Round Rock Honey House

[Wandering Man]

We were in the Austin area this week to escape our neighbor's fireworks and to visit with our children and grandchildren.  Maybe I should say visit with our grandchildren and children ...

Anyway, our oldest son took us to the Round Rock Honey House (https://roundrockhoney.com/).

They kindly spent time answering a lot of our questions and talking about bees.  They've got something close to 4,000 hives spread around the Austin and San Antonio area, and focus primarily on honey production, rather than pollination.

What surprised me was that they they are "treatment free," having developed their own line of queens in conjunction with Cornell University.  They do not sell their queens to others.  Now, they also admitted to having 30% losses, and think they may have lost 300 hives out of the most recent 1,000 they added, although they haven't counted the hives to be sure.

They typically requeen every 18 months.

If treatment is required, they will use olive oil (??).  They also mentioned another oil and herb combination with thymol to control SHB.

I wish I'd taken notes.  I was disappointed to learn that they won't sell their queens.

Anyway, I just thought I'd share with the group.

[riverbee]

thanks wm, i have heard of 'round rock honey', have some relatives in texas who have purchased their honey.

i am curious as to what breed of queens they are using, or requeening with, and if they are raising queens.

thymol is a good product for mite treatment, i have always had good results with it when i needed to use it. fortunately, we don't have shb, but it does work well on mites.

olive oil? interesting.

treatment free? would love to have their silver bullet...........

[Wandering Man]

thanks wm, i have heard of 'round rock honey', have some relatives in texas who have purchased their honey.

i am curious as to what breed of queens they are using, or requeening with, and if they are raising queens.

thymol is a good product for mite treatment, i have always had good results with it when i needed to use it. fortunately, we don't have shb, but it does work well on mites.

olive oil? interesting.

treatment free? would love to have their silver bullet...........

Their bees are proprietary, so they won't sell them.  But they did say the bees fare better in warm Texas than they do in colder climates.  So I'm guessing German genetics are not part of the mix.  And the bees hanging around the honey house did not seem overly aggressive, so there may not be much Africanized genetics, either.

[riverbee]

"Their bees are proprietary, so they won't sell them.  But they did say the bees fare better in warm Texas than they do in colder climates.  So I'm guessing German genetics are not part of the mix.  And the bees hanging around the honey house did not seem overly aggressive, so there may not be much Africanized genetics, either."

proprietary?.......
only so many breeds of bees/queens, unless they have developed their own.....
i get not selling bees/queens and understand the honey production aspect. honey production for me is all i am really interested in. i don't sell nucs, queens etc.....
when someone asks me what my bees are, i tell them, it is not a secret.

we are beekeepers and anything to help another beek is a good thing. just my thinking.

[Bakersdozen]

Wandering Man, their website says that teach beekeeping classes.  Ask them if they teach queen rearing.  You might get more info that way.
They have a beautiful label.
riverbee, you are so right.  We should help other beekeepers as much as possible.  Education comes in many forms.

[Wandering Man]

Wandering Man, their website says that teach beekeeping classes.  Ask them if they teach queen rearing.  You might get more info that way.
They have a beautiful label.
riverbee, you are so right.  We should help other beekeepers as much as possible.  Education comes in many forms.

I think all they offer is a three hour introductory course.

I asked if they had anyone nearby that I could get to speak to our little bee group, but the only answer I got was that they had a retired beekeeper in our area who was "very" eccentric.  They didn't offer his name, and I let it drop.

Still, I might ask for the man's name sometime in the future and risk meeting somebody more eccentric than Riverbee ....

[riverbee]

"I think all they offer is a three hour introductory course.
I asked if they had anyone nearby that I could get to speak to our little bee group, but the only answer I got was that they had a retired beekeeper in our area who was "very" eccentric.  They didn't offer his name, and I let it drop.
Still, I might ask for the man's name sometime in the future and risk meeting somebody more eccentric than Riverbee ...."

anytime anyone has asked me to help them out, i do, as best i can. sometimes i have been unable to, time and travel distance.  i have helped many beeks get started, help them check hives, queen, requeen, combine, catch swarms, etc...., spoken at clubs and locally at schools and whatever to promote beekeeping and educate others. yammered to politicians.......
helped older beeks to consider another way of keeping bees other than what they were stuck on and not being so successful.
it's what we do to help others out.
 
if you push my 'bee' button, hard for me to 'shut up'.............

i didn't think i was eccentric, but maybe?  i guess i can be a little quirky........

wm, not being judgmental, but it sounds to me like these folks aren't really interested in helping others out?

[Wandering Man]

I think you’re right. This is a big business. They think they’ve got it all figured out. They offer their 3 hour beginners beek course, which I suspect is more about public relations than wanting to make an impact on Beekeeping.

Comparing them to Gretchen Bee Ranch in Seguin, Texas, where Mark Gretchin offers almost weekly lessons on all aspects of Beekeeping and readily presents to local clubs, there is a big difference in focus and openness.

[Bakersdozen]

They, Round Rock, have a highly polished image.  There was a couple of things I saw in the video that I didn't quite agree with.  Being secretive concerns me too.  Maybe it's just being territorial.