Help bees dont like me.

[matty]

Sorry for all the questions but i am having a little trouble.

2 months ago i found a queen cell right in the middle of the middle frame this hive was from a prime swarm i got last year.
We thought that it was properly a suspending cell so left them to it but then the bad weather hit
Last week we had 2 good afternoons and they went out in a big spiral twice with some staying on the roof with there bums in the air.

Could that be mating flights or were they swarming?

also

I have been unable to get into this hive due to as soon as i open the brood box they come for me in big way and i have had to close up and go and tend to my stings.
most of the time they are busy bring in food.

Could this mean the are queenless or just grumpy due to the weather?

Do i leave them and see if they settle or unite with a nuc i have?

Thanks

 

[BKF Admin]

I would attempt to inspect midday when most of the flyers are out foraging.

Get a couple of box's and split the hive down in to frames you can manage.

You need to know whats going on before proceding.

If its still to much then find a local beek with enough experience to go through them with you.

 

[keithgrimes]

If you want to calm them down a bit follow this process. Move the brood box and bees ten or twenty feet. Place a brood box with no bees on the original site. Go away and come back a couple of hours later. Most of the flying bees will be at the new box at the old site, so you should be able to inspect with less stress. After you're done, put everything back where it was.

 

[Winker]

when they explode in your face, spray them down with some sugar water. That will settle them down enough for you to look through them.

I have a hive from Hell that I had to move into the middle of a field, due to the aggressive nature of these girls. When you take the crown board off they just explode in my face, even after being smoked heavily first.

But a quick spray down with some sugar water and they soon calm down enough for me to look through them.

Normally I would re-queen but this queen is laying for England. If there is an empty cell she is there and placing an egg in it, no hanging around!

 

[Cazza]

Hi Matty

I think you need to increase your PPE too. You should be able to inspect without stings penetrating to your skin. Then you would be able to work for longer.
Try wearing another layer of clothes under your suit. Better too hot than stung all over.
Cazza

 

[buzz bee]

Hi Matty

I think you need to increase your PPE too. You should be able to inspect without stings penetrating to your skin. Then you would be able to work for longer.
Try wearing another layer of clothes under your suit. Better too hot than stung all over.
Cazza

 

[Monsieur Abeille]

I have a hive from Hell that I had to move into the middle of a field, due to the aggressive nature of these girls. When you take the crown board off they just explode in my face, even after being smoked heavily first.

But a quick spray down with some sugar water and they soon calm down enough for me to look through them.

Not every one the same though - mine seem to get enraged with the application of smoke, so I dont unless I'm trying to save some of the darlings from being squashed, and they totally ignore sugar water. Manipulation cloth seems the best option for minimising their angst.

 

[DanBee]

I have a hive from Hell that I had to move into the middle of a field, due to the aggressive nature of these girls. When you take the crown board off they just explode in my face, even after being smoked heavily first.

...

Normally I would re-queen but this queen is laying for England. If there is an empty cell she is there and placing an egg in it, no hanging around!

What? You want more bees just as angry? Requeen!

 

[greatbritishhoney]

Join the club Matty. Almost every beek I know is having probs with feisty bees at the moment. Personally I just think it's a combination of early build-up followed by poor weather and June gap.

PPE will help, but I managed to get stung on my stomach through a full beesuit and a fleecy jumper. Sometimes they just manage to get you at the right angle/position.

Last week I very stupidly inspected a small nuc without my wellies on. Within about 10 secs I had got four stings to the ankles and had to run for cover. Ankles swelled very badly and still hurt today. All this despite me bringing a very similar thread to everyone's attention about a week prior to that. Silly boy!
I would go with the advice already given - move the brood box 20ft away to reduce the amount of flying bees. Just be careful when moving them that you don't damage the queen.

 

[SixFooter]

Wet suit under the Beesuit

 

[greatbritishhoney]

Wet suit under the Beesuit

Could come in handy for this guy....

http://www.***************.org.uk/new-beekeepers/bardsey-bees/

Argh. Just google bardsey bees.

 

[Moggs]

Hi Matty

Re your original post, it's not easy to offer specific guidance until you have managed to have a good look through your colony and document what you see. Access to the brood chamber will determine number of bees, amount of available stores, any queen cells (position on frames, open, (hatched queen or even open and resealed perhaps?) swarm or supercedure cells, play cells, cells with royal jelly and larvae in, etc).

Look also for brood and stages of brood (open, sealed, number of frames of brood), how much room for expansion. Do you have supers on?

There are so many variables as you can imagine. It sounds to me as if your bees may have swarmed (perhaps unnoticed by you).

One of your priorities will be to establish whether the hive is 'queenright' and to that end, a test frame of eggs may be useful, if you don't see any eggs in the existing colony. Note: an unmated queen may be very difficult to detect, especially in a still-strong colony.

Your aggressive bees may be a symptom of queenlessness or maybe due to a shortage of food. Indeed, it won't be long now as we go past the 'shortest day' that the bees start to become more defensive as they realise that they must pack stores for the winter.

Be careful too not to oversmoke - a whiff of smoke is very effective at spreading the message through the hive. Bees can be agitated by great clouds of smoke. Conduct your operations purposefully and gently - any vibration is quickly perceived as an alarm warning. Avoid crushing or 'rolling' the bees on the frames. Remember that if they start to sting, the resultant alarm pheromone spreads through the hive like wildfire. Smoke any sting site to mask the pheromone.

Funny old game....

 

[matty]

Thanks for the advice.
I suited up with the thickest kit i had and 2 pairs of gloves and went in today, the sugar water spray worked a treat so thanks for the tip.
The hive had stores and plenty of bees foraging but no sign of a Queen, grubs or eggs but plenty of nice polished cells.

I have taken a frame with young grubs and eggs on it from a nuc i had and put it in the middle of the hive and will look again next week.

 

[wwwcight]

when they explode in your face, spray them down with some sugar water. That will settle them down enough for you to look through them.
... they just explode in my face, even after being smoked heavily first.

Normally I would re-queen but this queen is laying for England. If there is an empty cell she is there and placing an egg in it, no hanging around!

I've experienced the same thing, took the roof off and they came piling out the crown board like a volcano. Some went straight for me, which is new, others just covered the crown board.

Heavy smoking... When I put more than a couple of puffs of smoke in, they just seem to get mad, louder noise all round and more attacking bees. I thought this stuff was supposed to make them gorge themselves and get 'after lunch' sleepiness.

Same here though, I would re-queen, but this is a swarm I got 5 weeks ago and they are filling the commercial brood almost.

They seemed a bit short on stores, so I gave them 2 pints of light syrup last night. Guess I'll see at my weekend inspection if that has improved their mood at all.

 

[drstitson]

"When I put more than a couple of puffs of smoke in, they just seem to get mad, louder noise all round and more attacking bees. I thought this stuff was supposed to make them gorge themselves and get 'after lunch' sleepiness"

how long do you leave it between smoking and opening - should be a couple of minutes.

 

[wwwcight]

Be careful too not to oversmoke - a whiff of smoke is very effective at spreading the message through the hive. Bees can be agitated by great clouds of smoke.

.... Avoid crushing or 'rolling' the bees on the frames.

Ahh right, yes I recognise the oversmoking thing. How do you calm them down though if they do get annoyed. Presently I'm using the 'run away' technique, or rather, walk calmly away and wait for them all to sting my suit and die or get bored; although I really should not be leaving the hive open, but its not like they give me a choice. 35 stings I pulled out of my suit and gloves the other day, one out of my arm that went though the vents in my gloves, and one from my bottom lip (leaned forward and my lip touched the front mesh).

How do I stop from crushing them? They are running about like 4 year olds after jelly and icecream, and I'm trying to put frames back and they are under the lugs or between the spacers as I push the frames up tight. Smoking makes them just run about faster and get angry.

 

[biggles]

Smoke them a little before going in and use a manipulation cloth. I had to go into some hives yesterday, as I am a day late inspecting. The weather was horrid and so were the bees, but with a manipulation cloth it cut down the amount that could fly at me. Well worth it as I done two AS.
Good luck

 

[susbees]

Normally I would re-queen but this queen is laying for England. If there is an empty cell she is there and placing an egg in it, no hanging around!

Oh good, plenty more foragers and guards with a really bad attitude

 

[chipper]

On a slight tangent....
While carrying out a routine inspection of an apiary with the Regional bee Inspector I was getting a lot of "attention" while he was getting none....eventually after a number of stings I had to change from my bee suit to his spare one as it was apparent the bees disliked my apparently "clean " suit...
After washing my suit in Washing soda the bees were fine in subsequent inspections.
The suit had previously been washed in Fairy Bio....

 

[susbees]

How do I stop from crushing them? They are running about like 4 year olds after jelly and icecream, and I'm trying to put frames back and they are under the lugs or between the spacers as I push the frames up tight. Smoking makes them just run about faster and get angry.

Running on the frame comes from the queen. Bees stinging like that need requeening unless they are starving and you haven't fed them, it's thundery or windy and you pull their world apart, or they've just come off OSR. And serious running behaviour is a pain.

Do you ever see the queen?