Need to kill off one of my hives

[TOBY-3652]

gregior

There are a lot of ill considered posts on here. Being a beekeeper means being responsible for your bees. If you can't move them and they are an immediate danger to the public....you've not much choice.

The preferred options are sealing the floor and entrance then CO2 fire extinguisher through the feed hole in the crown board.
or mist each frame of bees with 10:1 mix water and dishwasher liquid.
This is most humane.
or seal the floor/entrance and half a cup of petrol through the feed hole.

Good luck,

(Just off to club a few Seal calves.....

 

[Ben90]

Well I'd keep them if they are producing the most Honey. This carry-on about dulling down our bees is wrong IMO, we should just learn how to deal with an aggressive hive. Its like getting all the most docile men on earth and culling the rest. I'd love to see the state of the men in a world like that, we'd all be running about with mini skirts on and getting up to stuff women do and there won't be a man amongst us. All wrong IMO!

It's easy to say that when you don't keep your bees in an urban area. One of the main worries any urban beekeeper has to deal with when people find out about the hives is "Will I get stung?", and obviously, you can never completely rule it out, but we have a responsibility to reduce the chance of harm to bystanders where possible. Especially if we want to get people on board with tolerating them in their neighbourhood. I don't particularly mind getting stung - even the guy who was assessing my Basic commented on that when the hive turned out to be a lot more aggressive than expected - but I don't assume for a second that other people are fine with it. We have a responsibility to manage our livestock in a way that doesn't harm others.

Is culling livestock wrong? Well, it should be a last resort. Obviously diseases like AFB are a no-brainer, but in other circumstances, we should try to exhaust every other option before culling the entire colony.

 

[richardbees]

Irishguy

...." running about with mini skirts on and getting up to stuff women do and there won't be a man amongst us".....

Wow!

... any more fantasies you'd like to share?

 

[Hawklord]

Have you tried bleeding off the flying bees into another hive before looking for the queen ?

This is the best solution.

 

[Somerford]

The poor beekeeper in this case ought not to be castigated by anyone here. He bas the equivalent of a dangerous dog that has savaged a child. What would happen in that case ? A media firestorm and the dog would be destroyed.
In this case.....a footpath, a summers day, a family out for a walk....ends in tragedy as a child suffers an allergic reaction anaphylaxis shock to being stung bg 100s of bees.

One of the first things I was taught by my old mentor 25 years ago was that sometimes you have to be prepared to destroy a colony for this very reason.

Pint of petrol into the feed hole. Now lets stop the hysteria and man up a bit.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

B*llox We'ere seeing more and more of this on the forum - people can't be bothered to find or work at a less drastic solution jsut think it's easier to kill the bees if you site your apiary next to a public right of way you also need to consider an alternative site and the means to move any problem hives to it (or just not have an apiary there) you'd think after 30 years ecperience a beekeeper would have encountered the problem before and though of alternatives and known what 'the final solution' was if all else failed. I don't think alternatives have been explored in this case.

QUOTE=Ben90;425909]It's easy to say that when you don't keep your bees in an urban area. [/QUOTE]
So don't keep them there then.

 

[Dishmop]

I dont think that putting a hive near a footpath is too bad an idea as long as its not visible to passers by.........If they cant see it them quite likely the bees wont see them, and identify them as a threat by being big moving things near their hive.

My bees in the garden leave the hive and before they get over next door's garden they are 4mtr high and dont see people anyway.
The hives are backed onto a wall/fence, the other side of which is used as parking spaces, so when people get out of their cars they are only 2 metres away from the bees, but any flying bees are at least 4 metres above them.

 

[Sammo]

QUOTE=galileo;425876]Close them in at night when everyone is home, then move the hive a few metres away and set it up on a preprepared new stand with the entrance facing 180 degrees from the original direction. Next morning, set up a new hive on the old site. Put at least 6 frames in there with a couple of them being comb with a bit of food if you have it, along with a docile Queen from another stock or one bought in for the purpose.

Open up the nasties and retreat.

Next day you should be able to go through the nasty hive without incident to remove and replace that Queen.

All being well after 8 weeks, you should end up with 2 manageable colonies instead of one nasty.

(addition - needless I hope to say that the introduced queen should be in a cage with fondant plug)[/QUOTE]

IMHO, this seems the most sensible solution.

 

[flytrapman]

I can't move it because i have no out apiary and no car



Yeah if anyones interested in a maisys nationaL brood 1/2 +2 super hive in cedar with gabled roof and stand with landing board let me know asap cheers.

I sent you a message and would be interested
Regards
Phil

 

[Teemore]

Some of the forumers based in France will hopefully know more about this than me. If I remember correctly, in parts of France, ordinances are in place which require there to be a barrier of perhaps 3m height between beehives and public footpaths. This forces the bees to go up and keeps them away from pedestrians. There is wisdom in this and not just bureaucracy.

 

[Michael Palmer]

Why not break them up into nucleus colonies and give each a new queen?

Leave a box on the stand to collect the field bees and then destroy them. Use the brood and young bees to make nucs.

If they are too nasty to find the old queen, just nuke them and the queen will be in one of the nucs. You can re-queen that one when you find her.

The nuclei will be less aggressive than the parent colony, and as the old bees die off the temper of the nucs will improve.

 

[Teemore]

Why not break them up into nucleus colonies and give each a new queen?

Leave a box on the stand to collect the field bees and then destroy them. Use the brood and young bees to make nucs.

If they are too nasty to find the old queen, just nuke them and the queen will be in one of the nucs. You can re-queen that one when you find her.

The nuclei will be less aggressive than the parent colony, and as the old bees die off the temper of the nucs will improve.

Good idea! Turn the situation to your advantage.

 

[wondervet]

If you do reluctantly decide to finish them off then if you've access to a power supply or a battery operated vaccuum cleaner of some kind then it works quite well to hoover them. Wait til near dusk (or dawn) when all at home but still light enough to see what u r doing. Knock on the entrance and collect them as they come out. We had to do it once. After 10 mins you'll have taken most of the guard bees out of the equation. Then take lid off and repeat on the top bars. By the time you're down to nurse bees and brood you can take them out and donate to other hives or make nucs without getting attacked (much). This is kind of like the last option ....but more instant. Not sure there's much in it from a humane point of view -petrol v soap v hoover. Not ideal but I can sympathise.

 

[Anduril]

Why not break them up into nucleus colonies and give each a new queen?

Leave a box on the stand to collect the field bees and then destroy them. Use the brood and young bees to make nucs.

If they are too nasty to find the old queen, just nuke them and the queen will be in one of the nucs. You can re-queen that one when you find her.

The nuclei will be less aggressive than the parent colony, and as the old bees die off the temper of the nucs will improve.

This is what I do, but I put a nucleus on the old site to collect the field bees and increase the nucs numbers. I may let the other 2 splits requeen themselves or add new queens.

 

[gregior]

Well i'm pleased to say problem solved! Went down with a litre of petrol last night poured it all over the hive threw a match on it and WHOOSH!


Only kidding,a very kind (and brave) forum member came round tonight to remove the hive to his remote apiary for requeening(picking up 5 stings for his trouble) so the forum comes up trumps again

There were quite a few stragglers left behind,i presume these will relocate to 1 of my other (mellow)hives i was wondering will these bees remain aggro or take on the temperament of the hive they go to?

Cheers for all the comments (well most of them )

A very relieved Greg

 

[enrico]

This is really where this forum comes into its own.... Well done to both of you for the happy outcome
E

 

[BrianO]

Ditto....

Well done !

The power of communication and t'internet !

 

[pargyle]

Ditto....

Well done !

The power of communication and t'internet !

+1 ... Result ...

 

[VEG]

Well done to the forum member that has helped out

 

[Blue Spinnaker]

Excellent.