In a typical bee yard,...how often should you find a mean hive? And...

[madasafish]

How many do you have in the garden? I keep my nucs in the garden and transfer them to the apiaries before the spring starts. The 6 I had went yesterday.

At present 6 full hives, 5 nucs and 4 mini nucs

 

[Hachi]

I've had a dozen hives in my garden without problems. The key here with "nasty" hives are;

1. make sure they or you or both, are not having a bad day. This includes knowing the potential effect of weather has on them.
2. I recommend everyone have an out apiary away from everyone and everything where you can put your unpleasant hive(s) so you can deal with them in your own time and so not panic and make it worse.
3. If you can't do 2, ask a beek friend or your club or a friend if they have a spot you can use or better still get your club to agree to have spot where all members can use it if necessary. Generally, your club may have a stroke and play "Disease" card which in my experience is nothing more than a smoke screen for not wanting to do it.
4. If 3 is your only option, make sure you know the health status of disease in and round you to avoid the potential of making it worse.
5. DO NOT leave them to get worse, I've had club colleagues scared stiff to go near them for over a year, must be over 2 now, preferring to rely on supercedure to solve the problem or swarming. This is incompetence not beekeeping.

 

[Wingy]

That's a steep learning curve in four years!

Yes a very steep learning curve, but have an excellent mentor with well over 100 hives so have had a vast amount of experience in a short time. My mentor however won’t spoon feed me and let’s me work things out for myself while hinting or guiding me in the right direction. Works for me

 

[beeno]

I have culled one queen in a nuc in eleven years of beekeeping. As soon as I opened the crown board they would well out! My thought was, if you are like this in a nuc I would not want to handle you in a full sized colony. My colonies sometimes have bad hair days, but I think that is because my inspections my have been late in the day when all the foragers are home!

 

[Boston Bees]

I have culled one queen in a nuc in eleven years of beekeeping. As soon as I opened the crown board they would well out! My thought was, if you are like this in a nuc I would not want to handle you in a full sized colony. My colonies sometimes have bad hair days, but I think that is because my inspections my have been late in the day when all the foragers are home!

Yet to cull a queen in 5 years of beekeeping. (Well, not deliberately...)

I don't buy queens, so have no knowledge of this f1 or f2 aggression thing. But that's probably nothing to do with the fact I haven't had a monster yet. Probably just luck. I'm sure it'll happen.

 

[Hachi]

Yet to cull a queen in 5 years of beekeeping. (Well, not deliberately...)

I don't buy queens, so have no knowledge of this f1 or f2 aggression thing. But that's probably nothing to do with the fact I haven't had a monster yet. Probably just luck. I'm sure it'll happen.

As night follows day

 

[Antipodes]

I have culled one queen in a nuc in eleven years of beekeeping. As soon as I opened the crown board they would well out! My thought was, if you are like this in a nuc I would not want to handle you in a full sized colony. My colonies sometimes have bad hair days, but I think that is because my inspections my have been late in the day when all the foragers are home!

I agree. A really nasty colony asks no questions. Not much noise, just straight into the bee suit with the stings when the lid is opened. Hundreds and hundreds of stings. Here is the offending queen from one such colony.

 

[Boston Bees]

Has anyone here had to destroy an entire colony due to aggression?

 

[beeno]

I agree. A really nasty colony asks no questions. Not much noise, just straight into the bee suit with the stings when the lid is opened. Hundreds and hundreds of stings. Here is the offending queen from one such colony.

Sounds like I did the right thing. How awful is that! She even looks mean.

 

[pargyle]

Has anyone here had to destroy an entire colony due to aggression?

No ... but having dealt with someone else's bees from hell (and re-queened them after a battle) I can understand why some people would consider the option. It is difficult to describe how absolutely horrible it is to be covered in bees that are trying to get at you to sting you.

I've seen people who say they have aggressive bees and when you get there they really are not that bad .. and then you find one and they really ARE the hive from hell. The one I had to deal with had been sold to a new beekeeper and she could not even go near them... they attacked anyone within about 50 yards and when you actually got to the hive you could barely see through the veil for bees covering it. Trying to inspect them with bees swarming over your hands was an absolute nightmare. Then, having closed them up, they would follow you ... I got two stings on my eyebrow nearly 75 yards from the hive 10 minutes after we had closed them up and I was taking my suit off thinking they had all gone home. Totally evil.

They calmed down with the new queen but getting to that stage was tedious and difficult. The beekeeper was so unnerved by the experience she gave up. I often think, in those circumstances, that it would be more expedient to despatch the whole lot and start again.

 

[beeno]

Has anyone here had to destroy an entire colony due to aggression?

I know someone who was told that his colony would be destroyed as they did not want her drones around in their outapiary. Originally, the foragers would cross the road to sting people and neighbours could not be in their gardens.

 

[Michael ECB's]

I agree. A really nasty colony asks no questions. Not much noise, just straight into the bee suit with the stings when the lid is opened. Hundreds and hundreds of stings. Here is the offending queen from one such colony.

If I did not know better, I would say without a doubt that THAT queen comes from one of my "Dark" colonies... All have a bit of a short fuse....

Cant believe how similar they look.... wow!

 

[Michael ECB's]

Has anyone here had to destroy an entire colony due to aggression?

I have had to destroy two wild colonies before. (Both in the same building)
Absolutely mental they were.... Killed 2 dogs and serious stings to many farm workers and cattle...
Tried to trap out first but had to change tactics after no more than 10 minutes... Very sad...
The first and only two in my life....

 

[Boston Bees]

I have had to destroy two wild colonies before. (Both in the same building)
Absolutely mental they were.... Killed 2 dogs and serious stings to many farm workers and cattle...
Tried to trap out first but had to change tactics after no more than 10 minutes... Very sad...
The first and only two in my life....

Thanks, can I ask what you used to destroy them (this question is for anyone reading it who has had to do it) ?

For colonies in hives it's not too difficult I guess - soapy water or one of the alternatives - but how do you destroy a colony in a tree or building cavity cleanly?

 

[rolande]

I once had to deal with a ferocious colony near a road, the colony couldn't be moved at the time so made an early hours raid on the hive and knocked the bees out with smoke from cardboard soaked in potassium nitrate. An old time trick.... I understand that there are potential health issues for the beekeeper so I'm not telling anyone to do this, just relaying what was done in a very difficult time when innocent people were getting stung added to which was the concern that a motorcyclist or driver with an open window might be the next victim.

Once unconscious, which was quite quickly achieved, the bees were sifted through in search of the queen. Interestingly she was alone left clinging to the comb while all workers and drones were on the floorboard. Queen (killed) removed with all of the open brood and eggs that could be seen and a new caged queen added. They turned out good in the end. The whole operation took relatively little time considering my lack of experience and it saved the colony -maybe even a life too.

 

[CaptainCymru]

I read in a book recently that bees in an out Apiary can be more aggressive than those sat in the Garden , reason being the garden hives will get used to seeing people about walking around and take it for granted , whether this is a myth I dont know .

 

[Hachi]

Has anyone here had to destroy an entire colony due to aggression?

It was certainly an option at one point. I did post about it here when it happened, I was a completely new beek. took on average 24 stings by just lifting the roof off, then pinging me from approx 200m. The most stings I took was close to fifty. A couple of guys on here were a tower of strength with their support and guidance.

IMHO there is no reason to take the nuclear option, you need to remain calm, think and plan out what you're about to do then, execute the plan. This includes having a place to put them out of harms way to give you time to make you plan.

Not being disrespectful to anyone but in my findings, the "nastiness" of a hive often correlates directly to the experience of the beek. Even the hive from hell can be recovered given a little time and a plan. What is not acceptable is the do nothing option and take the easy route with a petrol can.

 

[Antipodes]

It was certainly an option at one point. I did post about it here when it happened, I was a completely new beek. took on average 24 stings by just lifting the roof off, then pinging me from approx 200m. The most stings I took was close to fifty. A couple of guys on here were a tower of strength with their support and guidance.

IMHO there is no reason to take the nuclear option, you need to remain calm, think and plan out what you're about to do then, execute the plan. This includes having a place to put them out of harms way to give you time to make you plan.

Not being disrespectful to anyone but in my findings, the "nastiness" of a hive often correlates directly to the experience of the beek. Even the hive from hell can be recovered given a little time and a plan. What is not acceptable is the do nothing option and take the easy route with a petrol can.

https://www.examiner.com.au/story/1213397/swarm-of-killer-bees-kill-horses/
Bear in mind, we do not have Africanised bees here in Tasmania.

 

[Fritillary]

Has anyone here had to destroy an entire colony due to aggression?

Not quite, but I did destroy queen and all brood in a colony as early as I could one spring before reassembling the hive and introducing a comb with brood and eggs from a more laidback colony. This in order to make a quick change in temperament.

 

[Michael ECB's]

Thanks, can I ask what you used to destroy them (this question is for anyone reading it who has had to do it) ?

For colonies in hives it's not too difficult I guess - soapy water or one of the alternatives - but how do you destroy a colony in a tree or building cavity cleanly?

This is what I very reluctantly used. (Fastest acting im told)
Within seconds bees were dropping in the thousands.... Very very sad....
Please be warned, nasty stuff this is!

This decision to destroy was not an easy one to make, two other beekeepers had been consulted with both of them recommending rather destroying...
We also tried saving the second colony found in the roof next too the original.... (Less than 1 meter away)
They balled my son in the ceiling whilst trying to creep within a few meters to closer inspect...
Thats when I made the call...
Still sad though..

Sorry folks - just noticed I did not attach pic..... Please note, If ever forced to use it, be very very careful about breathing this stuff in... Nasty !