Aggressive bees

[Frenchie]

I currently have 3 hives,2 at home,an isolated farmhouse in Normandie and 2 on the flat roof of a old flour mill in the centre of town. The owner of the Mill also has 2 hives,I have recently introduced her to beekeeping. So today,warm and sunny,I checked my bees at home,all was fine and bees were very calm. Went to the Mill roof and I checked my colonies whilst my Wife helped the owner check her 2 hives. Within seconds of opening the hives,bees were out on mass, trying to sting and very aggressive. Prior to today non of the hives had been problematic. No queen cells spotted, nice brood in each hive and plenty of room in the supers. I had one sting,which is a problem as I react quite badly,my Wife had bees enter her hood and had multiple stings to the head and the mill owner was stung on the hand and wrist. Not a great experience. The only reason I can assume for this change in behavior was 2 days prior there had been a major fire in an underground carpark 300mtrs from the hives and 40 cars had been burnt out ,the mill owner said the day before you could still smell the fire although today it was not noticeable. Could this have been the reason? Any other ideas? Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[enrico]

Who knows? Try again in a few days. For all the hives to go aggressive at the same time would point to something other than genetics.
Let us know how you get on. Go kitted out in bomb proof suits!
E

 

[Bear]

You might have killed the queen on last inspection. Now they are annoyed because no queen.

 

[For want of a better word]

Probably French Amms like that chappie in Northern Ireland is proffering at the moment... nasty little buggers....



OOps.....

 

[PaulCarroll]

You need to watch them closely and if this continues then you have only a few choices-
1) Kill the Queen and re-Queen hoping for a more sedate Q whose influence will calm the colony.

2) Move the hive to an out apiary away from people and animals until the outcome of 1 above is apparent.

3) Sadly destroy the colony writing them off completely.

I am sure others will have a view, but I had a similar experience where whenever myself or my dogs went into the garden bees from one hive would gratuitously attack me. The final straw was when they stung a neighbour in her garden without provocation. I was lucky that I found a member of our association who had an isolated out apiary and was prepared to take them. That was 3 weeks ago and I have not heard anything by way of update.
Beekeeping is difficult enough without having to contend with such aggressive bees in my view.


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[Swn58]

You need to watch them closely and if this continues then you have only a few choices-
1) Kill the Queen and re-Queen hoping for a more sedate Q whose influence will calm the colony.

2) Move the hive to an out apiary away from people and animals until the outcome of 1 above is apparent.

3) Sadly destroy the colony writing them off completely.

I am sure others will have a view, but I had a similar experience where whenever myself or my dogs went into the garden bees from one hive would gratuitously attack me. The final straw was when they stung a neighbour in her garden without provocation. I was lucky that I found a member of our association who had an isolated out apiary and was prepared to take them. That was 3 weeks ago and I have not heard anything by way of update.
Beekeeping is difficult enough without having to contend with such aggressive bees in my view.


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Interesting. I have 3 hives on one site. They have been regularly checked for QC's over the last weeks. Last week I arrived to a swarm! I assume I must have missed something. I gathered that the swarm came from Hive 1. I was there to do a complete inspection, so carried on. All these bees had been marked on the BBKA record system as a 9, for lack of aggression. On this occasion however, hive 3 was particularly aggressive. They just went crazy!
I have only had that happen once before, years ago. The trouble was they NEVER seemed to calm down ever again, after the first time. It was always a bit of a nightmare. Luckily they died in a bad winter snap.
Hive 3 appears to have calmed down markedly, over the last week, but guard bees will still come to attack, many yards away from their hive for no reason. I think this must be related to the swarm.....then my actions?
The only thing I can say is to wash every bit of clothing you have been wearing and related equipment? It will destroy any signs that the bees will still pick up, as the signs of a major 'battle' they had, to defend their home!

 

[Antipodes]

Does anyone use the 3 strikes and you're out policy with aggressive colonies?

I guess you would have to make sure you didn't choose 3 days that were cold and gloomy or open the hive without allowing a few days in between?

 

[Wingy]

Or open the hive without allowing a few days in between? (QUOTE]

Does that cause this reaction?
Only reason I ask is because I inspected 3 hives on Tuesday no issues and bees very calm. One of these was from a split and I was beginning to think the VQ hadn’t made it as I hadn’t seen her and no eggs (another done at the same time already had sealed brood)
I took a frame of brood from hive 1 to use as a test frame but had left my spare frames at another apiary, so left a space at the end. Placed this frame into hive 2 which is dummied down so no spare frame to take out, however loads of eggs and Q seen.
Wednesday got a spare frame for hive 1 took supers off and they were on me stinging hands arms & legs. Had to walk away & put my suit on, light smoker then went back put frame in and hive back together. 10 minutes later all back to normal.

 

[Stiffy]

I currently have 3 hives,2 at home,an isolated farmhouse in Normandie and 2 on the flat roof of a old flour mill in the centre of town. The owner of the Mill also has 2 hives,I have recently introduced her to beekeeping. So today,warm and sunny,I checked my bees at home,all was fine and bees were very calm. Went to the Mill roof and I checked my colonies whilst my Wife helped the owner check her 2 hives. Within seconds of opening the hives,bees were out on mass, trying to sting and very aggressive. Prior to today non of the hives had been problematic. No queen cells spotted, nice brood in each hive and plenty of room in the supers. I had one sting,which is a problem as I react quite badly,my Wife had bees enter her hood and had multiple stings to the head and the mill owner was stung on the hand and wrist. Not a great experience. The only reason I can assume for this change in behavior was 2 days prior there had been a major fire in an underground carpark 300mtrs from the hives and 40 cars had been burnt out ,the mill owner said the day before you could still smell the fire although today it was not noticeable. Could this have been the reason? Any other ideas? Thanks in advance for any advice.

Could be a variety of reasons but my normally very quiet Buckfast were ‘pinging’ last weekend for no apparent reason, until I looked in one or two of the 3or4 supers each had filled this year. I quickly realised, we were in an early June break and they were more protective than their usual laid back selves. Just concentrated on the few that needed close attention after realising why
S

 

[rook66]

Probably French Amms like that chappie in Northern Ireland is proffering at the moment... nasty little buggers....



OOps.....

Give us more. ??

 

[Frenchie]

The hives are separated by approx 10 metres, two groups of 2. So I went to one group and my Wife and mill owner the other. As soon as hives were opened the attacks started,from the 3 hives. Previously all the hives had been quite placid. I had the odd stroppy colony before,but for all 3 hives to react in this way at the same time was quite a shock. As I said earlier,I had checked the colonies in my garden in the morning and bees were so calm and placid. Suits will be washed and double checked for holes,gaps,etc and we try again next week. My Wife looks like she went 10 rounds with Mike Tyson this morning.

 

[For want of a better word]

Does anyone use the 3 strikes and you're out policy with aggressive colonies?

Possibly the location of the bees may be a problem... negative waves eminating from missmatched leylines.. or even water dripping constantly from trees overhead like a Chinese water torture?

If beekeepers adopted a three strikes and pour petrol policy, petrol would be put on ration and many would no longer have any bees!


OH the irony!!

 

[For want of a better word]

Give us more. ??

Quite so.....

 

[coffindodger]

The hives are separated by approx 10 metres, two groups of 2. So I went to one group and my Wife and mill owner the other. As soon as hives were opened the attacks started,from the 3 hives. Previously all the hives had been quite placid. I had the odd stroppy colony before,but for all 3 hives to react in this way at the same time was quite a shock. As I said earlier,I had checked the colonies in my garden in the morning and bees were so calm and placid. Suits will be washed and double checked for holes,gaps,etc and we try again next week. My Wife looks like she went 10 rounds with Mike Tyson this morning.

Opening many hives together may be a clue. My experience with nasty colonies is that the guards are out and attacking when you get too close and before you open the hive. Can you try one hive then wait for it to settle before opening another? Super-clothe yourselves even if it is hot. With nasty colonies, I wear two veils. The appearance of bees between the veils seems to validate the method.

 

[rook66]

Quite so.....

I meant,. Tell us more?

 

[drex]

If I have opened a hive and it is stroppy, I do not bother opening nearby hives, as experience has told me they will likely be feisty too. Probably due to alarm pheromones from the first lot.

 

[JonnyPicklechin]

Is the stroppy hive subject the most topic the most popular topic on the forum? It seems so....

Friend of mine had the hive from hell. Gaffer taped wellies, double veils, three layers of gloves, proper Neil Armstrong set up. He moved it, completely fine. Later in the season, he wound up putting another one on the same site. Same thing...went mental.

Turns out it was at a site where the paint scent from a nearby car body shop was affecting the hive and turning the colony into murderers.

 

[Antipodes]

Possibly the location of the bees may be a problem... negative waves eminating from missmatched leylines.. or even water dripping constantly from trees overhead like a Chinese water torture?

If beekeepers adopted a three strikes and pour petrol policy, petrol would be put on ration and many would no longer have any bees!


OH the irony!!

Sorry ...I wasn't clear what I meant. I meant replace the queen, not kill the colony. The question is, does anyone give the queen of an aggressive colony three chances before saying enough is enough and set about replacing her?

 

[JonnyPicklechin]

Sorry ...I wasn't clear what I meant. I meant replace the queen, not kill the colony. The question is, does anyone give the queen of an aggressive colony three chances before saying enough is enough and set about replacing her?

I can normally tell after the inspection they first start the pings/attacks. If the guards continue to accost me on my local patrols, even without a second interloping into their home, I know its time for action stations.

 

[pargyle]

Turns out it was at a site where the paint scent from a nearby car body shop was affecting the hive and turning the colony into murderers.

Oddly - they really do not like the smell of paint thinners .. My workshop is next to my apiary and last season I was cleaning some lathe parts in a dish of cellulose thinners - 10 feet away from the nearest hive .. I was mobbed by a load of angry bees. Mine are generally fine and are not in the least bit agressive ... it could only have been the thinners.