Irritable bees -> super angry bees

[SixFooter]

Hi,
A colony that was slightly irritable last year went ballistic when I opened them up today. They were pinging like mad and one of them got inside the veil somehow and stung me on the back of the head. They followed me to the far end of the garden buzzing around my head and continued to do this for about 10 mins. I didnt see the Queen or eggs, but did see young larvae. If I walked within 10 yds or so of the hive for the rest of the day I had an angry bee buzzing around my head. Does this suggest the queen has gone?

 

[Haughton Honey]

It sounds very much like they are lacking a Queen.

Did you not notice any swarm cells or supercedure cells when you inspected?

If they are present then you might find that they are like this until the virgin Queen has hatched.

My only other suggestion (not knowing your surroundings) is that they have been on or near OSR and that the recent cold weather has stiffled any flow that they were enjoying. However, I'm not too far away from you and the weather's been pretty poor of late!

 

[SixFooter]

No swarm cells or supercedure cells. I havent seen OSR within bee flying distance.
I'll see what they are like next week.
If I find the Q I'll requeen ASAP.

 

[thurrock bees]

They maybe like this because of the recent weather. i noted last year when i opened the hive and they was angry, half an hour later there was a storm !!

 

[jezd]

They maybe like this because of the recent weather. i noted last year when i opened the hive and they was angry, half an hour later there was a storm !!

Just about to say the same, my quietest colony is on fire due to weather at moment and them not being able to get out.

 

[thurrock bees]

Just about to say the same, my quietest colony is on fire due to weather at moment and them not getting out.

mine are on OSR at mo. so they are angry as they cant work it

 

[PaleoPerson]

Need to check mine PM tomorrow. Looks like a small break in the weather.

So bad weather and OSR, they are going to be lively little buggers.

 

[Mike a]

Hi,
A colony that was slightly irritable last year went ballistic when I opened them up today. They were pinging like mad and one of them got inside the veil somehow and stung me on the back of the head. They followed me to the far end of the garden buzzing around my head and continued to do this for about 10 mins. I didnt see the Queen or eggs, but did see young larvae. If I walked within 10 yds or so of the hive for the rest of the day I had an angry bee buzzing around my head. Does this suggest the queen has gone?

Maybe but not always...

A friend had the same issue with one of his hives last year in July/August. So he transferred the old queen into a nuc and placed in the nuc where the hive stood to bleed off all the old bees and main hive was moved about 15ft away and quickly began to raise a new queen which seemingly solved the problem.

The colony in the nuc then suddenly became very aggressive about 2 weeks later just as the virgin queen emerged in the main hive. Common sense suggested the old queen was the problem and he was just about to pinch her and recombine the nuc back with the main hive when the problem resolved itself and reverted back to being good as gold.

The conclusions were varied amongst experienced beeks ranging from being inspected too often, poisoning, a fermented food source, bad sperm, poor weather conditions, old queen (2008) or high varroa levels and of course one suggestion it was CCD which seemed to be the only definitive answer to every problem by one beek last year laughably.

Both colonies have over wintered into 2010 and to date are fine.

 

[Annrbel]

I'm interested to know how often you open them, ours were very agressive last year, coming at us even when we were nowhere near the hives. This year we have adopted far fewer inspections - only one this year, and even with bad weather, the same queens and OSR they are completely relaxed. Be interested to know if anyone else has tried a less invasive practice and what their experiences have been.

 

[rae]

One of our queenless colonies from the artificial swarm went nuts at us today. We only lifted the roof to replace the contact feeder (no flying bees, have to feed them), and they all came pouring out of the hole in the crownboard, pinging and stinging like fury. Hopefully only a few days before the queen hatches.....

 

[oliver90owner]

The above reports are a perfect scenario for 'trouble at the garden'. Just the time when neighbours are cutting the lawn and get 'pinged'.

New beeks - please be aware that this type of bee-haviour should not be tolerated in one's small residential garden. One does need an alternative location away from unsuspecting humans, or touble may well follow from the neighbours. Allotments may suffer a similar problem, too.

Regards, RAB

 

[SixFooter]

The above reports are a perfect scenario for 'trouble at the garden'. Just the time when neighbours are cutting the lawn and get 'pinged'.

New beeks - please be aware that this type of bee-haviour should not be tolerated in one's small residential garden. One does need an alternative location away from unsuspecting humans, or touble may well follow from the neighbours. Allotments may suffer a similar problem, too.

Regards, RAB

Now

Got stung today when I was nowhere near the hive.

THanks all

 

[dilys]

Bees shouldn't behave like this. The only occasions that I have seen this behaviour has been when exotic colonies reached the F2 generation. I wonder if your hive superseded last Autumn. It is said they take 5 or 6 generations to calm down again but I have never kept one long enough to find out.

Dil

 

[BKF Admin]

Bees shouldn't behave like this.

Dil

May should not behave like this either.
I put it down to the forage available and the low temps/lacking sunshine keeping the bees at home.

The devil makes work for idle hands,and stings it seem's.

Once the weather and temps pick up I am sure they will go from Lion's back to pussycats..

 

[mark s]

could that be the reason my bees came out to day on mass and just flew around the garden like a swarm but they just settled on any object in the garden and are now just makin they way home,would that bee down to weather???

 

[Mike a]

could that be the reason my bees came out to day on mass and just flew around the garden like a swarm but they just settled on any object in the garden and are now just makin they way home,would that bee down to weather???

Is your queen clipped?
If so it could well of been a swarm but found the queen hadn't joined them so they returned.

Or maybe

A virgin queen trying to mate being escorted by a few mature bees but the weather was too cold..

I would bow to some one with more experience on this.

 

[mark s]

mike a
as far as im aware this hive was queen less,the strangest thing is they came out again this afternoon covered the garden and have stayed where they have landed!!! ant they are still there now most odd

 

[Dave the Bee]

Aggresive bees

I am also experiencing some bad tempered bees today. I have only been inspecting once a week and the bees on the 2 sites that I have are usually very calm an need little smoke. Today they were very stingy ! Those I did manage to get into looked like they had good healthy brood and lots of new lavae. No sign of awarming or queen cells etc. There is some OSR about 2 miles away, which they could have been feeding on when the weather was warmer last week.

We have had 3 days of cold North wind and little opportunity to forage - this looks like the most likely answer to the poor temprament ?

Dave

 

[SixFooter]

The two stings were both behind my right ear and have caused my face to swell up so that my right eye was nearly closed when I woke up this morning. It's getting better though, but I'm staying away from the bees until I know they are OK.

 

[thurrock bees]

mike a
as far as im aware this hive was queen less,the strangest thing is they came out again this afternoon covered the garden and have stayed where they have landed!!! ant they are still there now most odd

That sounds like a swarm