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Post by cff on Mar 24, 2009 18:19:27 GMT -5
Bees way up in a tree With no limb close by they all hit the side of the tree.  Farm method to remove bees   |
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Post by grungy on Mar 24, 2009 20:20:14 GMT -5
Lucky fellow, all those bees kind of dropped into his lap, er, bucket, er hive.
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Post by cff on Mar 25, 2009 19:34:26 GMT -5
Sometimes bees will land in the worst places, we learned a trick a few years ago. My son up in the tractor bucket has a Windex spray bottle full of sugar water - he'll wet them down with sugar water to limit there ability to fly and pick up a few pounds of bees and lay them into the top of the hive sitting in the tractor bucket at his feet. He was having a pretty good time till a few bees climbed up his paints leg and wreaked some havoc  |
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Post by grungy on Mar 25, 2009 21:12:02 GMT -5
I bet he was. LOL
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Post by macmex on Mar 28, 2009 6:52:41 GMT -5
I'll tell you a funny one. Back in the 90s I set up an agronomy program (basically bees, gardens, seed saving & rabbitry) in a small Bible Institute in South Central Mexico. By that time the Africanized bees had gotten really entrenched there. So, every year I would purchase a couple of good docile queens from Texas and bring them in to the country by land. We'd graft them into a couple hives and then raise more from them. First generation crosses with the African were very good. Second time 'round crosses were too hot.
Anyway, one year we couldn't get to the border when we normally went and one of our co-workers was going. I asked if he and his family could pick up two "itty bitty bee cages" for me and bring them back. All they had to do was keep them from getting over heated. (South Texas sun can heat up a car in a hurry). This fellow and his wife didn't have much experience with critters and they were hesitant. But with much coaxing, I managed to convince him.
Well, they picked up the bees, no problem. But then they needed to make another stop. They were in a quandary, after all thievery in South Texas was a BIG problem. They didn't care to carry the bees with them, into another establishment, but they didn't want to cook them either. Finally they settled on cracking four windows of the car and making "a run" into the store. They'd make their transaction quickly and get back before the car heated up....
Well, who'd of thought that a swarm of bees would be passing by, right in the heart of McAllen, Texas?! When they came rushing back to their car they found it FULL of bees! A swarm had come by and smelled the two queens. They decided to join them IN THE CAR! Our poor non-bee keeping friends were traumatized. Unfortunately I could never again convince them to bring queens in for me.
George
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Post by cff on Mar 28, 2009 10:30:23 GMT -5
Now that's a story your friends will be telling to their great - grandchildren |
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Post by woodchuck on Mar 28, 2009 11:01:43 GMT -5
Cool! I've shot swarms out of trees that were too small to climb. I place a coverless hive on the ground below the swarm and blast the branch they're hanging on with a choked shotgun. If they don't take up residence in the hive, they usually cluster somewhere close in a more easily retrievable spot. ~Martin |
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Post by macmex on Mar 28, 2009 12:29:13 GMT -5
Sounds good woodchuck! Here's another one for you. I was born and raised in New Jersey, arriving in Oklahoma by a rather circuitous route which took years. Back in NJ I was sometimes considered to be somewhat an oddity because of my love for hunting, trapping and other back to the earth things. Anyway, during our second winter here in Oklahoma, we got hit by a very bad ice storm. The ice was building up on the trees overhanging our power lines and bedroom. The power had gone out hours earlier. But I was sure that those branches would come down during the night and take out the lines and possibly come through the ceiling. I spent the day wracking my brains on how to trim those branches before they broke. But every idea I had involved climbing, and my wife vetoed it!!! I was so frustrated! But just as the sun was going down, I had a BRAINSTORM! I got out my 30-30 and shot the ends off of the branches. It worked like a charm! I was so proud of myself!
A week later I rather smugly mentioned this to a neighbor. He looked somewhat surprised and "popped my balloon," saying "That was an expensive fix. I always use 12 gauge slugs!"
Here I thought I was so smart. I found out that most of the neighbors already did it... better.
George
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