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Texas beekeeping, Texas bees

9K views 27 replies 14 participants last post by  Kingfisher Apiaries 
#1 ·
Well, I went to my bee club meeting last night, and I'm guessing that dearth and all, Texas bees are at least at the average on winter survival. Everyone still has bee - losses 50% or less from what I could gather.

And most of my bee club gets their bees from a Texas bee operation that doesn't go to California for almonds. So I ordered 2 nucs. :banana: I know, I said I wouldn't, like an alcoholic cannot be trusted near alcohol, I can OBVIOUSLY not be trusted near bees...

Still got swarm traps out. Hope to get lucky before April and then I will have MORE bees. Part of my decision is the rain, it's still raining, the ground is saturated. Drought is forecast to last until June 2012, which means the end is in sight. Perhaps.
:D
I know where to buy sugar and how to use it now.
 
#6 ·
Sid from Texas, I live just a few miles north of you. Yes, you can set out swarm traps. I'm better off going to the swarm site itself and capturing them. I get a lot of calls and I am able to make it to most of them before they leave. There are too many locations that won't produce a swarm or the private property is not available for traps. Our swarming season begins in April, usually the second week. No, they aren't going to be Africanized, but they could have gained some great left-over traits. Too many bee generations have past since their initial invasion. The Africanized bees left our feral bees with positive benefits of increased strength against mites, SHB, and wax moths.
 
#7 ·
I know, I said I wouldn't, like an alcoholic cannot be trusted near alcohol, I can OBVIOUSLY not be trusted near bees...
You've learned so much last year that you can apply to this year. You'll have a much better season in 2012 Gypsi. Just make sure you have robber screens ready just in case.
 
#8 ·
Thank you Charlie - it was a rough course in the worst possible year, of course. Murphy isn't really my middle name. I'll be building bottom boards and good fitting robber screens, with pipe strap mounts that connect to screws on my boxes, for deeps and nucs long before my bees come in. Just as soon as I get unburied from 2011 paperwork. :rolleyes:

I don't think bees swarm in January, but I put a trap out anyway, just to advertise for future swarms. And some bees did come by for an inspection when it was 70 degrees out, but none moved in. I take the LONG view - plant flowers, plant swarm traps. I've got some more locations to do both in, as I get the time. I think I'm going to build trap boxes out of old pallet materials for some of these spots. I have lived in frames and comb to add to them. If this is a bad idea, let me know.

Gypsi
 
#11 ·
I sort of estimated that, since my first hive swarmed off May 3rd of last year. (you know what they say about new beeks and swarms.)

But I work so much in the spring, dawn til after dark, I want all traps, built, baited out and positioned by about mid-february, and I'll just check on the remote ones weekly or something.

Most will have someone I can call nearby who can have a peek in the daylight hours, and let me know whether I should come by in the evening and check occupancy.

Gypsi
 
#12 ·
While it is your slow season, why don't you read mdasplitter.com Read that page from top to bottom and it repeats the materials about three times and i bet you will have a firm grasp of what he is saying before the end. Consider swarming your bees on purpose before they are quite ready. It is so simple, I think even I can do it and as a side benefit it helps control mites. I hate to stop your worrying and fussing about it. Yer obviously having a great time doing it:<} It is way more fun than the IRS
 
#13 ·
Yep Tom was there and he did get pressing into speaking some. Real nice guy and from what I hear is queens do great. Gypsi just give me a shout if you need help and good luck with those traps. I am sooo ready for swarm season as I had alot of fun last year chasing those bees all over and found them in some interesting places.
 
#14 ·
I want to chase bees during swarm season, but I think I'll have to do it after temps go to the upper 90's, because HOPEFULLY I'll be working long hours prior to that. Thank you Jason - once I get some bees I may have you look over what I'm doing, although I'm a lot more experienced than last year, I could still miss the obvious in the bee-yard, not having seen many of them.

Gypsi
 
#18 ·
I caught a small swarm in September last year, they stayed for a couple of weeks before getting robbed out. (as soon as I put an in-hive feeder on their hive I might add.)
 
#19 ·
Sid
I caught swarms and did removals last year. As far as swarm lures, just find some lemon grass oil and some old comb and place it in a location where you have seen bees before.
feral queens, I have had some that were HOT HOT HOT and some that were calm as lambs. I have some acerage and would move them out and let them bee for a bit and judge their temperment later. After checking and if they were too aggressive for me I would pinch the queen and order a replacement. If those hot hives are large you need to split them down pretty hard to calm them before adding a new queen. Hope this helps.
Jason
 
#22 ·
Just started last spring...but the post office in Venus, Texas I use called me twice in April...once to pick up my package of bees (on the 6th), and two weeks later to remove a swarm for them (on the 20th). It was only then that I found out it was the third swarm that had arrived there in 2011.
 
#23 ·
Lemon grass oil and frames with comb are the way to go for me also. Swarm traps will work great if put in a good location. Put a few drops of lemon grass oil on the landing board, and a few drops on a cotton pad inside the trap on top of the frames. Leave a small opening in the zipper of the bag so the sent will last a lot longer. I set out 2 traps last year and caught 3 swarms. After hiving a swarm from one of the traps and resetting it a couple of weeks later it caught a second swarm. I will be setting out a lot of traps this year. I am afraid that the drought last year will hurt the number of swarms this year. I sure hope I am wrong.
 
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