The bees have been active today. Both hives have been out flying around. We've had temps above mid 60's today. It was breezy today about 15 MPH at times. The bees are not going to be bringing anything in. The hidden water fountain is very active with the bees drinking water.
I have had 4 packets of flower seeds since last spring, but it was too late to plant them when I purchased them. It was at the dollar store I think. I planted Poppies, African Daisies, and a melody mixture. The poppies I know will do well. The African Daisies should do well too. I have no idea if the melody will do anything. I also have Delphiniums. They're rather large flowers that I think the bees will like. I will plant them in January and keep them indoor until the end of February. I also planted a almond verbanium This is a flowering small tree that is very fragrant. It will definitely attract bees. Smells really sweet and fragrant. I planted this off the porch about 8feet, so I could enjoy the smell and not have the bees too close. 4ft cube is about what this says it will grow. I have poor soil conditions, so who knows how it will do. I did put a lot of potting soil in the ground.
Lots planted this year. 3 peach trees, 4 roses I think it was 4, 6 grape vines, Some shrubs and some kinda plant that is suppose to bloom in the spring time. It didn't grow much until this fall. Hard to have anything grow in such conditions . Quite a lot of stuff was planted for the bees, but it's not going to impact them as they forage about 8000 acres.
I attempted to contact Hawaii for a queen, but they didn't have any they'd sell me. Damn it. Contacted some in Florida just on the off chance. NOPE. No luck. Oh well.
I did start making Nuc Boxes. Made 1. Cut material for 2, but miscut one board, so I have to do it at a later time. I only had enough for 2 boxes. These are not whole Nuc boxes. These are for the existing Nuc Boxes I have. Since I have to split that African Mean as hell bee hive, I need to build this winter.
Anyhow that's about it. Everything is browning again. Just too cold and the daylight isn't available, so the plants and grass are going dormant.
Zak
Thursday, November 12, 2015
Friday, November 6, 2015
Africanized Bees and Fall Seasonal Changes
It's been 23 days I believe since I reduced the Africanized bee hive down by 50%. This was killing 50% of the hive and the queen by shaking the bee frames off the frames and into soapy water. This was done to reduce the behavior of aggression problems I was encountering. It's not fun when your being attacked by bees.
I did write of my attack last week that happened in less then 2 minutes. Lesson learned that any thing I do, I must dress in layers, and be fully protected as the bee hive does respond very quickly. What is going on? I would love to pop the top of the Africanized bee hive to pull a test frame I put in 8 weeks ago. I just want to see if they have drawn comb on it. If they do draw comb then great an inexpensive material for foundations. Since I don't have nurse bees I speculate that the comb is not drawn out, so no need to go rifling through an overly sensitive defensive bee temperament. I can wait for Spring time.
I speculate that a new queen is in the bee hive because it's 5 days past the 16 day emergence of a queen. Hopefully the bee hive did requeen. Since the population was full strength numbers and I culled out 50%, plenty of nurse bees to requeen and even if not the nurse bees enough bees were out of the bee hive when I did the shake some how hopefully who ever makes the queen cell with the pheromones was able to do it.
The queen is going to be a virgin as no male drones exist because they were kicked out of the hive when Fall started. I have seen drones in the other hive awhile back. Interesting thing is I had never seen a drone during inspections. It would be interesting to know if she lays drones specifically to mate and then winter. Since were in Texas I wouldn't bet against that happening. Were still having upper 70's and a few 80's. Nights are in the low to mid 60's. Not ideal to lay, but with the events that took place I speculate she's gotta mate.
Prediction
Spring will come in 2016 and in January on some warmer days that we have the queen will start to lay. This will start the bee hive population. February will come and it's coldest during this month.
March will come and flights will take place even though nothing is available until April when Spring Flowers emerge. We have an emergence of wildflower bloom that is spectacular. We've had fall rain that germinates the Spring flowers. Sadly we didn't have any rainfall or early fall rain, so not too much was available for the bees. I did a lot of feeding of the bees this summer due to the drought. I thought some flowers would be coming up with the rainfall, but that isn't the case. Not even the native bufflo grass is putting up seed stocks that we typically have. Great thing is that I don't have to mow. Anyone want to come mow where the bee yard is? Yes, I do suit up as I have gotten attacked on the mower when I last mowed about 2 months previously.
I will build my bee wooden ware. I will be putting on 3 honey boxes on bee hive 1. I hope to have 3 nucs ready to go for a split in the Spring time when I receive my queens from Louisiana or California. I am getting a Varoa Mite Resistant strain of queens that are suppose to be good population growth and honey producers. Varoa Mite is 1 of the many factors of bee decline. Basically it's a flea on a bee is the easiest way to say what it is. It weakens a bee hive. This strain of bees will cart larvae out of the cells and drop them off outside when the mites are present. This reduces the numbers of the bees, but keeps the population of Varoa Mites in check.
Plan is to split the Africanized Bees to 3 Nuc Boxes, leaving the existing bee hive to repopulate. Sell the Nuc boxes after 45 days and recover some of my initial investment. A little bit learned is I should have added another box to the bee hive sooner and that probably would have curbed some of the problems I had with the bee hive. Maybe they were too populated. Just didn't have the resources to build comb though as not much pollen. Very hard to build a hive up when mother nature throws nearly 4 months of no rainfall.
I will have my 2 bee hives. Just am not in the place I thought I would be in. I wanted 2 productive bee hives producing honey. I rather have the money though selling Nucs then the honey production. I might change that though come spring time and just requeen the bee hive to have 2 bee hives producing the amount of honey I really want. At sometime I will need to split bee hive 1 though is my thought. So who knows. Nothing is certain as anything can happen when you have bees.
Zak
I did write of my attack last week that happened in less then 2 minutes. Lesson learned that any thing I do, I must dress in layers, and be fully protected as the bee hive does respond very quickly. What is going on? I would love to pop the top of the Africanized bee hive to pull a test frame I put in 8 weeks ago. I just want to see if they have drawn comb on it. If they do draw comb then great an inexpensive material for foundations. Since I don't have nurse bees I speculate that the comb is not drawn out, so no need to go rifling through an overly sensitive defensive bee temperament. I can wait for Spring time.
I speculate that a new queen is in the bee hive because it's 5 days past the 16 day emergence of a queen. Hopefully the bee hive did requeen. Since the population was full strength numbers and I culled out 50%, plenty of nurse bees to requeen and even if not the nurse bees enough bees were out of the bee hive when I did the shake some how hopefully who ever makes the queen cell with the pheromones was able to do it.
The queen is going to be a virgin as no male drones exist because they were kicked out of the hive when Fall started. I have seen drones in the other hive awhile back. Interesting thing is I had never seen a drone during inspections. It would be interesting to know if she lays drones specifically to mate and then winter. Since were in Texas I wouldn't bet against that happening. Were still having upper 70's and a few 80's. Nights are in the low to mid 60's. Not ideal to lay, but with the events that took place I speculate she's gotta mate.
Prediction
Spring will come in 2016 and in January on some warmer days that we have the queen will start to lay. This will start the bee hive population. February will come and it's coldest during this month.
March will come and flights will take place even though nothing is available until April when Spring Flowers emerge. We have an emergence of wildflower bloom that is spectacular. We've had fall rain that germinates the Spring flowers. Sadly we didn't have any rainfall or early fall rain, so not too much was available for the bees. I did a lot of feeding of the bees this summer due to the drought. I thought some flowers would be coming up with the rainfall, but that isn't the case. Not even the native bufflo grass is putting up seed stocks that we typically have. Great thing is that I don't have to mow. Anyone want to come mow where the bee yard is? Yes, I do suit up as I have gotten attacked on the mower when I last mowed about 2 months previously.
I will build my bee wooden ware. I will be putting on 3 honey boxes on bee hive 1. I hope to have 3 nucs ready to go for a split in the Spring time when I receive my queens from Louisiana or California. I am getting a Varoa Mite Resistant strain of queens that are suppose to be good population growth and honey producers. Varoa Mite is 1 of the many factors of bee decline. Basically it's a flea on a bee is the easiest way to say what it is. It weakens a bee hive. This strain of bees will cart larvae out of the cells and drop them off outside when the mites are present. This reduces the numbers of the bees, but keeps the population of Varoa Mites in check.
Plan is to split the Africanized Bees to 3 Nuc Boxes, leaving the existing bee hive to repopulate. Sell the Nuc boxes after 45 days and recover some of my initial investment. A little bit learned is I should have added another box to the bee hive sooner and that probably would have curbed some of the problems I had with the bee hive. Maybe they were too populated. Just didn't have the resources to build comb though as not much pollen. Very hard to build a hive up when mother nature throws nearly 4 months of no rainfall.
I will have my 2 bee hives. Just am not in the place I thought I would be in. I wanted 2 productive bee hives producing honey. I rather have the money though selling Nucs then the honey production. I might change that though come spring time and just requeen the bee hive to have 2 bee hives producing the amount of honey I really want. At sometime I will need to split bee hive 1 though is my thought. So who knows. Nothing is certain as anything can happen when you have bees.
Zak
Thursday, October 29, 2015
Africanized Bee Hive Attacked and WON!
I wanted to return 2 frames I harvested honey from about 3 weeks ago. I also wanted to know a few things too. I wanted to know if the bees were going to be better with out smoking them or if it was not going to be possible.
I got the frames I wanted to return out of the refrigerator. Took the plastic off it. Suited up. Thought since it was quick that I was going to just pop the top and it was going to be easy to pull a frame and exchange it.
I get to unstrapping the bee hives. Bees just poured out of the bee hive 2 that is the Africanized. Okay in under a minute I got stung about 20 times. Of all the damn places it was my socks. I must have killed a bee with my glove and it fell off onto the ground. I wear black socks unfortunately.
So I hobbled off about 10 feet with my hands swatting the bees killing them that are on my socks. Not good. I run off to my shop and go inside where I don't have visual with the bees and the bees don't either.
The typical protocol is suit up with gloves. Socks are fine with shoes. They've stung my socks, but it's only been twice that has happened. If I am going into the hives messing with them I am fine typically and never been as torn up as I was. I go in with my winter boots and ankles duct taped normally if I know the bees are going to go nuts or if I am doing a prolonged contact with them.
I got most of the bees off my ankles. looked at the screen on the door and not many were massed on the entrance. I take off to under the oak trees. Do some weaving and all the bees were gone. No buzzing. Into the house I go. Ankles and hands on fire. I was wearing gloves too and that's a first.
I get the bath tub going with cold water. Go to the kitchen and pop 2 benadryl. The sad part is that I am going to have to go out tommorow and strap the bee hives back down.
So here I sit. I should have smoked them. I should not have done anything to bee hive 2. Bee hive 2 has been behaving and well. I was only going to look in to see if they had queen cells and straighten up the bee hive box cause it's not sitting level on the bottom board. This of coarse was at night when I got to killing 50% of the bee hive. My guess is they have the bee hive requeened or 1 is about to emerge, but I won't know because they won't let me look inside. No need to force myself upon them.
I'm going to have to have a few bee keepers in the spring time come help me when I requeen the bee hive in springtime. Not looking forward to this at all. I am going to split this bee hive into 4. I will have a total of 5 bee hives. Bee hive 1 I will continue to add boxes to. No need to do anything other then re-queen it with a gentle queen with varroa reistance from California. They will be taking orders for queens in mid January for April - August is what I received from them in an email.
I am going to prepare this winter building bee hives. Should be fun building. I also am going to build bee hives to sell because I believe I can sell them locally to a hardware store and possible tractor supply that is local. Tractor Supply store just opened in my town.
Zak
I got the frames I wanted to return out of the refrigerator. Took the plastic off it. Suited up. Thought since it was quick that I was going to just pop the top and it was going to be easy to pull a frame and exchange it.
I get to unstrapping the bee hives. Bees just poured out of the bee hive 2 that is the Africanized. Okay in under a minute I got stung about 20 times. Of all the damn places it was my socks. I must have killed a bee with my glove and it fell off onto the ground. I wear black socks unfortunately.
So I hobbled off about 10 feet with my hands swatting the bees killing them that are on my socks. Not good. I run off to my shop and go inside where I don't have visual with the bees and the bees don't either.
The typical protocol is suit up with gloves. Socks are fine with shoes. They've stung my socks, but it's only been twice that has happened. If I am going into the hives messing with them I am fine typically and never been as torn up as I was. I go in with my winter boots and ankles duct taped normally if I know the bees are going to go nuts or if I am doing a prolonged contact with them.
I got most of the bees off my ankles. looked at the screen on the door and not many were massed on the entrance. I take off to under the oak trees. Do some weaving and all the bees were gone. No buzzing. Into the house I go. Ankles and hands on fire. I was wearing gloves too and that's a first.
I get the bath tub going with cold water. Go to the kitchen and pop 2 benadryl. The sad part is that I am going to have to go out tommorow and strap the bee hives back down.
So here I sit. I should have smoked them. I should not have done anything to bee hive 2. Bee hive 2 has been behaving and well. I was only going to look in to see if they had queen cells and straighten up the bee hive box cause it's not sitting level on the bottom board. This of coarse was at night when I got to killing 50% of the bee hive. My guess is they have the bee hive requeened or 1 is about to emerge, but I won't know because they won't let me look inside. No need to force myself upon them.
I'm going to have to have a few bee keepers in the spring time come help me when I requeen the bee hive in springtime. Not looking forward to this at all. I am going to split this bee hive into 4. I will have a total of 5 bee hives. Bee hive 1 I will continue to add boxes to. No need to do anything other then re-queen it with a gentle queen with varroa reistance from California. They will be taking orders for queens in mid January for April - August is what I received from them in an email.
I am going to prepare this winter building bee hives. Should be fun building. I also am going to build bee hives to sell because I believe I can sell them locally to a hardware store and possible tractor supply that is local. Tractor Supply store just opened in my town.
Zak
Friday, October 23, 2015
Video: Observation of AGGRESIVE BEE HIVE #2
Although the bees seemed to be calm now, last week was not any fun. The bees were aggressive to the point I wanted to get rid of the bees. Talk was with "E" was she was wanting to burn the bee hive. I attempted to re-locate them to the country on a ranch with another bee keeper contact, but that was clearly not going to happen after the follow up phone call never happened. Did not even receive a "NO" by phone call, so that's a big fat "HELL NO!"
I just do not enjoy mean bees. Combination of installation of a beetle trap, removing a sun shade and an inspection of 1 frame made the bees super aggressive. The bees would be gone if they didn't calm down this week, so thankfully they did.
Here is the bees bringing in Pollen. You can see they dynamics of the bees interaction with each other if you pay close attention to what the bees do by following the ones that are walking around. Guard bees, Fanning Duty and nectar transfer is what I think can be spotted.
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I just do not enjoy mean bees. Combination of installation of a beetle trap, removing a sun shade and an inspection of 1 frame made the bees super aggressive. The bees would be gone if they didn't calm down this week, so thankfully they did.
Here is the bees bringing in Pollen. You can see they dynamics of the bees interaction with each other if you pay close attention to what the bees do by following the ones that are walking around. Guard bees, Fanning Duty and nectar transfer is what I think can be spotted.
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Video Africanized Bees Dead= Normal
It's bee raining here off and on for the past couple days. In the AM you can see the dead bees that die daily and are carted out of the bee hive. Since more time is spent inside it's more common is my theory to see dead bees.
If you took 20,000 bees and you know that bees die in approx 35 to 42 days, then you see that 476 571 bee deaths happen naturally. This of coarse isn't the ones that don't make it back due to being injured, killed, stinger death and other natural ways they die when away from the bee hive.
This doesn't alarm me as the social structure in bee hive 2 (suspected Africanized) is not in order due to the loss of the queen. I had to kill 50% of the bee hive this being the brood chamber. When safety is at the most concern the social structure isn't a concern to me and shouldn't be to anyone else. I shook the brood chamber frames into soapy water a little over a week ago. This was done thinking it would calm the bees down as they don't as many bees nor the pheromone of the queen that dictates the aggression level of the bee hive. Clearly the sensativity the queen had was over what I will tolerate.
I will not open this bee hive up and see what is going on. No need to as I predict a virgin queen will emerge the 30th or the 31st. Most certain that they will be okay as mother nature has a balance. If no queen exists, then the hive is doom to die out. All seems calm and normal now, so I am not worried. I went in to this with the mindset when I culled 50% of the bee hive that either they calm down or don't. If they don't the bee hive is no longer and I will take the rest the death. Either the bees survive or they do not.
Zak
Liberty Hill Texas USA
If you took 20,000 bees and you know that bees die in approx 35 to 42 days, then you see that 476 571 bee deaths happen naturally. This of coarse isn't the ones that don't make it back due to being injured, killed, stinger death and other natural ways they die when away from the bee hive.
This doesn't alarm me as the social structure in bee hive 2 (suspected Africanized) is not in order due to the loss of the queen. I had to kill 50% of the bee hive this being the brood chamber. When safety is at the most concern the social structure isn't a concern to me and shouldn't be to anyone else. I shook the brood chamber frames into soapy water a little over a week ago. This was done thinking it would calm the bees down as they don't as many bees nor the pheromone of the queen that dictates the aggression level of the bee hive. Clearly the sensativity the queen had was over what I will tolerate.
I will not open this bee hive up and see what is going on. No need to as I predict a virgin queen will emerge the 30th or the 31st. Most certain that they will be okay as mother nature has a balance. If no queen exists, then the hive is doom to die out. All seems calm and normal now, so I am not worried. I went in to this with the mindset when I culled 50% of the bee hive that either they calm down or don't. If they don't the bee hive is no longer and I will take the rest the death. Either the bees survive or they do not.
Zak
Liberty Hill Texas USA
Thursday, October 15, 2015
My suspected Africanized Bee Hive How to kill 50% of a bee hive safely.
I got dressed for battle with my problem hive #2 11PM last night 10/14/2015. I pulled the honey Super off the top and
placed it on a screened bottom board that they could not get out. I
took the super down from below that had the brood chamber and shook all
10 frames of bees off into soapy water. I noticed 1 thing! It sure is a lot
easier at night doing work with the bees. I took the empty box and
shook it over the soapy water. Took all the frames and shook them 1
more time before placing them back in the bee hive box. Placed the
honey super on the brood chamber and strapped it down.
My theory going with tid bits taken from Michael Palmer a renowned bee keeper in the East USA is to reduce the numbers and remove the queen will calm the hive down. I suspect that in the brood chamber somewhere some eggs will exist to turn into queens. Temperature has been 95 and 98 the past week, I believe that that a queen cell will take life and winter infertile. I have no idea if this works what I have done. Just a theory in play. Since most of the brood chamber bees are gone, they'll need to focus on re-queening. It's cooling down or at least that's the theory. We had 104 temps on Sunday where I live. Who knew we'd have summer still try to stay? So, the problem bees hopefully they'll not be focused on aggression or no longer alive. I of coarse speculate the queen is not with this bee hive. Cooler temps mean the bees stay inside or less active.
If this bee hive makes it, then great I can re-queen next April. If they do not make it, I have a mess to deal with. If they don't calm down, then another shake in soapy water is what they get and the hive is no longer. Sure this queen-less hive can act a fool, I am well aware of this. I've been dealing with this far too long and it's nothing new. We will see if this calms them down and refocuses the bee hive.
Of coarse I could pull a frame of eggs from bee hive 1 the normal hive, but I rather just let the bees deal with it or if they can't then that's okay too.
I'm not sorry for what transpired. As Michael Palmer says "MEAN BEES SUCK" I shouldn't be chased by guard bees when I am50 yds away from the bee yard. I am not dealing with a mean hive PERIOD!
I sure do envy y'all that have nice calm bees in all the YouTube Video's. I believe I am going to get 4 queens in April from wildflower meadows. I have been reading up on them. I like this selective breeding they do with the queens. I've been told that Bee Weaver(BEE SUPPLIER IN TEXAS) has been getting more aggressive over the years by a local bee keeper. I do know what I am getting with wildflower if that is what I end up with. I will keep y'all informed on my observation.
This AM the bee hive entrance activity of foraging bees is by far fairly low in comparison to previously and the bee hive #1 next to it. I hope I can walk out to the shop this AM and not get attacked as that happened yesterday afternoon about 4PM. Its ridiculous to have bees come and attack you 50yds away and you have not done anything other then open the shop door.
Zak
My theory going with tid bits taken from Michael Palmer a renowned bee keeper in the East USA is to reduce the numbers and remove the queen will calm the hive down. I suspect that in the brood chamber somewhere some eggs will exist to turn into queens. Temperature has been 95 and 98 the past week, I believe that that a queen cell will take life and winter infertile. I have no idea if this works what I have done. Just a theory in play. Since most of the brood chamber bees are gone, they'll need to focus on re-queening. It's cooling down or at least that's the theory. We had 104 temps on Sunday where I live. Who knew we'd have summer still try to stay? So, the problem bees hopefully they'll not be focused on aggression or no longer alive. I of coarse speculate the queen is not with this bee hive. Cooler temps mean the bees stay inside or less active.
If this bee hive makes it, then great I can re-queen next April. If they do not make it, I have a mess to deal with. If they don't calm down, then another shake in soapy water is what they get and the hive is no longer. Sure this queen-less hive can act a fool, I am well aware of this. I've been dealing with this far too long and it's nothing new. We will see if this calms them down and refocuses the bee hive.
Of coarse I could pull a frame of eggs from bee hive 1 the normal hive, but I rather just let the bees deal with it or if they can't then that's okay too.
I'm not sorry for what transpired. As Michael Palmer says "MEAN BEES SUCK" I shouldn't be chased by guard bees when I am50 yds away from the bee yard. I am not dealing with a mean hive PERIOD!
I sure do envy y'all that have nice calm bees in all the YouTube Video's. I believe I am going to get 4 queens in April from wildflower meadows. I have been reading up on them. I like this selective breeding they do with the queens. I've been told that Bee Weaver(BEE SUPPLIER IN TEXAS) has been getting more aggressive over the years by a local bee keeper. I do know what I am getting with wildflower if that is what I end up with. I will keep y'all informed on my observation.
This AM the bee hive entrance activity of foraging bees is by far fairly low in comparison to previously and the bee hive #1 next to it. I hope I can walk out to the shop this AM and not get attacked as that happened yesterday afternoon about 4PM. Its ridiculous to have bees come and attack you 50yds away and you have not done anything other then open the shop door.
Zak
Monday, October 12, 2015
Africanized Aggressive Bees=Bee Hive Veroa Mite Control with Apivar
Last few weeks has been very frustrating and depressing. Depressing because my whole entire year dedicated to 2 bee hives might end up being 1 bee hive. I have a severe aggressive bee hive that probably has a high percentage of DNA from Africanized queen. The bees in hive 2 are so aggressive it's downright dangerous. As long as I don't do anything to them they're fine, but try and do something to the bee hive and your going to get the worst reaction from this bee hive. It reminds me of when I got the bees. Agitated Yes. For reasons justified yes it could be cause it had been cloudy, removed the sun sail cloth, hive beetle penetration and beetle trap installation.
I have been trying to get someone that can do a DNA test for my bees. Testing for percentage of Africanized bees. NC University does it apparently I think for $50. This after searching on line, emailing and phone calls for about a week. I have not contacted them. Why? Cause I am on the fence about destroying this bee colony. It's a dangerous situation to the community. I weigh my safety and the safety of the surrounding community daily. They seem to be calm currently and surprisingly the day after installing Apivar strips to both bee hives, the bees were back to normal.
What took place leading up to this? I called my favorite state bee inspector. She and I met and it was in a manner that she would not forget. When I called I went through the scenario of why she would remember me perhaps, she infact did. I being a rather self educated beginner took a Spring Bee class that was put on by the Central Texas Bee Association. The lady our bee inspector was giving a quick class on the health and welfare of bees. Different things that they can get like Tracheal Mites, American Foul Brood etc.... She skimmed over veroa mites and that being the #1 concern these years with bee keepers, I had noted that when she asked for questions on Veroa nobody raised any questions. I took it to open a can of worms by asking about sugar shake and count levels. I had seen video's on it by some other state bee inspector. Anyhow, she wanted to move on as time was clicking by, she was trying her best, but it seemed my couple questions turned into a 10 minute question and answer and I was laughing watching her struggle. She is young 25 or so and watching her reaction it was funny at the time.
So onward....... We had a 30 min conversation and she had recommended to do a mite count. Something I had not done. Since my bee hive #2 is aggressive, no way am I going to open it up to see if I need to treat by catching a cup of bees, putting them in a jar and shaking them in powdered sugar and doing a mite count. I was recommended that if I need to treat to use Apivar it's a 99% kill rate on the hive for Veroa Mites. 42 days you pull the strips out.
I order Apivar from Mann Lake $45 with shipping I think is what it was . 10 strips and what you do is place 2 stips in the brood chamber. Making sure it's placed where the bees will be. They crawl on it and get the chemical on them. Verroa mites drop dead. I have to empty out the West Beetle trap anyhow. So instead of doing that on Monday I waited for the Apivar to arrive in the mail.
Knowing my bee hive #2 is aggressive I get on my Denim long sleeve shirt, bib Overalls (Dickies Brand) and bee suit. Go light my smoker and smoke the bees, undo the straps, Come back over and get all my tools and stuff. Bring it over to the bee hive. Pop the top on Bee Hive 1 the non aggressive bees. Remove the honey super and place the Apivar strips into the Brood chamber. Put the Honey Box medium on and I am done. Strap it down.
Bee Hive #2 I lift the top and get a face full of bees. I take the honey box off (SUPER) and get a face full of angry bees. I at this time can not hear anything other then a loud buzz. Take the brood box off and expose the west beetle trap. Take that off the bottom board and clean it out. Put it back on. Put the Bee Hive back together. I am rushing and after everything was put back I realized that the beetle trap was crooked. Left side was down and right side was up. Not going to mess with it. It is what it is. I walked about a block away and the bees were still after me. Walked back down the street 1/2 block past my house and about 5 bees hanging out. Made a run for the door and got in the house without bees. Took off my bee suit and tossed it outside on the porch. Looked at the gloves and it's got quite a lot of stingers in it.
So, I have called the fire dept to find out what to do if I need to burn the bee hive. Were in a burn ban. They stated that if I have to then do it, but let them know by calling them. I called a guy the next day asking what to do about it and if he had any solutions. Can't requeen this late in the year. No drones available and I have not seen a drone in any of my 2 bee hives. Good thing is that in my researching DNA Testing of Africanized Bees I did find a company out in California that has artificial inseminated queens that prove to be veroa mite resistant strain through DNA breeding. I will be requeening next year with them. Expensive Yes! Worth it? It's about $75 with shipping on 2 queens.
A local bee keeper told me that they could just be aggressive. I wouldn't mind him coming out and taking a look, but unfortunately he's pretty far away.
Anyhow......... My wife suites up and goes in my shop steaming mad about the bees. A gallon of dish soap in 1 hand and screams furiously that she's done! She's had it! Well being mad doesn't help the situation and you can't exactly just go out and do something half caulked cause you'll just end up with a different mess. Anyhow....... The bees days are numbered. Either we get some cooler weather and they calm the FUCK DOWN! or they're going to burn. I refuse to deal with "HOT" bees.
I have been trying to get someone that can do a DNA test for my bees. Testing for percentage of Africanized bees. NC University does it apparently I think for $50. This after searching on line, emailing and phone calls for about a week. I have not contacted them. Why? Cause I am on the fence about destroying this bee colony. It's a dangerous situation to the community. I weigh my safety and the safety of the surrounding community daily. They seem to be calm currently and surprisingly the day after installing Apivar strips to both bee hives, the bees were back to normal.
What took place leading up to this? I called my favorite state bee inspector. She and I met and it was in a manner that she would not forget. When I called I went through the scenario of why she would remember me perhaps, she infact did. I being a rather self educated beginner took a Spring Bee class that was put on by the Central Texas Bee Association. The lady our bee inspector was giving a quick class on the health and welfare of bees. Different things that they can get like Tracheal Mites, American Foul Brood etc.... She skimmed over veroa mites and that being the #1 concern these years with bee keepers, I had noted that when she asked for questions on Veroa nobody raised any questions. I took it to open a can of worms by asking about sugar shake and count levels. I had seen video's on it by some other state bee inspector. Anyhow, she wanted to move on as time was clicking by, she was trying her best, but it seemed my couple questions turned into a 10 minute question and answer and I was laughing watching her struggle. She is young 25 or so and watching her reaction it was funny at the time.
So onward....... We had a 30 min conversation and she had recommended to do a mite count. Something I had not done. Since my bee hive #2 is aggressive, no way am I going to open it up to see if I need to treat by catching a cup of bees, putting them in a jar and shaking them in powdered sugar and doing a mite count. I was recommended that if I need to treat to use Apivar it's a 99% kill rate on the hive for Veroa Mites. 42 days you pull the strips out.
I order Apivar from Mann Lake $45 with shipping I think is what it was . 10 strips and what you do is place 2 stips in the brood chamber. Making sure it's placed where the bees will be. They crawl on it and get the chemical on them. Verroa mites drop dead. I have to empty out the West Beetle trap anyhow. So instead of doing that on Monday I waited for the Apivar to arrive in the mail.
Knowing my bee hive #2 is aggressive I get on my Denim long sleeve shirt, bib Overalls (Dickies Brand) and bee suit. Go light my smoker and smoke the bees, undo the straps, Come back over and get all my tools and stuff. Bring it over to the bee hive. Pop the top on Bee Hive 1 the non aggressive bees. Remove the honey super and place the Apivar strips into the Brood chamber. Put the Honey Box medium on and I am done. Strap it down.
Bee Hive #2 I lift the top and get a face full of bees. I take the honey box off (SUPER) and get a face full of angry bees. I at this time can not hear anything other then a loud buzz. Take the brood box off and expose the west beetle trap. Take that off the bottom board and clean it out. Put it back on. Put the Bee Hive back together. I am rushing and after everything was put back I realized that the beetle trap was crooked. Left side was down and right side was up. Not going to mess with it. It is what it is. I walked about a block away and the bees were still after me. Walked back down the street 1/2 block past my house and about 5 bees hanging out. Made a run for the door and got in the house without bees. Took off my bee suit and tossed it outside on the porch. Looked at the gloves and it's got quite a lot of stingers in it.
So, I have called the fire dept to find out what to do if I need to burn the bee hive. Were in a burn ban. They stated that if I have to then do it, but let them know by calling them. I called a guy the next day asking what to do about it and if he had any solutions. Can't requeen this late in the year. No drones available and I have not seen a drone in any of my 2 bee hives. Good thing is that in my researching DNA Testing of Africanized Bees I did find a company out in California that has artificial inseminated queens that prove to be veroa mite resistant strain through DNA breeding. I will be requeening next year with them. Expensive Yes! Worth it? It's about $75 with shipping on 2 queens.
A local bee keeper told me that they could just be aggressive. I wouldn't mind him coming out and taking a look, but unfortunately he's pretty far away.
Anyhow......... My wife suites up and goes in my shop steaming mad about the bees. A gallon of dish soap in 1 hand and screams furiously that she's done! She's had it! Well being mad doesn't help the situation and you can't exactly just go out and do something half caulked cause you'll just end up with a different mess. Anyhow....... The bees days are numbered. Either we get some cooler weather and they calm the FUCK DOWN! or they're going to burn. I refuse to deal with "HOT" bees.
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