From The Founders
We met Jon at NAHBE last January in Louisville. He'd spent a year researching hive designs before he even started beekeeping - horizontal hives, deep frames, thermal management. He knew exactly what questions to ask.
We walked away hoping he’d learned some new things about thermodynamics.
He walked away with one of our hives.
This summer, during one of South Carolina's worst heat waves, he watched his Primal Bee colony do something his other 26 hives couldn't: stay calm.
We're heading back to Louisville in January. If you're the type who researches for a year before making a decision, come find us at the booth. We like to geek out, too.
-The Primal Bee Team
When South Carolina hit its four-week drought this summer - dirt baking, nothing blooming, foragers hauling water back just to spray on combs - Jon expected his colonies to struggle.
Most of them did. Hundreds of bees in the air along flight paths to the pond. Fanning frantically. Burning calories they'd rather be storing.
Then Jon looked over at his Primal Bee hive.
Almost nothing coming in and out.
"I thought something happened," he says. "This hive had been very active, and now they're not doing anything."
He expected to find stragglers. Maybe wax moth damage. The usual signs of a collapsed colony.
Instead: three frames of bees, staring at him quietly. Just humming along.
Jon's in his early 60s, planning for the next 20 years of beekeeping. He'd spent a year researching before starting - horizontal hives, deep frames, better insulation. Anything that reduces physical toll while improving conditions for bees.
By his third year, he was running 27 hives across multiple systems. He'd built six Layens hives himself. He noticed colonies in thicker-walled hives overwintered more easily, needed less treatment and feeding.
Then he walked past the Primal Bee booth at NAHBE in Louisville.
"I'd never seen a frame that deep," Jon says. "And the insulation was certainly compelling."
He talked with Gianmario and Alex about thermal management, and about what happens when you take that burden off the bees' shoulders.
His wife had the final word: "Why don't you just buy one of the damn things?"
The heat wave was the real test.
Jon's Primal Bee colony only had about 7,000-8,000 bees at that point - maybe a third of full strength. A late-season swarm he'd installed on foundation, given a compact space of four frames to work with.
He went out and got hygrometers. Installed one above the brood nest in each hive type—Primal Bee, Layens, top bar, Langstroth.
During peak heat wave days, the data was clear: far less temperature fluctuation in the Primal Bee hive.
"Basically less power inside the hive to manage temperature and humidity," Jon explains. "They can affect it very locally around themselves, but the rest of the hive is kind of acting as a lot of thermal mass."
His other hives were working overtime. The Primal Bee colony was sitting inside while the weather did what it wanted outside.
"They're just not feeling the heat like these other guys are. They were just sitting in there chilling, waiting for something to bloom."
Jon's already bought a second Primal Bee hive, sitting and waiting for spring.
"What I've seen so far is really, really encouraging. Nothing that I've seen has done anything except cement my belief that extremely insulated hives and deep frames are good all year round, and not just in cold climates."
📍 See It In Person: NAHBE 2026
We'll be at the North American Honey Bee Expo in Louisville, January 8-10, 2026 - Booth 500.
Stop by to see the system up close, talk thermal management with our team, and get your questions answered.
Planning to pick up at the show?
Use code NAHBE for 35% off your order - valid through December 18.
🍯🇺🇸 America’s first Honey Institute launches — aiming to clean up honey fraud and protect U.S. beekeepers.
🧠➡️🍯 Early research shows beekeeping lowers anxiety and depression — even when talk therapy doesn’t land.
🐝✨ New research shows bees can “catch” optimism from each other — in just 30 seconds.
🐝⚠️ Queen failures may be a virus problem, not a genetics problem — shrinking ovaries → weaker signals → instant supersedure.
Until Next Time
Jon's observation stuck with us: during the worst heat of summer, when every other colony in his yard was burning energy just to survive, a small colony of 7,000 bees sat quietly in their hive with stable temperatures.
They weren't working harder. They weren't stressed. They were just waiting for something to bloom.
That's not normal colony behavior during a heat wave. That's better.
Stay warm out there,
The Primal Bee Team