Evil Bees

[Brian Bush]

I have a colleague with a hive of evil bees. We have left them alone this year hoping they would swarm and a replacement queen would have better offspring.
I know we now have to do something.
It is impossible to find the queen owing to the number of bees and their aggression. This is my plan
Open the hive and split the brood 3 ways into 2 new boxes.
Place one of the new boxes on the stand and the other 2 boxes some way away.
I then have a 2 to 1 chance that the wicked witch is in one of the new boxes. After a day all the flying bees will be in a new box with 1/3 of the brood.
I will then removes this and box 3 to my out apiary and move the original hive and its remaining 1/3 bees back to stand.
The 2 queenless 1/3 will then hopefully raise new queens.
I need to try and limit the number of angry bees that could upset the site landlord. He has been followed and stung in the past.
Any helpful comments would be appreciated.

 

[joctcl]

You describe them as being possessed, have you ruled out all the other causes that could be annoying them?

 

[thorn]

If they raise a new queen, she'll have the same genes, and may well produce more bad tempered offspring.
Wouldn't it be better to buy in a fresh queen?

 

[Russel]

Unless I've missed something, you need to requeen and not allow them to requeen themselves, as this may/will leave you 3 times worse off, as the new queens will be from the old queens eggs.
Someone correct me if I've got the wrong end of the stick?

Russ

 

[Teemore]

Wasps/robbing could be a big factor in their current temperament as could queenlessness....

Rather than putting brood in a hive on the original hive site, just put an empty box there to bleed off the flyers. The queen shouldn't be in the "empty" hive so one less to go through in order to find her. This has been referenced on the forum in the past as a means of inspecting problem hives and to make it easier to find a queen in a hive (less bees to deal with). If you feel you must give them a frame of brood, shake all the bees off it before moving it.

Once you look into the hive, check whether there are eggs and larvae present. As per Russel, get a queen that is mated and laying to go into the problem hive. it may take a full brood cycle to see temperament changes once the new queen is ensconced.

 

[BeeJayBee]

This is my plan
Open the hive and split the brood 3 ways into 2 new boxes.

I suggest that before you try to split the colony you move the brood box away so you temporarily get rid of the flying bees, put an empty box on the old site so they have somewhere to go. It should make everything a little easier, or a little more pleasant, to manage.

Edit: Oh, oops, didn't read the thread properly, Teemore has already suggested the same thing.

 

[Moggett]

An alternative is to walk in a just emerged virgin queen or introduce a protected queen cell from a good colony. The virgin will find her and probably save you a job.....

 

[user 6228]

got pigeons landing them? ...
it made a hive of ours mad mad mad...
made a device to stop the birds landing on it and they are back to being softies in the sunshine

 

[Finman]

.
Make an AS.

Move the hive 10 feet. New hive with combs and one brood frame to old site.
After 3 days hive has only young bees they are fewer. Perhaps queen is easier to find. Now they have only one brood frame. Emergency cells are capped after 5 days. Then you take off the brood frame and those queen cell. The hive is ready to accept a new laying queen.

This system is meant to minimize frame lifting and searching.

It is a bad mistake if the hive make a new queen.

.

 

[Little John]

I need to try and limit the number of angry bees that could upset the site landlord. He has been followed and stung in the past.

I'd say politics should come first.

So - in the hours of darkness, creep up on the hive and block-off the entrance. Assuming you've got an OMF fitted, then it's just a case of strapping-up and moving the hive somewhere away from that site to do the business.

Sounds like you really need to re-queen that hive from one of your "good 'uns" ...

LJ

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Wasps/robbing could be a big factor in their current temperament as could queenlessness....

Rather than putting brood in a hive on the original hive site, just put an empty box there to bleed off the flyers. The queen shouldn't be in the "empty" hive so one less to go through in order to find her. This has been referenced on the forum in the past as a means of inspecting problem hives and to make it easier to find a queen in a hive (less bees to deal with). If you feel you must give them a frame of brood, shake all the bees off it before moving it.

Once you look into the hive, check whether there are eggs and larvae present. As per Russel, get a queen that is mated and laying to go into the problem hive. it may take a full brood cycle to see temperament changes once the new queen is ensconced.

 

[Ginger19]

That answers a question I had, 2 weeks ago I bought in a Buckfast after killing off the "nasty queen". I wondered how long it would take for things to calm down as they hadn't chilled today. Pretty obvious now - I thought she would just go in there and tell them all to behive themselves.

 

[Margaret Elisabeth]

Only a week or so to go before new brood sweeps out the older bees. Don't expect instant change.
Once again: it takes two to tango, the genes from local drones are most likely to be the problem when your once calm hive gets defensive after gaining a locally, newly mated queen....the answer is still the same. But do stop all this misogyny. The queen is not nasty, it is her offspring that are doing the stinging and the local male genes that make them more prepared to give their lives in defence of the colony.

 

[richardbees]

Brian

I suggest you move the nasty colony 10ft away and put an empty hive/bb with frames/foundation on the original site.

After 2 days you will find the nasty colony infinitely more manageable and be able to find the Q......which you should remove/replace

Richard

 

[Gilberdyke John]

Only a week or so to go before new brood sweeps out the older bees. Don't expect instant change.
Once again: it takes two to tango, the genes from local drones are most likely to be the problem when your once calm hive gets defensive after gaining a locally, newly mated queen....the answer is still the same. But do stop all this misogyny. The queen is not nasty, it is her offspring that are doing the stinging and the local male genes that make them more prepared to give their lives in defence of the colony.

Unfortunately it's not possible to empty the mated queen of the problem semen she has stored so the remedy is to change the queen.