I have two hives one docile and one as angry as all heck - until this week
12 months ago the hot hive when smoked would boil up and all the bees would form a cloud over the hive and chase me away with only a few frames - OK I was advised to kill the queen but I couldn't get near her ( OK just read MBs article on re queening a hot hive) plus I procrastinated!
Anyway last Monday I was working the hive and apart from a dozen or so aggressive bees who still got me a good few stings the hive as a whole was a lot more friendly - responded to smoke by going down into the hive - didn't attack when brushed off frames etc but still by the end I had a couple of hundred chase me away but in general the bulk of the hive seamed a lot calmer and didn't get as agitated in the past.
Could the hive have requeened itself with a queen who has mated with a drone from my docile hive ?
If so how long will it take for the aggressiveness to fully dissipate ?
Sounds like some of mine. I have found out if you have Ferrell bees in your area,{not Africans, or killer bees as some say} . I believe the Italians are the dominant Ferrell breed in this area here in middle Ga. When I get Queens from another breed they turn out a little hotter than the mother hive. The swarms I have got from the wild are more gentle than these cross out's
Weather conditions can also affect their temperament. I do not go into mine when there is static in the air. Agitation from animals
or pest can also have an affect on their behavior. hope this helps.
Like you said, it may be that the docile drones' seed have now came up.
I had a hive that was just about like that. The bees were the only colony in my experience where they would actually, seemingly. hunt me. I.E. I would walk into the barnyard and they would start hounding me 75 feet from the yard. I finally moved them into the woods, where I would not have any contact and be out of sight. after I was dive-bombed and stung twice in succession under cover in the barn.
I split the hive, bought a queen, gave the queen to the half that didn't seem MORE angry toward her, and after a couple of weeks moved them back in with the other hives. I was planning on usurping the Queen of Hearts (Off with their heads!), but after I saw the bees chasing a small hive beetle, I thought better of it.
The split gentled in a few weeks. It's simple enough, during a flow they work themselves to death in a few weeks time, and the brood have to hatch out, so the defensive genetics would be gone in the time from egg to death, or about 9 weeks I think.
I left the other, neurotic, half alone and looked in on them rarely and from a distance for the rest of that year. Surprisingly, the next spring, they were tolerable. I later lost that hive to robbers, ironically.