Human intervention.

[waverider]

You wouldn't allow a loony human to roam the streets attacking... so why inflict such bee behaviour on neighbours.
Remove queen and replace with efficient queen with kinder qualities.
Bit like life really

If you don't enjoy inspecting a hive.. there is your answer.. just listen to yourself, it ain't a battle- its a hobby, or career.

Only one of the twelve colonies has a poor temperament and the apiary is well away from people.

 

[peteinwilts]

I have been slated a few times for tolerating aggressive bees. (although the inspector told me he has seen a lot worse!)

My grumpy bees are kept on our own land, 1Km from the nearest road or house, and well away from footpaths.
They are at one end of a field on a dog leg. There is only one way to get there, and only one reason to be there.

the reason I tolerate them is they are first out in the morning, last in in the evening and work in all weathers.
two of my grumpy hives totalled more honey than 12 of my peaceful hives.

also, on one of the hives, I have never counted a single varroa, and even during treatment, rarely count more than a handful between all of the grumpy hives.

in an ideal world, I would like to cross breed them with the peaceful hives, and they will work hard for a living. This takes a lot of time, patience and fair weather!

New beekeepers should note this thread is referring to bees that are always aggressive, as opposed to aggressive due to reasons such as stormy weather, invading ants or queens that are past their best (etc!).

 

[Hivemaker.]

My grumpy bees are kept on our own land, 1Km from the nearest road or house, and well away from footpaths.
They are at one end of a field on a dog leg. There is only one way to get there, and only one reason to be there.

New beekeepers should note this thread is referring to bees that are always aggressive, as opposed to aggressive due to reasons such as stormy weather, invading ants or queens that are past their best (etc!).

Sound quite isolated, are they well out of the flying range to mate with drones from colonies outside of their area, or the other way round.

 

[peteinwilts]

Sound quite isolated, are they well out of the flying range to mate with drones from colonies outside of their area, or the other way round.

I am not that isolated, but there are very few beekeepers near me.

I have heard there are some in a private park a few miles from me (almost wiped out last winter). Every swarm I have picked up have been on that side of the farm, have all been as aggressive as hell. (too aggressive for even me, and get re-queened as soon as I can!)

the hives 3 1/2 miles to the south are also mine.

to the east, I think there is someone about 6-7 miles away.

I think I read drones fly about 15 miles looking for a mate, but on the grumpy colony's I destroy as many drone cells as I can through the year regardless.

 

[peteinwilts]

I think I read drones fly about 15 miles looking for a mate, but on the grumpy colony's I destroy as many drone cells as I can through the year regardless.

with so many hives on the farm, I would imagine very few drones would want to fly a long way??

 

[sugarbush]

All hives will at certain times show some level of aggression. Often new beekeepers might enter a hive that is under stress and think they need to re-queen because 8 guard bees immediately started bouncing off of their forehead.

There is a difference between completely unworkable levels of aggression and a mild defensiveness.

I once had a hive that was so runny that as soon as you opened it the bees would boil out and be running down the outsides of the hive... They would crawl up your pants and sting you in places you never wanted to feel a bee go. But they didn't chase you very far and they made a heck of a lot of honey (or stole it) so I allowed to them exist.

I had another one that also was a good producer, but they would hunt you down the minute you got withing 50 yards of them. You could not enter the yard without putting a veil on... They had to go.

 

[Neil]

I watched a American documentary call monster quest giant killer bees. It was about the problems that Africanized bees can cause to humans. Much to my surprise and agrressive as they are some people over there keep them and I bet they don't have a problem with varroa. Think I'll stick to the native black bee though.

 

[Stiffy]

Having had so called Cornish black bees, my experience is they will only get worse and I would not entertain them in any of my apiaries again!
When I was young (a long time ago) I once asked a friend what he thought about my old Austin Maestro? He said that it would be fine until you get a good car that is reliable , economical and comfortable only then would you appreciate the difference,. The Cornish blacks, if there is such a thing were like my old Maestro, temperamental and unreliable and didn't produce much at all.
I pick up quite a few black swarms each year and re-queen as soon as possible with my own.
S

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

 

[waverider]

Should we re-queen aggressive colonies?
I understand why the hobby beekeeper would wish to have bee’s with a calm temperament but should we be intervening with nature and bypassing natural selection?

Ah, but intervening is natural selection! Homo sapiens and Apis mellifera are both products of natural selection and they interact. It just happens Hs are top of the food chain. You wouldn't want to exterminate lions because they prey on Impala would you?

You may find that humans are not top of the food chain.

 

[Amari]

You may find that humans are not top of the food chain.

Oh yes we are. If not , what is? Thinks……could it become bacteria/viruses/prions?

 

[Hivemaker.]

Having had so called Cornish black bees, my experience is they will only get worse and I would not entertain them in any of my apiaries again!
When I was young (a long time ago) I once asked a friend what he thought about my old Austin Maestro? He said that it would be fine until you get a good car that is reliable , economical and comfortable only then would you appreciate the difference,. The Cornish blacks, if there is such a thing were like my old Maestro, temperamental and unreliable and didn't produce much at all.
I pick up quite a few black swarms each year and re-queen as soon as possible with my own.
S
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

Do you think many of these swarms are coming from feral colonies in your area Steve, or mostly from the hives of bee owners who prefer not to carry out any form of swarm management, because of the bees temperament... are there many ferals that you know of in your area.

 

[Brian Bush]

I have had aggressive colonies and followers in the past, or so I thought. I used to keep the most aggressive hives just inside my apiaries to deter intruders. I have seen some travelling gentlemen show a good turn of speed one day when they thought they would engage me in meaningless conversation while checking the contents of the car.
I have a colleague who has the bees from hell. They meet you 50metres from the hive and will follow for 200. They also lurk around for hours after an inspection. Last year I split the hive, I admit I was too much of a coward to search for the queen, the hives owner had retreated as I removed the first super. The second hive is calmer. The original hive produced vast amounts of honey but I only was brave enough to remove 1 super. When carrying out the OA treatment I opened the hive. There were easily 50000 bees in there. All brood frames were covered and a super and a half. I am going to split them at least 3 ways next month. Remove two groups to another apiary to see what the results are after 6 weeks. Hopefully I then will know in which colony the wicked witch resides and I think I will have to destroy them.
I never thought I would be this scared of a hive. I have a bee proof suit but the little b'stards have given me a real phobia. I break out in a sweat just planning what action to take.

 

[BKF Admin]

Can we go back on topic,my inbox is filling up with complaints and one member has asked to be removed from the forum..

 

[Hivemaker.]

Can we go back on topic,my inbox is filling up with complaints and one member has asked to be removed from the forum..

Thread is back on track for now.