followers

[juanito]

greetings,
just a general query today,
after closing my hives up after making an inspection this morning four or five bees followed me around for about five minutes, is this normal ? both hives are progressing really well, one bee in particular was carrying bright red pollen possibly from our Bird of paradise tree, the rest are happy working the false pepper trees and a yellow broom type plant which is highly drought tolerant,
adios.

 

[leonotron]

Happens to me every now and then. More experienced keeper than me also said my colony are more aggressive than he would tolerate.

 

[juanito]

greetings Leontron,
I don't find it a problem with bees following me from their home, after all it is me who is poking around in their house,
thanks for the reply.

 

[enrico]

Find a low growing bush and walk through the low branches. You will lose most of them!
E

 

[juanito]

cheers enrico,
as it happens my hives are quite near to a small pine tree and when I stand up from looking in the hives my head brushes the outer branches, and I had noticed the bees keep away from that area,
maybe I should put a few twigs in my veil as camoflauge,
enjoying the bees immensely and looking forward to the first taste of honey,
adios.

 

[johnnie1uk]

greetings,
just a general query today,
after closing my hives up after making an inspection this morning four or five bees followed me around for about five minutes, is this normal ? both hives are progressing really well, one bee in particular was carrying bright red pollen possibly from our Bird of paradise tree, the rest are happy working the false pepper trees and a yellow broom type plant which is highly drought tolerant,
adios.

"The Iberian bee, although not overly aggressive, has a tendency for a handful of “sentry” bees to patrol the area around the colony up to 24 hours following a disturbance and attack any intruders. This has led to a poor reputation and the bee often ends up the loser."

 

[ratcatcher]

if you use smoke, just blow a couple of puffs over yourself, normally does the trick

 

[Barbarian]

Following may be tolerated by the keeper but will not be appreciated by other family members or close neighbours.

With two hives, you may find that the followers are coming from just one hive. If so, I would be thinking of re-queening with eggs from the non-following hive.

Beekeeping should be enjoyable. Non-following bees make life easier.