Extremely aggressive bees. Help needed

[enrico]

the problem is beekepers who, without getting anywhere near the full facts of the situation just jump in and call for the colony to be derstroyed.
Lazy beekeeping

Then there are those that think they can spend precious time trying to calm a colony and some poor innocent bystander or neighbour gets badly stung. And then you end up with them asking you to remove your bees. If you insist on urban bees then you have to be super vigilant as to their temperament.

 

[Redcap]

I had a very aggressive colony a few months ago...they were even attacking the car, with me sat in it !....However, a change of bee suit, later, allowed me to put the carnage back together. I left them alone for at least 2 weeks...and then went back in....very carefully; they accepted my actions....two months on, and after several inspections etc, they are fine...don't know the cause, but I'm pleased I didn't dispatch them...but boy did I think I would that day. Its a judgement call - good luck.

 

[Ian123]

Wait until next year.
That way the drones have a chance to perpetuate the problem.
Great.
Save the bees Save the bees


Fairy liquid this evening and solve the problem for the feral population and everyone else too.

The chance of a single colonies drones affecting anything between now and the beginning of April are remote in the extreme.

 

[user 819]

Forage may be non existent so can be a factor, sultry weather is another factor.
A heavy feed if they are in need of stores may help in the short term.
It does sound though that they need requeening.

Split the hive either by moving them to an out apiary or at the urban location, remove the flying bees from the house bees and unite the house bees to another colony having removed any Q cells if made. Find the Q and knock her off and unite the bees with another colony.

The washing of the bee suit and other items is a good shout.

 

[Nannysbees]

We have our hives at the bottom of our garden with neighbours either side so we are super vigilant on the temperament of the colonies. Only once we had to requeen, she was a home grown queen, we monitored the change in behaviour, they didn't go from calm to aggressive overnight. They started to become a little flighty, then started to bop us on our veils, it was evident there was a change in them so we despatched the queen and introduced a buckfast, job done. Lucky we are in a position where we can monitor the behaviours as im frequently behind the back of the hives and just watching them as well as weekly inspections when needed.

 

[Anduril]

Then there are those that think they can spend precious time trying to calm a colony and some poor innocent bystander or neighbour gets badly stung. And then you end up with them asking you to remove your bees. If you insist on urban bees then you have to be super vigilant as to their temperament.

https://beekeepingforum.co.uk/threads/mean-green-queen-saga-continues.34426/Remembering this thread.

 

[ericbeaumont]

leaning towards that method

Do you have access to dry ice?

Make an eke with a mesh base (net curtain will do). Dump the dry ice in the eke. Roof and CB off, heavy smoke, eke, CB & roof back on. Wait 10 minutes and all will be asleep.

Dismantle the colony, find & kill the queen, reassemble and add a nuc above newspaper.

Pain momentary, worked a treat.

 

[Beagle23]

Seems like a split consensus from he big brains on how to handle things.....good old beekeeping.
I'm going to sleep on it and decide tomorrow when the pain from the stings isn't clouding my thinking.
Thanks for all the advice

 

[protheroe]

we'll be in winter before you know it and they wont be bothering anyone.Feed them and leave them alone until spring.Find the earliest queens for sale and requeen.

 

[steveselvage]

I have had a couple of stroppy colonies, when I first started keeping bees I panicked and gave them away.
Looking back they were not the worst I've had.
I'm only a novice but I think I'd slide them over and stick a hive in their position for a day to bleed off the flyers then wrap up well, two pairs of gloves and tape up the cuffs.
Once you are confident of no stings search for the queen and kill it.
Remove the temporary box, slide the hive back and requeen with a mated queen.
Then leave them well alone until the old nasty bees have been replaced.
Just my novice opinion.

 

[Erichalfbee]

I have had a couple of stroppy colonies, when I first started keeping bees I panicked and gave them away.
Looking back they were not the worst I've had.
I'm only a novice but I think I'd slide them over and stick a hive in their position for a day to bleed off the flyers then wrap up well, two pairs of gloves and tape up the cuffs.
Once you are confident of no stings search for the queen and kill it.
Remove the temporary box, slide the hive back and requeen with a mated queen.
Then leave them well alone until the old nasty bees have been replaced.
Just my novice opinion.

The trouble with an aggressive colony is that their accepting a new queen is likely to fail if you simply introduce her in a cage. The bees are just as likely to kill her and raise their own.
I never requeen hot bees this way. The best way is to make a nuc? Introduce your new queen, wait for her to be laying well then unite having dispatched the old queen.
It’s getting too late to do that.

 

[enrico]

https://beekeepingforum.co.uk/threads/mean-green-queen-saga-continues.34426/Remembering this thread.

Not sure what your point is, sorry.

 

[Curly green finger's]

Lost some nice queens introducing straight into a horrible colony I always make nucs up now and unite after the nuc is established , I would also recommend this method .

 

[Erichalfbee]

Not sure what your point is, sorry.

It’s a good story.
Obee’s entire journey with bees was fraught

 

[Anduril]

Not sure what your point is, sorry.

Just agreeing

 

[Beth]

Why is no one saying shake out at a distance? At least the workers will find new homes in your other hives and will settle down. I can't see the point and destroying everything.

I had the same last month. Was going to shake out but decided to wait and try again. A hive going ballistic, almost exactly as you describe. Left them for a couple of weeks went back and they're fine. The weather hasn't been great, the forage hasn't been great, could be a combination of anything.

 

[enrico]

Why is no one saying shake out at a distance? At least the workers will find new homes in your other hives and will settle down. I can't see the point and destroying everything.

I had the same last month. Was going to shake out but decided to wait and try again. A hive going ballistic, almost exactly as you describe. Left them for a couple of weeks went back and they're fine. The weather hasn't been great, the forage hasn't been great, could be a combination of anything.

Shake angry bees out in an urban environment. Please, you have got to be kidding

 

[Beth]

Thought OP said he had hives elsewhere my mistake.

 

[enrico]

It is the environment in which the bees are being kept that is the only reason I am suggesting to dispose of them, In a rural environment it would be a very different answer ..... just to be clear

 

[Mabee]

Just had to deal with a colony like this at our teaching apiary. The hive started as a swarm like yours but temperament wasn’t great so was eventually united with a nice hive but had killed the nice queen and raised their own. They were at us as soon as we were near their hive and worse than before.
We put the hive on a wheelbarrow and moved it to the other side of the apiary, then a day later moved it again so we were left without most of the flying bees, although they were all in the apiary and grumpy until they joined another hive. We were suited up well. We went through the hive frame by frame looking for the queen and eventually had to shake the bees through an excluder but we found her on the last frame. Queen was suspended in a cage in the hive for a week hoping to prevent them making queen cells, however they still did and they were removed yesterday. So today I hope to introduce a nice queen today. Anyway it’s another option.