www.mostatebeekeepers.org www.gillardhoney.com This presentation was given at the MSBA spring conference on March 13th, 2020 in Lee's Summit, MO.

1. Grant F. C. Gillard grantfcgillard@gmail.com
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MSBA Spring 2020 Grant Gillard

5. Never as easy
as you think…..

6. Three Initial Issues
What defines success?
What are successful beekeepers doing?
What are they doing differently that
elevates the struggles into success?

7. “Light-Bulb Moment”
Habits:
The ripple effect of the power of
unintended consequences.

8. The Karate Kid (1984)

9. #1 Always Remain a Student
 Read, read, read (information vs. wisdom)
 Stay current on pests and protocols
--American Bee Journal
--Bee Culture
--Beekeeping supply catalogs

10. #1 Always Remain a Student
Unintended consequence:
An awareness of the trends.
Fluency in our “vocabulary”
(CCD, VFD, PMS, WTF)

11. “WTF?”
Where’s
the
Foundation?

13. “”If you spend enough time at
something, and you’re curious and
you listen, you can learn a lot…”
--Governor Jerry Brown
(Rolling Stone Magazine, October 19, 2017, page 35)
“…I’ve been doing that longer than
anybody in California.”

14. #1 Always Remain a Student
#2 Study Honey Bee Biology

15. #2 Study Honey Bee Biology
David Tarpy:
“Anybody can raise bees by
being told what to do…

16. #2 Study Honey Bee Biology
“but great beekeepers become aware of
what the bees are doing,
how they function,
what’s happening, and why.”

17. #2 Study Honey Bee Biology
 The seasonality of the colony
 The delegation of work
 The impact and influence of pheromones
 The physical organization of the hive
 What stresses the colony?
What is the reason bees do what they do?

18. Beginner questions/complaints
I think I have a bad queen.
My bees are in the neighbor’s
swimming pool!
Did my hive swarm?
They aren’t building comb!
The colony suddenly got aggressive!

19. Beginner questions/complaints
My favorite:
“Is it too late to __________.”
(If you have to ask, it probably is)

29. #2 Study Honey Bee Biology
Unintended Consequence:
Appreciate the colony as a
“Superorganism”
Not a collection of individual bees, but a
cohesive unit that relates synergistically
to benefit the whole.

30. #2 Study Honey Bee Biology
“Every beekeeper action
has a honeybee reaction.”

31. #1 Always Remain a Student
#2 Study Honey Bee Biology
#3 Network Incessantly

32. #3 Network Incessantly
Take a class*
Find a like-minded mentor
Join a bee club (or start one)
Help struggling beginners
Challenge the experienced

33. #3 Network Incessantly
 Attend a conference ($$$$)
--Best learning environment:
during the breaks
--Visit with the vendors, what’s new?
--Ask questions…
…then listen and take notes

34. #3 Network Incessantly
Unintended Consequence:
You might find a
better way (more efficient)
to keep bees.
Frustrations are often one “tweak”
away from becoming a solution.

37. #3 Network Incessantly
Someone is always working
on a “better mouse trap.”
“There is always someone
with the answer to your problem.”

38. #3 Network Incessantly
Discernment:
Deciding who to listen to.
E. F. Hutton
George Imerie’s “Pink Pages”

39. #1 Always Remain a Student
#2 Study Honey Bee Biology
#3 Network Incessantly
#4 Anticipate – Plan Ahead

40. #4 Anticipate – Plan Ahead
Think like a bee,
Act like a beekeeper.
Always be one step ahead of the
bees. Anticipate what they need
and provide it.

41. #4 Anticipate – Plan Ahead
Not acting on what you see,
but acting on what you don’t see,
but you know is coming.
Swarming and its prevention
Queen rearing and hatching virgins
Providing supers prior to the flow
Managing mite populations before they explode

42. #4 Anticipate – Plan Ahead
Unintended Consequence:
Mitigating potential problems
Because when you discover you have a problem,
it’s probably too late.

43. #1 Always Remain a Student
#2 Study Honey Bee Biology
#3 Network Incessantly
#4 Anticipate – Plan Ahead
#5 Find an Anchor

44. #5 Find an Anchor
They keep bees in a manner that best suits
their situation
their purpose for keeping bees
their location
the kind of bees they keep
Jesse Williams

45. #5 Find an Anchor
Once they find their anchor
Magnanimous in sharing
Always open to new ideas
Slow to innovate
Need a reason to change
“Because I know what works best for me.”

46. #5 Find an Anchor
Unintended Consequence:
Unswayed by the fads
Confident and Comfortable

47. #5 Find an Anchor
“Does beekeeping
take a lot of work?”
“No, but it seems
take a lot of worry.”

48. #1 Always Remain a Student
#2 Study Honey Bee Biology
#3 Network Incessantly
#4 Anticipate – Plan Ahead
#5 Find an Anchor
#6 Invest Energy in Strong Hives

49. #6 Invest Energy in Strong Hives
 Kim Flottum: “Many hives are in decline,
beyond the point of saving. Sadly, very little
can be done to pull them out of this death
spiral.”
 Is requeening always the best answer?
 How many resources do you invest in a colony
with laying workers?

50. #6 Invest Energy in Strong Hives
Take-Away:
Combine weak colonies with strong colonies,
rather than combining two weak colonies.
Which colony can benefit from the resources?
(i.e. drawn comb, nectar, emerging brood)

51. #6 Invest Energy in Strong Hives
Unintended Consequence:
Recognize beekeeping is filled with inequity
No two hives are alike
No two apiaries are the same
No two seasons can compare
Don’t invest major effort for minimal gain.

52. #6 Invest Energy in Strong Hives
In 1952, when the police arrested
Willie Sutton, the famous bank robber,
they asked him,
“Why did you rob the banks?”
His response was,
“Because that’s where the money is.”

53. #6 Invest Energy in Strong Hives
For most beekeepers, the most precious
commodity is time and energy.
If someone asks,
“Why do you invest all your energy in the
strongest hives?”
“Because that’s where the honey is.”

54. #1 Always Remain a Student
#2 Study Honey Bee Biology
#3 Network Incessantly
#4 Anticipate – Plan Ahead
#5 Find an Anchor
#6 Invest Energy in Strong Hives
#7 Comfortable with Contradictions

55. #7 Comfortable with Contradictions
There are very few immutable rules in
beekeeping.
“Beekeeping is local.”
There are too many idiosyncratic variables to
simply “shadow” someone else.
Complexity defies an easy fix.
“It depends.”

56. #7 Comfortable with Contradictions
Beginner’s Lament:
“I did everything right,
just like the book said,
just like my mentor taught me,
and the bees still died.”
Do some hives simply become lost causes?

57. #7 Comfortable with Contradictions
Accept the inevitable losses
Diagnose the culprit
(even if it is “Pilot Error”)
Learn from your mistakes
(the tuition we pay to go to bee school)
Move forward

58. #7 Comfortable with Contradictions
“There is rarely a time when a
very specific ACTION is required,
but a very specific RESULT is desired.”
What is the colony telling you?
What’s your best option, given the
observation you have made?

59. #7 Comfortable with Contradictions
Unintended Consequence:
Beekeeping cannot be taught;
It must be learned.
We learn from one another on
our journey to becoming “experts.”

60. Definition of an “Expert”
Someone who had made
enough mistakes to finally
figure things out.
(resiliency and perseverance)
from the Latin expertus, meaning “to try” or “experience.”

61. Good News
 “There will always be beekeepers who sell
bees. You either have to learn how to
manage your bees or you pay for nucs and
packages as replacements.”
 “The only way to stay in the bee business is
to simply not quit.”
--Kent Williams, Kentucky beekeeper

62. #1 Always Remain a Student
#2 Study Honey Bee Biology
#3 Network Incessantly
#4 Anticipate – Plan Ahead
#5 Find an Anchor
#6 Invest Energy in Strong Hives
#7 Comfortable with Contradictions
grantfcgillard@gmail.com
www.slideshare.net

63. Survival Summary
 1. Always remain a student
 2. Study honey bee biology
 3. Network
 4. Raise your own queens
 5. Prudent mite management
 6. Invest your energies in strong hives
 7. Keep good records