Charlie Bee Company

- [Kaye] Can I help you do something to make it?

- You could massage my shoulders if you, just right there.

- Another season of saving the bees means it's time to expand the bee business.

Oh!

That means stocking up on gear before gear starts crashing down.

- Right yeah, these bees definitely need a new home and I need to start spring cleaning.

(chainsaw revving) My chain saw.

- Where there smokes there's fire.

- Just another day in the hive.

I feel right with the world.

Ow!

My name is Charlie Agar and I'm a beekeeper in the Texas Hill Country.

They got me.

I help people with nuisance bee problems, and rescue bees from sticky situations.

(bees buzzing) I think I got some bees on me.

With bee populations in decline, it's more important now than ever to save these bees.

Beekeeping has taken me all over the state of Texas, and working with bees has given me the opportunity to meet some incredible people along the way.

I'm always learning, experiencing new things, and working hard.

Things can get a little crazy.

Ow!

Ow!

But I love it.

(upbeat music) - Yeah!

(upbeat music continues) Timber!

This is just wild.

I love it.

I love it!

We're solving somebody's problem We're putting these bees to work where they're meant to work.

Somewhere safe and away from people.

This is what it's all about.

Retreat.

Woo!

(water splashing) (upbeat music continues) (bees buzzing) (upbeat music) We got a problem y'all.

The Bee Mobile is turning into like a biosphere.

It's like its own habitat for spiders and bees.

It's full of junk.

There's frames in here with honey on them and that's what's attracting them.

But there's just a lot of junk in here.

So I need to clean this thing out, it's just a mess.

It is just filthy, I'm expanding my bee business big time this year, so it's time to get organized.

I'd be ashamed if I had any pride.

It is so icky, sticky, ah!

The fun part too is I always find tools and things I've been missing for a while.

There's my little drill.

(drill whirring) Well that works.

Ah, there's my headset, I've been looking for that.

This is a bunch of pollen.

It's like Christmas.

(upbeat music continues) It's good for the soul.

It's very cathartic to clean and you know what?

If you're gonna clean it's much more fun when it's really filthy, because it's just very satisfying.

And you feel like you get a lot done.

(upbeat music continues) It's messy business be removal, my old license plates.

This frame's all honey.

So they've been going crazy about this for a while.

Yeah, it's the strangest life I've ever known.

I mean this is insanity, bees everywhere.

This is not normal.

The plan is to double the size of my operation in coming months and that means starting with a clean slate and a clean Bee Mobile, so what I'm gonna do, which is something not a lot of people get to do with a normal vehicle, I'm gonna power wash the inside of this thing out, get everything out.

We're gonna just hose it down.

It fills with water, it's just a mess, but it's gonna be better i the end and not a track piece.

About every time I clean it I say, "I'm never gonna let it get dirty again."

And guess what happens?

It gets dirty again.

(upbeat music) (engine revving) (upbeat music continues) I feel like the neighbors watch and they think I'm like cleaning out a dead body or something.

(upbeat music continues) (compressor blowing) Yeah.

(upbeat music continues) (compressor blowing) (upbeat music continues) (compressor blowing) I call this piece Bee Mobile.

Still filthy, but getting there.

Now we've just gotta bail it out How many people bail out their car?

Some people say, you know, bee removal, it's a glamorous life.

I'm not quite sure who those people are.

I feel so good, I feel purged.

I feel right with the world.

Oh it's tough being a sailor on the seven seas.

You gotta bail out the old rowboat now and again, arr.

It's an awesome feeling.

(lines rattling) (letters scraping) Moo!

(cow lowing) (laughs) I've heard coyotes out here.

I think there's a chupacabra.

When I come out here by myself at night, I'll be honest, I'm sort of scared.

But it's date night, it is Saturday night, so.

What do we do on Saturday night?

We move bees.

- We move bees, I guess.

- we move these at night 'cause this is the time everybody's home, you know the hives are full.

We can close the entrances, so everybody's locked in.

With moving bees, the rule is less than three feet, or more than three miles.

This allows me to build my business.

I've got more clients, more revenue from leasing hives.

If I were a bigger operation, which is kind of like where I'm leaning, I don't know.

We would have a flatbed truck and a forklift, and these hives would be palletized.

That's like sort of the next lev What we're doing here i hobbyist, side liner bee moving, and we're still using our backs.

I'm the forklift.

(Charlie and Kaye laughing) All right, you ready to remove some bees?

- Yeah, that's what I'm here for - Let's do it.

Okay.

- All right.

(upbeat music) (metal rattling) - Ooh.

All right, come on in, Boo.

- Okay.

- All these with ratchet straps on top of them are coming with us.

- They're not really ready for bed.

- Not quite, we're getting close to dusk.

There might be stragglers that get left behind.

My understanding is they can kind of ingratiate themselves to another hive, knock on the door, bring in some nectar so I don't worry about not taking every bee tonight.

You can stay back, honey, 'cause I'm just gonna stuff these openings.

- Okay.

- And I kind of just come in and push this in, and make sure they can't get out.

I don't need to use tape or anything.

I just close these up 'cause it's just temporary.

We're just going down the road.

- [Kaye] Can I help you do something to make it?

- You could massage my shoulders if you, just right there.

Oh, right there.

- Really?

- No, you can do this one.

- Okay, go in baby girls.

Oh, don't get killed.

- Yes, you're doing good.

You got it.

- Am I doing it or are you doing it?

- I'm helping you.

I'm helping.

- Okay.

You got your fingers in the way.

- [Charlie] (laughs)I'm gonna stay outta your way.

This is the last one, now we strap everybody up.

- [Kaye] So now I know why you get stung on the rear.

- Why is my?

- (laughs) You got your plumbers.

(laughs) You're showing, pull your pants up.

- I - You need suspenders.

- No, that's what fat guys wear.

Oh my gosh, this one's heavy, very heavy.

Unless I just strapped it to the wood.

Welcome to beekeeping, you do something once.

You do something 100 times.

(upbeat music) Whoop!

You okay?

- Yeah.

- Lift.

(upbeat music continues) - You got it?

- Yep.

These are the feisty, so we're gonna back up.

Okay.

- Okay.

- [Charlie] Heavy, this one's heavy.

- And heavy.

- Let's walk right up on the trailer with it.

- Oh, okay.

Glad I wore a belt.

- Yeah.

Right over the wheel.

I move heavy hive boxes all the time by myself, it's no fun.

It's bad for the back 'caus the weight's all in the front, and my weight's all in the front And then I have extra weight in the front, and I come home and have to chew on ibuprofen 'cause my back hurts.

(giggles) - It's not good.

- It's not good.

2, 4, 6, 8, how many hives will be so great?

11.

11.

Yay 11!

Beekeepers typically use red lights, it bothers the bees less.

We're just trying to see tonight so we got some white lights going.

This might not fit very well, nevermind.

We'll just rock it Charlie style Lift with your back, use your whole back.

Oh that's- - It's like a tower.

- That's pretty heavy.

- [Kaye] Where you're just hooking it to the- - Hooking underneath, yeah.

When I do this solo, I'll lose that your end like three times, so that's nice to have help.

I appreciate you being here, baby.

Date night.

Date night.

That's what it's all about.

Togetherness honey, we're together.

That's what's important.

Hopefully nothing slides off.

We're not going very far, but it's kind of a bumpy ride.

(upbeat music) (chains rattling) Good fences make good neighbors.

(gate squeaking) (upbeat music continues) Leasing bees to landowners for AG exemption has been a great way to grow my business.

Unfortunately it means a lot of night moves alone in the dark.

(upbeat music continues) Hey!

(upbeat music continues) - All right, let's get some bees, baby.

Ooh, I can hear them buzzing.

Everybody's unhappy right now.

- [Kaye] You stomped around?

- Yeah, I stomped around.

We are looking for danger, critters like snakes, which could be a plenty in this grass.

Kaye's not very happy, right honey?

- [Kaye] I'm not a big fan of snakes.

- [Charlie] You're not a big fan of snakes?

- No.

- You wanna carry this just like this?

- Does that work?

- It's pretty heavy.

- Okay.

Ah, where are we going?

- [Charlie] We're gonna set this one on the ground.

- [Kaye] Okay, there are really uneven ground.

- Yeah, you know, you could be dressed in a little black cocktail dress going out for sushi, or you be doing this?

What would you rather be doing?

- [Kaye] Do you want me to answer that right now?

- No.

- Okay.

- [Charlie] So these are the feisty ones.

- Oh yeah.

- And they're sort of out, seems like the unfriendly ones find their way out pretty easy.

(laughs) - Okay.

- Just use my back.

That's good.

Can you back up into the woods a little bit?

- [Kaye] You back up into the woods.

- [Charlie] No, I've got the front.

- [Kaye] Well when you ge back there, we'll turn around.

- [Charlie] I'm like --.

- [Kaye] I'm scared of the rat that lives with our chickens.

- There we go.

- There you go.

- We had the best date night of our lives.

That was great, wasn't it, honey?

We moved.

- Sure.

- We moved 11 hives out here.

Expanding the business and spreading our wings.

This is what it's all about.

Now, all we do is release them.

We're gonna release the trap in and get outta here.

We don't want to be around a bunch of nasty bees- - No.

- that have been shaken up all over Comal County, so.

- [Kaye] And we don't wanna take them home in the- - In the Bee Mobile.

- Bee Mobile.

- Ow, right in the butt.

Ow!

- Well, you need to get suspenders.

- In the butt.

Not happen.

Never getting suspenders.

Woo hoo.

(beehive popping) - My name is Francine Embrey and we're in Scottsville.

I'm not sure as far as how long.

They've been here for quite a while.

We've been very compatible.

I leave them alone, they leave me alone.

But this year they weren't as friendly as they usually are, and I got a little too close with the lawnmower.

They got me on the head and got me on the arm.

So I said, "Well I guess it's ti for them to find a new home."

They're a valuable resources so if we don't have them, we don't have a whole lot to go on.

They're in a hollow, up a tree.

Do anything you want to get them out and move them on.

We'll be happy about it.

(upbeat music) - Today we will practice the way of the chainsaw.

We're gonna disassemble a tree.

These are tree bees, they're coming with us.

They are wash boarding all on the outside of that hive.

They're trying to stay cool and I think that tree is falling apart so much that they are getting ready to leave it.

So I think it's time for them to come with us.

I love cutting trees, I love playing chainsaw.

This is the way of the saw.

- [George] Ow!

- George, are you okay?

- Yeah, I'm fine.

- When you like the smoker, it's hot.

- Where there's smoke, there's fire.

- Where there's smoke, there's fire.

- They found me.

All right.

Let's do this.

(upbeat music) (chainsaw revving) Rip and tear.

(chainsaw revving) (upbeat music continues) Oh yeah, they're woke.

(chainsaw revving) (upbeat music continues) Ow!

Ah, they like that saw.

- [George] Oh, they love that saw.

- [Charlie] I wonder which side I should cut it from.

- [George] I think that side.

(chainsaw revving) (upbeat music continues) - Oh, oh!

(chainsaw revving) Oh, oh!

(chainsaw revving) It's coming.

- My chainsaw.

That's my chainsaw.

Could you grab it and pull it?

(upbeat music continues) (chainsaw revving) Pull it again.

(chainsaw revving) (upbeat music continues) - Chain came off.

- It's all right.

We got comb coming up in there.

We've got comb coming up in here, but I think these are like the end.

So this is probably the bulk of it right here.

And this hive and these girls are nasty.

They are not happy about us being here, not at all.

They are thick around my face.

- These bees definitely need a new home.

It's always something wit the chainsaw, let me tell you.

I need lessons.

I was a little worried about that big limb.

- [George] Yeah, I was like too.

- [Charlie] There's a lot of weight on it.

- [George] Once you're about two thirds of the way through with it, I was like, "I hope it don't fall on the car - Right, round two, let's drop the hive now.

Now we got the weight off.

That was the hard part.

(chainsaw revving) Timber!

(chainsaw revving) (upbeat music) Oh.

Now that we've got through the bulk of this hive, we can start collecting resources and be on the lookout for big mama.

- [George] Quite a few resources in there.

You can see holes right there where they've made them and they're crawling in and out right there.

Pretty cool.

(upbeat music continues) Okay, that one's empty.

Ooh, we need to, ooh, look at that.

- [Charlie] What do you got, George?

- [George] Got a few bees.

- [Charlie] Look up on the limb above you.

- Yep.

- That's why this whole thing's gotta come down.

- [George] It says, "Mister I keep breaking the chainsaw."

- [Charlie] I didn't say I was good at it.

(chainsaw revving) (upbeat music continues) (chainsaw revving) (upbeat music continues) - [George] Boy, they're headed up, up, up, up.

- [Charlie] Wow, I bet you they're way down in here.

- [George] They might be.

- [Charlie] Yeah.

(chainsaw revving) (upbeat music continues) (chainsaw revving) (upbeat music continues) Timber!

There's the bottom of the comb.

Look at that nice white combed.

That's the most recent stuff they built.

So this whole thing is full.

So this is why when we d forced absconds it ain't easy.

- Right.

- Look how.

- [George] You never know where they go.

- You never know how big or where they are.

This is a big hive.

Wanna lift it up?

- Heavy.

- [Charlie] Use your back.

- [George] We're going, we're going rolling that way.

- [Charlie] Yeah, hold on, hold on.

There we go.

Ah.

(Charlie and George giggles) (chainsaw revving) (upbeat music continues) Oh, there we go.

Oh, there we are.

You've got some bees on you, George.

- Couple.

- It's over.

Over in Poland and different parts of Eastern Europe, the beekeepers just keep bees in hollow oaks and hollow trees.

I mean they make like a hatch in the side of a big tree and then they can semi-manage it.

I think they can at least harvest honey.

- Really?

- Yep.

We got the hard part over.

We've got the tree down and the whole cavity open.

Look how deeply entrenched this hive is.

It goes all the way down.

I mean they started 10 feet up and look, look at this swarm up there.

The queen could be up there.

We might need a ladder.

In fact, I'm hungry.

I'm gonna take a bite of that.

See what Stockdale tastes like.

Got a little dirt in it but God made dirt, and dirt don't hurt.

It's almost citrusy.

Here's some beautiful nurse bees We're kind of in the heart of it There's not a lot of bees left though, but this is all beautiful comb.

Yeah, they all look nice.

These are all nice little nurse bees in here.

These are the bees we want.

It's great having George be as helpful, fun to be around.

At the end of the day, it's not what you do, it's who you do it with in my mind.

It's a comb caring.

And this is one reason we ask little patience from the client, because we're not gonna catch every bee here, right?

We are gonna need a ladder, though.

- Okay.

- They think that's where their hive is.

I'll get it.

- I got it.

- Oh thanks man.

- Sure.

- They're real, oh, they're going you up even further.

(upbeat music) - You got two more steps, I got you ladder.

- Is this OSHA approved?

Probably not.

Don't worry, this flimsy tree will carry my weight.

- [George] You've got a tree to hold onto.

- [Charlie] Yeah.

(upbeat music continues) - [George] What are you doing?

Trying to knock them down to you?

- [Charlie] Yeah, just get them reorienting.

Getting them flying.

- [George] Some people jus make it up as they go, you know?

- Yeah.

(laughs) I was shaking a tree 'cause it was fun to do.

- [George] This is the real world of beekeeping.

- Bee!

(upbeat music continues) - The footage in this television show was performed by professionals.

This fact's getting kind of full We're about to call it.

We didn't see the queen, story of my life.

I'm still looking for her, I mean, miracles do happen.

I met Kaye, that was a miracle?

Broke down old bachelor.

(giggles) 40 something years old, met the sweetest girl in Texas.

So wonderful things can happen.

I'm tired, it's getting hot.

Thankfully we're in the shade, went very well.

I love being able to take the whole tree apart.

That's fun 'cause I get to play lumberjack.

Good stuff brother.

- Job well done, buddy.

- Ew!

Nice.

That's a lot of bees, oh that's heavy.

(laughs) (wax crackling) (upbeat music) We're here in Llano, Texas, just northwest of Austin.

We are in the home of Fain's Honey.

Fain's Honey is a classic Texas brand.

They go back generations and this is residual gear from their operation, stuff's gotta go.

And a lot of it's junk, a lot of it's good.

Make a big old burn pile.

The rest is gonna get stacked in the truck.

I don't know if we can get it all in one day.

I think we're gonna fill up real quick.

There's three sites with gear.

Work, work, work.

I love driving big trucks, that's so much fun.

(door rattling) - I'm glad to have Gabriel here.

Nobody works like this guy.

He's just singular focused kind of person.

Gets into things and does it wholeheartedly.

So love that about him.

We've got a truck to fill, boys, arr!

Doesn't look that big anymore.

It looked huge in my front yard.

It's gonna be a lot of work.

I don't even know where to start - [Gabriel] Just start grabbing.

- Just start grabbing.

- [Gabriel] Oh, you found the new stuff.

- It's pretty good stuff.

First thing in the truck.

(upbeat music) (boxes crashing) I carbo loaded last night.

Ate a bunch of pasta, just ready for this.

Found a treasure chest, ah!

Like an actual treasure chest.

It's gonna be full of gold dablo Oh you know what this is?

A smoker box, this is somebody's smoker fuel and a lighter.

- [Gabriel] I have a way to carry around some Louis Vuitton luggage.

That is awesome.

Little burlap, just little shavi You know we think we're doing something new in beekeeping.

People have been doing this the same way for a long, long time.

I'm excited just to inherit some history of Texas beekeeping Some of these boxes you can see the insignia, DF, Dewey Fain, and Mr. Fain is in his eighties.

Great name in beekeeping.

Here's Dewey Fain right here.

Dewey Fain, that's good juju right there.

That's good.

(giggles) - [Gabriel] You can thank Dewey Fain for bringing bees into the agriculture world in Texas.

- That's right.

Now I don't know if that doesn't even work.

I put too many on.

You wanna help me for a sec?

- [Gabriel] Yep, yep, there we go.

That metal adds up, don't it?

- It sure does, it's real heavy.

Reset.

- Yo!

- [Gabriel] That gotta be 200 pounds if it's nothing?

- Yeah.

One, one pile of lids, ah, ah, ah!

(upbeat music) So much of beekeeping is lik doing one thing over and over.

I wonder what I did wrong in a past life sometimes.

- [Gabriel] You angered Zeus, you are Sisyphis, Charlie.

- Keep waiting to open a box and see something jump out at me.

Ah!

(laughs) I was raised on TV.

So in Texas there's a lot of spicy critters.

Spiders, rats, and mice.

- Wasps.

- It's sort of like Christmas if Christmas was full of varmints.

(laughs) Whoa!

He's heavy.

But I don't need anybody.

(grunts) I need a hand, young man.

- [Gabriel] Let's go!

This one is heavy as that last one.

(upbeat music) - Phew.

(upbeat music) (wood thumping) Gabe, you're a beast.

(upbeat music continues) (wood thumping) Gee, I don't know why my back's gonna hurt tonight.

Get into beekeeping, they said.

Start in your mid forties.

- Start in your mid forties.

- Look at this thing, oh.

So it's good we're not doing this in summer 'cause all the wasps are dead.

- [Gabriel] That would've been one pissed off wasp.

- That would've been no fun.

- [Gabriel] We'd have had to bring our suits out.

- Dead body?

And that's not even pasta.

- Oh critters.

- Only opened one chlorine tank like this to figure out that you don't breathe this.

- What is it?

What is it?

- Manure, I kid you not.

- [Charlie] Oh no.

- Someone was using a manure in their smokers.

- [Charlie] Oh no.

Woo!

- Well that was an experience.

Make a little bioreactor out of that stuff.

Got some methane production.

- See this is all full of wax moth, wah!

Not a problem, but not ideal.

- [Gabriel] Ooh, here's a really good wax moth, ugh.

- Look at that, that's all dead larva.

I can't scrape all this out in time.

I'm just gonna have to get the worst ones.

It's almost not worth messing with.

You know what?

I really think the wax dip is gonna be the only way to keep these.

I think this is fool hearty to try to go through them all like this, I say we just load them as is.

(upbeat music continues) Come on, you son of a -- - Oh yeah.

Nice job dude.

(laughs) Leave it to the expert.

Ah!

(upbeat music continues) In my next life I'm gonna be tall.

That's the plan.

That's all right.

As my grandfather said, "Good enough."

- [Gabriel] Hey Charlie, Red German wasps.

- Uh oh.

- Yeah, those those guys are mean.

Very, very mean.

Ooh, and there's another one.

Whoa, there are a bunch of them.

Looks like the queen mother too right there on the edge.

- Fun fact, I love bees, but I am seriously allergic to wasps.

- Whoa.

He's airborne.

That is one nasty wasp right here.

That's not a mud dauber.

- You sure?

- Positive.

Mud daubers have a narrowing between their abdomen and their thorax.

- I used to have a narrowing between my abdomen and my thorax, but it's getting a little wider.

My abdomen and my thorax are all just one.

I'm in shape, it's a pear shape, but I'm in shape.

- Oh, doh!

They're in there, they're in that stack.

Oh lordy.

- [Charlie] They were way down there, weren't they?

- Oh, I'm scared Charlie.

Do not look at me.

- [Charlie] Where are they?

- It's that first frame closest to you.

Oh, there's a queen in there.

She's considerably larger than the rest.

- Oh, should we find her?

(Gabriel laughing) I don't have a suit.

- I know I don't have a suit, and these are some of the nastiest ones out there, man.

- Are they?

- This is the worst you get before you go to hornets.

- [Charlie] Just get in there young man.

Just get it in there, you got it - Woo!

Let's go do it out here.

- [Charlie] Yeah, good idea.

- [Gabriel] Go finish them off.

- Oh, there's a big one.

Is that the queen?

- That's probably the queen.

- There's the queen, look at that.

Holy cow, I mean we don't have to go out for lunch.

This is plenty of protein right here.

That was fun.

Thankfully I found a few more bee enthusiasts to help us sort through this gear.

Everybody's all current on tetanus and?

- [Gabriel] Now you tell us, Charlie.

- [Charlie] You've been on the same pile all day.

This is where we put the Arc of the Covenant.

- Yeah.

- You know we only use less than a half a tank of gas to get here and I was like, "Sweet.

Going home's gonna be easy."

No, there's so much to go through and we don't want to inherit gear with a bunch of issues.

I love to drive trucks.

- We're working in the shade right now.

(upbeat music) (wood thumping) (upbeat music continues) - Whoah!

- What'd you get?

- I don't know if it was a coon or a cat.

- It's a cat.

- It was a cat, you saw it?

(Charlie laughing) Poor cat, she's like, "You took my home away."

- Right.

(upbeat music) We're just about wrapped for the day and ain't nothing gonna slow us down.

(wood thumping) You missed that Connor.

- You missed that one.

You all right?

Have I, should have shot that though?

- [Gabriel] I saw it happen in slow motion.

I ain't getting no respect, huh?

(upbeat music) What a day y'all, holy smokes.

There's nothing left to me right now.

I am so grateful for the help of these guys.

They showed up and just like many hands make light work.

We started like picking through things and yeah, we'll take this by the end we're just hucking it.

We're only half done.

Oh, I'm coming back tomorrow.

Oof, and that truck is nearly full.

So we've got a whole nother section to do.

But I am wrecked, beekeeping ain't for wimps, y'all.

This is the real deal.

(upbeat music continues) (upbeat music) We are in Uhland, Texas, just south of Austin.

This is a hotbed of development in the fastest developin part of the country right now.

Homes are popping up her like mushrooms on a cow patty.

These folks ran into some big old beehives.

We got three strong hives today.

Two in these great big oak trees that got dropped.

They're on the ground, we'r gonna cut them up into pieces.

We got bees in a barrel.

I've got Al working with me today, which is awesome.

So we're gonna get these bees out, get them back to New Braunfels for a little bee-hab treatment.

- [Al] The barrel will be the easiest one.

We won't have any problems with it.

It'd be an easy one for sure.

- All right, what have we got here, Al?

They're gonna like Al, these are Al's bees.

They're going to Al's house.

- Let's see what we get in there first.

- Let's see if we get, let's see if there're any good.

Almost all bees in Texas are Africanized to some extent.

So we gotta make sure these bees are nice before we bring them home.

Unfortunately in my world everything's just kind of coated with a little layer of grime and it's a little sticky.

- [Al] Just a little bit.

(upbeat music) - Bees, It's time.

It's time!

(saw whirring) (upbeat music) When I'm 90 and I have hearing aids, I'm gonna know why.

Yeah!

Wow, this was a big hive.

I don't even know if they're viable.

Here we go.

Oh, they're full of, look at thi This is small hive beetle larva, small hive beetle and wax moth are more like vultures on a hive They don't kill the hive.

They're what happens when the hive is in trouble, or dying, or dead.

There's resources in here, there's wax, there's honey, and ooh, I can feel them crawling up me.

Yuck.

Those don't look very good, do they?

- [Al] Chickens would really love that.

- [Charlie] Chickens love it.

I'll probably take this and throw it in the backyard and let the chickens chow on it.

- [Al] If we really don' wanna take these to our yards, because they turn and attack my good hives.

At one time this was a thriving hive.

- We got a little helper today who wanted to try his hand at beekeeping.

- I like bees and honey, the worms I do not like.

- [Al] But these lava will mature eating the honey and pollen from the hive an then they will going to mutate in the ground and they stay there until they become a beetle and then they fly back out again and find another hive to go to.

- This hive's dead, this a dead out.

Basically we're going to take and bag up this comb.

This wax is garbage.

It's going in the garbage an we are going to leave it open, so the bees will just dissipate and clear out of there.

So gross, I'm not gonna throw up, I promise.

(groans) Oh, that smells awful.

Oh, can't do it.

Woo!

One and done.

Hive number two.

It looks like we can reach up in pretty easily, but we might have to cut a notch Both of these trees are kind of cantilevered, so we can't cut it right in half or else it'll bind the saw and we'll need help.

All right, we're just gonna vacuum up bees.

Let's get what we can first.

Wow, there's brood right there.

You wanna come closer, Bodhe?

- Yes sir - We're looking for the queen.

Look at that one, that's a drone He can't sting so I can put him them on me and he won't sting me.

- Cool.

Do you wanna vacuum?

- Yes sir.

- Take your hand.

Push that right on there, there you go.

Nice and gentle.

We're trying to capture as many bees as we can.

When we move this hive, these are the bees that are gonna go and take care of the babies.

- [Bodhe] Like a nanny.

- Sometimes I take my veil off 'cause I got bad eyes, and it's just one extra layer between me and the bees to find the queen.

I'm in a lot of bees here though so I'm gonna dive down in here.

So I don't need to be a hero and look cool.

I mean I know I do.

- [Al] You think you do?

- I think I do.

My wife keeps me humble.

Lets me know how not cool I am sometimes, but I think I'm making not cool into cool again, maybe?

- [Al] Not only that when he gets stung he's screamed like a little girl - [Charlie] (laughs) Look at thi We got a ready made beekeeper right here in this young man.

Are you scared at all?

- No way.

- I'm scared.

What's your favorite food, Bodhe?

- [Bodhe] Honey!

- [Charlie] Honey, what's your favorite food for like lunch, though?

- [Bodhe] Cheese pizza.

- [Charlie] Cheese pizza, okay, well if you find the queen, I owe you a cheese pizza, how's that?

- Good.

- I have a long drill bit somewhere.

They make close in the tree.

We're gonna attempt to sort of forced abscond by drilling holes in the cavity of this tree.

There we go.

So we're gonna push the bees out.

It's a great technique but my success with absconds is about 50/50.

Ready?

I wanna get these bees to come up even further, so we can see them and then we can get the queen.

- Bees don't like forest fires, so they run.

- We're making it inhospitable in there.

Look at them running out, that's exactly what we want.

This is when we'll find her.

Oh gosh, here's a ton of bees.

I mean we're only looking for one bee.

We're gonna get a ton of bees in the back, and she may already be in there, but we're just looking for the queen.

So I'm gonna drill one more hole further down, so we can really get behind them completely and push them out.

And this wood's all rotten anyway, so it's pretty easy.

Ah, unless you're me.

Now we're gonna smoke the heck out of them.

This is called a forced abscond.

Forcing the bees to abscond, which is when they decide, "This is no longer a place for us to be, we want out."

So we're making it really uncomfortable for them.

We're trying to make them really just leave this cavity right now and see this swirling behavior like they're flying all around.

That's the beginning of leaving.

I mean this is where we're looking for the queen.

- Bees are so cool.

(upbeat music continues) - And there she is.

I got her.

- Find her?

- Yeah.

Boom shaka-laka!

Money.

But right now we're gonna just call it quits for the time being.

We got another hive right on the other side of his log.

So we're going to take a pause for the cause, and leave this canister here.

- [Al] This full, look at it.

- [Charlie] It is full, that's a lot of bees.

That's nice, got a queen.

You got about four or five pounds of bees.

How much would that cost if you bought it from the apiary supply, Al?

- Couple of- - Buy 150.

- Couple hundred bucks, right?

So now that we've got the queen, we've got the hive.

Let's go show Bodhe the queen.

Look what we found.

- The queen!

- That's big mama.

She's got kind of a long belly.

Her abdomen's long and pointy, and we got lucky.

You rock brother, you're a beekeeper now.

You ready to join the team?

- Yeah.

- Awesome.

- I'm a beekeeper.

- All right, hive one dead, hive two awesome.

We got the queen, beautiful hive.

This is our last hive here.

They're gonna make it hard for us 'cause they're hard to get to.

We're gonna have to do some cutting with a chainsaw.

I just put a new chain on, so hopefully we don't get into trouble.

But I struggle with the chainsaw sometimes.

But Al and I are gonna get in, get these bees out.

We got a lot of guys working around here.

I've warned them all.

I think these bees are gonna get feisty 'cause we're really gonna rip into it.

They just don't like those two stroke motors, you know?

Right in their ears.

- This is gonna be a challenge 'cause the bees are so deep in the wood, and it's a big old log.

We'll see how good Charlie is with his chainsaw.

(chainsaw revving) (upbeat music) - I put it on backwards.

(chainsaw revving) - [Al] Oh no.

(chainsaw revving) I put it on backwards.

I put the chain on backwards and I do it all the time.

I hate that.

Let's try this again.

(upbeat music) (chainsaw revving) (chainsaw revving) (upbeat music continues) - [Al] Where are they?

- Well this is their entrance.

The question of are they up that way?

I think they're down here.

(upbeat music continues) We're just chasing bees.

(chainsaw revving) (upbeat music continues) It's super tough to pin down exactly where the bees are in a big old cavity like this.

Ugh, the hive's right down in here and it probably goes really far.

We're in honey up here an there's tons of bees down there, so I'm thinking I'm gonna have to make a big ugly cut, and use up my brand new blade.

My chain.

(chainsaw revving) (upbeat music continues) (chainsaw revving) (upbeat music continues) Oh there we go.

Oh!

Honeybees!

- A little spicier than the other one.

- [Al] Well the other ones didn't have a chainsaw coming into their living- - [Charlie] Yeah, the other one didn't have a chainsaw ripping holes in it right.

I think we're done cutting.

I think we'll be able to get a lot, and then we'll do a forced abscond.

Look, somebody tried to stuff this up with rock.

- [Al] That will mess up with chainsaw.

- [Charlie] That's what did my blade right there.

- Yep.

- That's what killed it.

That's the top of the hive.

We're right in brood right here.

I wonder if there's anything behind this.

I might drill over here and just smoke them like crazy.

(drill whirring) (upbeat music continues) Is any smoke coming out on your end, Al?

- [Al] The bees are coming out some now.

- Oh, are they good?

They're moving but not moving fast.

What we need is a little industrial assistance.

Would you be able to take this monster and just crunch that tree open?

Here he comes.

(laughs) (upbeat music) (wood crunching) All right, so we're going to the big guns now.

We got some heavy machinery coming in.

It's pretty hard wood so I don't know if they can even do it, bu I'm interested to see what, ow.

Stop it.

What they can do, ow.

(upbeat music continues) (wood crashing) Keep getting there, that's what we want.

Yeah baby!

(upbeat music continues) This is all hardwood in here.

I don't know how he could ever get this broken apart, but he got a lot of it.

I don't think he can crack this apart.

It's solid wood, so he can't get this apart.

We can't cut this, I think we let these bees gather, but I think we call it for now.

One dead out, one successful hive removal, one half removal done.

And we'll see where they are this afternoon, but we're definitely gonna get them out.

(beehive popping) (bees buzzing) (upbeat music) We are on our way to Navasota, Texas for a truly awesome event.

BeeWeaver's Buzzfest.

- This is the first time I've been out to this place.

I'm just gonna love it, it's gonna be a great time.

- Navasota!

Heehaw!

Let's do this.

(upbeat music) - Charlie, thank you for coming.

You're here for Buzzfest.

- This is like a Grateful Dead concert if Dead concerts were full of smoke and honey.

- The little ZZ Top going on with the beard thing.

- Awesome.

- I'm Laura Weaver, and I'm one of the owners of BeeWeaver Honey Farm in Wildfire Mead.

And every year we have a festival called Buzzfest.

It celebrates bees and all the people in bees.

Buzzfest is a live hive experience festival.

It's not a vending craft bear.

It is experience based where you can smell, listen to, touch bees, see them in a different way.

Taste all sorts of honey.

- Everybody's here right now.

This is like the who's who of Texas beekeeping.

Look out!

- How you doing?

How are you?

- I knew you'd be here, I knew you'd be here.

This is Steve Butler over here.

He's big daddy of bee removal.

Dan the Beeman.

Oh, I know you, how you doing, Dan?

Need to come hang with you sometime.

- Yeah, absolutely.

- Yeah.

- Any time.

- Oh, here's Tony.

- Hey.

- Hey, what's happening, brother?

- Good to see you.

- Good to see you, look at you.

That's a good look, man.

(laughs Back with Tony, the vacuum king, he really sucks.

And Steve too, what's happening dog?

How you doing?

- I'm not really sweating.

Do you know this guy?

- Oh duh.

- Duh.

- We all use the same dog.

- We all use the same vacuum.

(laughs) Oh, look at that.

That is cool, holy smokes.

- Holy smokes.

- You are not fooling around.

(upbeat music continues) - We're about to get this tour started.

My name is Roosevelt.

I started doing this here when I was 19.

That was back in 1966.

The bees are buzzing me and I've been buzzing them for 56 years.

- I never miss a chance t hang out with the king of bees, Roosevelt Roberson.

- I go into the beehive and the people being here, and I tell them what going on.

I go into a hive and take out a comb with a lot of bees and bring it right here.

- Oh nice.

- And show them what's going on.

Okay, I get outta comb of honey.

I bring it inside and let everybody get it.

Get paid to honey straight from the beehive.

They just love that.

- That is awesome.

- 'Cause I got a lot of kids.

I bring the drone bee insid and let the kid play with him.

They be so happy.

Once I convince them that he can't sting.

- Okay.

Okay.

- Yeah.

- Well that's awesome.

Thank you, sir.

- It's good to see you again.

- Always good to see you.

(upbeat music) This place is packed, it's awesome.

What do they say?

It's easy to make mead.

It's hard to make mead well.

Cheers, cheers, cheers!

It's hot out there.

We've been talking, walking, making friends.

Old friends, new friends, beekeeper geeks.

It's awesome.

- Hey.

- Whoa!

Thank you so much for having us.

- You're welcome.

- What a day.

- You're welcome.

I'm so glad you came back out and had a good time.

And had fun with all these great people.

- This was like every beekeeper in Texas that I like was here.

- They're awesome, they're such good people.

And when you can get together and you're not having to do too many other things and you can just have fun, that's when the ideas start popping.

- Talking bees.

- Yes.

- Yeah, it was great, thanks for having us.

- You're welcome.

- Hey, we're gonna come chase you down and do some more trouble.

- I would love that.

- Maybe you could teach us some new and interesting things.

- Oh, we can think of a few things, yeah.

(Charlie and Laura laughing) - All right, great.

- I'll do it.

- Thanks.

See you, see you.

- Take care.

(honey scrunching) (upbeat music) - I do not like delivering bad news to Charlie.

He's not gonna like this.

(saw whirring) - Hi boo.

- Hey, honey, how are you?

- I'm all right, what's up?

- So I was just at the allergist It seems that I'm allergic to honeybees.

- What?

- Yeah.

Honeybees.

- So, Kaye had some bad reactions to sting.

She swelled up a couple times.

We had to take her to the dock in a box.

Kind of a bummer, so we had her checked and boom, now it's confirmed.

She's allergic and this changes everything.

And you're married to a beekeeper.

- They found that really amusing.

- I'm sure.

I'm sure.

- But I'm gonna get shots and build up immunity.

- Okay.

- So in like five years.

- I'll be really old and we will be so tired.

- But then I can help you like again.

- Oh great.

- For five years.

- Not much else we can do?

Got an EpiPen.

- So we'll get you an EpiPen holster.

So we just have it on you- - All the time.

- Quick draw with the EpiPen.

- One.

Two.

- We'll figure it out.

- Okay.

- We'll be all right, don't worry.

- Right.

Back to work.

- Okay.

Allergic to bees.

(laughs) (saw whirring) You really gotta divide bees and me away from Kaye.

And that's gonna be a challenge.

That's gonna be a challenge, so no bees at home.

And I gotta watch bees in the driveway when I pull in.

And I'm back to being solo in the bees, which that's fine.

She's now my bookkeeper and not a beekeeper.

(music begins) For more information about Charlie Bee Company, including new and exciting removals, visit us online as charliebee.com.