Bee Rustlers

[hurleyjd]

Here is an article for you Apiarists out there.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/honeybees-are-a-hot-commodity—and-thieves-are-cashing-in/ar-AAATFRq?ocid=spartandhp

 

[callmefence]

Yep ..... that's why we started branding ours.

 

[Dave]

Yep ..... that's why we started branding ours.

Do you run them through a chute or rope and drag to a fire?

 

[callmefence]

Yep ..... that's why we started branding ours.

Do you run them through a chute or rope and drag to a fire?

Back in the day we roped and drug. The whole community would show up. BBQ, beer, good times. The kids would take tuns flanking and throwing, the men roped and the women made food and looked pretty.
Now we've become more sophisticated and run em through the chute and the old way is gone.
Was gonna go to ear tags....... anybody know where a bees ear is?

 

[Bright Raven]

Yep ..... that's why we started branding ours.

Do you run them through a chute or rope and drag to a fire?

Back in the day we roped and drug. The whole community would show up. BBQ, beer, good times. The kids would take tuns flanking and throwing, the men roped and the women made food and looked pretty.
Now we've become more sophisticated and run em through the chute and the old way is gone.
Was gonna go to ear tags....... anybody know where a bees ear is?

The best way to put a tag on is the antennae. They make a sleeve you slide on the bee's antenna. The sleeve has a hole through the side, you attach the tag using a cable tie that goes through the hole.

The only problem is when the tag gets caught on a flower or bush, it can tear off an antenna.

 

[Dave]

Yep ..... that's why we started branding ours.

Do you run them through a chute or rope and drag to a fire?

Back in the day we roped and drug. The whole community would show up. BBQ, beer, good times. The kids would take tuns flanking and throwing, the men roped and the women made food and looked pretty.
Now we've become more sophisticated and run em through the chute and the old way is gone.
Was gonna go to ear tags....... anybody know where a bees ear is?

This community would go up in arms over running them through a chute. They stick to the old ways. There is a couple women here who rope real good. And they look real pretty while doing it.
I can't help you with the bee ears. Never have found them myself. But I do know they hear good. You can get them pretty excited by making noise at the wrong time and place.

 

[Bright Raven]

Callmefence. This is confidential.

I have government funding to study a method for tattooing bees. We are working on miniature laser technology to tattoo an identification under the wing. It should be out in less than 6 months. Just run them through a chute, raise the wing and tattoo with the laser. You can tattoo right wing, left wing, front wing or rear wing.

 

[cow pollinater]

You guys aren't as far off as you'd think. I don't clip wings but all of my queens get marked with a number and color stamp indicating the year she was hatched, much like an ear tag. My frames all have a numbered stamp. My boxes have my name and address painted on. Since paint is easy to cover, I brand my boxes with the same brand I use on cows. That will come in especially handy when I ship to almonds since I'm personal friends with most of the ag crimes detectives in Kern and Tulare counties in CA and they recognize my brand.
A few years back they developed a gps tracker that fits inside of a frame. Once the bees build wax over it you'd never know it was there. The downside is that thieves usually grab just one or two pallets out of a set and hope nobody will notice for a while and it's to expensive to put one on every pallet.

 

[callmefence]

You guys aren't as far off as you'd think. I don't clip wings but all of my queens get marked with a number and color stamp indicating the year she was hatched, much like an ear tag. My frames all have a numbered stamp. My boxes have my name and address painted on. Since paint is easy to cover, I brand my boxes with the same brand I use on cows. That will come in especially handy when I ship to almonds since I'm personal friends with most of the ag crimes detectives in Kern and Tulare counties in CA and they recognize my brand.
A few years back they developed a gps tracker that fits inside of a frame. Once the bees build wax over it you'd never know it was there. The downside is that thieves usually grab just one or two pallets out of a set and hope nobody will notice for a while and it's to expensive to put one on every pallet.

Hey I'm dead serious here.
We're starting to pay more attention to the docility epds on our bees. Introducing some African genetics may reduce production but makes them harder to steal.

 

[cow pollinater]

You guys aren't as far off as you'd think. I don't clip wings but all of my queens get marked with a number and color stamp indicating the year she was hatched, much like an ear tag. My frames all have a numbered stamp. My boxes have my name and address painted on. Since paint is easy to cover, I brand my boxes with the same brand I use on cows. That will come in especially handy when I ship to almonds since I'm personal friends with most of the ag crimes detectives in Kern and Tulare counties in CA and they recognize my brand.
A few years back they developed a gps tracker that fits inside of a frame. Once the bees build wax over it you'd never know it was there. The downside is that thieves usually grab just one or two pallets out of a set and hope nobody will notice for a while and it's to expensive to put one on every pallet.

Hey I'm dead serious here.
We're starting to pay more attention to the docility epds on our bees. Introducing some African genetics may reduce production but makes them harder to steal.

Try some Bweaver queens. They're extremely productive and trouble free. All you have to do is pile supers on and pull the honey off. It's a good thing too because that's all you'll ever want to do with them. :nod: I've worked with africanized stock and they don't have anything on some of the weaver stock. Just don't put them within about a quarter mile of anywhere you plan on doing much. I quit messing with them because they are seriously a safety concern.

 

[greybeard]

Try some Bweaver queens. They're extremely productive and trouble free. All you have to do is pile supers on and pull the honey off. It's a good thing too because that's all you'll ever want to do with them.

This thread just turned ugly....
Yeah...trouble free.... Bweaver queens? Don't even go there. Flying, digging, swimming, tunneling, dam building, stinking, stinging, chewing , aggressive new critters? Keep them the benice up there wherever you are!


(I find this to now be an emotionally stressful read and I'm afraid it is going to give me nightmares and otherwise have extremely adverse effects on this old cowman's mental health and I will probably have to seek professional help in dealing with it all)

:hide: ;-)

 

[hurleyjd]

You guys aren't as far off as you'd think. I don't clip wings but all of my queens get marked with a number and color stamp indicating the year she was hatched, much like an ear tag. My frames all have a numbered stamp. My boxes have my name and address painted on. Since paint is easy to cover, I brand my boxes with the same brand I use on cows. That will come in especially handy when I ship to almonds since I'm personal friends with most of the ag crimes detectives in Kern and Tulare counties in CA and they recognize my brand.
A few years back they developed a gps tracker that fits inside of a frame. Once the bees build wax over it you'd never know it was there. The downside is that thieves usually grab just one or two pallets out of a set and hope nobody will notice for a while and it's to expensive to put one on every pallet.

Article that you may like and could use your training from your last profession.
https://articles.extension.org/pages/28330/semen-collection-for-artificial-insemination-in-honey-bees

 

[cow pollinater]

I've only tried to AI bees a couple of times. I don't see the point other than to satisfy my own curiosity as heterosis works about as well with bees as it does with cattle and I can do it with better results with traditional open mating.

 

[cow pollinater]

hurleyjd, you had asked about midnight's. AI is the best option for bringing them back. They're an F1 carni caucasion cross. There's still plenty of carnis but there's only one source of pure caucasions left and only one source for caucasion F1's.

 

[hurleyjd]

hurleyjd, you had asked about midnight's. AI is the best option for bringing them back. They're an F1 carni caucasion cross. There's still plenty of carnis but there's only one source of pure caucasions left and only one source for caucasion F1's.

My father started raising watermelons in the dearly fifties on a commercial basis. At that time there were a lot of wild bees. You could walk through the field when the melons were blooming and you could actual hear the bees working the melon blooms. There was one man in the community that had bees. He would come to the watermelon field and sprinkle a little flour on a bee and watch it take off with its load of pollen and nectar. Direction and timing of the return would give him a clue as where to look for the bee tree. The trees were cut to remove the comb and no attempt to save the bees. Cotton blossom honey was popular in the black land Mr. Grizzle collected and sold a lot of it. Any way I really appreciate your education on bees on this forum. Did you have bees in California before your move.There is not much here in East Texas to support bees. Not much vegetable farming. You cannot make mush honey with bahia and bermuda. So just on keeping beeeeing who you are.

 

[greybeard]

There is not much here in East Texas to support bees. Not much vegetable farming. You cannot make mush honey with bahia and bermuda. So just on keeping beeeeing who you are.

Lots of bees here for the spring/early summer chinese tallow blossoms in June and early July.
B-i-l had about 60 boxes down on a point of land sticking out into Black Duck Bay as far back as the mid 60s specifically for the tallow flow but he lost most of his bees when the mite thing first came about and he had to destroy so many colonies he just got out of the business about 3 years later.

There is a lot of opposition within beekeeping associations to chinese tallow eradication programs. They love tallow but the rest of us hate 'em. They can plant 'em in their own dam yards and pastures...

Kinda like goat weed. I hate it, but the dove hunters love 'em.

 

[cow pollinater]

Did you have bees in California before your move.There is not much here in East Texas to support bees. Not much vegetable farming. You cannot make mush honey with bahia and bermuda. So just on keeping beeeeing who you are.

Yes. I've had them for around fifteen years. I've run up to a hundred but average is probably twenty as I've sold out a few times. I farmed almonds in CA along with a few other crops including citrus. Bees were a natural progression.
You'd be surprised at what they can use. East Texas is actually kind of a bee stronghold. Lot's of hives go from there to the almonds.

 

[hurleyjd]

Bee Keepers Association hives destroyed in Texas by vandals. I have no idea how tp post the picture with it.

https://www.kwch.com/content/news/Texas-vandals-burn-destroy-numerous-beehives-509329981.html

 

[hurleyjd]

Did you have bees in California before your move.There is not much here in East Texas to support bees. Not much vegetable farming. You cannot make mush honey with bahia and bermuda. So just on keeping beeeeing who you are.

Yes. I've had them for around fifteen years. I've run up to a hundred but average is probably twenty as I've sold out a few times. I farmed almonds in CA along with a few other crops including citrus. Bees were a natural progression.
You'd be surprised at what they can use. East Texas is actually kind of a bee stronghold. Lot's of hives go from there to the almonds.

I have about thirty five acres of Persian clover in full bloom and have not seen any bees this year and only very few last year. Also the same with the crimson clover

 

[greybeard]

My now deceased uncle raised almonds in or near Mountain View Calif for years. Evidently did pretty good at it as it was his primary source of income as far as I know, tho he did also dabble in digging for gold, but I think that was some kind of expensive hobby rather than an occupation.