Join us as we explore the world of beekeeping through the fascinating experiences of Randy McCaffrey, known as 628 Dirt Rooster on social media. Randy's journey into beekeeping began unexpectedly when his brother enlisted his help with a challenging bee cutout from an old furniture warehouse. This adrenaline-filled encounter sparked Randy's passion for beekeeping, and he soon discovered that his skills in construction and woodwork were invaluable assets. Listen in as Randy recounts his early adventures, including an intense cutout from a farmhouse that left him with numerous bee stings but a newfound love for this unique hobby.
Throughout the episode, we also touch on various philosophies in beekeeping, including the treatment-free approach and the natural adaptation of bees. With personal anecdotes and insights from recent conferences, we discuss the importance of understanding bee health beyond chemical treatments. Randy shares his experiences with hive management and the joys and challenges of splitting hives, handling cutouts, and managing excess colonies. You'll hear about the intersection of faith, regenerative agriculture, and beekeeping practices, highlighting a belief in natural solutions over reliance on pharmaceuticals.
Finally, we emphasize the significance of construction knowledge in bee cutouts and how it often outweighs beekeeping expertise for those interested in the field. Randy offers practical advice for aspiring beekeepers, sharing effective techniques for bee removal from buildings and the importance of preventative maintenance. From utilizing infrared technology to locate bee colonies to the nuances of insurance considerations for cutout work, this episode provides a comprehensive overview for beginners and seasoned beekeepers alike. Tune in to learn about Randy's unique journey and gain valuable insights into the captivating world of beekeeping.
Links Mentioned in the Episode
628DirtRooster on YouTube
Apiary Chronicles Links
website
Check out the Grazing Grass Podcast
Chapters
- (00:00) - Introduction to Today's Show
- (00:21) - Fast Five with Randy McCaffrey
- (01:51) - Randy's Journey into Beekeeping
- (01:56) - First Cutout Experience
- (03:16) - Challenges and Thrills of Early Beekeeping
- (04:43) - Developing a Beekeeping Business
- (05:11) - Equipment Choices for Cutouts
- (08:47) - Managing Hot Bees
- (13:34) - Philosophy on Beekeeping and Treatments
- (22:08) - Swarm Catching Techniques
- (27:49) - Introduction to Cutouts
- (28:40) - Who Should Do Cutouts?
- (29:10) - Challenges and Expertise Required
- (29:50) - Construction Knowledge Over Beekeeping
- (31:56) - Practical Tips for Cutouts
- (39:35) - Handling and Saving Bees
- (44:41) - Preventing Bees from Returning
- (52:42) - Insurance and Business Considerations
- (54:02) - Famous Four Questions
NOTE This file was generated by Descript
00:00:00 --> 00:00:03 On today's show, we talk about how cutouts were the pathway
00:00:03 --> 00:00:05 for getting started with bees.
00:00:07 --> 00:00:12 We discuss Randy's journey, a little bit about swarms, and then we dive in to
00:00:12 --> 00:00:16 doing cutouts what you should know, who should do cut outs in how he does them.
00:00:17 --> 00:00:18 It's a great episode.
00:00:18 --> 00:00:19 You'll enjoy.
00:00:21 --> 00:00:22 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: So we'll get started with the Fast Five.
00:00:23 --> 00:00:25 First question, what's your name?
00:00:25 --> 00:00:28 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: Randy McCaffrey, 628 Dirt
00:00:28 --> 00:00:30 Rooster on social media.
00:00:31 --> 00:00:33 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: And what's your apiary's name?
00:00:34 --> 00:00:36 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: Well, the one here at home, I call
00:00:36 --> 00:00:39 it Flat Branch Bee Ranch, because we have a little creek that runs behind
00:00:39 --> 00:00:40 the property called Flat Branch.
00:00:40 --> 00:00:43 It doesn't touch my property, but it's close enough,
00:00:43 --> 00:00:43 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh, yeah.
00:00:44 --> 00:00:45 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: just, I thought it had a nice ring to it.
00:00:46 --> 00:00:47 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: It, it does, yeah.
00:00:47 --> 00:00:48 And where are you located?
00:00:49 --> 00:00:51 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: We're in South Mississippi in Gulfport,
00:00:51 --> 00:00:57 almost on the, the Gulf of Mexico, or the Gulf of, Gulf of America, depending
00:00:57 --> 00:00:59 on, depending on when this airs.
00:00:59 --> 00:00:59 Ha
00:00:59 --> 00:01:01 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Pending the name change, yeah.
00:01:02 --> 00:01:04 What year did you start with bees?
00:01:05 --> 00:01:08 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: I started in 2010 when I was 40 years old,
00:01:10 --> 00:01:11 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh yes, very good.
00:01:11 --> 00:01:13 And how many colonies do you manage?
00:01:14 --> 00:01:16 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: I generally run under 50.
00:01:16 --> 00:01:19 Sometimes I'll get up to a hundred during the year, but I'll sell them
00:01:19 --> 00:01:20 all off or give a lot of them away.
00:01:20 --> 00:01:23 Cause I just don't have time to, I do so many other things.
00:01:23 --> 00:01:24 I just don't have time to manage that many.
00:01:24 --> 00:01:25 So
00:01:25 --> 00:01:26 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh yeah.
00:01:26 --> 00:01:28 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: normally 35 to 30 to 50.
00:01:28 --> 00:01:32 So we're probably, you know, middle of winter here.
00:01:32 --> 00:01:35 We're probably 30 ish.
00:01:37 --> 00:01:39 Hate to say I hadn't been out and looked in a little bit.
00:01:39 --> 00:01:44 Cal: Welcome to Apiary Chronicles, where we dive deep into the world of beekeeping
00:01:44 --> 00:01:46 and the people who make it all happen.
00:01:46 --> 00:01:50 I'm Cal Hardage your host and fellow bee enthusiast.
00:01:51 --> 00:01:52 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: So Randy, you mentioned you got
00:01:52 --> 00:01:54 started with bees in 2010.
00:01:55 --> 00:01:55 Why bees?
00:01:57 --> 00:01:59 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: I was a contractor and my brother
00:01:59 --> 00:02:04 talked me into helping him with a cutout and it was just it was a unique
00:02:04 --> 00:02:07 situation, unique hive, unique location.
00:02:08 --> 00:02:09 Everything about it was just different.
00:02:09 --> 00:02:14 It was in an old warehouse, furniture warehouse, but in the 1860s with the
00:02:14 --> 00:02:18 big six foot iron pulleys and the big
00:02:18 --> 00:02:19 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh yeah.
00:02:19 --> 00:02:20 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: hand crank this elevator up
00:02:20 --> 00:02:21 and down with the furniture.
00:02:22 --> 00:02:25 So we had to go in the top of this old building and get to these bees
00:02:25 --> 00:02:30 that were in this wall between another wall that was still standing from a
00:02:30 --> 00:02:31 building that had burnt down next door.
00:02:32 --> 00:02:33 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh, yes.
00:02:34 --> 00:02:35 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: it had piled up with debris
00:02:35 --> 00:02:39 over the years and the bees had gotten up in between all this.
00:02:39 --> 00:02:44 And my brother had just recently gotten into beekeeping and him
00:02:44 --> 00:02:46 and a friend of his thought they wanted to do some cutouts.
00:02:46 --> 00:02:51 And he just caught, he calls me and says, I need your help to, to get to some bees.
00:02:51 --> 00:02:53 And I was like you need, you just need my tools.
00:02:53 --> 00:02:54 Come get them, whatever you need.
00:02:55 --> 00:02:58 He said, no, I need your, I need your expertise.
00:02:58 --> 00:03:02 I need your brain to figure out how to get to them without destroying this building.
00:03:02 --> 00:03:05 And so I went and helped him, helped him out with that.
00:03:05 --> 00:03:08 And I just thought, you know, that was really pretty interesting and
00:03:08 --> 00:03:10 a little bit of an adrenaline rush.
00:03:10 --> 00:03:13 We didn't have, I didn't have a bee suit and,
00:03:13 --> 00:03:13 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh yeah.
00:03:14 --> 00:03:15 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: so I had.
00:03:16 --> 00:03:21 We had, we were members of a hunting camp with an old house on it, and I had gotten
00:03:21 --> 00:03:25 wind that that house had a hive in it, or had two hives in it, is what they thought.
00:03:26 --> 00:03:30 And I called the club president, who was my neighbor, I said, hey, y'all
00:03:30 --> 00:03:31 gonna tear that house down out here?
00:03:31 --> 00:03:32 He said, yes.
00:03:33 --> 00:03:34 Can I get the bees out of here?
00:03:34 --> 00:03:36 Oh, they'd be doing us a great favor.
00:03:36 --> 00:03:42 So I went up and spent all evening, all night not having
00:03:42 --> 00:03:44 any clue really what I was doing.
00:03:44 --> 00:03:47 Had this little cheap, I don't even remember where I got this
00:03:47 --> 00:03:48 suit, this cheap little bee suit.
00:03:49 --> 00:03:53 canvas suit and it was hot summertime when you get sweaty there's some suits
00:03:53 --> 00:03:55 just stick to you and bees go through them like you're wearing a napkin or
00:03:55 --> 00:04:03 something so you know i just got really tore up 70 or 80 stings just swollen
00:04:03 --> 00:04:07 real bad my body wasn't used to it yet but i got some i got some bees out of
00:04:07 --> 00:04:14 it And I got home late at night, came in the house and, and my wife gets out of
00:04:14 --> 00:04:19 bed and comes in the bathroom, looks at me, she says, Oh, honey, what happened?
00:04:19 --> 00:04:21 And I was like, I just got through taking some bees out.
00:04:21 --> 00:04:24 And she says, What, what are you gonna do?
00:04:24 --> 00:04:26 You know, like, are you gonna go to the hospital?
00:04:26 --> 00:04:26 And I was
00:04:26 --> 00:04:26 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: yeah.
00:04:26 --> 00:04:28 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: ah, I I think I'm gonna do it again.
00:04:28 --> 00:04:30 And she's like, I'm going back to bed.
00:04:31 --> 00:04:31 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh, yeah.
00:04:32 --> 00:04:34 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: So, so, you know, it's just, I'm
00:04:34 --> 00:04:36 a little bit of a thrill seeker, as most beekeepers probably are.
00:04:36 --> 00:04:41 So it just turned into that for a little while and, and it just was interesting.
00:04:41 --> 00:04:43 So I just stuck with it, you know?
00:04:43 --> 00:04:46 And then after a while it got to be where I got a name for myself because
00:04:46 --> 00:04:50 I knew construction and, and wood, and wood food would be so anybody had.
00:04:50 --> 00:04:54 problems that needed them gone and didn't just want somebody to come.
00:04:55 --> 00:04:58 You know, if you would love to have some bees, I'm like, yeah, I got all
00:04:58 --> 00:05:01 the bees I'd love to have, but you need
00:05:01 --> 00:05:03 somebody, if you need somebody knows what they're doing, that's going to leave
00:05:03 --> 00:05:06 your place better than they got there.
00:05:06 --> 00:05:07 I'm the guy.
00:05:07 --> 00:05:09 So that's how it turned into a job or a business.
00:05:10 --> 00:05:11 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh, yes.
00:05:11 --> 00:05:16 And when you, you did those first cutouts, what kind of equipment
00:05:16 --> 00:05:18 did you decide to go with?
00:05:19 --> 00:05:23 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: That first one I, I did I kind of knew
00:05:23 --> 00:05:25 what the structure of the house was.
00:05:25 --> 00:05:27 It was an old, old farmhouse.
00:05:28 --> 00:05:29 Really another unique build.
00:05:29 --> 00:05:32 So my first two were just in super unique properties.
00:05:32 --> 00:05:34 This house was built, everything was on 45s.
00:05:34 --> 00:05:35 You go in,
00:05:35 --> 00:05:36 there's
00:05:36 --> 00:05:36 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh, yes.
00:05:37 --> 00:05:38 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: 45 degree wall.
00:05:38 --> 00:05:40 You go into the living room, it's built on an angle.
00:05:40 --> 00:05:42 And then the kitchen is an angle from that.
00:05:42 --> 00:05:47 And it's got this big apron farm sink that people would kill for these days.
00:05:49 --> 00:05:54 And over on the other side of the kitchen is this big mantle not high ceilings,
00:05:54 --> 00:05:55 eight, nine, Eight foot probably
00:05:56 --> 00:05:56 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh yeah.
00:05:57 --> 00:05:58 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: So I go in there and I looked
00:05:58 --> 00:06:02 and the bees are between the, the above the fireplace and behind the
00:06:02 --> 00:06:04 chimney and this chimney steps out.
00:06:04 --> 00:06:04 So it's.
00:06:06 --> 00:06:07 angle off the sides.
00:06:08 --> 00:06:12 And so I called, I said, I called the guy said, I think I'm going to
00:06:12 --> 00:06:15 have to do this from the outside and I've got to tear siding off you.
00:06:15 --> 00:06:16 You're okay if I don't put it back, right?
00:06:16 --> 00:06:18 He said, yeah, that's all right.
00:06:18 --> 00:06:20 so so I'll go around there.
00:06:20 --> 00:06:21 I had, I'd brought a generator.
00:06:22 --> 00:06:28 And a skill saw and I just found a stud and made some vertical cuts and started
00:06:28 --> 00:06:33 pulling this lap side and off this old wood lap side and, and you know, just
00:06:33 --> 00:06:38 started reaching just reaching as deep as I could dig shoulder depth for, for
00:06:38 --> 00:06:40 a lot of it and just getting stung and.
00:06:40 --> 00:06:43 And and I just, I'm not quitting.
00:06:43 --> 00:06:43 I'm not a quitter.
00:06:43 --> 00:06:44 You can't
00:06:44 --> 00:06:46 make me go, can't make me go away.
00:06:46 --> 00:06:50 So I'm scooping, pulling out big wads of comb and framing up what
00:06:50 --> 00:06:53 I could, my, you know, I had a little direction from my brother.
00:06:53 --> 00:06:56 He showed up for a few minutes and then his, one of his kids got stung
00:06:56 --> 00:07:01 and so they took off and little bit of direction from them on how to frame
00:07:01 --> 00:07:05 comb and, and what to keep and what not to keep, what's brewed and what's, you
00:07:05 --> 00:07:07 know, 'cause I didn't know any of that.
00:07:07 --> 00:07:07 So,
00:07:07 --> 00:07:08 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh yeah.
00:07:08 --> 00:07:09 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: I had gotten some old equipment
00:07:09 --> 00:07:10 from him and so I framed up.
00:07:11 --> 00:07:16 Enough to, to make two colonies and I, and I actually did get two colonies out of it.
00:07:16 --> 00:07:21 They, surprisingly, it was warm enough and I had bees, I had enough bees on
00:07:21 --> 00:07:25 everything, that they made another queen in the queenless, in the queenless side.
00:07:25 --> 00:07:28 But, so I, I framed them all up.
00:07:29 --> 00:07:33 In an enclosed trailer and strapped it all down, not thinking
00:07:33 --> 00:07:35 about the ride home for an hour.
00:07:35 --> 00:07:36 And so
00:07:36 --> 00:07:39 when I, when I get home in the middle of the night and I drop this ramp door on the
00:07:39 --> 00:07:42 back, the walls are just covered in bees.
00:07:42 --> 00:07:44 And I'm like, oh no.
00:07:44 --> 00:07:46 And I'm already, I've already been destroyed, you know?
00:07:46 --> 00:07:47 So I was just
00:07:47 --> 00:07:48 like, ah.
00:07:48 --> 00:07:52 Here we go, so I put the, put the suit back on, lit the smoker back up,
00:07:53 --> 00:07:58 and took a dust pan and a, and a bee brush, which is the easiest thing to
00:07:58 --> 00:08:00 piss them off with is a bee brush,
00:08:00 --> 00:08:01 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: it is, yeah.
00:08:01 --> 00:08:04 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: and so I'm scoop, scooping them in dust pans
00:08:04 --> 00:08:07 and dumping them in whichever box and set them out, so it was like one or two in the
00:08:07 --> 00:08:09 morning before I even got in the house.
00:08:10 --> 00:08:18 But so my first go at it was a generator, a skill saw and some kind of knife.
00:08:18 --> 00:08:19 I really don't even remember.
00:08:19 --> 00:08:23 It's been so long ago, but I wish I had had the foresight to
00:08:23 --> 00:08:26 record it because that would have been a fun one to look back at.
00:08:27 --> 00:08:29 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh yeah, it would have been, yeah.
00:08:29 --> 00:08:31 And, and you had to benefit, they didn't want you to put
00:08:31 --> 00:08:33 it all back together either.
00:08:33 --> 00:08:34 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: correct.
00:08:34 --> 00:08:36 Thankfully, you know, it had a lot of rod in it, but
00:08:37 --> 00:08:41 they, they weren't interested in me doing any repairs, which was a real
00:08:41 --> 00:08:42 bonus because I would have had to make.
00:08:42 --> 00:08:43 another trip
00:08:44 --> 00:08:45 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh yeah.
00:08:45 --> 00:08:45 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: to finish the job.
00:08:47 --> 00:08:47 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Yeah.
00:08:47 --> 00:08:49 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: these, these were, these turned
00:08:49 --> 00:08:50 out to be some fairly hot bees.
00:08:51 --> 00:08:55 And and so for the, and it was my first two colonies.
00:08:55 --> 00:08:56 And so I would go out there.
00:08:57 --> 00:08:58 My office is at my house.
00:08:58 --> 00:09:02 I would get bored and go out there during the day and crack the lid.
00:09:02 --> 00:09:04 I still, still don't have any protection on at this point.
00:09:04 --> 00:09:07 I'd crack the lid and see how long it'd take for them to start
00:09:07 --> 00:09:09 bumping, bumping me or get stung.
00:09:09 --> 00:09:11 And I'd go back inside and go back to work.
00:09:11 --> 00:09:11 Just.
00:09:12 --> 00:09:14 You know, sometimes two or three times a day I'm out there fooling with them
00:09:14 --> 00:09:17 just because I was curious and interested
00:09:17 --> 00:09:17 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: yeah.
00:09:18 --> 00:09:20 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: and so you know, just hooked
00:09:20 --> 00:09:21 really off the get go.
00:09:23 --> 00:09:26 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: You know, I had bees in my backyard for years.
00:09:26 --> 00:09:28 Actually, that's where my bees are now.
00:09:28 --> 00:09:32 But I had a, a supercede event, or actually I split a
00:09:32 --> 00:09:34 hive and they raised a queen.
00:09:34 --> 00:09:37 And They were some of the hottest bees I'd ever been around.
00:09:38 --> 00:09:42 They would chase me to the house, so I moved them out in the pasture.
00:09:42 --> 00:09:47 And of course, that hive grew better than any of my other hives, and
00:09:47 --> 00:09:49 I just dreaded dealing with it.
00:09:49 --> 00:09:53 I'd take care of everything else, then I'd go down there, and it got to the point I
00:09:53 --> 00:09:55 decided, I don't care, I'm splitting it.
00:09:56 --> 00:09:59 And I split, I took each super that was on that hive, and it was
00:09:59 --> 00:10:01 like four or five at the time.
00:10:01 --> 00:10:07 And I split it all out so I had four or five nucs there, or would be eventually.
00:10:08 --> 00:10:10 I thought, I gotta get rid of that queen, I can't survive
00:10:10 --> 00:10:11 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: Yeah.
00:10:11 --> 00:10:11 Hmm.
00:10:11 --> 00:10:12 Yeah.
00:10:12 --> 00:10:16 Well, those those hot ones, and I've pulled it, you know, every
00:10:16 --> 00:10:18 year I get at least one hot.
00:10:18 --> 00:10:21 I pull, I pull enough hives that I get to select from what I want to
00:10:21 --> 00:10:22 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh, yeah.
00:10:22 --> 00:10:23 Oh, yeah.
00:10:23 --> 00:10:23 Oh, yeah.
00:10:24 --> 00:10:26 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: And early on, You know, we didn't
00:10:26 --> 00:10:29 know what chemical treating was or anything like that.
00:10:29 --> 00:10:32 Well, when, when we finally figured out what all that was, my dad, my brother
00:10:32 --> 00:10:37 were all in on it and I, and I had, they learned that stuff, I don't know, a year
00:10:37 --> 00:10:42 or two before I did, well, when they started figuring out they wanted to treat.
00:10:43 --> 00:10:46 And had been treating and then they started telling me you got to treat her
00:10:46 --> 00:10:48 all your bees are going to die And I'm like my bees are doing just fine like
00:10:48 --> 00:10:54 they are so you know you treat yours We'll let mine do what they're doing.
00:10:54 --> 00:10:59 We'll see who comes out the best Well, my dad just he's so stubborn.
00:10:59 --> 00:11:03 He wants to come over and treat my bees anyway And and I and I would be like stay
00:11:03 --> 00:11:08 out of my yard, you know, treat your own bees leave mine alone So I would put my
00:11:08 --> 00:11:11 hottest hives up front knowing that that's you know That's where he's gonna start.
00:11:11 --> 00:11:12 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: He's gonna go first.
00:11:13 --> 00:11:14 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: gonna, that's where he's going for.
00:11:14 --> 00:11:17 So he would call me and he'd go, you gotta, you gotta do
00:11:17 --> 00:11:18 something with those bees.
00:11:18 --> 00:11:19 I said, what are you talking about?
00:11:19 --> 00:11:20 Those bees at your house.
00:11:20 --> 00:11:23 I said, what are you doing over there fooling with them?
00:11:23 --> 00:11:24 Well, they needed to be treated.
00:11:24 --> 00:11:25 I said, no, they didn't need to be
00:11:25 --> 00:11:26 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh, yeah.
00:11:26 --> 00:11:28 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: He said, well, those first two, I
00:11:28 --> 00:11:29 need you to put the lids back on them.
00:11:30 --> 00:11:31 He would just leave.
00:11:32 --> 00:11:33 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Yeah.
00:11:33 --> 00:11:34 Oh, yeah.
00:11:34 --> 00:11:37 That was a good move to provide that barrier
00:11:37 --> 00:11:37 there.
00:11:39 --> 00:11:43 Now, with your bees, have they all came from cutouts or the
00:11:43 --> 00:11:44 origins of most of your hives?
00:11:46 --> 00:11:49 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: most of them, but, but the, the initial
00:11:49 --> 00:11:54 colony, but there again, we do run a lot of Queens from wonderful bees or
00:11:54 --> 00:11:55 other, other places that are running
00:11:55 --> 00:11:57 pure Italian genetics and stuff like that.
00:11:57 --> 00:12:04 So most feral bees are an Italian variety or, or a good mix of Italian.
00:12:04 --> 00:12:08 So I'm not preferential to any particular type.
00:12:08 --> 00:12:10 We've got guys that run straight Russians around here.
00:12:10 --> 00:12:12 That are commercial beekeepers.
00:12:12 --> 00:12:16 We've got commercial guys that run Italians and that's pretty much it.
00:12:16 --> 00:12:20 Nobody else really runs, you know, carnies or Caucasians or anything.
00:12:20 --> 00:12:22 It's all, it's either Russians or Italians.
00:12:22 --> 00:12:25 So that's kind of what we have a selection of.
00:12:25 --> 00:12:26 And so I'll, I'll.
00:12:27 --> 00:12:32 Requeen a lot with graphs from wonderful because they run 1200 graphs a day.
00:12:32 --> 00:12:33 So if I need
00:12:34 --> 00:12:34 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh
00:12:34 --> 00:12:36 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: if I need if I need Queens during
00:12:36 --> 00:12:40 the season, it doesn't make sense for me to be running you know, all
00:12:40 --> 00:12:44 kinds of boxes to try to make Queens I can run up to their place and grab
00:12:44 --> 00:12:47 a few and we swap out back and forth.
00:12:47 --> 00:12:51 So I've got I've got, I've actually got his apame set up
00:12:51 --> 00:12:54 that he won at the, at Knobby,
00:12:54 --> 00:12:55 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh yes.
00:12:55 --> 00:12:57 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: North American Honeybee Expo was
00:12:57 --> 00:13:00 just a last, you know, week and a half ago, I guess, week ago,
00:13:00 --> 00:13:03 whatever it was, two weeks ago now,
00:13:03 --> 00:13:05 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Yeah, time flies.
00:13:05 --> 00:13:05 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: flies.
00:13:06 --> 00:13:09 he signed up for House for Heroes and as a mentor
00:13:10 --> 00:13:11 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh yes.
00:13:11 --> 00:13:12 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: it put his name in the
00:13:12 --> 00:13:13 drawing for a apame setup.
00:13:13 --> 00:13:17 So he got a double deep apame setup and I brought it home for him because he flew.
00:13:17 --> 00:13:20 So he's, when he gets it back, it's going to have 628 Dirt
00:13:20 --> 00:13:21 Rooster painted across the side,
00:13:23 --> 00:13:24 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Yeah, that's,
00:13:24 --> 00:13:26 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: just in case anything ever happens.
00:13:27 --> 00:13:28 Everybody knows whose backside it is.
00:13:29 --> 00:13:30 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: oh yeah, there you go.
00:13:30 --> 00:13:31 Exactly.
00:13:31 --> 00:13:32 Yeah, it sounds like a great plan there.
00:13:33 --> 00:13:33 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: yeah,
00:13:34 --> 00:13:37 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: You spoke, you've spoken a couple of times kind of
00:13:37 --> 00:13:39 towards your philosophy of beekeeping.
00:13:40 --> 00:13:42 Doesn't sound like you do treatments.
00:13:42 --> 00:13:44 You mentioned leaving bees alone.
00:13:44 --> 00:13:47 Can you expand upon your kind of your philosophy of how
00:13:47 --> 00:13:48 you should manage your bees?
00:13:48 --> 00:13:49 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: sure.
00:13:49 --> 00:13:50 And I don't care.
00:13:50 --> 00:13:51 I don't care if you treat or not.
00:13:51 --> 00:13:53 For me, I'm treatment free.
00:13:53 --> 00:13:56 I don't care what you do with your bees, you know, either way, whatever.
00:13:57 --> 00:14:00 But I see, I see other people that are hardline treatment.
00:14:01 --> 00:14:04 You know, if you don't treat, you're some kind of a bad person or whatever.
00:14:04 --> 00:14:04 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh, yeah.
00:14:05 --> 00:14:06 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: And, then you look at their
00:14:06 --> 00:14:08 numbers and you're like, well, you know, what are your numbers?
00:14:08 --> 00:14:09 Half of them don't even know.
00:14:11 --> 00:14:12 They're not doing any tests.
00:14:12 --> 00:14:13 They're not doing any mic washes or anything.
00:14:13 --> 00:14:14 So they don't really know their numbers.
00:14:14 --> 00:14:16 They just know I have to treat and I'm using
00:14:17 --> 00:14:21 whatever, you know, might away quick strips or whatever they're using, but they
00:14:21 --> 00:14:22 can't tell you what their numbers are.
00:14:22 --> 00:14:26 And then at the end of the season, like, Oh, how'd you do?
00:14:26 --> 00:14:29 You know, I might to get a couple of nukes from you next year.
00:14:29 --> 00:14:31 I'm like, Oh yeah, for real.
00:14:33 --> 00:14:34 That is, and that's pretty common.
00:14:34 --> 00:14:35 And, and.
00:14:35 --> 00:14:38 And I don't, I don't put my finger in their chest and go, I told you so.
00:14:38 --> 00:14:40 Cause I don't, like I said, I don't really care.
00:14:40 --> 00:14:45 But I, for me, it's, it's more of a thing that God made us all
00:14:46 --> 00:14:50 insects, humans, whatever we can, we can adapt to a lot of things.
00:14:50 --> 00:14:51 And I think honeybees are the same way.
00:14:52 --> 00:14:55 And I see this in these cutouts that I do is that they can adapt
00:14:55 --> 00:14:58 to a situation as long as they're given the right environment.
00:14:58 --> 00:14:59 I don't
00:14:59 --> 00:15:01 think they, I don't think they need that kind of help.
00:15:01 --> 00:15:02 So, and I kind of.
00:15:03 --> 00:15:07 This is kind of skirting the line of what makes any sense
00:15:07 --> 00:15:09 to anybody but me, I guess.
00:15:09 --> 00:15:13 If I start giving myself testosterone, if I start taking steroids or
00:15:13 --> 00:15:17 whatever, my body will quit producing what it needs to produce on its own.
00:15:18 --> 00:15:22 And if I come off of that, it takes a long time for your body to recover from that.
00:15:22 --> 00:15:24 And I think bees are the same way.
00:15:24 --> 00:15:28 If you're chemically doing something for them that their body can do naturally,
00:15:29 --> 00:15:34 And also you know, they get these chemicals that are friendly to the bee,
00:15:35 --> 00:15:36 but it kills other insects in the hive.
00:15:36 --> 00:15:39 Well, bees are insects as well, and it does affect them.
00:15:39 --> 00:15:40 And, and I
00:15:40 --> 00:15:41 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh, yeah.
00:15:42 --> 00:15:44 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: it's funny cause I do, you know,
00:15:44 --> 00:15:47 I don't go deep on that because I'm, I'm fighting the tide.
00:15:48 --> 00:15:51 You know, it's, it's, it's really, really tough to.
00:15:52 --> 00:15:56 Talk against treatments when that's what everybody wants to do.
00:15:56 --> 00:15:58 And it's as soon as somebody gets into beekeeping.
00:15:58 --> 00:16:02 They're immediately indoctrinated into This is what you have
00:16:02 --> 00:16:05 to do and we're going to talk about mites at every bee club
00:16:05 --> 00:16:10 meeting week you ever go to and so I was encouraged though, there was
00:16:10 --> 00:16:15 a lady at the North Carolina state conference I spoke at this past year.
00:16:16 --> 00:16:19 And, and like I said, I don't go real deep into it in my talks because it's
00:16:19 --> 00:16:23 I show them some data beyond that.
00:16:24 --> 00:16:25 I'm not going to argue with you.
00:16:25 --> 00:16:26 I don't really care.
00:16:27 --> 00:16:29 But so I showed, I spoke about that and showed some of my
00:16:29 --> 00:16:31 statistics and some of my data.
00:16:31 --> 00:16:35 And she, she, was also speaking there, but she didn't know who I was.
00:16:35 --> 00:16:36 And she sat in on one of my talks.
00:16:36 --> 00:16:40 And then I walked in about midway through her talk.
00:16:40 --> 00:16:41 This is a room of.
00:16:42 --> 00:16:43 You know, 500 people.
00:16:43 --> 00:16:44 So she didn't know I was back there.
00:16:44 --> 00:16:48 She wasn't saying this for, for brownie points or whatever,
00:16:48 --> 00:16:48 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh, yeah.
00:16:49 --> 00:16:51 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: she goes, she's sewing her stuff and
00:16:51 --> 00:16:54 you know, I was like, Oh yeah, that's kind of, that's kind of what I'm seeing.
00:16:54 --> 00:16:58 And she goes, and that guy that was here earlier, something.
00:16:58 --> 00:17:00 Chicken something and everybody goes dirt rooster.
00:17:00 --> 00:17:04 And she goes, yeah, that guy, he, what he was saying is exactly right.
00:17:04 --> 00:17:11 And she's some university something, but she has a minder equipment on her,
00:17:11 --> 00:17:12 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh yeah,
00:17:12 --> 00:17:12 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: all her hives.
00:17:12 --> 00:17:17 And she was able to track data and see, you know, when bees fly out to
00:17:17 --> 00:17:22 forage, which colonies are bringing in, if, if Colonies get robbed.
00:17:22 --> 00:17:23 She can tell you which colonies are doing the
00:17:23 --> 00:17:24 robbing.
00:17:24 --> 00:17:26 Just a whole lot of data like that.
00:17:26 --> 00:17:30 And so when she said that I was like, man I got to find out who this lady
00:17:30 --> 00:17:33 is and get her information because what she's Saying is backing up
00:17:33 --> 00:17:34 everything that I'm talking about.
00:17:35 --> 00:17:40 So I you know, I just have an opinion that God designs us all to to adapt
00:17:40 --> 00:17:46 to our surroundings and our situations without the help of Big Pharma, you
00:17:47 --> 00:17:48 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Right, right.
00:17:48 --> 00:17:51 Well, you know, when we, when we think about regenerative ag, you know,
00:17:51 --> 00:17:56 that movement is moving away from all these things we're using to prop up
00:17:57 --> 00:18:01 land, prop up forage, prop up cattle the others propping up
00:18:01 --> 00:18:03 bees trying to go more natural.
00:18:03 --> 00:18:07 And yeah, I, I figured the Lord does, does a much better
00:18:07 --> 00:18:08 job at that stuff than we do.
00:18:09 --> 00:18:10 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: And that's, and that's why you know,
00:18:10 --> 00:18:15 I'm not a cattle guy, but Carbon Cowboys speaks to me a lot because
00:18:15 --> 00:18:20 it's, that's their movement and they do a really great, great job of putting it out
00:18:20 --> 00:18:22 there in a way that people will receive it
00:18:23 --> 00:18:24 and start to use it.
00:18:25 --> 00:18:29 And so yeah, I don't, you know, I don't know if people, It's a philosophy other
00:18:29 --> 00:18:35 than, you know, don't, I, I started, I almost did a t shirt, I almost did
00:18:35 --> 00:18:38 a couple of t shirts to wear to Nabi, but I was just like, God, do I really
00:18:38 --> 00:18:40 want to start a fight with somebody?
00:18:40 --> 00:18:44 But, but, you know, it's just me having fun.
00:18:44 --> 00:18:47 But one of them was I'm treatment free, just like my bees.
00:18:47 --> 00:18:51 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh yeah, yeah, that's a conversation starter
00:18:51 --> 00:18:53 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: Yeah, that's, that's how
00:18:53 --> 00:18:55 you win friends, you know?
00:18:55 --> 00:18:57 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Yeah, right, exactly.
00:18:59 --> 00:18:59 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: Yeah,
00:19:00 --> 00:19:03 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: So on your hive, you mentioned a little bit earlier, on
00:19:03 --> 00:19:08 your hives you manage, you'll get up so many and then you like to come back to
00:19:08 --> 00:19:11 about 30 or 40 or whatever number that is.
00:19:11 --> 00:19:15 Are you actively working to do some splits or is that just,
00:19:15 --> 00:19:17 you're gaining from cutouts?
00:19:18 --> 00:19:19 How are those numbers happening?
00:19:19 --> 00:19:20 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: both.
00:19:20 --> 00:19:25 So during the, during the year, like this past year, we did 118 cutouts and that's
00:19:25 --> 00:19:29 not including swarm catches or equipment we bought or anything else because I
00:19:29 --> 00:19:32 did buy, I did buy some other people's equipment, some
00:19:32 --> 00:19:35 other hives and swarm catches.
00:19:35 --> 00:19:38 I think I was at, I don't know, somewhere in the mid 20s.
00:19:38 --> 00:19:43 I don't even know the exact number, but 118 cutouts.
00:19:43 --> 00:19:48 You know, 100, 100, 90 of those, 100 of those were Good healthy colonies,
00:19:48 --> 00:19:49 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh, yeah.
00:19:49 --> 00:19:51 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: and I can't take them all.
00:19:51 --> 00:19:53 I don't have the time for them.
00:19:53 --> 00:19:55 I've got the equipment for them, and I've got the room for them.
00:19:55 --> 00:19:56 I just don't have the time for them.
00:19:56 --> 00:19:56 So,
00:19:57 --> 00:19:57 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Yes.
00:19:57 --> 00:19:59 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: if I'm, especially if I'm an hour or
00:19:59 --> 00:20:02 two hours from home, I have a, and Mr.
00:20:02 --> 00:20:05 Ed makes fun of me for it, because I have just like a Rolodex in
00:20:05 --> 00:20:05 my phone of beekeepers for,
00:20:06 --> 00:20:07 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh, yes.
00:20:07 --> 00:20:09 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: All over the United States really, because I
00:20:09 --> 00:20:10 get calls from all over the United States.
00:20:10 --> 00:20:13 So if somebody calls me and says, Hey, do you have somebody in New
00:20:13 --> 00:20:14 York that does hive removals?
00:20:14 --> 00:20:15 I go, I sure do.
00:20:15 --> 00:20:20 And I'll pull up some names and give them, but if I'm a, a good distance from home
00:20:20 --> 00:20:24 and I don't want to, I don't want the bees in the vac for that long, or if I've
00:20:24 --> 00:20:27 got somewhere else I have to go, I'll call around and say, Hey if you got equipment,
00:20:27 --> 00:20:29 can I come by and dump some bees?
00:20:29 --> 00:20:29 And I'll go.
00:20:30 --> 00:20:31 drop them off at somebody else's apiary.
00:20:32 --> 00:20:37 But during spring we do, we sell nukes.
00:20:37 --> 00:20:38 And so we're making a lot of splits and
00:20:38 --> 00:20:40 we're raising, we're raising, queens.
00:20:41 --> 00:20:47 So whatever, whatever nukes don't sell, of course turn into production colonies.
00:20:48 --> 00:20:54 And so that's, you know, in springtime I'm generally left with 20 to 30 nukes
00:20:54 --> 00:20:59 that didn't sell and those automatically go into 10 framers and then stay with us.
00:21:00 --> 00:21:06 And then, and then during, during the next two months after nuke sales, people
00:21:06 --> 00:21:09 that Whether they bought nukes from me or anybody else, they're calling me
00:21:09 --> 00:21:10 going, Hey, do you have an extra queen?
00:21:10 --> 00:21:11 I don't think I have a queen.
00:21:11 --> 00:21:12 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh, yeah.
00:21:12 --> 00:21:13 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: you know, you know how it
00:21:13 --> 00:21:14 goes with new beekeepers.
00:21:14 --> 00:21:15 They've got a queen in there.
00:21:15 --> 00:21:16 They just can't find them to save their life.
00:21:16 --> 00:21:17 So they're
00:21:18 --> 00:21:19 wanting to buy another queen.
00:21:19 --> 00:21:23 They'll put it in and they'll go, you know, that Mark queen, you just sold me.
00:21:23 --> 00:21:25 I found her on the landing board dead.
00:21:25 --> 00:21:27 And I'm like, Hey, it's because you've got a queen in there.
00:21:28 --> 00:21:28 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Yeah.
00:21:29 --> 00:21:30 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: I told you to leave them alone,
00:21:31 --> 00:21:33 but you know, it's new beekeeping.
00:21:33 --> 00:21:34 It's fun.
00:21:34 --> 00:21:34 And.
00:21:35 --> 00:21:36 We can't leave them alone, you know?
00:21:37 --> 00:21:37 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh, yeah.
00:21:37 --> 00:21:38 Yeah.
00:21:38 --> 00:21:41 I've, I've been guilty of being in my hives way too much.
00:21:42 --> 00:21:44 Now I'm on the opposite end.
00:21:44 --> 00:21:46 I've got to be in a little bit more than I, I actually am
00:21:46 --> 00:21:49 because I don't know when the last time I was in there.
00:21:51 --> 00:21:52 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: That's pretty common.
00:21:52 --> 00:21:54 Well, I mean, it's, and it's good for them.
00:21:55 --> 00:21:55 If you,
00:21:55 --> 00:21:56 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh, yeah.
00:21:56 --> 00:21:57 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: if they have the proper space and
00:21:57 --> 00:22:01 the proper, proper situation and, and aren't just being cooked in the sun
00:22:01 --> 00:22:05 or whatever, the more you leave them alone, usually the better they'll do.
00:22:06 --> 00:22:07 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Randy, we're going to talk a
00:22:07 --> 00:22:08 little bit more about your.
00:22:08 --> 00:22:12 Cut out process a little bit later, but you mentioned you
00:22:12 --> 00:22:14 catch a lot of stor Storms.
00:22:14 --> 00:22:15 Well, you may get a winter storm.
00:22:15 --> 00:22:17 You catch a lot of swarms.
00:22:18 --> 00:22:21 What do you, what's your swarm kit you take with you?
00:22:22 --> 00:22:25 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: The everything BVAC is the biggest one.
00:22:25 --> 00:22:28 The, the, that yellow battery powered VAC, this,
00:22:28 --> 00:22:31 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Well, I, I emailed them telling them they
00:22:31 --> 00:22:33 ought to be a sponsor on here.
00:22:33 --> 00:22:33 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: Yeah.
00:22:34 --> 00:22:35 Yeah, he should.
00:22:36 --> 00:22:37 So that's Tony Andrick.
00:22:37 --> 00:22:39 He developed the everything BVAC.
00:22:39 --> 00:22:39 That's all my bees.
00:22:40 --> 00:22:40 com.
00:22:42 --> 00:22:45 And you know, before that one, everything was a powered vac.
00:22:45 --> 00:22:48 And so if you brought a powered vac, you had to have a generator, which
00:22:48 --> 00:22:48 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Right.
00:22:49 --> 00:22:50 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: back then I had one of those
00:22:50 --> 00:22:52 giant heavy champion generators.
00:22:52 --> 00:22:54 It took two people to throw it in the back of a pickup truck.
00:22:55 --> 00:22:59 And so there's a lot of shaking and scraping and brushing and praying.
00:22:59 --> 00:23:03 It goes on with, with not, Using a vac on a swarm catch unless they're
00:23:03 --> 00:23:06 hanging out on a flimsy little limb and you can just bump them in a box.
00:23:06 --> 00:23:10 That's so nice, but a lot of times they're on a main branch of an
00:23:10 --> 00:23:12 oak tree and you can't shake them.
00:23:13 --> 00:23:14 You can't really brush them off.
00:23:15 --> 00:23:19 So the everything vac, it, It's phenomenal at catching swarms.
00:23:19 --> 00:23:23 It does it in a matter of a few minutes instead of a couple of hours
00:23:23 --> 00:23:25 out there fooling with these bees.
00:23:25 --> 00:23:25 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh yeah.
00:23:26 --> 00:23:28 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: because it's battery powered, you don't
00:23:28 --> 00:23:29 need any equipment and it's so light.
00:23:29 --> 00:23:31 It's got a backpack to it.
00:23:31 --> 00:23:34 You could just, you could literally show up on a bicycle and catch a swarm.
00:23:34 --> 00:23:41 But aside from that, usually an extension pole and a bucket and You know, painter's
00:23:41 --> 00:23:45 extension pole, and if I need to get something high, I'll tape a bucket to it.
00:23:45 --> 00:23:47 Boom, get up under and bump them and dump them
00:23:47 --> 00:23:48 in a box.
00:23:48 --> 00:23:55 And just a screen box or a easy nuke or something that I
00:23:55 --> 00:23:57 can close up, keep them in it.
00:23:58 --> 00:24:01 And then when I get home, I dump them in whatever situation I want them in,
00:24:01 --> 00:24:02 and I'll lock them down for 48 hours.
00:24:04 --> 00:24:06 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh yeah, lock them down for 48 hours.
00:24:07 --> 00:24:11 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: Yeah, so and don't if I have an old
00:24:11 --> 00:24:15 brood frame and they're in a hard spot to get to I'll lay an old brood frame
00:24:15 --> 00:24:18 up and let them walk on it now You know after a little while come back and get
00:24:18 --> 00:24:20 it because they'll cluster up on that.
00:24:21 --> 00:24:22 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh yeah, yeah.
00:24:24 --> 00:24:27 Sounds like you really like that everything BVAC
00:24:27 --> 00:24:28 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: Yeah, I do
00:24:29 --> 00:24:30 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: works really well.
00:24:31 --> 00:24:34 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: So if
00:24:35 --> 00:24:35 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: well,
00:24:36 --> 00:24:38 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: you're not familiar this this screws on
00:24:38 --> 00:24:44 to food safe lid that goes on five gallon bucket And it has a screen separator.
00:24:44 --> 00:24:48 So this, and also the bottom of the motor screen, but it's battery powered.
00:24:48 --> 00:24:48 So,
00:24:50 --> 00:24:50 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: oh yeah,
00:24:52 --> 00:24:54 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: and it's not the strongest thing in the world,
00:24:54 --> 00:24:59 but it does, it does a great job picking up swarms and, and, and doing cutouts.
00:24:59 --> 00:25:03 It'll run for six, eight hours.
00:25:03 --> 00:25:04 You can use it on a cutout.
00:25:04 --> 00:25:05 It's not running that entire time.
00:25:05 --> 00:25:08 No, you're not vacuuming the entire time, but it'll run for a long time.
00:25:09 --> 00:25:09 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: oh yeah,
00:25:10 --> 00:25:11 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: And if you get, when you get
00:25:11 --> 00:25:16 good with it, sometimes I'll do three cutouts and a couple swarm
00:25:16 --> 00:25:17 catches before I even recharge it.
00:25:18 --> 00:25:19 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: oh yes.
00:25:19 --> 00:25:20 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: So yeah,
00:25:20 --> 00:25:23 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: I've used a, oh yeah, very good.
00:25:23 --> 00:25:28 I've used a BVAC just a little bit because years ago I built one and used like a
00:25:29 --> 00:25:33 Dewalt wet vac that I built a box around.
00:25:34 --> 00:25:39 It was, it was It was portable, but it wasn't something you liked to be portable.
00:25:39 --> 00:25:45 Because, by the time I had a high box on there and had that box on there
00:25:45 --> 00:25:48 and I strapped them together, it's not something you're going to strap
00:25:48 --> 00:25:50 on your back and go on a bicycle with.
00:25:50 --> 00:25:51 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: Exactly.
00:25:52 --> 00:25:54 And that's why most, most BVACs are.
00:25:54 --> 00:25:58 And I've got some that are, you have to wear earplugs to use them.
00:25:58 --> 00:26:02 And, uh, you know, and I've got others that are just heavy and cumbersome.
00:26:02 --> 00:26:03 And that one's just easy.
00:26:03 --> 00:26:07 I've got some, I've got some powered ones that I like, and that probably
00:26:07 --> 00:26:10 the kill rate on that one and some of my other ones are, is very low.
00:26:11 --> 00:26:15 And some of the others I've got will do a faster job without killing bees.
00:26:15 --> 00:26:17 But you know, like I say, you got to have extension
00:26:17 --> 00:26:18 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: You've got power there.
00:26:18 --> 00:26:20 Yeah.
00:26:21 --> 00:26:23 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: it's, it's heavier than that and, and
00:26:23 --> 00:26:23 louder.
00:26:23 --> 00:26:27 And so when you're recording, like I do, it's tough trying
00:26:27 --> 00:26:28 to record over noise anyway.
00:26:29 --> 00:26:30 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh yes.
00:26:30 --> 00:26:32 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: So the the less noise I can have, the
00:26:32 --> 00:26:37 better, even, even if I, even if I can't really use much of that audio is still.
00:26:38 --> 00:26:39 It's still better to have less noise.
00:26:39 --> 00:26:43 Occasionally there's a comment or somebody is discussing something that
00:26:43 --> 00:26:45 you just want to add to the video.
00:26:45 --> 00:26:46 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh
00:26:46 --> 00:26:48 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: if it's over a noisy bucket
00:26:48 --> 00:26:50 head vac, you can't use it.
00:26:51 --> 00:26:54 And, but if it's over something like that, or you can, you can literally, I
00:26:54 --> 00:26:57 could sit right here and you, you could hear it, but we could talk over it.
00:26:58 --> 00:26:58 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh yeah,
00:26:59 --> 00:27:00 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: And so if I've got audio over something
00:27:00 --> 00:27:02 like that, I usually can use it.
00:27:03 --> 00:27:05 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: you know I'm just going to have to play this
00:27:05 --> 00:27:09 for my wife because I'm trying to convince her I need one as well.
00:27:10 --> 00:27:11 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: Well, if you're catching swarms,
00:27:11 --> 00:27:13 it will make it a lot easier.
00:27:13 --> 00:27:14 It's worth it.
00:27:14 --> 00:27:15 If you're.
00:27:15 --> 00:27:16 If that's what you're into.
00:27:17 --> 00:27:20 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: You know I don't, I don't do very much but
00:27:20 --> 00:27:24 there's some years I may catch a half dozen, I may have even caught
00:27:24 --> 00:27:26 a, into double digits a year or two.
00:27:27 --> 00:27:31 But then some years it's like I get no calls, it's just kind of interesting.
00:27:31 --> 00:27:31 Oh.
00:27:32 --> 00:27:33 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: Well, then it turns into a
00:27:33 --> 00:27:34 piece of rental equipment.
00:27:34 --> 00:27:36 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: There we go.
00:27:37 --> 00:27:38 That's right up my alley too.
00:27:38 --> 00:27:40 She, yeah.
00:27:40 --> 00:27:41 Thank you, Randy.
00:27:41 --> 00:27:43 I will be sure my wife is going to be listening.
00:27:43 --> 00:27:43 She's going to
00:27:43 --> 00:27:44 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: Yeah.
00:27:44 --> 00:27:44 Ha ha.
00:27:44 --> 00:27:46 Hey, Ha ha ha ha ha.
00:27:46 --> 00:27:47 Yeah, Yeah.
00:27:49 --> 00:27:51 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Randy, let's change gears just a little bit and go
00:27:51 --> 00:27:53 beyond the buzz and talk about cutouts.
00:27:54 --> 00:27:59 Cutouts have always fascinated me, but they, and I'll tell
00:27:59 --> 00:28:00 you why they fascinate me.
00:28:00 --> 00:28:05 When I was a teenager, we had an old dairy barn on our, on this land we
00:28:05 --> 00:28:07 bought, and there was a beehive in it.
00:28:08 --> 00:28:10 And I loved hearing those in there,
00:28:10 --> 00:28:14 and at the time, I had a few beehives, and I tried to do a
00:28:14 --> 00:28:17 trap out, and I failed miserably.
00:28:17 --> 00:28:21 And I've also done some, gotten some bee logs, and those have
00:28:21 --> 00:28:23 not worked out very good for me.
00:28:23 --> 00:28:26 But I find cutouts very interesting, however they look
00:28:26 --> 00:28:27 like too much work for me.
00:28:28 --> 00:28:32 Let's talk just a little bit about cutouts and getting started doing cutouts.
00:28:32 --> 00:28:32 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: Okay.
00:28:34 --> 00:28:35 Ask me anything on cutouts.
00:28:37 --> 00:28:38 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Well, okay.
00:28:38 --> 00:28:39 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: that's right up my alley.
00:28:40 --> 00:28:43 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: The first thing, should, should someone do cutouts?
00:28:45 --> 00:28:46 Who should do them may be the better question.
00:28:47 --> 00:28:49 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: Who should do them is I jokingly
00:28:49 --> 00:28:50 say everybody should do one.
00:28:51 --> 00:28:56 And, and it's funny because if you're, if you're in a, a large group of beekeepers
00:28:56 --> 00:28:59 and you ask how many people have ever done a cutout, hands go up all over the room.
00:28:59 --> 00:29:03 You might, if it's 200 people, there might be 25 or 30 people in
00:29:03 --> 00:29:05 the room, hands up and you say, how many people have done more than one?
00:29:05 --> 00:29:09 Boom, all those hands go down except for, except for two or three.
00:29:10 --> 00:29:14 Because, because it is an immense amount of work, it does take some expertise
00:29:14 --> 00:29:18 and, and there are people that just should not be doing it just for,
00:29:18 --> 00:29:22 for different reasons, maybe health reasons, because it's an extremely
00:29:22 --> 00:29:27 strenuous job and, and they're, you know, there are dangers associated
00:29:27 --> 00:29:29 with going up and down ladders or most, most cutouts you're going
00:29:29 --> 00:29:31 to run into are overhead work.
00:29:31 --> 00:29:32 If you've got neck
00:29:32 --> 00:29:35 problems, neck problems, or shoulder problems, you probably shouldn't
00:29:35 --> 00:29:38 be doing cutouts because most of your work is going to be overhead.
00:29:38 --> 00:29:42 It's not going to be, you know, you're going to get a few of those
00:29:42 --> 00:29:45 that are on a wall where you can stand up and, and work in front of
00:29:45 --> 00:29:49 you, but those are in the minority.
00:29:50 --> 00:29:58 So, If you have a knowledge of construction is more important to me than
00:29:58 --> 00:30:04 a knowledge of bees, you know, you'll, you'll fairly quickly learn the attitude
00:30:04 --> 00:30:08 of bees and how they behave when you're cutting them, when you're cutting combs
00:30:08 --> 00:30:12 out and what, what they'll do, where they'll run and hide and, and whether or
00:30:12 --> 00:30:15 not you have a queen yet, or, or if there
00:30:15 --> 00:30:16 is even a queen in there.
00:30:17 --> 00:30:21 You'll learn that stuff fairly quickly, but a good knowledge of construction
00:30:21 --> 00:30:27 is probably more important to me because it reduces some liability
00:30:27 --> 00:30:32 issues you may have or makes the job safer for you, safer for your customer.
00:30:33 --> 00:30:36 You're not, you're not destroying somebody's house to get these what,
00:30:36 --> 00:30:38 what is legitimately a nuisance.
00:30:38 --> 00:30:39 And,
00:30:39 --> 00:30:39 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh, yeah.
00:30:40 --> 00:30:41 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: you know, you're, you're in there
00:30:41 --> 00:30:44 doing a service, not a favor.
00:30:45 --> 00:30:46 Everybody thinks it's a favor.
00:30:46 --> 00:30:47 Well, you're not doing a favor.
00:30:47 --> 00:30:47 You're doing a
00:30:48 --> 00:30:48 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Doing a service.
00:30:49 --> 00:30:50 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: you should be compensated for it
00:30:50 --> 00:30:52 because it is, it's hard work.
00:30:52 --> 00:30:56 I mean, I've been doing this a long time and, and it's not uncommon for
00:30:56 --> 00:31:01 me to spend an entire day on a, on a cutout, me and Pete both, you know.
00:31:01 --> 00:31:01 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh, yes.
00:31:02 --> 00:31:04 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: If you, if you're danger prone,
00:31:04 --> 00:31:07 maybe find something else, maybe stamp collecting or something
00:31:07 --> 00:31:08 as your thing.
00:31:10 --> 00:31:13 But somebody with a good background in construction is going to do
00:31:13 --> 00:31:15 well in the cutout business.
00:31:15 --> 00:31:19 If they, if they're hard workers and don't mind getting dirty and sweaty and
00:31:19 --> 00:31:23 taking a few stings, that's, that's the kind of person that does well in it.
00:31:23 --> 00:31:25 Somebody, somebody who just wants freebies.
00:31:26 --> 00:31:28 Dude, save your money, go buy a nuke.
00:31:29 --> 00:31:31 It's so much easier, and
00:31:31 --> 00:31:32 it's just as satisfying.
00:31:33 --> 00:31:36 Doing a cutout, you're gonna get, it'll be good memories for
00:31:36 --> 00:31:37 you, but yeah, just buy a nuke.
00:31:39 --> 00:31:41 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: That's great advice for a lot of people.
00:31:41 --> 00:31:43 That's, that's really what I followed for a long time.
00:31:43 --> 00:31:46 I don't know, maybe if I get an opportunity I'll do a cutout.
00:31:46 --> 00:31:50 But it doesn't hold, I'll be honest, it doesn't hold a lot of appeal to me.
00:31:50 --> 00:31:52 Maybe it's my laziness hitting me harder.
00:31:52 --> 00:31:56 But maybe I should do at least one so I can raise my hand then.
00:31:57 --> 00:32:00 When you get into a cutout and you've, you've looked at the situation and
00:32:00 --> 00:32:06 figured it out, are you I assume you're making a fairly small hole because you
00:32:06 --> 00:32:10 don't want the reconstruction of whatever or the repair of whatever you've done
00:32:10 --> 00:32:15 to be too great, but how big of area are you getting into it with
00:32:15 --> 00:32:17 and, and what's the process there?
00:32:18 --> 00:32:19 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: you get, you get a real good
00:32:19 --> 00:32:23 feel for that after the twelve to fourteen hundred that I've done.
00:32:23 --> 00:32:25 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh yeah, oh yeah
00:32:25 --> 00:32:26 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: like I say, it doesn't take long to
00:32:26 --> 00:32:31 figure it out, and construction, I say having a good Base of knowledge
00:32:31 --> 00:32:32 and construction is important.
00:32:32 --> 00:32:35 Construction is not that difficult to figure out.
00:32:36 --> 00:32:38 There's all kind of schematics on the internet.
00:32:39 --> 00:32:43 Building codes are pretty standard across the board, across the United States.
00:32:43 --> 00:32:49 So a lot of, a lot of what you're gonna see here is done the same in Washington
00:32:49 --> 00:32:56 State or New York or whatever and you know with some variations, but not much.
00:32:57 --> 00:33:01 The older constructions probably gonna be an issue for you.
00:33:02 --> 00:33:07 We're Somebody has added on where there was no inspection done, or maybe way
00:33:07 --> 00:33:10 back in the day where everything's rough cut and just kind of, you know,
00:33:10 --> 00:33:14 wherever, wherever they thought there needed to be a board, they put a board.
00:33:15 --> 00:33:17 The I forgot where I was going.
00:33:17 --> 00:33:22 Anyway, if you If you need if you need to have any kind of insight into
00:33:22 --> 00:33:25 what you're going to be looking at, I encourage people that are getting into
00:33:25 --> 00:33:29 cutout business, go into a neighborhood that's being built and just look at
00:33:29 --> 00:33:30 the structure as it's being framed.
00:33:30 --> 00:33:30 And you can,
00:33:31 --> 00:33:35 you can kind of tell, especially on two stories and stuff, you can kind
00:33:35 --> 00:33:40 of tell where these bees might be in a particular wall or a particular floor
00:33:40 --> 00:33:42 joist space or something like that.
00:33:43 --> 00:33:50 So because of the spaces that bees occupy, a lot of these cutouts are the same.
00:33:50 --> 00:33:52 They're the same thing over and over,
00:33:52 --> 00:33:55 but there's, there's something different about every single one.
00:33:55 --> 00:34:00 The way the combs run or You know something a built in that was put
00:34:00 --> 00:34:01 over the space where they are.
00:34:01 --> 00:34:02 They're behind a chimney or whatever.
00:34:03 --> 00:34:05 There's something different on every one.
00:34:05 --> 00:34:08 So if you If you walk around and look at construction and kind of see
00:34:08 --> 00:34:11 how things are framed up, especially in walls, because they will always
00:34:11 --> 00:34:12 go to a high point and build down.
00:34:13 --> 00:34:13 So if
00:34:13 --> 00:34:17 you, if you're looking at a wall, look at the top plate area, because if they
00:34:17 --> 00:34:20 get in a wall space, they're going to the top plate and building down unless
00:34:20 --> 00:34:21 there's something blocking them from that.
00:34:23 --> 00:34:25 Same thing with the floor space, floor joist space.
00:34:25 --> 00:34:28 They, they build a lot between floors and two story homes.
00:34:28 --> 00:34:32 So a lot of times you got brick veneer on the first floor and then wood side
00:34:32 --> 00:34:34 and above that and they'll find gaps and.
00:34:34 --> 00:34:35 Where the two sidings meet
00:34:36 --> 00:34:40 and go go in and 99 percent of the time they're between floors, even, even when
00:34:40 --> 00:34:42 your customer says they're in the wall.
00:34:42 --> 00:34:44 And I know they're in the wall because I can hear them in the wall.
00:34:45 --> 00:34:49 Well, sound resonates and what you're hearing is not bees in a wall.
00:34:49 --> 00:34:51 It's bees in the floor, floor space between floors.
00:34:51 --> 00:34:54 And so for those, Okay.
00:34:55 --> 00:34:59 We, we locate a lot with an infrared because it saves a lot of probing
00:34:59 --> 00:35:00 and a lot of drilling stuff,
00:35:00 --> 00:35:01 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh, yeah.
00:35:01 --> 00:35:03 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: but when I, if I can't find them with
00:35:03 --> 00:35:08 the infrared, I'll drill a little small hole and I've got fiberglass rods that
00:35:08 --> 00:35:10 I'll just run in there because you're not going to electrocute yourself.
00:35:11 --> 00:35:13 And you're not going to do any damage to anything, but I run in there
00:35:13 --> 00:35:16 if I'm hitting insulation, I'll poke through the insulation and,
00:35:16 --> 00:35:18 you know, see if I'm hitting comb.
00:35:19 --> 00:35:19 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh, yeah.
00:35:19 --> 00:35:21 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: if I pull out a rod with
00:35:21 --> 00:35:22 honey on it or whatever.
00:35:23 --> 00:35:27 And so that, that way I'm leaving a little hole that's easy to patch,
00:35:28 --> 00:35:30 put some spackle over it, put a little paint on it or whatever.
00:35:32 --> 00:35:36 But anywhere else, If I, if I'm, and you kind of, you got
00:35:36 --> 00:35:37 to know how to use the infrared.
00:35:37 --> 00:35:38 There's a little learning curve to it.
00:35:38 --> 00:35:43 Heat travels up, so if you can read from the top, it's better.
00:35:43 --> 00:35:44 So if you go
00:35:44 --> 00:35:49 upstairs, you go upstairs in a two story, and it's, it's all finished wood floors or
00:35:49 --> 00:35:53 ceramic tile or something that you can't go through the floor to get them out,
00:35:53 --> 00:35:54 and you have to go through the ceiling.
00:35:54 --> 00:35:57 Well, you go upstairs and read the heat signature and figure out where they are,
00:35:58 --> 00:35:59 and then go downstairs and do the work.
00:36:00 --> 00:36:03 And so that gives you a really good idea, especially from upstairs.
00:36:03 --> 00:36:05 How big the colony possibly is
00:36:06 --> 00:36:07 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh, yes.
00:36:07 --> 00:36:10 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: but a lot of times on apartment complexes
00:36:10 --> 00:36:13 down here They're built on a truss system.
00:36:13 --> 00:36:20 So between floors is a 16 to 20 inch ladder truss, and with those, the bees can
00:36:20 --> 00:36:24 kind of go anywhere in that floor space, but they're always going to be right
00:36:24 --> 00:36:28 pretty close to their entrance, so I'll, so we know if we can locate where they're
00:36:28 --> 00:36:33 coming in, all we need to do is cut about a, a two and a half by two and a half
00:36:33 --> 00:36:35 inch hole in the drywall in the ceiling.
00:36:36 --> 00:36:39 Just enough room for us to get in there and then we can kind of
00:36:39 --> 00:36:40 chase that hive wherever it goes.
00:36:41 --> 00:36:44 It's usually right there and we can usually get the whole thing without
00:36:44 --> 00:36:45 getting up in the ceiling much.
00:36:45 --> 00:36:49 But so, you know, I, I tell the, the places we're going to cut
00:36:49 --> 00:36:52 24 by 24 hole in the ceiling.
00:36:52 --> 00:36:53 We'll cut them out.
00:36:54 --> 00:36:56 We'll, we'll seal the entrance so they're not, so you don't get them
00:36:56 --> 00:36:58 again because you will get them again.
00:36:59 --> 00:37:01 Then we're going to put the ceiling back and then you do all the finish work.
00:37:02 --> 00:37:03 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh, yes.
00:37:03 --> 00:37:05 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: so most of the time,
00:37:05 --> 00:37:06 unless they've been in for.
00:37:07 --> 00:37:09 Any length of time, most of the time we can save the drywall and put the
00:37:09 --> 00:37:14 dry, the same piece back and then sometimes we'll caulk the seams just
00:37:14 --> 00:37:17 to especially if it's a heavy texture ceiling, we'll just caulk the seams
00:37:17 --> 00:37:21 and that saves them a lot of time bed mudding and stuff because tenants don't
00:37:21 --> 00:37:23 want you in and out a hundred times and,
00:37:25 --> 00:37:25 So.
00:37:26 --> 00:37:31 The the size of the hole, I'd rather start small than big, especially on
00:37:31 --> 00:37:32 walls.
00:37:33 --> 00:37:37 Normally if I'm cut, if I'm cutting a wall hive out, I don't come
00:37:37 --> 00:37:40 down further than about four feet because most of the time that's
00:37:40 --> 00:37:41 about as far as they're going to go.
00:37:41 --> 00:37:44 And most of the time they're going to occupy, occupy one stud cavity in a wall.
00:37:45 --> 00:37:48 And I can, even if you don't have an infrared, you can feel the wall and
00:37:48 --> 00:37:49 you can feel the heat from the colony.
00:37:49 --> 00:37:52 So you know pretty easily where they are.
00:37:52 --> 00:37:56 And then so all you do is locate studs, take a T square and mark it,
00:37:56 --> 00:37:59 cut down that stud and that way you can have something to screw back to.
00:37:59 --> 00:38:00 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh, yeah.
00:38:00 --> 00:38:01 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: And it doesn't look like you took a
00:38:01 --> 00:38:03 sledgehammer to these people's house.
00:38:03 --> 00:38:03 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh,
00:38:03 --> 00:38:04 yeah.
00:38:04 --> 00:38:06 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: we're, you know, I'm real conscientious
00:38:06 --> 00:38:07 about what I do to somebody's house.
00:38:07 --> 00:38:09 There's, it's their most valued possession.
00:38:10 --> 00:38:13 Most valuable possession that they have so when I come in we cover
00:38:13 --> 00:38:16 everything with painters plastic So we're not getting sheetrock dust and
00:38:17 --> 00:38:17 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh, yes.
00:38:18 --> 00:38:19 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: bees defecate on everything when
00:38:19 --> 00:38:23 they get inside So when you do three or four hours in somebody's house
00:38:23 --> 00:38:27 Especially in the evenings and bees are getting a light fixture and then
00:38:27 --> 00:38:31 all sudden you go to clean up and there's yellow poop stains All over
00:38:31 --> 00:38:34 somebody's duvet or whatever You know
00:38:35 --> 00:38:38 that needs to go to the laundromat, but but so we cover everything up
00:38:39 --> 00:38:42 for that reason And we, we keep the holes as small as possible because,
00:38:43 --> 00:38:45 you know, we're professionals.
00:38:45 --> 00:38:48 We don't want somebody to come in there and go, Oh my gosh, what
00:38:48 --> 00:38:49 happened?
00:38:49 --> 00:38:50 You know, half the wall's gone.
00:38:51 --> 00:38:52 And I see that.
00:38:52 --> 00:38:54 I see that a lot on people.
00:38:55 --> 00:38:59 Posting their, their cutout job on Instagram or whatever.
00:38:59 --> 00:38:59 And I'm
00:38:59 --> 00:39:02 like, Ooh, that's bad.
00:39:03 --> 00:39:04 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Now, when you,
00:39:04 --> 00:39:05 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: it's a different story.
00:39:05 --> 00:39:11 If you can learn on a vacant house or or an abandoned property.
00:39:11 --> 00:39:13 Those, those get, those catch hives a lot.
00:39:14 --> 00:39:14 So
00:39:15 --> 00:39:17 if you, so if you can find something that's abandoned, that
00:39:17 --> 00:39:21 has a hive in it and you just want to practice, go for it, man.
00:39:22 --> 00:39:23 Nobody's going to care.
00:39:23 --> 00:39:24 They're probably going to tear the thing.
00:39:24 --> 00:39:26 They're just going to burn or rot down before anybody moves into it.
00:39:26 --> 00:39:27 So yeah,
00:39:28 --> 00:39:30 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: yeah that, that would be a great place for
00:39:30 --> 00:39:33 you to, to learn or at least start,
00:39:33 --> 00:39:34 yeah,
00:39:34 --> 00:39:35 if you can find something like that.
00:39:35 --> 00:39:39 Now when you go in, you mentioned you're putting drop cloth down, keeping
00:39:39 --> 00:39:43 stuff clean, are you bringing in like a 10 frame hive that you're going
00:39:43 --> 00:39:46 to be transferring those bees into?
00:39:46 --> 00:39:50 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: No, everything's taken into the, if
00:39:50 --> 00:39:54 I'm doing a video on how to frame comb or how to save brood, I will.
00:39:55 --> 00:39:58 But as much as people will tell you, I want to save every bee.
00:39:58 --> 00:39:59 They don't really want you to save every bee.
00:39:59 --> 00:40:02 They want you to get that out of their wall and get out of their house.
00:40:02 --> 00:40:02 That's what they
00:40:03 --> 00:40:04 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: They do, right,
00:40:04 --> 00:40:04 yeah.
00:40:04 --> 00:40:08 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: so recording jobs adds an hour to the job.
00:40:09 --> 00:40:09 If
00:40:09 --> 00:40:14 we bring, If we bring a hive in and have to set up and rubber band and cut
00:40:14 --> 00:40:19 combs and try to keep bees on these combs or you know, some people save them
00:40:19 --> 00:40:22 in a nice chest and then frame them up when they get where they're going, but.
00:40:23 --> 00:40:26 In any case, you're going to lose almost all the open brood.
00:40:26 --> 00:40:27 If it's open
00:40:27 --> 00:40:29 brood, it's going to, it's going to dry out.
00:40:29 --> 00:40:31 It's going to, it's going to get cold.
00:40:31 --> 00:40:32 It's going to chill.
00:40:32 --> 00:40:39 So saving brood, if it's got a lot of cat brood on it, it breaks my heart
00:40:39 --> 00:40:44 to throw it away, but it's so time consuming it to, it adds another, probably
00:40:44 --> 00:40:47 legitimately for most people to add another hour to the job, to, to bring
00:40:47 --> 00:40:50 a hive in, set it up, band your frames.
00:40:51 --> 00:40:55 frame comb, set it all up and try to get it out of there without destroying it.
00:40:55 --> 00:40:59 And then when you get home, all that rubber banded comb, it
00:40:59 --> 00:41:01 never fills out a frame properly.
00:41:02 --> 00:41:02 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh, yeah.
00:41:02 --> 00:41:04 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: from now on, it's relegated to a brood box.
00:41:04 --> 00:41:06 So you can never put it in an extractor.
00:41:07 --> 00:41:10 And so, and most of the time you're going to let them run on that.
00:41:11 --> 00:41:14 And you're going to cycle that out for a frame with a good foundation.
00:41:14 --> 00:41:16 and heavy wax on them, let them build that out.
00:41:16 --> 00:41:18 So you might be saving a lot of brew, but you're costing
00:41:18 --> 00:41:19 yourself a whole lot of work.
00:41:20 --> 00:41:23 And it also offers an opportunity for small hive beetles to come in
00:41:23 --> 00:41:25 because it's a couple of things.
00:41:25 --> 00:41:26 It's a stressor on the colony.
00:41:26 --> 00:41:28 They have to rebuild all this damage.
00:41:29 --> 00:41:30 They have to haul out all the dead.
00:41:31 --> 00:41:36 And small hive beetles are attracted to a protein source, which all that larvae is.
00:41:36 --> 00:41:42 And So So unless you get bees back on it relatively quick if you come out
00:41:42 --> 00:41:44 there the next day and all your bees are hanging out on the landing board,
00:41:44 --> 00:41:47 you've lost, you've lost that battle.
00:41:47 --> 00:41:48 You should have thrown it all away.
00:41:48 --> 00:41:49 So
00:41:49 --> 00:41:53 we we put all that in a, in a melter, refine it down and use all
00:41:53 --> 00:41:55 that wax to, to wax foundations.
00:41:56 --> 00:42:00 And then if you, if you put really, really heavy Wax on those
00:42:00 --> 00:42:02 foundations and put them in a box.
00:42:02 --> 00:42:04 They'll draw that stuff out so fast that it'll blow your mind.
00:42:05 --> 00:42:06 Especially a swarm.
00:42:06 --> 00:42:08 A swarm will draw it out really fast, but
00:42:09 --> 00:42:10 a good, good quality of draw it out fast.
00:42:10 --> 00:42:13 They'll have it laid back up and be working in it in no time.
00:42:14 --> 00:42:14 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Yeah.
00:42:15 --> 00:42:18 So, so when you're going in and doing this cutout, your goal is to
00:42:18 --> 00:42:22 get the bees, you're getting the comb out, but you're not trying to
00:42:22 --> 00:42:24 frame that up so they can reuse it.
00:42:24 --> 00:42:28 And you're just trying to get that wall cavity cleared out for the homeowner.
00:42:29 --> 00:42:29 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: Yeah.
00:42:30 --> 00:42:35 And another thing we do if, and this really flies in the face of some people,
00:42:35 --> 00:42:37 is we take all that cut out comb.
00:42:37 --> 00:42:42 We'll take it home and leave it open for our, for our apiary to rub it out.
00:42:43 --> 00:42:44 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh, yeah.
00:42:44 --> 00:42:44 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: So.
00:42:44 --> 00:42:47 it's, you know, anything that you think unless it's been sprayed, if
00:42:47 --> 00:42:51 we know it's been sprayed, and a lot of times it has been, if I know it's
00:42:51 --> 00:42:52 been sprayed, it goes in the garbage.
00:42:52 --> 00:42:53 I don't want the
00:42:53 --> 00:42:53 comb.
00:42:53 --> 00:42:54 I don't want the wax.
00:42:54 --> 00:42:55 I don't want the honey.
00:42:55 --> 00:42:56 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Yeah.
00:42:56 --> 00:42:58 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: But if it's clean honey and clean
00:42:58 --> 00:43:00 wax, I'll bring it back to my place.
00:43:00 --> 00:43:05 And my bees, and it's funny how bees have a short memory, but they do have a memory.
00:43:05 --> 00:43:08 So two or three days, they're, they're pretty good at it.
00:43:08 --> 00:43:14 So if I do cutouts regularly, when I drive up on my driveway, they attack my truck.
00:43:14 --> 00:43:15 I mean,
00:43:15 --> 00:43:15 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh, yes.
00:43:16 --> 00:43:18 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: it's like you know, a bunch of hungry guys and
00:43:18 --> 00:43:21 meals on wheels just pulled up and they're just there in my truck just to see what's
00:43:22 --> 00:43:22 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh,
00:43:22 --> 00:43:23 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: see what's there because
00:43:23 --> 00:43:24 there's something good there.
00:43:24 --> 00:43:25 They know it is.
00:43:25 --> 00:43:29 But so, you know, a lot of people are like, ah, that's, you're bringing disease.
00:43:29 --> 00:43:30 You're bringing this now.
00:43:30 --> 00:43:30 Well, I don't see that.
00:43:31 --> 00:43:31 You know, I do a
00:43:31 --> 00:43:32 lot of testing.
00:43:32 --> 00:43:35 I do a lot of observation, a lot of testing, and I just don't see that.
00:43:35 --> 00:43:43 So that's another one of those things that I think the disease and treatment
00:43:43 --> 00:43:48 for everything under the sun is kind of oversold and not necessary.
00:43:49 --> 00:43:50 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh, yeah,
00:43:51 --> 00:43:52 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: And I
00:43:52 --> 00:43:56 mix bees, I mix bees from all over South Mississippi, South
00:43:56 --> 00:43:58 Alabama, South Louisiana.
00:43:58 --> 00:44:03 They all come to a couple of different yards and they get mixed in and it
00:44:04 --> 00:44:07 doesn't seem to affect them negatively.
00:44:07 --> 00:44:11 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh, yeah We when you're doing that cut out you
00:44:11 --> 00:44:14 make the cut out you're getting the comb out you're getting the bees out
00:44:14 --> 00:44:19 Are you going back into that cavity and sealing anything on those walls
00:44:19 --> 00:44:21 or you just closing it back up?
00:44:22 --> 00:44:23 Hipping my mic and stuff
00:44:25 --> 00:44:26 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: I have to be careful because I talk with
00:44:26 --> 00:44:28 my hands a lot so I have to be careful.
00:44:28 --> 00:44:31 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Yeah, my hands were involved and I'm banging stuff here.
00:44:31 --> 00:44:32 So yeah
00:44:33 --> 00:44:36 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: So, yeah, when is this yeah,
00:44:36 --> 00:44:40 the, the most important thing.
00:44:41 --> 00:44:46 a cutout is to keep them from coming back because if you go to a
00:44:46 --> 00:44:50 cutout in somebody's house And all you've done is remove that problem
00:44:51 --> 00:44:54 And you don't take care and you don't do preventative maintenance.
00:44:54 --> 00:44:56 They're coming back So you haven't done anything for that person
00:44:56 --> 00:44:58 really you've wasted some of their
00:44:58 --> 00:44:58 money.
00:44:58 --> 00:45:06 You've wasted wasted some resources you got some bees out of it But unless you
00:45:06 --> 00:45:11 do the repairs are direct in to have the repairs done and a lot of times I'll
00:45:11 --> 00:45:16 leave them with good solid instructions and they don't And then they're calling
00:45:16 --> 00:45:20 me a year or two later going, Hey, we got bees back and can you come look?
00:45:20 --> 00:45:23 And I'm like, are they in the same spot yet?
00:45:23 --> 00:45:25 Well, I'm not going to kind of look it's, it's this much money.
00:45:25 --> 00:45:28 And I know, I know where they are already.
00:45:29 --> 00:45:30 What happened to the guy that was going to fix it for you?
00:45:30 --> 00:45:33 Well, he, you know, he tried or he never came out or whatever.
00:45:34 --> 00:45:35 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh, yes
00:45:35 --> 00:45:38 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: I gave you very, Explicitly, I
00:45:38 --> 00:45:43 told you, if you do not do this, this, and this, keep my number.
00:45:43 --> 00:45:45 I'll see you again in two years or whatever.
00:45:45 --> 00:45:46 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh yeah, yeah,
00:45:47 --> 00:45:47 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: I have that
00:45:47 --> 00:45:52 conversation regularly, but if I do the repairs, it's all, it's
00:45:52 --> 00:45:54 always we seal up the outside.
00:45:54 --> 00:45:58 And if that means sealing up one whole side of a house, and it sounds
00:45:58 --> 00:46:00 like, you know, It sounds like extensive work, but it's normally not.
00:46:00 --> 00:46:02 It's normally a tube of caulk or two.
00:46:03 --> 00:46:07 And so, and so, you know, a lot of times it's like I say, we're brick
00:46:07 --> 00:46:11 veneer meets wood siding, and so we'll go along there if there's any loose
00:46:11 --> 00:46:15 side and we'll screw it down tight or nail it down tight and then run.
00:46:15 --> 00:46:16 A bead of brick caulk.
00:46:16 --> 00:46:20 So, you know, DAP makes a color of caulk.
00:46:20 --> 00:46:25 It's like, it's called concrete, but it's, it matches almost all mortar.
00:46:25 --> 00:46:25 So
00:46:25 --> 00:46:26 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: oh yes,
00:46:26 --> 00:46:29 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: run a, run a bead of caulk, tape it
00:46:29 --> 00:46:33 off, so you're not getting caulk all over the brick, because that's a mess.
00:46:33 --> 00:46:36 Tape it off, caulk it off, and they, they won't have any problems
00:46:36 --> 00:46:39 for a lot of years until the house moves or settles or something
00:46:39 --> 00:46:40 rots or something.
00:46:41 --> 00:46:42 So.
00:46:42 --> 00:46:47 In most cases, especially between floors, you can fill the cavity
00:46:47 --> 00:46:51 you just took bees out of, but they can get to everyone around it.
00:46:51 --> 00:46:53 And the scent is there, and the scent is never going away.
00:46:53 --> 00:46:57 So if I stuff this cavity full of insulation, that one
00:46:57 --> 00:46:58 won't get bees back in it.
00:46:59 --> 00:47:01 But the floor joist next to it on either
00:47:01 --> 00:47:03 side will the next time.
00:47:03 --> 00:47:07 If you, if you don't get Correct the outside problem.
00:47:07 --> 00:47:11 So correcting the, the problem outside or, or filling the hole they got in.
00:47:11 --> 00:47:16 Or, you know, a lot of times it's on commercial buildings.
00:47:16 --> 00:47:19 That's where somebody installed a light fixture and there's a gap
00:47:19 --> 00:47:21 above, above or below the fixture or
00:47:21 --> 00:47:22 something.
00:47:22 --> 00:47:26 It's something small and on, and on residential, a lot of times it's
00:47:26 --> 00:47:30 something small and sometimes even when I do agree to do repairs, if I get in
00:47:30 --> 00:47:35 there and especially around chimneys, the, the framing might be rotten because
00:47:35 --> 00:47:36 the chimney flashing's been leaking.
00:47:37 --> 00:47:40 And there's holes and that's how the bees got in to begin with or
00:47:40 --> 00:47:44 maybe squirrels have chewed in and that's where the bees They came into
00:47:44 --> 00:47:46 an old squirrel's nest or whatever.
00:47:46 --> 00:47:49 A lot of times I get into those places and I'm like, I'll
00:47:49 --> 00:47:50 bring them out when we're done.
00:47:50 --> 00:47:55 I'm like, you know, I could put this back, but you really need a
00:47:55 --> 00:47:57 framer to come out here and reframe
00:47:57 --> 00:47:58 on this side of the chimney.
00:47:59 --> 00:48:02 You know, redo the section of the roof and then seal this up.
00:48:02 --> 00:48:05 Because if you don't, you know, I can close it up.
00:48:05 --> 00:48:06 You've got rod issues.
00:48:07 --> 00:48:08 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: oh yeah,
00:48:08 --> 00:48:09 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: or termites or whatever it is.
00:48:10 --> 00:48:13 And so just just guiding them the best I can.
00:48:14 --> 00:48:17 If I can't, if I don't have time to do the repairs and I, it's not that
00:48:17 --> 00:48:21 I can't, it's just that handyman doesn't pay as much as bee removal.
00:48:22 --> 00:48:22 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: oh
00:48:22 --> 00:48:25 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: so so while I'm there, I'm going to take care
00:48:25 --> 00:48:27 of the issues unless I don't have time.
00:48:27 --> 00:48:30 And then I'll tell them exactly, this is what you need to do.
00:48:30 --> 00:48:30 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: oh
00:48:31 --> 00:48:33 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: Call me if you have any questions or have
00:48:33 --> 00:48:37 your guy call me when he gets out and, you know, and, and they don't ever call.
00:48:37 --> 00:48:38 So they, they just.
00:48:39 --> 00:48:42 They either do what I say or they don't, and if they don't,
00:48:42 --> 00:48:46 then I get to call again a couple years later and we go
00:48:46 --> 00:48:47 through the whole thing again.
00:48:47 --> 00:48:48 Yeah, I
00:48:49 --> 00:48:51 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: On those bees that you get from the cutout,
00:48:51 --> 00:48:53 are you taking them back to the apiary and treating them like a
00:48:53 --> 00:48:56 swarm locking them up for 48 hours?
00:48:58 --> 00:48:58 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: do.
00:48:58 --> 00:49:01 And depending on, depending on the time of the year and depending on
00:49:01 --> 00:49:04 the condition they were in when I pull them out, sometimes they'll get
00:49:04 --> 00:49:05 a feeder and sometimes they don't.
00:49:05 --> 00:49:09 If they're in pretty good shape, I'm smoking them a lot during the cutout,
00:49:09 --> 00:49:10 so a lot of them are eaten already.
00:49:11 --> 00:49:11 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh yeah,
00:49:11 --> 00:49:12 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: So they're full.
00:49:12 --> 00:49:14 A lot of times they're full when I get them, or when I vac them.
00:49:15 --> 00:49:19 Uh, they've had an opportunity to take down enough honey that if they
00:49:19 --> 00:49:21 didn't get it, somebody else did.
00:49:21 --> 00:49:23 There's enough honey in there that they can last a while.
00:49:23 --> 00:49:23 So,
00:49:24 --> 00:49:26 locking them down for two days is not an issue most of the time.
00:49:26 --> 00:49:29 But if I pull a colony that's dry, it has no resources.
00:49:29 --> 00:49:32 If there's a queen in there, I'll generally keep her, even if she's dead.
00:49:33 --> 00:49:34 No good.
00:49:34 --> 00:49:38 I'll keep her, but if they're dry on resources, a lot of times I'll
00:49:38 --> 00:49:41 put a feeder on those because you lock them down for another two days.
00:49:42 --> 00:49:45 They need water just like we do, and they
00:49:45 --> 00:49:48 need food just like we do, but if you, two days is not bad.
00:49:48 --> 00:49:49 You lock them in.
00:49:50 --> 00:49:53 ventilated in the shade somewhere where they're not going to overheat because
00:49:53 --> 00:49:55 it's, it's, they're easy to overheat.
00:49:55 --> 00:50:00 Like I said, I told you I'm not a cold weather beekeeper, but I do find
00:50:00 --> 00:50:03 that they can endure cold a lot easier than they can endure extreme heat.
00:50:04 --> 00:50:05 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh yeah,
00:50:05 --> 00:50:06 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: So, yeah.
00:50:07 --> 00:50:09 So, We do lock those down for 48 hours.
00:50:10 --> 00:50:13 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: oh yeah, and one thing you mentioned there that I really
00:50:13 --> 00:50:17 hadn't thought about, but you're smoking those bees when you're getting them out.
00:50:17 --> 00:50:20 If you're inside a house, are you still smoking them?
00:50:20 --> 00:50:22 Does that leave much smoke
00:50:23 --> 00:50:23 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: I'm, if I'm
00:50:23 --> 00:50:24 in a,
00:50:24 --> 00:50:24 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: fill or
00:50:24 --> 00:50:26 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: if I'm in an abandoned structure, we
00:50:26 --> 00:50:28 have the liberty of using a smoker.
00:50:28 --> 00:50:33 If I'm in a residence, an occupied residence or apartment or whatever, we
00:50:33 --> 00:50:36 never use smoke because it leaves that whole place smelling like a campfire.
00:50:37 --> 00:50:38 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Well, that's what I was wondering about.
00:50:38 --> 00:50:39 You mentioned smoking.
00:50:39 --> 00:50:43 I'm like, how do you get that out of somewhere if you do it there?
00:50:43 --> 00:50:45 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: They do have that oh here, here it is.
00:50:47 --> 00:50:55 Apisalis, that that battery powered vape thing that I, I'm, you know,
00:50:55 --> 00:51:01 I'm tempted to try it, but it's, the kit's 245 for this thing,
00:51:01 --> 00:51:02 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh, yes.
00:51:02 --> 00:51:04 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: you know, and I guess you're
00:51:04 --> 00:51:06 on the hook to buy juice from them, whatever, whatever the,
00:51:07 --> 00:51:10 the liquid is they use, but I've heard from people that have them
00:51:10 --> 00:51:13 and have tried them that they don't really, they're not that great.
00:51:14 --> 00:51:15 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh, yes.
00:51:15 --> 00:51:16 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: So I don't, I don't know that I
00:51:16 --> 00:51:18 want to Waste my time with that.
00:51:19 --> 00:51:20 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Yeah, it's it.
00:51:20 --> 00:51:24 The entrance fee is kind of expensive there, just to try it and see how it goes.
00:51:25 --> 00:51:27 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: It is for something that, that may not work.
00:51:27 --> 00:51:28 And we're,
00:51:28 --> 00:51:33 you know, I don't, I don't really, if you know how to work bees.
00:51:34 --> 00:51:39 And you know your limits, you can work them without a smoker.
00:51:40 --> 00:51:44 I'll take a fair number of stings, but it's not, it's
00:51:44 --> 00:51:45 not that I want to get stung.
00:51:45 --> 00:51:47 It's just that I don't want to, I don't want to have a heat stroke,
00:51:47 --> 00:51:50 but I know when I have, when I know when I have to suit up and if I'm
00:51:50 --> 00:51:54 working indoors and we don't have any other way of cooling them down, then
00:51:54 --> 00:51:56 I will suit up to finish the job.
00:51:57 --> 00:51:57 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh,
00:51:57 --> 00:51:58 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: There, you know, there's other ways.
00:51:58 --> 00:52:04 There's sometimes it, works to spray them with sugar water or you know other
00:52:04 --> 00:52:08 things just to keep them from flying on you but that doesn't take the attitude
00:52:08 --> 00:52:12 out of them really it just keeps them not from going as airborne but you still,
00:52:13 --> 00:52:19 uh, hives are layered so you might spray this Blair B's here, but then there's
00:52:19 --> 00:52:23 a whole nother Workforce waiting to circulate out and every time you poke
00:52:23 --> 00:52:27 home There's more and more and if you are just drenching them through the whole
00:52:27 --> 00:52:28 job
00:52:28 --> 00:52:29 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: yeah.
00:52:29 --> 00:52:30 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: not gonna be pretty
00:52:30 --> 00:52:31 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Yeah.
00:52:32 --> 00:52:34 Well, very good, Randy.
00:52:34 --> 00:52:37 Before we move to the famous four questions, you have anything else
00:52:37 --> 00:52:40 to add about cutouts or anything else that we may not have talked
00:52:40 --> 00:52:42 about that you'd like to bring up?
00:52:42 --> 00:52:43 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: a lot of people want to know
00:52:43 --> 00:52:45 about insurance for cutouts And
00:52:45 --> 00:52:51 so if you if you're if you want to do the cutout business, I don't I
00:52:51 --> 00:52:54 don't really say everybody has to have insurance because I did it
00:52:54 --> 00:52:57 for a decade with no insurance.
00:52:58 --> 00:53:01 Apartment complexes around here require insurance, or they started requiring
00:53:01 --> 00:53:03 insurance about five or six years ago.
00:53:03 --> 00:53:06 So that's the only reason that I really carry it now because I never
00:53:06 --> 00:53:11 had a problem before but i'm also a You know, right now retired from
00:53:11 --> 00:53:13 it, but 32 year insurance adjuster.
00:53:13 --> 00:53:14 So I know,
00:53:15 --> 00:53:15 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh,
00:53:15 --> 00:53:17 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: I know a lot about that and I'm a
00:53:17 --> 00:53:25 contractor, so well depend, you know, so I do have insurance now and I don't
00:53:25 --> 00:53:27 necessarily recommend everybody get it.
00:53:27 --> 00:53:29 If you're only going to do a couple of cutouts, just be careful.
00:53:30 --> 00:53:33 But if you're, if you're doing it as a business, especially.
00:53:34 --> 00:53:38 Especially if you're not in the south, maybe, maybe get insurance.
00:53:39 --> 00:53:39 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh, yes.
00:53:39 --> 00:53:40 Yeah.
00:53:40 --> 00:53:41 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: down here, we're handshake, you
00:53:41 --> 00:53:45 know, everybody's, I gotta, I gotta cut your wall open, you know.
00:53:45 --> 00:53:47 Oh yeah, no problem, go ahead.
00:53:48 --> 00:53:51 The further north you get, people are like you know, you got insurance, you got
00:53:51 --> 00:53:53 references, you got this, that, you got a
00:53:53 --> 00:53:54 note from your, note from your mother, you got,
00:53:56 --> 00:53:57 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Right.
00:53:57 --> 00:53:57 Yeah.
00:53:57 --> 00:53:59 Depends who, where you are and who you're dealing
00:53:59 --> 00:54:00 with.
00:54:01 --> 00:54:01 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: yeah,
00:54:02 --> 00:54:05 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Well, Randy, it is time for our famous four questions.
00:54:05 --> 00:54:07 Same four questions we ask of all of our guests.
00:54:07 --> 00:54:10 And our first question is, what is your favorite beekeeping
00:54:11 --> 00:54:13 related book or resource?
00:54:15 --> 00:54:15 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: my,
00:54:15 --> 00:54:17 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: And I know you're going to say your
00:54:17 --> 00:54:19 YouTube channel, but beyond that.
00:54:19 --> 00:54:20 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: You know.
00:54:21 --> 00:54:25 I don't have a, I don't have a, I have the beekeepers Bible is the first
00:54:25 --> 00:54:27 beekeeping book that I ever bought.
00:54:27 --> 00:54:28 And I bought it last year
00:54:29 --> 00:54:32 just because, just because I didn't have any beekeeping books.
00:54:32 --> 00:54:39 So probably my favorite resource would be newsletters.
00:54:40 --> 00:54:40 Maybe.
00:54:41 --> 00:54:42 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh, yeah.
00:54:42 --> 00:54:43 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: I just like reading.
00:54:43 --> 00:54:45 I like reading people's newsletters.
00:54:45 --> 00:54:50 I never, never really got into reading beekeeping books just because
00:54:50 --> 00:54:51 I was, I knew what I was doing.
00:54:51 --> 00:54:52 I knew what I was seeing.
00:54:52 --> 00:54:53 I didn't really need that.
00:54:53 --> 00:54:57 And I had mentors that if I had a question about anything,
00:54:58 --> 00:54:59 beekeeping is pretty regional.
00:54:59 --> 00:55:00 It's pretty regional.
00:55:00 --> 00:55:04 So if I have questions about something here, I can call somebody here.
00:55:04 --> 00:55:06 I'm not reading something that somebody in
00:55:06 --> 00:55:11 California, I'm not reading Randy Oliver's work that doesn't, may or
00:55:11 --> 00:55:12 may not apply to what I'm doing.
00:55:12 --> 00:55:12 In
00:55:13 --> 00:55:13 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh, yes.
00:55:14 --> 00:55:16 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: you know, he's in an arid environment or,
00:55:16 --> 00:55:18 or you know, Ian Stepler up in Canada.
00:55:18 --> 00:55:20 He's certainly not going to be doing anything I'm doing.
00:55:20 --> 00:55:25 He's a commercial beekeeper in a Canadian climate, which is 100, 180
00:55:25 --> 00:55:26 out from what we're doing down here.
00:55:26 --> 00:55:27 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh, yeah.
00:55:27 --> 00:55:30 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: So probably my best resource would be
00:55:31 --> 00:55:34 newsletters locally or, or just a mentor.
00:55:35 --> 00:55:35 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh, yeah.
00:55:36 --> 00:55:37 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: A good, good mentor is invaluable.
00:55:38 --> 00:55:39 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Yeah.
00:55:39 --> 00:55:40 Excellent advice.
00:55:40 --> 00:55:42 Excellent resources.
00:55:42 --> 00:55:43 Our second question.
00:55:43 --> 00:55:45 What's your favorite tool for the apiary?
00:55:46 --> 00:55:47 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: My favorite tool lately
00:55:48 --> 00:55:49 for the apiary for cutouts.
00:55:49 --> 00:55:51 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Well, just in general, your favorite
00:55:51 --> 00:55:53 tool for your beekeeping journey.
00:55:53 --> 00:55:54 How's that?
00:55:54 --> 00:55:56 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: Okay, my favorite tool lately is a
00:55:56 --> 00:56:01 cutout tool that Chris Kinser has built and it looks like a mini scythe
00:56:01 --> 00:56:06 And it's for reaching up into spaces where it's hard to get to and normally
00:56:06 --> 00:56:11 when you're cutting combs You're going into the combs and you it's messy.
00:56:11 --> 00:56:12 It's tough.
00:56:12 --> 00:56:15 It's tough access Sometimes you're chopping an old hard comb.
00:56:15 --> 00:56:22 Well, he's built a tool out of Rodstock and the end of it is a sharpened hardened
00:56:23 --> 00:56:27 blade and it's angled up so if you can stick it up in the back of a hive and
00:56:27 --> 00:56:29 pull and it just cuts so easy but it
00:56:29 --> 00:56:30 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh, yes.
00:56:30 --> 00:56:35 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: you can cut a whole comb section out seconds
00:56:35 --> 00:56:39 where it would take you minutes any other way so that's my new favorite tool and and
00:56:39 --> 00:56:44 kinser homestead or something on youtube or chris kinser on facebook is how you
00:56:44 --> 00:56:50 find him if interested in that too and i I should have his information, but I don't.
00:56:50 --> 00:56:52 I can get it to you later if you need it.
00:56:53 --> 00:56:53 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh, yeah.
00:56:53 --> 00:56:55 I'd love to put that in our show notes.
00:56:55 --> 00:56:58 If someone's interested, they can go there and find a link for it.
00:56:58 --> 00:56:58 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: Okay,
00:56:59 --> 00:57:01 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Our third question, what would you tell
00:57:01 --> 00:57:02 someone just getting started?
00:57:02 --> 00:57:06 And that could be with cutouts or beekeeping in general.
00:57:07 --> 00:57:08 However you want to take that.
00:57:09 --> 00:57:12 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: anything to do with bees Experiment
00:57:12 --> 00:57:14 heavily form your own opinions.
00:57:14 --> 00:57:17 Don't necessarily rely on everybody else to figure out everything for you
00:57:18 --> 00:57:21 In the spring you almost can't screw up.
00:57:21 --> 00:57:26 So So just go crazy Start out in the spring, go nuts
00:57:26 --> 00:57:28 with your experimentations.
00:57:28 --> 00:57:29 You're going to lose bees.
00:57:29 --> 00:57:30 Everybody does.
00:57:30 --> 00:57:31 I don't care how good you are.
00:57:32 --> 00:57:32 We all lose bees.
00:57:32 --> 00:57:35 So don't get disheartened by the loss of a couple of colonies
00:57:36 --> 00:57:37 because it's going to happen.
00:57:37 --> 00:57:41 But just, just jump in with both feet and go at it.
00:57:42 --> 00:57:42 No fear.
00:57:44 --> 00:57:44 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Very good.
00:57:45 --> 00:57:48 You know, springtime is so wonderful in the grazing world.
00:57:49 --> 00:57:51 In May, I think I'm a great grazer.
00:57:52 --> 00:57:56 I can manage those animals, but so can everyone
00:57:56 --> 00:57:57 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: Yeah,
00:57:57 --> 00:57:59 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: That time of year makes it easy.
00:58:01 --> 00:58:04 And lastly, Randy, where can others find out more about you?
00:58:05 --> 00:58:08 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: I am on six 28 dirt rooster on YouTube.
00:58:08 --> 00:58:14 Instagram, Facebook, Tik Tok, depending on what happens there.
00:58:15 --> 00:58:20 Any social media that we're on is it's 628 Dirt Rooster and that's
00:58:20 --> 00:58:22 that's the best way to find us.
00:58:23 --> 00:58:27 Or at North American Honeybee Expo or at some state conference we
00:58:27 --> 00:58:29 might be at.
00:58:30 --> 00:58:32 cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Well, Randy, thank you for coming on and sharing with
00:58:32 --> 00:58:32 us today.
00:58:32 --> 00:58:33 randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: you for having me.
00:58:33 --> 00:58:34 I appreciate it.
00:58:34 --> 00:58:35 Enjoyed it.
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