April 10, 2026

Midwest Honey Bee Expo Interviews: Comb Honey Innovation and Feeding Solutions (Part 2)

In this Beekeeping Today Podcast Short, Jeff Ott and Becky Masterman continue their live coverage from the 2026 Midwest Honey Bee Expo, featuring two conversations focused on innovation in comb honey production and hive feeding systems.

The episode begins with Mick and Madison Fry, creators of SimplKomb, a comb honey production system designed to simplify harvesting while reducing waste. Their approach integrates production and packaging into a single cassette that fits standard medium frames, allowing bees to build comb directly within the final retail container. The result is a cleaner workflow for beekeepers and a more accessible product for customers, especially those new to comb honey.

In the second interview, Gary and Gigi Drumright of BRB Feeder share the story behind their hive-top feeding system. Designed to address common issues with jar feeding—such as water intrusion, inconsistent flow rates, and robbing—the BRB Feeder provides a controlled, weather-resistant solution that supports both colony nutrition and management efficiency.

Together, these interviews highlight the creativity and problem-solving happening across the beekeeping community, where practical challenges inspire new tools and approaches for modern beekeepers.

This is Part 2 of a multi-episode series recorded at the 2026 Midwest Honey Bee Expo.

Featured Guests

Mick Fry & Madison Fry – SimplKomb
Gary & Gigi Drumright – BRB Feeder

______________

Brought to you by Betterbee – your partners in better beekeeping.

Betterbee is the presenting sponsor of Beekeeping Today Podcast. Betterbee’s mission is to support every beekeeper with excellent customer service, continued education and quality equipment. From their colorful and informative catalog to their support of beekeeper educational activities, including this podcast series, Betterbee truly is Beekeepers Serving Beekeepers. See for yourself at www.betterbee.com

_______________

We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments in the show notes of this episode or: questions@beekeepingtodaypodcast.com

Thank you for listening!

Podcast music: Be Strong by Young Presidents; Epilogue by Musicalman; Faraday by BeGun; Walking in Paris by Studio Le Bus; A Fresh New Start by Pete Morse; Wedding Day by Boomer; Christmas Avenue by Immersive Music; Red Jack Blues by Daniel Hart; Bolero de la Fontero by Rimsky Music; Perfect Sky by Graceful Movement; Original guitar background instrumental by Jeff Ott.

Beekeeping Today Podcast is an audio production of Growing Planet Media, LLC

** As an Amazon Associate, we may earn a commission from qualifying purchases

WEBVTT

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Welcome to Beekeeping Today Podcast Shorts, your quick dive into the latest buzz in beekeeping.

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In 20 minutes or less, we'll bring you one important story, keeping you informed and up to date.

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No fluff, no fillers.

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Just the news you need.

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Brought to you by Betterbee, your partners in Betterbeekeeping

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Hey everybody, we're sitting here with Madison and her dad Mick Fry from SimplKomb.

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Welcome to our humble booth.

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Oh, thank you.

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Good morning, Jeff.

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They're from SimplKomb, but they're also from Minnesota.

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I'm sorry.

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Oh I'm sorry.

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Oh boy.

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I'm gonna get hate mail now.

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Yep, you're for it.

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But we're right next to a door that keeps opening.

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So we're getting the cool breeze.

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Oh my gosh.

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I mean it's like now I know why my mom always has to say, close the refrigerator door.

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Anyways, so you're with SimplKomb.

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Tell us about SimplKomb and how did it start and and the st background story and

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and what it is.

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So background story is I'm a farm kid, uh also an engineer, and when I started keeping bees about five years ago, I kind of looked at the equipment we were using and decided why are we using stuff that was invented by a Presbyterian minister in the eighteen fifties.

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Religion not aside, right?

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Yeah.

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Right.

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Um and so the woodenware that I used uh is great and I use uh a flow high for liquid honey and that kind of made sense to me in my engineering brain.

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But we discovered comb honey and how wonderful it is to eat.

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and I wanted to make more of that, but that was really a pain.

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So I decided to try and make comb honey production more like the flowhive is to liquid honey production, right?

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To make it simpler, simplify it.

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And also there was just a lot of waste when you cut comb out.

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There's about 30% of it around the edge that kind of gets drained out and wasted and it's too precious a gift to just let it go down the drain, right?

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So um engineering background I kind of put my tinkering cap on and started making some stuff in my shop at home and lo and behold

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Pretty soon the bees filled up one of my prototypes and I thought, aha You got it.

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Got something.

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Nice.

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Um my wife and my daughter usually roll their eyes when I tell them to call my big idea is at supper, but this one they said, Hmm, maybe that can go somewhere.

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I know that I will.

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Dad is on to something.

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I signed up for this crazy idea.

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We launched back in 2023 making a comb honey production system that then becomes the end consumer package for comb honey.

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So it takes the labor and the sticky mess out of it for the beekeepers, bringing trying to bring comb honey more into

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the mainstream make it a more valuable um product for beekeepers to produce and harvest and then be able to retail to their customers as well.

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So describe the product.

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So the cassette is just a container for comb.

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honey but it is also the production system for comb honey.

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Unlike a Ross Round or a hog half cone system there are no other parts and pieces to buy, to maintain, to clean, and to keep track of, right?

00:03:06.600 --> 00:03:07.400
The cassette is the

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the container and that's really all you need.

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It mates with your woodenware that you probably already know and love, a medium standard frame.

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And it's made from a recycled material called Arpet, which is food grade P-E-T.

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It's made from a recycled

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water puddles.

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So it's about as green a plastic as you got.

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Okay, nice.

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Nice.

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So you put it you insert it in a regular medium frame.

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Yep.

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You fold it up and it inserts into the slots of the lower and the upper bars on the medium frame.

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You put one

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on each side and you wax those.

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We like to paint on our own beeswax.

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We feel that the bees recognize their own wax a little quicker than they would recognize wax that you might buy commercially.

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But it does need to be 100% pure beeswax paraffin or any other sense or

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Paint that on and of course you need the trifecta in beekeeping.

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You need a strong collie during a strong flow.

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And if you do it right and you limit the access to other places to store honey, they will fill it up and draw it out and fill it up with beautiful cone.

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honey and they'll cap it at the right height and you close the package and you're ready to go.

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So the so when you close the package it's all in self-contained.

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So you're there's no cutting out.

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Exactly yeah.

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The bees build it right inside of the package.

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Our lids are integrated into the system so they're going to fold behind to snap

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into your frame and then when you're ready to harvest that lid closes right up right there.

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Makes a beautiful product when you lay it on a charcuterie board.

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You can scoop the comb honey right out of there, spread it on a cracker with your meats and cheeses, or spread it on your toast as well.

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But all contained right in

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that package breaks apart into those individual servings from the little bit different form factor.

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People are used to seeing a four inch by four inch brick of double sided comb money.

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But we do that for a reason.

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Mm-hmm.

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It helps we think hobby SB keepers break into a different market of folks who may not have

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been used to comb honey, didn't grow up with it, you know, a new generation of people getting into beekeeping have may not tried it before and might not be willing to slap down 25 bucks for a big four-inch block.

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As opposed to simple comb comes out to be about six ounces per container, nationwide average for comb

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Comb honey is about two dollars an ounce.

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So we can get, you know, ten to fifteen dollars for that um sample of comb honey retailing.

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Yeah.

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Um so allows folks to buy into trying comb honey for the first time, get them hooked and keep 'em coming back.

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So if you could sell each package for ten dollars.

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There are 80 packages in a 10-frame super if you get 100% fill.

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Right.

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So that would net about $800 from one super of honey that has about 65 to 70% the amount of coal money that would be in a normal super.

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but none of it gets wasted, right?

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So that other 30% goes up to the next super.

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But $800 on one super of honey, you get money for a beekeeper, one box.

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Right, right.

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And if that might be daunting to a beekeeper who might not be ready to sell eight hundred dollars, but

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If you take the packages, can you keep them in the freezer?

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Yes.

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So once they're drawn out and then for sale later?

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100%.

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Don't even need to, right?

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Comb honey is nature's most perfect food in a perfect package.

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It could crystallize though, right?

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I haven't seen it yet.

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Okay.

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Suppose it could.

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It could eventually.

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But I think it's also safe to keep it in the freezer to prevent that crystallization.

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So I just I don't want I don't want beekeepers to be a f you could also start with a couple frames, right?

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In the in the super.

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Correct.

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We have uh a few different ways to do

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Do that to ensure that the bees will build and cap them at the right height.

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That's the biggest danger we run into is if fill it, um, throw the cymbal comb in high with other drawn frames, they might get a little wonky, right?

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Okay, okay.

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The idea without fitting an entire 10-frame super is that you're managing the B space.

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space properly so they're gonna fill it to the correct height.

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We have some approaches of how to do that if you um fill up a regular fully drawn super, let them cap those frames, take a few out of the center, and place those with simple comb.

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That makes sense.

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storage option they'll stop at that at that barricade.

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Would you would you put the two the simple combs right beside each other?

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Right.

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The cassette is designed to have these uh what I call bosses on the corners and those need to touch each other between the frames.

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Okay

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The bee space.

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So the bees can get in and out of the cassettes, but then when they're building out, they come to the middle and they kind of know to stop and cap it there at the right height.

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If you leave too much space, most people are used to doing nine frames in a honey super.

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If you do that,

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then they're gonna build it too thick and the cover doesn't close.

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So the easiest way to do it is to go ahead and do the whole super at a time and then we think so and obviously you do need the trifecta again.

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We're having customers report that they're having really good success

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Yes, uh with swarms.

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Okay.

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Because they're prolific wax builders.

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They put a swarm in a single brood chamber and then one super of silicone above that.

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They're finding that they fill faster than they will over a double brood box.

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And I bet bottom supering might help if you go ahead and

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you've got some supers that are already in play and being filled out and drawn and then if you put the simple comb right above the excluder you might get a little bit of a encouragement.

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That was a hard way to a queen excluder?

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Yeah would you want to put

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a queen excluder in there?

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Um some people call them honey excluders.

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I think David calls them honey excluders, right?

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Um David doesn't know everything.

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Without a queen excluder obviously you run the risk of having some eggs up there.

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That can happen.

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Um I think sometimes if you have a full uh super of honey that is capped between the brood box and you put simple comb above that, it works.

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Yeah, yeah.

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Well very cool.

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I love love the idea.

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of getting beekeepers started in comb production because it is it's such a great tool to add when you're selling honey.

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And it's honestly they should be thinking about holiday gifts, right?

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For 2026.

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This is a great holiday gift for your friends.

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product to introduce young people to beekeeping because it's kind of a fun activity to sit down and paint on the wax.

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Oh sure, that makes sense.

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And it smells good right?

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Yeah.

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Well that's fun.

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across the wa the booth the aisle, the hallway from us.

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And that's you're getting a lot of activities and that's really good.

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That's exciting to see for comb hunting.

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It is exciting.

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Yeah.

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Way back when it was like Richard Taylor and and doing the cut comb hunting or just comb and that was

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like phenomenal to see the stuff they were coming out, but it was very hard and very difficult and very difficult.

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And it's been a niche product.

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Yes.

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And it we think because of that reason, because of how difficult it is, and maybe because we've been a little bit rigid on standardizing what comb honey should look like, a four by four inch brick.

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Yeah aesthetically perfect, right?

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Yeah, and the bass wood frames and everything.

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But you m you make it available to everybody, so I like it.

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It's a great idea.

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I like it.

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I'll have to give it a try.

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Thank you.

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Madison, if anybody wants to find out about simple comb, how do they

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find out more information.

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Yeah, you can find more information on our website, just SimplKomb.

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com, S-I-M-P-L-K-O-M-B, spelt weird for a reason.

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And we're on social media as well at SimplKomb.

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You can find us on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube as too.

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Well thanks so much for stopping by and and good luck and look forward to seeing you here at the Midwest Honey Bee Expo next year.

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Thanks for having us.

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Thanks for having me.

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Hey everybody, we are in the booth here at the Midwest Honey Bee Expo with G.

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And Gary Drumright of BRB feeder.

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This is an innovative product.

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Please.

00:10:28.700 --> 00:10:34.460
First of all, let's talk about BRB feeder because I want to say it's be right back, but it's not, is it?

00:10:36.060 --> 00:10:36.860
No, we didn't.

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Bull run.

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Bull run.

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And so our honey business is bull run bees.

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Okay.

00:10:43.380 --> 00:10:50.020
And so when we came up when my husband designed this feeder, um, it just naturally was like B R B feeder.

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I love it.

00:10:50.820 --> 00:10:51.700
You know, we made it as simple

00:10:52.140 --> 00:10:52.700
as possible.

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It's easy to say.

00:10:53.820 --> 00:10:54.140
Yeah.

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Yeah.

00:10:54.700 --> 00:10:59.260
So first of all, why did you decide to design a feeder?

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Well the f the whole concept came about when I was actually trying to feed jars right through the outer cover.

00:11:06.300 --> 00:11:06.700
Which is like

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Most of the commercial guys, you'll see them do it all the time.

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And then I realized that there were issues also with that method of feeding.

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And I wanted to fix those issues.

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One of the first issue was the water intrusion, you know, to get a jar, a metal lid to sail.

00:11:22.060 --> 00:11:24.060
on top of a metal roof is almost impossible.

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Okay.

00:11:24.380 --> 00:11:27.340
And I didn't want any water in my hives at all, especially where we live.

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It rains a lot, so that was an issue.

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Secondly was dealing with those rusty jar lids.

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They were always rusty jar lids.

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And the last thing was

00:11:37.140 --> 00:11:41.860
I did not have control over how many holes were in the jar lids.

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I was always looking for one that had more holes or fewer holes.

00:11:44.580 --> 00:11:44.980
Okay.

00:11:44.980 --> 00:11:50.100
So that was, you know, those three big issues was really what drove the concept of where we're at today.

00:11:50.420 --> 00:11:51.700
So you looked at that jar and you

00:11:52.140 --> 00:11:53.820
said we've got to be able to do better.

00:11:54.060 --> 00:11:55.180
I've got to improve on this.

00:11:55.580 --> 00:11:56.060
We can do better.

00:11:56.380 --> 00:11:57.020
Exactly.

00:11:57.020 --> 00:11:57.580
Okay.

00:11:57.580 --> 00:12:00.540
Yeah, and we started out really just doing it for ourselves.

00:12:00.540 --> 00:12:01.340
Okay, yeah, yeah.

00:12:01.340 --> 00:12:06.700
Then we had some beekeeping friends that every time well first of all let me back up and say he did had the design

00:12:07.140 --> 00:12:17.540
but our son uh is our cat person behind the scenes oh nice person yeah so he said you know I need you to draw this and I need you to buy a 3D printer and we're gonna start doing this.

00:12:17.540 --> 00:12:21.860
So this has been several years in the making of getting it to where it is now.

00:12:22.460 --> 00:12:29.660
You know, we have a lot of beekeeping friends in our clubs, local clubs, and we handed out samples and said, you know, test them.

00:12:29.660 --> 00:12:33.020
Tell us what you think, what we need to do to make it better.

00:12:33.020 --> 00:12:36.860
So it's been several years in the making, and we finally got it.

00:12:37.220 --> 00:12:39.460
to where um we like it.

00:12:39.460 --> 00:12:49.060
It is a it's a blah color, but we found out early on that reds and yellows probably wasn't a good idea money bar because you're just attracting everything that you didn't want to attract.

00:12:50.580 --> 00:12:51.700
You know I was going to ask if it came

00:12:52.060 --> 00:12:53.500
in different colors.

00:12:58.300 --> 00:12:59.260
I don't want that.

00:12:59.260 --> 00:13:00.940
I love okay, I love that.

00:13:00.940 --> 00:13:02.460
That you figured that out.

00:13:02.460 --> 00:13:03.420
That's fantastic.

00:13:03.420 --> 00:13:06.620
We have a lot of yellow jackets in our area and they were uh they're new

00:13:07.380 --> 00:13:09.300
Yeah, and then the hornets that are coming.

00:13:09.940 --> 00:13:12.180
We try not to attract anything to our APRIs.

00:13:12.500 --> 00:13:13.860
That's that's our number one goal.

00:13:13.860 --> 00:13:21.860
The inner the first the first design too, first prototype, you know, allowed uh syrup to come out to the edge.

00:13:22.300 --> 00:13:35.660
Well now we eliminated that because we want to contain the syrup in the middle and have this buffer so that also provides a buffer zone to keep the pest out and uh now we don't have that issue.

00:13:35.660 --> 00:13:36.780
So you mount this on the top of the phone.

00:13:37.140 --> 00:13:38.340
of the hive cover.

00:13:38.340 --> 00:13:41.460
And what size of hole is that on the roughly a one inch hole.

00:13:41.540 --> 00:13:42.020
One inch.

00:13:42.100 --> 00:13:47.380
Just enough the hole diameter is just enough for the bees to pass up and down through there to get to the feeder itself.

00:13:48.020 --> 00:13:51.540
If you had a hole like we did on some of ours up to it'll cover up to a

00:13:52.140 --> 00:14:06.540
inch hole and then you just put a bead of caulking down and you uh screw it down with the stainless steel screws and then when you're not feeding this is the feed area this is like I said the buffer when you're not feeding this uh plug snaps in tight and so you

00:14:07.060 --> 00:14:08.420
got a watertight seals.

00:14:08.740 --> 00:14:12.100
And the same thing with the jar when it's upside down it snaps in place?

00:14:12.100 --> 00:14:14.100
Well it doesn't snap but it engages.

00:14:14.100 --> 00:14:18.020
So you can feed you have it you can expose one or seven holes.

00:14:18.020 --> 00:14:21.700
We generally will start out like in spring buildup or even in a dirt that

00:14:22.060 --> 00:14:23.660
This is just a big production hive.

00:14:23.660 --> 00:14:25.260
We're just trying to maintain them.

00:14:25.260 --> 00:14:28.700
Uh especially in the spring buildup, they're bringing in pond.

00:14:28.700 --> 00:14:33.900
We want to try to maintain that they have a food a nectar source to have healthy bees.

00:14:33.900 --> 00:14:35.500
We'll may just do a three.

00:14:35.500 --> 00:14:36.620
And then when you turn it

00:14:37.140 --> 00:14:40.500
over it kind of kind of locks in snug.

00:14:40.820 --> 00:14:41.460
That looks good.

00:14:41.460 --> 00:14:46.900
And it we've never had any blowover and even with the buckets we've never had any blowover.

00:14:46.900 --> 00:14:51.700
But um we also feed going into a dirt as soon as we pull honey we want to feed them to

00:14:52.540 --> 00:15:05.660
you know kind of pacify them and say hey stop lobby we got you something to it's it's it's all about that trickle feeding or slowing down that feed rate for a longer period of time which benefits the bees so much more than bulk feeding.

00:15:05.820 --> 00:15:06.300
Yeah.

00:15:07.300 --> 00:15:21.700
because I'm trying to give credit, maybe you can remember, but somebody was talking about how do you encourage them to draw comb and it's giving them a small amount of food at one time instead of instead of So one of the you know to us one of the first things to getting bees to drop

00:15:22.220 --> 00:15:24.220
cone is to have them they need that incentive.

00:15:24.220 --> 00:15:24.620
Incentive.

00:15:24.940 --> 00:15:31.420
If you take a full production hive that doesn't need any more cone, you can fit you can throw tons and tons of sugar on them.

00:15:31.420 --> 00:15:34.060
It's just and it's like it almost disappears sometimes.

00:15:34.060 --> 00:15:35.500
And they will draw you a little bit of cone.

00:15:36.140 --> 00:15:36.540
Taking a

00:15:37.140 --> 00:15:43.700
smaller hive and they will draw cone out twice as fast with less expense.

00:15:43.700 --> 00:15:51.620
Now we have we also have a bucket feeder um it's so the base plate is actually the same base plate you just get the adapter ring on it.

00:15:51.900 --> 00:15:53.740
And then you put the bucket on.

00:15:53.740 --> 00:16:06.860
And the reason we do this you still got you still control the soil rate or the uh the number of holes, but we go to our apiaries every two weeks and if we have some hives at one of our apiaries we'll do.

00:16:11.700 --> 00:16:21.860
I could see also sorry, I'm I'm just excited about this, but I could also see where I'd maybe use the jar for nukes and then I'd maybe use the buckets for bigger colonies.

00:16:22.220 --> 00:16:23.820
It's it's quite the opposite.

00:16:23.820 --> 00:16:24.460
Uh what?

00:16:25.100 --> 00:16:26.300
It is quite the opposite.

00:16:26.380 --> 00:16:30.220
You put jars on big colonies and noobs get the buckets?

00:16:30.220 --> 00:16:31.180
Okay, tell me why.

00:16:31.180 --> 00:16:36.780
So on a full-size production colony, you know even after let's say we're heading after summer we've pulled our soup.

00:16:37.060 --> 00:16:37.380
results.

00:16:37.780 --> 00:16:39.460
We're putting food on them.

00:16:39.620 --> 00:16:41.860
We they have the weight there that they really need.

00:16:41.860 --> 00:16:43.300
We're just trying to maintain that weight.

00:16:43.300 --> 00:16:43.860
Okay, okay.

00:16:44.100 --> 00:16:46.180
We do not need to put that much on them.

00:16:46.180 --> 00:16:51.060
They will survive on and our goal is about half a gallon every two weeks.

00:16:52.140 --> 00:16:55.820
maintain the brood at that level and their weight.

00:16:55.820 --> 00:16:57.740
And that's all we're really trying to do.

00:16:57.740 --> 00:17:00.620
I want to ask if you've ever been through a Minnesota winter.

00:17:01.020 --> 00:17:04.540
So we're not going to be able to do that.

00:17:08.900 --> 00:17:09.940
I might want to switch them back.

00:17:16.339 --> 00:17:20.580
You know, if you have just a month or so, yes, you want to eat a bucket at a little faster rate.

00:17:20.580 --> 00:17:20.900
Right, yeah.

00:17:20.980 --> 00:17:21.620
But you still don't want to

00:17:22.060 --> 00:17:23.180
be dumping it on them.

00:17:23.500 --> 00:17:35.020
You're trying to keep that social structure within the hive the way it was and not be changing it up and creating, you know, okay, we need more foragers because we got two gallons of sugar sitting out here.

00:17:35.020 --> 00:17:36.780
So we're trying to maintain that social structure.

00:17:36.900 --> 00:17:40.740
I love the thought you've put about the biology.

00:17:40.740 --> 00:17:43.460
And it probably does make a difference depending upon what you're feeding.

00:17:43.460 --> 00:17:49.940
Like I don't I don't have a summer dirt that I have to feed through and so I would just have to maybe get that colony up to away from winter.

00:17:50.260 --> 00:17:51.860
But you're right about our nukes?

00:17:52.140 --> 00:17:54.060
We will feed them more than we will our production hives.

00:17:54.300 --> 00:17:56.220
We will 'cause that's we don't right.

00:17:56.220 --> 00:17:58.700
And it's all about the economics of the sugar syrup.

00:17:58.700 --> 00:18:00.300
I mean it's costly to feed bees.

00:18:00.300 --> 00:18:00.540
Yeah.

00:18:00.860 --> 00:18:02.540
And we try to keep that at a minimum.

00:18:03.340 --> 00:18:05.340
I love more than just economics too.

00:18:05.340 --> 00:18:06.860
It's it's all about nutrition.

00:18:06.900 --> 00:18:20.020
You know, we tell folks all the time that, you know, you can treat your bees, but if you're not treating them nutritionally and making sure their nutrition needs are matched, then it's well it's it's about well, economics is about overfeeding.

00:18:20.020 --> 00:18:21.620
You can overfeed your bees just as easily as

00:18:22.860 --> 00:18:25.820
And then that's take up root production space too.

00:18:26.620 --> 00:18:27.820
I have a question though.

00:18:27.820 --> 00:18:33.100
So you're feeding the colonies and then you want to come to the yard and you want to do an inspection.

00:18:33.100 --> 00:18:35.100
So you've got the external feeder on.

00:18:35.100 --> 00:18:36.540
What's your process for taking

00:18:37.140 --> 00:18:42.980
Taking it off and do you leave it on and just place the lid intact?

00:18:43.060 --> 00:18:44.020
You just take it off?

00:18:44.020 --> 00:18:48.100
So our typical uh our typical feed period is every two weeks.

00:18:48.100 --> 00:18:48.740
Okay.

00:18:48.740 --> 00:18:51.780
So we'll we'll set the if we use a bucket, we want it to be gone in two weeks.

00:18:52.060 --> 00:18:53.500
So we'll set it until it's gone in two weeks.

00:18:53.500 --> 00:18:54.540
When we come back, it's empty.

00:18:54.540 --> 00:18:55.500
We're taking these off.

00:18:55.500 --> 00:18:57.260
We can do our inspections if we need to.

00:18:58.300 --> 00:19:00.940
Most of the time during the dearth period, there's not much going on.

00:19:00.940 --> 00:19:03.100
We're really not inspecting them.

00:19:03.180 --> 00:19:04.220
Uh in the fall.

00:19:04.220 --> 00:19:04.540
Yeah.

00:19:05.740 --> 00:19:06.540
We're set for the winter.

00:19:07.140 --> 00:19:10.980
know that, you know, we're we're checking weights but we don't have to go in the hive to do that obviously.

00:19:10.980 --> 00:19:11.220
Okay.

00:19:11.700 --> 00:19:18.820
Do you ever use the cover if like it's a if it's a robbing season, do you ever have to cover the opening?

00:19:18.820 --> 00:19:21.460
You well, the way we eliminate robbing is that

00:19:22.060 --> 00:19:36.780
Um like I said, if it's going into a dirt as soon as we pull honey, everybody gets a uh feeder at a slow rate because you know, you know, we just kind of rob them of their honey and they're a little upset by that, but by putting this on there, I call it we're passive.

00:19:46.740 --> 00:19:51.700
So the robin aspects come in when you're when you're bucket feeding and you're throwing that bucket right

00:19:52.060 --> 00:19:54.780
on top of the hive and it leaks out for no reason.

00:19:56.780 --> 00:20:04.940
And the other way of inducing a robbing is these hive top feeders where you're pouring two or three gallons in them and you have all that surface area.

00:20:04.940 --> 00:20:06.140
They can sense that.

00:20:07.140 --> 00:20:10.580
they smell it, they know it's there, they'll come to it.

00:20:10.820 --> 00:20:14.020
The way we're doing it here, we're keeping it contained in this small area.

00:20:14.020 --> 00:20:21.700
There's no bees out here trying to get at it or yellow jackets or orange or whatever the case may be because there's that gap.

00:20:21.980 --> 00:20:30.060
Okay, oh entrance feeders and boardman feeders, we're not real fa uh fans of those because you're a advertising the sugar source right at the entrance.

00:20:31.740 --> 00:20:32.380
It's right here.

00:20:32.700 --> 00:20:34.540
So okay, I have one last question.

00:20:35.020 --> 00:20:36.540
How do people find out about you?

00:20:36.980 --> 00:20:37.780
That was my question.

00:20:38.180 --> 00:20:38.740
Sorry.

00:20:38.740 --> 00:20:40.260
I'm just I'm just very excited.

00:20:40.980 --> 00:20:44.260
Well, we have a web page, uh brb feeder.

00:20:44.260 --> 00:20:44.580
com.

00:20:44.580 --> 00:20:44.980
Okay.

00:20:44.980 --> 00:20:48.580
We also have a Facebook page, uh BRB feeder, same thing.

00:20:48.580 --> 00:20:48.980
Okay.

00:20:48.980 --> 00:20:50.660
And um that's about it.

00:20:50.660 --> 00:20:51.700
And of course they can call us my

00:20:52.060 --> 00:20:53.580
cell phone numbers on the website.

00:20:53.580 --> 00:20:55.980
It's the same number I use for the honey business.

00:20:55.980 --> 00:20:56.540
Awesome.

00:20:57.580 --> 00:20:59.980
And personal business, it doesn't matter, you know.

00:20:59.980 --> 00:21:00.540
So they're going to be a little bit more.

00:21:00.780 --> 00:21:01.740
This is really innovative.

00:21:01.740 --> 00:21:06.620
I really like it and it just really f flows nicely into

00:21:07.220 --> 00:21:12.740
uh anybody's system who's using the hive top feeders and it works nice.

00:21:12.740 --> 00:21:17.940
I like the way it inner interchanges and you can use it either with the bucket feeder and or the jars.

00:21:17.940 --> 00:21:18.340
Yeah.

00:21:18.340 --> 00:21:18.740
It's perfect.

00:21:20.580 --> 00:21:21.140
Yes sure.

00:21:21.140 --> 00:21:21.700
I hated feeding

00:21:22.060 --> 00:21:26.460
before this 'cause you know we were always like most jars and rusty lids and stuff.

00:21:26.460 --> 00:21:33.100
Now I all I have to do when we walk up to the apiary is first thing I can do is assess all the jar levels.

00:21:33.100 --> 00:21:33.660
Right.

00:21:33.660 --> 00:21:36.700
And uh if they're they should be empty or almost empty but

00:21:37.140 --> 00:21:42.740
if somebody is not taking it for some reason then we had no it's an indicator to get right into the hive.

00:21:42.740 --> 00:21:44.500
But we don't even have to open.

00:21:44.500 --> 00:21:46.980
I mean we cause there's not garbage up there.

00:21:46.980 --> 00:21:51.540
So basically we just have to give the jar a little twist to break the sugar seal and off we go to the

00:21:52.060 --> 00:21:55.660
truck, clean them with some bleach water, refill 'em and we're we're done.

00:21:55.660 --> 00:21:59.180
We can do a hundred and twenty of these easily in one day.

00:21:59.180 --> 00:22:04.140
Oh and that's uh Gary says we spend any time driving between them ferries.

00:22:05.580 --> 00:22:06.380
Very cool.

00:22:06.380 --> 00:22:06.700
Well thank

00:22:06.900 --> 00:22:09.620

Midwest Honey Bee Expo Interviews: Comb Honey Innovation and Feeding Solutions (Part 2)

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