About Us

The Bee Place is a family owned local honey bee farm established in 2014 located in the Somerset, Texas area just minutes from San Antonio.

Tammy and Gary Rankin, both from San Antonio, met in high school and became good friends sharing their love for music, fast cars and animals.

They were married, but never had any children. They've had many "kids", just not the 2 legged variety. Tammy, a certified dog trainer, retired from training, working as a vet tech & doing shelter work and began helping with the bee business in 2014.

Gary, a wildlife artist and sign painter, closed the doors on his sign shop earlier the same year to focus his time and energy on working with honey bees. Hand painted signs, especially the large billboards, were being replaced with digital technology, so the sign business was losing it's luster.

As the door was closing on one career another was opening. The childhood lessons learned while helping his grandfather and Uncle Dan with gardening and tending the honey bee hives began to pay dividends. A spring garden was planted that year and began to produce wonderfully, except for the plants that required pollination other than by wind. The tomatoes were fine, but while the plants, like zucchini and the like were growing fine, but they were simply not producing well formed fruit. Something was obviously not right.

The plants has plenty of water and sunshine, no obvious pest or diseases issues, so it appeared to be a lack of ample pollination. There were simply no bees and very few butterflies or other insects and we had not used any chemicals on the property during the 20 years we were there, so the problem was determined to be a pollination issue.

The lack of pollinators in the garden that year prompted an investigation that would change the family's future. It did not take long to find plenty of information about, "the plight of the honey bees".

So it was time to get a couple of hives and pick up where he left off back in the early 1970s and get some bees. After all, Uncle Dan had taught him the basics and "he always had a great garden and he had lots of bees", over 75 hives at one time was remembered, so it was decided that would be the thing to do - get a couple of hives.

However, by this time, mid to late May, there was not anyone in the San Antonio region with any bees left for sale. A quick internet search came up dry locally, but there was a guy in Austin that was able to help, so the seed that was planted some forty years prior finally began to sprout.

It did not take long before calls for "bee removal / rescue" requests from family and friends started coming in. Once word gets out you are a beekeeper, everyone that has bees where they do not want them is your best friend.

In a matter of a couple of weeks, the small designated area that started with 2 hives for the garden became crowded, as more hives were added from removals and swarms. It went to 8 then 10, 12, etc. By the time the weather started turning cooler that year, the growing apiary was up to 20 hives.

San Antonio had a local "bee club" with a fairly large membership of just over 100 at that time, but most were beginners that needed mentorship and of course bees and supplies. The old A.I. Root beekeeping supply store that was downtown back in the 70s was no more.

The "Killer Bee" craze of the late 80s and early 90s along with the spread of imported Fire Ants caused a downhill spiral of interest in beekeeping in this region. Another couple of pests of the honey bees, called Varroa Mites & Hive Beetles, came into this area about the same time, so beekeeping became more of a risk than a reward for a couple of decades.

Side Note: Of the 200+ bee removal / relocation / rescue jobs Gary did throughout the state (deep south, far west but mostly south central Texas) by the fall of 2015, over half qualified as "Africanized" bees. Some more "mutts" than pure, perhaps, but all were dangerous to anything or anybody within a half mile when they were disturbed. They earn their reputation fair and square. For these reason, the only safe way to handle these bees is at night, when in areas populated by anything - people, pets, livestock and even wildlife are at risk when the Africanized bee's nests are disturbed and exposed. (See a photo of Uncle Kenny with his veil showing their displeasure. Taken at one of the Callaghan Ranch jobs he helped with in 2015)

The state of Texas was made aware of the growing issues and concerns for a landscape without pollinators, so "The Pollinator Incentive" bill, spearheaded by Dennis Herbert, was passed (took effect 2012) offering tax breaks for property owners with 5-20 acres to participate in beekeeping.

This bill was the incentive needed to renew interests in beekeeping, but there was a 30 year void of new beekeepers in the area. This was mainly due to the problems the Africanized bees and hive pests* created, but the result was that the craft was not being passed down and mentorship was virtually non existent in south central Texas.

*= See Varroa Mites & Hive Beetles

Passing it on...

The Bee Place founder, Gary "GD" Rankin, a forth generation beekeeper born and raised in south central Texas, went from keeping a couple of recreational hives of bees for his own garden, to a full time endeavor.

Now he stays busy keeping up with hundreds of hives, teaching beekeeping classes and offering bees and supplies during the peak seasons. Then sending semi-loads across country for pollination and honey production the rest of the year.

"It's a LOT of work, but it's very rewarding work. Heck, just keeping up with the research and development alone is very time consuming. Then with technologies advancing daily and trying new techniques and testing bees and meds and answering calls etc.... it is more than a full time job, it requires wearing many different hats daily and they all fit different!" Gary jokingly relates.

"We are always interested in learning new beekeeping methods and coming up with strategies to stay ahead of the curve, like selectively breeding the top performing bees that show mite resistant, which is something we see as necessary. And the breeding program is showing progress, so it's great to be making strides in these areas," says, Gary "but we still have a ways to go. So we study all the time and like to share what we learn with others. We want to keep the tradition alive... by passing it forward."

After recognizing there was a renewed public interest and a need for bees, beekeeping supplies, basic beekeeping training and education, as well as honey bee rescue & relocation services, the process began.

First, an agreement was made with Mann Lake to become a supply distributor for the region. Soon after, an invitation for a trip to Florida (the winter honey bee capitol of the USA) to gain additional knowledge and experience from a commercial beekeeper friend, to "see how the big boys do things", was accepted and became the foundation to what would become a full time gig.

His passion for honey bees and the lack of bees and beekeeping supplies in the local area led to the establishment of The Bee Place.

With the recently passed tax incentive law that provided tax breaks for landowners that kept bees on their property, interest in beekeeping became a thing again. This meant a lot of folks that owned property in the 5 to 20 range could now apply for an agriculture valuation aka "ag exemption" by having honey bees on their land.

The Bee Place was there to answer the call and continues to serve south central Texas and beyond. We sell bees and have supplies and classes to those that wish to become beekeepers and lease bees to those that do not for one reason or another.

The Bee Place has evolved over the last ten plus years and continues to become more efficient with each passing year. We do not offer tours and we do not have a brick and mortar store, we are a honey bee farm and have developed a system that allows us to produce a good deal of extra bees each year. We replenish any losses we incur and offer starter colonies (Nucs) to the local community.

We keep a good deal of our own bees local and have learned what the most practical methods and equipment are for this area. Our experience has taught us to put a priority on customer service when it comes to the beekeepers and a priority on nutrition and mite management when it comes to the bees.

We can't make it rain, but we can supplement our bees when the rains do not come and we can manage the mite levels in our hives regularly to keep them strong. These are the points we are happy to help others learn so they become successful beekeepers also.

The Re-emergence of Beekeeping

With the 2012 state property tax incentive law providing tax breaks for keeping bees on private land, interest in beekeeping became a positive thing again. This meant that folks that owned property in the 5 to 20 acre range could now apply for an agriculture valuation aka "Ag Exemption" by having honey bees on their land and save a good deal on their property taxes.

The Bee Place was there to answer the call and continues to serve south central Texas and beyond. We offer one stop shopping for anyone needing bees, supplies and/or to take classes to get started. There is even offer a lease option for an annual fee.

Help along the way...

The Bee Place may have started small, but has grown and evolved over the last decade and we continue to learn as we gain more experience with each passing season. We would not have made it this far without a lot of hard work, dedication and many sleepless nights. We did have the help of some wonderful family and friends the first few years, but they all had other paths to follow. With the nephews in school most of their time now and Uncle Kenny retiring and returning to New Orleans, it was time to shift gears.

Around 2019, with over five-hundred hives and counting, we figured our numbers had climbed enough to justify bringing in a small crew of experienced bee guys to share the load. We were blessed enough to locate and inherit three migratory farm workers from a retiring honey farm in Canada. That worked out so well that we've since added a fourth H2-A worker from Nicaragua to complete the current team of The Four Amigos. (see photos below)

Our inventory includes several hundred more hives now and a complete team of experienced beekeepers working year round in all sorts of conditions, day and night, to bring the best bees and services we can provide to our customers. We are now able to offer services to larger farms and have enough bees to send multiple semi-loads all across the country for pollination and honey production.

We do not have a brick and mortar store and we do not offer tours, or shipping or delivery. Please check the Honey Bees For Sale and the Beekeeping Supplies sections and use our online store pages to shop and place an order.

Tammy, our event and supply coordinator, will contact you the Monday before your chosen Pick Up Date to schedule an appointment. During the spring season, all bee and supply pick up and classes are on the weekends. We are usually available during the week to meet with growers and land owners at their locations.

When the weather allows and the conditions are right, typically starting in early spring with the anticipated nectar flow approaching, we begin to make our splits to increase our numbers. Early in the year we depend on the availability of high quality young mated queens from Hawaii to add to the hives we "split" (divide into two or more hives) to create new starter colonies, also known as Nucs. Later in the spring we start receiving fresh young queens from select breeders in California. Specifically the northern, non-Africanized bee regions of the state, to assure the gentleness and purity of the Italian bees the stock. We are very particular where the Italians bees we import come from and we use the same bloodlines that have proven to be consistently productive and gentle year after year.

The change in the weather triggers the bloom cycle which, to the bees, means the availability of excess food should follow. This sparks the colony's spring build up, which means ramping up brood production because if Mother Nature provides, it will time to reproduce. So the bees start producing lots of young, including drones, and grow very fast. This is our busiest time of the year. We have to start making splits to prevent swarming and also generate the Nucs we need grow and satisfy orders. It's also time for us to start grafting from our best stock to produce the next generation of our Texan lines. The first queen cells go into Mating Nucs around the first of March, so our own line of queens are usually ready for adding to splits by April and ready for the public by mid spring.

We check, grade and equalize the hives while making our splits, then apply the first round of MelliferaBoost, feed and treat for mites as needed. Twenty-Four hours after the splits are pulled, they all get a freshly mated queen or queen cell. Then we allow the new young queens and their starter colonies time to grow and become established. Two week check backs are when we add another scoop of Boost and check to assure the young freshly mated queens are laying a good pattern. Then they are either deemed productive and ready or given another week and checked again. The new colonies are then relocated to the appropriate yards for adding to our growing apiary or sent to the main yard and made ready for weekend customer Pick Ups.

There are times when the weather is not on our side and the production can be slower than normal. Therefore, we advise folks that are wanting to order bees, that it is a good idea to order them several months in advance. Orders are processed in the order they are received are filled on a "first come - first serve" basis. Sometimes the new hives are ready as early as the end of March, while other years it may be several weeks later in the season.

We strive to meet the needs of a growing community of beekeepers and aim to provide healthy bees of top-quality genetics and the gentlest demeanor available. The Italian lines we provide are considered to be "the sweetest bees" around and are truly a pleasure to work. While there may be a waiting period for orders at certain times of the year, we work very hard to satisfy our customer list as timely as possible. We consider waiting a bit longer to fill an order less critical than to sacrifice the quality by rushing nature, we think the final product is worth the wait. Come take a look into some of our hives, we think you will agree.

Thanks for taking the time to get to read this section and get to know a bit more about us than our first generation website had to share. Hopefully sharing our creation story will help others understand what all goes into what we do and how we've grown over the years from a couple of hives to a couple thousand. Raising and taking care of enough bees and keeping them healthy and strong enough to go to pollination and honey production year after year takes a lot more than meets the eye.

We hope everyone that gets bees from our little farm enjoys them as much as we do and has their own story, large or small, to share with others some day. Meanwhile... Happy Beekeeping, from our family to yours!

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