Oh ...and so far there's not been any better advice ?
Dunno if there's anything useful in what I'm about to write - but here goes ...
I have one extremely defensive hive ('the hive from Hell') from which half-a-dozen oldsters
always used to follow for up to 200 yards, and lay siege to the house for a good 48 hrs after each inspection. I've more-or-less cured that situation by moving said hive well away from the house - but - I still can't get into that hive to do an inspection or remove any nurse bees for future queen-rearing.
Seconds after I open the top - it's chaos - big cloud of angry bees intent on doing what they do best. Last time I removed well over a hundred stingers (lost count) from the suit, mainly from around the neck area. I've tried smoke/ no smoke, water mist/ no water mist. Nothing works. No other hive in this apiary is, or ever has been, like this - and rather annoyingly, this is the strongest hive I've ever known and hasn't ever received any chemical treatment (coincidence ?).
I've even considered a pint of petrol - but to be honest, I've a lot of sympathy with those bees, for I'd probably behave in exactly the same way in their place. But the problem is: even if I do decide to re-queen (which I may finally resort to) - how best to get into that hive ?
The only strategy I've come up with is to move the (sealed) hive at night, and locate it some distance away for a day or two, until a good percentage of the foragers have vacated the premises. (They'll then be with a substituted weaker hive)
But - I'm only talking about moving a hive of 2 x brood boxes and a super - that should be easy enough with a sack-truck and a couple of straps. Having 5 x supers full of honey however will make a hive very top-heavy. Maybe 2 people with a sack truck ? If the bulk of foragers could be removed, it would make the process of box removal a lot less traumatic ...
Sometimes on this forum you get useful advice sometimes people just want to tell you how clever they are
Nicely put - I've often thought that about several members here (pargyle excepted
).
LJ