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Author Topic: FREE bees from Garland, Texas  (Read 3596 times)

Offline spoiledrottenpug

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FREE bees from Garland, Texas
« on: September 01, 2005, 01:51:07 pm »
Hello All!
I have a hive that needs rescuing or relocating from my elderly father's house. It is inside an outside wall where the slats are right next to the back door - about six inches from the door.
This is a brick home with a small amount of wood siding (thank heaven's!!!) The bottom two wood slats have rotted.
I do not want to kill these bees because my grandfather was a beekeeper so I have great respect for both beekeepers and all living things in general. However, my mind would change if I found out these were Africanized! :) LOL
I realize that behavior is the only way to identify bees as hybridized.
I could smoke them out possibly but I wanted to see if there were any beekeepers in need before I do that.  
My major concern is my father and elderly mother (deaf and blind) getting stung. They are in their 80's. My father has had many strokes, which led to him neglecting the repair of his house. When I found this out I jumped right in to help and to repair his house (physically, not financially as I am also unemployed/disabled after 9-11.) There are so many things he neglected that the slats just weren't on the top of the list... :( He still doesn't understand.
I would like to find someone who can rescue these bees a.s.a.p. or simply get them to move. I know that there will be a big mess to clean up unfortunately.
They started swarming about 6 a.m. this morning when the porch light was flipped on to let the dog out. That bothered me. The Pug ended up trapped in the backyard due to the thousand or so bees that attacked the bulb and banged into the sliding glass door like crazed June bugs.

We are in Garland, Texas a suburb of Dallas.
Please respond to me via email as I will be checking it several times today hoping for some response.
I have called two local beekeepers but got their answering machines. They were Graham Dodds and John Tabert.  I spoke with an Andre in pest control but he just wanted to kill them. I told him he was missing the point! :( He also told me that smoke would kill them! I know this not to be true unless the smoke is hot of course. Matter of fact there have been recent findings that smoke from the creosote bush or grapefruit leaves are a treatment for Varroa mites!!!...  I learn new things everyday!
None the less, any help is appreciated.
Thanks,
Debbie
Note added Sept. 2: As of last night, my elderly father advised me that he thinks the bees are located in a smoker on the other side of the back porch. He saw bees circulating around outside it.
Note added Sept. 11: No bees in the smoker. They are either in the eaves or the ground.

Offline fuzzybeekeeper

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FREE bees from Garland, Texas
« Reply #1 on: September 01, 2005, 04:11:34 pm »
Debbie;

If you will go to the top of the page and click on "Memberlist" and then go to "Sort" at the top middle of that page, you can find people by location.  There is one (Manowar?) from Garland and one from Dallas.  I'm from Brenham (4 hours south of you) or I'd love to help.  In fact, I plan on getting an amazing hive of bees out of a tree on a school yard if my wife doesn't veto the idea.  I'll post MY story and photos when that happens.

You also might try the

www.beesource.com

web site.  There might be more locals listed there. (Sorry Beemaster!)

Let us know how this turns out.  And thanks for your attitude on bees!

Fuzzybeekeeper

Offline bassman1977

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FREE bees from Garland, Texas
« Reply #2 on: September 01, 2005, 04:59:46 pm »
Quote
I plan on getting an amazing hive of bees out of a tree on a school yard if my wife doesn't veto the idea.


Do it now, ask forgiveness later  :P
(\__/)
(='.'=)
(''')_(''')

Offline Jay

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FREE bees from Garland, Texas
« Reply #3 on: September 01, 2005, 07:18:35 pm »
Another good resource might be any local bee club. Do a google search for your area and see what comes up for local bee clubs. Most clubs I know have a list of people in the club who are willing and able to do extractions. :D
By the rude bridge that arched the flood
Their flag to Aprils breeze unfurled
Here once the embattled farmers stood
And fired the shot heard round the world
-Emerson

Offline spoiledrottenpug

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FREE bees from Garland, Texas
« Reply #4 on: September 01, 2005, 11:50:15 pm »
I will do the sort procedure to find the names that were mentioned... such as Manowar. Thank you.
I did a google for the local beekeeping association and only found Collin County Beekeepers. A very nice gentleman named John Talbert told me that the Dallas County organization had pretty much disbanded due to lack of new blood (and probably due mostly to lack of green space in this concrete city IMO!!!)
Believe me, I have tried to get these city politicians to save more greenbelt but they just have thick heads... I have actually been successful in getting the city of Garland to save about a hundred acres along a limestone creek that looks like the west Austin Hillcountry area but it is an uphill battle. There are lots of bees there but their days will be numbered as soon as the new mall is complete  :roll: Maybe I can have some impact on the new educational center the city is going to build in the forest. Maybe I can get them to put a hive somewhere safe??? for the children to witness on school field trips.  I don't know if parents would sign off on that or not.

As far as my house, I believe now that the bees may actually be in a smoker on the back porch. It was hard to see last night since they were leaving the hive and my field of vision was limited since it was pitch black out and the porch light was blinding. My neighbor cut down a dead and hollow old growth sycamore 2 weeks ago and probably released them.
I will flip the light on tonight for a sec around midnight to see if the smoker is where they are coming from.
The Collin County fellow said that one of his commrades will stop buy Sat. morning to have a look. Since I haven't spoken to him since I got home, and it's a little late now to call, he still is under the impression that they are in the wall.
Another person I spoke with felt that the bees would have to die in order to get them all out of the wall. I think he felt that ripping the wall out would make it a dangerous situation for any beekeeper.
With this new location information about the smoker, maybe I will have more success getting a collector to harvest them.
Thank you so much for all the advice. I will look someone up right now here on the forum list!

Offline fuzzybeekeeper

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FREE bees from Garland, Texas
« Reply #5 on: September 02, 2005, 11:48:57 am »
Debbie;

Try this site:

http://www.texasbeekeepers.org/indexDynFrames.htm?http://www.texasbeekeepers.org/Navigation/SideBar.htm&0

Click on "Local Associations" and it will give you a map of several clubs in your area.

Keep Trying.

Fuzzybeekeeper

Offline spoiledrottenpug

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« Reply #6 on: September 11, 2005, 12:49:47 pm »
Well, after following everyone's advice I have spoken to some really nice people over the phone but I still have bees  :shock:
As of 8 a.m. this morning they were crawling on everything on the backside of the house, the sheetrock is cracking in the kitchen and you can see bees crawling around between the kitchen window and the screen.
I am unpacking my tent and camping gear because I expect that pretty soon me, the old folks, the two Pugs and the cat are going to have to move out! I'd move to Reunion Arena but it's full!
Little Giant came out last week but didn't detect any bees (it was 3 p.m. in the afternoon) despite tapping on the lowest board. Oddly I haven't see the bees flitting around anywhere during the day time.  
My neighbor's son, two doors down, reported that he had a swarm of bees two weeks ago all over a laundry basket he had put outside, so he "shooed" them away by kicking the basket and running!  :roll:

The last time I spoke with Manowar he was at a Pub having a Labor Day brew with the boyz. I am a little worried since his phone is now dead. I hope he made it home safely!  :(
At any rate, we still have bees or should I say, the bees still have us!