angry hive

[dannygolf1959]

one of my hives (in the last two weeks) has become very aggressive. The bees just seem to attack in force. they even follow us back to the car and stay with us for a bit of a time. Now I'm aware how to deal with requeening but I just don't want to rush into anything to quickly if there is anyway to avoiding killing the old queen...My question is,,,,,is there a chance they will calm down naturally and go back to being nice and quiet,, or is that them for good....anyone with experience in this would be a great help

 

[drex]

What were they like before. I know you say they were nice and quiet, but was it all the time, and did they used to follow? Have you removed any honey? Is the first spring flow over? are they queen Right? any of these, and more, can affect temperament. If you can tolerate it, and nobody is being put at risk, see how they go.
One thing I will not tolerate in my bees is excessive following

 

[dannygolf1959]

What were they like before. I know you say they were nice and quiet, but was it all the time, and did they used to follow? Have you removed any honey? Is the first spring flow over? are they queen Right? any of these, and more, can affect temperament. If you can tolerate it, and nobody is being put at risk, see how they go.
One thing I will not tolerate in my bees is excessive following

I'm central Scotland,,The queen has a great brood pattern with plenty of eggs,,lava of all stages and capped brood on 5 frames,,,there still seems to be more room for more laying,,,they also have some stores left over from the winter in the outter frames of the brood box....we have a super on the hive with 2 frames 50%capped honey,,,and the other super frames are being filled and little bits of capping or being drawn.. the bees were very calm and hardly reacted to us being there up til two visits ago.,,we don't get a honey harvest here until july , although we r a bit ahead this year,,any ideas ?

 

[sherwood]

You could always catch the queen and put her in a nuc box with some of her retinue and let her get on with it there. The only thing is that this may cause more angst in the now queenless hive , but worth considering. Is it possible that they are feeding on a monocrop such as rape. Many have surmised that bees feeding soley on rape can get more than a little tetchy.

 

[Swarm]

Doesn't sound like they have lots of stores and I'm guessing their income at the moment is quite meagre, hence the increased defensive behaviour. I am never quick to condemn a colony, our weather can make you feel miserable so I tend to forgive the odd mood swing. If it persists, then take action.