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Apiary Chronicles is the podcast where the world of beekeeping comes alive. Hosted by Cal Hardage, this show explores the personal journeys, challenges, and triumphs of beekeepers from all walks of life. From backyard enthusiasts to commercial apiarists, each episode dives into the unique stories and invaluable insights that make beekeeping both an art and a science.
Discover tips on hive management, pollinator health, and honey production while learning about the dedication and passion behind each beekeeper’s journey. Whether you’re an experienced apiarist, a beginner, or just curious about the buzzing world of bees, Apiary Chronicles offers inspiration, education, and community.
Join us weekly as we celebrate the people and pollinators shaping a sustainable future, one hive at a time. Subscribe now and step into the world of Apiary Chronicles!
On today's show, we talk about
how cutouts were the pathway
for getting started with bees.
We discuss Randy's journey, a little
bit about swarms, and then we dive in to
doing cutouts what you should know, who
should do cut outs in how he does them.
It's a great episode.
You'll enjoy.
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: So we'll
get started with the Fast Five.
First question, what's your name?
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
Randy McCaffrey, 628 Dirt
Rooster on social media.
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: And
what's your apiary's name?
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
Well, the one here at home, I call
it Flat Branch Bee Ranch, because we
have a little creek that runs behind
the property called Flat Branch.
It doesn't touch my property,
but it's close enough,
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh, yeah.
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
just, I thought it had a nice ring to it.
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613:
It, it does, yeah.
And where are you located?
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
We're in South Mississippi in Gulfport,
almost on the, the Gulf of Mexico, or
the Gulf of, Gulf of America, depending
on, depending on when this airs.
Ha
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613:
Pending the name change, yeah.
What year did you start with bees?
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: I
started in 2010 when I was 40 years old,
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613:
Oh yes, very good.
And how many colonies do you manage?
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
I generally run under 50.
Sometimes I'll get up to a hundred
during the year, but I'll sell them
all off or give a lot of them away.
Cause I just don't have time
to, I do so many other things.
I just don't have time
to manage that many.
So
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh yeah.
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
normally 35 to 30 to 50.
So we're probably, you
know, middle of winter here.
We're probably 30 ish.
Hate to say I hadn't been out
and looked in a little bit.
Cal: Welcome to Apiary Chronicles, where
we dive deep into the world of beekeeping
and the people who make it all happen.
I'm Cal Hardage your host
and fellow bee enthusiast.
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: So
Randy, you mentioned you got
started with bees in 2010.
Why bees?
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
I was a contractor and my brother
talked me into helping him with a
cutout and it was just it was a unique
situation, unique hive, unique location.
Everything about it was just different.
It was in an old warehouse, furniture
warehouse, but in the 1860s with the
big six foot iron pulleys and the big
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh yeah.
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
hand crank this elevator up
and down with the furniture.
So we had to go in the top of this
old building and get to these bees
that were in this wall between another
wall that was still standing from a
building that had burnt down next door.
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh, yes.
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
it had piled up with debris
over the years and the bees had
gotten up in between all this.
And my brother had just recently
gotten into beekeeping and him
and a friend of his thought
they wanted to do some cutouts.
And he just caught, he calls me and says,
I need your help to, to get to some bees.
And I was like you need,
you just need my tools.
Come get them, whatever you need.
He said, no, I need your,
I need your expertise.
I need your brain to figure out how to get
to them without destroying this building.
And so I went and helped him,
helped him out with that.
And I just thought, you know, that
was really pretty interesting and
a little bit of an adrenaline rush.
We didn't have, I didn't
have a bee suit and,
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh yeah.
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
so I had.
We had, we were members of a hunting camp
with an old house on it, and I had gotten
wind that that house had a hive in it, or
had two hives in it, is what they thought.
And I called the club president, who
was my neighbor, I said, hey, y'all
gonna tear that house down out here?
He said, yes.
Can I get the bees out of here?
Oh, they'd be doing us a great favor.
So I went up and spent all
evening, all night not having
any clue really what I was doing.
Had this little cheap, I don't
even remember where I got this
suit, this cheap little bee suit.
canvas suit and it was hot summertime
when you get sweaty there's some suits
just stick to you and bees go through
them like you're wearing a napkin or
something so you know i just got really
tore up 70 or 80 stings just swollen
real bad my body wasn't used to it yet
but i got some i got some bees out of
it And I got home late at night, came in
the house and, and my wife gets out of
bed and comes in the bathroom, looks at
me, she says, Oh, honey, what happened?
And I was like, I just got
through taking some bees out.
And she says, What, what are you gonna do?
You know, like, are you
gonna go to the hospital?
And I was
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: yeah.
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
ah, I I think I'm gonna do it again.
And she's like, I'm going back to bed.
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh, yeah.
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
So, so, you know, it's just, I'm
a little bit of a thrill seeker,
as most beekeepers probably are.
So it just turned into that for a little
while and, and it just was interesting.
So I just stuck with it, you know?
And then after a while it got to be
where I got a name for myself because
I knew construction and, and wood,
and wood food would be so anybody had.
problems that needed them gone and
didn't just want somebody to come.
You know, if you would love to have
some bees, I'm like, yeah, I got all
the bees I'd love to have, but you need
somebody, if you need somebody knows
what they're doing, that's going to leave
your place better than they got there.
I'm the guy.
So that's how it turned
into a job or a business.
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh, yes.
And when you, you did those first
cutouts, what kind of equipment
did you decide to go with?
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
That first one I, I did I kind of knew
what the structure of the house was.
It was an old, old farmhouse.
Really another unique build.
So my first two were just
in super unique properties.
This house was built,
everything was on 45s.
You go in,
there's
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh, yes.
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
45 degree wall.
You go into the living room,
it's built on an angle.
And then the kitchen
is an angle from that.
And it's got this big apron farm sink
that people would kill for these days.
And over on the other side of the kitchen
is this big mantle not high ceilings,
eight, nine, Eight foot probably
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh yeah.
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
So I go in there and I looked
and the bees are between the, the
above the fireplace and behind the
chimney and this chimney steps out.
So it's.
angle off the sides.
And so I called, I said, I called
the guy said, I think I'm going to
have to do this from the outside
and I've got to tear siding off you.
You're okay if I don't put it back, right?
He said, yeah, that's all right.
so so I'll go around there.
I had, I'd brought a generator.
And a skill saw and I just found a stud
and made some vertical cuts and started
pulling this lap side and off this old
wood lap side and, and you know, just
started reaching just reaching as deep
as I could dig shoulder depth for, for
a lot of it and just getting stung and.
And and I just, I'm not quitting.
I'm not a quitter.
You can't
make me go, can't make me go away.
So I'm scooping, pulling out big
wads of comb and framing up what
I could, my, you know, I had a
little direction from my brother.
He showed up for a few minutes and
then his, one of his kids got stung
and so they took off and little bit
of direction from them on how to frame
comb and, and what to keep and what not
to keep, what's brewed and what's, you
know, 'cause I didn't know any of that.
So,
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh yeah.
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
I had gotten some old equipment
from him and so I framed up.
Enough to, to make two colonies and I, and
I actually did get two colonies out of it.
They, surprisingly, it was warm enough
and I had bees, I had enough bees on
everything, that they made another queen
in the queenless, in the queenless side.
But, so I, I framed them all up.
In an enclosed trailer and
strapped it all down, not thinking
about the ride home for an hour.
And so
when I, when I get home in the middle of
the night and I drop this ramp door on the
back, the walls are just covered in bees.
And I'm like, oh no.
And I'm already, I've already
been destroyed, you know?
So I was just
like, ah.
Here we go, so I put the, put the
suit back on, lit the smoker back up,
and took a dust pan and a, and a bee
brush, which is the easiest thing to
piss them off with is a bee brush,
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: it is, yeah.
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: and
so I'm scoop, scooping them in dust pans
and dumping them in whichever box and set
them out, so it was like one or two in the
morning before I even got in the house.
But so my first go at it was a generator,
a skill saw and some kind of knife.
I really don't even remember.
It's been so long ago, but I
wish I had had the foresight to
record it because that would have
been a fun one to look back at.
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh
yeah, it would have been, yeah.
And, and you had to benefit,
they didn't want you to put
it all back together either.
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
correct.
Thankfully, you know, it
had a lot of rod in it, but
they, they weren't interested in me
doing any repairs, which was a real
bonus because I would have had to make.
another trip
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh yeah.
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
to finish the job.
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Yeah.
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
these, these were, these turned
out to be some fairly hot bees.
And and so for the, and it
was my first two colonies.
And so I would go out there.
My office is at my house.
I would get bored and go out there
during the day and crack the lid.
I still, still don't have any
protection on at this point.
I'd crack the lid and see how
long it'd take for them to start
bumping, bumping me or get stung.
And I'd go back inside
and go back to work.
Just.
You know, sometimes two or three times
a day I'm out there fooling with them
just because I was curious and interested
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: yeah.
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
and so you know, just hooked
really off the get go.
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: You know,
I had bees in my backyard for years.
Actually, that's where my bees are now.
But I had a, a supercede
event, or actually I split a
hive and they raised a queen.
And They were some of the hottest
bees I'd ever been around.
They would chase me to the house,
so I moved them out in the pasture.
And of course, that hive grew better
than any of my other hives, and
I just dreaded dealing with it.
I'd take care of everything else, then I'd
go down there, and it got to the point I
decided, I don't care, I'm splitting it.
And I split, I took each super
that was on that hive, and it was
like four or five at the time.
And I split it all out so I had four or
five nucs there, or would be eventually.
I thought, I gotta get rid of
that queen, I can't survive
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: Yeah.
Hmm.
Yeah.
Well, those those hot ones, and
I've pulled it, you know, every
year I get at least one hot.
I pull, I pull enough hives that I
get to select from what I want to
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh, yeah.
Oh, yeah.
Oh, yeah.
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
And early on, You know, we didn't
know what chemical treating
was or anything like that.
Well, when, when we finally figured out
what all that was, my dad, my brother
were all in on it and I, and I had, they
learned that stuff, I don't know, a year
or two before I did, well, when they
started figuring out they wanted to treat.
And had been treating and then they
started telling me you got to treat her
all your bees are going to die And I'm
like my bees are doing just fine like
they are so you know you treat yours
We'll let mine do what they're doing.
We'll see who comes out the best
Well, my dad just he's so stubborn.
He wants to come over and treat my bees
anyway And and I and I would be like stay
out of my yard, you know, treat your own
bees leave mine alone So I would put my
hottest hives up front knowing that that's
you know That's where he's gonna start.
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613:
He's gonna go first.
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
gonna, that's where he's going for.
So he would call me and he'd
go, you gotta, you gotta do
something with those bees.
I said, what are you talking about?
Those bees at your house.
I said, what are you doing
over there fooling with them?
Well, they needed to be treated.
I said, no, they didn't need to be
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh, yeah.
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
He said, well, those first two, I
need you to put the lids back on them.
He would just leave.
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Yeah.
Oh, yeah.
That was a good move
to provide that barrier
there.
Now, with your bees, have they
all came from cutouts or the
origins of most of your hives?
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
most of them, but, but the, the initial
colony, but there again, we do run a
lot of Queens from wonderful bees or
other, other places that are running
pure Italian genetics and stuff like that.
So most feral bees are an Italian
variety or, or a good mix of Italian.
So I'm not preferential
to any particular type.
We've got guys that run
straight Russians around here.
That are commercial beekeepers.
We've got commercial guys that run
Italians and that's pretty much it.
Nobody else really runs, you know,
carnies or Caucasians or anything.
It's all, it's either
Russians or Italians.
So that's kind of what
we have a selection of.
And so I'll, I'll.
Requeen a lot with graphs from wonderful
because they run 1200 graphs a day.
So if I need
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
if I need if I need Queens during
the season, it doesn't make sense
for me to be running you know, all
kinds of boxes to try to make Queens
I can run up to their place and grab
a few and we swap out back and forth.
So I've got I've got, I've
actually got his apame set up
that he won at the, at Knobby,
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh yes.
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
North American Honeybee Expo was
just a last, you know, week and
a half ago, I guess, week ago,
whatever it was, two weeks ago now,
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Yeah, time flies.
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
flies.
he signed up for House
for Heroes and as a mentor
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh yes.
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
it put his name in the
drawing for a apame setup.
So he got a double deep apame setup and I
brought it home for him because he flew.
So he's, when he gets it back,
it's going to have 628 Dirt
Rooster painted across the side,
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Yeah, that's,
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
just in case anything ever happens.
Everybody knows whose backside it is.
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613:
oh yeah, there you go.
Exactly.
Yeah, it sounds like a great plan there.
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: yeah,
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: You spoke,
you've spoken a couple of times kind of
towards your philosophy of beekeeping.
Doesn't sound like you do treatments.
You mentioned leaving bees alone.
Can you expand upon your kind
of your philosophy of how
you should manage your bees?
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: sure.
And I don't care.
I don't care if you treat or not.
For me, I'm treatment free.
I don't care what you do with your
bees, you know, either way, whatever.
But I see, I see other people
that are hardline treatment.
You know, if you don't treat, you're
some kind of a bad person or whatever.
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh, yeah.
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
And, then you look at their
numbers and you're like, well,
you know, what are your numbers?
Half of them don't even know.
They're not doing any tests.
They're not doing any
mic washes or anything.
So they don't really know their numbers.
They just know I have
to treat and I'm using
whatever, you know, might away quick
strips or whatever they're using, but they
can't tell you what their numbers are.
And then at the end of the
season, like, Oh, how'd you do?
You know, I might to get a couple
of nukes from you next year.
I'm like, Oh yeah, for real.
That is, and that's pretty common.
And, and.
And I don't, I don't put my finger
in their chest and go, I told you so.
Cause I don't, like I
said, I don't really care.
But I, for me, it's, it's more
of a thing that God made us all
insects, humans, whatever we can,
we can adapt to a lot of things.
And I think honeybees are the same way.
And I see this in these cutouts
that I do is that they can adapt
to a situation as long as they're
given the right environment.
I don't
think they, I don't think
they need that kind of help.
So, and I kind of.
This is kind of skirting the
line of what makes any sense
to anybody but me, I guess.
If I start giving myself testosterone,
if I start taking steroids or
whatever, my body will quit producing
what it needs to produce on its own.
And if I come off of that, it takes a long
time for your body to recover from that.
And I think bees are the same way.
If you're chemically doing something for
them that their body can do naturally,
And also you know, they get these
chemicals that are friendly to the bee,
but it kills other insects in the hive.
Well, bees are insects as
well, and it does affect them.
And, and I
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh, yeah.
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
it's funny cause I do, you know,
I don't go deep on that because
I'm, I'm fighting the tide.
You know, it's, it's, it's
really, really tough to.
Talk against treatments when
that's what everybody wants to do.
And it's as soon as somebody
gets into beekeeping.
They're immediately indoctrinated
into This is what you have
to do and we're going to talk
about mites at every bee club
meeting week you ever go to and so
I was encouraged though, there was
a lady at the North Carolina state
conference I spoke at this past year.
And, and like I said, I don't go real
deep into it in my talks because it's
I show them some data beyond that.
I'm not going to argue with you.
I don't really care.
But so I showed, I spoke about
that and showed some of my
statistics and some of my data.
And she, she, was also speaking
there, but she didn't know who I was.
And she sat in on one of my talks.
And then I walked in about
midway through her talk.
This is a room of.
You know, 500 people.
So she didn't know I was back there.
She wasn't saying this for,
for brownie points or whatever,
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh, yeah.
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
she goes, she's sewing her stuff and
you know, I was like, Oh yeah, that's
kind of, that's kind of what I'm seeing.
And she goes, and that guy that
was here earlier, something.
Chicken something and
everybody goes dirt rooster.
And she goes, yeah, that guy, he,
what he was saying is exactly right.
And she's some university something,
but she has a minder equipment on her,
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh yeah,
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
all her hives.
And she was able to track data and
see, you know, when bees fly out to
forage, which colonies are bringing
in, if, if Colonies get robbed.
She can tell you which
colonies are doing the
robbing.
Just a whole lot of data like that.
And so when she said that I was like,
man I got to find out who this lady
is and get her information because
what she's Saying is backing up
everything that I'm talking about.
So I you know, I just have an opinion
that God designs us all to to adapt
to our surroundings and our situations
without the help of Big Pharma, you
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Right, right.
Well, you know, when we, when we
think about regenerative ag, you know,
that movement is moving away from all
these things we're using to prop up
land, prop up forage, prop up
cattle the others propping up
bees trying to go more natural.
And yeah, I, I figured the
Lord does, does a much better
job at that stuff than we do.
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
And that's, and that's why you know,
I'm not a cattle guy, but Carbon
Cowboys speaks to me a lot because
it's, that's their movement and they do a
really great, great job of putting it out
there in a way that people will receive it
and start to use it.
And so yeah, I don't, you know, I don't
know if people, It's a philosophy other
than, you know, don't, I, I started,
I almost did a t shirt, I almost did
a couple of t shirts to wear to Nabi,
but I was just like, God, do I really
want to start a fight with somebody?
But, but, you know,
it's just me having fun.
But one of them was I'm treatment
free, just like my bees.
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh yeah,
yeah, that's a conversation starter
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
Yeah, that's, that's how
you win friends, you know?
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613:
Yeah, right, exactly.
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: Yeah,
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: So on your hive,
you mentioned a little bit earlier, on
your hives you manage, you'll get up so
many and then you like to come back to
about 30 or 40 or whatever number that is.
Are you actively working to do
some splits or is that just,
you're gaining from cutouts?
How are those numbers happening?
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: both.
So during the, during the year, like this
past year, we did 118 cutouts and that's
not including swarm catches or equipment
we bought or anything else because I
did buy, I did buy some other
people's equipment, some
other hives and swarm catches.
I think I was at, I don't
know, somewhere in the mid 20s.
I don't even know the exact
number, but 118 cutouts.
You know, 100, 100, 90 of those, 100
of those were Good healthy colonies,
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh, yeah.
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
and I can't take them all.
I don't have the time for them.
I've got the equipment for them,
and I've got the room for them.
I just don't have the time for them.
So,
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Yes.
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
if I'm, especially if I'm an hour or
two hours from home, I have a, and Mr.
Ed makes fun of me for it, because
I have just like a Rolodex in
my phone of beekeepers for,
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh, yes.
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: All
over the United States really, because I
get calls from all over the United States.
So if somebody calls me and says,
Hey, do you have somebody in New
York that does hive removals?
I go, I sure do.
And I'll pull up some names and give them,
but if I'm a, a good distance from home
and I don't want to, I don't want the
bees in the vac for that long, or if I've
got somewhere else I have to go, I'll call
around and say, Hey if you got equipment,
can I come by and dump some bees?
And I'll go.
drop them off at somebody else's apiary.
But during spring we do, we sell nukes.
And so we're making a lot of splits and
we're raising, we're raising, queens.
So whatever, whatever nukes don't sell,
of course turn into production colonies.
And so that's, you know, in springtime
I'm generally left with 20 to 30 nukes
that didn't sell and those automatically
go into 10 framers and then stay with us.
And then, and then during, during the
next two months after nuke sales, people
that Whether they bought nukes from
me or anybody else, they're calling me
going, Hey, do you have an extra queen?
I don't think I have a queen.
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh, yeah.
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
you know, you know how it
goes with new beekeepers.
They've got a queen in there.
They just can't find
them to save their life.
So they're
wanting to buy another queen.
They'll put it in and they'll go, you
know, that Mark queen, you just sold me.
I found her on the landing board dead.
And I'm like, Hey, it's because
you've got a queen in there.
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Yeah.
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
I told you to leave them alone,
but you know, it's new beekeeping.
It's fun.
And.
We can't leave them alone, you know?
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
I've, I've been guilty of
being in my hives way too much.
Now I'm on the opposite end.
I've got to be in a little
bit more than I, I actually am
because I don't know when
the last time I was in there.
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
That's pretty common.
Well, I mean, it's,
and it's good for them.
If you,
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh, yeah.
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
if they have the proper space and
the proper, proper situation and, and
aren't just being cooked in the sun
or whatever, the more you leave them
alone, usually the better they'll do.
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613:
Randy, we're going to talk a
little bit more about your.
Cut out process a little bit
later, but you mentioned you
catch a lot of stor Storms.
Well, you may get a winter storm.
You catch a lot of swarms.
What do you, what's your
swarm kit you take with you?
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
The everything BVAC is the biggest one.
The, the, that yellow
battery powered VAC, this,
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Well, I,
I emailed them telling them they
ought to be a sponsor on here.
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: Yeah.
Yeah, he should.
So that's Tony Andrick.
He developed the everything BVAC.
That's all my bees.
com.
And you know, before that one,
everything was a powered vac.
And so if you brought a powered vac,
you had to have a generator, which
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Right.
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
back then I had one of those
giant heavy champion generators.
It took two people to throw it
in the back of a pickup truck.
And so there's a lot of shaking and
scraping and brushing and praying.
It goes on with, with not, Using a
vac on a swarm catch unless they're
hanging out on a flimsy little limb
and you can just bump them in a box.
That's so nice, but a lot of times
they're on a main branch of an
oak tree and you can't shake them.
You can't really brush them off.
So the everything vac, it, It's
phenomenal at catching swarms.
It does it in a matter of a few
minutes instead of a couple of hours
out there fooling with these bees.
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh yeah.
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
because it's battery powered, you don't
need any equipment and it's so light.
It's got a backpack to it.
You could just, you could literally
show up on a bicycle and catch a swarm.
But aside from that, usually an extension
pole and a bucket and You know, painter's
extension pole, and if I need to get
something high, I'll tape a bucket to it.
Boom, get up under and
bump them and dump them
in a box.
And just a screen box or a
easy nuke or something that I
can close up, keep them in it.
And then when I get home, I dump them
in whatever situation I want them in,
and I'll lock them down for 48 hours.
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh yeah,
lock them down for 48 hours.
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
Yeah, so and don't if I have an old
brood frame and they're in a hard spot
to get to I'll lay an old brood frame
up and let them walk on it now You know
after a little while come back and get
it because they'll cluster up on that.
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh yeah, yeah.
Sounds like you really
like that everything BVAC
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
Yeah, I do
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613:
works really well.
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: So if
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: well,
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
you're not familiar this this screws on
to food safe lid that goes on five gallon
bucket And it has a screen separator.
So this, and also the bottom of the
motor screen, but it's battery powered.
So,
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: oh yeah,
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: and
it's not the strongest thing in the world,
but it does, it does a great job picking
up swarms and, and, and doing cutouts.
It'll run for six, eight hours.
You can use it on a cutout.
It's not running that entire time.
No, you're not vacuuming the entire
time, but it'll run for a long time.
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: oh yeah,
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
And if you get, when you get
good with it, sometimes I'll do
three cutouts and a couple swarm
catches before I even recharge it.
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: oh yes.
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
So yeah,
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: I've
used a, oh yeah, very good.
I've used a BVAC just a little bit because
years ago I built one and used like a
Dewalt wet vac that I built a box around.
It was, it was It was portable, but it
wasn't something you liked to be portable.
Because, by the time I had a high box
on there and had that box on there
and I strapped them together, it's
not something you're going to strap
on your back and go on a bicycle with.
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
Exactly.
And that's why most, most BVACs are.
And I've got some that are, you
have to wear earplugs to use them.
And, uh, you know, and I've got others
that are just heavy and cumbersome.
And that one's just easy.
I've got some, I've got some powered
ones that I like, and that probably
the kill rate on that one and some
of my other ones are, is very low.
And some of the others I've got will
do a faster job without killing bees.
But you know, like I say,
you got to have extension
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613:
You've got power there.
Yeah.
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
it's, it's heavier than that and, and
louder.
And so when you're recording,
like I do, it's tough trying
to record over noise anyway.
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh yes.
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
So the the less noise I can have, the
better, even, even if I, even if I can't
really use much of that audio is still.
It's still better to have less noise.
Occasionally there's a comment or
somebody is discussing something that
you just want to add to the video.
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
if it's over a noisy bucket
head vac, you can't use it.
And, but if it's over something like
that, or you can, you can literally, I
could sit right here and you, you could
hear it, but we could talk over it.
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh yeah,
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
And so if I've got audio over something
like that, I usually can use it.
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: you know
I'm just going to have to play this
for my wife because I'm trying to
convince her I need one as well.
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
Well, if you're catching swarms,
it will make it a lot easier.
It's worth it.
If you're.
If that's what you're into.
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: You know
I don't, I don't do very much but
there's some years I may catch a
half dozen, I may have even caught
a, into double digits a year or two.
But then some years it's like I get no
calls, it's just kind of interesting.
Oh.
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
Well, then it turns into a
piece of rental equipment.
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: There we go.
That's right up my alley too.
She, yeah.
Thank you, Randy.
I will be sure my wife
is going to be listening.
She's going to
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: Yeah.
Ha ha.
Hey, Ha ha ha ha ha.
Yeah, Yeah.
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Randy, let's
change gears just a little bit and go
beyond the buzz and talk about cutouts.
Cutouts have always fascinated
me, but they, and I'll tell
you why they fascinate me.
When I was a teenager, we had an old
dairy barn on our, on this land we
bought, and there was a beehive in it.
And I loved hearing those in there,
and at the time, I had a few
beehives, and I tried to do a
trap out, and I failed miserably.
And I've also done some, gotten
some bee logs, and those have
not worked out very good for me.
But I find cutouts very
interesting, however they look
like too much work for me.
Let's talk just a little bit about
cutouts and getting started doing cutouts.
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: Okay.
Ask me anything on cutouts.
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Well, okay.
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
that's right up my alley.
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: The first
thing, should, should someone do cutouts?
Who should do them may
be the better question.
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
Who should do them is I jokingly
say everybody should do one.
And, and it's funny because if you're, if
you're in a, a large group of beekeepers
and you ask how many people have ever done
a cutout, hands go up all over the room.
You might, if it's 200 people,
there might be 25 or 30 people in
the room, hands up and you say, how
many people have done more than one?
Boom, all those hands go down
except for, except for two or three.
Because, because it is an immense amount
of work, it does take some expertise
and, and there are people that just
should not be doing it just for,
for different reasons, maybe health
reasons, because it's an extremely
strenuous job and, and they're, you
know, there are dangers associated
with going up and down ladders or
most, most cutouts you're going
to run into are overhead work.
If you've got neck
problems, neck problems, or shoulder
problems, you probably shouldn't
be doing cutouts because most of
your work is going to be overhead.
It's not going to be, you know,
you're going to get a few of those
that are on a wall where you can
stand up and, and work in front of
you, but those are in the minority.
So, If you have a knowledge of
construction is more important to me than
a knowledge of bees, you know, you'll,
you'll fairly quickly learn the attitude
of bees and how they behave when you're
cutting them, when you're cutting combs
out and what, what they'll do, where
they'll run and hide and, and whether or
not you have a queen yet, or, or if there
is even a queen in there.
You'll learn that stuff fairly quickly,
but a good knowledge of construction
is probably more important to me
because it reduces some liability
issues you may have or makes the job
safer for you, safer for your customer.
You're not, you're not destroying
somebody's house to get these what,
what is legitimately a nuisance.
And,
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh, yeah.
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
you know, you're, you're in there
doing a service, not a favor.
Everybody thinks it's a favor.
Well, you're not doing a favor.
You're doing a
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Doing a service.
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
you should be compensated for it
because it is, it's hard work.
I mean, I've been doing this a long
time and, and it's not uncommon for
me to spend an entire day on a, on a
cutout, me and Pete both, you know.
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh, yes.
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
If you, if you're danger prone,
maybe find something else, maybe
stamp collecting or something
as your thing.
But somebody with a good background
in construction is going to do
well in the cutout business.
If they, if they're hard workers and
don't mind getting dirty and sweaty and
taking a few stings, that's, that's the
kind of person that does well in it.
Somebody, somebody who
just wants freebies.
Dude, save your money, go buy a nuke.
It's so much easier, and
it's just as satisfying.
Doing a cutout, you're gonna
get, it'll be good memories for
you, but yeah, just buy a nuke.
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: That's
great advice for a lot of people.
That's, that's really what
I followed for a long time.
I don't know, maybe if I get an
opportunity I'll do a cutout.
But it doesn't hold, I'll be honest,
it doesn't hold a lot of appeal to me.
Maybe it's my laziness hitting me harder.
But maybe I should do at least
one so I can raise my hand then.
When you get into a cutout and you've,
you've looked at the situation and
figured it out, are you I assume you're
making a fairly small hole because you
don't want the reconstruction of whatever
or the repair of whatever you've done
to be too great, but how big of
area are you getting into it with
and, and what's the process there?
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
you get, you get a real good
feel for that after the twelve to
fourteen hundred that I've done.
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh yeah, oh yeah
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
like I say, it doesn't take long to
figure it out, and construction, I
say having a good Base of knowledge
and construction is important.
Construction is not that
difficult to figure out.
There's all kind of
schematics on the internet.
Building codes are pretty standard across
the board, across the United States.
So a lot of, a lot of what you're gonna
see here is done the same in Washington
State or New York or whatever and you
know with some variations, but not much.
The older constructions probably
gonna be an issue for you.
We're Somebody has added on where there
was no inspection done, or maybe way
back in the day where everything's
rough cut and just kind of, you know,
wherever, wherever they thought there
needed to be a board, they put a board.
The I forgot where I was going.
Anyway, if you If you need if you
need to have any kind of insight into
what you're going to be looking at, I
encourage people that are getting into
cutout business, go into a neighborhood
that's being built and just look at
the structure as it's being framed.
And you can,
you can kind of tell, especially on
two stories and stuff, you can kind
of tell where these bees might be in a
particular wall or a particular floor
joist space or something like that.
So because of the spaces that bees occupy,
a lot of these cutouts are the same.
They're the same thing over and over,
but there's, there's something
different about every single one.
The way the combs run or You know
something a built in that was put
over the space where they are.
They're behind a chimney or whatever.
There's something different on every one.
So if you If you walk around and
look at construction and kind of see
how things are framed up, especially
in walls, because they will always
go to a high point and build down.
So if
you, if you're looking at a wall, look
at the top plate area, because if they
get in a wall space, they're going to
the top plate and building down unless
there's something blocking them from that.
Same thing with the floor
space, floor joist space.
They, they build a lot between
floors and two story homes.
So a lot of times you got brick veneer
on the first floor and then wood side
and above that and they'll find gaps and.
Where the two sidings meet
and go go in and 99 percent of the time
they're between floors, even, even when
your customer says they're in the wall.
And I know they're in the wall
because I can hear them in the wall.
Well, sound resonates and what
you're hearing is not bees in a wall.
It's bees in the floor,
floor space between floors.
And so for those, Okay.
We, we locate a lot with an infrared
because it saves a lot of probing
and a lot of drilling stuff,
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh, yeah.
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
but when I, if I can't find them with
the infrared, I'll drill a little small
hole and I've got fiberglass rods that
I'll just run in there because you're
not going to electrocute yourself.
And you're not going to do any damage
to anything, but I run in there
if I'm hitting insulation, I'll
poke through the insulation and,
you know, see if I'm hitting comb.
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh, yeah.
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
if I pull out a rod with
honey on it or whatever.
And so that, that way I'm leaving
a little hole that's easy to patch,
put some spackle over it, put a
little paint on it or whatever.
But anywhere else, If I, if
I'm, and you kind of, you got
to know how to use the infrared.
There's a little learning curve to it.
Heat travels up, so if you can
read from the top, it's better.
So if you go
upstairs, you go upstairs in a two story,
and it's, it's all finished wood floors or
ceramic tile or something that you can't
go through the floor to get them out,
and you have to go through the ceiling.
Well, you go upstairs and read the heat
signature and figure out where they are,
and then go downstairs and do the work.
And so that gives you a really good
idea, especially from upstairs.
How big the colony possibly is
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh, yes.
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: but
a lot of times on apartment complexes
down here They're built on a truss system.
So between floors is a 16 to 20 inch
ladder truss, and with those, the bees can
kind of go anywhere in that floor space,
but they're always going to be right
pretty close to their entrance, so I'll,
so we know if we can locate where they're
coming in, all we need to do is cut about
a, a two and a half by two and a half
inch hole in the drywall in the ceiling.
Just enough room for us to get
in there and then we can kind of
chase that hive wherever it goes.
It's usually right there and we can
usually get the whole thing without
getting up in the ceiling much.
But so, you know, I, I tell the,
the places we're going to cut
24 by 24 hole in the ceiling.
We'll cut them out.
We'll, we'll seal the entrance so
they're not, so you don't get them
again because you will get them again.
Then we're going to put the ceiling back
and then you do all the finish work.
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh, yes.
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
so most of the time,
unless they've been in for.
Any length of time, most of the time
we can save the drywall and put the
dry, the same piece back and then
sometimes we'll caulk the seams just
to especially if it's a heavy texture
ceiling, we'll just caulk the seams
and that saves them a lot of time bed
mudding and stuff because tenants don't
want you in and out a hundred times and,
So.
The the size of the hole, I'd rather
start small than big, especially on
walls.
Normally if I'm cut, if I'm cutting
a wall hive out, I don't come
down further than about four feet
because most of the time that's
about as far as they're going to go.
And most of the time they're going to
occupy, occupy one stud cavity in a wall.
And I can, even if you don't have an
infrared, you can feel the wall and
you can feel the heat from the colony.
So you know pretty easily where they are.
And then so all you do is locate
studs, take a T square and mark it,
cut down that stud and that way you
can have something to screw back to.
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh, yeah.
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
And it doesn't look like you took a
sledgehammer to these people's house.
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh,
yeah.
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
we're, you know, I'm real conscientious
about what I do to somebody's house.
There's, it's their
most valued possession.
Most valuable possession that they
have so when I come in we cover
everything with painters plastic So
we're not getting sheetrock dust and
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh, yes.
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
bees defecate on everything when
they get inside So when you do three
or four hours in somebody's house
Especially in the evenings and bees
are getting a light fixture and then
all sudden you go to clean up and
there's yellow poop stains All over
somebody's duvet or whatever You know
that needs to go to the laundromat,
but but so we cover everything up
for that reason And we, we keep the
holes as small as possible because,
you know, we're professionals.
We don't want somebody to come
in there and go, Oh my gosh, what
happened?
You know, half the wall's gone.
And I see that.
I see that a lot on people.
Posting their, their cutout
job on Instagram or whatever.
And I'm
like, Ooh, that's bad.
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Now, when you,
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
it's a different story.
If you can learn on a vacant
house or or an abandoned property.
Those, those get, those catch hives a lot.
So
if you, so if you can find
something that's abandoned, that
has a hive in it and you just
want to practice, go for it, man.
Nobody's going to care.
They're probably going to tear the thing.
They're just going to burn or rot
down before anybody moves into it.
So yeah,
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: yeah that,
that would be a great place for
you to, to learn or at least start,
yeah,
if you can find something like that.
Now when you go in, you mentioned
you're putting drop cloth down, keeping
stuff clean, are you bringing in like
a 10 frame hive that you're going
to be transferring those bees into?
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
No, everything's taken into the, if
I'm doing a video on how to frame
comb or how to save brood, I will.
But as much as people will tell
you, I want to save every bee.
They don't really want
you to save every bee.
They want you to get that out of
their wall and get out of their house.
That's what they
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: They do, right,
yeah.
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: so
recording jobs adds an hour to the job.
If
we bring, If we bring a hive in and
have to set up and rubber band and cut
combs and try to keep bees on these
combs or you know, some people save them
in a nice chest and then frame them up
when they get where they're going, but.
In any case, you're going to
lose almost all the open brood.
If it's open
brood, it's going to,
it's going to dry out.
It's going to, it's going to get cold.
It's going to chill.
So saving brood, if it's got a lot of
cat brood on it, it breaks my heart
to throw it away, but it's so time
consuming it to, it adds another, probably
legitimately for most people to add
another hour to the job, to, to bring
a hive in, set it up, band your frames.
frame comb, set it all up and try to get
it out of there without destroying it.
And then when you get home,
all that rubber banded comb, it
never fills out a frame properly.
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh, yeah.
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: from
now on, it's relegated to a brood box.
So you can never put it in an extractor.
And so, and most of the time you're
going to let them run on that.
And you're going to cycle that out
for a frame with a good foundation.
and heavy wax on them,
let them build that out.
So you might be saving a lot
of brew, but you're costing
yourself a whole lot of work.
And it also offers an opportunity
for small hive beetles to come in
because it's a couple of things.
It's a stressor on the colony.
They have to rebuild all this damage.
They have to haul out all the dead.
And small hive beetles are attracted to a
protein source, which all that larvae is.
And So So unless you get bees back on
it relatively quick if you come out
there the next day and all your bees
are hanging out on the landing board,
you've lost, you've lost that battle.
You should have thrown it all away.
So
we we put all that in a, in a
melter, refine it down and use all
that wax to, to wax foundations.
And then if you, if you put
really, really heavy Wax on those
foundations and put them in a box.
They'll draw that stuff out so
fast that it'll blow your mind.
Especially a swarm.
A swarm will draw it out really fast, but
a good, good quality of draw it out fast.
They'll have it laid back up
and be working in it in no time.
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Yeah.
So, so when you're going in and
doing this cutout, your goal is to
get the bees, you're getting the
comb out, but you're not trying to
frame that up so they can reuse it.
And you're just trying to get that wall
cavity cleared out for the homeowner.
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: Yeah.
And another thing we do if, and this
really flies in the face of some people,
is we take all that cut out comb.
We'll take it home and leave it open
for our, for our apiary to rub it out.
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh, yeah.
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: So.
it's, you know, anything that you
think unless it's been sprayed, if
we know it's been sprayed, and a lot
of times it has been, if I know it's
been sprayed, it goes in the garbage.
I don't want the
comb.
I don't want the wax.
I don't want the honey.
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Yeah.
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
But if it's clean honey and clean
wax, I'll bring it back to my place.
And my bees, and it's funny how bees have
a short memory, but they do have a memory.
So two or three days, they're,
they're pretty good at it.
So if I do cutouts regularly, when I drive
up on my driveway, they attack my truck.
I mean,
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh, yes.
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: it's
like you know, a bunch of hungry guys and
meals on wheels just pulled up and they're
just there in my truck just to see what's
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh,
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
see what's there because
there's something good there.
They know it is.
But so, you know, a lot of people are
like, ah, that's, you're bringing disease.
You're bringing this now.
Well, I don't see that.
You know, I do a
lot of testing.
I do a lot of observation, a lot of
testing, and I just don't see that.
So that's another one of those things
that I think the disease and treatment
for everything under the sun is
kind of oversold and not necessary.
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh, yeah,
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: And I
mix bees, I mix bees from all
over South Mississippi, South
Alabama, South Louisiana.
They all come to a couple of different
yards and they get mixed in and it
doesn't seem to affect them negatively.
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh, yeah We
when you're doing that cut out you
make the cut out you're getting the
comb out you're getting the bees out
Are you going back into that cavity
and sealing anything on those walls
or you just closing it back up?
Hipping my mic and stuff
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: I
have to be careful because I talk with
my hands a lot so I have to be careful.
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Yeah, my hands
were involved and I'm banging stuff here.
So yeah
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
So, yeah, when is this yeah,
the, the most important thing.
a cutout is to keep them from
coming back because if you go to a
cutout in somebody's house And all
you've done is remove that problem
And you don't take care and you
don't do preventative maintenance.
They're coming back So you haven't
done anything for that person
really you've wasted some of their
money.
You've wasted wasted some resources you
got some bees out of it But unless you
do the repairs are direct in to have
the repairs done and a lot of times I'll
leave them with good solid instructions
and they don't And then they're calling
me a year or two later going, Hey, we
got bees back and can you come look?
And I'm like, are they
in the same spot yet?
Well, I'm not going to kind of
look it's, it's this much money.
And I know, I know where they are already.
What happened to the guy that
was going to fix it for you?
Well, he, you know, he tried or
he never came out or whatever.
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh, yes
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
I gave you very, Explicitly, I
told you, if you do not do this,
this, and this, keep my number.
I'll see you again in
two years or whatever.
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh yeah, yeah,
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
I have that
conversation regularly, but if
I do the repairs, it's all, it's
always we seal up the outside.
And if that means sealing up one
whole side of a house, and it sounds
like, you know, It sounds like
extensive work, but it's normally not.
It's normally a tube of caulk or two.
And so, and so, you know, a lot of
times it's like I say, we're brick
veneer meets wood siding, and so we'll
go along there if there's any loose
side and we'll screw it down tight
or nail it down tight and then run.
A bead of brick caulk.
So, you know, DAP makes a color of caulk.
It's like, it's called concrete, but
it's, it matches almost all mortar.
So
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: oh yes,
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
run a, run a bead of caulk, tape it
off, so you're not getting caulk all
over the brick, because that's a mess.
Tape it off, caulk it off, and
they, they won't have any problems
for a lot of years until the house
moves or settles or something
rots or something.
So.
In most cases, especially between
floors, you can fill the cavity
you just took bees out of, but
they can get to everyone around it.
And the scent is there, and
the scent is never going away.
So if I stuff this cavity
full of insulation, that one
won't get bees back in it.
But the floor joist next to it on either
side will the next time.
If you, if you don't get
Correct the outside problem.
So correcting the, the problem outside
or, or filling the hole they got in.
Or, you know, a lot of times
it's on commercial buildings.
That's where somebody installed
a light fixture and there's a gap
above, above or below the fixture or
something.
It's something small and on, and
on residential, a lot of times it's
something small and sometimes even when
I do agree to do repairs, if I get in
there and especially around chimneys,
the, the framing might be rotten because
the chimney flashing's been leaking.
And there's holes and that's how
the bees got in to begin with or
maybe squirrels have chewed in and
that's where the bees They came into
an old squirrel's nest or whatever.
A lot of times I get into
those places and I'm like, I'll
bring them out when we're done.
I'm like, you know, I could put
this back, but you really need a
framer to come out here and reframe
on this side of the chimney.
You know, redo the section of
the roof and then seal this up.
Because if you don't, you
know, I can close it up.
You've got rod issues.
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: oh yeah,
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
or termites or whatever it is.
And so just just guiding
them the best I can.
If I can't, if I don't have time to
do the repairs and I, it's not that
I can't, it's just that handyman
doesn't pay as much as bee removal.
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: oh
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: so
so while I'm there, I'm going to take care
of the issues unless I don't have time.
And then I'll tell them exactly,
this is what you need to do.
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: oh
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
Call me if you have any questions or have
your guy call me when he gets out and,
you know, and, and they don't ever call.
So they, they just.
They either do what I say or
they don't, and if they don't,
then I get to call again a
couple years later and we go
through the whole thing again.
Yeah, I
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: On those
bees that you get from the cutout,
are you taking them back to the
apiary and treating them like a
swarm locking them up for 48 hours?
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: do.
And depending on, depending on the
time of the year and depending on
the condition they were in when I
pull them out, sometimes they'll get
a feeder and sometimes they don't.
If they're in pretty good shape, I'm
smoking them a lot during the cutout,
so a lot of them are eaten already.
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh yeah,
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
So they're full.
A lot of times they're full when
I get them, or when I vac them.
Uh, they've had an opportunity to
take down enough honey that if they
didn't get it, somebody else did.
There's enough honey in there
that they can last a while.
So,
locking them down for two days
is not an issue most of the time.
But if I pull a colony that's
dry, it has no resources.
If there's a queen in there, I'll
generally keep her, even if she's dead.
No good.
I'll keep her, but if they're dry
on resources, a lot of times I'll
put a feeder on those because you
lock them down for another two days.
They need water just like we do, and they
need food just like we do, but
if you, two days is not bad.
You lock them in.
ventilated in the shade somewhere where
they're not going to overheat because
it's, it's, they're easy to overheat.
Like I said, I told you I'm not a
cold weather beekeeper, but I do find
that they can endure cold a lot easier
than they can endure extreme heat.
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh yeah,
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
So, yeah.
So, We do lock those down for 48 hours.
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: oh yeah, and one
thing you mentioned there that I really
hadn't thought about, but you're smoking
those bees when you're getting them out.
If you're inside a house,
are you still smoking them?
Does that leave much smoke
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
I'm, if I'm
in a,
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: fill or
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
if I'm in an abandoned structure, we
have the liberty of using a smoker.
If I'm in a residence, an occupied
residence or apartment or whatever, we
never use smoke because it leaves that
whole place smelling like a campfire.
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Well,
that's what I was wondering about.
You mentioned smoking.
I'm like, how do you get that out
of somewhere if you do it there?
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
They do have that oh here, here it is.
Apisalis, that that battery powered
vape thing that I, I'm, you know,
I'm tempted to try it, but it's,
the kit's 245 for this thing,
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh, yes.
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
you know, and I guess you're
on the hook to buy juice from
them, whatever, whatever the,
the liquid is they use, but I've
heard from people that have them
and have tried them that they don't
really, they're not that great.
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh, yes.
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
So I don't, I don't know that I
want to Waste my time with that.
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Yeah, it's it.
The entrance fee is kind of expensive
there, just to try it and see how it goes.
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: It
is for something that, that may not work.
And we're,
you know, I don't, I don't really,
if you know how to work bees.
And you know your limits, you
can work them without a smoker.
I'll take a fair number of
stings, but it's not, it's
not that I want to get stung.
It's just that I don't want to, I
don't want to have a heat stroke,
but I know when I have, when I know
when I have to suit up and if I'm
working indoors and we don't have any
other way of cooling them down, then
I will suit up to finish the job.
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh,
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
There, you know, there's other ways.
There's sometimes it, works to spray
them with sugar water or you know other
things just to keep them from flying on
you but that doesn't take the attitude
out of them really it just keeps them
not from going as airborne but you still,
uh, hives are layered so you might spray
this Blair B's here, but then there's
a whole nother Workforce waiting to
circulate out and every time you poke
home There's more and more and if you
are just drenching them through the whole
job
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: yeah.
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
not gonna be pretty
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Yeah.
Well, very good, Randy.
Before we move to the famous four
questions, you have anything else
to add about cutouts or anything
else that we may not have talked
about that you'd like to bring up?
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
a lot of people want to know
about insurance for cutouts And
so if you if you're if you want to
do the cutout business, I don't I
don't really say everybody has to
have insurance because I did it
for a decade with no insurance.
Apartment complexes around here require
insurance, or they started requiring
insurance about five or six years ago.
So that's the only reason that I
really carry it now because I never
had a problem before but i'm also
a You know, right now retired from
it, but 32 year insurance adjuster.
So I know,
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh,
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
I know a lot about that and I'm a
contractor, so well depend, you know,
so I do have insurance now and I don't
necessarily recommend everybody get it.
If you're only going to do a
couple of cutouts, just be careful.
But if you're, if you're doing
it as a business, especially.
Especially if you're not in the
south, maybe, maybe get insurance.
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh, yes.
Yeah.
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
down here, we're handshake, you
know, everybody's, I gotta, I
gotta cut your wall open, you know.
Oh yeah, no problem, go ahead.
The further north you get, people are
like you know, you got insurance, you got
references, you got this, that, you got a
note from your, note from
your mother, you got,
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Right.
Yeah.
Depends who, where you
are and who you're dealing
with.
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: yeah,
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Well, Randy, it
is time for our famous four questions.
Same four questions we
ask of all of our guests.
And our first question is, what
is your favorite beekeeping
related book or resource?
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: my,
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: And I
know you're going to say your
YouTube channel, but beyond that.
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
You know.
I don't have a, I don't have a, I
have the beekeepers Bible is the first
beekeeping book that I ever bought.
And I bought it last year
just because, just because I
didn't have any beekeeping books.
So probably my favorite
resource would be newsletters.
Maybe.
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh, yeah.
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
I just like reading.
I like reading people's newsletters.
I never, never really got into
reading beekeeping books just because
I was, I knew what I was doing.
I knew what I was seeing.
I didn't really need that.
And I had mentors that if I
had a question about anything,
beekeeping is pretty regional.
It's pretty regional.
So if I have questions about something
here, I can call somebody here.
I'm not reading something that somebody in
California, I'm not reading Randy
Oliver's work that doesn't, may or
may not apply to what I'm doing.
In
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh, yes.
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: you
know, he's in an arid environment or,
or you know, Ian Stepler up in Canada.
He's certainly not going to
be doing anything I'm doing.
He's a commercial beekeeper in a
Canadian climate, which is 100, 180
out from what we're doing down here.
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh, yeah.
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
So probably my best resource would be
newsletters locally or, or just a mentor.
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh, yeah.
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
A good, good mentor is invaluable.
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Yeah.
Excellent advice.
Excellent resources.
Our second question.
What's your favorite tool for the apiary?
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
My favorite tool lately
for the apiary for cutouts.
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Well,
just in general, your favorite
tool for your beekeeping journey.
How's that?
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
Okay, my favorite tool lately is a
cutout tool that Chris Kinser has
built and it looks like a mini scythe
And it's for reaching up into spaces
where it's hard to get to and normally
when you're cutting combs You're going
into the combs and you it's messy.
It's tough.
It's tough access Sometimes
you're chopping an old hard comb.
Well, he's built a tool out of Rodstock
and the end of it is a sharpened hardened
blade and it's angled up so if you can
stick it up in the back of a hive and
pull and it just cuts so easy but it
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh, yes.
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: you
can cut a whole comb section out seconds
where it would take you minutes any other
way so that's my new favorite tool and and
kinser homestead or something on youtube
or chris kinser on facebook is how you
find him if interested in that too and i I
should have his information, but I don't.
I can get it to you later if you need it.
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Oh, yeah.
I'd love to put that in our show notes.
If someone's interested, they can
go there and find a link for it.
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: Okay,
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Our third
question, what would you tell
someone just getting started?
And that could be with cutouts
or beekeeping in general.
However you want to take that.
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
anything to do with bees Experiment
heavily form your own opinions.
Don't necessarily rely on everybody
else to figure out everything for you
In the spring you almost can't screw up.
So So just go crazy Start
out in the spring, go nuts
with your experimentations.
You're going to lose bees.
Everybody does.
I don't care how good you are.
We all lose bees.
So don't get disheartened by
the loss of a couple of colonies
because it's going to happen.
But just, just jump in with
both feet and go at it.
No fear.
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Very good.
You know, springtime is so
wonderful in the grazing world.
In May, I think I'm a great grazer.
I can manage those animals,
but so can everyone
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: Yeah,
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: That
time of year makes it easy.
And lastly, Randy, where can
others find out more about you?
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613: I
am on six 28 dirt rooster on YouTube.
Instagram, Facebook, Tik Tok,
depending on what happens there.
Any social media that we're on is
it's 628 Dirt Rooster and that's
that's the best way to find us.
Or at North American Honeybee Expo
or at some state conference we
might be at.
cal_1_01-19-2025_133613: Well, Randy,
thank you for coming on and sharing with
us today.
randy-mccaffrey_1_01-19-2025_133613:
you for having me.
I appreciate it.
Enjoyed it.