I caught a swarm in a trap a couple of months ago. When I opened the trap I was attacked. I didn't think much about this being that I had to pull the 4 deep frames out the end of the sona tube and really rattled them up. It had a good queen that had started laying well in the trap so I combined them with weak hive after pinching the old queen. They have since kicked it into high gear. Yesterday I smoked them and after a minute or so I opened the top. They immediatly attacked in numbers. I was suited without gloves so I didn't get stung much. I ran to the truck with hundreds chasing me and slipped my gloves on taking one sting on the wrist. Although I had my suits legs zipped and velcroed 2 got in and got my ankle. I had so many on my veil that I had to brush them off and took 2 stings on the chin when it brushed the mesh. When I was fininshed I drove away with the truck windows down fulling suited. I got back to the house and took the suit off. My high top boots were covered with stings. I have to say this was abit scary but I kept my cool. Later that day my wife was stung in the eyebrow just stepping out on the deck and a hour later I stepped out there and had one come right for me and get stuck in my hair. I understand the things like skunks and weather and a break in the flow that could have cause this and i'm not giving up on them yet but have to say this cant continue. This hive along with 4 others are about 100 ft for the back of the house. They have all been perfect ladies until now. I will be at least moving this hive back to the edge of my woodlot a 1/4mile behind the house. So are they hot or not? How long would you people let this go on before requeening. With the summer coming to a end (42deg's last night) I was thinking about waiting to see how they fair the winter.
They sound hot to me! Sometimes they get mean at this time of year when there is no nectar flow on and if you feed them they calm down. They get even meaner if they have gone queenless of some reason. Going to be very difficult for you to check whether you have still got eggs though with them being that mean. Good luck.
HOT HOT HOT Do you know anybody you don't like :-D :-D
Hey, I have a vacant rental that's been getting messed with. Think I can borrow that hive and set it up in the back yard??!! :evil:
See the problem is bees don't just turn mean all the sudden. If there isn't a flow on up there robbing may be the problem at the bees become stressed and really testy. If you have other hives around that is. A solution to this is to smoke all the hives and open them up all at the same time. Everybody is on gaurd duty so robbing isn't occuring. I wouldn't requeen unless thier hot and stay that way going into next year.
Hankdog
Thanks the smoking idea and the rest of you for giving me new business ideas. (watch bees) I do have five hives all in a row but 10-12 ft apart . The flow has slowed but aster and goldenrod is just starting. I really didn't want to pinch this queen yet. Plus I'm not sure I could find her with her whole family beating me up. This swarm didn't come from my bee's so i think they are from a feral hive back in my woodlot. Sure want to give any survivor queens chance.
I'd be seriously considering 5 gal of soapy water after sunset. :shock: They say life is too short to have nasty bees. I had some too hot for me to handle bees this spring but was able to requeen and what a difference a couple of months makes. Those hives are much more enjoyable now. All the best to you. :)
Quote from: danno on August 26, 2008, 02:26:18 PMSo are they hot or not? How long would you people let this go on before requeening. With the summer coming to a end (42deg's last night) I was thinking about waiting to see how they fair the winter.
They are hot. My criteria for too hot is when they do that "bunch up on the face of the veil and try to suffocate you" maneuver.
I would kill that queen immediately and order a new one if you don't have a spare. By the time you get a new queen in the mail, they will be anxious to accept her. They may even start to calm down as soon as she is dead.
Quote from: twb on August 26, 2008, 06:46:05 PM
I'd be seriously considering 5 gal of soapy water after sunset. :shock: They say life is too short to have nasty bees. I had some too hot for me to handle bees this spring but was able to requeen and what a difference a couple of months makes. Those hives are much more enjoyable now. All the best to you. :)
I absolutely agree with twb about everything except the soapy water. I had a hive like your this summer and it was miserable. I don't want the genetics of a queen that's that mean making it into the rest of the surrounding colonies. I also can't keep bees like that here in town, or in my other yard that's on someone else's property. I took half the hive and combined it with a new nuke with a new, young, gentle queen raised from my gentlest hive. The remainder of the hive was split up between a few other good strong colonies. I've noticed that this seems to help keep them in check. Requeening is in my opinion the way to go. Don't pollute the local gene pool with those mean genes. I'm pretty sure that the drones that the queen from this colony raises will most certainly pass these mean traits on if they are given the chance. Requeen with a gentle queen, give it some time, and you will be pleased with the results.
Someone published a scale of bee aggressiveness that quantified it well. Ex. calm - bees totally ignore you as you tear into the hive. Hot - bees chase you into your truck and ping your veil as you drive hundreds of yards away, etc... I think it might be Michael Bush, but I couldn't locate it on his site. Mr. Bush, was that your article? If not, does this sound familiar to anyone?
Wait,Naw--- Requeen! Good time of year to requeen, why wait and wish you had.
Smoke them real good and give them maybe one more chance if you like. I had a hive that would chase but never had the bunch up veil thing. They were always a little hot no fun to work. Requeening took care of it and it was my best producer w/ a new queen. (see the pick in the photo section and that's after the removal of six supers).
My definition of a Hot Hive is one who's bees chase you 2 blocks down the street and make you hide in a Rhodadendron bush. Oh, and they sting the bejesus out of you. Anything less than that I can usually handle. But when you are covered 2 inches deep in stinging bees it is very hard to concentrate. My personal record be stings is 379 from one hive, that's hot.
Hot? They are on FIRE! Or at least they would be after I got done with them.
My vote is requeen asap.
This forum is so hilarious, and educational at the same time. I so value all the insight into the ways, and crazy days of bees. Really, I appreciate folks taking the time to explain things clearly, and it is impressive how much has been covered on this forum. Just this week I learned about follower boards for weaker hives, arranging frames for winter and how to deal with excess pollen (i have 8 frames of it in one hive!) This forum is such a valuable (end entertaining) resource. I have learned so much in the short time...23 Hours and 59 minutes!?!?....I've been on. Thanks. :-*
(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_UfPFitzyrfI/SLYPxnQS29I/AAAAAAAADrw/raNCsBAmgjU/s320/statice.jpg)
http://www.bushfarms.com/beesrequeeninghot.htm
I just went through something like that (as did the neighbors..hehehehe). The bad girls have been moved, requeened and are much more ladylike now. Looking to snuff the queen, I had to blow them off my veil to see. I was beeblind. they'd follow me a hundred yards. had probably a hundred stings on my jacket. All this from mild mannered and filling two brood boxes. three weeks later with a mostly full medium of honey, unmanageable and miserable. Unless you like bees with tudes (lots of them) or you need home protection, requeen....It's only what I would do and already did.
Apply for a new postal address... put the numbers on the side of that hive and place it a bit down from the usual mailbox, then address all your bills to the new address. :-D :evil:
now THATS mean. lol. My girls have gotten testy but its due to the many many issues that have plagued my hive this year. Its almost winter and my hive has stayed as ingle deep super since May 5th, the day it was installed. Not good. I had to replaced the second deep super with a shallow super because they were just sitting in it. They sat there for two weeks and never made the first bit of comb. I could barely do that. I didnt get hit but it wasnt for a lack of trying on their part. I sprayed the foundation with sugar water and put the top on it and hauled tail out of there. That helped calm them down some. Then I fed them two quart jars of syrup. it was gone in 24 hours. But I noticed that they are much calmer. I looked through them today and I found more babies and larva, so my queen is laying. I also found 4 more queen cells :?. They are re queening AGAIN! Im letting nature take its course this time. Im not cutting queen cells, smoking hives, or taking off supers unless I absolutely have to. IM just feeding them and getting them fatten up for winter. Try feeding them, re queening them, or if you think you need to, try the soapy water............ :-P
WOW...if you where further south I would suspect AHB!! :shock:
debay
I found that smoking set my two hive on fire. Now I just go in very clam and do not move quickly. I am also feeding both and they are much nicer. I go in almost every 3rd day on one. They are making Qcells also, so I am checking to see if they cap them.
Did I read somewhere on the forum that feeding can induce swarming? Two of my Qcells are on the bottom and one on the top. My queen is still doing fine (at least to me).
i have another post her about my hive and its issues this year. it has been rough going. this is my second or third re-queening. I went in the other day and the queen cells that I did have were either empty or the sides were torn out. Im guessing that one hatched and she killed off the others. They are slightly easier to irritate than they used to be but Im hoping that when the queen issues settles that they will too. do you find going in every third day is a bit too invasive? That might be a good cause for a swarm. they get or got smoked every third day, I can see where they would kind of freak out.
I don't smoke when I go in. I am really, really, easy. I don't crush anyone or make them upset at all. I use a second deep which is empty and a Miller feeder on that. So I pull the feeder off and look in. Then take the empty deep off. They're all still washboarding and messing around. I check what I need to check and in 5 minutes I'm out. They're still wash boarding and messing around. No one gets upset, only one/two frames are moved to check the Q-cell and that's it. They're pretty easy going--Italian Queen. The feeding seems to settle them down too. I seem to get buzzed a lot more when I use smoke.
So it has been a week since, but even if you requeen this late, the mean bees will still be around till winter and possibly till spring.
If they die over the winter you lost $25. If you wait and they die, then you haven't lost anything.
And there will be many less bees to sort through in the spring, so requeening will be much easier then.
Either way you can requeen in March or April before they really ramp up and I think that might be easier if you can tolerate them till then.
If they were in my backyard, yes I'd do something about them now. But if in an outyard and not bothering anybody....
Rick