Aggressive Bees?

[Kilmington]

I wonder if someone could give a definition of aggressive bees. All the books talk of "bad tempered bees" or "tetchy bees" but do not state how that shows itself.

My own bees for example bump my veil with some vigour and a few will follow me for 25 - 30 yards. This morning I was close (5 yards) to the hive and unprotected and received some unwelcome attention and a sting. There also seems to be a difference in their mood between morning and afternoon?

Any views greatly appreciated.

 

[Hebeegeebee]

I would not accept followers and any veil-hitters are a no-no as well and would re-queen.

I would class them as agressive; You should be able to stand beside a hive and not be attacked. If you get in the way of a returning bee that gets stuck in your hair, that's another matter as you're in their way.

 

[Monsieur Abeille]

I think a lot depends on your own tolerance and the environment your bees are kept in.

If they are near neighbours, footpaths etc then you have to be less tolerant. If isolated its up to you, but getting continously pinged by hundreds of bees while trying to inspect, and not being able to watch them at the hive entrance in a relaxed manner does seriously impede your enjoyment.

At the moment I dread going for an inspection, and thats not the way it should be!

 

[merylvingien]

Aggressive can be any number of reactions depending on what you percieve as aggressive.

Half of my colonies are highly aggressive at the moment, but not for longer if all goes well.
They fly as soon as the lid comes off, pinging, following for 100 yards plus. Boiling up between the frames. Generally bad tempered, yet the other colonies are a joy, they dont do much at all when the lid comes off, just cling to the frames and are nice and gentle.

 

[Biddly]

Reading Heebeegeebeegs answer worries me now. I thought how mine had calmed down as i was only getting pinged in the veil and followed 20m by about a dozen bees. It was a nightmare the last few weeks.
I sat down by one hive yesterday for the first time since swarming mid April and it really depressed me as i can't sit and watch them for ages like i used to do, the warrior women are pinging me and trying to get into my beesuit. One persistent one eyeballed me, right up to the veil for ages !!! Like the staring, loser blinks first game !! I am seriously thinking now that i can't keep them in a garden apiary ( neighbours have been stung three times recently ).

I must admit i am losing my nerve slightly. I go into the apiary with full, double layered, body armour and thorn proof long cuff gloves but i still feel vunerable at the moment. I'm not confident to go back to doulble latex gloves as i feel they will resemble pin cushions in no time !

 

[djg]

Kilmington,

I appreciate that having a single colony makes it difficult to know whether your bees are "normal", since you have little day-to-day comparison.

Aim off for the fact that I am an urban roof-top beekeeper (so low tolerance for aggressive bee-haviour), but here are my two recommendations:

1) If it is not fun and the bees follow more than a few feet from the hive, then requeen. The good news is that there should be plenty of proven 2011 Qs available soon.

2) Consider a second colony (from a different breeding stock, but on the same frames) to give you at least a way of comparing behaviour under different conditions - as well as general help with common single-hive beek problems (availability of test frames; nuc buidling;potential queen-breeding).

Whatever course of action you choose, good luck !

 

[greatbritishhoney]

It's important to remember that some aggression is not necessarily a bad thing. Expecting bees to be totally gentle and docile is an unrealistic expectation and is not really sustainable. Bees display aggression for a reason - to defend themselves and their colony, this is a natural reaction and is, IMO, part of their appeal.
However, there are times when it can become extreme and you need to take action. And, as others have said, if you have close neighbours you need to have a very low threshold for taking action.
But, the level of aggression one can tolerate depends very much on the individual beekeeper. Personally I can take any amount of pinging as long as I'm not being stung.

 

[madasafish]

If I cannot keep with bare hands and jacket and veil.. but have to wear thick gloves and a full suit.. then the bees are aggressive.

Beekeeping should be enjoyable. Following, running, pinging climbing into clothes/boots/veil are unacceptable.

Totally.

I expect to be able to walk past a hive with no veil , cut grass round a hive and take visitors to look... with no risk of stinging. Period. No matter what the weather or conditions.

Of course, I would not open a hive in rain or thunder/lightning unless really desperate and would expect the bees to react.

But normal behaviour should be entirely peaceful.

I would requeen any hive which is otherwise: ASAP.

 

[greatbritishhoney]

I agree.
I would only expect any form of aggression during an inspection or if you accidentally do something silly like ram the lawnmover into the hive stand.

 

[sawdstmakr]

Kilmington,
Do you ever use a brush on your bees. Last year Iwould sit next to my bees in a T shirt and watch them. Then we used a brush to remove them while collecting honey. They became very aggressive. I couldn't walk within 40 ft of them without getting stung or at minimum getting hit in the face and head. Took 3 weeks for those bees to die off and calm down. I sit between my hives on a regular basis with no protection. I never use a brush any more. Jim

 

[madasafish]

I use a turkey feather to brush bees off combs. Total indifference by bees.

 

[Chris Luck]

I use a brush without any problems, bees calm down quickly enough, even the snotty ones.

On the general subject of aggressive bees I find it varies with what is going on externally as much as anything. When as recently happened an exceptional series of flows finished and there was nothing to forage the bees get what I suppose you would call tetchy. Same when it get very hot, humid and stormy, but when there is a strong flow I can get up close in front of 95% of my hives without any issues.

Chris

 

[YorkshireBees]

Having now built up to 11 colonies I have gained a fair bit of experience with which bees are calmer or more aggressive. I make a note (on a scale of 1-10) about each colony in my inspection notes and can track which ones may just be having a bad day and which are consistent ASBO's.

I generally give them a chance to see if it was just the weather / something happening in the hive that made them more aggressive during an inspection.

So far I have a few colonies that are very pleasant to work on and a few that are a bit more veil pingers.

However the last swarm I collected broke the aggression scale for me and only today I removed the Queen ready for re-queening!

My plan is to select my best colonies based the usual factors and breed from them.