Thank you both for this great interview. I have so much respect for Bob for the amount of information he openly shares to his fellow bee keepers. It's always nice when finding a bee channel that you know you can always run to for some great advice and info.
Hey Nathan, I’m a 3rd generation Bee Keeper (focusing on pollination services & honey production) and haven’t really ever watched RUclips. I recently moved to FL from the west coast to start a Queen Farm bc I’m getting too old to chase flowers up and down three states. Like you if I don’t know the best way to do something I try and find some experts and learn from them- I figured RUclips might be a great resource. I quickly found that the platform has lots of well meaning folks that, imho, didn’t have the best advice re bee keeping. There are, thankfully a few folks that I found to be a wealth of knowledge; top among them is Bob Bininie. I think I’ve watched all of his videos and find myself learning something every time (even as a 3rd gen guy). Thank you so much for interviewing Bob as it’s added even more Bob content for my bee keeper knowledge. Your questions were terrific and covered an impressive scale and scope. Bob’s answers were incredibly forthright and, as always, seemed to genuinely care about sharing his successes and failures to help others learn. Thank you both for being such a great resource. Best of luck in 2023!
It shows how much a gentleman Bob is. Helping other beekeepers grow and not having the mentality of people in the past of not wanting to help the competition. Hope to see you both at the HiveLife Conference in January. Craig Fr. VA / SML Bees.
Great job on the interview! Spending time with Bob instantaneously changed our trajectory and the wisdom that comes from his experience is an incredible blessing to be able to share. Keep up the good work.
Don't give up your day job , wow going bigger , be carefull, going to be a journey for you , hope it works for you Nathan, may be 1 day I will see an export of " Duck River Honey " on a shelf in Australia .
Don’t worry Peter, I don’t know where I want to go with it yet. With my economics background I really enjoyed seeing his operation. Fun stuff, and I hope it helps others looking to grow.
I found your channel / business through Bob's channel. You seem awfully familiar to the fellow I talked to about a tipi and sleeping bag a couple of years ago. Happy I found your channel on bees. All the best from Wyoming.
Bob will do a great job. Funny thing is I had no idea that was his topic at the conference, it was a coincidence. Bob said it was a happy coincidence because it would help him order his thoughts.
This is a great video excellent questions. and Bob is just the best Thanks for doing this. Bob is just a wonderful person always wanting to help other bee keepers He is just a supper person. I also wish u the best on your honey house.
@Duck River Honey It took me an hour to do 14 1 lb bottles. I did 480 lbs this year and according to state SC, over 400, I have to get what you are talking about. Fortunately for me, my mentor can add me to his honey house. You also need a HH to wholesale to stores, so I'm stuck selling to individuals. The government allows imported honey of unknown origin and hamstrings those doing it the right. I'm off my soapbox now.
Hop back on that soapbox! I understand the need for cleanliness regulations and all that, but man a honey house build is like looking down a gun barrel. Either scale up to cash flow it or scale down to avoid it.
I agree. The terrible thing is will the investment bring returns, will your hives survive year-end and out,? The president of our local club built a $25,000 HH, but he could easily afford it. The SC regulations are ridiculous. I can sell to individuals who pose the same risk as selling to stores for resale, so what variable separates the two? Of course, I could bootleg it. That's what we do in the south. Lol
Bob spent most of a day with me. I've got seven videos in edit right now, and I'm stunned by the quality of his advice. I put a lot of effort into my questions, trying to make the most of his time. He's funny too...you'll see some of that coming up. I am super happy to preserve this for future generations.
In the past Bob has run 2000 to 2500 hives, but his building is set up for honey packing not just producing. Detailed square footages are in this video.
Yea I know what he does but it does not apply to what you and I want to do. What I'm asking is if I have 500-1000 hives what is the right amount of space and equipment I need to start. After I watched your talk I asked this question to the Canadian Beekeeper. He has a shop more close to what I want. I'm looking at 3 different companies in the 30k range for equipment. What's the best who knows. That's the question.
Extrapolate. You can run 500 hives on an uncapper, two Dadant 20’s, clarifying tank, pump, settling tank, and barrels. A big jump past that would be the Cowen 28. If you want to wholesale, retail, or pack others honey you’ll need at least two good sized bottling tanks and a filling machine. As well as filters, hoses, etc. space and equipment really should reflect what you want to do…make honey and sell bulk, or market and retail yourself, big difference.
We could talk for hours on this subject. I'll reach out when I start my build. And no I don't want to sell bulk. 5 gallons ok above that na. Love your farm by the way. I am looking at Cowen 28 28 Frame Extractor $ 14,900 Silver Queen Uncapper $ 7,872 Hot Water System $ 1,530 Mini Cappings Auger $ 3,000 Mini Cappings Spinner $ 6,420 Above Floor Sump $ 1,800 1" Gear Pump $ 1,975 Total Price: $ 37,497
Unfortunate he could have used 1” poly for that heating, would’ve cost like 1$ a square ft to put it under the slab (I pour concrete in Ohio for a living)
He’s got a forklift door on one side of the warm room that opens to the drum storage area, and a man door on the other side that opens to the extraction room.
Drums are pretty standard. I have seen a couple very large producers use huge totes, but like the jump from buckets to drums, there is a big jump in infrastructure from drums to totes. Probably not that many players at that level.
Thank you both for this great interview. I have so much respect for Bob for the amount of information he openly shares to his fellow bee keepers. It's always nice when finding a bee channel that you know you can always run to for some great advice and info.
Thanks Scott, I really enjoyed spending time with him.
Hey Nathan, I’m a 3rd generation Bee Keeper (focusing on pollination services & honey production) and haven’t really ever watched RUclips. I recently moved to FL from the west coast to start a Queen Farm bc I’m getting too old to chase flowers up and down three states. Like you if I don’t know the best way to do something I try and find some experts and learn from them- I figured RUclips might be a great resource. I quickly found that the platform has lots of well meaning folks that, imho, didn’t have the best advice re bee keeping. There are, thankfully a few folks that I found to be a wealth of knowledge; top among them is Bob Bininie. I think I’ve watched all of his videos and find myself learning something every time (even as a 3rd gen guy). Thank you so much for interviewing Bob as it’s added even more Bob content for my bee keeper knowledge. Your questions were terrific and covered an impressive scale and scope. Bob’s answers were incredibly forthright and, as always, seemed to genuinely care about sharing his successes and failures to help others learn. Thank you both for being such a great resource. Best of luck in 2023!
Thanks Michael, I appreciate that.
It shows how much a gentleman Bob is. Helping other beekeepers grow and not having the mentality of people in the past of not wanting to help the competition. Hope to see you both at the HiveLife Conference in January. Craig Fr. VA / SML Bees.
Thanks Craig!
Great job on the interview! Spending time with Bob instantaneously changed our trajectory and the wisdom that comes from his experience is an incredible blessing to be able to share. Keep up the good work.
Thanks Greg
This video is exactly what I'm looking for. Thank you for asking the questions.
Thanks Aidan, hope it helps.
Don't give up your day job , wow going bigger , be carefull, going to be a journey for you , hope it works for you Nathan, may be 1 day I will see an export of " Duck River Honey " on a shelf in Australia .
Don’t worry Peter, I don’t know where I want to go with it yet. With my economics background I really enjoyed seeing his operation. Fun stuff, and I hope it helps others looking to grow.
Gosh Bob is an amazing human
Excellent Interview!!! Bob has so much knowledge and wisdom and you did a masterful job of putting it together.
I appreciate that Tom! I had a lot to work with and I tried to do it justice.
Hello ! An excellent interview ....
with respect ADRIAN
Thanks Adrian!
I found your channel / business through Bob's channel. You seem awfully familiar to the fellow I talked to about a tipi and sleeping bag a couple of years ago. Happy I found your channel on bees. All the best from Wyoming.
Aaron that’s probably me.
You ask a lot of good questions and anything with Bob Binnie is usually worth watching anyway. I’m looking forward to the rest of the series.
Thanks!
Thanks to both of you for making information available and sharing your experiences.
Thanks, I hope it’s helpful
Absolute Gold, thanks yall.
Thanks!
Bob is the best in the business and a great guy.
He was extremely gracious and patient with me.
Very interesting conversation. Thanks, Bob, for sharing your wisdom and experience with us.
Thanks Barry
Thanks for sharing, looking forward to hearing Bob talk about honey houses during the hive life conference.
Bob will do a great job. Funny thing is I had no idea that was his topic at the conference, it was a coincidence. Bob said it was a happy coincidence because it would help him order his thoughts.
This is a great video excellent questions. and Bob is just the best Thanks for doing this. Bob is just a wonderful person always wanting to help other bee keepers He is just a supper person. I also wish u the best on your honey house.
Thanks Frances
Great video Nathan. I was bottling 70 degree honey while watching. Got to get a bucket warmer.
So did you finish more than one bottle during that 25 minute video? 🤣
@Duck River Honey It took me an hour to do 14 1 lb bottles. I did 480 lbs this year and according to state SC, over 400, I have to get what you are talking about. Fortunately for me, my mentor can add me to his honey house. You also need a HH to wholesale to stores, so I'm stuck selling to individuals. The government allows imported honey of unknown origin and hamstrings those doing it the right. I'm off my soapbox now.
Hop back on that soapbox! I understand the need for cleanliness regulations and all that, but man a honey house build is like looking down a gun barrel. Either scale up to cash flow it or scale down to avoid it.
I agree. The terrible thing is will the investment bring returns, will your hives survive year-end and out,? The president of our local club built a $25,000 HH, but he could easily afford it. The SC regulations are ridiculous. I can sell to individuals who pose the same risk as selling to stores for resale, so what variable separates the two? Of course, I could bootleg it. That's what we do in the south. Lol
I'm looking forward to your next Bob videos and others.
Man I wish I had this kind of resource at hand when I first started up
Bob spent most of a day with me. I've got seven videos in edit right now, and I'm stunned by the quality of his advice. I put a lot of effort into my questions, trying to make the most of his time. He's funny too...you'll see some of that coming up. I am super happy to preserve this for future generations.
This was great information. Thank you to both of you.
Thanks Dave!
Great job picking his brain 🧠! Great interview!!
Thanks Tim!
great video nathan n bob,
Thanks Mark, it was fun.
Excellent series! How do I get access to the private videos?
One more is scheduled to release on Sunday, the other two will release after Bob speaks at the Hive Life Conference in early Jan.
Awesome info
Thanks Robert
Interesting approach to a video 👍
Thanks Ian, it was fun. I’d love to interview you sometime as well, similar format.
:) it would be a pleasure , but I’m not nearly as interesting as Bob and others lol
I disagree. I quoted Ian Steppler to Bob, and he thought it was a very smart quote. 😆
I agree with Nathan. You could shed light on what many beekeepers would like to do. Nathan was very prepared and on point.
amount of hives/ size of building/ kind of equipment/ would be good to know.
In the past Bob has run 2000 to 2500 hives, but his building is set up for honey packing not just producing. Detailed square footages are in this video.
Yea I know what he does but it does not apply to what you and I want to do. What I'm asking is if I have 500-1000 hives what is the right amount of space and equipment I need to start. After I watched your talk I asked this question to the Canadian Beekeeper. He has a shop more close to what I want. I'm looking at 3 different companies in the 30k range for equipment. What's the best who knows. That's the question.
Extrapolate. You can run 500 hives on an uncapper, two Dadant 20’s, clarifying tank, pump, settling tank, and barrels. A big jump past that would be the Cowen 28. If you want to wholesale, retail, or pack others honey you’ll need at least two good sized bottling tanks and a filling machine. As well as filters, hoses, etc. space and equipment really should reflect what you want to do…make honey and sell bulk, or market and retail yourself, big difference.
We could talk for hours on this subject. I'll reach out when I start my build. And no I don't want to sell bulk. 5 gallons ok above that na. Love your farm by the way. I am looking at Cowen 28
28 Frame Extractor
$ 14,900
Silver Queen Uncapper
$ 7,872
Hot Water System
$ 1,530
Mini Cappings Auger
$ 3,000
Mini Cappings Spinner
$ 6,420
Above Floor Sump
$ 1,800
1" Gear Pump
$ 1,975
Total Price:
$ 37,497
Unfortunate he could have used 1” poly for that heating, would’ve cost like 1$ a square ft to put it under the slab (I pour concrete in Ohio for a living)
Does your warm room back on to your honey store room?
He’s got a forklift door on one side of the warm room that opens to the drum storage area, and a man door on the other side that opens to the extraction room.
@@DuckRiverHoney is there reason people use drums and not use the one tonne container, that you see syrup put in to?
Drums are pretty standard. I have seen a couple very large producers use huge totes, but like the jump from buckets to drums, there is a big jump in infrastructure from drums to totes. Probably not that many players at that level.
@@DuckRiverHoney thankyou for replys
No worries, thanks.
Bob is dead on the money! Power water gas! Double it big as you can go or ever dream of going solid solid advice ✅🙏👍
When you're getting power service it doesn't cost a lot more to double it....but it does cost a lot more down the road to retrofit.