Aggressive Hive - Running Out of Options

[richardbees]

Newport

Good question but I didn't know one. Come to think of it, I still don't as it's a long way to open country from London SW2.

There are now hives all over Central London, it will be interesting to see how the Beekeepers handle the inevitable "nasties".

 

[newportbuzz]

heres hoping they identify them early when they are small and easy to deal with.

 

[rae]

Cover you in stinging bees. To the extent your hat comes down and your head gets stung as do your ears. You have to lift it and shake. The veil gets difficult to see through from the bees trying to get at your eyes, and the stench of the venom is very apparent, like bitter almonds.

Your gloves will be covered, and the hand with the hive tool will be covered in stings.

They will attempt to get inside your clothes with extraordinary persistence.

They will pursue you back to the car, and chase the car hundreds of yards, more they will greet the car on arrival.

That dear reader is a nasty hive. Not one that gives a half dozen stings a visit.

Ours were "yes to all of the above, apart from the last one". If you walked across the front of the hive, despite being 30 yards away, they would pile out. As long as they couldn't see you, they were OK.

Anyway, good news. I pulled the super off, and got a big cloud of bees in my face. However, they were not as "stingy". The brood box is in good order. I didn't see the queen, but 6 frames of brood and eggs tells me she is there. The brood box bees were fine, much calmer, no problem at all. So the change is happening, I just need to wait for the old bees to die off.

 

[Polyanwood]

A couple of our London association members have sent their very aggressive bees away to another rural forum member for rehabilitation and requeening.

 

[scuttlefish]

A couple of our London association members have sent their very aggressive bees away to another rural forum member for rehabilitation and requeening.

Sort of like Barbara Woodhouse for bees...?

 

[Jess132]

My local bee inspector has offered to take an aggreesive hive from me and requeen it. He will the return this hive next season. Maybe you could try that.

 

[Hebeegeebee]

Ours were "yes to all of the above, apart from the last one". If you walked across the front of the hive, despite being 30 yards away, they would pile out. As long as they couldn't see you, they were OK.

Anyway, good news. I pulled the super off, and got a big cloud of bees in my face. However, they were not as "stingy". The brood box is in good order. I didn't see the queen, but 6 frames of brood and eggs tells me she is there. The brood box bees were fine, much calmer, no problem at all. So the change is happening, I just need to wait for the old bees to die off.

Their requeening is good news. It will take some time before the old bees die off but change is happening.

I united one flighty colony with a good one last year (Nothing like as bad as your lot). After around 8 - 9 weeks the temper suddenly dropped as the old bees were no more.

This year a flighty colony lost it's queen and within a couple of weeks of a new queen laying the temper subsided down really well.

 

[Chris58]

Hi, we acquired a swarm last year and they were aggresive - following us back through the potager etc. Seemed to calm down through winter, and although defensive in spring, we have fed them and nurtured them, as one would.
Last week in checking, they started their pinging again and chasing, although the hive seems strong and the queen is a good layer, I would be very loath to kill off the queen until I really had to, and even more so to destroy the hive.

 

[richardbees]

A couple of our association members have sent their very aggressive bees away to another rural forum member for rehabilitation and requeening.

That must be the most fatuous post I've ever seen on this forum!

I would make a guess that the poster works in the multi £ billion Local Government /Social Services industry to think in terms of "rehabilitating" a bee.!

richard

 

[richardbees]

chris58

it's a good idea to always wash your gloves/bee jacket after being 'pinged'.
The venom/ 'alarm' pheromone stays in the fabric - so next time the bees react to it.

 

[hiveabee]

Up to yesterday a nuc I made up a few weeks ago was very aggressive. I only needed to opening the gate to the apiary and they where out in force telling me to sling My hook. Anyway yesterday I thought I must brave the storm and have a look to see how they are getting on. They where so pleasant I couldn't believe it. Could this be because the weather was so warm up here yesterday?

 

[Polyanwood]

That must be the most fatuous post I've ever seen on this forum!

richard

Play the ball not the player Richard!

 

[Drew]

A couple of our association members have sent their very aggressive bees away to another rural forum member for rehabilitation and requeening.

That must be the most fatuous post I've ever seen on this forum!

I would make a guess that the poster works in the multi £ billion Local Government /Social Services industry to think in terms of "rehabilitating" a bee.!

richard

I dunno - Yours might take that title.
The one you quoted was "on thread"......

Oooops this one might now be a contender.

 

[thorn]

Be gentle with Richard. He's recently undergone a sense of humour bypass.

 

[itma]

I still remember the first time I queried a senior engineer's use of 'rehabilitation' when referring to sending equipment away for complete overhaul ...
I kept the job, but learned not to question jargon.

 

[johnmcc]

To go back to the original post, I wouldn't hesitate to kill a colony if need be. There's a combination of preciousness ("poor little bees just obeying their natures") and "I've kept bees for 70 years and don't notice the stings any more" macho-ness which says you should try everything else but hive-ocide. But in the real suburban or urban world where out-apiaries do not exist round every corner, and in the real rural world where a mentor may be 30 miles away, there are times when you have to make a decision to cut your losses and do away with an overly-aggressive colony.

On the day - 2 weeks ago - when I moved my hives from my garden to a friend's field (yes, I'm lucky enough to have that facility) four of my neighbours were stung, two of them three times, by foragers returning after I'd closed the hives (at 4.00 in the morning). Since then no bees in the gardens and no stings. If I hadn't had somewhere else to put them I'd have killed them. If that makes me a wuss, then so be it. My neighbours' welfare is ultimately more important than my amateur attempts to harvest honey.

No doubt in some forum members' eyes this makes me worthy of the hollow square, the broken hive tool, and the bee-keeping epaulettes being ripped off, but I like people more than bees, and I care about how my neighbours see me. And, yes, I'm only in my 4th year of beeking, so not really allowed to comment for another 10 years, I know. But I say make up your own mind and don't be swayed by the "preserve them at any cost" crew.

 

[oliver90owner]

There is a subtle difference between those having feisty bees at an isolated out-apiary and those that insist on keeping aggressive bees next to close neighbours.

I always say that anyone keeping bees in their garden should have an alternative site. Just plain common sense. Also leaving behind some 'accommodation' for any returning bees (on the old site) is a prudent precaution many seem to ignore or not even think about.

 

[Poly Hive]

You have my full support Johnmcc.



PH

 

[Cazza]

Ditto.
Cazza

 

[psafloyd]

A couple of our association members have sent their very aggressive bees away to another rural forum member for rehabilitation and requeening.

That must be the most fatuous post I've ever seen on this forum!

I would make a guess that the poster works in the multi £ billion Local Government /Social Services industry to think in terms of "rehabilitating" a bee.!

richard

Not fatuous at all. After all, rehabilitation is all about effecting the restoration of something to a former condition. So, where's the fatuity in removing an aggressive colony from a site where it is causing problems? Sounds like common sense to me.