# San Antonio Bees - new TBH user



## scottie9656 (May 11, 2015)

MarcSanAntonio said:


> I have caught 2 swarms recently at my house, one in a squirrel feeder and the other in a water meter. I could use some advice for my top bar hives. Screened bottoms or no screens needed? And if you have a screened bottom should i leave it open all the time since it is so humid and hot here? On another note, the first capture now seems to have guard bees that do not like me walking in there flight path 20-30 yards away in my garden. Seem to happen around the same time i inspected all the comb (accidental smashing happened to a few), the next day the began a dive bomb attack when i walked by, just 1 or 2 bees. I am replacing a fence behind them 10 feet with a chainsaw and powersaw with no attention. One last question  Full sun in south texas or shade? thx Marc


defiantly close the bottom board. I am new to bee keeping and I started my first hive this year with a screened bottom and they absconded within three days. Started my second package with it closed and they are doing fine. I am in middle Georgia where it is very hot and humid but I am still not sure if I will open it again or not.


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## Jim Moore (Mar 30, 2015)

Well, I'm a newbee as well so take my input with a grain of salt. My package has been in 15 days now and is doing great. 12 combs built with 5 or 6 of them 3/4 completed. Honey cells being capped and as well as brood. I have the bottom board and no screen. I only have two holes out of five open and the bees are closer to the back which indicates to me that they are not too hot. I have my TBH in an area that receives direct sunlight until around noon and then is in moderate to full shade the rest of the day. I'm in the Waco area so our climates are not too different. From what I have read, the full sun makes more sense in northern climates where heat is just not as much of an issue. 

If you are interested in seeing a few pictures visit my photo sharing site at http://albums.phanfare.com/isolated/Ntl1tZVS/1/6902418


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## Life is Good! (Feb 22, 2013)

Full sun or shade? Sun in the morning but shade starting about noon seems to be the consensus no matter your location. The sun in the morning seems to get the girls up and moving earlier! (Works on children too) And entrances facing the sun (Eastern or Southern exposures) too.

As for the dive-bombing, bees remember people. So yes, if you've messed with the hive, they'll remember it. While I always get curious lookers from my guard bees, I rarely get dive bombed, unless the hive is not queen-right or has swarm/supercedure cells going. Seems they're more protective during those situations. But a new install should have neither of those going on.....

Also - I cannot recall why, but avoid eating bananas before tending your hive. Something about that smell makes the girls a bit angry....and avoid heavily scented body sprays/lotions/potions etc. Bees know fake smells from real (where we don't), and react to some less positively than others. That was a tip given to me by an elder beekeeper (well over 80yrs experience keeping bees)....so I don't use any of that prior to tending the bees - I might stink to me, but not to my bees!


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## Sovek (Apr 27, 2014)

Closed, deff closed. More often than not, when a package/swarm absconds, its from a hive with an open bottom board. Last year my TBH was closed and they had no problems keeping the hive cool, even in 100 degree heat I never saw them beard or had comb collapse even being about a foot deep.

I have no idea why everyone says to make a Screened Bottom since the bees are capable of making do. The only time I can think of it being useful is if you are moving the hive, but lets be honest, TBHs dont move well, in which case if I was looking to move a horizontal hive, it would be a long lang, And I can just staple some screen to the top to allow for ventilation while the hive is in transit.


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## MarcSanAntonio (May 29, 2015)

Life is Good! said:


> Full sun or shade? Sun in the morning but shade starting about noon seems to be the consensus no matter your location. The sun in the morning seems to get the girls up and moving earlier! (Works on children too) And entrances facing the sun (Eastern or Southern exposures) too.
> 
> As for the dive-bombing, bees remember people. So yes, if you've messed with the hive, they'll remember it. While I always get curious lookers from my guard bees, I rarely get dive bombed, unless the hive is not queen-right or has swarm/supercedure cells going. Seems they're more protective during those situations. But a new install should have neither of those going on.....
> 
> Also - I cannot recall why, but avoid eating bananas before tending your hive. Something about that smell makes the girls a bit angry....and avoid heavily scented body sprays/lotions/potions etc. Bees know fake smells from real (where we don't), and react to some less positively than others. That was a tip given to me by an elder beekeeper (well over 80yrs experience keeping bees)....so I don't use any of that prior to tending the bees - I might stink to me, but not to my bees!


Does not "queen right" mean queen has aggressive traits? Same issue today, my mom sitting on the porch around 5pm gets a serious buzzing around the head. She was reading a book and about 30-35 yards away and not in the flight path. 30 minutes later i went out in full gear and was behind the hive working on some pavers, to test the waters, and then a loner came out of no where and began bouncing off my veil. This is a swarm i caught that i use to sit by with no issues when i first got it. I do have a piece of banana is a small hive beetle trap i built in the hive, just added is not to long ago.... Any advice would be great, i have some small kids and dont want to see anyone get stung.


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## Jim Moore (Mar 30, 2015)

Ok, once again I'm going to include the standard "I'm new also" disclaimer.

Based on my reading, collected swarms are full of unknowns, not the least of which can be aggressive behavior. It was for this reason I chose to buy a package from a reputable apiary that emphasized their queen breeding efforts to help ensure a docile hive. I'm amazed at how calm these bees are when I visit the hive. I do use a little smoke but I have had a ton of trouble keeping my smoker lit so I don't believe it has done much. Regardless, while I don't plan on working without protective gear anytime soon I do see how people are willing to do so with hives this calm. My point for all of this is that it very may be that you are not doing anything wrong. Since there is no way of knowing the genetics of your queen or the rest of the hive, it is possible there are aggressive traits in their genetic makeup. If it gets to be too much to handle, changing the queen might be an option (I'll admit I'm not sure how to do that as of yet but my wife and I are attending the Texas Beekeepers Summer Clinic in Conroe this coming weekend to learn how).
Two cents is not worth much I'm afraid.


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## sorgit (Apr 18, 2015)

Hi Marc, I live in Adkins right outside of San Antonio and my bees are at a second location down near Refugio. Haven't found any tbh keepers in our area. Would love to keep in touch with you for future issues. I have opened my hives twice since I installed the packages and out of the 3 times, they went after me twice. Both times I killed bees (inexperience). I'm wondering myself how they will do when I mow and work around them. All is new. Here are the hives my husband and I built. This was before they were levelled.
Tamma


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## jennSAL (Jan 6, 2014)

Screened bottom board- 1/8" hardware cloth- lets mites but not bees fall out. So that's why to use one. However I also had my hive last year abscond from open screened bottom board. This year I have a closed one- 1" below screened bottom board to get the benefit of the screened bottom board.

You know how swamp coolers cool and humidify air (adding water to the air drops its temperature) in dry climates such as New Mexico? Maybe here in SE AL (too humid for HUMANS to use swamp coolers, that's for sure!) having large amounts of moist hot air (70s+ even at night month before my bees absconded, 80-90 in day with 80-90%+ humidity) moving through open screened bottom board kept my bees from regulating the temperature. Maybe they can take it even moister than I can and can better regulate temps with less through draft? What do I know. This year have two hives above my closed (well, have vinyl political signs cut almost to size so only small openings around the edges) screened bottom boards for the past 5 weeks only (late year due to cold spring)


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## BeeTheBee (Mar 27, 2015)

Keep the screened bottom closed for Humidity's sake. Just like you in your house on a humid day keep it closed and regulate the humidity. open or crack a window just as they propolize an opening .. its not the heat its the humidity that they mostly regulate for their brood and that can cause issues. The screened bootom is for mite managment part of an overall strategy. Not really for air flow. I dont think the abscond happened due to the pen bottom board could be multiple reasons. Good Luck. and treat Bess how we would like to be treated.


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## gaspony (Mar 2, 2015)

Howdy from SA as well from a first year beekeeper. 
I have a couple top bar hive I just started this year with swarms and I haven't had any of them dive bombing me but if I go into the hive without smoke a couple hours from sunset I have been mobbed once so I think on average we will get a little more aggressive bees from feral swarms than the breeders sell especially here in AHB territory but that could also mean they are better at mite management and keeping other predators or parasites at bay. 
I have my hive now so that they start getting shade around 2pm. Hive beetles don't seem to be a problem yet but that is what I worry about with too much shade. They haven't been bearding yet but we've had a pretty mild early summer by south Texas standards so far.


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