New beek here. Two nucs from Texas. I added a second hive body about the time the nectar flow stopped. I waited a couple of weeks, saw nothing coming into the hive and decided to put feeders back on. When I took the covers off the bees poured out of the hives, covered my face netting. I had a full bee suit on (previous experience) but they found a way onto my ankles and even crawled into my shoes to sting me on the bottoms of my feet. I still have trouble walking. These bees have never been calm.
I requeened one hive a month ago but have yet seen any difference. I feel like torching the whole thing. Are they killer bees or just protecting what little stores they have with their lives?
Thanks,
John.
i assume that you smoked them before opening right? I have a hive that has been like that all year. They are my strongest hive but man are they wicked mean. I have requeened them twice this year and one of the requeening cerimonies involved a heavy split...now i have two mean a$$ hives.
Yes, I smoked them with pine needles.
I have read posts about others getting extra hot bees out of Texas. I would suggest requeening them with queens from a smaller breeder in the northern states. What you described is more than just protecting the hive during a dearth.
Yeah,
I kind of thought so. I requeened from an excellent breeder on one hive about a month ago. I hope there will be a difference. I had to wipe bees of my veil to be able to see.
Later,
John.
6 weeks, give or take, for a full rotation of bees. In the mean time, I'd add a heavy pair of rubber boots to that bee suit. Have you ordered a new queen for the second hive, yet?
I will order another queen today. I will also use my knee high swamp boots on the next inspection with the elastic cuffs taped down and the velcro tab on the suit taped down.
Thanks,
John.
Just make sure you smoke the crap out of them. :evil:
Anything in the area that might be causing extra stress on the hives? Skunks and other animals that might be messing around the hive? Another way to tell is AHB like to swarm alot. If I could rule out stress and see signs of swarming I would probably send some samples off to have them tested. Requeening isn't a bad idea if you can rule out the stress cause even the most gentle bees can be very agressive in that particular situation. I remember people talking about those black german bees back in the day being just as bad as you decribed. On the other hand they aren't worth having unless you can be comfortable working them.
These bees are mostly black with an occasional italian. I don't have skunks and have rat traps in front of the hives. Traps have been sprung twice since April, possibly by 'coons but not recently. The bees were never what you would call gentle, but this time they started pouring out from the hole in the inner cover in a solid stream. Guess I will have to put up with it to feed them every ten days or so.
Later,
John.
Requeen then if your not comfortable working them. It's all about you some people don't mind working hot bees. I don't if I know they are hot just go ahead and suit up. On the other hand never had to deal with what your talking about.