Advice Wanted

[castanea]

Great Morning sitting outside with breakfast then i said to hubby why do i get the feeling we're sitting under a hive.Response Its your imagination!!! Nor in my book, i went to see the hive what a nightmare!! You couldn't get within 3-4mtrs of the hive. Did i do right and what should i do now? First i ran back got suited up, spray gun with water for protection i closed the hive entrance and threw a wet white sheet over the hive.The hive has total ventilation underneath, how long should i leave the sheet on for this fighting has been going on all morning.I just feel so useless no cups of tea are going to help the way i feel.
Now i know why the bees were so aggressive (i think).
Thanks

 

[B+.]

Now i know why the bees were so aggressive (i think).
Thanks

Although blackberries are still in flower here, there is very little other forage for the bees. If you leave a frame exposed for even a few minutes, they will begin robbing it out with vigour. Any weak colonies will be the target of attack too. I also have problems with wasps later towards the end of the month and in August.
The best thing you can do is try to have strong colonies by mid July and keep your inspections to a minimum (each time you open the hive, robbers will catch the smell of honey from the hive). If robbing really becomes a problem, you can reduce the entrance a little but beware that they still need ventilation. I use narrow mesh rather than foam or a wooden block so ventilation is maintained.

 

[pargyle]

Great Morning sitting outside with breakfast then i said to hubby why do i get the feeling we're sitting under a hive.Response Its your imagination!!! Nor in my book, i went to see the hive what a nightmare!! You couldn't get within 3-4mtrs of the hive. Did i do right and what should i do now? First i ran back got suited up, spray gun with water for protection i closed the hive entrance and threw a wet white sheet over the hive.The hive has total ventilation underneath, how long should i leave the sheet on for this fighting has been going on all morning.I just feel so useless no cups of tea are going to help the way i feel.
Now i know why the bees were so aggressive (i think).
Thanks

Fighting ? Was it robbing by other bees ? .. Are you sure they were fighting ?

Sounds more to me like something else .. closing the entrance completely will not help and I'm not sure why your thought to put a wet sheet over the hive ?

If they are being robbed then the best thing would be to close the entrance down to one bee space - which any 'normal' colony should be able to defend - but it sounds to me like they are either getting ready to swarm or were swarming ... or possibly just taking advantage of warm weather to get out and forage ? It can look very daunting when they are all out in force and have found a strong source of nectar.

More information please ... and explain what you were trying to achieve ..

 

[castanea]

Hi i haven't been in the hive since last week, sorry i forgot to mention the dead bees on the floor.The white sheet i seen that on the internet (Thats when you know nothing you do anything, it's soo frustrating the lack of knowledge). There are bees coming to the front of the house and on the roof of the house i am not certain but i might have bees in the roof. I was trying to protect my bees if you want i can show some photos.
thanks

 

[B+.]

Hi i haven't been in the hive since last week, sorry i forgot to mention the dead bees on the floor.The white sheet i seen that on the internet (Thats when you know nothing you do anything, it's soo frustrating the lack of knowledge). There are bees coming to the front of the house and on the roof of the house i am not certain but i might have bees in the roof. I was trying to protect my bees if you want i can show some photos.
thanks

This sounds more like a swarm. The colony is reproducing!
The white sheet will not help. You need to inspect the frames every 7-9 days during the swarming period. Have you attended a beekeeping course or joined an association. It sounds like you need a mentor

 

[Hachi]

Photo's please a picture paints a thousand words....

 

[castanea]

Hi
I tried to inspect the hive when i got to the 3rd frame the bees started to headbutt me, so i closed the hive and went back a few days later, same thing. I tried to eliminate a few things, i washed my bee suit cleaned the smoker then this problem this morning. No i haven't been to a class as i missed them also i am in France and i don't have a Mentor.

 

[pargyle]

Hi i haven't been in the hive since last week, sorry i forgot to mention the dead bees on the floor.The white sheet i seen that on the internet (Thats when you know nothing you do anything, it's soo frustrating the lack of knowledge). There are bees coming to the front of the house and on the roof of the house i am not certain but i might have bees in the roof. I was trying to protect my bees if you want i can show some photos.
thanks

1. Take the sheet off.

2. Open the entrance but, to start with keep it small - you can pack out the rest of the entrance with some foam or even folded newspaper or cardboard.

3. Leave them to settle down.

4. You need to be brave and inspect the colony to see what is going on. Make sure you are well protected so that you are confident they won't sting you. You are going to check to see if there are any queen cells in there and what the situation is in relation to Brood - are there larvae and capped brood cells. Don't hang about when you open the hive, a couple of puffs of smoke above, not into the hive, leave them for a minute of so .. then just quickly go through the frames and look for the above and make a note. Take on frame out to start with to make space then be gentle, raise the frames slowly and away from the next frame, look at both sides and then put it back and move on to the next.

5. How many dead bees are there ? .. Is the floor outside the hive covered with them or is it just a few ... bees do die off regularly and it's not unusual to see 20 or 30 dead ones outside the hive. More than this is unusual but may not be anything unnatural.

6. Report back.

 

[B+.]

6. Report back.

This is good advice. I was concerned about the dead bees but pargyle obviously thinks they're about to swarm/have swarmed. This could explain their aggression.

If you see a cell hanging vertically down the frame, this is of particular interest. Is it open at the bottom or is it sealed? How many are there? You may find them anywhere on the comb but particularly around the edges. A queen / royal cell looks a bit like a wrinkled acorn / nut

 

[castanea]

Hi
Should i inspect the hive today or let them calm down. there is about 200 dead bees. I will remove the sheet and open the entrance.

 

[pargyle]

Hi
Should i inspect the hive today or let them calm down. there is about 200 dead bees. I will remove the sheet and open the entrance.

If the weather is fine I would take the sheet off, open the entrance, give them half an hour to settle down and do it today. Sooner you know what it going on the better.

Try and get yourself into a calm state as well .. there's nothing that can't be corrected with bees usually .. as I think bees sense when you are tense for any reason and react ... it may be that humans give off 'nervous' pheremones that we can't detect ? So, deep breaths, nice cup of tea before you start and go slowly ....

 

[castanea]

HI Pargyle
1) Sheet Off
2) Opened the entrance
3) VERY BOLD !! I brushed up the dead bees at the entrance. I took a photo tried to upload it no sucess, story of my life.

 

[B+.]

HI Pargyle
1) Sheet Off
2) Opened the entrance
3) VERY BOLD !! I brushed up the dead bees at the entrance. I took a photo tried to upload it no sucess, story of my life.

try to edit the photo. this forum has a size limit

 

[dexter's shed]

3) VERY BOLD !! I brushed up the dead bees at the entrance. I took a photo tried to upload it no sucess, story of my life.

upload it to somewhere like photobucket, then simple copy the url into your post here

 

[pargyle]

HI Pargyle
1) Sheet Off
2) Opened the entrance
3) VERY BOLD !! I brushed up the dead bees at the entrance. I took a photo tried to upload it no sucess, story of my life.

:

Very brave ... well done ... Stage 2 now !! What's going on inside the hive ?

 

[castanea]

HI
It's been a week sorry about that, i'm not procrastinating we had thunder winds so i thought best not disturb the bees. Well today was perfect.
1) NO Queen Cells or any other Cells.
2)Larvae (in the form of a C ).
3) On opening the hive my girls have returned to normal, Calm Docile no problems bees attacking me.
4) No damage done by robbers, all the frames are prefect just like they were before we had the incident.
5) The bees have moved up and are working on the supers.
6) When i was unable to inspect the hive i watched the hive in the morning. The bees were bringing in Orange and Pale yellow Pollen, also the flow coming and going very strong.
I would like to thank everybody who helped me through this difficult time.

 

[B+.]

I would like to thank everybody who helped me through this difficult time.

Did you see / mark the queen?

 

[itma]

...
1) NO Queen Cells or any other Cells.
2)Larvae (in the form of a C ).
...

Eh?
Are you saying that there were no capped brood cells - at all ?

 

[castanea]

HI
I didn't see the queen, she is marked in blue, every time i try to see her impossible.
Yes there is capped brood lots of it nice brown/tan colour. What i meant by no other cells is play cells or super cells.

 

[B+.]

I didn't see the queen, she is marked in blue, every time i try to see her impossible.

Some queens are adept at hiding or running.
If you position the combs in pairs with small gaps between them, the queen will be in the darkest place which is between one of the pairs of frames. Pick them up together and open them like the pages of a book.....you'll find her