does anyone keep aggressive bees

[irishguy]

Seems to me there are two kinds of first year BeeKeepers.

Those who look, listen ask questions and take advice....



Dusty.

Well if you go into my profile, click on the icon that says threads started you'll know I fall into this category

 

[Finno]

Troll?

 

[Ely]

Troll?

Without a doubt

 

[psafloyd]

I don't mind wearing 2 beesuites or even a few stings on the hand. I think naturally bees where aggressive but man has dumbed them down and with that, this mite problem has got hold. This and there no better way to find out if I'm right or wrong by doing my own research with aggressive bees.

But don't tell your neighbours, or they may not thank you for spreading those genes into their area.

Unless you are very isolated, you do really have a responsibility not only for disease control, but for the quality of the local gene pool.

Bringing in ****** bees on a whim is not what I would call sensible husbandry.

 

[psafloyd]

No probs Hivemaker. Here are my eyelids, after a sting more or less on the middle of the jaw bone!

Did you take that sitting on the bog?

 

[victor meldrew]

Darwin would have in his "Survival of the species ' that the fittest survive !
My take on this is that the fittest means 'fit to match the environment it happens to find itself in.
In an increasingly urbanised world where the marauding bear is no longer, honey badgers on another continent the requirement for exaggerated defence is counter productive to survival as when up against mankind it becomes an unequal battle .
The bees which don't display this aggression will survive in the urban situation . I will add that not many places in the UK aren't urbanised except the high fells totally unsuitable for bee survival ,the prevalence of the automobiles has seen to that.
Other examples are the budgerigar, there are more of the species around just for the fact that they are pleasing to the eye than their wild cousins in the Australian grasslands their native home.
VM


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[beeno]

Hi all,
The hypothesis that aggressive bees produce more honey is being peddled in posts 36 and 39 of this thread with post 41 'wanting some of that' without challenge from vociferous forum members which IMHO begs the question of who is doing the 'trolling'. The subject matter has come up before on this forum as most things.
In the long term interest of beekeeping, most of which is in semi-rural and urban areas (236 in my locale alone) and social responsibility, keeping aggressive bees is a no no and should not be promoted on any level.

 

[madasafish]

No end of possibility for lawsuits by publicising anti social behaviour.. but then he's a troll.

 

[Torq]

Maybe it's time to lock this thread and we can forget all about it.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Hi all,
The hypothesis that aggressive bees produce more honey is being peddled in posts 36 and 39 of this thread with post 41 'wanting some of that' without challenge from vociferous forum members which IMHO begs the question of who is doing the 'trolling'.

You must be reading a different thread to the rest of us then Beeno, but as for challenging - I think some can't be bothered to contribute as banging one's head agains a wall can eventually lead to discomfort.

 

[irishguy]

Maybe it's time to lock this thread and we can forget all about it.

 

[Torq]

What are you hoping to achieve from continuing this thread? You have already decided that you want to get aggressive bees and I don't think anyone is going to talk you out of it.

Just get them, learn from your mistake and move on.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Just get them, learn from your mistake and move on.

Or, just get them, then start a panicked thread on here which will run on and on..............................

 

[Torq]

Or, just get them, then start a panicked thread on here which will run on and on..............................

I didn't think I needed to ad that, it's a given!

 

[Torq]

.......

 

[peteinwilts]

I don't get why anyone would 'want' to keep aggressive bees.

I have some in a safe location. I don't like them, I dread inspecting them, and the HM's is on my target list of requeening.

As mentioned before, they were going to get the petrol can before I rescued them. Since then, they have calmed down a lot... but still too way to aggressive.

They bring in a lot more honey than the others, and am sure they will be the only ones flying today. However, I would rather have 4 hives of peaceful bees in their place, as the grumpy lot take longer to inspect and wind up the whole apiary.
I can easily inspect 4 colony's in the same time as doing one aggressive colony.

I do not agree with the practice of destroying whole colony's, and when making August NUC's, the grouchy bees are outstanding at defending against wasps.

However, over the year, the hassle just is not worth it. I also hate to see bee losses, and to have dozens\hundreds stinging my beesuit, gloves and down the wellies is quite heartbreaking, especially late in the season..


Irishguy. If you want to see what it is like to keep aggressive bees, simply kick your hive a couple of times during inspecting. Before you know it, they will be out and pee'd off with you, and you will lose hundreds of bees. this is like keeping aggressive bees.

I have had a number of aggressive colony's through swarms, and saving them from urban beekeepers with petrol cans. This is the ONLY reason I get them, and always aim to requeen as soon as reasonably able. (i.e. after finding and marking the queen, which is not always so easy)

 

[Pete D]

Seriously Irish guy, you have asked for opinions and advice which has been freely given, choose to follow it or not is up to you, but stop going on about it.

As mentioned earlier in this thread it's hardly beekeeping when every time you open the hive for a reason or a whim that hundreds of bees have to die when their sting becomes detached just because you want to try aggressive bees.

If you want more yield and better varroa resistance try some selected queen breeding, then hope for good weather.

Get a few years beekeeping behind you first, I don't mind admitting that the first time I opened a really big strong colony it was with trepidation and fear and they were my own reasonably friendly bees. The sheer numbers bubbling out was scary, the air was thick with bees and the sides of the hive were covered.
And this was after a week in late spring when I had been opening 20-40 hives a day on my work experience with Chris B.

At the end of the day it's your choice, but think and act responsibly for the sake of the bees, people in your area and all of us fellow beekeepers. One sure fire way to bring about more legislation in beekeeping is to have aggressive bees stinging all and sundry, unmanaged, unchecked and unworkable.

Good luck

 

[whoosling]

O I'm listening alright and I'm taking all information in from this thread and if you read it all again, you'll see there's some in here that backs up what I thought about aggressive bees, they are better at keeping varroa mite away and produce more honey. IMO, (and this is limited to being a beginner beek) man has a lot to answer for for dumbing down bees and has a major part to play in the varroa mite problem in bees. Think about if all aggressive males where culled from mankind and we were left and only the femine type where aloud to flourish, we'd be truely in **** creek then. Same for the bees IMO! People have to start thinking outside the box if they truely want bees to survive and be mite free.

All I'm wanting to do is keep one (or2) hives well away from humans to see for myself how they get on. I have a high fear tollerence and can deal with them, if I think in anyway the bees aren't for me, sure I'll just requeen or destroy the colony and no harm done to anyone.

TBH, I can't see much problems with keeping aggressive bees. Its in their nature to be aggressive and I want at least one aggressive hive. Is it against the law to keep aggressive bees, No!
Is it in mans best interests to keep bees, maybe not.
Is it in the bees best interests for us to keep aggressive bees, well with them being better honey producers and better at keeping varroa away well IMO for now it is!.

"Think about if all aggressive males where culled from mankind and we were left and only the femine type where aloud to flourish, we'd be truely in **** creek then. "
If all the aggressive males were culled from mankind and females for that matter the world might be a more reasonable place IMO What planet are you on!

 

[irishguy]

"Think about if all aggressive males where culled from mankind and we were left and only the femine type where aloud to flourish, we'd be truely in **** creek then. "
If all the aggressive males were culled from mankind and females for that matter the world might be a more reasonable place IMO What planet are you on!

Men are naturally aggressive! Its built into our dna! Its just society has been dumbing us down as well God help the world you propose with dumb downed males and females. Wed all be emotional wrecks! Lol

 

[irishguy]

Listen bhoys and ghirls, If I ever do decided to have an aggressive hive, it'll be a long way down the road in my beekeeping life. Who knows, I could possibly change my mind after I've experienced some of my own hives turning aggressive which takes me on to another question,if one has nice docile bees, does their nature stay docile until something bad happens to them or can they just turn aggressive one day out of nowhere. Or is it once the queen swarms, is it the new queen becomes aggressive ?