MASTER BEEKEEPER PROGRAM

Texas Beekeeping reference sites:

• Information on Texas A&M Master Beekeeper Program:  http://masterbeekeeper.tamu.edu/program-requirements/ 
• Texas Beekeepers Association: http://texasbeekeepers.org/
• Central Texas Beekeepers Association: http://www.centraltexasbeekeepers.org/
• Alamo Area Beekeepers Association: http://alamobees.org/

BEES DON'T LIKE CAFFEINATED PEOPLE?

Some bee reading has led me to a new piece of information that I hadn't heard before. I've been stung a couple times by our little ladies (yes through my suit), but apparently bees don't like a caffeinated person.  I'm not sure if I buy into this or not - my husband is a coffee junkie & so far he hasn't had any stings. But for the curious - here's some stories.

http://beekeeperlinda.blogspot.com/2006/08/sting-saga.html "The Internet forum posters all suggest that you get stung more when wearing black and when you have ingested caffeine."

CRUSH & STRAIN METHOD

Notes on the Crush & Strain method. Only if you don't have plastic foundation frames:

http://beekeeperlinda.blogspot.com/2006/08/crushing-honey-and-honey-comb.html
http://beekeeperlinda.blogspot.com/2006/08/filtering-honey.html
http://forum.beemaster.com/index.php?topic=6621.msg39206#msg39206

EVERYONE IS FINE

It's been blazing hot this summer & the girls little pond has gone dry. Fortunately we made a trip out to fill it back up & we have neighbors with live stock to water.
Our poor hive of naughty girls seems to be surviving despite the set back of having to cut out a large chunk of brood.
They have a ways to go still to fill out the rest of their deep box home, but the queen is still laying & the girls are keeping it clean.

BACK ON THE HOME FRONT

Back at home in the city, I found this fellow while watering the garden.

He was all tangled up in the bird netting. When I pulled the lemon balm back to find his head, it looked very triangular to me. Not a good thing. So went & grabbed my snake boots & Opa's machete that I inherited, & proceeded to chop his head off. Then I gave him Jon's prayer to help him cross over in peace. (Jon gives a prayer over each animal he kills on a hunt) Once the head was off, I proceeded to cut around the bird netting to get him out of the garden. 

When I got to a point where I could inspect...he was indeed a rat snake. I feel bad for killing a good snake, but I don't think I could have safely cut him out of that netting anyway where I didn't either hurt him or myself in the process. When I got him laid out on the table, he had jammed himself all up in that netting. I'm pretty sure he'd been there a while too because I thought I heard something hiss at me last night when I was messing around in the garden in the dark.

I tried to stretch him out, but he kept curling on me when I'd go to grab my phone for a pic. Fully stretched & unheaded he was just over 48", so with a head he was easily 50" long & about 1.5" girth. A healthy boy. (figure of speech... don't know how you actually tell the difference).

(The right tool gets the job done!)

Earlier in the year (around February I think), I released what I thought was a baby garden snake into the garden... guess that wasn't a garden snake!

Note #1: Baby rat snakes are light tan with no markings

Note #2: They move opposite of the head direction, so if he's moving one way - look for the head on the opposite end!

Note #3: Touching them on the rear end will make them wiggle & move more! I learned that one when I was trying to stretch the headless body out for a measurement