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Re: Really big bee swarm
[Re: Drifter]
#8404767
05/16/25 09:50 PM
05/16/25 09:50 PM
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Joined: Jan 2007
Georgia
warrior
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Jan 2007
Georgia
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Used to be some black bees show up mentor said must be fron Dadant's Midnight strain they ran. I wanted to try those midnight bees. I still remember the ads in Bee Culture, guy working bees in just shorts. IIRC they were Caucasian based or a Caucasian/Carni cross.
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Re: Really big bee swarm
[Re: Bigbrownie]
#8404772
05/16/25 09:54 PM
05/16/25 09:54 PM
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Joined: Mar 2018
Pa.
Bigbrownie
OP
trapper
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OP
trapper
Joined: Mar 2018
Pa.
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I’ve kept a lot of strains of bees, but I like the mutt Italian bees from feral Pa colonies the best. Decent disposition, good honey makers. They do, however, tend to have bad robbing instincts The package Italian bees we get from Georgia, they do ok, but don’t seem to have the winter hardiness as our feral bees do. We hit 15 below last winter, with a lot of other cold weather. I did ok, but losses are high here. I think having feral stock improves my winter survival rates.
I can’t prove it, but I think our feral honeybees are dealing better with mites nowadays. In the last couple springs, I’ve been getting double the calls to pick up swarms. And I know of two bee trees that have over wintered colonies for the last five seasons. No mite treatments in those trees.
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Re: Really big bee swarm
[Re: Bigbrownie]
#8404823
05/16/25 11:02 PM
05/16/25 11:02 PM
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Joined: Jan 2007
Georgia
warrior
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Jan 2007
Georgia
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I’ve kept a lot of strains of bees, but I like the mutt Italian bees from feral Pa colonies the best. Decent disposition, good honey makers. They do, however, tend to have bad robbing instincts The package Italian bees we get from Georgia, they do ok, but don’t seem to have the winter hardiness as our feral bees do. We hit 15 below last winter, with a lot of other cold weather. I did ok, but losses are high here. I think having feral stock improves my winter survival rates.
I can’t prove it, but I think our feral honeybees are dealing better with mites nowadays. In the last couple springs, I’ve been getting double the calls to pick up swarms. And I know of two bee trees that have over wintered colonies for the last five seasons. No mite treatments in those trees. I agree that feral are finding ways to hang on. We got some here that are definitely different than the commercial Italian stocks. I call them little brown bombers as they are darker and love to head butt. Pretty gentle and easy to work but not great honey makers. Mainly because they maintain small colonies and only brood up on a flow and shut down at the drop of a hat. I've seen them go broodless from June to August during our dearth. They are very frugal and go into winter with smaller clusters. I've had colonies go five years without treatment but I might pull a medium per year off of them. But they don't fare well in anything approaching a commercial yard with more than a dozen boxes in a yard. They get picked on and robbed out easier than others.
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Re: Really big bee swarm
[Re: Bigbrownie]
#8405573
05/18/25 06:27 PM
05/18/25 06:27 PM
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Joined: Feb 2007
Washington State
humptulips
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Feb 2007
Washington State
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I once had 5 swarms join together in a cluster. I saw the first swarm start to settle into a tree and started to get my stuff together. Before it was over I watched 4 more swarms emit and join the first one. I use semi-deeps exclusively and it took 7 to get them all inside. It was quite an operation to move them away from the tree to a permanent location.
Were these 5 swarms coming from the same hive, or multiple hives? 5 swarms from 5 different colonies.
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Re: Really big bee swarm
[Re: Bigbrownie]
#8405653
05/18/25 08:53 PM
05/18/25 08:53 PM
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Joined: Dec 2006
Very SE Nebraska
Gary Benson
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Dec 2006
Very SE Nebraska
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I haven't seen a wild hive of bees for 25 yrs or more. Good to know there's still some going out there. When younger and already stupid, my brother and I upset a hive of bees hanging on a cottonwood trees. We had bees all over us but neither of us got a single sting.
Last edited by Gary Benson; 05/18/25 08:54 PM.
Life ain't supposed to be easy.
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Re: Really big bee swarm
[Re: BigBob]
#8405654
05/18/25 09:00 PM
05/18/25 09:00 PM
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Joined: Dec 2006
Coldspring Texas
Savell
"Wilbur"
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"Wilbur"
Joined: Dec 2006
Coldspring Texas
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How do you tell if they're Africanized or not? …. If you catch them trying to steal your rims
Insert profound nonsense here
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Re: Really big bee swarm
[Re: BigBlackBirds]
#8405666
05/18/25 09:40 PM
05/18/25 09:40 PM
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Joined: Mar 2018
Pa.
Bigbrownie
OP
trapper
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OP
trapper
Joined: Mar 2018
Pa.
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![[Linked Image]](https://trapperman.com/forum/attachments/usergals/2025/05/full-48788-258213-june2019swarmb.jpg) well I thought could find some better pics but this was closest i could find for a larger swarm in orchard pollination Chief Brody in the Jaws movie, when first seeing the shark…” We’re gonna need a bigger boat”. When you see a swarm like that…..” We’re gonna need a bigger box”.
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Re: Really big bee swarm
[Re: warrior]
#8405675
05/18/25 10:03 PM
05/18/25 10:03 PM
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Joined: Oct 2016
Michigan
BigBlackBirds
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Oct 2016
Michigan
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We have alot of commercial yards parked on melons south of Macon. I've known of a few folks that have gone down there riding back roads along the fields with empty boxes in the back of the truck. Here's a similar story. There's a "kid" from up here that got started in a similar fashion. The family is big blueberry grower and back then they contracted pollination. The young fellow spent a few summers working for the beekeeper while he was just a teen. He collected all of the local swarms that end up hanging in the berries during pollination and eventually got a pretty good sized operation. He was shipping loads to almonds when he was still too young to rent a vehicle while working them out in CA. He use to have to take cab from the motel to the almonds to work. He's no longer a kid and has become a pretty decent size commercial guy up here FYI-- probably sounds odd to many of you but I'd say the vast majority of the time those swarms are not caught as no one even tries. Most of the guys arent even around when the colonies swarm and they just have so many other irons in the fire that swarm catching isnt on the "best use of time" agenda
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Re: Really big bee swarm
[Re: warrior]
#8405678
05/18/25 10:08 PM
05/18/25 10:08 PM
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Joined: Oct 2016
Michigan
BigBlackBirds
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Oct 2016
Michigan
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I can't recall the name but I've spoken to your cousin then several times at state meetings.
sent you a message warrior
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