Author Topic: I've been robbed!  (Read 8557 times)

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Offline Zweefer

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Re: I've been robbed!
« Reply #20 on: March 06, 2019, 05:26:21 pm »
I’m still flabbergasted at the statement that things are blooming there. We are bracing for another snowstorm this coming weekend.


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Offline Wandering Man

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Re: I've been robbed!
« Reply #21 on: March 06, 2019, 05:51:17 pm »
I’m still flabbergasted at the statement that things are blooming there. We are bracing for another snowstorm this coming weekend.


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This is from 2 Saturdays ago, when I was checking on the bees.  The girls were still defensive, either because of the robbing or because of the long series of overcast and rainy days:


I caught this bobcat on camera later in the week.  Well, I guess I only caught his bobbed tail:


High of 47 yesterday, with a light freeze early morning.  High of 59 today and sunny.  Tomorrow will be 75 and 50% chance of rain.  We'll try to feed the bees, anyway.  There are blooming plants out here.  I'll take some pictures of the flowers tomorrow.  The Texas roadside flowers are pretty, but I don't think the bees work them.
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Offline Bakersdozen

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Re: I've been robbed!
« Reply #22 on: March 06, 2019, 06:34:43 pm »
WM, I am intrigued with how grumpy those bees are!  To be down the road and still get stung?  I could understand a defensive sting, like if one got trapped in your clothing.  They are not happy.   :bee:  From my experience, when they figure out there are not where they should be (in a vehicle) their attention focuses on going to the window and trying to get out.

Offline Wandering Man

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Re: I've been robbed!
« Reply #23 on: March 06, 2019, 07:19:52 pm »
WM, I am intrigued with how grumpy those bees are!  To be down the road and still get stung?  I could understand a defensive sting, like if one got trapped in your clothing.  They are not happy.   :bee:  From my experience, when they figure out there are not where they should be (in a vehicle) their attention focuses on going to the window and trying to get out.

That's what I was banking on when I took off my jacket and veil.  I thought everyone had evacuated the truck by the time I'd stopped, but there was a cluster in the backseat on some old bee equipment.  Maybe they thought they were a new colony?

These are BeeWeaver bees.  I'd installed new queens in all three hives in March last year.  I found the marked queen in the hive that had been robbed.  They could have been from the middle hive, which was also aggressive.  I hadn't dug down looking for the queen because the hive seemed to be doing well, other than the defensiveness.  Lots of bees going in and out.  BeeWeavers are raised in an area with Africanized bees in the neighborhood, so there are sometimes Africanized genetics happening. 

In any event, the bees were still defensive, but calmer the last time we visited.  The bees did not follow us as far from the hives as they had the week before.  When I got stung, 3Reds and I had walked a pretty good distance from the hive and still had bees swarming us.  This last time, there were only one or two bees around us when we stopped, and those left as soon as we stepped into the truck.

The week I got stung, I had parked next to the hives, so I stepped into the truck with a cloud of bees.

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Offline Bakersdozen

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Re: I've been robbed!
« Reply #24 on: March 07, 2019, 04:00:16 pm »
I would be thinking about re-queening.  Using a smoker?  :yes:  Sunny day?  :yes:  Middle of the day?  :yes:  Calm winds?  :yes:

Offline Wandering Man

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Re: I've been robbed!
« Reply #25 on: March 07, 2019, 06:46:25 pm »
I would be thinking about re-queening.  Using a smoker?  :yes:  Sunny day?   :no:  Middle of the day?  :yes:  Calm winds?  :yes:

We went out today and the hives were better.  The vertical lang was still a bit more defensive than the other two.  A few followed us all the way back to the road, but not as many as last Saturday.



I don't think either of us took any stings to the gloves, like we did last week. 

The bees were busy going in and out of the hives.  Lots of pollen was coming in.













As far as blooming plants, here's whats popping up on the sides of the roads down here.  I think it is called Indian Paintbrush:


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Offline Wandering Man

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Re: I've been robbed!
« Reply #26 on: March 08, 2019, 08:07:07 pm »
Went out again today just to look.  The bees are working hard.






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Offline Bakersdozen

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Re: I've been robbed!
« Reply #27 on: March 09, 2019, 07:45:19 pm »
I think I see some pollen in pic #2.

Offline Wandering Man

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Re: I've been robbed!
« Reply #28 on: March 09, 2019, 07:48:18 pm »
I think I see some pollen in pic #2.

Yes. They’ve been bringing in pollen sor several weeks, now. Mostly yellow, but this week they’ve started bringing in a grey pollen.
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