What to do with an aggresive hive

[GaryBee]

Hello all,

I have 3 hives and am based in Northamptonshire - two hives contain lovely docile bees that require just a little smoking when inspecting them, they just get on with what bees do....gently humming away.

The third hive is very aggresive - they regulary try to sting me - they make lots of noise and follow me after i have left the hive for 25m or so. Not good when we have children in the garden, the wife and elderly mother who have all been stung recently.

Last year I fed them to make sure they were not short of food etc but to no avail. They overwintered fine with a broad box and a super of honey. They currently have 3 supers on all with honey that has yet to be capped.

Again this year, the hive is aggresive. If I replace the queen will their temperament change immediately or will that only happen as new bees come through?

Before i change the queen any suggestions that i could try to make them behave?

Thanks

 

[GregBeekeeper]

Hi, you will have to requeen them. We are just into swarming season in the south as we hit the June gap, is it the same there for you too? If so you can take advantage and take a comb with a healthy looking queen cell, capped or near so, from one of your other hives and put it in the offending hive, after removing the queen and killing off queen cells if they are thinking of swarming. Make sure that the comb you transfer only has one queen cell on it. Catch the existing queen in a matchbox and put her in the freezer.

From my experience even the bees born of the previous queen will settle down once they have the more docile queen hatched in the colony.

 

[RoseCottage]

Hi if you are sure the colony are queen right and they have been aggressive for a couple of years...I would kill her and pop in a brood frame with eggs from one of your more docile hives. Only allow emergency queen cells to be created on the test frame...by knocking off any cells created on other frames.

if there was drone brood I would also eliminate this too, as this may help minimise the chances of passing on the aggressive traits.

Is this your scenario?

They are likely to be a little more wild than normal until the queen emerges in 16 days but.then will begin to calm down a little.

All the best,
Sam

 

[merylvingien]

Sam, step aside please sir as i beleive this is my area of expertise

I would advise that you buy in a new queen from reliable stock. The chances of rearing a gooden with aggresive drones floating about is chance.

knock all queen cells out a day or two before new queen arrives, then check again before introducing her IN HER CAGE.

Leave her in the cage for at least 3 days to make sure all is well and check again for any new queen cells. If all is well remove the plastic cover from the candy plug and let them release her. If there are any signs of balling or agressive tendancies then leave it longer before removing the plastic cover.

P,S Sam, you should the angry lot now, they are at the top of thier game, queenless and ready for a fight with anything/anyone that even looks at them.

 

[mandabow]

Hello all,


Again this year, the hive is aggresive. If I replace the queen will their temperament change immediately or will that only happen as new bees come through?

Before i change the queen any suggestions that i could try to make them behave?

Thanks

fraid not on suggestions to make them behave.. bees have a collective mind of their own, feeding won't help it only gives them more to defend.

i'd requeen them ASAP..

temprament only changes as new bees come through, although when you make it queenless for a couple of days before introducing her they may well get a lot worse.. there then will be improvements on introduction of a new queen in as much as it's not as horrible as when there was no queen. but still not ideal. her pheramones may ahve a slight calming effect tho.. difficult to tell objectively if they are better then before the queen cull

if your worried about family and neighbours moving them to somewhere >3miles away until they have calmed down a bit might be a cunning plan.

if your worried and stuffed for anywhere to put them you can cut down forraging by resticting exit, tho this may increase likelyhood of wanting to swarm.

you can set up a bee hoover, sneak up to the hive as best you can, and suck off the guard bees and agressive flyers as they come out (careful not to get too close to the door as you don't want to suck out nurse bees or queen)

then freeze them, or donate them to hive of someone >3miles away who doesnt mind a bit of agro for a short term boost in honey.

part of their agression can be due to bolshyness as the colony is large, knocking it back a bit in terms of foragers makes you honey yield a lot less but knocks them back while still allowing to maximise laying of new queen.

i'd try and avoid getting them to make their own queen... the time they are more agressive is longest this way.. maybe even kill their queen then introduce a queen from one of your other hives after two days (slowly in a cage over several days before even letting them at the candy to release her.. you can tell if they don't want to kill her anymore when they arn't clustering over her cage. definately don't let her out untill they are hopelessly queenless, 4+ days since you sqished the old queen and having gone back in and destroyed ALL swarm cells built in the meantime.

then one of your more docile colonies can rear an emergency queen, they hopefully won't be quite as agressive during the couple of weeks downtime

kill all but one queen cell (aiming for one started on the day you took their queen) and make sure youve killes all the drones you possibly can from the agressive hive, when you go trhough to find queen sqish every one you see, you do not want those genes perpetuating, and cull all drone brood too to protect other people in the areas virgins from them

 

[Bcrazy]

I learn something new now and again, from these wonderful suggestions you guy's have . Amazing!!!

 

[Poly Hive]

The temperament will change as soon as the new queens pheromones make them selves felt.

Why people perpetuate this business of until the last of the old codgers dies off.... it will continue. I do not know. It is just not true.

I have re-queened nasty stocks times, and it is the same each time. Monday bees from hell and by Thursday a perceptible and sometimes dramatic difference.

Buy a good queen from a reputable supplier and see for yourself.

Be aware though that even with a good slow release there is never a guaranteed success with introducing a new mated queen. I have just lost one myself (to my chagrin, £20 lost) and so be aware that it is nature you are dealing with. No one should suggest it is always a success. For the bloody simple reason do it often enough and you will have the odd failure. Such is the nature of the beast.

PH

 

[Bcrazy]

Sorry about this members but i just have to say something.
Well mandabow

f your worried and stuffed for anywhere to put them you can cut down forraging by resticting exit, tho this may increase likelyhood of wanting to swarm.

Where did you dig this gem up from? How the hell is reducing the entrance going to reduce foraging?

you can set up a bee hoover, sneak up to the hive as best you can, and suck off the guard bees and agressive flyers as they come out (careful not to get too close to the door as you don't want to suck out nurse bees or queen)

Another gem.

then freeze them, or donate them to hive of someone >3miles away who doesnt mind a bit of agro for a short term boost in honey.

That's a good boy spread disease give someone else your problems.

part of their agression can be due to bolshyness as the colony is large, knocking it back a bit in terms of foragers makes you honey yield a lot less but knocks them back while still allowing to maximise laying of new queen.

Being a large colony has nothing to do with the bees being defensive.As for knocking back the foragers is rubbish also.

i'd try and avoid getting them to make their own queen... the time they are more agressive is longest this way.. maybe even kill their queen then introduce a queen from one of your other hives after two days (slowly in a cage over several days before even letting them at the candy to release her.. you can tell if they don't want to kill her anymore when they arn't clustering over her cage. definately don't let her out untill they are hopelessly queenless, 4+ days since you sqished the old queen and having gone back in and destroyed ALL swarm cells built in the meantime.

First bit of GOOD advice
The rest as per usual is not quite correct.

kill all but one queen cell (aiming for one started on the day you took their queen) and make sure youve killes all the drones you possibly can from the agressive hive, when you go trhough to find queen sqish every one you see, you do not want those genes perpetuating, and cull all drone brood too to protect other people in the areas virgins from them

Kill all the drones are you on this bloody planet???????????????/


No more i am fuming to have to read such rubbish.
Still please reply but bear in mind i will not be about to read it.

Good luck with your beekeeping you need it.

 

[Poly Hive]

No need to be sorry Bcrazy it is utter rubbish.

PH

 

[BKF Admin]

Thank you Mo for your comments.

 

[MrB]

Amazing!

 

[Dishmop]

Watching too much Dr Who.

 

[xgeordie]

Have to say that the bit about "sneaking" up to the hive with a bee hoover (being careful not to get too close to the door as you don't want to suck out nurse bees or queen) made my day! What a cracking post! Lol.

 

[RoseCottage]

Bcrazy,
I would try and avoid buying in a queen as I prefer to try and source one from a known pool of successful local genes. Why would you do different? Yes you could buy in and it MAY be quicker but if you can create one from known stock you have saved yourself a lot of cash and should get a vast improvement in temperament.

I did this myself 4 weeks ago very successfully thanks.

In addition, I had an introduced queen killed by my aggressive colony (despite being a considered slow release) so managing the introduction of a preferred queen cell can avoid this. What's the incidence of home grown queen regicide for reasons of malice?

Perhaps you didn't like some other suggestions but I believe this to be a reasonable approach.

Sam

 

[oliver90owner]

Sorry Mandabow, but I am in the other camp.

What really made me smile was the idea of sneaking up on them and assassinating the guards. Probably quite a good idea if these guards were not replaced PDQ!

RAB

 

[Dishmop]

"sneaking" up to the hive with a bee hoover

Bailiffs with a vacuum cleaner...

 

[Winker]

you can set up a bee hoover, sneak up to the hive as best you can, and suck off the guard bees and agressive flyers as they come out (careful not to get too close to the door as you don't want to suck out nurse bees or queen)

Just come off the phone to th**s, Pa***s and a few electrical store. No one sells a Bee hoover.

I need these bees off me can some one point to a bee hover please?

 

[Bcrazy]

Hi Rose Cottage,
What have i said about you now?
Raising your own queens or buying in what have i said to upset you?
Mo

 

[RoseCottage]

Mo,
You haven't upset me at all....my wife and daughter shopping for dress fabric in London today ...that has the chance of upsetting me (especially as there are 8 fabric shops to visit and I recently left my job)


In your response to Mandabow I thought that you suggested that buying in was the first bit of sensible advice you'd read. Yup I may have been mistaken.. As an earlier poster trying to offer sound advice based on the OP situation I was/am concerned that they don't feel they only have the option of buying in available to them.

All the best,
Sam

 

[susbees]

Mandabow....as others have indicated, please don't invent stuff for beekeepers who are genuinely interested in learning from sensible advice.

And for the record what the * does this mean

"Number of colonies:1 virgin queen and couple of combs of brood -does that count as precarious colony?not sure"

Ask and you may learn...Surely you don't believe in parthenogenesis in bees....?