Another nasty bee question

[fullframe45]

I have a hive on tripple brood and with 4 supers on that recently have been very agressive to me.
This hive was left to rear a Queen from a single cell first week in june ,After no sighn of eggs at 34 days i decided to unite them with a spare laying Queen from last year that i had in a paynes nuc. This was a dark Queen and had been a good layer in 23 (red)Thinking that due to the Crap weather we have had .It had not happened.So i did a newspaper unite.
Within three days of being united i saw eggs .So everything seemed ok to me. But they were still not very nice to inspect .They have always been a bit tetchy and have a bit of a tendancy to follow me several yards.But last time i inspected they were quite nasty all over me and bouncing off the veil not nice at all I do have another last years Queen in a nuc and laying and am wondering if she would be viable to unite if needed and if so how to go about this. Its a bit daunting inspecting a hive with them like this.Im not sure what to do so any comments would be good. Thank You.

 

[SWEET]

Tip from me - Don't let small defensive hives expand into 3 brood boxes or face the pain (you'll have to wait weeks/months for the 2023 Queen to replace the current mob, assuming she was decent (could be worse))

 

[Swarm]

Is it the 2023 queen you introduced via newspaper unite or a queen they had brought on? Have you seen this red queen to confirm the unite was successful?

 

[enrico]

So your unite was in July. It takes at least three weeks to replace the flyers let alone the eggs that were layed by the old queen. Be patient. Secondly, why are you inspecting? Just wondered. If she was a new queen then swarm unlikely not impossible. I would consider leaving until the autumn to unite with a nicer queen if they haven't changed temperament

 

[user 819]

Typically a bee life span is six weeks so one will need to see if the colony changes some nine weeks or so after the removal of the old queen. Not only is there the six week life span could be seven even , there is also the 21 days on top that a bee takes to evolve from an egg laid.

 

[fullframe45]

Thank You for commenting,the Queen that i united was a red marked by me (23) and reared in my apiary early last year ,she was a very good layer as i remember ,but cant remember if but it did not work for me.So i removed it and then left the Single Q cell for them.
I have to admit i have not seen the newly united Queen since the unite due to their aggressive behavour and going through all the stack. But i did see fresh eggs as i said within a few days of combining . So i just assumed that all was well. I now know differently. I shouldnt tempt fate here but i am now in a situation that i can just about manage the 5 colonies than i can comfortably handle, along with several nucs .So im not relying on this one if some sort of manipulation could work.If you follow my meaning. Thank You

 

[enrico]

Thank You for commenting,the Queen that i united was a red marked by me (23) and reared in my apiary early last year ,she was a very good layer as i remember ,but cant remember if but it did not work for me.So i removed it and then left the Single Q cell for them.
I have to admit i have not seen the newly united Queen since the unite due to their aggressive behavour and going through all the stack. But i did see fresh eggs as i said within a few days of combining . So i just assumed that all was well. I now know differently. I shouldnt tempt fate here but i am now in a situation that i can just about manage the 5 colonies than i can comfortably handle, along with several nucs .So im not relying on this one if some sort of manipulation could work.If you follow my meaning. Thank You

If they are only aggressive when you open them and not attacking when you are just nearby I would leave them until spring, I would remove any honey they make and leave them with a single brood box if possible over winter. In spring, if they survive, the queen will be easy to find and kill and combine immediately with a nice hive. Others will do other things but that works for me.

 

[Penninetrader]

I was told big colonies know they are and act accordingly, queen excluder on first and second brood box, identify laying box then split with new cells to both queenless boxes. Won't be so cocky then :}

 

[Roger.Wilco]

big colonies know they are and act accordingly

There might be something in that...

My colony from a purchased NUC last year - were calm and placid all last year. They exploded in population early in April this year and in May they were dangerous; stinging the passing public 20-30m away from the hive. They would smother me during an inspection and in a few cases somehow got into the beesuit and stung me multiple times. They also stung another beekeepers young daughter through her beesuit and I had a more experienced beekeeper with over a decade of experience keep his distance.

I was advised to not kill the old angry queen immediately but keep her in a NUC during the attempted re-queening - until the new queen had been reintroduced successfully. While in the NUC the old angry queen has been calm and placid again and her Majesty lay-a-lot is out competing any of the other queens from my other hives for frames of brood.

 

[rolande]

I was advised to not kill the old angry queen immediately but keep her in a NUC

Ludicrous advice. As if you'd want to recombine if the requeening failed

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

While in the NUC the old angry queen has been calm and placid again

That's probably because the nuc had been denuded of all its flying bees (the ones that exhibit the excessive defensiveness) and the remaining nurse bees would be too busy brood rearing to think of anything else - once they go through one brood cycle, they would be back to their old ways.
Small colonies don't make honey so a pretty pointless observation.

 

[fullframe45]

As previous ,thanks for all comments and im still not sure as to what to do never had this situation before.,But for a change it looks like we may be getting a bit of sunshine tomorrow .So i am planning on inspecting later in afternoon when the foragers should be out and see what develops. If they are still the same i will not inspect again .Just leave em till vape time or maybee spring .But i hate being defeated. LOL Thank you

 

[Swarm]

It's not defeat, just tactical withdrawal