Defensive Colony

[Beedogg]

I have a very defensive colony which is starting to annoy me now. Neighbours, walkers and importantly my wife keep getting stung. I'm reluctantly accepting that I'll need to re-queen them. Can anyone recommend a source of mated queens?

 

[smok]

there you have
https://www.bshoneybees.co.uk/buckfastqueen?options=cart

 

[enrico]

I have a very defensive colony which is starting to annoy me now. Neighbours, walkers and importantly my wife keep getting stung. I'm reluctantly accepting that I'll need to re-queen them. Can anyone recommend a source of mated queens?

There will be a time lapse. If you want them changing asap then find and kill the queen and unite with a nice colony. Split later if necessary when all is calm.

 

[smok]

but to be correct you need to be sure your hive its defensive.
very offten especially this winter-spring,its really cold weather today i inspect my 9 hives usely very calm ,but today after open every single bee try to rip apart my veil,smoke doesnt work very helpfull

 

[Amari]

I have a very defensive colony which is starting to annoy me now. Neighbours, walkers and importantly my wife keep getting stung. I'm reluctantly accepting that I'll need to re-queen them. Can anyone recommend a source of mated queens?

Availability of 2023 queens may be a few weeks away. I recently purchased a 2022 Q from F1 Buckfast Queens | Mated Queens for Sale | Queen Bees For Sale UK | Buy Queen Bees | Buckfast Queens | Queen Bees for Sale | UK Mated Queen Bees | Buy Bees
Normally I buy from British-bred mated Buckfast queen bees for sale. Order queen bees online.

 

[Erichalfbee]

I have never had a bad queen from BS Honeybees.

 

[smok]

Availability of 2023 queens may be a few weeks away. I recently purchased a 2022 Q from F1 Buckfast Queens | Mated Queens for Sale | Queen Bees For Sale UK | Buy Queen Bees | Buckfast Queens | Queen Bees for Sale | UK Mated Queen Bees | Buy Bees
Normally I buy from British-bred mated Buckfast queen bees for sale. Order queen bees online.

dont know from where you have this info but BS Honey bees have queen in stock and queens from are very gentle,calm
I have every year some to repleace my queens

 

[Chunky Plumpy]

Hello, I have the same issue with my second smaller hive with some angry bees attacking passers by and I really would appreciate some HELP.

When it happens they chase us into the house and we just had an incident now when I went out to take another photo for a different thread. The hive is out of sight behind some stables albeit only c10-15 meters away but a lone bee just went for me out of the blue. It got caught in my t-shirt whist trying to sting me so I ended it. Sadly a second then arrived almost instantly and attacked a guest, getting stuck in her hair until we ended that bugger as well. 'She who must be obeyed' only commented half an hour ago that she was chased by a bee whilst mowing; we know the difference and know it was not a wasp or hornet which occasionally get upset by the mower.

I'm a novice and not sure if this is dreadful bad luck or if my hive is becoming aggressive, as opposed to defensive given we're not near it when some of these incidents occur. I read:

1) The queen dictates the mood of the colony/hive
2) A colony shall rear a new queen if the reigning queen dies

There is a good flow on and the colony growing so is it not possible to simply find and 'dispatch' the queen to force the hive to rear a new queen, who might be less aggressive? Alternatively if this is a dreadful idea then is buying or rearing a queen in another hive to replace her the only way to address this; that's a long wait when I have to tend the chickens near to the hives!?

Any help or advice would be very welcomed. Cheers, CP.

 

[Murox]

I wouldn't rely on my bees raising a good queen in your position,(you need a good drone population as well). I would buy in a queen from a known reliable source (BS Honey being one, there are others),
Colonies can get tetchy for many reasons but if youre getting buzzed, followed and attacked at distance from the hive (and you are not in the flight path) then its time to take some action.

This is one reason why its always helpful to have a second apiary site, probably on a farm or similar, away from everything; so if you need to relocate a hive you already have an option.

 

[Chunky Plumpy]

Thanks @Murox , whilst this second hive was always livelier than my original which is blissfully chilled, it’s the randomness of the recent attacks with no visibility or specific proximity to the hive that’s a problem.

I inspected it yesterday and Queeny was there and all looked well so not convinced there is anything but an increasingly angry mob; I am a novice with no mentor so that doesn’t mean much.

We are remote so it’s really only an issue for us, pets and guests which gives me time to source a replacement Queen. I shall order one and then start reading up on how to swap one into a working hive. Cheers, CP.

 

[Murox]

................ this second hive was always livelier than my original which is blissfully chilled, it’s the randomness of the recent attacks with no visibility or specific proximity to the hive that’s a problem....I inspected it yesterday and Queeny was there and all looked well so not convinced there is anything but an increasingly angry mob....We are remote so it’s really only an issue for us, pets and guests which gives me time to source a replacement Queen. I shall order one and then start reading up on how to swap one into a working hive. Cheers, CP.

Sometimes you just get a temporary blip with a batch of nastier workers and then once they have died off things return to "normal". If you're not getting hammered when you inspect, with a flow on as you suggested, then I would hold off getting a new queen (unless she happens to be getting older).

 

[Chunky Plumpy]

Sometimes you just get a temporary blip with a batch of nastier workers and then once they have died off things return to "normal". If you're not getting hammered when you inspect, with a flow on as you suggested, then I would hold off getting a new queen (unless she happens to be getting older).

Hi, the inspections are ‘okay’.

I’m a bit of a jessy I suspect but even then it’s usually little more than 5 or 6 angry bees when I’m inspecting. I think it’s also the contrast with the other hive, much much larger colony but a lower tone and zero nuisance bees when I inspect it.

Ideally I’d rear a Queen from the docile colony… so happy to wait things out as I fear the docile bunch might attempt a swarm at which point I’d have Queen cells I might somehow move to the problem hive via some procedure.

Certainly happy to leave them all well alone for a week to see how things go!! Cheers, CP.

 

[thorn]

Do you have OSR locally? Some beekeepers have reported that this makes their bees aggressive.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

There is a good flow on and the colony growing so is it not possible to simply find and 'dispatch' the queen to force the hive to rear a new queen

and that queen will have the same DNA as her mother (with maybe some added spite from the father) so the only sensible thing to do is replace her with a queen of known provenance.

 

[Chunky Plumpy]

Do you have OSR locally? Some beekeepers have reported that this makes their bees aggressive.

Hi, I honestly don’t know because it’s flat here so no elevation to get a ‘3 mile view’ of neighbours fields. It’s mostly grazing but possible someone is rotating a crop or has some other reason for growing it.

A neighbour has a fancy drone (not a man-bee) with video, I never understood why anyone would have one… but now maybe I’ll ask he sends it up as that would be interesting to see what my bees are living off. Cheers, CP.

 

[drex]

I can accept defensive bees, tolerate a certain degree of aggression, but will not tolerate "followers"( bees that chase after me. I will always replace the queen of followers.

 

[Chunky Plumpy]

I can accept defensive bees, tolerate a certain degree of aggression, but will not tolerate "followers"( bees that chase after me. I will always replace the queen of followers.

Hi, as bee keeping is a hobby for me I’m inclined to agree.

From what I’m reading/learning, I should allow a little time in case it does settle down but the recent followers coming into the house won’t be tolerated.

If it continues then ‘she’ will have to go! Cheers, CP.

 

[Carl]

Interesting topic on aggressive bees. Only on hived swarms have I found followers and bees ’after’ me and the lovely lady wife.
i do not agree on the comment from Murox, “I wouldn't rely on my bees raising a good queen in your position, (you need a good drone population as well).” As the idea that your drone population has anything to do with inseminating the queen from that hive is, from my understanding flawed.
Bees fly high to shag. The queen looks for the best shagger and they do their thing. All the drones from the area are out and up there looking to be the one so the DNA spreads and the queen gets the best and the drone from whichever colony gets his bragging rights.
when i have had fiesty bees i find a couple of weeks calms them down, maybe recognition sets in and they see us as part of their landscape.
Always interesting when others detail their experience.

 

[Murox]

@Carl said "As the idea that your drone population has anything to do with inseminating the queen from that hive is, from my understanding flawed". Obviously my sentence was clumsy, thats not at all what I was saying. Thank you for pointing it out.

 

[Chunky Plumpy]

Hello all, in summary this thread does read consistently since the original post from @Beedogg; a rare treat getting bee keepers to agree from what I’ve experienced in my first year

I shall give them some time to settle and a wide berth, but if they insist on playing sting-chase after that then I shall get a new queen.

How exactly I get a queen is immaterial at this point so long as I get one from good stock. Thanks for all your help, cheers, CP.