Could it Be???

[brooksbeefarm]

The 18 acres that i bought last winter and had 6 acres cleared of cedars and brush may or may not make a good outyard?? I was up there yesterday picking up some rocks, limbs, and cutting tree roots with an ax so i can disc it and plant clover and buckwheat this coming spring. The neighbors around said they haven't seen honey bees in several years, well i seen some white aster scattered here and there and along the road ditches and got to watching them. There was wasp, butterflies, and small bees (not much bigger than a sweat bee) working it, but what got my attention was several small black honey bees . They looked very much like the German black bees what old timers in that area called river bees (mean) . It wouldn't surprise me that they have survived, because they were so mean a disease, shb, or mite wouldn't want to enter there hive , If they mate with my supersede queens, or new swarm queens, it could be good or bad? good because they are survivors, the bad part is i had them mate with my gentle Midnight bees (late 60's and 70's) and they got so mean we had to burn some of them :'( I guess time will tell. Jack

[LazyBkpr]

Jack...
   I have some hives of the little black bees somewhere near me, close enough for my queens to mate with the drones, because I have a fair number of them in my hives now. They are smaller and more or less completely black abdomen, they look out of place among the rest of the bees in the hive and are easy to spot...  to this point I see no difference in temperment with my own queens, and I am quite fond of the dark ones..
   Let them intermix, and if a mean one pops up, do her in and make them start over..  Those bees you see are surviving without ANY help.. to me, that is worth the trouble of dealing with an occasional ornery hive!

[brooksbeefarm]

I will be keeping an eye on them and maybe even give them a second chance , They may have bred the mean part out by now, there use to be some commerciial beekeepers that brought hives of Italian bees in that area for the sumac bloom. They probably wasn't as bad as the AHB but i'll give them a closes second . Jack

[riverbee]

"They looked very much like the German black bees what old timers in that area called river bees (mean) . It wouldn't surprise me that they have survived, because they were so mean a disease, shb, or mite wouldn't want to enter there hive "

river bees you say jack?............it's a good thing........ .........

[tecumseh]

my original mentor reared german black bees.  nasty little buggers they were.  at least here a good purpose can be found for almost any bee...  the really mean one I commonly use for splits.

[LazyBkpr]

Indeed Tec.. Great way to make good use of them..   That was a slap the forehead moment.. Thanks..   I usually requeen them and get one hive, next time I will get three to five nucs!

   
   Jack;
 what old timers in that area called river bees (mean)

    Yes, small and mean..  You didnt expect anything with that monicker to be sweet and cuddly now did you?    I think they used to be called Squirt bees in this area...   

[iddee]

Careful there, guys. I think I see smoke rising up from the Wis. area.

[brooksbeefarm]

For some reason the old timers would walk the Big Sac river bottoms and fields close by looking for feral hives  and put there mark on them (no matter who's property it was on it was their bee tree), I guess it was Hillbilly law? in the winter they would cut the tree and take there honey and leave the bees to die. i got into some of that with my dad and uncles. Those little black bees would even put up a good fight on cold wibter days , most were found in Sycamore trees along the river, heard tell they would sprinkle flour on a bee if they seen one getting a drink while fishing on the gravel bar and watch which way the bee would fly off (called bee line) and they would walk in a straight line in that direction to find their hive ( must of been hard for some of them because they usually had moonshine with them while fishing, I guess that's where they got the name river bees, but later learned they were German Black bees. Jack

[riverbee]

no smoke here iddee!
i started it, just having fun with jack, and scott's comment was rather funny! (squirt bees....LOL!)

ps jack sorry for sidetracking your thread....

[brooksbeefarm]

No need to be sorry squirt, i've been so guilty of side tracking threads on this forum that if i gave an apology every time i did, i would burn up my computer . Hope everyone just over looks an old dumb hillbilly, and i'm trying to do better, unless i get a chance to jab perry,squirt,iddee tec, and a few others that can give it back. Thinking about taking Perry off my list, he's getting old and not much a challenge any more. Jack

[LazyBkpr]

  Iddee..  I THINK... I can still outrun her speed wise.. its the DISTANCE thing that worries me.. serious consideration is going into not running so i dont get beat up when i am trying to catch my breath..

Thinking about taking Perry off my list, he's getting old and not much a challenge any more.    Jack

   I think its cause he is working so much..  You'd be slow too if you had to drag a walker as far as he does!

[riverbee]

.........

perry's avoiding the walker comment.......LOL!!!........

anyways, we used to have the black bees here jack, been a long time since i have seen any.  all the old keeps and farmers still around, that's what they kept, the german black bees.  i think the germans all died out around here, be nice to think they may have survived the mites, but i doubt it.  i have some  darker bees, about the size of those little pesky sweat bees.  not sure what they are. (some type of native bee). about 8 or 10 years ago, there was a neighbor of mine here on the river that was keeping a stock of black bees he received from his grandfather....(lives way up in the stix in northern minnesota.)  claimed they were german black bees.  wouldn't disagree.   he asked me to help him on a few occasions.  they were pretty aggressive and snarky but sure made the honey.  they swarmed on him i don't know how many times. (he was just starting out).  they would nail him when he opened the hives and chase him.  he showed up at my door one afternoon with a face looked like it was a basketball..... asked me what was wrong, would i come look and help him out.  well first off, get a veil...... second, discovered he didn't have a smoker......

i did the best i could to help him out.  he gave up on those black bees and went to italians, but they sure don't do well here in our climate.  he gave up beekeeping last year. i sorta don't miss him keeping bees, but then again i sorta miss that he isn't,  he sure has kept me busy the last 10 years chasing his swarms from neighboring properties.......

ps jack, kept some midnite and starline bees, they sure were good bees. not real winter hardy, and the mites always seemed to get them.