Nasty Bees

[Nopants]

I put two hives up my allotment in March. So far they have been extremly territorial. After numerous attempts to improve their temperment ie Requeen, reunited colonies they still seem to be aggressive. The hive is next to a cornfield and has recently been sprayed. I am now wondering if this is the cause of the aggression as requeening from good stock is failing. I now have no option but to move them now out of the area. Finding another site will be a problem as it will need to be away from joe public untill they calm down. I have 2 people tell me that they have been stung and they are 200 yards away and for no reason.

 

[Poly Hive]

Do these colonies have queens? Are you positive? Brood in all stages including eggs?

Asking to be SURE that the main likely issue is a no.

I very much doubt it is cereal spray.

PH

 

[Tom Bick]

When did you re queen, was this was successful and do you know that to be the case? it will take three weeks before her offspring start to make any influence on the hive and perhaps another 5 weeks before the aggressive bees start to naturally die off.

 

[rich]

Don't know about 5 weeks, I re-queened 10th May, and this is the first week I've not seen any of the "old" stock in the hive, nor been followed (at last)

Blacks replaced by one of Nortons queens, that’s how I know the time frame.

Rich

 

[Ewok]

When did you re queen, was this was successful and do you know that to be the case? it will take three weeks before her offspring start to make any influence on the hive and perhaps another 5 weeks before the aggressive bees start to naturally die off.

Showing my ignorance - isn't the aggressiveness of the bees controlled by the hormones from the Queen?

The reason I ask, is that I have a queenless hive that over the last week has turned realy nasty. The queen cell should be hatching soon & I was hoping for a quick attitude change - If I have to wait for a full cycle & all the old bees to die, I'm going to have to move this hive as it's in a sensitive area


Am I in for a long wait?

PS - sorry to hi-jack this thread

 

[Monie]

The bee's attitudes could change once the queen emerges and is laying. However, a bee's disposition; i.e. whether it's passive or aggressive, is determined by the queen's genetics. Sometimes, you'll have to pinch a queen with nasty genetics and introduce a queen with the desired genetics. If genetics is your case, they'll continue to be nasty, as the new queen will likely have the nasty genetics as well. Which means you'll have to requeen from a source other than this hive. If genetics isn't a factor, then yes, you'll likely have to wait for the older workers to die off, before you see any change in attitude.