The Bee Place

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The Bee Place Our main location is in Somerset, about 30 minutes southwest of downtown San Antonio, Texas. We offer honey bees of a gentle nature and top quality genetics.

We offer very gentle Italian honey bees as well as our own Texan Honey Bees®, beekeeping supplies and hands on beekeeping classes with a professional beekeeper. Honey Bees For Sale or Lease - Starter Colonies (called Nucs), Colonies and Queen Bees
Are you or someone you know wanting to keep bees or add to your current apiary? Depending on the season and what we have in stock, we offer a variety of options including starter Nucs (colony nucleus), full colonies and queens when available. Please visit our Honey Bees For Sale and Queen Bees For Sale (seasonal) pages for prices, options and availability. Ask about our Lease Contracts for Ag Exemption purposes. Beekeeping Basics - Honey Bee Classes
We also provide the basic information and instructions needed to get started in beekeeping. Honeybees 101 for adults and youth as well. Bees can be for the entire family to experience and enjoy. Come out to pick up your hives and stay for a half day of gleanings in beekeeping, as they say, with a Professional Beekeeper including a Q & A segment as well as hands on over an active hive. Intermediate and Advanced classes are held a few times a year. Beekeeping Gear - Hives, Tools & Supplies
We offer a full line of Beekeeping Supplies. From basic Bee Hive Sets to full Apiary Starter Kits to Individual Hive Parts, Clothing & Protective Gear, Feeders, to the Tools & Accessories needed, we are here to help. The standard 10 Frame Langstroth style hives are the most common, so that is what we recommend and use in our own yards. We keep the most of the basics in stock, but for large orders we may require time to fabricate and / or treat raw wood to protect it from the elements. Please Note: Beekeeping Supplies and Bees are Local Pickup and by Appointment Only

Pollination Services - What's in your Crops? The bulk of the world's crops require pollination by pollinating insects such as honey bees, some birds and even bats. Many crops benefit and produce at a much higher rate when honey bees are introduced to the fields when the crops are in bloom. We understand this need by fellow farmers, but we also value our bees, so we only offer Pollination Services to chemical conscious farmers. Anyone requesting our bee pollination services must be operating a pesticide free environment and sign a contract agreeing to meet this requirement. Meaning, if and when chemicals are to be used on the farms around or near the bee yards, ample notice will be given so the bees can be relocated beforehand. Pure Honey - We offer a variety of pure golden sweetness in bulk. As the bees gather the nectar from the wildflowers, the clover, or the mesquites and even the highly sought after Huajilla blooms, they all offer their unique flavors and colors in the honey they produce. Many folks believe honey has a variety of healing properties. We have bees in more than one area, so we have "local honey" from multiple counties. Contact Us to find out what we currently have available. Apiary Maintenance - Honey Bee Hive Management Services
When a customer needs bees for their property, but is not able or interested in becoming a beekeeper, we can help. We assist with the location and set-up of the apiary and the pollination hives in a location out of the way of normal foot traffic and pets somewhere on the customer's property. We have a maintenance agreement to monitor and maintain the hive to what ever extent is right for the customer. Apitherapy - Bees for Bee Venom Therapy (BVT)
There are countless health issues that are being treated with the use of the beloved honey bees. These range from Arthritis to Lyme Disease and have been helpful for many years. Small quantities of BVT Bees can be purchased for using in treatments. Please use the Contact Us page to inquire about custom size orders. For more information on BVT, visit our Apitherapy Information page. We are registered with and permitted by the Texas Apiary Inspection Service. We service south and central Texas and will consider other areas as well.

🐝 Does your local beekeeper or honey supplier offer free safety classes?We do. Why? Because Africanized / Killer Bees ar...
10/08/2026

🐝 Does your local beekeeper or honey supplier offer free safety classes?

We do. Why? Because Africanized / Killer Bees are still around!

At The Bee Place, we believe selling bees is only part of our responsibility. We also want beekeepers and the public to understand bee behavior, recognize potential dangers, respond safely, and learn the management practices that help keep colonies gentle.

Our Free Bee Safety Classes are designed for beekeepers, workers, families, organizations, and anyone who lives or works around honey bees. You do not have to purchase bees from us to benefit.

Good information and responsible management can help prevent a manageable situation from becoming an emergency. Visit our website for details.

We Keep Gentle Bees
Save the Right Bees
Do Not Normalize Aggressive Bee Behavior

We offer small group beekeeping classes designed to help both beginners and second-year beekeepers gain real-world experience over active honey bee hives.

10/08/2026

Basic Beekeeping 101 at The Bee Place in South Texas, featuring gentle, productive Italian honey bees being used in a real hands-on class.

These full colonies are calmly opened and worked while students stand close, handle frames of live bees, and see normal colony activity without extreme defensive behavior.

Honey bees do not have to be dangerously aggressive to pollinate crops, produce honey, or support agriculture.
This is what we mean by “Save the Right Bees” — preserving gentle, productive, manageable honey bees while supporting research aimed at reducing extreme defensive traits that put people, animals, and communities at risk.

Do not normalize extreme defensive behavior.
Save the Right Bees.

If this video was helpful or informative, please consider liking, sharing, and following our page. Every view, share, and subscription helps us continue expanding this educational project and reaching more people with reliable information about the right honey bees.
https://www.thebeeplace.com/classes
https://HoneyBeeAwareness.org/f0t

10/07/2026

Let it grow ... Let it grow ... Let it grow ;)

FYI - Okay, here's a follow-up. It is apparently a response from the company responsible for the product issues people r...
10/06/2026

FYI - Okay, here's a follow-up. It is apparently a response from the company responsible for the product issues people reported with Apevar 2.0.

Using Apivar® 2.0? Here's what Véto-pharma recommends right now. 🐝

Véto-pharma has shared an official update about reports of adult bee losses and colonies absconding after treatment in some U.S. apiaries. They are investigating and have found no manufacturing defect or batch issue so far.

✅ Test on a few colonies first
✅ Separate double strips and use 1 strip per 5 frames covered with bees
✅ Keep hives ventilated, especially in hot, humid weather
✅ Watch colonies closely in the first hours and days after treatment

📩 If you have seen unexpected effects, report them to [email protected]. Your field reports help find answers faster.

These are observations, not conclusions. Always follow the approved product label.

Norroa: A New Era in Varroa ManagementWe have been asked about the latest mite treatment product on the market, called N...
09/26/2026

Norroa: A New Era in Varroa Management

We have been asked about the latest mite treatment product on the market, called Norroa, for honey bees. We currently have a small trial in progress and will know soon how well it worked in our hives.

Meanwhile, for anyone that would like to know and learn more about this treatment, there's a great interview on Beekeeping Today Podcast that is with Adam Pachl, North American Technical Manager for Bee Health at GreenLight Biosciences.

Adam explains the practical uses and applications and when and how to apply the Norora treatments to healthy bee hives, in part based on the time of year and the amount of brood and those kinds of things. I think you'll enjoy this.

Are you going?
09/24/2026

Are you going?

The TBA Annual Convention Keynote Speaker will be Dr. David Tarpy! With 2 days of hone bee presentation and hands on demonstrations, there is sure to be something for everyone!!
Register today for the November 19-21 event here: https://texasbeekeepers.org/annual-convention-2026/

* Warning * Apivar 2.0 - reportedly has some commercial beekeepers experiencing unfavorable results.I'm sharing this fro...
09/22/2026

* Warning * Apivar 2.0 - reportedly has some commercial beekeepers experiencing unfavorable results.

I'm sharing this from a Facebook group. I've blurred the names to protect the folks' privacy.

I'm not presenting this as a fact.

I'm just posting this as a warning people should consider.

Do your homework before you apply something unconfirmed.

We took this product off our shelf because we have not had a chance to look into this further yet.

Somebody's going to have to do some trials and come up with test results before we use this again. We will discontinue use until we know the outcome of such trials.

Apivar version 1 was fine. We never had any problems with it, although there is speculation that the chemical that is used in it, called Amitraz, is no longer as effective as it once was for treating mites.

So that could be part of the problem these people are seeing, and it may be more to do with the formula, because Apivar 2.0 is supposed to have a hotter flash-off in case you have a mite problem.
It is said to have a quicker "knockdown", whereas the old original version was more of a maintenance that took care of an issue that was not over five or six mites per 100 bees, for example.

So we are going to put this on pause until we can get further information to determine whether the problem was with the bees, or with the treatment, or both, or what.

This is just a warning.

This is not something that we are claiming as fact.

This is something every beekeeper who catches swarms or keeps locally mated bees needs to think about.
09/22/2026

This is something every beekeeper who catches swarms or keeps locally mated bees needs to think about.

Free Bees Anyone? (When that is the bait-should you take it?)

Everybody likes free bees.

A swarm lands in a tree. Bees move into an empty box. Somebody calls and says, “Come get them — they’re free.”

But what genetics came with them?

When you collect an unknown swarm or allow a colony to raise and mate its own queen, you are accepting genetics you did not choose and often know nothing about.

Sometimes you get a perfectly manageable colony.

Sometimes you don’t.

In areas where highly defensive honey bee genetics are present, those “free bees” can eventually come with consequences — for the beekeeper, neighbors, workers, pets, livestock, or anyone who happens to disturb that colony later.

And if that colony swarms again, those genetics do not necessarily stay in your bee yard.

This is not an argument against catching swarms.

It is an argument for understanding what you are bringing home, watching temperament closely, and managing genetics responsibly.

We put together a new page explaining why **free bees aren’t always free** — and why responsible bee management matters beyond the fence line of the apiary.

What have you learned?

Here's the lessons I've learned after years of experience.
https://honeybeeawareness.org/free-bees

Save the Right Bees.
Do Not Normalize Aggressive Bee Behavior.

For a new beekeeper, that purchase gentle bees from us to start the beekeeping journey, when it comes to keeping gentle ...
09/19/2026

For a new beekeeper, that purchase gentle bees from us to start the beekeeping journey, when it comes to keeping gentle bees going forward - queen management is the key to enjoyable and safe beekeeping.

So, allow me to explain what, "If we chose not to decide, we still have made a choice!" actually means.

When honey bee colonies reproduce, part of the colony leaves to establish a new home while the bees left behind raise a new queen.
That new queen eventually mates with male honey bees from the surrounding area. In regions where Africanized “killer bee” genetics are present, those males may carry highly defensive genetics.

That means a colony that was gentle before reproduction may not remain gentle afterward.

This is why responsible beekeeping includes managing temperament and replacing queens with selected, manageable stock when necessary. We can also reproduce colonies intentionally through splits using known, gentle genetics rather than simply leaving the outcome to chance.

Choosing not to manage the genetics is still a choice.
Save the RIGHT Bees. Keep the honey bees. Remove the danger.

09/16/2026

Killer bees have been spreading through the Americas since 1957, and the real number of serious incidents is far greater than most people realize.

This is not about killing honey bees. It is about recognizing the danger of highly defensive genetics, improving public safety, and working toward safer, more manageable bees.

HoneyBeeAwareness.org/f0t
KillerBeeAwareness.com

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San Antonio, TX

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