History of my hives; three hives in backyard, all docile. Started two nucs in April. One was docile, one became aggressive. Moderate buildup of docile nuc, no harvest, kept in my yard until I sold it. Extreme buildup of aggressive nuc, full med. super of honey on top of two full deeps, keep at friend's yard. Two weeks ago, started two more nucs. One from docile hive in my backyard, one from aggressive hive in friend's yard. Yesterday I examined all five frames of docile nuc, found queen, no aggression whatsoever. Before I even got one frame out of aggressive nuc, had dozens of angry bees all over me. Gave up and ran away! Today I was BEHIND the nucs and hives, moving an empty TBH. No one got upset except the aggressive nuc. They chased me into the front yard, about 60 yards, and I got stung once before I killed three or four of them. I am in NE Ohio, so I know they aren't Africanized. What's up with them, and what the hell do I do about it?! I am almost ready to feed them some Raid! :-x
Are you smoking them first? Are you wearing good protection? Sounds like you need to re-queen the aggressive hive asap.
Ya, smoke em?
Had one hive in paticular get very aggressive with me! My fault I had never smokedem prior to that. Now I at least have it ready and a couple of puffs has made a very hot hive into a decent hive again. I believe one of the reasons is the rate of growth of the hive. When the population booms and they have honey seems they are a little more protective.
you might want to requeen. you might want to put up with it if they are outstanding producers. i have a hive like that. the only honey i got last year came from it. it's just as bad this year and it's out-producing the others. requeening may not reduce productivity, but we have talked before on here about how it seems that many or the more aggressive hives seem also to be the better producers. guess it depends on what you can take.
smoke 'em.
suit up.
for mine, i wear boot because the little buggers like to go up my pants.
Quote from: kathyp on July 26, 2010, 11:32:14 PM
for mine, i wear boot because the little buggers like to go up my pants.
I have a problem with the buggers going up my shorts.
I was thinking of putting the nuc at my friend's yard with its parent hive. They are a couple hundred yards away from the house and no one will bother them. Will a few hits of smoke really calm them down, or just settle them for the moment? Maybe I should smoke them with some marijuana :evil:; that should really calm them down! As long as I am prepared for them, I can tolerate the aggression. I just don't want to keep them by my docile hives and my kids.
Quote from: gardeningfireman on July 26, 2010, 11:49:13 PM
I was thinking of putting the nuc at my friend's yard with its parent hive. They are a couple hundred yards away from the house and no one will bother them. Will a few hits of smoke really calm them down, or just settle them for the moment? Maybe I should smoke them with some marijuana :evil:; that should really calm them down! As long as I am prepared for them, I can tolerate the aggression. I just don't want to keep them by my docile hives and my kids.
Smoking an aggressive hive well before opening them up will help. Keeping them next to a docile hive shouldn't be a problem as long as they are fair to strong.
I know you are having trouble even getting close but perhaps there are not queen right. You need to see if she is in there and laying. No brood and the bees get board and look for mischief. If you aren't using smoke, then smoke them and wait. I like to smoke the entrance then crack the telescoping cover and give a puff up top as well. Set the top back on and wait, give them 30 seconds or so then try to open. We also carry a spray bottle of diluted sugar syrup in our tool tote and if they are flying up too much give them a little mist, it keeps them occupied for awhile.
Even when our nastiest hive is queen right they still don't like to be messed with. We just get in get done and get out. The whole time my wife talks to them and keeps them at bay.
Good luck with them and keep us posted on the progress.
Joe
QuoteMaybe I should smoke them with some marijuana
they'll just eat all your honey.
jhs494 is right. a queenless hive can be aggressive. take an extra box out with you. if the smoke doesn't work, take one frame at a time out. close the hive after you remove each frame. examine frame and put in empty box. cover empty if you need to. it's kind of a PIA way to do things, but at least you don't have the whole hive in your face.
I had a hive like that too a couple of years ago. After watching them chase my dogs across the yard a few times I decided I needed to move them. Like others have mentioned they were fantastic producers. They came from a cutout from downtown Fort Wayne so were survivors and I hated to depose her majesty. I moved them to a place in the country where they would get into less trouble. I always smoke them and always wear full battle gear but they still follow me back to the truck 50 yards away and I usually have to keep walking through the brush, etc. to finally shake them. They swarmed this spring so are in a little weakened state this summer but they are still pretty agressive. My sister calls her Wanda the witch. She has gotten nailed a couple of times mowing anywhere near them.
I admit I know next to nothing, that is why I am here trying to learn, but I have noticed the wild bees of all types in my yard are a lot more aggressive this year. Could it be the hot dry conditions? I got stung walking through the yard a few weeks ago, and yesterday had two yellow jackets come after me that were hovering around an open soda can, and I never got any closer that maybe 10' from the can. I often noticed bees being more aggressive in fall, but this year is an exception. Hot, dry conditions a factor?
Maybe I should smoke them with some marijuana evil
it might not help to calm the bees but it might help you out , no eating honey out of the hive LOL
I'm not in Cali, but was wondering, would I need to get the vet or the bee inspector to give the presciption for the marijuana for the bees?