is this normal

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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.
 
I had one hive like this and backed off when they were so bad. they were queenless at the time. I think the Bayvarol will exacerbate their bad temper.

Did you put the queen in? Is she still alive?

My nasty lot produced a new queen and are now much calmer. It does sort itself out in the end.

One way of dealing with a nasty hive is to take a spare floor, brood box and crown board and move the original hive 15 - 20 metres to one side. Put the spare kit on the hive site and wait 30 mins. the flying bees will return to their original site and you will have fewer bees (and mainly nurse bees) to deal with when you are inspecting. Afterwards return all to original site / hive.
 
ya i have put the queen in with enough fondant for them to chew her out in a few hours. i kept the old non-laying queen incase so i can at least hold the colony together.
there woldnt have been time to do the move hive for flying bees to leave thing. i was in there max 2 mins in total 3 with being driven off.
got bored counted the stings on the gloves alone was over 150 and all the stings I got were on my lower arms so id say i was stung in excess of 300 times all in, 6 of which found there mark....
i am now praying they treat the lovely new queen better than they treated me. time will tell.
i might be better off making a nuc and adding this colony to it. they are becoming annoying
 
My girls went truly berserk when Q- and took any chance to attack me...but only me. The rest of the family and neighbours were fine, but the second they saw me (in or out of a bee-suit) they attacked. Truly horrid!

I hadn't realised they were Q-, which was part of the problem. They finally created a new Q and are now back to their lovely behaviour again - a true pleasure.
 
My girls went truly berserk when Q- and took any chance to attack me...but only me. The rest of the family and neighbours were fine, but the second they saw me (in or out of a bee-suit) they attacked. Truly horrid!

I hadn't realised they were Q-, which was part of the problem. They finally created a new Q and are now back to their lovely behaviour again - a true pleasure.
thats good to know that its proberly just the queen absense thats the problem. i hope they dont kill her now and all will be well for spring but for a little bit more feeding and a lot of reading.
 
Hives are really vulnerable without their queen, and can go a bit beserk :willy_nilly: even when they are normally nice, quiet bees. It's only natural for them to be extra defensive at a time like that. Your bees' beehaviour sounds quite normal to me, esp. if they were a bit disturbed to start off with. If you successfully put a new queen in there, once she's laying they should simmer down. Hope the weather holds out for you so that they can build themselves up a bit before winter.
 
Bayvarol?? That's no longer used. Varroa are resistant to it - who sold you that???
 
Heather Newportbuzz is in Ireland - seem to recall reading that they do not have resistance - yet!!
 
I had a similar experience earlier in the year. The did eventually calm down once they were happy with their new queen - but they still tend to be a bit more tetchy than they were originally.

Your bees are not hungry as well as Q- are they? Hungry bees are also grumpy bees, in my experience.
 
there woldnt have been time to do the move hive for flying bees to leave thing. i was in there max 2 mins in total 3 with being driven off.

Sorry meant to say you need to plan this, assuming you know they are aggressive.
 
thanks for the replys ya i know about the bavarol but its the best i could do this year our local organisation ordered stuff for everyone this year and i asked for apigaurd but supply slippage of something left me with no time left holding bavarol. i dont personaly beleive that irish mites arnt resistant but what can i do. i hope to treat again in spring. ill find out if the new queen survived in 6 days or so. i doubt they will have time to build up before winter but i have been giving them brood to keep them fairly strong... so i have to hope and keep an eye on the hive.
 
For what it's worth [not much given you have already introduced the queen]...It is lower risk to make up a nuc, introduce the queen to that, and then unite with the main colony when she is accepted.

When i used bayvarrol because i was misled and sold it... it did not upset the bees at all.

everything is crossed for you
 
i was very tempeted to try and make up a nuc to introduce her to but since this hive is only on 8 frames at the moment anyway and i hope to build it up a bit further i thought the risk was ok. i still have the old queen and if all goes pear shaped ill just unite before its to late. thanks for crossing various appendages i might need it yet its a mc gilla goda queen aswell. so it would be a shame to lose her
 
Hi Newportbuzz, sorry to hear of your recent difficulities, what a nightmare! This is my 2nd season as a beek and I have only been stung once by my girls! ( I would feel very offended if they attacked me LoL) I too have been q- less for a while, and had working layers( and the shake was done very throughly!) I lost my mac gilla coda queen to this hive also ( take it that the layer workers hadnt all gone!) I was very miffed at that. But we live and learn. Look at all the experience and knowledge you are gained. I believe that reading up is very important, but hands on wins every time! A recent assoc meeting confirmed that Bayvarol is ineffective here, so I too wont use it next time. I wish you the very best and hope that the hive is able to get strong before winter. Good Luck
 
small update i was out to feed them yesterday. and the nuc which i had made up to hold the old queen was robbed out. i was amazed at how fast it was done scary. such a waste it had one frame of bees one brood frame (no brood none spare) one frame of stores one queen and 3 shook super frames. all gone. not to sure what i have done wrong other than not catching the robbing sooner. all bees came from the hive the queen was from. i think it was my bees that robbed it out because when i went out to feed there wernt many wasps about and the dead bees inside were intact
so mistake one. heres hoping the new queen is doing better her hive is slightly more docile which im hoping is a good sign.
 
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