Do bees always turn nasty eventually.

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666bees

House Bee
Joined
Jul 15, 2010
Messages
229
Reaction score
0
Location
Staffordshire
Hive Type
National
Number of Hives
3 swarms, 1 14x12 nuc, national nuc
Is it something I should look out for? At the moment they are vey happy with me sitting two foot away watching them and I dont ware my suite. Does it come with age?
 
Mine are the same. I think you have to be aware that temperament may change with a change of queen. I have 2 colonies that came from an AS in which the original queen disappeared and the parent colony swarmed. I have the parent hive and the swarm having given the AS bees away to a beek in desperate need of a queen for a dwindled queen less colony.
Brood is about to emerge so I will find out in the next few weeks.
 
Mine started out soft as butter, but superceded my queen a few weeks ago - since they they have what I would call attitude, but it could be the time of year, lack of flow etc rather than a permanent change - ask me next year!
 
I would say they dont always have to turn nasty eventually. As has already been mentioned, various things such as weather, forage situation, wasp attack, bad handling etc can upset a colony for a certain amount of time.
Also as mentioned change of queen, anything could happen especially if it isnt a bought in queen from reputable source.
A nuc is usually quiet and may stay that way or get a bit feistier as they the colony grows.
 
My two hives are completely different, one from a nucleus is strong, the other from a swarm is fairly weak. But they both allow me to stand a few feet away from the flight path and hive and watch carefully - you just have to be still and not be wearing anything that will attract attention such as perfume etc. I can be close enough without my suit to see the colour of the pollen baskets.
 
I have a colony that was 'feisty', then became good as gold- but recently on a final warning. Will assess in the Spring as not going to interfere with a colony this late in the year.
 

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