Shaping the Future of Beekeeping with Kamon Reynolds (351)

351 - Shaping the Future of Beekeeping with Kamon Reynolds

Kamon Reynolds: Hi, I'm Kamon Reynolds from Gainesboro, Tennessee, and you're listening to the Beekeeping Today podcast.

[music]

Jeff Ott: Welcome to Beekeeping Today podcast presented by Betterbee, your source for beekeeping news, information, and entertainment. I'm Jeff Ott.

Becky Masterman: I'm Becky Masterman.

Global Patties: Today's episode is brought to you by the bee nutrition superheroes at Global Patties, family-operated and buzzing with passion. Global Patties crafts protein-packed patties that will turn your hives into powerhouse production. Picture this, strong colonies, booming brood, and honey flowing like a sweet river. It's super protein for your bees, and they love it. Check out their buffet of patties, tailor-made for your bees in your specific area. Head over to www.globalpatties.com and give your bees the nutrition they deserve.

Jeff: Hey, a quick shout-out to Betterbee and all of our sponsors whose support allows us to bring you this podcast each week without resorting to a fee-based subscription. We don't want that, and we know you don't either. Be sure to check out all of our content on the website. There, you can read up on all of our guests, read our blog on the various aspects and observations about beekeeping, search for, download and listen to over 300 past episodes, read episodes transcript, leave comments and feedback on each episode, and check on podcast specials from our sponsors. You can find it all at www.beekeepingtoday.com. Thank you, Kamon Reynolds for that fantastic opening. We appreciate it.

Becky: It's like the grand finale, where we had so many North American Honeybee Expo openers throughout the year, and now our very last one is Kamon.

Jeff: Yes, that's pretty cool. We really appreciate everybody who stopped by our booth back in January to talk to us and leave us an opening. We're through with all of those openers, unless I find a stash of them somewhere. Folks, if you want to leave us an opener, please do on our website or record it locally and email it to us. Thank you, Kamon, for wrapping up this series of openers. Folks, stand by because Kamon is our guest today. He'll be here in just a few moments. Becky, it's the end of September. What are you doing with your bees?

Becky: I have this calendar in my head, and sometimes the weather is accurate, and sometimes as far as averages and sometimes not, but I'm always done feeding my bees this time of year. I want to give them at least a month to process whatever supplemental feed I've given them, as far as sugar syrup, so that once they really start clustering, they don't have that moisture sitting in the colony. I do not wrap them until-- boy, I've got time on my hands now. It's a couple of months before I have to do any real work. What about you?

Jeff: I'm far behind on what I need to get done with the bees. I need to feed them. I completed the post-harvest Formic Pro treatment this year. That's completed and now I wanted to start feeding them, but I just haven't been able to shake time loose to go spend time in the yard and feed them. Driving me crazy, but that's the way it was going to be this entire summer.

Becky: I think your bees are a little bit more forgiving than our bees here in Minnesota, so just give yourself a little break and don't feel bad. I think they're going to be fine, Jeff. They're going to be fine, and plus you've got your eyes on the scales too.

Jeff: That's true.

Becky: You know how much they weigh.

Jeff: I've been sending you those almost weekly updates from my temperature monitoring and the scales. I know you're saying, "Oh my God, not another one, Jeff," but it's fun. At least I can feel that they're mostly okay.

Becky: I think it's fascinating. I don't want to do-- I think I've said it before. I'm afraid to do any kind of monitoring like that in my colonies because I'm already obsessed about my bees all the time, and that would just put a whole other level on it, and we might not want to go there.

Jeff: Becky, I'm really excited because this fall, we have a new sponsor supporting us. Wanted to do something a little bit novel. We've teamed up with HiveIQ to bring a special giveaway specifically for our listeners.

Becky: I think that this is so exciting because-- we've got great sponsors of the podcast and they really do help make it happen. Honestly, to be so generous with the listeners and to engage the listeners, these lucky listeners are going to walk away with an amazing gift of one of the best-type tools I've ever seen, sturdy, strong, and really effective. This is pretty cool, but we're going to make them work for it, right?

Jeff: That's right. What we're asking our listeners to do, we want to start a new segment of "ask a question" for our listeners. Each week, we are going to be able to give away one of HiveIQ's signature chrome-plated hive tools to a listener who sends us a great beekeeping question. We make it really easy for our listeners. On our website, in the lower right-hand corner of any page, there is a microphone. All you just have to do is click on that icon to bring up a recorder.

Becky: I think they should probably include their email address somewhere so that we can contact them. Does it ask for an email address?

Jeff: Yes.

Becky: I'm going to start communicating with you this way. [laughter] I'm just going to click on the microphone.

Jeff: Just leave a message.

Becky: I'll ask the first question. [laughter] Anyway, they get to think of a great question. I've mentioned before, it can't be, "Oh my gosh, I need to make a decision in the next 30 minutes, what should I do?"

Jeff: Yes, no 911 messages. [chuckles]

Becky: No, those questions still go to your mentors. Make sure that you're asking us-- get creative, maybe. Maybe get creative. I don't know. This could be fun.

Jeff: I think it will be really fun.

Becky: It will be fun. [laughs]

Jeff: You can send in a written question, but we prefer to have a voice question. We'll choose the question, we'll answer it on air, and we'll send you a brand new HiveIQ tool. HiveIQ designs high-performance insulated beehive systems built for both bees and beekeepers. With smart features like rear entry ventilation and ergonomic design and durable recyclable materials, HiveIQ hives are engineered to promote colony health and improve your beekeeping experience. You can find out more on hiveiq.com. Check our show notes for their website. This is going to be a fun promotion. Folks, send us your questions. We look forward to answering them. Becky, our guest today is Kamon Reynolds.

Becky: This is exciting. Last time I saw Kamon, he was at the expo, the North American Honeybee Expo, and wow, did he have the weight of the world on his shoulders with putting that expo on? [chuckle] Can you imagine having thousands of beekeepers depend upon you to have one of their best beekeeping convention weekends ever? [laughs]

Jeff: Yes. We'll have to ask him, because at the last day of the expo, this last-- in '25, we got hit by a major snowstorm, actually, the next day when everybody was flying out. Having that pressure, as you mentioned, that'd be horrible. It's good that Kamon's doing it, not us.

Becky: Right. [laughter] That's a good way to say it.

Jeff: We look forward to having Kamon on, and we'll talk to him about what it takes to put on the North American Honeybee Expo, what to expect in 2026, and hey, we'll even talk to him about beekeeping and what he's doing with his bees. I know he's been transporting them around the country. Let's talk to Kamon right after these words from our sponsors.

[music]

Betterbee: Winter is coming. Prepare your bees for the cold months with Betterbee's insulating hive wraps, outer covers, mouse guards, hive straps, and more. Visit betterbee.com/winterprep for tips and tricks to help your hive withstand the harsh weather.

Hive Alive: HiveAlive has always been backed by science, and now, US beekeepers are proving it in the field. Last winter, average colony losses hit around 60%, but for HiveAlive users, losses were closer to 23%.

That means nearly twice as many colonies survived. HiveAlive's unique blend of natural extracts boosts gut health, builds resilience, and helps your bees survive the toughest season. Beekeepers trust HiveAlive to keep colonies stronger, healthier, and more productive. Get your hives ready for winter at usa.hivealivebees.com. HiveAlive, proven by science, trusted by beekeepers.

Jeff: Hey, everybody, welcome back. Sitting across this great big virtual Beekeeping Today podcast table down in Tennessee, we have Kamon Reynolds. Up in Minnesota, we have Becky, and I'm out in Washington State. Hey, everybody, welcome to the show. Kamon, welcome to the show.

Becky: Kamon, it's so nice to see you actually sitting down. This is excellent. Last time I saw you, you were running around.

Kamon: I have a reputation for running around like a headless chicken.

Becky: With an entourage. You don't have an entourage around you now. [laughs]

Kamon: No. I really like being on the go, but more and more I find myself sitting down. It's really a fun experience getting to try some new things, getting to talk to people like you, and it's always fun being here.

Jeff: Kamon, there's not too many people who don't know you. That's a double negative, but most people know who you are, at least are familiar with your name. For those two or three people who may not know who you are, can you give us a real quick who you are, your background in bees. Then we'll get into, oh, your beekeeping operation there in Tennessee and the North American Honeybee Expo.

Kamon: Sure. I have been keeping bees since I was 14. I'm fixing to turn 37, so I've been doing this for quite a while. Learning stuff all the time. There's never a moment where you become a master, in my opinion. You just run out of mistakes to make as many mistakes. [laughter] We're trying to get to that position. My wife has been keeping bees since before we got married. I think-- well, I better be careful. I got to get the years right

We've been married, we're working on 15 years. We keep a couple hundred hives. We've shrunk the operation down as we focus more on the North American Honeybee Expo, speaking engagements, and things like this, a great podcast. We really want to focus on providing quality education, working with companies to innovate products that actually matter to beekeepers, and just with the Bee Expo, moving things forward. I love beekeeping. I always have and plan to do it my whole life. This is always fun getting to talk shop with beekeepers.

Jeff: You do run quite a few colonies. I think you called me this summer. You were transporting a bunch up to Wisconsin.

Kamon: I definitely was. I'm trying to keep it down to about 150, but I've gotten finally to the point where we're good at keeping very young queens in our operation. We're also very hyper-focused on never allowing the mite loads to get high. We start early in the season with stuff like oxalic acid slow release, whether it's the VarroxSan or-- you can do a couple other methods as well. Keeping the mite loads low early makes it so much easier later in the season.

We deal with a long dearth period here in Tennessee, so the nutritional stress compounded with a high varroa load is difficult to come back from if you let it go too far. We've learned to keep young queens, keep our mite loads low, and never let our bees get low on food. When you do that, you end up with the problem of having too many bees. We keep getting there. Right now, I'm throwing on my third deep box on several of our colonies because even though we split them in June, they are just so big.

We are drawing combs in September, which is something I would've thought years ago was impossible to do in this region. For the bees that I had 10 years ago, it was impossible. It's mainly just, we're trying to keep our numbers down and focus more on selling bees to people. I love it. Making splits is my favorite part of beekeeping when it comes to the technical side of the hobby or business.

Jeff: Are you raising your own queens then too, or are you buying queens for your nucs or for your splits?

Kamon: It's a little bit of both. We've primarily raised all of our queens, but I have a couple times of the year where we're in a crunch time where I want to be able to not have to raise them. If I need to do any requeening late in the season, and I want to purchase-- I want some good-quality queens. We have a difficult time getting high levels of success on the quality and quantity of queens after about early July.

It's not impossible, but we're in such a heavy dearth period. We're seeing so much more pressure from different types of hornets, yellow jackets, even some dragonflies in some areas, and several other pressures related to other colonies robbing each other. Robbing season starts the second week of June, almost like clockwork each year, sometimes a little earlier. We are still in robbing season right now. We're hoping that the goldenrod will magically appear here, usually around the next week. It's September 4th today. I'm really hoping that that goldenrod will kick in and robbing goes down.

To raise late queens is difficult. I have a couple buddies that I purchase from that are super reliable. It's even hard for me to get all the queens that I could want for them because when you raise really good queens, you're in high demand, and someone almost nearly has to pass away before you can move further up the list. [laughter] It's a terrible thing to say. Thankfully, statistically, I have a good chance since I'm in my mid-30s and the average commercial guy is 60. I got a chance.

Becky: You're just waiting to move up the list. Kamon, I've got to back up. Did you move bees up to Wisconsin to catch the nectar flow?

Kamon: I did. Not all of my bees. I definitely left a decent portion of them down here. We're still experimenting with a lot of different things, and it's been an awesome learning experience. It's been the most fun I've had in a long time. I can't say it's been massively profitable each year either. Nectar flows are hit and miss, and I don't think I'm probably in the best place in the world.

I would think probably the Dakotas and stuff like that would be much better. However, the experience of moving bees and learning that side of the industry has just been so much fun. I've always respected the commercial side of the industry and the logistics there. As a former truck driver and someone who still has a CDL, getting to use some of those skills that I developed in the past and use them now has also been nice. It makes it feel like I didn't do all that for nothing. [laughs]

Becky: I love it. That's a fun thing to be able to do with your operation, especially because of the long dearth period in some of those southern states. I have to ask, because I'm in the neighboring state of Minnesota, what were you looking for in Wisconsin?

Kamon: Primarily basswood.

Becky: Aha.

Kamon: It's awesome honey. Some people-

Becky: Yes, it is.

Kamon: -don't love it as much as others, but I really think it's a prime honey. That and they have some clover up there in places. I don't see much sweet clover where I'm at at all. That seems to be in other regions. There is a little bit. Primarily, I'm wanting to go up there just to learn to draw some combs out and build some bees. I enjoy getting away from the heat and humidity.

Okay, let's be honest, [laughter] that's the main reason. Summer here, 98 degrees, and then you add the humidity. It's terrible. We do make some honey up there, but basswood is what I'm looking for. Some clover honey. If I leave the supers on long enough, sometimes you can get a little bit of goldenrod in there as well. There's other plants also, but the basswood and the clover is really the main things.

Becky: Kamon, you have to be a really good bee mover to move your bees when it's warm. Were you moving them in the heat of the season?

Kamon: All-nighters. [laughs] You can get around that. This is where I make up for my lack of experience with just being a little bit more hardcore than maybe I need to be. When it is really hot, the bees are bearding. We use a bee net that we get from TRS. I believe they're out of Fargo. It's a really nice company. They're really nice to work with. The nets are made very well, and they do a lot of other stuff outside of bee nets. A lot of commercial guys use them.

I throw on those nets and load them up of a night. Once I get in the rhythm of things, especially since I'm very sensitive to sugar and caffeine. The reason I got into these is because I had health issues related around sugar. If I decide to partake heavily into caffeine or into sugars, we are going to end up with a Kamon who's totally on rocket fuel, and I'm going to be able to run all night. I do. I just get an adrenaline boost from a couple cups of coffee, and I can run 30-something hours without sleep.

Becky: Wow, that's impressive.

Kamon: There's always a consequence for those kinds of things, though. The craft is epic. [laughter] I think if you did it right and it wasn't too blistering hot and you didn't stop-- and I don't stop hardly for anything. Got to get fuel, maybe a little food in my system, and it's back on the road, just solid. We do carry a little bit of water. If we feel it's necessary, we can spray the bees down a little bit, give them something to drink, cool them off. Other than that, we just try to haul hiney as fast as we can, and hopefully the weather's reasonably cool.

Jeff: How many hours of a trip is that?

Kamon: Too many. [laughter] Best case scenario without any stops, it's about twelve-and-a-half. It ends up being-- avoiding tolls in Chicago. See, the quickest way is really for me to go up through Louisville, Kentucky, then hit Indianapolis, and then go up through Chicago, and then up into the state, which is the-- It's like the three horsemen almost. If there was such a thing as three. [laughter] It's the gauntlet. That's what we'll call it.

You might be able to get through Indianapolis unscathed. You might be able to get through Chicago unscathed, but Louisville will get you. If not, Chicago's going to get you. That's going to be bad. I always go a little bit around, and I also like to stop sometimes on the way back or up if I'm not carrying bees at the HillCo facility in Minonk, Illinois, because I get some of my supplies and my commercial lids from them. Usually, I have a reason to stop. I got some totes of syrup last time. When you're making that investment into diesel, you really try to maximize that for all that it's worth on that trip. I like country roads. Big cities, no, thank you. It's just not my thing.

Becky: When you don't have time to stop for Gino's Pizza East.

Kamon: No.

Becky: Deep Dish Pizza. Then it's just not worth it. [laughs]

Jeff: That's a Chicago pizza place, I take it?

Becky: Yes, it is. [laughs]

Kamon: I thought it's amazing.

Becky: It is amazing. [laughs]

Kamon: I've never had it and likely never will. I'm a pretty sinful guy who likes to stay out in the middle of nowhere. Funny enough, this YouTube and this conference has got me into this position where I'm just constantly engaging with people from all over the world, especially here in the United States. It's really a unique and fun, and humbling experience, but it's totally anti my original plans for my life of being in the middle of nowhere and flowing with bees, but here we are, and I'm thankful for it. I do like people, and so this works out just fine.

Jeff: One of the things that you've done both on your YouTube channel and at the show is highlight products and vendors. What are some of the things you've learned that surprised you?

Kamon: What surprised me the most is, honestly, how far behind our industry is compared to other industries. I think it's just a natural thing. The people who gravitate to beekeeping as a large majority are not tech-savvy people. There are also people like me, don't want to get involved with a lot of politics or big city stuff. We're outdoors people, a lot of times, who want to relax and be out in our beehives. That's therapy for me, going through a bee herd of good colonies.

What a great workday that is, getting to see some good, healthy bees. What we need a lot in this industry is communicating on the agricultural level. I think, whether by design-- I don't think it was by design, how far the beekeeping is outside of agriculture, it has some pluses, but it also has some serious negatives as well when it comes to-- for example, we're going to go to the FFA convention in Indianapolis, and there's supposedly 70,000 young men and women that go through the FFA there, the Future Farmers of America.

It doesn't sound like there's ever been a national or bee organization that's gone there on a regular basis. You look at a lot of the big farm shows that we see that go to the Louisville Expo Center, and there will be all these-- There'll be goat farmers, there'll be people doing sheep, even people doing mushrooms, and there won't be hardly anything or nothing about honeybees. I think because of that, we have fallen behind from a technological standpoint and also from a marketing standpoint.

While I know some people don't really want to be on the radar to a degree, as we look to try to fix things in our industry, like honey pricing and all these imports that are coming in, we don't have a clear definition on what honey is in this country. We can't fix that doing things the way that we've been doing them. I totally understand the mindset of, "I don't like the technology, I want to use a hive tool and a smoker," but we have to harness these things. That's one side of it that I've really seen is-- I've been exposed more to this side of the industry.

When it comes to the products, it's also a little bit shocking how similar it is there. A lot of it is communication. People know what they want, the companies don't know what the people want many times. Sometimes it's be-- some of the companies don't care, and some of the companies do care, they just don't have-- they're not good at communicating with today's technology. Again, people are going to YouTube, they're going to Facebook, they're going to TikTok, they're listening to podcasts. They're not reading bee books like they used to read.

They're, unfortunately, not reading good magazines like the American Bee Journal as much as I think that they should be. I really enjoy a lot of the stuff that's in there. Our communication has shifted. I don't think the industry has quite shifted all the way there, but we've seen a lot of change in the last five years. I have seen a ton of change. When it comes to products, a lot of it is communication.

The Bee Expo, I think, our main accomplishment is the relationship building. I think that's the most value we've brought to the industry. From a company standpoint, we have seen so much innovation at the show, and a lot of it is due to pressure. We need not only the people to communicate what they want, we need the other companies to see what happens when the other guys do give the people what they want and they don't.

It's a financial and also visible thing. We want everyone to be successful at our show, but there are definitely some people that are vastly more successful than others because they understand how to communicate, and they also understand how to get people what they want. That is a big deal. If I could just say one other thing is we still have just as many people [chuckles] trying to produce solutions for a problem that doesn't exist.

Jeff: For instance.

Kamon: Trying to redesign the hive.

[laughter]

Jeff: Over and over and over.

Becky: Thank you.

[laughter]

Kamon: I am a big fan of different styles of beekeeping, but the problem with not reading the old bee literature is that you don't understand that most of this stuff has already been tinkered around with by our great-grandparents 80 to 100 years ago or more. They've fooled with long Langstroth hives, they've done the extra deep frames, they've done all kinds of different variations, and they weren't stupid.

They actually were very smart people that dealt with a lot of-- yes, we have challenges today, but they had a lot of challenges back then, too. The access to information we have is just incredible. We just need to utilize it a little bit better. I think the biggest problem is there's too much information out there that's just not true or is built on partial truth. What I want people to know is, hey, we have people who keep bees in so much equipment at our expo.

I think it's so cool that we have people that keep bees in top bar hives and all this stuff, but it's all about the fundamentals of keeping bees and having a healthy, strong queen in there, having low past pressures, and that's primarily varroa, and then, always making sure that your bees have plenty of nutrition, never letting them getting below a certain threshold. Then you're going to have the issue of keeping the bees in your boxes most of the time. The fundamentals have not changed over the last 100 years. Some of the things we've just had to focus on a little bit more.

Becky: Kamon, I think you said it early, it was right on point, the fact that if you address varroa, you will have different colonies and a different set of problems that involve, "Wow, I need to split or let these colonies grow because the bees are so healthy and so big." Couple that with 30 years ago, our honey production was double what it's right now. We've had a huge loss of habitat. Can you imagine-- Wisconsin used to be in the double digits for millions of pounds of honey produced. Minnesota was at 18, 20 million in the '80s. We were just-- I think we're under six last year. Can you imagine taking those fundamentals and then having the habitat to match the bee populations?

Kamon: Times are changing. I guess they always are. The agriculture side of things, the difference in technology in the last 30 years, as far as how much utilization of the fields that they now take, where it used to-- there was a lot more edge rows and corners left of the field. Now everything's just being used within six inches of the road. It's impressive from that standpoint, but it leaves out so many pollinators, and not just hunting bees, so many native bees, and beetles, and moss, and so many other things that depend on what little that they can get. Some of them are, even more specifically than bees, really are very specific to certain plants, and so they really take a hard hit in that regard.

This is, again, why I think it's so important to build these relationships within the agricultural community. I think there are a lot of people within agriculture that would be very sympathetic to us if they understood the situation. It's all about relationships, and I don't see a lot of importance put on building relationships outside of the bee industry. There are some people who are doing it, and I don't want to say that no one is doing it because that would be a lie, but as an industry, we need to do a better job of pulling in this energy.

We are a small industry, and it is just that way, whether we like it or not. It's an important industry, but there's some things that, because we're a small industry, we are at a disadvantage of being able to accomplish. I believe if we're able to garner support from bigger industries, we could do much better for ourselves, protecting ourselves. Ultimately, my goal with the FFA is not only to get these young men and women into beekeeping, or if they're into it, to help them develop much faster, but also some of these kids, their parents, or grandparents run maybe 1,000 acres of this crop or that crop or 10,000 acres.

Maybe they're doing watermelon or squash or canola, or whatever it is. Can we get the Future Farmers of America to be sympathetic to beekeepers, work with us, and both of us benefit because of it? I think there's a chance there, but it all comes down to investing into the future. It's not a snap-your-fingers-and-let's-get-it-done-tomorrow type thing.

Becky: It's just great that you're doing it.

Jeff: You mentioned before that there's been a lot of changes in the industry in the last five years, and many people would point to you as being part of that change with the impact that North American Honeybee Expo has had on beekeepers. You've probably received some negative pressures because of that. I personally think that's unfounded and wrongly placed. You mentioned that beekeeping or beekeepers is a small industry, but we have, what, two or three different organizations representing beekeepers in politics and in business? If you were able to wave a wand and help beekeeping, what would you do in terms of uniting the beekeepers so that we could have a unified voice in the industry?

Kamon: Throw me an easy question, Jeff. Thank you.

Jeff: I know I prepped you for this, so you should be ready.

Kamon: Oh, you did not

[laughter]

Kamon: I've been asked this question a bunch, and I don't have a good answer for it. As far as us being possibly seen as a leader, there are some people who see us that way. I'm not sure that's something I ever wanted and still want. It's a lot. There are some people that are excited about it. There are some people apprehensive about it. We just want to be responsible for the opportunities that we know that we can do. In the past, I complained about, "Hey, this needs to happen in the industry," but I couldn't do anything about it back then. I think there's a lot of people that feel that way about things.

For us to actually be able to possibly do some of these things, I think it's irresponsible for us to not take on these projects. Now, as far as representing the industry, we have a longways to go before we can even enter that conversation in several regards. I think from a trade show standpoint, I think from several things alongside of the bee expo, I think that we do set some serious trends.

As far as the commercial side of the industry, the policy, and the legislative side, we're really not involved with that directly. We definitely support people who are doing those kinds of things. As far as the other organizations, I've spent some time with members of the Honey Producers and the American Beekeeping Federation. There's so many good people, not only beekeeper skill, but also just a good beekeeping families that are in there. The problem of it is there's equally sometimes as many people who are not in charge, and the good ones have a very difficult time being able to move as quickly as they would like to.

Unfortunately, with many of-- whether it's state organizations or it's national organizations, there's always the human element that's there. That's why we've been very careful with this new expo to-- It's just my wife and I that own this company. We can do a complete 180 whenever we want to. My wife is very intelligent and brilliant and has a lot of smart ideas. Half the time, her best advice is the stuff keeping me from jumping off of a cliff, I can't see how far down it is. She's got the shepherd's crook, just yanks me right back. [laughter]

We try to keep a little bit of control on that kind of stuff, but ultimately, we do plan to either work with other organizations who are doing good to support them, and if we need to occasionally take something on, we are willing to do that. Rome wasn't built in the day, and it takes time, and ultimately, it really takes an army. What's exciting about the bee expo is we're getting more folks from different parts of the world and all around the United States with different skill sets, and we're just trying to be a hub for that networking.

If we see something, again, where we can support, we'll throw all of our weight behind it. We're really careful, because there's a lot of weird stuff and crazy stuff. We want to be careful with that responsibility. Cry wolf too many times and you don't get the support. Whenever we ask people for signatures for some support, it's always very rarely. We reinvestigate it heavily. We realize that there's a lot of people that follow us, and we don't ever want to abuse that or waste that opportunity. It's a serious thing.

Jeff: Thank you for that honest answer. Let's take this opportunity for a quick break. We'll be right back with Kamon Reynolds, and we'll talk to you about NAHBE and NAHBE 2026.

[music]

Bee Smart Designs: Dealing with robbing and summer dearth, consider adding these Bee Smart products to your colonies. The Bee Smart robbing moving screen installs in seconds. No tools are needed, and fits both 8- and 10-frame hives to help protect your colony. Feeding's a breeze with the Bee Smart direct feeder. It holds a full gallon, sits right over the brood nest, and makes syrup or supplement delivery clean and easy. Made in the USA from recycled materials, Bee Smart products are ready to use, no painting, no assembly. Visit beesmartdesigns.com. Click 'where to buy' and experience simply better beekeeping products.

[00:35:08] Strong Microbials: Strong Microbials presents an exciting new product, SuperFuel, the probiotic fondant that serves as nectar on demand for our honeybees. SuperFuel is powered by three remarkable bacteria known as Bacilli, supporting bees and breaking down complex substances for easy digestion and nutrient absorption. This special energy source provides all the essential amino acids, nutrients, polyphenols, and bioflavonoids, just like natural flower nectar.

Vital for the bees' nutrition and overall health, SuperFuel is the optimal feed for dearth periods over winter survival or whenever supplemental feeding is needed. The big plus is the patties do not get hive beetle larvae, so it offers all bioavailable nutrients without any waste. Visit strongmicrobials.com now to discover more about SuperFuel and get your probiotic fondant today.

Becky: Welcome back, everybody. Let's talk expo. Kamon, I'm curious, are you taking information from beekeepers who register about the size of their operations? Then can you give us any insight? I have a feeling that there are a lot of great operations that are in that 50, 70, 250 range colony that are at that expo. I have a feeling that these beekeepers, from my interactions with them, are making a huge difference on the industry right now. That was a long question, but can you follow me? [laughs]

Kamon: I can. Really a great question as this industry continues to change as time moves on. As far as registration information, we do request mainly for the lanyards that we know their state or country. We don't really get far into people's business, though. That's just something that, honestly, some of my team, the folks that really know more about running conferences and all the logistics than I do, they're like, "Kamon, this is information we could be gathering."

In some ways, yes, it would be nice to know how many hives everybody has that would offer that kind of stuff, but I've just never wanted to ask that up to this point. We may look into that in the future based off of my experience, maybe 30% of the people would actually respond to something like that. People are terrible about polls and things like that in my experience. We keep it really simple in that regard.

Now, as far as what I see personally at the show, talking to a lot of people and also talking to the vendors and the type of folks that they have, the type of machines that they're selling, the demand, we see a lot of people that are in that sideline category to, like you said, a couple hundred colonies. We're seeing a shift, and we're going to continue to see a shift into the smaller realm, even on the professional level and small commercial level, beekeepers that are not wanting to run these 10,000, 20,000, and 30,000 colony operations. We do have beekeepers. Last year, I had two beekeepers that had over 30,000 colonies at my show-- Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Three over 30,000 colonies at my show last year.

We had several commercial guys that are running a couple thousand, 5,000, a couple 10,000. The commercial side is growing each year. We do have some commercial tracks. We definitely have some industry-level tracks. That will be in one room over here, and the next room we could be talking about grafting queens for the first-time queen grafter, or someone over here who is wanting to learn how to make splits or how to maximize your honey yield doing certain techniques or whatever.

We have a whole slew of different opportunities and workshops. As social media continues to be a part of our culture more and more, guys my age are looking at it and going, "Why do I want to have to have all these employees and the headache with that? Why not invest into a Cowen line or something that's going to eliminate my need for as many employees during extraction? Why not invest into this over here? Then instead of trying to do all this big-scale stuff, why not focus on marketing and not selling all of our honey for two odd dollars a pound, maybe a $1.90 or whatever it is?"

It's a crime that the honey prices are that low, and we need to do something about that. That's what currently all the young guys and gals that I'm talking to in their early '40s, down to their '20s, nobody is planning on going to many thousands of colonies. They want to keep it around 2,000 or less, and keep it very few employees. We see a lot of that there. We sell a lot of stinking extractors, and clarifiers, [laughter] and cream machines.

Jeff: Is that a brand name? I got to ask you, is that--

Becky: I know. What's that? [laughs]

Jeff: Stinking extractor, is that a brand name? Is that [crosstalk]?

Kamon: It really should be. It wouldn't surprise me with some of the names that we have come into the show. The companies are-- It's exciting to see how far that we've come. A few years ago, we had companies just really not wanting to consider our show just from the standpoint of they didn't understand what it was or didn't understand that it had any value. I think it's fair, there's a lot of bee shows in the country, but very few of them really focus heavily on the vendors. The horror stories that I hear constantly about how vendors are treated at other shows really makes it clear why a lot of them are slow on the uptake with trade shows, because many times it's just a money sink.

They walk away going, "Do we really gain any market share? Do we really sell any product, because we know we didn't? Maybe we're going to sell products later." At the Bee Expo, it's a totally different experience. Some of these companies are doing six figures in business at the show, and it's not just one or two, and a lot of companies doing tens of thousands of dollars. The nice thing is they get to see the foot traffic, and they get to talk to the folks, and the ones that are really good at creating fans.

I think we forgot about this somehow. Every business is in the business of creating fans. Forget all the other stuff. If you can create fans, you don't even need to worry about all this Facebook marketing, all this YouTube marketing. The companies that are good at creating fans have the best marketers ever, but we've somehow gotten away from creating fan products. We're starting to see more of that, because again, it's all about the pressure.

There must be bee suit companies, extractor companies, heck, even hive tools and smokers and everything else. There must be competition in these regions, and we're starting to see more of that pressure. It drives innovation, and it really drives the Bee Expo. All of us need to be held accountable. Maybe our Bee Expo is helping some other people being held accountable. There's some new conferences coming around.

I'm going to give a little shout-out to the Midwest HoneyBee Expo. Last year was their first event, I'm pretty sure it was. I'll actually be speaking there this year. It's in Madison, Wisconsin. The guys that are running it are really good guys. They've been to my show, they seem to be really good beekeepers. It looks like a great show. We need more new conferences that are going to put pressure on maybe mine and others to keep us all on our toes and working hard.

Jeff: We will be at the Midwest HoneyBee Expo as well, doing some live recordings of the podcast there, too. It's going to be fun. I look forward to seeing you there.

Kamon: That's going to be fun. The best part about going and speaking at those shows is, I actually get to hang out with guys like you. At the Bee Expo, like Becky alluded to earlier, I'm running around like a headless chicken and basically putting out fires. When you have 3,000 people, it's just something you just-- I never imagined it would be this way. The percentages work against you, because we all have a bad day every now and then. If only we have one bad day, one day that's just a bad day. We have 3,000 people and there's 365 days in a year. We have about eight people or so that have a really bad day. Maybe they lock themselves out of their car, maybe they're vomiting right there in the middle of the floor [unintelligible 00:43:37].

[laughter]

Someone's got to clean that up. Oh, we've had a child whose parents let his blood sugar get too low and passed out at our show. Of course, we're freaking out thinking, "We don't want to make the newspaper like this." [laughter] Thankfully, that all worked out just fine. You get these logistics and a staff that-- someone in Louisville runs into them, and there's a fender bender. I always have all the gear to change the tires, and so there I'm out there changing the tire. These things just happen, and it's crazy. It's just absolute-- There's nothing we can do to make it not crazy.

Becky: I need to back us up here. There are a couple of things we have to take care of. First of all, I don't think we've officially said the-- you've mentioned Louisville, but we haven't talked about the location and the dates for the 2026 conference.

Kamon: Okay.

Becky: Let's talk about that, and then I want to say that you've changed your policy on children, haven't you?

Kamon: Oh, Yes. We actually like them now.

[laughter]

Becky: Did you take a poll? [laughs]

Kamon: No, we didn't take a poll.

Becky: Okay, I will let you. [laughs]

Kamon: We didn't. Getting to the dates and location first, it'll be in Louisville, Kentucky again, but this time it's going to be January 8th, 9th, and 10th. Thursday starts right after lunch, typically, and then Friday and Saturday usually starts somewhere around 8:30 and go to like 6:00 PM, so they're all day. It's nice that we were able to get off of being right on New Year's. Last year, we were the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th, and this year the only dates that they had till Easter was the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. The logistics for our staff, and some of our staff we weren't able to have this year because of the dates. Some of the vendors couldn't come.

We don't know how much that affected the attendees, but there were attendees that couldn't come as well last year. We really needed to move off of that date. Then from a financial standpoint, I love how the expo centers and the hotels are like, "We're so excited. This is always a slow time of the year. This is going to look really good on our records and all this stuff. Thanks for doing this. This is perfect." Then they hit you with two times all of the expenses for labor because it's on a holiday, I'm like, "What?"

Becky: On a holiday? Oh no. [laughs]

Kamon: I'm doing you a favor and you're charging me double for it? We move off of that for that reason, primarily, in just logistics. Then, as far as changing the youth policy, we've always wanted to engage young people. The quality of the show is critical. For the longevity of the conference and the quality, people are paying good money to have a great experience.

While kids are awesome, some of them are also a little bit busy, and we have to be a mindful of that. We also have to think about the logistical burden that puts on not only our staff, but also on everybody. Let's say bringing in 500 additional kids, they're eating food. They're going to go over and get some hot chocolate because we have unlimited coffee, tea, and chocolate this year. Plus, we have muffins and we have cookies.

Becky: Those muffins are legendary [crosstalk].

Kamon: The muffins are pretty good. They're so huge! [laughs] The biggest complaint we have about the muffins is there'll be-- Usually, it's some of the 90-year-old ladies who come to our show, bless their heart, they're awesome. Some of them treat me like I'm an 8-year-old grandchild, by the way. [laughter] I literally had one pinch me on the cheeks and say, "You're doing a good job, Kamon."

Becky: Oh, no.

Kamon: It was so funny.

Becky: Oh boy. [laughs]

Kamon: I'm 5'6", and she is probably 4'10". She's always just been a big supporter of ours, her and her husband. She said, "Kamon, I'm just so proud of you." One time she pinched me on the cheek, and then one time she actually got on her tiptoes and gave me a peck on the cheek. I was flabbergasted. It took me a while to recover from that. [laughter] That's what my great-grandmother would've done.

These ladies will complain about the muffins because they don't want to waste. They came from a generation where you didn't waste. They're like, "I can only eat maybe a third of something this big. Can you get some little muffins?" We're trying to do a better job. Fran, thank you for coming to our conference.

[laughter]

Becky: There goes my meal plan if those big muffins go away. [laughs]

Kamon: No, we'll have the big ones too. We have a couple of big boys from Arkansas. They need the big muffins. [laughter] That being said, the kids are a logistical issue. We've always been really careful. We've grown so fast with this expo. We're always behind on the logistical side, we can't catch our breath. We feel like our experience level, and I've learned how to delegate better. We're getting to where we can start handling these other projects, and so bringing youth, our next gen program growing. We're hoping to be able to do more with the FFA, not just go to their event, but also bring in maybe a couple hundred on Saturday only.

Give them a free pass, have some introduction to beekeeping courses. They get to see the trade show, and we get these young people who are already probably interested in agriculture, I would say pretty heavily if they're in the FFA, that'll just fall to the dark side of beekeeping and stay there. We definitely want to have kids there, but we want to be very selective too. We don't want to just open the show and it becomes a problem. I hope that people realize when we make these decisions, we really don't make them lightly. There's a lot to consider.

Jeff: I hate to do this because I'm really enjoying the conversation, because we're coming up at the end of our time here. Where can people find out more information about the North American Honeybee Expo?

Kamon: There's a couple of good places. The website, nahbexpo.com, just write the website. You need just type in North American Honeybee Expo or typically Bee Expo, and it'll pull up. Also, if you do Facebook, the North American Honeybee Expo Facebook group is very interactive. One of the main reasons people come is for the vendor deals, and also to see what is going on with maybe giveaways and personalities, getting to meet you guys. Maybe they've been listening to you guys for a couple of years, and now they want to meet you in person, or maybe they have some rip tomatoes to throw at Jeff. There's several reasons for-

Becky: Hey. [laughs]

Kamon: -coming to the show, and we have it all. There are a lot of things posted in that group. You can learn a lot about companies in that group. It's really an interactive experience. Those are the places definitely to do so. My YouTube channel occasionally will launch some videos as well. Keep a close eye on the website. We are doing a lot. We've spent so much time with the trade show floor plan. We are months ahead of where we normally are, so we're very excited about getting that out of the way so we can focus on FFA and tripling the size of the workshop offerings to people and so many other things.

Becky: I will say that those vendor deals are the reason why you want to drive to the expo instead of fly to the expo, because a lot of people just load up on other things that they pre-order, or things they're inspired to purchase on the floor. It's like Disneyland for beekeepers.

Jeff: It really is.

Becky: That's what that trade show is like. The whole expo was like that.

Kamon: You all are really too kind. You guys have stumbled upon the secret for the creation of this event. It was truly to be able to get bulk pricing for my beekeeping operation.

[laughter]

Becky: So smart. [laughs]

Kamon: We're able to get a truckload of global patties in, and so I like to use those. We get semi-low pricing for everybody that's there. That's a really nice plus for people that drive. Then upgrading your extractor. Getting the vaporizers, the InstantVaps. They're usually $50 off at the show. There's so many other companies that offer the same genres similar deals.

Whatever you're a fan of, you can get to meet the company, talk to them, and say, "Hey, what about this idea right here?" or "Thanks for doing this." We love the feedback. It's so, so important. I think we can't stress enough how much the beekeeper, being in there and talking to the companies, whether they're as big as Dadant or Mann Lake, or if they're a new company that's starting out. That communication helps reinvigorate the industry and build those relationships.

Jeff: That's a great way to start out the year. Kamon, we look forward to seeing you in January at the show. We look forward to be in there. We'll have Becky and myself, and we'll also have Jim, too, from Honeybee Obscura there in our booth. It's going to be another great year to start off beekeeping sitting at-- or not sitting, exploring everything you have at the North American Honeybee Expo.

Kamon: You better be sitting some of the times, because you're supposed to be running a podcast. Unless you want to do it standing up. [laughter] You're not going to make poor Becky do all the real work like I do to my wife. [laughter] I just [unintelligible 00:52:53] get Laurel over there getting the real stuff done behind the scene. In fairness, that's what she wants to do. She want to be the puppet master, not the puppet, so here I am.

Jeff: There you go.

Kamon: Trying to do a good job.

[music]

Jeff: Thanks again, Kamon.

Becky: Absolutely.

Jeff: Appreciate you being here and we look forward to having you back and talking to you again.

Kamon: Becky, Jeff, thanks for having me on again. We'll see you in the future.

Jeff: I really enjoyed having Kamon on the show and look forward to going to the North American Honeybee Expo. When is that? January 8th, 9th, and 10th in 2026.

Becky: Then we get to see Kamon again, and we get to do some podcasting at the Midwest Honeybee Expo in Madison, Wisconsin, and that is February 6th and 7th of 2026. What a great start to the year.

Jeff: Where are we going to be in March?

Becky: Right? Where are we going to be in March?

[laughter]

Jeff: There's got to be an expo somewhere we can be at.

Becky: Wait, I've got bee work to do in March. [laughs]

Jeff: Yes, that's right.

Becky: Not a lot.

Jeff: There will be bee work. It's a very fascinating episode with Kamon. He's doing a lot. He's really shaking up the bee industry in the last five years, as we mentioned. It's refreshing to talk to him and I enjoyed this talk.

Becky: I enjoyed his passion, but also, it's very focused with the plan. I love that he's investing in the youth and looking for ways to reinvigorate the industry.

Jeff: Yes, I did not know he's-

Becky: Great job, Kamon.

Jeff: -doing that work with the FFA, and that's fantastic. Folks, meet us at the Midwest Honeybee Expo. Above all else, if you have any beekeeping questions, send them to us. If we use your question on air, you will receive HiveIQ hive tool.

Becky: Absolutely. Send us your questions. Beekeeping adjacent, let's just leave it open to see what people are going to ask. It has to have beekeeping involved, but let's hear what the listeners are interested in.

Jeff: That about wraps it up for this episode. Before we go, I want to encourage our listeners to follow us and rate is five stars on Apple Podcast, or wherever you download and stream the show. Even better, write a review and let other beekeepers looking for a new podcast know what you like. You can get there directly from our website by clicking on the reviews tab along the top of any webpage.

We want to thank Betterbee and our regular long-time sponsors, Global Patties, Strong Microbials and Northern Bee Books for their generous support. Finally, and most importantly, we want to thank you, the Beekeeping Today podcast listener for joining us on this show. Feel free to leave us questions and comments on our website. We'd love to hear from you. Thanks a lot, everybody.

[music]

[00:55:54] [END OF AUDIO]