Bees

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hurleyjd

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Sep 7, 2006
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Yantis, Texas
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In February, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced a $3 million program to help dairy farmers and ranchers in five Midwestern states reseed pastures with plants appealing to both bees and livestock. The problem was also pressing enough that President Barack Obama formed a pollinator task force in June.
 
This sounds funny to say 3 million is not very much money--------For the government to give away.
 
I know studies show bees are declining, but they arent where i am. We just captured a hive that was doomed. They built on the outside of a dead tree. We managed to get it into a hive untouched.

I know on a FB gardening group, people are urging people to plant milk weed....There is plenty of milk weed in my area, no need to plant extra. I think city people are so cityfied that they think everywhere is like where they live. Of course there is going to be less bees in the city, no one wants or lets them build near their house. But where i live, bees are everywhere. Every hollow tree will almost always have bees in it.
Here is a youtube on how we captured these bees...if anyone is interested. I made this for a bee group i'm in..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgMtESt ... s4nbdMDaUA
 
They were hitting my self-feeder last winter. I had to panel my calves off the feeder to keep them from eating them and souring the calves on the feeder. At the time, I was also bucketing some feed out of it to feed my cows a little along. Had to sprinkle feed out of the bucket into an empty tub to pick the bees out of the feed before I fed it to the cows. Once, I thought I had missed one/some, and heard a cow bawl and take off from the bunk. I went and looked and a few bees had left the feeder and came to the bunks. The czar could have came and got the bees, I wouldn't have argued.
 
cowgirl8":d95zb97f said:
I know studies show bees are declining, but they arent where i am. We just captured a hive that was doomed. They built on the outside of a dead tree. We managed to get it into a hive untouched.

I know on a FB gardening group, people are urging people to plant milk weed....There is plenty of milk weed in my area, no need to plant extra. I think city people are so cityfied that they think everywhere is like where they live. Of course there is going to be less bees in the city, no one wants or lets them build near their house. But where i live, bees are everywhere. Every hollow tree will almost always have bees in it.
Here is a youtube on how we captured these bees...if anyone is interested. I made this for a bee group i'm in..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgMtESt ... s4nbdMDaUA
Click to expand...
Somewhere around 80% of all open air hives are at least partially africanized. Especially in your area of Texas. They aren't dying off like commercial bees are. Have fun next spring when they get built up.
 
sim.-ang.king":10nx9884 said:
Because all of the apples, soybeans, alfalfa, ect. growing in every feild in the midwest aren't good enough for bees
Click to expand...
I know it sounds like that would be enough but that's like feeding one bale of alfalfa today, one of oat hay next week, one wheat the following week, etc. Bees really do need a varied diet in between flows to stay healthy. Monoculture in ag areas doesn't keep them healthy enough to keep them viable. When you add in that a lot of the agricultural sources that bees can use but aren't really needed for get sprayed near bloom time there's not much out there for them to use.
 
cow pollinater":19fo36g1 said:
cowgirl8":19fo36g1 said:
I know studies show bees are declining, but they arent where i am. We just captured a hive that was doomed. They built on the outside of a dead tree. We managed to get it into a hive untouched.

I know on a FB gardening group, people are urging people to plant milk weed....There is plenty of milk weed in my area, no need to plant extra. I think city people are so cityfied that they think everywhere is like where they live. Of course there is going to be less bees in the city, no one wants or lets them build near their house. But where i live, bees are everywhere. Every hollow tree will almost always have bees in it.
Here is a youtube on how we captured these bees...if anyone is interested. I made this for a bee group i'm in..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgMtESt ... s4nbdMDaUA
Click to expand...
Somewhere around 80% of all open air hives are at least partially africanized. Especially in your area of Texas. They aren't dying off like commercial bees are. Have fun next spring when they get built up.
Click to expand...
Built up and the first hive i feel comfortable around without my gear. Would have found out real quick if they were africanized when the chainsaw cranked up..Not a one stirred. I was well aware that the african ones open air build. We were very careful. Thanks for your concern...
 
They're in a brood box, their permanent home. Although it looks as though they are in the open in the picture, that was only after everything was cleared away. This was a brush pile and the tree they were on was pushed over and covered, yet still in the ground and alive. Son was clearing the area and when he got the brush pushed away, the tree, still rooted in the ground, didnt move with the loose stuff. He pushed on the tree and saw bees flying around. Thats when he noticed the swarm there.
Bees freak me out when i work with them, almost never ever do anything without being suited up. We cut some out of a tree that had fallen and we were covered in bees the whole time. I was on the edge of a freak out the whole time. This group of bees though i feel so at ease around, we can lift them out of the box and never have one even buzz us. Technically, its not a good thing, i do not want to get too comfortable because i know that will get me stung.
 

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