Feral bees

[Mikey N.C.]

Have a wild hive in a tree that we're going to try an do some trap outs,this spring. Homeowner has been there 7 1/2 yrs. bees were their when he bought the house, my question is how can wild bees not be affected by SHB,MITES,VIRUSES ect.

[Riverrat]

They havent had human intervention

[tefer2]

New swarm every spring!

[Mikey N.C.]

HeHeHe  don't tell nobody

[Mikey N.C.]

I understand they swarm every yr. If not no human contact, then mites ,shb,viruses ect. Would kill them off rite If that seems to be our problem?? Keeping them in a box??

[Riverrat]

I understand they swarm every yr. If not no human contact, then mites ,shb,viruses ect. Would kill them off rite If that seems to be our problem?? Keeping them in a box??

When mites came onto the scene it wiped out about ever feral hive in the United States.  Over time and years later they made a comeback.  Its been found that bees over a period of time will  deal with the mites and other problems on there own with better results than the hives being treated.  Bees in the wild will swarm at least once a year.  This breaks the brood cycle and helps with mites naturally.  The hives living in the wild also have a smaller opening to defend and are able to better keep SHB and other pest out. Nobody knows the bees better than the bees  themselves.  And with that said that includes the salesman trying to sell you pesticides and other doohickeys to make a buck

[Mikey N.C.]

Thanks riverrat for info, an understand ,I'm just trying to learn more about the behavior of all bees, in Africa they use tbh only to collect honey(because they're aggressive) but bees move on,is it that we're using them for agriculture purpose or trying to have a hobby?? And don't get me wrong I've got bee fever, just trying to learn

[Ray]

It's quite possible that feral hive has died out several times and been replaced by a swarm as needed.
I hope I'm wrong and you get some great genetics with your trap out.

[apisbees]

bees

[caesarsfish]

I have a couple feral hives that I caught in swarm traps.  I kinda leave them to their selves.  I have never had a mite problem with these bees but I do treat all my  hives twice a year.  These bees are smaller,  darker, and  meaner but they love to make honey.

[Mikey N.C.]

Thanks for the info

[Mikey N.C.]

Yea, I finally read iddee trapout post,got all the info I think I'll need will probably still have questions. Thanks iddee for such a informative post