Is it ok to let our sheep graze perennial pasture planted 3 months ago?

[Latestarter]

Ahhhh I can identify with your concerns... The best true answer is "nowhere" will be safe. For many years I considered the best course to be a fortified piece of property that could be defended. I have since come to the belief that to stay in one place is to die. The only way to survive would be to remain mobile and move to avoid the worst of "it"... All while maintaining the ability for self protection and defense of course. I hope that these questions and concerns never actually need be lived through, but have my doubts they can be avoided.

The other issue is it would be very difficult to survive unassisted. You have to sleep some time, and if alone, that leaves you vulnerable. Best odds for survival are with a small select group who can work as a team.

 

[Baymule]

If this country ever comes apart, I will be glad that I am in Texas. We were our own country before we joined the United States, with lands that reached to the Canadian border. Texas ceded those lands to the USA in exchange for taking our debt. That turned out to be a pretty good deal for the US. Texas was an independent country. We did it before and we can do it again.

 

[Elle]

When you say they have no stopping sense, are you referring to the sting rate while working with them? I'd like a queen from your hive that makes so much honey! However, not wanting a stingy strain if possible to avoid. Another point, I'm in a wintry area and I think I have found mention that you may be in TX so not sure how well your bees would transplant to my area.

 

[soarwitheagles]

When you say they have no stopping sense, are you referring to the sting rate while working with them? I'd like a queen from your hive that makes so much honey! However, not wanting a stingy strain if possible to avoid. Another point, I'm in a wintry area and I think I have found mention that you may be in TX so not sure how well your bees would transplant to my area.

Hi Elle!

So sorry for not seeing your post for nearly one month! I have not visited BYH for some time simply due to being very busy.

Regarding our bees...

To be 100% honest with you, I am not sure what type of bees we have!

The master beekeeper that comes over to help us mentioned that nearly every hive is different. We have some hives that are super tame and docile and they appear to Italians. They appear to be smaller that the other strains of bees we have. Other hives are a little more aggressive and I think they may be Russians. We also have a number of hives where the bees are nearly totally black...they are super dark. These are suppose to be the Carniolians.

Finally, we had one hive where the bees appeared much larger, much stronger, and were definitely much, much more aggressive when we permitted the hive to grow to 4 deeps. They also brought in honey much, much faster than any other hive we ever had. The stings from this aggressive hive hurt MUCH MORE than normal bee stings. To be honest with you, I still have no clue what they are. I do know they are not the Africanized honey bees [AHB] because the AHB's are smaller than your average honey bee.

We received so many conflicting reports on what to do with this aggressive hive: Some beeks told us to kill them all! Other beeks said kill only the queen. Other beeks said just leave them be and they may mellow out. Other beeks actually said make many more queens from this hive! LOL!

Here is what we did: we split the hive 3 ways, making new hives. We also made lots of new queens from this queen. Finally, we did another split too. The result? The bees are no longer aggressive. I think they may have become more aggressive because the hive had grown so large...

You are asking about purchasing or acquiring bees and queens. I highly suggest you follow the advice of many professional beekeepers: Simply purchase a local hive and start with that. Then, your bees should have all the necessary traits to overcome any of the local diseases/challenges that may be in your locale. I would not suggest you purchase bees from across the country...and that is simply my own advice...and I say it because it is what has worked incredibly well for us and because I have heard many beekeepers give this advice!

Sure hope this helps you!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Up, up, and away!

 

[Elle]

Well, it took me nearly a month to see your reply, lol! How many deeps have you been able to grow them to without them becoming more aggressive again? How many mediums or shallows do you use? I don't recall if you mentioned your beek management style. If you raise and sell queens/nucs/hive products. My hive are pretty much history now so I'll wait till I get organized at our new place to restart in beekeeping. <sigh> This week I'm packing up any remaining hive equipment. Not much of it survived the storm of the first Tuesday of September. Trees. Meh.

 

[soarwitheagles]

Well hi again everyone! We recently placed our sheep on a much newer freshly planted perennial pasture and it is working out just fine...not sure why so many people recommend waiting an entire year!

Happy 2018 to all!

Soar

 

[Baymule]

Good to see you back on here, been missing you!

 

[soarwitheagles]

Good to see you Bay! So sorry, I was out for quite some time! How ya been?

 

[Baymule]

Good to see you Bay! So sorry, I was out for quite some time! How ya been?

Been doing good. Having a whole lot better lambing this year than I had last year. I got a spotty ewe lamb!

https://www.backyardherds.com/threads/baymule-3rd-lambing.37110/