newportbuzz
Field Bee
- Joined
- Aug 11, 2010
- Messages
- 846
- Reaction score
- 1
- Location
- newport co,mayo ireland
- Hive Type
- National
- Number of Hives
- 19 through the winter
rite heres the story i recieved a nuc a couple of mounths ago it was always a bit defensive. it turned out to have a failing queen so i have been trying to nurse it along till i got a queen to replace my one. so i have proberly been in more often than i should.i gave them the flying bees from a strong hive that i have to help it and also many frames of brood over the mounth and a half . the queen was still there so i dequeened it yesterday evening and went out today in overcast weather to put the new queen in her cage into the hive. even before i opened the hive they were attacking me. i opened up and all hell broke loose they piled out of the entrance and flew up at me and actually jumped up from the frames to get at me. at one point i couldnt see my gloves. i got 6 stings throungh 2 layers (a shirt and beesuit) they drove me off for a min i came back in with my water bottle spraying and got the job done but never got control back they stayed with me for 20 mins after i left them . i wasnt using a smoker because i didnt want to disturb them to much (woops) but i have done this before with this hive with nowhere near the same reaction. i wasnt banging around i had to lift a undrawn frame to get the queen in but they had already gone bezerke by then
so is it normal for a queenless hive to erupt on you??? and any advise on how to deal with it because it is an awe inspiring thing but scary as hell.
so is it normal for a queenless hive to erupt on you??? and any advise on how to deal with it because it is an awe inspiring thing but scary as hell.