Author Topic: BeeWeaver bees  (Read 7087 times)

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Offline Wandering Man

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BeeWeaver bees
« on: April 20, 2018, 08:44:10 pm »
Has anyone had experience with BeeWeaver’s BeeWeaver bees?

I had heard that they were a little more aggressive than other bees, but they are supposed to tolerate disease and mites well.

Our neighbors across the street have a BeeWeaver hive that has successfully survived our short South Texas winter with out treatment. Their bees seem pretty docile.

I’ve also got a side liner friend who likes the Weavers, but would never own a BeeWeaver hive because he thinks they are too aggressive.

Since we’ve moved the bees away from our home, I’ve decided to try two of their queens. We’ll install the queens on Sunday.
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Offline Lburou

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Re: BeeWeaver bees
« Reply #1 on: April 20, 2018, 09:14:00 pm »
Hands down, BWeaver are the best bees for Texas.  I've had docile hives and defensive hives headed by Bweaver queens.  They are less aggressive nowadays.  :)
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Offline Wandering Man

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Re: BeeWeaver bees
« Reply #2 on: April 20, 2018, 11:11:30 pm »
Hands down, BWeaver are the best bees for Texas.  I've had docile hives and defensive hives headed by Bweaver queens.  They are less aggressive nowadays.  :)

Thanks, Lee.

Do you treat your BeeWeavers for mites?

How well do they handle SHB?
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Offline Bakersdozen

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Re: BeeWeaver bees
« Reply #3 on: April 21, 2018, 08:53:10 am »
Keep us posted, Wandering Man.  This will be useful info for others.

Offline moebees

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Re: BeeWeaver bees
« Reply #4 on: April 21, 2018, 11:37:18 am »
Hands down, BWeaver are the best bees for Texas.  I've had docile hives and defensive hives headed by Bweaver queens.  They are less aggressive nowadays.  :)

Thanks, Lee.

Do you treat your BeeWeavers for mites?

How well do they handle SHB?

Dan Weaver went through all the sweat, heartache, and expense to create a treatment free bee and then you guys want to treat them?
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Offline Wandering Man

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Re: BeeWeaver bees
« Reply #5 on: April 21, 2018, 04:44:49 pm »
Yes, moebees if necessary. If Dan weaver loses a couple of hives, he’s lost a small percentage of his apiary and can rebuild quickly. If I lose a couple of hives, I’ve lost almost everything.

Have you run hives with them? What was your experience with them?


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Offline moebees

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Re: BeeWeaver bees
« Reply #6 on: April 21, 2018, 04:53:13 pm »
Yes, moebees if necessary. If Dan weaver loses a couple of hives, he’s lost a small percentage of his apiary and can rebuild quickly. If I lose a couple of hives, I’ve lost almost everything.

Have you run hives with them? What was your experience with them?

I have no personal experience with beeweaver queens.  But I do no the history of the development of the bees.  Contrary to your statement, Dan Weaver lost thousands of colonies developing a strain of bees that don't need treatment.  I respect that way more than someone afraid to lose two hives.  If you're going to treat anyway why don't you invest in some bees that need treatment.  Let the rest of us work on moving the ball forward.  ;)
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Offline Wandering Man

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Re: BeeWeaver bees
« Reply #7 on: April 21, 2018, 05:31:39 pm »
Moebees, I am moving the ball forwrd by bringing these queens’ genetics into the area. I do not raise queens, and I do not allow my hives to generate their own queens. I replace them with new queens that I buy from breeders. What I do with these queens will have no impact on the breeding of bees in general.

If these bees have faulty genetics, or are spot on will not make a difference. The hive won’t die before she has created drones and sent them out into the world. If she is not a true treatment free queen, and I don’t treat, it will be a 8 months to year to find out.

If she is not a true treatment free queen, and I treat, she will be replaced in a year. Not much difference.

If She doesn’t require treatment, my treating her will not affect her genetics, and her stronger genes will be launched into the world.

Now, back to my question, which I hope will help me decide how to care for my bees: Does anyone have experience with BeeWeaver bees? Please tell me how they did?

This include you, moebees. You are familiar with Dan’s work. What have you seen? What have you heard?

Please respect my attempt to be informed, and set aside any need to challenge a decision that I have not yet made.
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Re: BeeWeaver bees
« Reply #8 on: April 21, 2018, 08:44:01 pm »
There is more involved to raising varroa resistance bees than just queen selection. Where you are located also has an effect. In Texas the hives only shut down brood production for a short time so the bees can tolerate a higher mite load and also are not effected to the same extent by viruses as the colonies can produce new bees during warm spells in the winter. Also queen, package and nuc producers are manipulating their hives so much that it can be a forum of mite control. 
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Offline Lburou

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Re: BeeWeaver bees
« Reply #9 on: April 21, 2018, 09:23:55 pm »
BWeaver hives are real good at penning the SHB in beetle jails and they do well enough with the mites.  They have mites and I treat for them, but they don't have many.  Those bees are healthy on their own.  HTH   :)
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Offline moebees

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Re: BeeWeaver bees
« Reply #10 on: April 21, 2018, 11:29:17 pm »


This include you, moebees. You are familiar with Dan’s work. What have you seen? What have you heard?

Please respect my attempt to be informed, and set aside any need to challenge a decision that I have not yet made.

I have "heard" from other forums (BS) and a personal friend who has used beeweaver queens that they are indeed mite resistant and will survive without treatment.
The other thing I have noticed is not too many of the skeptics challenge the notion that they are mite resistant.  They do have a reputation for being hotter than average
but I think that probably is variable.  Probably many are fine but some are testy.   If I was further south I would try them but being in nothern Illinois I need northern queens.

Here is a link to a video presentation by Daniel Weaver on selecting for Varroa resistant bees. 


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Offline Wandering Man

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Re: BeeWeaver bees
« Reply #11 on: April 21, 2018, 11:49:22 pm »
Thanks, moebees.

My neighbor said his one hive was a little grumpy, initially.  He followed BeeWeavers' advice and started out with Italians, then switched to their BeeWeaver queen after six months.  After the first couple of weeks, he was ready to switch back to Italians.  But he stuck it out, and they seem to be calm right now. 

He has survived his first year, and just starting the second.  When he did a sugar roll in November, he only found 1 or 2 mites, much better than my 7 to 10 mites.  The heavy mite load is probably why one of my hives is struggling with chronic bee paralysis.



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Offline Wandering Man

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Re: BeeWeaver bees
« Reply #12 on: April 22, 2018, 06:45:29 pm »
BWeaver hives are real good at penning the SHB in beetle jails and they do well enough with the mites.  They have mites and I treat for them, but they don't have many.  Those bees are healthy on their own.  HTH   :)

Thanks Lee.
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Re: BeeWeaver bees
« Reply #13 on: April 22, 2018, 06:53:43 pm »
We placed the queens inside the hives this afternoon.

The hives are located about 100 feet off the private road on my friend’s property. He has other family members who live a bit further down the road and who care for the property. We were asked today to move the hives further away from the road since they grade the road from time to time.

I asked if we could wait a month to move them again. I just picked that time frame randomly. I felt it was too soon to traumatize the bees with another move. Was I wrong?

I think when we move, we will have the help of another strong back and a Tommy-lift, so I should be able to move the hives in one piece.
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Offline moebees

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Re: BeeWeaver bees
« Reply #14 on: April 22, 2018, 07:03:32 pm »

 We were asked today to move the hives further away from the road since they grade the road from time to time.

I asked if we could wait a month to move them again. I just picked that time frame randomly. I felt it was too soon to traumatize the bees with another move. Was I wrong?

I think when we move, we will have the help of another strong back and a Tommy-lift, so I should be able to move the hives in one piece.

Absolutely you did the right thing.  No way you want to move them while trying to introduce new queens.  I don't know if anyone commented previously but are you introducing with push in cages?  Hot hives can be difficult to introduce new queens.
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Offline Wandering Man

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Re: BeeWeaver bees
« Reply #15 on: April 22, 2018, 07:35:09 pm »
Push cage. Is that the wooden cage with candy on one end?  Yes.

We followed BeeWeaver's instructions, killing the queen yesterday, and installing the cage today.

Someone else had suggested that I tape the end of the cage and go back in two to three days so the bees aren't released too quickly, but BeeWeaver told us the three to four days it takes to eat through the candy should be enough.

I chose to believe BeeWeaver, primarily out of laziness.  I didn't want to go back out in three days and reopen the hives.

On Edit:  The swarm is not a hot hive at all.  They were appropriately agitated that we'd killed their queen, but not violently aggressive like the hive with the Chronic Bee Paralysis.
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Offline moebees

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Re: BeeWeaver bees
« Reply #16 on: April 22, 2018, 09:26:45 pm »
Push cage. Is that the wooden cage with candy on one end?  Yes.

We followed BeeWeaver's instructions, killing the queen yesterday, and installing the cage today.

Someone else had suggested that I tape the end of the cage and go back in two to three days so the bees aren't released too quickly, but BeeWeaver told us the three to four days it takes to eat through the candy should be enough.

I chose to believe BeeWeaver, primarily out of laziness.  I didn't want to go back out in three days and reopen the hives.

On Edit:  The swarm is not a hot hive at all.  They were appropriately agitated that we'd killed their queen, but not violently aggressive like the hive with the Chronic Bee Paralysis.

Ok, I think I confused you with someone else.  I thought you had moved these hives because they were aggressive.  Anyway, a push in cage is usually made out of hardware cloth but I've seen plastic ones too and you literally push it into the comb with the queen underneath.  It allows the queen to lay and she is protected from bees that might want to harm her. 

The candy release is fine for packages and other situations but doesn't always work with established hives and is very problematic for an aggressive hive. They tend to be difficult to requeen.  I don't know what kind of candy Beeweaver uses that takes 3 to 4 days to release.  I find most of the time it only takes the bees one to two days to get through the candy.
But if they told you 3 to 4 days I assume they know what they are talking about.
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Offline Wandering Man

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Re: BeeWeaver bees
« Reply #17 on: April 22, 2018, 09:36:10 pm »
No, you got it right. 3Reds thought it was the swarm that we moved into the nuc. But I suspected the hive which we was correct, so both got moved.

I saw the push hives ay BeeWeaver’s store. Thanks for the clarification.

Your assessment of how long it takes to get through the candy sounds right too.

I hope I’m not out buying a new queen.

Maybe if they kill off the queen, I could try to combine the nuc and the hot hive.
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Offline moebees

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Re: BeeWeaver bees
« Reply #18 on: April 22, 2018, 11:25:44 pm »
No, you got it right. 3Reds thought it was the swarm that we moved into the nuc. But I suspected the hive which we was correct, so both got moved.

I saw the push hives ay BeeWeaver’s store. Thanks for the clarification.

Your assessment of how long it takes to get through the candy sounds right too.

I hope I’m not out buying a new queen.

Maybe if they kill off the queen, I could try to combine the nuc and the hot hive.

It is your decision of course.  But if they kill her and you can afford it I would bet another one from Weavers and make a push in cage.  Wrapping the candy with tape for 3 or 4 days and then letting them at the candy works too but the push in cage is just about 100% effective.  And if you make it yourself it costs almost nothing. But lets hope they accept her.  I would not check for at least a week or 10 days though.  Checking too soon can cause them to kill her too.
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Offline Wandering Man

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Re: BeeWeaver bees
« Reply #19 on: April 22, 2018, 11:41:27 pm »
moebees,
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