Our First Bees
We purchased a 3 lb. package (~10,500 bees) of Midnite bees from Draper's Super Bee Apiaries. We had the queen's wing clipped (right one, even year) so as to keep her from leaving the hive and had her marked [was supposed to be with the year 2000's color (year ends in zero so color code should be blue)] so as to be able to locate her easily.
Draper ships the first day of each week (weather permitting). If it is bad weather on Monday or Tuesday, they will ship the following week. It usually takes 3 - 4 days to arrive at the local Post Office. The Spring, Texas Post Office called us on Friday to come pick the bees up.
"Midnite is a hybrid derived from Caucasian sources. The bees of a Midnite queen are dark color and extremely gentle. In fact, this hybrid was developed expressly for the hobby beekeeper. However, the honey producing capabilities of this hybrid are so improved that many commercial producers are now discovering and using it. In honey production capacity, it is now rivaling the Starline, while still retaining its gentle nature. In belief, dark bees are more resistant to mites." - from Midnite Bee
(Midnite)" A Carniolan/Caucasian cross. Moderate spring buildup, dark to dark gray, dark queens. Good in marginal weather and extremely gentle. Shuts down early in fall, winters well."
Then Midnite is a hybrid of "Caucasian and Carnolian bees" or in scientific terms,
Rich Webb' s site gives the following traits for Midnite bees:
"Like the Starline, the Midnite bee is a hybrid derived form Caucasian sources. The bees of a Midnite queen are dark in color and extremely gentle. In fact this hybrid was developed especially for the hobby beekeeper. However, the honey producing capabilities of this hybrid are so improved that many commercial producers are now discovering them and using this hybrid. In addition, the recent introduction into this country of bee pests such as the Tracheal mite and Varroa mite has caused many to use the Caucasian type bees because they are more empowered to recognize and fight these mites than some of the other strains. In addition, the honey production capabilities are now approaching the Starline while still retaining a gentle nature."
From a fellow beekeeper, Russell Sears:
"... for gentleness nothing beats the Midnite bees. I started 5
years ago with two Midnite hives and had excellent honey production. The
only negative is their love of propolis but even that wasn't as bad as I was led
Our Second Bees
From Virginia Purchon's Beekeeping site:
"It was Maurice Maeterlink who wrote, in 1901, after many years of beekeeping: "To him who has known them and loved them, a summer without bees becomes as sad and as empty as one without flowers or birds."
Mr. Maeterlink's words are true as we found out. When we lost our Midnite queen due to an accident, we bought two Starline queens from York Bee Co. As we suspected, York Bee doesn't follow conventional color code convention as both of our Starline queens were marked yellow.
From Midnite Bee:
(Starline) "A hybrid of several stocks, all Italian. Fast spring buildup, lots of brood early means terrific honey production. Very uniform in appearance, they are slow to shut down in fall. Good commercial bee."
Then Starline is a hybrid of "Italian bees" or in scientific terms,
Rich Webb' s site gives the following traits for Starline bees:
From the York Bee Company web site:
Starline is derived as a hybrid strain of Italians and is the only commercially
available hybrid race of Italians. It is very desirable, and the strain is
a memorial to the late Dr. G. H. Cale. It has proved very productive in
the clover area and some people refer to the Starline as the clover bee.
Many commercial producers admire and use this bee even though some black bee
types such as the Caucasian and Midnite appear to have some advantages because
of the importation of bee pests. However, the hybrid nature of the
Starline proves equally resistant to these pests in normal commercial
operations. They still retain a gentle nature and exhibit the honey
production of a true hybrid. These are very desirable and you should
always keep using these even if you prefer other strains just to keep
knowledgeable about the behavior of hybrids in the changing bee world of today."
Our Third Bees
We purchased our third bees already intact as part of an existing Langstroth hive from Mr. Jim Stowe of the Montgomery County Beekeepers Association. Mr. Stowe informed us that these were Buckfast bees from B. Weaver Apiaries.
From Midnite Bee:
(Buckfast) "A hybrid of several races, selected for gentleness, wintering, production and tracheal mite resistance. Available from Weaver Apiaries and some other outlets. Variable in appearance, queens tend toward leather. Moderate fast spring buildup, peak in early summer, good producers. Low swarming."
Rich Webb' s site gives the following traits for Buckfast bees:
In early April of 2001, we lost our queen and had to replace her with one purchased from Mr. Don Ivy of the Montgomery County Beekeepers Association. We don't know what type of bee this new queen is.
Our Fourth Bees
We don't know what type of bee our fourth set is. We captured them as a swarm in a subdivision about two miles away from us.
Our Fifth Bees