Things are always buzzing at R&L Honey Farms
Aug. 17—Within a few years, Robert Durand and his wife, Linda, of R&L Honey Farms have turned what began as a mild curiosity into a buzz-worthy local industry.
Durand describes himself as an avid outdoorsman. He has a Wildlife Biology degree and spends his free time — the little he has, anyway — hunting and fishing. He first took up beekeeping seven years ago, around the same time he began installing purple martin colonies on his property between the city of Cullman and Welti. He said a couple at his church had several hives and he was looking for more ways to spend to time outdoors and asked them to show him the ropes.
As with the majority of his other hobbies, within a few years, Durand found a way to turn his beekeeping pastime into a lucrative side business.
"I'm one of those guys who every time I find a hobby it ends up becoming a business. I can't just ride horses, I have to train horses for the public. I got an offshore boat, well now I guide off-shore down at Orange Beach. Well, the natural byproduct of having bees is honey," Durand said.
He began offering to sell bottles of his honey to his neighbors and attending local artisan festivals. He found his first retail client through Wendy's Wellness and Nutrition. At the time, he said he could expect to sell less than 10 bottles each month. Today, he sells more than 1,000 gallons every year through his website and at locations across Cullman County.
"We got big in a hurry," he said.
Durand contributes the majority of his success to simply having developed a superior product through an intensive cycle of trial and error. He says his honey is unlike any other from Cullman County. He chooses to keep the majority of his trade secrets to himself, but did say that the location of the hive provides a significant contribution to the end product. He has placed more than 200 hives across the county in groups of about 40 per location. Some are placed near sunflowers, while others may be over clover or near creeks or rivers. Durand said this produces a dark, thick and consistent crop of honey.
"My honey blows everybody else's away," he said.
Another thing setting R&L apart from other farms is that Durand sources almost all of his bees locally. Through a combination of word of mouth and online requests, he said he traps unwanted swarms and introduces them to his hives. He also is on the lookout for abandoned buildings and said he has even had to use a shotgun to shoot a hive down from a tree on his property to trap the swarm.
Unlike his other previous ventures, Durand said having Linda play an active role in the business has been a blessing. He described honey as "the food of the gods" and can be used as everything from an antiseptic to allergy medication or beauty products. Linda is responsible for curating the R&L product line, and she is sure to make use the entire yield from each hive. Scraped and filtered beeswax is used to create lip balms, bath bombs and candles. Even the unused crystalized honey will soon be used in a upcoming hot and spicy chicken mix which will be available this year.
But R&L's success hasn't exactly come easy. Durand said there is a big difference between maintaining a few hobby beehives and operating a small-scale commercial and retail enterprise. He said bees are livestock in the same way chickens or cattle are and require the same amount of intensive care. He provides his bees with specialty feed during the offseason, monitors them for pests and diseases and treats them with antibiotics. Even when you maintain a 100 percent perfect operation, he said you can expect to lose between 30 and 50 percent of bees each year.
"If you have two hives, you're guaranteed to lose one. Even if you do everything perfect, you're guaranteed to fail," he said.
If this is the case, failure is a good look for R&L. Durand said he continues to work full-time in management at AT&T, but has been building his farm up as a retirement solution.
"I honestly just can't wait until I get to retire and I can do this full-time," he said.
