[mytxminifarm]

:s i just found wild bees in a tree aprox. 20 yds from my 2 (newly installed 5/23) tbh. i cleared an area, in a honeysuckle/blackberry/woody area, to put my hives & did not do any exploring around the thicket, but did not notice any bee activity. well out pickin blackberrys today & walked toward a tree & bees swarm out, not attacking ? just letting me know they were there, so do i need to be concerned about this & if so what do i need to do. thanks in advance for your input.

 

[trentfysty]

Re: found feral bees in tree near 2 tbh, what shoul i do

There are a couple of potential concerns with the feral hive. There is a chance of robbing from your newly installed hives until they build up their strength and get situated in their new hives. Since you are feeding make sure you keep the entrances restricted making it easier for them to guard. The only other real concern would be if you have a particular breed of bee and you want to keep them that breed rather than mixing with the feral bees. One example would be if you have all russians and want to keep them all russian for the genetic benefits.
It is likely that if you used package bees the will replace the queen sooner rather then later and the new queen may mate with drones from the feral hive. In my opinion this is good as you will get local genetics that should be better able to handle your climate and pests etc. But it will also change the genetics of the colony which you may have been wanting to keep to a certain breed of bee.
Anyway, don't worry too much just watch for robbing and all should be fine.

 

[beebiker]

Re: found feral bees in tree near 2 tbh, what shoul i do

hi minifarm
well you may have struck a goldmine, im unsure when swarm season hits in your neck of the woods but you may be looking at your future bee supply with a few good swarm traps :applause:
trentfysty is definitly right about if your feeding right now keep the hive entrance reducers on. a wild hive may see the need to take advantage of a free food source, even if a little fighting is involved. shouldn't be a problem thou as long as your girls can defend the entrance. wish i could find a feril coloney around here to restock/build up my hive count.

beebiker

 

[peacekeeperapiaries]

Re: found feral bees in tree near 2 tbh, what shoul i do

Build another hive and put out a few swarm traps. Chances are you will have a 3rd TBH by the end of summer.

 

[bigbearomaha]

Re: found feral bees in tree near 2 tbh, what shoul i do

let them bee.They may produce a swarm for you to hive every so often but beyond that, if they're not hurting anything, let them bee.

Big Bear

 

[DavesBees]

Re: found feral bees in tree near 2 tbh, what shoul i do

What Big Bear said.

Bait hives 1/4 mile away may provide a colony or 2 every year.

Trap them out, and they die... you got nothing.

 

[Sam-Smith]

Re: found feral bees in tree near 2 tbh, what shoul i do

Lucky you, I agree build another hive stick some old comb in it and see if you get some free bees! I love my feral bees so far.

 

[honeybeekeeper]

Re: found feral bees in tree near 2 tbh, what shoul i do

I stuck my Feral Bees in my Observation Top Bar hive they were from a swarm capture may 8th of this yr and they are putting my 2 package bees that i bought to shame. The feral bees are doing enough comb drawing for both of my package bee hives put together. Once you get a swarm from that tree you will be very satisfied, i know i was for sure!