- Joined
- Jul 5, 2018
- Messages
- 476
- Reaction score
- 14
- Location
- Essex
- Hive Type
- 14x12
- Number of Hives
- 4 Hives!!
Or a change in their behaviour.
We have had our colony for 3 months now, they were a small nuc that has expended well and they have been a pleasure to handle until last week, we know it was a bit late for a final hive inspection, it’s just the way it worked out, it was 21c and warm so not bad conditions, they were far more defensive and easily stimulated to sting, I got stung 3 times and the Mrs once. But put some of it down to the black builder’s type gloves with the red woven back on them that I was using and didn’t sting when I swapped to the leather gloves. (have read some of the archives on gloves since!!) But since then they have been fine until yesterday.
In the morning the Mrs was watering some of the plants a good 20ft + from the hive when one of the girls started buzzing her, I joined her and we both walked up the garden a good 60ft away before the bee stopped following, then she went back to watering, it then came back 3-4 mins later and stung her on the cheek without any warning!
But since then the hive has been fine and we sat having a cup of tea 10ft away with no problems with the girls just going about their business.
We have been told that you don’t get to see the true nature of a colony until they get to full strength? And our bees are defiantly mongrels and quite a few different colours, some almost pure black others quite a yellow abdomen, so do wonder if some of them could end up being a bit aggressive or do you get the occasional rogue bee? We are going to see how they progress as we would like to keep them in the garden but it’s not fair on neighbours or the bees if the colony becomes to defensive and causes problems. We do have somewhere to move them if needed.
Just would like some ideas as what may cause a change in behaviour and why a bee might behave in such a way? There was a dragonfly that had been in the garden and a few wasps but nothing out of the ordinary.
We have had our colony for 3 months now, they were a small nuc that has expended well and they have been a pleasure to handle until last week, we know it was a bit late for a final hive inspection, it’s just the way it worked out, it was 21c and warm so not bad conditions, they were far more defensive and easily stimulated to sting, I got stung 3 times and the Mrs once. But put some of it down to the black builder’s type gloves with the red woven back on them that I was using and didn’t sting when I swapped to the leather gloves. (have read some of the archives on gloves since!!) But since then they have been fine until yesterday.
In the morning the Mrs was watering some of the plants a good 20ft + from the hive when one of the girls started buzzing her, I joined her and we both walked up the garden a good 60ft away before the bee stopped following, then she went back to watering, it then came back 3-4 mins later and stung her on the cheek without any warning!
But since then the hive has been fine and we sat having a cup of tea 10ft away with no problems with the girls just going about their business.
We have been told that you don’t get to see the true nature of a colony until they get to full strength? And our bees are defiantly mongrels and quite a few different colours, some almost pure black others quite a yellow abdomen, so do wonder if some of them could end up being a bit aggressive or do you get the occasional rogue bee? We are going to see how they progress as we would like to keep them in the garden but it’s not fair on neighbours or the bees if the colony becomes to defensive and causes problems. We do have somewhere to move them if needed.
Just would like some ideas as what may cause a change in behaviour and why a bee might behave in such a way? There was a dragonfly that had been in the garden and a few wasps but nothing out of the ordinary.
