Bees With Ben

Guest: Norm Collins – Seven Decades in BeekeepingIn this special episode, I chat with Norm Collins, a true pioneer in Australian beekeeping. Once the largest beekeeper in Victoria, Norm recently turned 80, and he joins me to reflect on a lifetime of working with bees.We take a journey back to when Norm received his very first box of bees at just seven years old, and explore how much the world of beekeeping has changed over the past seventy years. From the way hives are managed, to shifting environmental pressures and evolving industry challenges, Norm shares his knowledge, experiences and a few great stories along the way.This episode is a tribute to the past, a nod to the resilience of beekeepers, and a reminder of how much we can learn from those who have spent a lifetime in the field.Listen now wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with your beekeeping community.https://collinshoney.com.au

Join me on a unique episode of "Bees with Ben" as I take you on a journey to Shepparton! Recorded on the road, this episode captures the spontaneous and unfiltered thoughts I navigate through my beekeeping job, whilst on the road! Expect a delightful ramble covering a variety of topics, from the intricacies of beekeeping in different environments to amusing anecdotes from the road. '"Ben's on-the-go recording brings an authentic and immersive experience, making you feel like you're right there with him". Tune in for a mix of beekeeping insights, personal stories, and a touch of road trip charm.

The Story of Gavin's Apiaries with Liam Gavin In the lush, sub-tropical landscape of Northland, New Zealand, lies a testament to tradition, resilience, and a deep-rooted passion for beekeeping. Gavin's Apiaries, a fourth-generation family business, traces its origins back to 1912 when James John Gavin embarked on a journey that would shape the family's legacy for generations to come. In a recent episode of the Bees With Ben podcast, host Ben caught up with Liam Gavin, a member of the Gavin family and a torchbearer of their storied beekeeping tradition. Liam's connection to the land and the bees runs deep, as he shared insights into the rich history and enduring values that define Gavin's Apiaries today. The journey began over a century ago when James John Gavin rode his horse through the picturesque Mangakahia Valley, chasing a swarm of bees—a humble yet pivotal moment that marked the inception of Gavin's Apiaries. Fast forward to the present day, and the family's commitment to honey production and community engagement remains unwavering. Beyond the buzzing hives and golden honey, Liam reflects on the pride and philosophy that underpin the family business. At Gavin's Apiaries, it's not just about honey production; it's about fostering a sense of community and stewardship for the environment. Through sustainable beekeeping practices and a genuine connection to the land, the Gavins strive to leave a positive impact on their surroundings. Through their unwavering commitment to excellence and their deep-seated values, the Gavins continue to inspire beekeepers and enthusiasts alike, both locally and beyond. In a world that often moves at breakneck speed, the story of Gavin's Apiaries serves as a poignant reminder of the importance of tradition, resilience, and the profound connection between humanity and the natural world. As Liam Gavin aptly concludes, "In the end, it's not just about the honey—it's about the journey, the legacy, and the enduring passion that fuels our love for beekeeping." Tune in to the Bees With Ben podcast to hear more captivating stories from the world of beekeeping and beyond, as we continue to celebrate the remarkable individuals and traditions that make our world a sweeter place to be https://www.instagram.com/gavinshoney_/

Revolutionizing Bee Hive Lifting: A Conversation with Jai Stafford of Ezy Loaders In this episode, we explore the innovative world of Ezy Loaders with none other than Jai Stafford, the driving force behind these game-changing material handling devices. Join us as we delve into how Ezy Loaders are making loading processes easier, safer, and more efficient across various industries but mostly the lifting of bee hives. https://ezyloader.com The Genesis of Ezy Loaders: Jai shares the inspiration and the initial challenges in the development of Ezy Loaders. The discussion on the technology and design principles that make Ezy Loaders stand out. How Ezy Loaders are transforming material handling in sectors like agriculture, construction, and logistics. Real-life examples and testimonials from businesses that have benefited from adopting this technology. Looking at the safety features integrated into Ezy Loaders and how they contribute to workplace safety. The efficiency gains realized by companies using Ezy Loaders, supported by data and case studies. Jai discusses upcoming innovations and potential new markets for Ezy Loaders with a new product that is just about to be launched!

With more than 10 years’ experience, developing, designing and delivering workplace mental health and wellbeing programs, Rae works with a broad range of organisations, industries and settings with a special skill in crisis and suicide response. A qualified counsellor trained in Rogerian theory – Rae draws on her authenticity, genuineness, and empathy to create environments of trust and safety. She has a focus on men and boy’s health, offering confidential in person and online sessions for individuals, couples and groups. For a decade, she’s been a volunteer Ambassador for Beyond Blue and also donates her time to community organisations and settings where the smallest acts of kindness and care can be lifechanging. She’s well known for her enthusiastic advocacy in the men’s health space, where she believes that a male friendly approach to support and resources could have a positive impact for everyone. The first female board member of the Australian Men’s Health Forum, she compliments this with a recent election to the board of Global Action on Men’s Health. You can also tune into Rae’s radio show on 94.1FM 3WBC, “What does it feel like, being you today”, where she interviews people from all over the world, asking that question.Rae Bonney's website at (https://www.raebonney.au), and join us in this ongoing conversation to bring about change and hope. https://au.linkedin.com/in/raebonney

This week’s episode of the Bees with Ben podcast features a question-and-answer session between Ben and his special studio guest, Brent Nixon, who has driven down from Ballarat South for the occasion. Naturally, Ben’s first question for Brent is how he started out with bees? Brent explains that he grew up in a family of cattle breeders and wanted to breed something for himself. He studied genetics at university, including the pioneering work of Gregor Mendel, the father of modern genetics. Many people don’t realize that Mendel, who was a monk, also conducted research with bees, which were often kept at monasteries to produce beeswax candles, in addition to honey. Mendel was attempting to breed bees using a cage, which wasn’t really effective, but his early work was taken up by Brother Adam of Buckfast Abbey in the UK - the creator of the ‘Buckfast bee’. Brent became fascinated with breeding bees, but although he had the theoretical knowledge, he had never been inside a hive. Then about 8 years ago, his wife’s uncle, who was a beekeeper, found him a swarm - located about 10 metres up a tree. Brent was given a half suit and positioned under the swarm, with instructions to catch the bees in a box, while the uncle clambered up the tree to dislodge the insects. Somehow, Brent managed to catch the queen, and the beekeeper told him to put the box down, and that the rest of the swarm would soon follow, which they did. Today, Brent has his own podcast called ‘Breeding the Honey Bee’, which is named after the famous book written by Brother Adam. He has recorded 11 episodes to date, including an interview with the head beekeeper at Buckfast Abbey. Ben is quizzed about the development of his business and the transition from part-time to his main source of income. He says he started off slowly and built his business on diversification; he vividly remembers making beeswax candles in his kitchen and struggling to clean the wax off the lino floor (Brent interjects that he thinks he ruined the plumbing in his first house as some beeswax went down the sink). Ben goes on to say that one of the main problems is that the business is so seasonal, and that he struggled to get through the winter in the early years. He cautions that he has seen beekeeping businesses go too hard and too quick, and ultimately fall over. https://nixonqueenbees.com.au/?fbclid=IwAR3LekNglAfD_R-psKhjH102qzkBorcgBHJqcJ6D8e5NAqiyKgroh9sFL1k https://nixonqueenbees.com.au/pages/podcast?fbclid=IwAR0vDUhGW0Axip2VCqp4TEi7tK6rQa06rWOAC-XQINwri6qXuSUUdeXn3G8 https://www.facebook.com/groups/1150361712418055

Today’s very special guest on the Bees with Ben podcast is Corinne Jordan from The Bee Lady Apiaries (visit honeybeelady.com). Corinne founded this family-owned business in 2008 after initially researching beekeeping as a potential vocation for her son (who subsequently proved to be allergic to bee venom) and then developing a passion for honey bees herself! Located about halfway between Brisbane and the Gold Coast, at the mouth of the Logan River, she is blessed with near perfect weather and an extended beekeeping season. This suited her interest in breeding queens, and around 2012 she decided to refocus from honey production (with an apiary containing 50-100 hives) to selective breeding and queen production. In her ideal climate, queen breeding can take place just about all year round. Corinne says it takes determination, resilience, good record keeping and keen observational skills to be a successful queen breeder, as well as fine motor control, and that the bees must always come first. She says that it requires a lot of effort for little financial reward, but that the greatest rewards are derived through resultant stock improvements. She tells Ben that breeding is an evolving activity, since it is impossible to focus on a range of traits at any one time; she is currently working on resistance to chalkbrood and EFB. All her breeding is conducted by instrumental insemination. She catches the drones on their return from mating flights, then extracts the semen and inserts this into virgin queens that have been first anaesthetised with carbon dioxide. The queens generally start to lay just 5 days later. Corinne produces an average of about 150 queens per season, and still to this day struggles with introducing the artificially inseminated queens to their hives, as colonies often do not recognise them as they would a queen that has undergone a normal mating flight. In her short down season (usually between May to July), one of Corinne’s pastimes is to catch up on bee research around the world. It was in this way that she discovered the work of Dr Kaira Wagoner (of the University of North Carolina) on varroa sensitive hygiene. Essentially, this refers to the ability of some bees to detect the presence of the varroa mite in brood, whereupon they uncap the cells and remove infected larvae, thereby breaking the mites’ breeding cycle. One of the difficulties in selecting for varroa resistance in Australia has always been that we have had no active mite population, however, Corinne remained intrigued by the prospect of breeding resistant stock (she had been selecting for hygienic behaviour in general since 2014), in part since she was convinced that varroa would one day inevitably reach Australia. Dr Wagoner’s research identified elevated levels of 2 hydrocarbons in brood infected with varroa; she managed to synthesize these compounds and produce a spray which could be applied to brood capping. Bees which exhibit varroa sensitive hygiene (VSH) will recognise the odour of these chemicals just as if varroa was present and eliminate the brood accordingly. This is something of a game changer since it does not require the presence of the mites to test for VSH. Corinne subsequently reached out to Dr Wagoner and has been included in field tests for the spray. Initial tests indicate that about 4% of honey bee colonies exhibit VSH, however Corinne is now seeking funding for large-scale trials - she estimates it will cost about $250,000 for the first year, and has set up a special website for the project, beegenetics.com Corinne is well placed to conduct this research with a number of unique assets. She has a proven track record, insemination skills and an apiary with high quality stock. She has the support of industry groups as well as 'Flow' and will donate the resultant queens to raise further funds. If you are able to assist with this vital project, please head to beegenetics.com for further details.

This week’s fascinating episode of the Bees with Ben podcast features Dr Bridget Goodwin from the Australian Apitherapy Association (go to apitherapyaustralia.net). For those listeners unfamiliar with apitherapy, this involves the ‘use of products from the bee hive as medicine’. Dr Goodwin explains that there is a tendency for people to view bee products as rather innocuous whereas they are in fact medicinally highly active. The Australian Apitherapy Association website details that apitherapy has been traditionally used in Chinese medicine for 5,000 years (it was the original form of acupuncture) and was used by the ancient Egyptians. In the modern day, apitherapy is an accepted part of the national medical system of many countries. Korea, Turkey, Romania, and Japan all have established apitherapy practices and even hospitals. So, Australia is perhaps a little behind in this regard. Everything that bees make has medicinal applications, and the beneficial properties of bee pollen, bee venom, royal jelly, propolis and apilarnil (drone larvae) are well established. Unlike some forms of alternative medicine, apitherapy is backed by some incredible scientific research. For example, in 2020 the young West Australian PhD scholar, Dr Ciara Duffy, made world news with her research on how bee venom shrinks breast cancer tumours. Earlier in 2016, Sydney University chemist, Professor Colin Duke, published extensively on the tumour shrinking properties of Kangaroo Island propolis. Apitherapy may be used to combat cancer and to heal wounds, as well as in dentistry and veterinary science. Dr Goodwin tells Ben that the ‘bees found her’ rather by accident just before the Covid lockdowns when she was asked to work on a patient’s skin cancer. She had been researching Korean skin care preparations including bee products and decided to give something similar as after care. The results were astonishing - the patient’s skin healed beautifully with no scarring - so Dr Goodwin was left pondering what had happened and embarked on further research into apitherapy. This led to training with international expert Dr Stefan Stangaciu of Romania (who can be found on apitherapy.com), a thesis on treating basal cell carcinoma with bee products and eventually to the formation of the Australian Apitherapy Association. Since then, by her own admission Dr Goodwin has been swept up by the bee community and the Australian Apitherapy Association has established important links internationally. Dr Goodwin credits increased interest in apitherapy in part with the increasing failure of antibiotics, and the World Health Organisation has encouraged member nations to seek alternative medications. She says bee products have the advantage of being completely natural and non-toxic; bees naturally seek out medicinal plants and incorporate beneficial compounds into the products they manufacture. The use of honey in hospitals to assist in healing wounds is widespread and common knowledge, but for more than 20 years a professor of pediatrics in Egypt has been treating asthma, bronchitis and pneumonia in children by nebulizing honey. He has also used honey to treat cataracts. There is so much absorbing information crammed into this podcast - like the advent of apitourism in Europe and ‘bee hive air therapy’, which involves merely breathing in air from a hive and has been shown to be very helpful for people suffering from long Covid and chronic pulmonary disease. The Australian Apitherapy Association is a voluntary organization and relies on the support of the public. Membership is only $120, and the 3 rd conference is to be held by Zoom in November. On July 1 and 2 this year, the Association is proud to offer some very special training with none other than Dr Stefan Stangaciu himself in Hahndorf, South Australia. Visit apitherapyaustralia.net

Ben’s special guest this week on the Bees with Ben podcast is Stuart Sutherland from Electrotherm Pty Ltd. Electrotherm is an Australian manufacturer of specialized industrial heater jackets and pads. The company was established in 1991 with the aim of introducing energy efficiency to the traditional industrial heating market; their customer base includes industry, government, defence and research. And these unique heater jackets have an important application in the honey industry. As Ben explains, there is nothing more infuriating than when your honey stocks turn brick-hard in winter. Stuart tells us that he originally hails from south Wales (not New South Wales) and started his working life as a carpenter, working in joinery workshops across the UK producing stairs, windows and period mouldings before moving into shopfitting and a stint building boats in South Africa. Electrotherm was started by Mike Bell, an electrical engineer, who Stuart describes as a very inventive man, and Stuart took over the business about a year ago. Whereas many heating products utilize an element that is essentially a curly wire, Electrotherm’s products employ a very different carbon graphite element that looks like a black cloth and was originally developed to prevent icing in the wingtips of aircraft (it is also used as subfloor heating for houses in Europe). This has great advantages over the resistance wire format. Electrotherm is very thorough in its product development and employs stringent quality control The heater jackets are made from a very tough PVC-coated fabric - they must be able to tolerate considerable heat as the jackets can get up to 90 o C. Based in Seaford, near Melbourne. Electrotherm’s products are popular within the honey industry, as well as industrial chemistry, where heater jackets are commonly used to ensure glues, epoxy resins, polyurethanes and the like do not get too viscous in colder weather. Another of their customers uses heater jackets on skin creams and pharmaceuticals so that they do not become hard and difficult to work with. Electrotherm are always looking to improve and expand their product range, and are happy to take on custom work. Stuart will also be displaying his products at the Victorian Apiarists’ Association annual conference in Bendigo from 5-7 July. He views this as a great opportunity to meet people and to listen to his customers, which in turn will help to refine his product. And Stuart also has a very special offer for all of Ben’s listeners, but you will need to wait for the end of the podcast to hear it! For more information about Electrotherm’s innovative products visit: electrotherm.com.au And to find out more about the 122 nd VAA Annual Conference go to: https://www.vicbeekeepers.com.au/page-18116 https://electrotherm.com.au/

Ben is back, with a new edition of the Bees with Ben podcast! A scheduled break of around 2 weeks quickly turned into over 3 months, with a hectic season that really finished with a bang. In fact, Ben has just pulled the last boxes of honey from his hives, with a fantastic season of mealy stringybark (Eucalyptus cephalocarpa) in the Yarra Valley. Stringybark honey is relatively slow to crystallize, and Ben has a good income stream selling honeycomb. Much of the demand is in late winter and early spring (when people start to get hay fever), so to avoid crystallization during storage (crystallized honey has a sandy texture and is not as attractive on the shelf), Ben freezes the honeycomb, which does not denature the product and results in perfect honeycomb once thawed. Ben has also recently been busy controlling European wasps around Melbourne. These pests not only have a painful sting but can give the local honey bees a hard time. Fortunately, they have a very limited foraging radius - only about 150 metres - so it is not usually too difficult to locate their nest sites. European wasps are extremely invasive, and a colony is capable of producing around 50 queens. Plus, they love warm weather, and with Australia heading into a new phase of el nino, it’s likely to be a very busy season ahead. After 3 years of wet and windy la nina weather patterns, Australian beekeepers are all too familiar with the need to provide supplementary food to bees, so it is particularly appropriate that Ben’s guest in this episode is George from Mineral Bee (www.mineralbee.com.au). Although now a resident of Sydney’s northern beaches, George originally hails from Limerick in Ireland; he remembers being fascinated by his neighbour’s beekeeping activities, and acquired his first hive at the age of 8. He explains that in Ireland, honey bees hibernate during winter, and the hives are constructed somewhat differently to cope with the colder environment. Irish bees are adapted to the climate and are quite black and a little more aggressive than Australian honey bees. In Ireland it is impossible to avoid supplementary feeding, but sugar syrup alone has none of the minerals and trace elements present in honey or pollen; Mineral Bee was born out of a desire to create an additive which would make sugar syrup equivalent to honey. Rather than use synthetic ingredients, an entirely natural and organic product was developed using minerals and trace elements sourced from seawater. These are carefully extracted by a process which avoids denaturing or degrading these essential substances. The result is a product which, when added to sugar syrup or drinking water at the rate of 10ml per litre, mirrors the mineral and trace element content of pollen and honey. And the bees love it!

Episode 107 of the Bees with Ben podcast is likely to be the last for two or three months, as spring has sprung and Ben is busy contending with his usual hectic workload at this time of year. This episode is also a little different, as Ben gives us some insight into his journey thus far and offers some advice for those possibly thinking of setting up a beekeeping business. First of all, it’s hard work; Ben tells us that his next day off is likely to be Christmas Day, so you have to love the bees to be in this business. Back to beginnings. As a chef in the 90s, at one stage Ben used to work 90 hours per week, with two full-time jobs. Perhaps that was partly responsible for reinforcing the work ethic that is required as a beekeeper, but working nights with a young family certainly wasn’t ideal. Ben had always been interested in strange critters, and in 2004 he was offered a job at Amazing Amazon, a shop in Melbourne that deals in unusual pets like reptiles, fish, spiders and the like. Four days into cleaning fish tanks, Ben was wondering why he had swapped cooking for celebrities for the bottom of the barrel in a pet shop, but he persevered and eventually became the manager of the business. In his downtime he ran a few bee hives, but by about 2008 he was getting right into bees, catching a few swarms, selling bees, etc. The bees started to take over, and Ben went from five days a week at the pet shop to four and then three. Then one day about six years ago, the owner of the shop wanted to talk to Ben about the wages bill, and Ben told him that he simply couldn’t do it anymore. And with that he became a full-time beekeeper. Initially, things went well; the income from removing swarms was good, and Ben also started eradicating European wasps (people were often calling him for bees mistakenly, when they had a wasp infestation), and this necessitated accreditation with a pest control license. Incidentally, Ben believes it is important to charge for removal of swarms; it is, after all, a service which requires appropriate expertise and equipment, plus insurance, certifications, etc., all of which cost money. Anyway, after about Easter, things started to go quiet. Ben had been pouring money back into his business but was forced to max out a $40,000 credit card limit to make ends meet. Fortunately, soon it was September again, and along came some lucrative pollination jobs. Ben points to the importance of diversification, of finding your niche and of working with people and finding people you can work with - even if they are from completely different industries. He also learnt a valuable lesson from the only bad review he has received. One day, when it was hot and the bees were stinging, a man rang Ben’s mobile for a chat. Ben made the mistake of answering the phone but his manner was (perhaps understandably) a little short and sweet. Consequently, now Ben doesn’t answer the phone unless he can give the caller his full and undivided attention. Ben has some valuable tips about marketing and branding too; he says that every post he puts on social media is evaluated by three criteria; it must entertain, educate and inspire. He cautions against undervaluing both yourself and the bees (“If you’re too cheap, it’s a race to the bottom”) and underscores the value of excellent service, and of staying positive (“Don’t think negative thoughts….be excited, because the job we do as a beekeeper is a marvelous job”). Ben says that he is still learning and evolving, and reveals that he once even went to comedy school in an effort to make his interactions with customers more memorable! www.bensbees.com.au

When we last met Kristofer Fricke, some months back in episode 94 of the Bees with Ben podcast, he was preparing to head to Africa to work on a couple of beekeeping aid projects. Well, he has just got back, and Ben couldn’t wait to hear what he has been up to. This episode of the podcast is also being broadcast on YouTube, and Kris is aptly dressed for the occasion in what he describes as a ‘Ghanaian smock’. Ghana was in fact his first stop, where he was to spend three weeks working on a project funded by the German government, in partnership with QSI, a major European food testing laboratory. The objective was to make Ghanaian honey fit for export, and the enterprise was rather unimaginatively entitled the ‘Make Ghanaian honey fit for export project’! The problem was that although Ghana has lots of beekeepers that are reasonably proficient at their craft, the honey simply doesn’t measure up to international standards. Kris stayed a week in three different locations talking to groups of 50-70 trainees about the best practices for harvesting honey, as well as common problems associated with the top bar hives, which are universally used by Ghanaian beekeepers. Quality issues are created by the common practice of harvesting honey at night - primarily because the bees are less aggressive. However, in the dark, it is easy for beekeepers to contaminate the honey with brood, or uncapped honey. Kris says that he saw a lot of honey that was cloudy - indicating the presence of brood - and tasted some which was part fermented, or unripe. Testing also indicated the presence of significant amounts of smoke in the honey, but Kris doesn’t believe this is attributable to the use of smokers. It is more likely to be due to the traditional method of lighting a fire under the hive to chase the bees out before harvesting honey. Undaunted by the beekeepers’ reluctance to work their hives during daylight hours, on the first day Kris inspected some hive in which the bees did indeed seem quite agitated. On the second day, three hives were opened. The first two were reasonably easy to manage, but the third quickly became very aggressive. Kris admits to perhaps becoming a little complacent due to his previous experiences in Africa, and was unwilling to admit defeat due to the adverse effect this would have on the local beekeepers, so he attempted to power through, but was soon forced to abort as people within a 200-metre radius were being harassed by the bees. It took 45 minutes for the enraged insects to calm down! A similar incident happened the next day, at a different location. Invoking the mantra that ‘I do not run from bees’ Kris was attempting to beat a dignified retreat from an angry hive, but soon his face became covered in bees, and he was forced to run for it. These events compelled Kris to admit that Ghanaian bees were far more aggressive than those that he had experienced in other parts of Africa. Consequently, after that, hives were generally opened in the last hour of daylight, and not around people working, and there were no further problems. The local beekeepers were convinced that their bees would be more docile in the early morning, so they also ended up opening a lot of hives between 7:00 and 9:00 a.m. and this worked quite well.