my dream hunt!! Congrats on a beautiful bull!! Now it’s back to work hopefully you take some time to do some whitetail hunting😀

[@DuckRiverHoney]

Freezer is full at this point, the deer are safe from me.

[@absolutbill12345]

You should start carrying a first aid kit in the truck so you can disinfect and cover that hand wound.

[@DuckRiverHoney]

It wasn’t much, I didn’t even know I’d hit it on anything till I saw the blood.

[@haroldmarsh5156]

Awesome Elk

[@DuckRiverHoney]

Thanks Harold!

[@emanuelcruz5722]

What kind of nest you use ? the nest loks having the same sise of the supers . You use just supers ? Thank you for all the vídeos. From Portugal .

[@jwalker7068]

How much do you figure it costs for a bottle, lid, label, box, time filling bottle and time delivering for a case of honey. I know it’s dependent on jars and size but just roughly. What do you think you have in a case. Thanks.

[@beefuzzz8403]

My idea is if they gained weight from the fondant it because they had to dilute it just a thought

[@glennsnaturalhoney4571]

Boxing and storing cases, gow do you prevent crystallization during storage? Seems my honey this year. Only lasts a couple of weeks in containers before turning cloudy.

[@nancynolton6079]

Not sure how you would prevent it... I've used a heating pad to liquify jarred or stored honey (small scale). Lot of the larger folks have "warming rooms" to warm and liquify their stored barrels of honey before bottling. Some crystallization can be caused by a higher moisture content of the honey or the plant source of the nectars. Some nectars crystalize more readily than others.

[@absolutbill12345]

I thought lower moisture content honey would be more prone to crystalize?

[@DuckRiverHoney]

My honey crystallizes rather slowly. That said, I don’t store cases. I warm it up, bottle it, and deliver it pretty soon after. A warming cabinet would be handy for decrystallizing cases.

[@nancynolton6079]

Keep it in an airtight containers, away from sunlight and at room temperature (refrigeration, or temperatures under 10°C (50°F), can accelerate crystallization).@@absolutbill12345

[@MrM-wk9yf]

How high is that deer stand ?

[@PutEmInTheBox]

I was in valle vidol last year. Amazing.

[@DuckRiverHoney]

👍

[@brianbennett4374]

Congratulations great video always enjoy your videos are you going to bee expo in Kentucky

[@DuckRiverHoney]

Thanks, yes I’ll have a booth at NAHBE this year.

[@burleybeeyard]

Where do you source cases from?

[@BeeGeeTheImp]

The best chili is venison chili.

[@DuckRiverHoney]

👍

[@philipmontgomery5626]

You started great in the series which i've watched almost all of them now talking about business. You lost your way and only talk about working days now.

[@glennsnaturalhoney4571]

Interesting comment. Guess I was under the impression that they only ate and used the fondant since it wasn't liquid and didn't store it.

[@user-lk2ci9qv6x]

I was under the same impression.

[@DuckRiverHoney]

I don’t know guys…they suddenly started getting heavy and we haven’t been on a flow. Wouldn’t surprise me either way.

[@glennsnaturalhoney4571]

@DuckRiverHoney did all the hives get fondant? Did they all seem to gain weight, with or without fondant? I'm convinced at least here in NE Indiana that I often have no idea what the bees are finding. We had red pollen coming in a week or so ago after a couple of hard freezes. No one has any idea where it could be coming from. Too much to be bird feeders. Always puzzles to solve.

[@KalebLongBees]

How do you prevent the foam in the honey in the top pf the jars? I have been trying to skim it off the top as I have been bottling it but there is still a certain degree of frosting.

[@DuckRiverHoney]

Let it settle well before you bottle. The benefit of a bottling tank is the foam stays in the tank. With raw honey that is t pressure filtered there will still sometimes be a little foam in the bottles, but it’s very minimal.

[@russellkoopman3004]

If you don't have a bottling tank and store your honey in a 5 gallon pail you can let the honey settle for a couple of days. Then get a sheet of Saran wrap and carefully set it on top of the honey. Pat the wrap down softly to get good contact then quickly pull it out lifting from the middle of the wrap. You do lose a couple of ounce of honey put it is quick and gets most of it. I feel that selling raw unfiltered honey allows you to have a speck or two of wax on the top of the jar.

[@KalebLongBees]

I am just using a dadant unheated 300 pound bottling tank and do not have the option of letting it stay in there

[@hughreynolds6183]

I let it settle in buckets and then gently poor it into the bottler...works for me.@@KalebLongBees