LOXTON man Mark deCaux has attracted a swarm of online followers under his moniker of Bush Bee Man, with his YouTube channel now buzzing around the 50,000-subscriber mark.
Mark first picked up beekeeping after years of being an almond grower and has never looked back.
“I had some bees left behind by beekeepers, so I started playing around with them,” he said.
“I quite enjoyed seeing how they operate and what needs to happen, so I thought I’d create my own little ecosystem.
“I had a few almonds and a few bees and I found out that beekeeping is way more involved and way more time consuming than I ever imagined.
I had to go from just mucking about and having a few to thinking I’d better get a few more to justify all the hard work and everything that goes with it.”
In his early days, Mark was flying blind in the beekeeping department and took to the internet to try and find different techniques and strategies.
What he found instead was a gap in the market – one that he and his son John have been able to fill ever since.
“The YouTube channel was born mainly because my son John is pretty clever and he’s into doing movie stuff and adverts and I was researching beekeeping myself,” he said.
“As I got more involved with beekeeping I was researching a bit more about the best way to go with some things and I found the content online was both boring and complicated.
“I thought ‘Well, I’ve got an approachable personality, maybe we’ll make a show that’s not so complicated and a bit more engaging’.
“We thought we’d make a couple of pilots and it was received well pretty quickly. We actually had a huge following in America straight away and then it spread from there.”
The channel has gone from strength to strength since its inception, with the Bush Bee Man now featured on community television in both Australia and America.
“I guess I’m the hook. Without being too weird, I manage to be entertaining when maybe the content isn’t quite as entertaining,” he said.
An example of that is one of our most popular videos was me making some sugar water to feed to the bees – all that involves is warming up a pot of water and putting sugar in the bowl – and that was one of our best videos.
“I just try to entertain people but make sure they’re getting the information. None of it is written down or scripted, it’s just what’s in my head.
“You never know - if we’re really lucky we might get picked up by someone who wants to give us money. But who knows, we’re just running with it.”
Mark’s content began with him documenting his progress as a beekeeper and testing the waters in the educational space.
The channel has mirrored his own growth as a beekeeper, with the Bush Bee Man now in a position where he can speak confidently about beekeeping tips and tricks.
“To start with we had people just coming along for the journey, but now we’ve got people tuning in specifically for things they want to learn,” he said.
“We do basics of beekeeping on the channel now as well, which eventually will become its own thing.”
His new-found fame brought with it some push-back from fellow beekeepers in the early days, but Mark spoke positively of the online beekeeping community that has supported him along the way.
“The interactions are awesome. We’ve got people that are avid fans that can’t wait for the next episode to come out,” he said.
“There was a bit of friction with some of the older beekeepers who had their channels that couldn’t get a view while we were getting heaps.
“They were trying to critique me and I would say to them, ‘Hang on a minute, we’re all learning here, calm the farm’.
After being involved in the media game for a bit, I think it’s amazing how much effort and energy goes into making a 15-minute YouTube snippet.
“I don’t think people who don’t do it appreciate how much is involved.”
The hard work has paid off, with Mark and his son now able to produce content for a large audience and even sell some products – from honey and honeycomb to hand cream and face masks.
Still, one of the biggest payoffs for Mark has been spending time with his son across the journey.
“It’s good – one of the upsides is that me and John have got to work together and build that father-son relationship. That’s been really interesting and really nice.”