# Seeing a lot of bee trucks heading south



## Hambone (Mar 17, 2008)

Since last Friday I have seen six truckloads of bees heading south towards Houston. Wonder where they are going. Being in N. Texas we mostly grow corn and cotton. There is a large Watermelon farm by College Station. Other than that I am not sure where they would be heading. In the deep south valley there is a lot of growing. But this is not the highway to go to the valley. Must be some orchards or something between here and Houston. Or maybe southeast TX. 

Do any of you send you’re bees to TX for contracts? I know some do to over winter and that’s why I figured I would see the trucks heading North and not South.


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## Gregg (Dec 22, 2003)

Heading towards the Gulf coast & the chinese tallow trees I would presume.


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## Farmsteader (Mar 12, 2010)

What about Citrus ? Any Nuts there ? (eating kind),


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## Hambone (Mar 17, 2008)

Gregg said:


> Heading towards the Gulf coast & the chinese tallow trees I would presume.


I bet you are right. I remember hearing there are a bunch of those down there.


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## Hambone (Mar 17, 2008)

Farmsteader said:


> What about Citrus ? Any Nuts there ? (eating kind),



Not that I know of. Further south in the valley there is.


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## alpha6 (May 12, 2008)

Maybe they are headed to Galveston for spring break! :doh:


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

Going back to FL maybe?


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## redbee (Dec 29, 2005)

Bees are coming from Calif. from the almonds and now are being trucked to Tx to be split and requeened before going to midwest for the honey crop.


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## Hambone (Mar 17, 2008)

alpha6 said:


> Maybe they are headed to Galveston for spring break! :doh:


That would be a sight to see. 



sqkcrk said:


> Going back to FL maybe?


Could be. That is one way to get to FL from here. And probably they way I would go is cutting thru Houston. 



redbee said:


> Bees are coming from Calif. from the almonds and now are being trucked to Tx to be split and requeened before going to midwest for the honey crop.


Makes since to me. Didn't know almonds were over.


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## JohnK and Sheri (Nov 28, 2004)

Hambone said:


> Didn't know almonds were over.


Almonds have been done for a week or so. I think our bees are the only ones left in Californiar. Hoping to get our first truck heading towards home tomorrow (fingers crossed).

And yes, many are going to Texas for queens and splits before heading north for honey production. Some stay in Texas for Tallow, some try to get out of there before the bees put on that kind of weight.
Sheri


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## Hambone (Mar 17, 2008)

Thanks Sheri! Saw 2 more today.


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

Why don't you follow them to the truck stop and ask them where they are going?


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## Bud Dingler (Feb 8, 2008)

if the trucks have a bumper sticker that says "If they have possums in heaven I'm bringing my shotgun" they are probably heading to the south eastern part of our country is my guess...


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## Hambone (Mar 17, 2008)

sqkcrk said:


> Why don't you follow them to the truck stop and ask them where they are going?


I would but I see most of them while I am at work. My office over looks the highway so I get to see them coming and going. What I need to do is get a cb and talk to them as they are rolling thru.


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## Chick (May 21, 2009)

The tallow trees are thick here, and other than for honey, have exactly no purpose. They are a total menace. 

I saw a truck of bees here, and the hives didn't have any screen wire stapled over the entrances, or anything. the inside of the net was covered with bees, plus had a couple of clusters on the outside of the back. There were South Dakota plates on the truck and trailer. Is this common, not to screen
the entrance?


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## Keith Jarrett (Dec 10, 2006)

Hambone said:


> over looks the highway


Would that be hwy 10?


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## Bob Nelson (Feb 10, 2005)

I am guessing I-45. Thats where we pass Ennis going into East Texas.


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## Beeslave (Feb 6, 2009)

Chick said:


> Is this common, not to screen
> the entrance?


Yes


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## Hambone (Mar 17, 2008)

Bob Nelson said:


> I am guessing I-45. Thats where we pass Ennis going into East Texas.


That's right.


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## dbest (Aug 9, 2005)

Chick said:


> I saw a truck of bees here, and the hives didn't have any screen wire stapled over the entrances, or anything. the inside of the net was covered with bees, plus had a couple of clusters on the outside of the back. There were South Dakota plates on the truck and trailer. Is this common, not to screen
> the entrance?


People screen the entrance? I didn't know anyone still did that.


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

dbest said:


> People screen the entrance? I didn't know anyone still did that.


I guess if they wanted to kill their colonies they would. But I don't know anyone who does, not any commercial beekeepers anyway.


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## Chick (May 21, 2009)

By putting 1/8" hardware cloth across the entrance, it allows the hive to breath, and not let the bees out of it. I know a man that sold 18 hives, and the buyer said he did not need to screen the entrance, When he got home, he had lost the bees out of several of them, and lost several more, in the next 2 weeks. He thinks that enough bees were lost on the road, that it weakened the hives. I think there were 4 out of the original 18, that survived. With the 18 wheeler I was following, my windshield was being splattered, continuously. Then I got closer, and saw it was bees. I don't see how the hives could have taken those kinds of losses, all the way from South Dakota to Texas.


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## JohnK and Sheri (Nov 28, 2004)

When we move colonies we never close them up and I don't know a single commercial operator who does. It would be way too time consuming, very dangerous for the bees and is just not necessary.
When moving them locally from holding yards to out yards we move them either very early in the morning before flight or on rainy/cold days. We drive directly to the destination with no stops and do not net them. If moving when they might be expected to fly we still leave them open but net the load. 
It is irresponsible to move bees any distance without nets. Not only can it impact the colonies, but the stragglers left on route cause problems for local beeks, who are the first in mind when a cluster of lost bees is found on a stop sign or gas station awning.
I also consider it inhumane treatment of the lost bees.
We do close off colonies with hardware cloth for customers when they transport, but take overheating very seriously, using screen tops as weather conditions suggest.
Sheri


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## johng (Nov 24, 2009)

Easy bud. We don't all eat possum.LOL

I never knew those tallow trees where good honey trees until I started keeping bees. I've been cuttin everyone down I can find. Now I kind of wish I would of left some on my place. But, they are really invasive. My neibors still have quite a few. If it will ever warm up maybe they will come back out. My citrus have not even came out yet.


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## Chick (May 21, 2009)

CUT THEM DOWN! Honey or not. They will take over pastures and hay fields, like no one's business. 

The truck I saw, had South Dakota (thats a long way from the Texas/Louisiana border on I 10) plates on the truck and trailer, and although the hives were netted, the entrances were not screened. The bees were all over the inside of the net, and were making it out, like water. They were splattering my truck, like rain. If that is someone's idea of how to take care of bees, I am way off track. 1/8" screen wire will let the hive breath and keep the bees in. I sure don't see how screening the hive would kill the colony, but the way they were hitting my truck, was sure killing them. At the rate they were coming out from under the net, I would say they were losing at least 5 lbs of bees every 10 miles.


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## hpm08161947 (May 16, 2009)

Sounds like a bad (Holey) net to me.... we had a shipment in last light with a few holes in the nets - I did not like it but we didn't loose many bees at least after grading them today.


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## Beeslave (Feb 6, 2009)

The bad thing about hauling overpopulated hives in warm weather is they overheat. To try to overcome that the bees will leave the hives and fly against the net. It is not wise to screen them in! If you have a poor driver that stops during the day and shuts the truck off the bees will fly against the net also. Most off the bees that fly out will be the older foragers and they would be due to perish anyways.


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## hpm08161947 (May 16, 2009)

We had a driver that went from CA to the Atlantic Ocean in 72 hours - don't see how he did that - he was still standing and talking last night at 2:00 AM.... Those Texas drivers must be tough, plus know how to run under the regs...


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## JohnK and Sheri (Nov 28, 2004)

Chick said:


> I sure don't see how screening the hive would kill the colony


If you had much experience doing so you _would_ see. 
Bees can get claustrophobic when enclosed and as they get more agitated, they create more heat which gets them more agitated, a vicious circle. As too many try to get to the entrance to cool off they block the air flow and things can quickly go past critical. These same colonies, if not enclosed will stay calm and travel much better. They will stay mostly tucked inside as long as the truck is moving and/or it is cool or dark outside. What you don't want is for the trucker to stop for a lunch break or to gamble in Vegas in the middle of the day. 

Plus stapling up a lot of colonies is too time consuming. Even if they could stay cool enough with the air flow from travel, some could easily overheat in the time it would take to close 500+ colonies before starting off and to open them once on the ground again. 



Chick said:


> I would say they were losing at least 5 lbs of bees every 10 miles.


The one time you drove behind a bee truck you had one with a bad net. Or someone didn't secure it well.


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## Chick (May 21, 2009)

This is the time of year that I see the trucks moving bees, for obvious reasons. I have never moved more than 20 hives at a time, but we have always blocked the entrance. Then again, the hives were not blocked more than 6 hours. Maybe this was an extreme case. the bees were clustered up and down the back and the one side I could see, and had a large cluster outside the net, on the back. Maybe that is common. I see bee trucks from time to time, but I have only followed a bee truck one other time, and I got pelted by bees that time too. Just asking a question, as it seems to not really keep the bees in. Then again, maybe both times the net was not secured properly. I don't plan to be moving bees that great of a distance, and I will screen the entrance and move them in cool weather, or at night.


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## Chick (May 21, 2009)

I never made the California run, but I hauled a horse to Ocala, Florida and back, in 32 hours. Actually was up longer than that. That was a killer, that taught me a lesson.


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