Re-queening aggressive hives

[steve56616]

Thought I would start a thread as I am trying to work out what is going on.
I read that hybrid queens can be more aggressive after being superseded. I wonder if this has happened to mine as I don't have the original queen from my first bought hive any longer.
How often do people re-queen their hives and if so are they bought in queens?
My hives are defiantly nasty this year so I am thinking of re-queening all.
Or is it something else going on such as quick build up as I'm not the only one with the same problem?
Just interested to know how it works regarding the queen and aggression. What causes the change or how she has the influence on guard bees which are the problem with chasing.

 

[RobKing]

I too have had issues with follower bees causing hassle in the garden this season from a calm colony last year that have expanded a lot this year. My other colony, a smaller colony, have been fine. Why should a rapid expansion result in a change in behaviour like this? I too am contemplating a requeen.

 

[RobKing]

Sorry, forgot to add that both queens are Australian carnolian imports, apparently.

 

[yeogi75]

now I have had a hive in my back garden a few years now, and my wife walks past them mows the grass six foot away from the hive and walks thru there flight path which is straight across the lawn, and I take two nucs from them each year knocking them back to a small hive, and have no problems so far so does size of brood makes a difference I don't know, but it works for me and when its warm I can sit three feet away watching them
ps queen three years old

 

[Skyhook]

Temperament at any given moment is down to a mix of things- genes, the weather, food supply, levels of queen hormone in the hive, environmental factors etc. therefore don't jump to conclusions too quickly. One of my gentlest hives was bad-tempered the other day, which I believe was down to hunger- they had such a large amount of brood they had stormed through their stores.

The main cause over a longer period is genetic, but very difficult to predict unless you are an expert. Received wisdom will tell you that Buckfasts are gentle, but their hybrid daughters have bad tempers. I have a bought-in buckfast queen, whos colony I would describe as 'feisty'. The colony raised from this is much gentler.

It may be that your hives have superceded and the new genetics are worse; but coincidence if this has happened to both hives at the same time. I suspect that they, like mine, have been put out by the stop-start weather.

Most queens can be relied on for 2 years; 3 is not unusual, and I have heard of queens going on for 5 years.

I would suggest that you check the state of the hives- have they enough food? Have they swarmed and are queenless?

I would suggest that you try to narrow down what the problem might be, before spending £60 on a new queen.

.

 

[galileo]

Last season I had a colony that started out good as gold but, after rapid expansion on OSR that resulted in them being double brooded (17 BIAS at peak), turned very fiery indeed. I considered pinching out the Queen and replacing with a bought-in Buckfast, but the beans were on and the bramble rapidly following, so I left them to it, inspecting only the top box, and enjoying a full super every 3 to 4 days. When the flows ended, I split them and ended up with two calm boxes.

My uninformed, inexperienced assumption was that with so many bees, their confidence level was high enough for them to become rather more territorially assertive. They had a lot to protect and adequate "spare" bees to do it with.

As of last weekend, they're on 8 frames and starting to get a wee bit keen.

 

[Swarm]

My uninformed, inexperienced assumption was that with so many bees, their confidence level was high enough for them to become rather more territorially assertive. They had a lot to protect and adequate "spare" bees to do it with.

Something for new beeks to be aware of.

 

[Goran]

One beek over here bought several colonies here which were very aggressive. After few years over 70% of his colonies were as same aggressive. The last solution is that he bought the queens to can work with them. All he reared previously got bad temperament ( open mating). I think it was over 100 hives in question.

So I would say requeen and ask questions later ( if You have to).. Mine which show some of that get nice marking in notes and with first oportunity I " deselect" them.

 

[Bates]

Sorry, forgot to add that both queens are Australian carnolian imports, apparently.

Where did you get those? If Western Australia not sure of any running Carniolans.

On another note, they are a bit feisty on the OSR atm, copping a few more recently.

 

[steve56616]

It is difficult when they are nasty. Last year I had 6 hives (due to Carni's constant swarming) in the garden. Most of the time very gentle even through the main honey flow. My 7 yr old used to sit and watch them only a few feet away and never got stung. This year with two main hives I have had to move them out as they are bothering us and can't take the chance. I have a Buckfast queen ordered for the Q- NUC and have decided to re-queen the others so I am back to Buckfast only.
Stores are fine, I know they have queens but not sure what their problem is. Today I was followed for over 100ft by a few that wouldn't give up. Doesn't make it an enjoyable experience

 

[steve56616]

I cant find the English version of this film now. Watched it a few times and love the way this woman works with no protection and her bees are so calm even with large numbers. So why is she not getting attacked? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_jiT5ztQhw

 

[Swarm]

Good genetics. Hivemaker will tell you about gentle bees.

 

[Dishmop]

now I have had a hive in my back garden a few years now, and my wife walks past them mows the grass six foot away from the hive and walks thru there flight path which is straight across the lawn, and I take two nucs from them each year knocking them back to a small hive, and have no problems so far so does size of brood makes a difference I don't know, but it works for me and when its warm I can sit three feet away watching them
ps queen three years old

Exactly the same for me. Only if I am within a couple of metres of the hive do I get bumped into.

 

[Chrisfnvs]

Good genetics. Hivemaker will tell you about gentle bees.

I agree Swarm, i would add it helps if you know your stuff and the Lady on the film (and Hivemaker) really do know their bees and how to handle them.

 

[Amari]

I cant find the English version of this film now. Watched it a few times and love the way this woman works with no protection and her bees are so calm even with large numbers. So why is she not getting attacked? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_jiT5ztQhw

Wonderful film - thanks. As you say amazingly calm bees and brood pattern to die for. I could not understand all her manoeuvres e.g. shaking bees into empty mesh box, taking these boxes indoors, spraying them, then returning them to the apiary. ?oxalic acid treatment to shook swarm? Nice demo of using a goose wing. At least some of the frames are put in the hive with no foundation at all. No evidence that any frames are wired.
NB:video taken 20 years ago.

 

[Hachi]

I cant find the English version of this film now. Watched it a few times and love the way this woman works with no protection and her bees are so calm even with large numbers. So why is she not getting attacked? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_jiT5ztQhw

Anyone know where we can find the English version?

 

[victor meldrew]

I have it on a DVD it's entitled "rotational bee keeping "
VM


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[victor meldrew]

Videos from iwf no longer available on YouTube , intellectual property claimed by a company in Hanover
Vm


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[pre1mjr]

Googling "rotational beekeeping" gives it as the first result, on a website called liveleak.

 

[Smorning]

This calmed down my bee

This appears similar to my experience this year

It has been very mild winter and the bees have built up early and with loads of bees and brood present in the box (operating on brood and a half)

The OSR is in full bloom and the bees are very active around the hive and can be seen congregating at the entrance

They were getting stroppy got stung twice whilst working in the garden 30m from the hive this is very uncharacteristic.

Anyway did an inspection maybe a bit to late and found them brimming over very crowded so I added a super and did chequer boarding. What a change no problem at all now the girls have calmed down and are no longer stroppy.

They have a way if communicating their dissatisfaction that I was unaware of being a new beek but I have sure learned a lesson that does not appear in any of the books I have read.