Is it petrol time...

[eltalia]

No mention of squishing the queen cells...

Safe to assume from the detailed report none found, equally it is apparent the Plan
was to locate any queen and remove her, only.
Bad Plan... as little achieved beyond once again heightening any defensive characteristic.

Bill

 

[GuyNir]

No mention of squishing the queen cells...

+1 and installing a new gentle one from a known source.otherwise you potentially keeping the same genetics.

 

[manek]

Guess I should have thought of that. What in your experience happens now? Is the new Q likely to be as nasty?

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[blackcloud]

Ditto with the gloves-I. ditched the leather for nitrile with marigolds on top and it did the trick.

They sting my back instead now.

 

[manek]

They're not leather - can't do anything with those. For this lot I use thick rubber gauntlets and glad of them. I rinse them off every few minutes to remove the attack pheromone. With other colonies, it's just long cuff nitriles.

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[JonnyPicklechin]

Good work but qcs have to go and get the new queen in a cage in there.

Did you return the BBs to the original site? Id keep them separated and donate the supers to other hives for now. Get a new box with some comb and one frame of eggs at the flyer site and let them crack on with trying to emergency queen (which you never let them achieve) whilst you sort the brood with the new queen.

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[manek]

Good work but qcs have to go and get the new queen in a cage in there.

Did you return the BBs to the original site? Id keep them separated and donate the supers to other hives for now. Get a new box with some comb and one frame of eggs at the flyer site and let them crack on with trying to emergency queen (which you never let them achieve) whilst you sort the brood with the new queen.

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Thanks for the excellent advice but I'm probably not going to take that route. Apart from not having a spare queen right now, I've promised the site owner I'd not disturb them for a while, as each time I do, the bees attack passers-by. And while it's fairly rural, there are people within 50 metres.

I think my best option is to see how the new queen temperament is. If no better I could move them, assuming I can find another site. That will give me more options (such as the one you suggest). The drastic option - going back to my original impulse - is to put them down.

I'd really rather not, clearly, but yesterday was majorly stressful and I don't want to put myself through that again.

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[JonnyPicklechin]

Thanks for the excellent advice but I'm probably not going to take that route. Apart from not having a spare queen right now, I've promised the site owner I'd not disturb them for a while, as each time I do, the bees attack passers-by. And while it's fairly rural, there are people within 50 metres.

I think my best option is to see how the new queen temperament is. If no better I could move them, assuming I can find another site. That will give me more options (such as the one you suggest). The drastic option - going back to my original impulse - is to put them down.

I'd really rather not, clearly, but yesterday was majorly stressful and I don't want to put myself through that again.

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But you did destroy all those QCs, right?

It sounds like your current situation is you have the same hive but with just a new queen? If thats the case then you MIGHT be fine...You'll need to leave them for a week (unless you have to 'unfondant' the new queen from her cage?) but don't be surprised when you look at them after that week that you will still get mobbed. That said, you might find they have calmed down significantly with the pheromone of the new queen....keep us updated.

 

[manek]

But you did destroy all those QCs, right?

It sounds like your current situation is you have the same hive but with just a new queen? If thats the case then you MIGHT be fine...You'll need to leave them for a week (unless you have to 'unfondant' the new queen from her cage?) but don't be surprised when you look at them after that week that you will still get mobbed. That said, you might find they have calmed down significantly with the pheromone of the new queen....keep us updated.

Er, no I left the QCs, reasoning that a new Q might be better than the old one, and will certainly be better than no Q! And if the new one's temperament is just as grumpy, I'll probably have to kill them.

I'd hate to do it, it's not what I came into beekeeping for, obviously, but I want to stay on the right side of those around the site and enjoy my beekeeping, not anticipate a site visit with trepidation.

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[Beefriendly]

Why not simply swap the positions of your grumpy hive from hell with one of your more friendly ones.....Or destroy all queen cells and re-unite with more friendly hive?
Take grumpy hive as far away as you possibly can, like another continent..

I think breeding a queen from the hive from hell might give you the devils own hive....I've tried the same. They went from monsters upon inspection and upgraded to attacking us as we stepped out of the back door some 40 m away from the hive. Their defensive perimeter distance had increased considerably.
Fortunately I could move them to a more isolated site where I took great pleasure in dispatching the new queen and re-uniting with a much more calmer hive.

 

[eltalia]

(edit)
...breeding a queen from the hive from hell might give you the devils own hive....

Precisely.

Bill

 

[manek]

So you're suggesting I should move the grumpy lot during the day and let the flyers come back to another hive in the same location, moving the grumpy hive somewhere in the meantime? Or move the whole lot, sealed up, overnight?

 

[eltalia]

So you're suggesting I should move the grumpy lot during the day and let the flyers come back to another hive in the same location, moving the grumpy hive somewhere in the meantime? Or move the whole lot, sealed up, overnight?

For myself only I did post a very comprehensive Plan.
Your choice was to do something else. Fine, no biggeee
buuuuut I am not now suggesting what you now followup with.
Clear?

Bill

 

[Beefriendly]

So you're suggesting I should move the grumpy lot during the day and let the flyers come back to another hive in the same location, moving the grumpy hive somewhere in the meantime? Or move the whole lot, sealed up, overnight?

Yup, you got it. A few options to consider.

 

[manek]

For myself only I did post a very comprehensive Plan.
Your choice was to do something else. Fine, no biggeee
buuuuut I am not now suggesting what you now followup with.
Clear?

Bill

Yes, thanks for your help, Bill.

 

[eltalia]

Yes, thanks for your help, Bill.

No worries.
If it helps you contend with those blighters...?..I offer your choice
to run just a few colonys in getting your methods sorted is
very wise (IMFO) as too many spread their time thin. An antsy
mob like this one turns up and _all_ the time gets gobbled up
at the expense of the other dozen or so halfway efficient colonys.
Keep this in mind should the situation begin to repeat, elsehere
in your operation.

/tips hat/

Bill

 

[manek]

No worries.
If it helps you contend with those blighters...?..I offer your choice
to run just a few colonys in getting your methods sorted is
very wise (IMFO) as too many spread their time thin. An antsy
mob like this one turns up and _all_ the time gets gobbled up
at the expense of the other dozen or so halfway efficient colonys.
Keep this in mind should the situation begin to repeat, elsehere
in your operation.

/tips hat/

Bill

You're not wrong. The other colonies haven't had nearly the attention they need and deserve.

 

[manek]

... And the coda to this petite histoire is that I've passed the bees on to another, far more experienced beek. She collected them this morning, and I feel much better...

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[eltalia]

... And the coda to this petite histoire is that I've passed the bees on to another, far more experienced beek. She collected them this morning, and I feel much better...

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/thumbs up/

Bill

 

[sjt]

... And the coda to this petite histoire is that I've passed the bees on to another, far more experienced beek. She collected them this morning, and I feel much better...

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Shall I put you down for a swarm then? They're still coming in!