Any beekeepers here?

[satx78247]

skfullgun, that's a generous offer but I'm not totally surprised you've had no takers. Depending upon your setting, neighbor locations, other livestock and crops in the area, etc., it may or may not be that feasible or attractive to a beekeeper. In the last decade (or a little more), liability has also entered the equation. Ever since the arrival of the Africanized ("killer") bees, unless colonies are closely monitored and managed, it possible for hives to harbor these more aggressive honeybees. Their genetic traits are dominant so they have a tendency to become an area's majority species.

busykngt,

Pardon me for asking but OF YOUR OWN KNOWLEDGE, do you KNOW of even ONE beekeeper in TX who has "had a problem" with the so-called "KILLER BEES"??

As some members here know, I'm a TX Master Naturalist (with several close friends who are Master Gardeners) & I have heard NOT EVEN ONE such actual/CONFIRMED case of "KILLER BEES" in TX.

It's gotten to the point that I believe NOTHING that the so-called "Mainstream Press" claims, absent PROOF from at least 2 or more NEUTRAL/confirmed sources, as I've caught them in FAR TOO MANY just OBVIOUS/KNOWING LIES on a great many subjects.

For just a FEW of those "scare stories" & OUTRIGHT LIES, think of the "Mainstream Press' stories of:
1. DROWNING POLAR BEARS, due to Global Warming,
2. VICIOUS Southeast Asian PREDATORY "Frankenfish", that supposedly "attack many people" & would "wipe out all the native fish within 3 years",
3. That the Alaskan pipeline would WIPE OUT all the "native wildlife, within 5 years"
and
4. A hundred other "coming crisis situations" that would "Cause" huge damage to the World's environment", IF we taxpayers don't spend BILLIONS/TRILLIONS of dollars to solve the SUPPOSED PROBLEM.
(Fwiw, I was born at night but NOT last night.)

yours, satx

 

[Axxe55]

tag based on what is being viewed. We filter the output of wp_title() a bit - see agriflex_filter_wp_title() in functions.php. --> <title> Africanized Bees | Texas Apiary Inspection Service (TAIS)

txbeeinspection.tamu.edu

Africanized Killer Bees: Information About African Bees

Although Africanized killer bees look like honeybees, they are far more dangerous. Learn more about killer bee stings, nests, and how to identify them.

www.pestworld.org

Africanized bee swarm kills Texas man

A Texas man died after a swarm of Africanized bees disturbed by his tractor attacked, stinging him more than 1,000 times Saturday.

www.cnn.com

Million killer bees threaten Texas neighborhood: 'It was like a horror movie'

A million aggressive bees threaten a neighborhood in El Paso, Texas, officials said.

www.foxnews.com

Starr County warns against surge of Africanized bees

STARR COUNTY, Texas — The Starr County Sheriff’s Office is warning the public about a surge of Africanized honey bees in the area. The sheriff’s office says honey bees are causing…

www.valleycentral.com

Hmmm........

 

[bbbass]

4. A hundred other "coming crisis situations" that would "Cause" huge damage to the World's environment", IF we taxpayers don't spend BILLIONS/TRILLIONS of dollars to solve the SUPPOSED PROBLEM.
(Fwiw, I was born at night but NOT last night.)

Yup, that one is all about the Benjamins. I get really tired of the constant screaming that we're all gonna die in 10 or 12 years. That deadline passed SO LONG AGO!!!

BTW, Asian Hornets are a real deal. But I got my hands full with Bald Face Hornets anyway.

 

[Axxe55]

Yup, that one is all about the Benjamins. I get really tired of the constant screaming that we're all gonna die in 10 or 12 years. That deadline passed SO LONG AGO!!!

BTW, Asian Hornets are a real deal. But I got my hands full with Bald Face Hornets anyway.

The thing is, African hybrid honey bees are a real deal here in Texas. Kind of put them with the scare over Covid 19 though. It's a real deal thing, but never the epidemic that some of the doomsayers predicted though.

To say they don't exist, would be delusional or maybe even naive. Any large nest of bees, hornets, wasps, or other similar bugs can be deadly to a person if stung enough, or if a person happens to be allergic to certain types of stings. Like any other types of creatures in nature, they deserve our respect when dealing with them.

 

[satx78247]

Yup, that one is all about the Benjamins. I get really tired of the constant screaming that we're all gonna die in 10 or 12 years. That deadline passed SO LONG AGO!!!

BTW, Asian Hornets are a real deal. But I got my hands full with Bald Face Hornets anyway.

bbbass,

MY PERSONAL FAVORITE "environmental crisis" that was WIDELY REPORTED in the press, & supposedly based on "many well-known scientists & climate experts" testimony before the UN General Assembly, when I was in grad school at Tulane in 1976-78, stated that: IF we don't spend 3 TRILLION dollars IMMEDIATELY, that "The World will suffer another ICE AGE within a decade or less."
(PARDON ME for asking but did I fall asleep & sleep through "THE COMING ICE AGE" of the 1980s, like a modern Rip Van Winkle??)

yours, satx

 

[busykngt]

busykngt,

Pardon me for asking but OF YOUR OWN KNOWLEDGE, do you KNOW of even ONE beekeeper in TX who has "had a problem" with the so-called "KILLER BEES"??

Yep, I do.
A city-level government immediate removal order for "maintaining a nuisance or hazardous animal" notice. (As I recall, "immediate" was defined as hive removal from the property within three days). The city was the City of Allen, TX; and yes, I held and read the notice myself.

 

[satx78247]

Yep, I do.
A city-level government immediate removal notice for "maintaining a nuisance or hazardous animal" notice. (As I recall, "immediate" was defined as removal within three days).

busykngt,

And your PROOF from neutral/KNOWN/confirmed sources is??

yours, satx

 

[busykngt]

busykngt,

And your PROOF from neutral/KNOWN/confirmed sources is??

yours, satx

As Yoda might say, "believe or don't believe, the choice is yours to make."

Not my job to convince you I'm speaking truth from first hand knowledge.
yours,
BK

 

[satx78247]

As Yoda might say, "believe or don't believe, the choice is yours to make."

Not my job to convince you I'm speaking truth from first hand knowledge.
yours,
BK

bustkngt,

OH OK, YOU PERSONALLY "have direct knowledge" of the report being TRUE & ACCURATE??
(Your previous post sounded to me like that you "heard" OR "saw" the report someplace. = Local "authorities" are just as likely TO LIE & EXXAGERATE "scare stories", as any other "reputable source" is.)

MY APOLOGIES OFFERED.

yours, satx

 

[busykngt]

satx,
No problem.
--
Also know of other "reports" from beekeepers - who have absolutely no motivation to "make up" stories - of hybrid Africanized bees being confirmed in various locations. One of the latest was a colony removal in one of the 'Park cities', north side of Dallas (...a rich, glitzy neighbored). It never made the News but Africanization was confirmed via a sample sent to TAMU.

So, they're definitely around. Its just gotten so they rarely make the news unless there's some semi-catastrophic event associated with them (like someone getting severely stung). Most beekeepers are encouraged to destroy an Africanized hive or at least immediately re-Queen it if time would permit that course of action. And beekeepers are inherently aware of bad pr so motivation to keep things on the qt, runs pretty high within the community.

 

[satx78247]

satx,
No problem.
--
Also know of other "reports" from beekeepers - who have absolutely no motivation to "make up" stories - of hybrid Africanized bees being confirmed in various locations. One of the latest was a colony removal in one of the 'Park cities', north side of Dallas (...a rich, glitzy neighbored). It never made the News but Africanization was confirmed via a sample sent to TAMU.

So, they're definitely around. Its just gotten so they rarely make the news unless there's some semi-catastrophic event associated with them (like someone getting severely stung). Most beekeepers are encouraged to destroy an Africanized hive or at least immediately re-Queen it if time would permit that course of action. And beekeepers are inherently aware of bad pr so motivation to keep things on the qt, runs pretty high within the community.

busykngt,

FYI, my Dad & I once had about 20 hives in NETX, until a "NOSEY NEIGHBOR LADY" turned us in to the County Administrator.
The BUREAUCRAT immediately ordered my Dad to remove the "possible hazardous situation" from the county's limits, as "somebody might get stung".

When my Dad responded that there was NO PROHIBITION against "keeping bees" in the city/county, the County Commissioners passed an ordinance at the very next bi-weekly meeting, with a FINE of 100.oo per "unlicensed" colony each day, until ALL the hives in the county were OUT of the county.
(We sold our bees to a beekeeper from Lufkin the next day. = My Dad that it wasn't "worth going to court for weeks/months over".)

NOTE: As best as I can remember (It was 50+ years ago.), ALL of our hives were "wild caught swarms". - My Dad had a "special wooden nail keg" that was "modified" with a homemade wooden lid for the purpose.
(Camp County is the home of a great number of commercial PEACH FARMS & raw/unfiltered "peach blossom honey" IS EXCELLENT, imo.)
According to TEXAS MONTHLY magazine, MORE peaches are produced in Camp County than in ALL of Georgia, i.e., "The Peach State".

yours, satx

 

[cygunner]

My wife is a bee keeper. When I was working for Winchester at Lake City I came home to our Blue Springs house one evening and the family room had many bees flying around in it, many. We got to looking and found a small hole in the mortar of the fireplace chimney outside and bees were going in and out and buzzing around all over. She chewed up a big hunk of gum, several sticks, climbed up a ladder and stuffed up the hole. We went inside and sprayed and swatted the ones there and that gum "keeped" the bees out until we sold out and came back to Texas a few years later.

 

[satx78247]

My wife is a bee keeper. When I was working for Winchester at Lake City I came home to our Blue Springs house one evening and the family room had many bees flying around in it, many. We got to looking and found a small hole in the mortar of the fireplace chimney outside and bees were going in and out and buzzing around all over. She chewed up a big hunk of gum, several sticks, climbed up a ladder and stuffed up the hole. We went inside and sprayed and swatted the ones there and that gum "keeped" the bees out until we sold out and came back to Texas a few years later.

cygunner,

Alternatively, you COULD HAVE advertised the "local bees" as "Conveys with a resident colony of of honey bees", i.e., an "inducement" to buy the house, I guess. = LOL.

To paraphrase an old C&W song title, "A Country GIRL Will Survive". = SMART lady, IMO.

yours, satx

 

[cygunner]

Funny you mention that. When I was frantically calling every exterminator in the Yellow Pages they all advised me "call a beekeeper". I finally told one guy "I don't want to keep the damned things, I want to exterminate them".

And she is a country girl and pretty smart, just ask her.

 

[busykngt]

Yeah, caught many a swarm when I was younger (& did quite a few bee removals too) - nothing like getting "free" bees. But that's another thing that fundamentally changed with the arrival of Africanized bees. A lot of beekeepers stopped taking those swarm calls. It just wasn't worth the hassle; good chance you'd have to kill them or at least requeen them to insure an Italian line.

It went from a positive thing to not being so. If you kept enough hives for long enough, you'd occasionally run into a 'hot hive' - that was just to be expected (on a rare occasion). However, a true Africanized hive was at least 5x (maybe 10x) a hot hive. You have to be suited up well.

 

[satx78247]

Yeah, caught many a swarm when I was younger (& did quite a few bee removals too) - nothing like getting "free" bees. But that's another thing that fundamentally changed with the arrival of Africanized bees. A lot of beekeepers stopped taking those swarm calls. It just wasn't worth the hassle; good chance you'd have to kill them or at least requeen them to insure an Italian line.

It went from a positive thing to not being so. If you kept enough hives for long enough, you'd occasionally run into a 'hot hive' - that was just to be expected (on a rare occasion). However, a true Africanized hive was at least 5x (maybe 10x) a hot hive. You have to be suited up well.

busykngt,

Please understand, when my Dad & I were "playing about with" catching wild swarms, NOBODY in the USA had even "heard of" KILLER BEES or "Africanized swarms" either.
(My Dad had his first heart attack in 1962 & passed away shortly after I graduated from HS.)

ADDENDA: When I was in HS, I fielded several "bee removal jobs" after school. = I usually was "tipped" as little as 2-3 dollars to 20 bucks.
(NOT bad pay for a HS kid in those long-ago days.)

When I was "sworn in" as Deputy Constable, 4 days after my 18th BD, the county paid me about 40 bucks a month, plus a county credit card to fuel my NASH, laundry service, etc. - The sheriff provided me only a "tin star", a sawed off DB 10 gauge & a copy of the Penal Code.. = I thought that I was SUDDENLY RICH.
(As my Dad had passed away by then & I was too young to buy a handgun, my mother rode the Greyhound bus to where I was in college & bought me a USED S&W .38SPL revolver, Sam Browne, holster, handcuffs, leather sap & a half-box of ammo for 40 bucks. - In the SD/CO, we drove our own vehicles, provided our own uniforms & everything else.)
My uniform (if you can call it that), was a khaki work shirt, blue jeans, cowboy or work boots & a baseball cap.
The "hardware store guy" told everyone (DAMN HIM!!), that he knew, about Mother having to buy my revolver/police gear. - For what seemed like an ETERNITY, "comedians" in the SD, often yelled out at Roll Call, "Hey KID, has YOUR MOMMY bought you anything lately??"
(As my "major LE duty" was finding/returning lost, stolen & strayed livestock, about 6 months later, an old family friend gave me a BIG/STRONG gelding to catch livestock. = I spent more time astride than in my car. - RURAL POLICE WORK is really DIFFERENT than what most LEOs do..)

ADDENDA: I just cannot resist tell you about my 1st criminal case. - At about 0400 one Fall morning, a farmer called me & reported that "some SOB stole half of my Winter pig".
(By pure accident, as much as anything, I caught the 2 pig thieves.)
My then "college girlfriend" worked as a reporter for the local 2X weekly newspaper & did a "news article" on my "investigative prowess" that made me sound like Sherlock Holmes.
(In all the years as a LEO that followed, I never got another 100% POSITIVE "news report" about any crime that I investigated. = LOL.)

yours, satx

 

[Axxe55]

busykngt,

Please understand, when my Dad & I were "playing about with" catching wild swarms, NOBODY in the USA had even "heard of" KILLER BEES or "Africanized swarms" either.
(My Dad had his first heart attack in 1962 & passed away shortly after I graduated from HS.)

ADDENDA: When I was in HS, I fielded several "bee removal jobs" after school. = I usually was "tipped" as little as 2-3 dollars to 20 bucks.
(NOT bad pay for a HS kid in those long-ago days.)
When I was "sworn in" as Deputy Constable, 4 days after my 18th BD, the county paid me about 40 bucks a month, plus a county credit card to fuel my NASH, laundry service, etc.. = I thought that I was SUDDENLY RICH.
(As my Dad had passed away by then & I was too young to buy a handgun, my mother rode the Greyhound bus to where I was in college & bought me a USED S&W .38SPL revolver, Sam Browne, holster, handcuffs, leather sap & a half-box of ammo for 40 bucks.)
The "hardware store guy" told everyone (DAMN HIM!!), that he knew, about Mother having to buy my revolver/police gear. - For what seemed like an ETERNITY, "comedians" in the SD, often yelled out at Roll Call, "Hey KID, has YOUR MOMMY bought you anything lately??"

yours, satx

Kind of curious, why would your mother have to buy you at the age of 18 a handgun and ammo? You are 74 years old so just by rough estimates, that made you 18 in the early 1960's, correct?

Minimum age to 21 wasn't raised until 1968.

Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[ScorpionHunter]

I put my order in for two colonies this weekend, and they should be available to be picked up in early May. I'll build two top frame hives, maybe four while I'm at it. I'm doing it mainly to try to get a break on property taxes in five years. I need six or seven hives eventually. I don't even like honey that much, but my wife does and she's backing this project 100%. So, I won't have to do all the work.

 

[satx78247]

I put my order in for two colonies this weekend, and they should be available to be picked up in early May. I'll build two top frame hives, maybe four while I'm at it. I'm doing it mainly to try to get a break on property taxes in five years. I need six or seven hives eventually. I don't even like honey that much, but my wife does and she's backing this project 100%. So, I won't have to do all the work.

ScorpionHunter,

Even though only your wife likes honey, I seriously doubt if you will have any difficulty SELLING all of the honey that she doesn't want to keep for eating/cooking.
(Even the honey sold from 2 good hives makes a "profitable hobby". The honey from 5 hives would be a "profitable sideline" for your household.)

BEST WISHES on your new endeavor.

yours, satx

 

[busykngt]

I've built and used Top Bar Hives before - they can be made to work. For someone keeping just a couple of hives, they may actually be a better choice than traditional Langstroth hives. Certainly more economical but maybe not quite as flexible (configuration-wise). Good luck!