Chris Hansen on the Business of Hauling Package Bees (389)

WEBVTT

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All right, hi, I'm Walter and I'm from Germantown, Wisconsin, and this is Beekeeping Today Podcast.

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Welcome to Beekeeping Today Podcast presented by Betterbee, your source for beekeeping news, information, and entertainment.

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I'm Jeff Ott.

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And I'm Becky Masterman.

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Today's episode is brought to you by the Bee Nutrition superheroes at Global Patties.

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Thank you, Walter with no last name from Germantown, Wisconsin.

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That was from the Midwest Honey Bee Expo.

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That was fun.

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Walter, I'm sorry I didn't catch your name and it's not in my notes, so please let us know who you are, but we appreciate your opening.

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It's nice to hear from Walter.

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Hopefully he's having a good bee season so far.

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It's been a crazy bee season.

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It's early.

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It's early and cold here, so it's

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I mean I mean with transitions out of the cold finally, but early and cold usually don't go together.

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But I think when there's a lot of pollen available, that's kind of like a

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a factor that you have to count as far as figuring out whether or not your bees are gonna ignore the weather and just brood up and get ready to go, despite the fact that the temperatures aren't aren't warm enough for you to take a look at them.

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We had unbelievable weather for about ten days.

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It was in the 70s and eighties.

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It might have been a full two weeks.

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And we started having swarms in the trees everywhere.

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And then it all shut down in last week, or in the last week of April, beginning of May.

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It went back in the 50s.

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And it's just

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It's been amazing.

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It's just been a very disruptive spring, so that it's hard to plan for.

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Right.

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Right.

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I mean it it is interesting, especially

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depending upon your the number of colonies you're managing, a lot of like sideliners are out there with a bigger number of colonies and if you don't have good weather

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you are going to be stuck with some really long bee days once once you have warmer days, or you're going to get a little bit behind in management and then catch up.

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Yeah, the first warm day they swarm.

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I mean after all that long cold and it's just like whether you're ready or not, they're taking off at one o'clock in the afternoon and it's

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It's fun, frustrating and fun at the same time.

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Yeah, it's it's nice to see them healthy.

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I I started dividing so early.

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because my colonies were so they're so big coming out of some a lot of them were so big coming out of the winter.

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But that's a whole nother problem to get queens in early April in Minnesota means that I'm having them shipped in

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potentially temperatures that are a little cooler.

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So we should put a do make a board game, right?

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As far as as far as it's like

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Maybe it exists already, but it just seems like you're rolling the dice sometimes.

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That sounds like a drinking game is what it sounds like.

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It's been an early season.

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We've already talked about that.

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But how soon do you like to put on your honey supers?

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As soon as I divide, I usually will put on honey supers.

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Now if I'm dividing in April, which is is very early, I I will probably wait a I do wait a little bit.

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But if I'm dividing in any time in May, then supers are going on.

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So I try to make sure that I'm a box ahead of the game.

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Unless they're doing something else for me, like drying out comb.

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You know, sometimes you you give bees other jobs and then then they can't think about honey.

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Keep them busy.

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I watch and as you know I have the the scales on the the colonies and as soon as I start seeing the weight gain

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And I start seeing other signs in the col in the top bars of the upper deep.

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I'll throw a super on because I just want to give them that space to expand into.

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theoretically theoretically dampen the swarming congestion type impulse, it's probably more for me than the bees.

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The problem is that the bees

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when the bees start thinking about it, it's it's a lot of times before we can visually tell that they have a problem.

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And so we have to be ahead of the bees.

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And so that's why I like during a nectar flow, I try to always keep two empty supers or one deep super.

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on a colony so that they always have a room to fill it because I've seen them f draw and fill a deep super in a week.

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It's amazing and cool and and lovely when it happens, but it does happen and then it can get you into trouble

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So that was one of my other questions.

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If do you like to put on one super at a time or do you like to put on several supers at one time and just get 'em on there?

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I don't do more than two empty supers or one deep super.

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I I know some people have done it like if they're gonna leave town or s or or they really wanna be proactive, but for an outdoor

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Or no ARDS, but I'm I'm at my APRAs enough so that that I can check.

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Plus, that's a lot of equipment to have on hand and we all know Okay, maybe we all don't know that, but

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I'm not exactly I don't have a ton of extra equipment, so so I'm not wasting it.

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I'm just timing it.

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That's that's good.

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Becky, you've moved bees in pickup trucks and back of the car

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Yeah, I've moved bees definitely in Lucy the Pickup Truck, my 91 Chevy.

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she's great.

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She's got a long bed.

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It's fantastic.

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And I've

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definitely done other weird things too where they I they've been on the seat next to me.

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They've been in the driver's seat or the passenger seat.

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I I still drive.

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Yeah, I hope so.

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I'm sorry officer.

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The the hive is sitting next to you on in the passenger seat?

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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That's it.

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So that's you have it strapped together obviously.

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I have a great picture of a nuke that's like overflowing with bees.

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I think I've shown it to you, but yeah.

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So yes, I've definitely moved them inside the vehicle and in a bed.

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How about you?

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Have you brought them into the vehicle?

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Only in in nucs, but not overflowing in the nuke.

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Yeah, I mean a good SUV, we we've done a lot for the bee Squad, we've done a lot in the back of an escape that there it's just, you know

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You just you make sure that they're not flying and or they can't get out for the most part and they're they're good passengers and then you can control temperature.

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So there you go.

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How many hives have you moved at one time?

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You can do oh me the most I've moved is eight.

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Yep, that's my max.

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Yeah, I think I've done well pickup trucks.

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So there's two there, two there's probably six or eight maybe.

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No not eight, there's probably six.

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Maybe five.

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Whatever you can get in the bed of the truck.

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It does not impress my commercial beekeeper friends.

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I mean I'm darn proud when I do it, but it's it's not really there's very little excitement.

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Well speaking of commercial beekeepers, you know, they have to move bees and lots of bees at one time.

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They do.

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They're moving pallets of bees and

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And I think it's somewhere around four hundred and forty singles can fit.

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I is that it or doubles?

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I you know, I okay, don't ask me.

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Obviously I'm not in this business, but it's a lot of colonies in one hall

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I have had some great conversations with a beekeeper who actually has gotten into the bee trucking business

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And he's been doing it a while.

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Boy, it's a different world out there.

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So So he's a bee mover and shaker, bee mover, bee trucker.

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He does I I wanna say he does everything.

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But but he actually does have a trucking business involved specifically for bees.

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I actually thought that we could maybe learn a little bit from him.

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His name is Chris Hansen

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And I thought that if we could get Chris to join us, we all might understand moving bees just a little bit better.

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I'll look forward to talking to Chris right after these words from our sponsors.

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Hey everybody, welcome back, sitting around the Scrape Bake Virtual Beekeeping Today podcast table.

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We have Chris Hansen.

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Where are you in Wisconsin, Chris?

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Northern Wisconsin.

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Rylander would be the town.

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Rylander, Wisconsin, northern Wisconsin, and Becky's and kind of southwest of you in Minnesota.

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And I'm out in Olympia.

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Welcome to the show, Chris.

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Thank you for having me.

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We invited you on the show to talk to us about well, you have a business.

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It's bee hauling business.

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That's going on nine years of doing this show.

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I don't think we've ever talked to anybody whose business is hauling the bees.

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Now we've had people who

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haul bees as part of their business because they are beekeepers, but no one who specialized in hauling bees.

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And I think it's about time.

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So thank you for joining us.

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Well you're welcome.

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Glad I'm not in a truck.

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Chris, can you share just how you got started in beekeeping to begin with?

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I can certainly try.

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I'm creeping up on, I think, 30 years of actual beekeeping for myself.

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I would joke that I'm a third or third generation beekeeper.

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My dad and my grandpa had both bought bees years before I did, but never really took it anywhere.

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their idea of a large operation was I think grandpa had six hives in his backyard in Chicago.

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And then my dad kinda carried on that, had three or four hives, and then we found out my sister was deathly allergic to bees

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Which put an abrupt end to that when I was probably eight or nine years old.

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And then the year she got married I got B's, they overlapped for a couple months and it's that's been thirty years now already.

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It's been kind of crazy.

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They both thought I was crazy.

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They're like, why would you want to make a business out of beekeeping?

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And they now they're all looking back going, I can't believe you actually did it.

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I'm not sure I have, but I'm trying

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When did you transition from these are my bees, I'll sell a little honey to, hey, I wanna support beekeepers and and s

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Cell supplies and truck bees.

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I'm not sure when that actually happened.

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I think it was it's always been a little by little.

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In the beginning, my

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I think my original business plan 30 years ago was to be the biggest beekeeper in Wisconsin and produce honey and send my bees into winter just all wrapped up and take the winter off and go snowmobiling and ice fishing.

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True in Wisconsin.

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Yeah, I was gonna say I have not been successful there.

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I have a snowmobile I put 20 miles on this winter and I didn't drill a hole in the ice, and that's pretty normal for every winter since

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I have managed to maintain probably one of the bigger beekeepers in Wisconsin, mostly in size.

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How many colonies do you keep managing for yourself?

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Less and less every year, unfortunately.

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All the different things we got going on, it's taking its toll.

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I think at my peak I had

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We were leasing on a bunch of extra bees.

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I physically owned a couple hundred, two maybe three hundred, and then with lease we're upward of twelve hundred total.

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And so it was every year with the store growing and our trucking company growing, it was taking its toll, and we keep seeming to add to that because that seems to be what's paying the bills.

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Beekeeping's just tough.

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That's a bumper sticker for beekeeping's tough.

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That is.

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We have an ongoing promotion with a sponsor, Hive IQ.

00:13:57.220 --> 00:14:06.980
And they have provided us with a bunch of really nice high IQ tools and they've co-branded it, put our logo on the back side of it.

00:14:06.940 --> 00:14:19.420
And for our listeners who send in questions, both email and or leave a voicemail message on our website, they ask us questions and typically Becky and I answer them or try to answer them.

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And occasionally we ask our guests to help us with an answer.

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And it's your lucky day, Chris

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We actually we thought because you run a store, you meet so many different beekeepers who come in who are first-time beekeepers or starting their second or third year.

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Anytime beekeeper.

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You answer a lot of questions, so this falls right into your Bailey Wick.

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So Becky, who do we have a question from today?

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So this week's question is from Jay Richeson.

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And Jay asks, as a third-year beekeeper, I'm realizing how much there is still to learn.

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Oh Jay, that's so true.

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But his question is

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What are the most common things third-year beekeepers think they know or have figured out, but are actually wrong about?

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Boy, this is wide open, isn't it?

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This is a thinking question.

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It really is.

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I would say generally what I see when people come into the store in that three to five year mark is they kinda had an idea of of how they were gonna manage and they're kinda transitioning into going

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They don't necessarily know what that might be.

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Or their idea may not have been what they thought it was going to be, and it's going to require more work.

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Generally, when it comes to mite management.

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They need to change their practices, try something new, try something different.

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It's that, or they start to transition out of beekeeping.

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It's not what they wanted to be, it's not what they expected it to be.

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But

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The I I usually joke it's a three to five year itch where they're excited and then they're starting to get discouraged and then

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So it's generally what I see as is they can't get the colonies that they want or that they envisioned, I think it is.

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that I I hate to say treatment free because there are successful treatment free beekeepers, but they're not doing maybe a good enough job to be a full on treatment free beekeeper.

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They're kind of half in, half out, and so

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That's usually what I hear is something to that effect.

00:16:22.180 --> 00:16:26.900
And then they transition and they they start picking up different plans and programs and then they

00:16:27.240 --> 00:16:31.560
start to get their feet underneath them a little better and they they either they're in or they're out.

00:16:31.560 --> 00:16:40.120
And and generally the ones that are committed to trying to do a better job do a better job and they're are much better the next five years, ten years and on.

00:16:40.140 --> 00:16:48.860
I think that what I've figured out is that and you you've got this history too, is that beekeeping used to actually be fairly easy before those mites.

00:16:48.820 --> 00:17:01.140
And I think that a lot of beekeepers, because there are so many challenges of of the mites and then you have to learn how to navigate queen problems and identify them early enough so it doesn't interrupt the population growth.

00:17:01.140 --> 00:17:02.180
And I think that

00:17:02.160 --> 00:17:07.360
a lot of beekeepers in the beginning don't really know what a healthy booming colony is.

00:17:07.360 --> 00:17:15.120
A colony that you have to divide more than once because if you don't, they're gonna swarm because they're so big and so strong and

00:17:15.339 --> 00:17:20.140
I think that's a that's a in the beginning I think it's hard to have that that perspective.

00:17:20.140 --> 00:17:28.059
Yeah, I think it's a lot of what Chris said, you both are saying, is that that three year mark you might have had a successful season or two

00:17:28.000 --> 00:17:36.320
And I think it really the three years needs to be three successful winters in today's age, you know, a successful winter overwintering with the mites.

00:17:36.320 --> 00:17:38.880
But if you get to that three years, then you feel like

00:17:39.040 --> 00:17:40.480
Oh, I've got it made.

00:17:40.480 --> 00:17:41.920
I am booming now.

00:17:41.920 --> 00:17:43.920
But everything kind of changes at that point.

00:17:43.920 --> 00:17:48.160
Maybe their equipment's a little bit older, the wax is older, you don't know what's in that wax.

00:17:48.160 --> 00:17:49.120
You don't know what's

00:17:49.240 --> 00:17:50.200
What's happening?

00:17:50.200 --> 00:17:52.360
I think that is, Chris, you you hit it right.

00:17:52.360 --> 00:17:58.760
There's that slump or that three to five year slump where things just don't work and they either have to punch through it.

00:17:58.640 --> 00:18:04.160
are they decided to bow out, which is unfortunate for 'em because there's a lot of enjoyment in bees yet.

00:18:04.160 --> 00:18:05.040
Well for sure.

00:18:05.040 --> 00:18:06.000
Well said, Jeff.

00:18:06.000 --> 00:18:07.520
Well thank you, Jay, for that question.

00:18:07.520 --> 00:18:09.200
W there's no specific

00:18:09.900 --> 00:18:14.620
answer to that in terms of one technique or one approach.

00:18:14.780 --> 00:18:16.540
I think it's more of a

00:18:17.440 --> 00:18:24.240
understanding that there is a lot to learn about beekeeping and there it's a lifelong process.

00:18:24.240 --> 00:18:30.240
For those of us who've been in it for a lot of years and pre-varroa, post varroa, there's

00:18:30.519 --> 00:18:32.840
That transition we all had to make.

00:18:32.840 --> 00:18:37.480
And all the changes with climate and everything else that's going on.

00:18:37.480 --> 00:18:43.399
It's a constant learning process, whether you're a three-year beekeeper or a thirty-year beekeeper

00:18:43.200 --> 00:18:47.679
So hang in there, Jay, and keep learning and you'll enjoy beekeeping.

00:18:47.679 --> 00:18:54.000
Let's take this opportunity for a quick break and we'll be right back and we'll talk more with Chris about hauling bees.

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Welcome back everybody.

00:20:47.220 --> 00:20:50.020
Chris, let's get let's get into trucking.

00:20:50.020 --> 00:20:53.620
Could you tell us how did you get started?

00:20:53.620 --> 00:20:57.380
Was it the trucking came before the trucking bees?

00:20:57.320 --> 00:21:02.200
Or did you decide that's what you're gonna do and you're gonna you're gonna learn 'em together?

00:21:02.280 --> 00:21:05.400
Well, I I had a little bit of a background in trucking already.

00:21:05.400 --> 00:21:08.840
I was hauling fuel oil locally.

00:21:08.919 --> 00:21:20.120
prior to this and I think one day I was hauling a truck full of bees and a trailer with the loader on the back and I got pulled over by my local DOT guy and he's like, What are you doing here?

00:21:20.120 --> 00:21:22.440
And I'm like, moving bees and he goes

00:21:22.460 --> 00:21:23.820
Where's your DOT number?

00:21:23.820 --> 00:21:25.980
Where's your UCR?

00:21:25.980 --> 00:21:30.620
Where's all these documents that I now have that I didn't have before?

00:21:31.060 --> 00:21:38.020
And he he said some things that probably aren't safe to radio, but he was very nice.

00:21:38.020 --> 00:21:40.820
He since pulled me over probably about twenty or thirty times.

00:21:40.820 --> 00:21:42.980
He lived down the road from me at the time

00:21:43.060 --> 00:21:46.340
And I swear he'd pull me over just to ask how the bees were doing.

00:21:46.340 --> 00:21:46.820
I love it.

00:21:46.820 --> 00:21:50.660
And I'm like, I'm not my name all over it.

00:21:50.660 --> 00:21:52.500
And everybody thinks I'm doing something wrong.

00:21:52.500 --> 00:21:56.180
And he's just chatting me up about the bees because he's got like 45 minutes

00:21:59.399 --> 00:22:03.880
He never admitted to that, but through that it's like, Okay, well we got

00:22:03.960 --> 00:22:13.320
Our DOT number, our trucking authority, and all these other pieces that have kind of come together to slowly form our our own trucking company.

00:22:13.320 --> 00:22:16.440
And then we started it kind of

00:22:16.840 --> 00:22:18.280
All of it happened together.

00:22:18.280 --> 00:22:24.520
Like we started running our own bees for honey production, and then we had the idea, let's sell some bees.

00:22:24.520 --> 00:22:26.120
We're buying packages.

00:22:26.519 --> 00:22:34.600
Let's sell some packages to help subsidize some of our operating costs, you know what and that grew and grew and grew and grew, and then

00:22:35.400 --> 00:22:45.000
There was we were working with I think Galivaras at the time and they were offering some hauling and we got to like a half load and they delivered to us and then

00:22:45.360 --> 00:22:47.919
You know, we kept growing and it's like, well, what's going on here?

00:22:47.919 --> 00:22:53.519
And then we couldn't get hauling one year, I think was was the ultimate start of the package bee hauling.

00:22:53.620 --> 00:22:55.860
So I'm like, well, it can't be that complicated.

00:22:55.860 --> 00:22:57.780
Let's let's build a truck and trailer.

00:22:57.780 --> 00:23:00.580
Honestly, I almost lost my house in the whole deal.

00:23:00.580 --> 00:23:03.860
It was we chose the trip to hell.

00:23:03.820 --> 00:23:05.420
And it was quite seriously that.

00:23:05.420 --> 00:23:07.340
You know, I broke down twice on the way back.

00:23:07.340 --> 00:23:14.620
I had I think ninety thousand dollars of bees at the time, which are half what they are now, you know, so that was a huge load of bees.

00:23:15.320 --> 00:23:24.600
I got home and I had I'm impressed with the customers we still had from those days because they they probably saw us at our absolute worst.

00:23:24.820 --> 00:23:27.540
and I'm handing off half dead packages.

00:23:27.540 --> 00:23:30.500
I gave away all the bees I bought for myself.

00:23:30.500 --> 00:23:33.940
It was it was a a really steep learning curve.

00:23:33.940 --> 00:23:39.460
And we have since watched other people go through this and I'm like, honestly it'll make you a better person.

00:23:39.160 --> 00:23:41.240
you know from a hauling perspective.

00:23:41.240 --> 00:23:46.040
If you think it's easy, you'd you've got a free ride.

00:23:46.280 --> 00:23:49.400
It is a lot more complicated than it wor looks.

00:23:49.400 --> 00:23:51.560
There is a lot of risk involved.

00:23:51.540 --> 00:24:06.260
And I felt horrible, you know, losing the bees, not only because of a customer standpoint, like trying to give people the best I possibly can, but also that I'm I'm a caregiver for animals and livestock and I didn't do them right.

00:24:06.019 --> 00:24:13.139
And so, you know, over the next couple of years I put into trying to research, well, how can I haul them better?

00:24:13.139 --> 00:24:16.100
What can I do to make things better, more efficient, faster?

00:24:16.100 --> 00:24:16.820
And we keep

00:24:17.200 --> 00:24:23.120
Here we are 15 years into hauling packages and we're I think we're constantly making things better.

00:24:23.120 --> 00:24:24.720
At least I w I hope we are.

00:24:24.900 --> 00:24:29.860
So that first trip, maybe the first one or two trips, what were the biggest lessons learned?

00:24:29.860 --> 00:24:32.260
Airflow being a big part of it.

00:24:32.260 --> 00:24:34.980
The amount of airflow that needs to happen.

00:24:34.660 --> 00:24:41.940
to keep your bees there's a couple things going on cool as well as just proper amount of oxygen in the trailer.

00:24:41.940 --> 00:24:43.940
They are living, breathing organisms.

00:24:43.940 --> 00:24:45.940
They they require air just like the rest of us.

00:24:45.940 --> 00:24:49.300
Well if you put them as an example I made earlier with

00:24:49.620 --> 00:24:54.100
package bees on a polytote and you put the lid on it, they don't last too long in there.

00:24:54.100 --> 00:25:01.700
They overheat, they start running, they sweat, they regurgitate, they suffocate, you know, all kinds of bad things.

00:25:01.640 --> 00:25:07.480
And all of that transpires into you know a lousy colony for your season.

00:25:07.480 --> 00:25:12.920
You know, even if they're still alive, they're generally shot in some way, shape, or form.

00:25:12.880 --> 00:25:15.040
Overheated bees do not do well.

00:25:15.040 --> 00:25:17.200
It it does screwy things to the queens.

00:25:17.200 --> 00:25:21.040
I have no scientific backing for that other than first hand experience.

00:25:21.600 --> 00:25:23.519
Hot bees just don't do well.

00:25:23.519 --> 00:25:30.960
They almost do better on the cold side of things when they're all sucked up tight in their package and they look like a one-pound package instead of a three-pound package.

00:25:30.460 --> 00:25:31.900
That all is better.

00:25:31.900 --> 00:25:41.100
But airflow is one of the hugest things that you know when I started going out west tall and bees and I look at these guys' warehouse and the volume of air

00:25:41.519 --> 00:25:50.399
I I just remember the first trailer I built and walking into their warehouse going, I don't have enough air in here if this is what's required.

00:25:50.399 --> 00:25:52.720
It it was like a light went off going

00:25:53.220 --> 00:25:54.340
I'm in trouble.

00:25:54.340 --> 00:25:56.260
You know, it's like I was moving air.

00:25:56.260 --> 00:25:59.780
I wasn't moving the volume of air that I needed to.

00:25:59.780 --> 00:26:01.860
And we've seen that time and time again.

00:26:01.860 --> 00:26:07.300
I see guys, you know, all the time we pass 'em up going down the road with their enclosed trailer and

00:26:07.720 --> 00:26:09.000
I I feel bad.

00:26:09.000 --> 00:26:13.320
I look at what they're hauling and I wonder how they're gonna look when they come out of their trailer.

00:26:13.320 --> 00:26:18.920
And and we we keep picking up those kind of customers that are that it's just not worth the risk to them anymore.

00:26:18.920 --> 00:26:21.480
And the compliments we get, you know

00:26:21.940 --> 00:26:27.940
You always have somebody that complains, but generally the feedback is always positive and well worth the money.

00:26:27.940 --> 00:26:33.220
This is not a paid commercial, but last year Jeff and I were writing a book and I needed package piece

00:26:33.580 --> 00:26:34.700
for for photos.

00:26:34.700 --> 00:26:41.260
And so I bought I bought several packages from you and and I will tell you they looked beautiful and very, very

00:26:41.660 --> 00:26:45.580
for you, dead bees on the bottom, which is which is exactly what you want.

00:26:45.580 --> 00:26:49.660
So you've obviously figured it o out, which is exciting.

00:26:50.040 --> 00:26:57.800
When you say you need it open up for airflow, does that mean like more openings on the side or in the front of the truck or is it fans?

00:26:57.800 --> 00:27:03.400
We we've kind of created a design that gives us a false floor under the packages.

00:27:03.400 --> 00:27:07.000
And actually, one of the key things that we do is we palletize.

00:27:07.000 --> 00:27:13.560
So we want the loading and unloading process to be as fast as possible so we can control the airflow within the trailer.

00:27:13.519 --> 00:27:17.200
So the longer the doors are open, the worse it is for the bees in the truck.

00:27:17.200 --> 00:27:18.480
We hate making stops.

00:27:18.480 --> 00:27:20.559
We hate leaving the back doors open.

00:27:20.559 --> 00:27:27.279
If everything is shut and locked up, even if my truck goes down, because we have massive generators on these trailers

00:27:27.240 --> 00:27:32.200
We're able to sit idle and park and pull air through that trailer just as if we were driving down the road.

00:27:32.200 --> 00:27:41.000
And so the the trailer has lower vents and upper fans and the fans are just pulling air through the bees, pulling the air up

00:27:40.840 --> 00:27:43.480
from the floor and exhausting off the top.

00:27:43.480 --> 00:27:49.320
We're taking heat rising to its natural element and we're allowing it to rise and scalping it off the top.

00:27:49.460 --> 00:27:55.140
I want to say some of our earliest math says I exchange the air in the trailer twenty-someth times a minute.

00:27:55.140 --> 00:27:57.540
So we're we're moving large volumes of air.

00:27:57.540 --> 00:28:01.460
And then there's some fans on thermostats, some are always on just

00:28:01.560 --> 00:28:04.040
We always want air moving in the trailer.

00:28:04.040 --> 00:28:07.720
It's just how much and how hard do we want it pulling through the trailer.

00:28:07.720 --> 00:28:10.920
And we can close off different parts with vents and stuff like that.

00:28:10.920 --> 00:28:14.680
And the design has gotten refined over the years.

00:28:14.260 --> 00:28:15.780
But it is kind of crazy.

00:28:15.780 --> 00:28:24.340
My kids love playing it in the spring when we're set up, we got a bunch of girls and we'll shut the doors and turn the fan on and their hair is blowing up around their head.

00:28:24.240 --> 00:28:25.440
So we move a lot of air.

00:28:25.440 --> 00:28:29.520
If it can pick your hair off your shoulders and blow it around in your face, it's it's a lot of air.

00:28:29.520 --> 00:28:30.720
That is a lot of air.

00:28:30.720 --> 00:28:33.280
And you said you've you've gone through a couple different designs.

00:28:33.280 --> 00:28:36.240
Is it different trailers or different boxes?

00:28:35.960 --> 00:28:39.400
There there has been some trailers as we've continued to grow.

00:28:39.400 --> 00:28:46.680
The core design is always the same, but we've I think we've kind of settled into what we like and what we see.

00:28:46.800 --> 00:28:51.200
And so I've in the last four years now I built two new trailers.

00:28:51.200 --> 00:28:57.520
And so I've gone off that original design and I'm like, okay, here's features I liked, here's features I didn't like.

00:28:57.360 --> 00:29:01.760
Here's features that worked and here's ones that didn't really provide any benefits.

00:29:01.760 --> 00:29:08.559
So like this year we were I bought a new new to me trailer last year and I think I built the trailer in a month.

00:29:08.340 --> 00:29:16.179
you know, for half the price of my old house, but it it's kind of crazy how much money you can bury into a trailer and and everybody's like, what did you do to it?

00:29:16.179 --> 00:29:17.620
Why would you cut holes in it?

00:29:17.620 --> 00:29:19.299
Why did you chop it all up?

00:29:19.299 --> 00:29:19.539
And

00:29:19.940 --> 00:29:22.340
It was a perfectly good trailer until you did that.

00:29:22.340 --> 00:29:24.100
And I'm like, well, it's not a good trailer.

00:29:24.100 --> 00:29:25.860
It just has a different purpose now.

00:29:25.860 --> 00:29:31.139
But yeah, we've we've currently have three, I guess technically four, trailers.

00:29:31.139 --> 00:29:34.659
And we've added two of them in the last couple years.

00:29:34.540 --> 00:29:38.220
And this year we ran a full season with three three trailers.

00:29:38.220 --> 00:29:41.900
There was some request for possibly a fourth trailer, so I don't know.

00:29:41.900 --> 00:29:44.940
We need to have some more drivers first before I can

00:29:45.040 --> 00:29:49.280
even entertain the idea of investing that that much money into another trailer.

00:29:49.280 --> 00:29:52.240
But and really it it it's more than just the trailer.

00:29:52.240 --> 00:29:53.360
It's also our drivers.

00:29:53.360 --> 00:29:55.440
You know, I can't I can't put enough

00:29:55.460 --> 00:29:58.020
Thanks on those guys because it's not just me.

00:29:58.020 --> 00:30:01.860
We've got two guys in every truck and that truck rounds runs around the clock.

00:30:01.860 --> 00:30:08.900
If we're taking a load out of Northern California and coming back to Wisconsin, say Minneapolis, we can be there in thirty-two to thirty-four hours

00:30:09.040 --> 00:30:10.320
from the time that we leave.

00:30:10.320 --> 00:30:17.760
So if we leave sunset, you know, we're delivering at sunrise in Minneapolis the following day.

00:30:17.760 --> 00:30:18.080
So

00:30:18.620 --> 00:30:20.220
the speed in which you do it.

00:30:20.220 --> 00:30:22.780
You gotta have guys that are willing to drive like that.

00:30:22.780 --> 00:30:26.220
Driving teams, there's not a lot of people that want to drive as a team.

00:30:26.220 --> 00:30:27.660
There's a lot of things going on.

00:30:27.660 --> 00:30:29.020
But my drivers are amazing.

00:30:29.020 --> 00:30:31.580
And they're all beetroopers, so that helps.

00:30:31.440 --> 00:30:34.639
When does the season start and end for trucking?

00:30:34.720 --> 00:30:44.080
Generally, so art, I probably should clarify a little bit trucking, because I don't know that we've really said it, but it's specifically package bee hauling or transportation.

00:30:43.820 --> 00:30:48.380
We have done flatbetting, so it's it's not I don't really enjoy flatbedding.

00:30:48.380 --> 00:30:52.060
Climbing around on B's and throwing nuts isn't isn't the most fun in the world.

00:30:52.120 --> 00:31:00.920
So we're specifically hauling package bees all out of Northern California and at least right now all out of Northern California

00:31:01.100 --> 00:31:10.860
And then we do, I think this year we started March 28th, and we had the last truck home on the 7th.

00:31:10.820 --> 00:31:13.140
Seventh or eighth of May.

00:31:13.140 --> 00:31:18.420
In that time we hauled twenty-one semi-loads full of package bees all across country.

00:31:18.420 --> 00:31:24.340
The farthest one went from Oreland, California, all the way up into north central Vermont

00:31:24.500 --> 00:31:26.500
Literally coast to coast.

00:31:26.500 --> 00:31:30.500
And we're finding a lot more of these East Coast halls.

00:31:30.500 --> 00:31:32.419
I'm not sure what's up with that, but

00:31:32.919 --> 00:31:35.480
If the bees look good, I'm fine with hauling them.

00:31:35.480 --> 00:31:38.440
So So it's not just to northern Wisconsin.

00:31:38.440 --> 00:31:41.960
You're you're hauling obviously to Vermont and wow.

00:31:41.400 --> 00:31:42.760
And it's all for hire.

00:31:42.760 --> 00:31:48.520
So some of our some of the producers we work with, they're contracting with us to haul the bees for them.

00:31:48.520 --> 00:31:50.680
And then other ones, it's the customer.

00:31:50.680 --> 00:31:52.680
Like they're like, hey, we hear about you.

00:31:52.680 --> 00:31:55.080
We want to haul, you know, we want to buy

00:31:55.040 --> 00:31:58.800
you know, we're we're starting to have to figure out we have to put a cutoff in there.

00:31:58.800 --> 00:32:02.240
Like there needs to be enough packages to make it worthwhile.

00:32:02.240 --> 00:32:04.400
And it's not that we don't want to work with people.

00:32:04.400 --> 00:32:09.760
It's that or hey, I need you to meet at this guy's place because he's already buying five hundred packages.

00:32:09.960 --> 00:32:16.360
We're trying to decide that because we've had a few stops to try to help, but you're handing off the back of the truck.

00:32:16.360 --> 00:32:20.680
So you're breaking the pallets down, you're you're downstacking off the back of the truck, which

00:32:20.960 --> 00:32:25.440
The design again is all about keeping the doors closed to move the air properly.

00:32:25.440 --> 00:32:27.840
A normal stop is five to ten minutes.

00:32:27.840 --> 00:32:34.160
You know, a guy's got his loader there, we open the doors, he pulls his pallets off, stacks them on the ground, grabs the next pallet

00:32:34.340 --> 00:32:35.780
And then we close the doors again.

00:32:35.780 --> 00:32:41.140
And then we'll go and we'll look through all the packages, make sure everything looks good and everybody's happy.

00:32:41.140 --> 00:32:42.820
And then here, sign off.

00:32:42.820 --> 00:32:46.660
You receive them in the best possible condition that can bring them to you.

00:32:46.540 --> 00:32:54.140
If there was a claim, we would try to take care of it on the spot, but in the 15 years I had 11 back bad packages on one wood.

00:32:54.140 --> 00:32:55.500
Whoa, that's impressive.

00:32:56.340 --> 00:32:58.419
You got 2,000 packages on a load.

00:32:58.419 --> 00:33:09.620
And that was one of those extreme situations and and we've I wouldn't want to haul on the extreme sides, but we've been from everything from zero to as high as 108.

00:33:09.519 --> 00:33:11.120
and hauling temperatures.

00:33:11.120 --> 00:33:13.840
And so I I like 60s and 70s.

00:33:13.840 --> 00:33:15.760
That's like the perfect window.

00:33:16.080 --> 00:33:18.960
But yeah, it's it's it's a crazy gig

00:33:18.960 --> 00:33:19.520
Yeah.

00:33:19.520 --> 00:33:29.360
I think that it goes back to I I've seen stacks of packages and I think it's hard for people to sometimes understand just how hot they can get.

00:33:29.240 --> 00:33:41.320
even if they're you know they're if they're in like a seventy five degree room for storage, they the cluster around that queen will break up and they will be trying to keep themselves as cool as possible.

00:33:41.320 --> 00:33:42.280
It's it's

00:33:42.720 --> 00:33:47.440
very, very dramatic how how warm they how the heat they generate.

00:33:47.440 --> 00:33:56.640
Yeah, and in the package it's actually worse because they're trapped and so while you have screen sides they get hot, they start running and now all of a sudden they can't get rid of the heat

00:33:56.460 --> 00:33:58.780
Because they're covering and blocking the screen.

00:33:58.780 --> 00:34:01.580
If they're clustered, then that works better.

00:34:01.580 --> 00:34:07.660
Which I think is why having that large volume of air actually keeps MBs clung to each other.

00:34:07.640 --> 00:34:09.240
allowing that heat to come off.

00:34:09.240 --> 00:34:18.600
But the minute you and we we see it all the time like a loader a a rough forklift operator or a skid steer operator picking his packages off the back.

00:34:18.520 --> 00:34:25.000
Unintentionally, you know, you drop off the edge of the pavement or a curb or a hole and you knock those packages loose.

00:34:25.000 --> 00:34:28.520
Immediately the whole pallet just revs right up.

00:34:28.540 --> 00:34:31.980
You know, if it's hot out, you know, we see it the worst.

00:34:31.980 --> 00:34:37.100
You know, now they're running up and down the screen and and you have a heck of a time getting them cooled back off again.

00:34:37.340 --> 00:34:41.500
But if you could gently get them into shade or the dark.

00:34:41.500 --> 00:34:42.860
Dark is another great thing.

00:34:42.860 --> 00:34:45.500
You know, when it's dark they'll stop running so much.

00:34:45.500 --> 00:34:49.580
Just getting some air blowing on them, a big box fan, if nothing else.

00:34:49.580 --> 00:34:52.060
You know, all of that helps.

00:34:51.260 --> 00:34:55.820
I know that whenever I get pickup packages, the first thing I do is I spray 'em down with syrup.

00:34:55.820 --> 00:35:03.340
Do you ever I would think that wouldn't be practical when you're moving bees to actually do any kind of spraying

00:35:03.460 --> 00:35:12.500
Yeah, the packages usually have a syrup can, and then the these farther east drops are generally just about empty if they aren't already empty.

00:35:12.340 --> 00:35:16.820
And they'll they'll last like that for even a couple days after being empty.

00:35:16.820 --> 00:35:22.100
You know, I don't even want to necessarily say I'm bragging about this, but I had a couple packages here.

00:35:22.100 --> 00:35:25.860
We were waiting for customers and I finally gave up waiting and we installed them

00:35:25.920 --> 00:35:29.680
But they sat on my floor for four days without syrup in the cans.

00:35:29.680 --> 00:35:32.640
And we just kind of kept watching them as an experiment.

00:35:32.640 --> 00:35:36.320
You know, I finally felt bad and I put them in a box and gave them some feed

00:35:36.400 --> 00:35:39.360
And and they went out there yesterday and they look great.

00:35:39.360 --> 00:35:44.480
You know, they're they're building comb, they're bringing in nectar, they're they're doing everything they should have.

00:35:44.480 --> 00:35:44.960
No.

00:35:45.320 --> 00:35:49.640
Did that package have you know, is that that given them any kind of favors?

00:35:49.640 --> 00:35:51.480
And I don't think it did by any means.

00:35:51.720 --> 00:35:53.400
Sooner you can get them out the better.

00:35:53.400 --> 00:35:56.200
But they can they can handle a few days without syrup

00:35:56.540 --> 00:35:59.100
But if you let them go too long, you get into trouble.

00:35:59.100 --> 00:36:05.180
So I don't normally spray unless I have to, but what I have seen is if it gets hot, hosing them down.

00:36:05.059 --> 00:36:08.099
Taking garden hose and just lightly mist over the top of them.

00:36:08.099 --> 00:36:14.660
That'll cool them off as well as just kind of cleaning up, you know, offering that water because they're only getting syrup.

00:36:14.660 --> 00:36:17.460
Give them a little bit of water too to help them cool faster

00:36:17.620 --> 00:36:24.660
Since you're only hauling packages, I suppose you don't have to worry about bee spills or any kind of the accidents.

00:36:24.660 --> 00:36:27.060
I get all those calls whenever anybody hears about one.

00:36:27.060 --> 00:36:28.500
I know they're like I know.

00:36:30.040 --> 00:36:32.600
I I pray we never get in that situation.

00:36:32.840 --> 00:36:38.600
There was one north of Seattle last year and it just was just really bad nasty.

00:36:38.600 --> 00:36:39.880
I mean it's bad for the bees.

00:36:39.960 --> 00:36:40.520
No one was

00:36:40.920 --> 00:36:44.520
hurt or killed, but it was really nasty for the bees.

00:36:44.520 --> 00:36:45.240
Oh yeah.

00:36:45.240 --> 00:36:53.080
Yeah, I I would imagine this would be an absolute mess and and we've picked up hauling jobs because of stuff like that.

00:36:53.080 --> 00:36:54.280
You know, guys that

00:36:54.440 --> 00:36:55.400
would haul themselves.

00:36:55.400 --> 00:37:05.400
I know a few years back we had a guy that was hauling four or five hundred packages on the back of his truck and he was going through the Sierra Nevadas and I don't know if he came around the corner a little fast.

00:37:05.400 --> 00:37:06.839
It wasn't real clear

00:37:06.840 --> 00:37:10.920
But the packages rolled off of his truck and ended up in the canyon.

00:37:10.920 --> 00:37:18.840
And they went and picked all these packages up and tried to put them back together on his truck and and probably lost a a portion of those bees

00:37:19.700 --> 00:37:22.180
And he's just like, it's not worth it.

00:37:22.180 --> 00:37:28.260
You know, when you guys do such a good job, you know, we have a lot more at risk in the volume that we have on the truck.

00:37:28.440 --> 00:37:34.520
And again, I pray that never happens, but you know, you're out there enough, something will eventually happen.

00:37:34.680 --> 00:37:37.000
How do you manage fuel prices?

00:37:36.840 --> 00:37:39.320
and fluctuating fuel prices.

00:37:39.720 --> 00:37:41.000
This year I ate it.

00:37:41.000 --> 00:37:41.480
Okay.

00:37:42.520 --> 00:37:44.440
That that really kinda hurt.

00:37:44.440 --> 00:37:51.560
We we kinda the the people that ask for prices because they're trying most of them are reselling package bees.

00:37:51.780 --> 00:38:01.620
And so we we quoted a price and then when the fuel hiked, I was like, what am I gonna do?

00:38:01.700 --> 00:38:04.580
Because when we started, I think it was about a dollar more

00:38:05.020 --> 00:38:09.740
And towards the end of the season it was pushing the dollar and a half to two dollars more in some spots.

00:38:09.740 --> 00:38:13.339
I debated what to do, but I'm like, you know, somebody's gonna eat it.

00:38:13.339 --> 00:38:16.540
And and I don't know where it's fairest to have that

00:38:17.080 --> 00:38:22.200
And I I talked with my wife about it and we just kind of elected to eat it.

00:38:22.200 --> 00:38:24.200
We figured we'd be fine

00:38:24.720 --> 00:38:32.160
As the books are are settling down and the dust is getting it dust is settling out a little bit, I probably should put a fuel surcharge on there.

00:38:33.099 --> 00:38:43.740
I think all I can say is I got paid my wages for driving, but there there ain't anything extra at the end of the year to, you know, warrant upgrades and repairs and stuff like that.

00:38:43.740 --> 00:38:45.099
There there's a little, but

00:38:45.340 --> 00:38:46.540
It definitely is not.

00:38:46.540 --> 00:38:52.140
It's normal good season by choosing to eat that increase that I probably should have passed.

00:38:52.140 --> 00:38:53.340
Oh, that's tough.

00:38:53.340 --> 00:38:53.820
Yeah.

00:38:53.820 --> 00:38:58.620
I I wanna say that starting the season with our projected mileage

00:38:59.220 --> 00:39:06.020
And amount of fuel consumption, we were probably looking at losing close to $17,000 in fuel increase.

00:39:06.020 --> 00:39:08.900
And I think it was well over $20.

00:39:08.900 --> 00:39:09.220
So

00:39:09.740 --> 00:39:12.780
It it's you know, we're we're all feeling it.

00:39:12.780 --> 00:39:14.700
I know the guys out west are feeling it.

00:39:14.700 --> 00:39:24.460
I I've tried not to complain about fuel prices being close to five dollars a gallon in most places when I was taking pictures of the California fuel pumps at eight.

00:39:24.000 --> 00:39:28.560
And even their regular gas was $599 to $6.

00:39:28.640 --> 00:39:29.280
99.

00:39:29.280 --> 00:39:31.520
I'm I don't know how they can afford to live there.

00:39:31.520 --> 00:39:31.840
And

00:39:32.500 --> 00:39:35.860
There's a reason why I guess everything in California costs what it does.

00:39:35.940 --> 00:39:40.660
And it's the whole west coast and Washington State it's really high too.

00:39:40.559 --> 00:39:43.200
It hit at the worst time, but it always does.

00:39:43.200 --> 00:39:45.279
There's never a good time for something like that.

00:39:45.279 --> 00:39:46.640
And so yeah.

00:39:46.640 --> 00:39:51.279
I I it's stuff to be watching for for the future and and trying to make a better plan.

00:39:51.500 --> 00:39:55.580
Well hopefully if you plan for it it will never happen again.

00:39:56.940 --> 00:39:57.660
Right.

00:39:59.260 --> 00:40:00.860
Guarantee make all sorts of plans for something.

00:40:01.660 --> 00:40:02.300
Yeah, yeah.

00:40:02.300 --> 00:40:09.820
If you put a lot of thought into it and a little bit of energy and and come up with a plan for customers, hopefully you never have to invoke something like that.

00:40:09.580 --> 00:40:10.460
That's tricky.

00:40:10.460 --> 00:40:14.860
Yeah, I don't know how the guys do it that are hauling all day, every day, all year long.

00:40:14.860 --> 00:40:18.460
It just it we're only doing it for six, eight weeks.

00:40:18.460 --> 00:40:19.580
You know, at the most.

00:40:19.580 --> 00:40:22.940
how are these guys doing it that are all year long?

00:40:22.640 --> 00:40:24.319
I don't know how they do it.

00:40:24.319 --> 00:40:30.720
Besides the trucking or the package hauling that you do, you also run a store?

00:40:30.400 --> 00:40:36.160
Wait, does he run the store or or maybe his daughters are in charge of that store right now?

00:40:36.799 --> 00:40:39.440
Based on the social media I've seen.

00:40:39.440 --> 00:40:40.240
Yeah, we do.

00:40:40.319 --> 00:40:44.799
We have oh you know that was one of those things

00:40:45.400 --> 00:40:53.080
actually came about after we started selling some extra packages to help pay for our bee is we started having customers, you know, if you had this

00:40:53.640 --> 00:40:57.640
Or if you had that, you know, we'd we'd buy that from you when we pick up our bees.

00:40:57.640 --> 00:40:59.400
And I'm like, oh, okay, sounds good.

00:40:59.400 --> 00:41:02.520
And and so it's turned into its own monster.

00:41:02.520 --> 00:41:05.480
And and it's actually continues to grow.

00:41:05.480 --> 00:41:07.880
You know, I I'm blown away by the

00:41:08.580 --> 00:41:10.660
the amount of people that buy from us.

00:41:10.660 --> 00:41:19.940
You know, it's like even people across the country and and even now I'm I'm trying to work on some things that will maybe open up more internationally.

00:41:19.940 --> 00:41:20.420
I I

00:41:20.940 --> 00:41:25.980
I might be an idiot for trying to push that hard, but we are passionate about what we do.

00:41:25.980 --> 00:41:29.260
We love keeping B's, and I'm like, you know what, if I can't

00:41:29.540 --> 00:41:36.420
If I can't run my own bees to produce honey to the volume that I want or need, I my love is running bees.

00:41:36.420 --> 00:41:38.180
I I love working them.

00:41:38.180 --> 00:41:41.860
I just wish I didn't have to depend on them to predict pay the bills

00:41:41.900 --> 00:41:47.260
But I love being able to help beekeepers and serve beekeepers, big, small, and everything in between.

00:41:47.260 --> 00:41:50.140
I love going and hanging out with beekeepers.

00:41:50.420 --> 00:41:56.740
I love some of the working relationships, like the trucking aspects, but also, hey, what do you need?

00:41:56.740 --> 00:41:58.340
Is there something I can help you with?

00:41:58.340 --> 00:42:00.580
You know, doing those kind of things.

00:42:00.540 --> 00:42:02.460
I I do enjoy that.

00:42:02.460 --> 00:42:12.540
And and my kids see that and they're starting to appreciate some of those same things and so the the store continues to grow and you know now we're doing more manufacturing.

00:42:12.540 --> 00:42:14.940
We've got a lot of pieces coming in and

00:42:15.120 --> 00:42:16.400
And it just keeps growing.

00:42:16.400 --> 00:42:18.560
It's it's it's been a true blessing.

00:42:18.640 --> 00:42:24.320
I just want to mention or ask you actually the question, what's the population of Rhinelander?

00:42:24.059 --> 00:42:27.980
It it might be a trick question, but I think you said seven or eight thousand?

00:42:27.980 --> 00:42:31.500
I think so, but it's really there's more rural than that, but yeah.

00:42:31.500 --> 00:42:32.140
Right, right.

00:42:32.140 --> 00:42:34.140
You're in you're in an area that's

00:42:34.340 --> 00:42:38.420
I don't know what's your closest major metropolitan area?

00:42:38.500 --> 00:42:43.540
I guess Wausau would be it's a little over an hour away from us to the south.

00:42:43.740 --> 00:42:45.820
And what is what?

00:42:46.380 --> 00:42:47.900
Twenty, thirty thousand maybe?

00:42:47.900 --> 00:42:49.260
I that's a guess.

00:42:49.260 --> 00:42:50.300
I have no idea.

00:42:50.300 --> 00:42:52.300
Yeah, so so it's it's it's just interesting.

00:42:52.300 --> 00:42:54.140
Yeah, we're really in the middle of nowhere.

00:42:54.140 --> 00:42:55.180
I didn't want to say that.

00:42:55.180 --> 00:42:55.420
I

00:42:55.740 --> 00:42:57.500
And I'm not saying that, Chris.

00:42:57.500 --> 00:42:58.940
It's an interesting venture.

00:42:58.940 --> 00:43:01.740
I mean Wisconsin's a you know, it's a big beekeeping state, right?

00:43:01.740 --> 00:43:05.500
But but your customers are a lot of them are driving to see you.

00:43:05.500 --> 00:43:09.820
You know, that they're not, you know, coming from yep, an hour plus I bet

00:43:09.559 --> 00:43:16.200
Yeah, 'cause I think if I go northeast a little bit, it's probably a little over an hour to Michigan or to the Michigan border.

00:43:16.200 --> 00:43:23.480
And for a lot of those beekeepers, we're the only one in the area like that they can drive to, pick stuff up

00:43:23.359 --> 00:43:29.599
Somebody once asked me how many customers we had and I would I would say our walk-in customers are between two and three thousand.

00:43:29.599 --> 00:43:37.119
Oh wow that that physically come here, maybe not every week, but you know once or twice a year that come in and they're

00:43:37.059 --> 00:43:43.380
You know, they're buying their B's or they're picking up some queens or they're, you know, they need XYZ supplies.

00:43:43.380 --> 00:43:46.819
You know, we've got a really nice little store going on here.

00:43:46.819 --> 00:43:47.460
It's

00:43:47.540 --> 00:43:49.300
You know, it's not huge.

00:43:49.300 --> 00:43:50.340
It's easy to find.

00:43:50.340 --> 00:43:52.900
You know, generally we try to keep stuff in stock.

00:43:52.900 --> 00:43:56.660
It's hard, but well, we're always getting shipments of stuff in.

00:43:56.660 --> 00:43:56.980
So

00:43:57.240 --> 00:44:00.760
You have more than two daughters, but you have two daughters in the store or do you have more right now?

00:44:00.760 --> 00:44:01.480
Two and a half.

00:44:01.480 --> 00:44:02.680
We're gonna say two and a half.

00:44:02.680 --> 00:44:04.520
Two and a half daughters working in the store.

00:44:04.520 --> 00:44:05.960
But there's a lot of

00:44:06.480 --> 00:44:09.600
talent as far as I mean it's very impressive.

00:44:09.600 --> 00:44:12.320
It's it's and great customer service too.

00:44:12.320 --> 00:44:14.560
Just excellent customer service.

00:44:14.560 --> 00:44:14.880
So

00:44:14.900 --> 00:44:17.140
Yeah, I've got eight kids total.

00:44:17.140 --> 00:44:23.700
The the two oldest are working full time and then number three is still in school, so she's doing well, I shouldn't say number three.

00:44:23.660 --> 00:44:24.700
She's number four.

00:44:24.700 --> 00:44:28.540
She's doing some part-time work while she's still finishing up school.

00:44:28.540 --> 00:44:33.820
And then, you know, the little ones, you know, they'll come up and help where they can, but they're not really interested.

00:44:33.820 --> 00:44:35.980
They want to go play their summer away, so

00:44:36.480 --> 00:44:39.120
But there there's more help coming, I hope.

00:44:39.120 --> 00:44:43.200
And then hopefully someday they marry on and bring more help.

00:44:43.200 --> 00:44:45.200
I love the business strategy.

00:44:45.200 --> 00:44:46.080
Yeah, the business strategy.

00:44:46.640 --> 00:44:56.319
This is the first year for our trucking season that I was probably probably the less least stressed I've been in as long as I can remember.

00:44:56.319 --> 00:44:59.279
The girl had a really good grasp on the shop

00:44:59.340 --> 00:45:01.740
taking care of orders, keeping customers happy.

00:45:01.820 --> 00:45:04.300
You know, it didn't have to all fall on my shoulders.

00:45:04.300 --> 00:45:12.060
I actually hired a part-time guy to help do some of the logistical stuff behind the scenes, reaching out to our trucking customers and producers and

00:45:11.960 --> 00:45:13.800
And kind of do a lot of that networking.

00:45:13.800 --> 00:45:15.240
So that took a lot off my plate.

00:45:15.240 --> 00:45:20.920
I actually got to be a driver instead of wearing four different hats while while driving.

00:45:20.920 --> 00:45:25.480
So it and trucking is not fun, but that made it easier.

00:45:25.240 --> 00:45:27.240
You know, and same thing here around the shop.

00:45:27.240 --> 00:45:33.080
Just knowing the girls had it under control and they were solving a lot of those issues was really a a blessing this year.

00:45:33.340 --> 00:45:46.460
As we're coming towards the end of our time here, if someone came up to you and said, Chris, I'm really thinking I'm going to get into the bee hauling business, package hauling business.

00:45:46.160 --> 00:45:50.240
What would be your one bit of advice to them to help them find their way?

00:45:50.240 --> 00:45:52.240
If they're smart enough, don't do it.

00:45:54.080 --> 00:45:56.560
What would be your second bit of advice?

00:45:56.560 --> 00:45:58.480
Put a lot of homework into it.

00:45:58.480 --> 00:45:59.440
Don't

00:46:00.040 --> 00:46:01.720
Don't try to cut the corners.

00:46:01.720 --> 00:46:08.280
Cutting corners every time that we've even tried to skirt the corner, we've always paid for it in some way, shape, or form.

00:46:08.280 --> 00:46:09.960
Yeah, don't rush into it.

00:46:09.960 --> 00:46:11.720
Take your time, do it right

00:46:12.360 --> 00:46:14.200
It it sounds simple.

00:46:14.840 --> 00:46:18.360
Any job sounds simple until you really start to dig into it.

00:46:18.360 --> 00:46:21.240
You know, we see that all the time with beekeepers getting started.

00:46:21.240 --> 00:46:23.720
Oh, well just have a hive in our backyard and we'll just

00:46:23.859 --> 00:46:27.300
Put some bees in it and we'll come back in the fall and it'll be full of honey.

00:46:27.300 --> 00:46:29.060
Take your time, do it right.

00:46:29.300 --> 00:46:31.540
It's more than just taking care of customers.

00:46:31.540 --> 00:46:33.780
You're you're taking care of livestock.

00:46:33.700 --> 00:46:36.420
There's there's enough things going against us already.

00:46:36.420 --> 00:46:38.500
We don't need to be doing it on purpose.

00:46:38.500 --> 00:46:41.780
If you if you're interested if you need a driving job, you know, I guess.

00:46:41.760 --> 00:46:43.200
They want me to add another truck.

00:46:43.200 --> 00:46:44.560
I can always use more drivers.

00:46:44.800 --> 00:46:48.800
Pull that out on radio, but we've never done that before, have we?

00:46:49.440 --> 00:46:51.120
Help wanted.

00:46:51.240 --> 00:46:52.600
I added that part out.

00:46:54.280 --> 00:46:55.320
Absolutely not.

00:46:55.320 --> 00:46:56.600
We're leaving that in.

00:46:56.600 --> 00:46:57.240
That's solid.

00:46:57.240 --> 00:46:58.280
That's sticking.

00:46:58.280 --> 00:47:00.280
Yeah, that was that's good.

00:46:59.859 --> 00:47:02.579
You know, right now it's helpful that I know all my guys.

00:47:02.579 --> 00:47:08.099
They're all relatively local and I can jump in on 'em anytime and say, hey, how are things going with your bees?

00:47:08.099 --> 00:47:08.740
You know, it's

00:47:08.920 --> 00:47:16.040
You start dealing with people too far away and it's like, well, you don't know how they're how they're doing, how their family's doing, how their animals are doing.

00:47:16.040 --> 00:47:16.840
You you just

00:47:17.140 --> 00:47:23.220
There's a lot of unknowns that way if you start looking too far from home, but Okay, so only if they're in Wisconsin.

00:47:23.220 --> 00:47:24.420
I think that's the message we're getting.

00:47:24.579 --> 00:47:24.900
Yeah, yeah.

00:47:25.380 --> 00:47:26.740
Maybe nor maybe Wisconsin.

00:47:26.980 --> 00:47:30.500
Or maybe maybe if they're right on the edge of Michigan, right?

00:47:31.180 --> 00:47:31.660
Yeah.

00:47:31.660 --> 00:47:32.780
Or or crazy.

00:47:32.780 --> 00:47:37.740
You know, it takes a a genuine balance of crazy to do beekeeping and trucking.

00:47:37.740 --> 00:47:39.980
So you could throw that in there too.

00:47:39.980 --> 00:47:45.100
But yeah, if you're interested, you know, research it, do your homework

00:47:44.600 --> 00:47:49.960
There's work out there if a person's willing to do it, but it's it's not easy work, it's hard work.

00:47:49.960 --> 00:47:59.560
And honestly, all kidding aside, if you do want to start a trucking, package trucking or or beehauling, maybe it does make sense to work for somebody else first.

00:47:59.040 --> 00:48:06.640
learn the ropes and then instead of trying to start starting to I don't know any of my guys that are actually interested in doing it on their own.

00:48:06.640 --> 00:48:09.680
They're like, I think you're pulling enough of your own hair out.

00:48:09.680 --> 00:48:11.360
I don't want to do that to myself

00:48:11.359 --> 00:48:14.320
I do stress probably more than I should about them.

00:48:14.320 --> 00:48:16.640
I want to make sure they're taken care of, they're safe.

00:48:16.640 --> 00:48:18.960
I want them to come home to their families and

00:48:19.320 --> 00:48:28.440
It's it's tough, you know, when you got a guy that you only see once a year or twice a year, but you trying to sleep behind him when he's driving all night long.

00:48:28.160 --> 00:48:28.880
It's hard.

00:48:28.880 --> 00:48:37.600
Every bump in the road you start to jump and twitch and wonder if you're gonna be in the weeds or, you know, Nevada's got the rumble strips right on the wait line.

00:48:37.580 --> 00:48:45.580
They start hitting that and you s you wonder if they're falling asleep, and so you're not sleeping because you're worried if they're not sleeping, you know, or they're sleeping or not.

00:48:45.580 --> 00:48:45.900
And

00:48:46.180 --> 00:48:53.619
So there there's a lot of a lot of stress involved with trying to drive by and somebody else that you only see a couple times a year

00:48:53.840 --> 00:48:56.640
So it's a hard thing to do, driving team.

00:48:56.640 --> 00:49:00.160
That brings a whole new perspective on that driving perspective.

00:49:00.160 --> 00:49:00.960
Really nice.

00:49:00.960 --> 00:49:01.360
Yeah

00:49:01.460 --> 00:49:09.300
Well Chris, it's been enjoyable talking to you today about the bean hauling business and I learned a lot.

00:49:09.300 --> 00:49:10.260
Sounds good.

00:49:10.420 --> 00:49:11.380
You're welcome.

00:49:11.380 --> 00:49:14.020
Yeah, thank you, Chris.

00:49:14.020 --> 00:49:16.260
Becky, I think we should buy a truck.

00:49:16.359 --> 00:49:18.440
And get into the bee hauling business.

00:49:18.440 --> 00:49:19.079
You know what?

00:49:19.079 --> 00:49:21.720
I had an idea, but it wasn't that one.

00:49:21.720 --> 00:49:23.000
Here's my idea.

00:49:23.000 --> 00:49:25.000
I think it's better than yours.

00:49:25.480 --> 00:49:26.920
I'm sure it is.

00:49:26.559 --> 00:49:30.480
He know we've done a a queen series, although we've got more that we're adding.

00:49:30.480 --> 00:49:32.319
We've got building your bee business.

00:49:32.319 --> 00:49:34.559
We're talking about how to get into beekeeping

00:49:34.260 --> 00:49:36.340
I like a bee hauling series.

00:49:36.340 --> 00:49:38.340
Now we don't have to do it all at once.

00:49:38.340 --> 00:49:41.940
That was such a great introduction into hauling packages.

00:49:41.940 --> 00:49:45.060
We learned so much and I I still want to learn more.

00:49:45.060 --> 00:49:46.740
We've got hauling colonies.

00:49:46.740 --> 00:49:47.540
We've got

00:49:47.640 --> 00:49:51.559
big time and little time, there's there's a lot of nuances that we could talk about.

00:49:51.559 --> 00:49:52.440
I learned a lot.

00:49:52.440 --> 00:49:58.680
You get around anybody talking about Holland Beach they hear about airflow, but I've not heard it described so intensely

00:49:59.020 --> 00:50:02.060
as what Chris was doing and and how important that is.

00:50:02.060 --> 00:50:02.940
And that makes sense.

00:50:02.940 --> 00:50:07.180
I mean if anybody's been around bees, they you know they overheat really quick.

00:50:07.420 --> 00:50:16.540
We didn't go into it, but you know when you mentioned the initial calculations for airflow suggested I was like, who's doing those calculations?

00:50:16.700 --> 00:50:17.420
That's like

00:50:18.160 --> 00:50:29.440
That's like big time big time math equations, so I mean how cool is it that but it's it's a business based on actual data that support the bee health.

00:50:29.440 --> 00:50:30.880
I thought that was fun

00:50:30.960 --> 00:50:35.040
And that about wraps it up for this episode of Beekeeping Today.

00:50:35.040 --> 00:50:40.160
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00:50:40.240 --> 00:50:42.560
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00:50:53.760 --> 00:50:54.720
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00:51:08.200 --> 00:51:09.880
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00:51:10.320 --> 00:51:12.160
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00:51:12.160 --> 00:51:16.480
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00:51:16.480 --> 00:51:17.920
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00:51:17.920 --> 00:51:19.600
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