Culling a colony

[TryingToLetThemBee]

Necromancy: so shoot me. For those of us suburban beekeepers who do not have a "get out" distant apiary, an aggressive colony is an unmitigated disaster. I am in the middle of dealing with one and the trouble with the "be a proper beekeeper and requeen them" lecture is the process can (eg a period of queenlessness) make matters worse. I tried it and literally could not go out of the house. Sometimes there is no escape and it's a matter of minimizing casualties. If you have the problem message me and I'll try to help you do that. Certainly it should be possible to avoid killing the whole colony

 

[ericbeaumont]

avoid killing the whole colony

Last post was 5 years ago, so let's hope that problem was solved.

 

[Parsonage Bees]

Necromancy: so shoot me. For those of us suburban beekeepers who do not have a "get out" distant apiary, an aggressive colony is an unmitigated disaster. I am in the middle of dealing with one and the trouble with the "be a proper beekeeper and requeen them" lecture is the process can (eg a period of queenlessness) make matters worse. I tried it and literally could not go out of the house. Sometimes there is no escape and it's a matter of minimizing casualties. If you have the problem message me and I'll try to help you do that. Certainly it should be possible to avoid killing the whole colony

My thread from 5 years ago!! Reborn.

This colony was just a queen becoming a drone layer. Followers, not extra defensive. No need to consider culling them.

Helped a friend since this with a big defensive colony. Not pleasant. Didn't have a replacement queen or QC to kill old queen immediately so moved them to the side of a field on a farm. Should have killed her straight away, don't need any more of her type. I agree, an out apiary is a great asset. When I did intro a queen it took 6-8 weeks for the aggression level to drop and I could bring them home.

I live surrounded by neighbours and worry about my bees being a nuisance. Someone got stung over the wall and noone told me until a lot later. I could point to a feral colony in the church tower though.

There's a YouTube video called "euthanizing a dangerous hive". (Frankly this guy has loads of space around him but anyway. . .. ) If you have nowhere to take them I wouldn't blame you if you decide to cull them.

. . . . Ben

 

[Parsonage Bees]

Just a thought. To anyone reading this thread.

Try giving them away to someone who understands what to do and has the space. I guess I was that person to my friend with the defensive colony. I had a school friend who is a farmer and who let me put them in a quiet corner of his field.

You then don't have to sort out the mess resulting from killing the colony.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

That's the modern throwaway society for you