aggressive hive part 2

schawee · April 16, 2010, 11:23:39 PM

well suited up today and went to check the hive that got aggressive yesterday with me.i smoked the hive alot and when i took the top off all hell broke loose.the more i smoked the the more they attacked.got down to the brood boxes and saw open queen cells.a hive that was so gentle the two years i had them to this aggressive monster.its hard to beleive the changing of a queen can do this to a hive.i tried to look for the queen and kill her but the bees were to aggressive i had to walk away .im thinking of killing the whole hive.can this hive be saved??? ...schawee

iddee · April 16, 2010, 11:30:36 PM

If it's 2 boxes, make 4 nucs. If 3 boxes, make 6 nucs, ETC. 5 days later, check each nuc for eggs. Any nuc that has eggs has a queen. She will be much easier to find with only 5 frames. Then combine them back into how many hives you want, and add new queens, or queen cells if you have swarm cells in other hives.

AllenF · April 16, 2010, 11:33:21 PM

I had a hive like that once. My wife hated to go in the back yard. I took the blow torch to them and cooked their numbers down over several days. I stopped when there were no more eggs seen, then I requeened. They were a great hive the next year.

Ross · April 16, 2010, 11:39:26 PM

Divide and conquer. Take each box off and place it on a bottom board 30 feet away. Leave an empty box on the old stand. If you can't work each individual box, divide them again into 5 frame nucs. Keep dividing until you can find the queen. Without the field bees, you can usually deal with the nurse bees pretty well. I wouldn't attempt to requeen the field bees. Remove the empty hive and leave that spot empty. Those bees will dispurse to other hives.

Michael Bush · April 17, 2010, 12:33:44 AM

Yes, it can be saved:
http://www.bushfarms.com/beesrequeeninghot.htm

Bee Happy · April 17, 2010, 12:57:56 AM

Ok If there is an award for asking the stupidest question I may be putting myself in the running.
Would it be possible to bring a green(ish) banana out with you - peel it (without touching it) and leaving it a few feet away opposite where you're working to bait the angry bees away from yourself (who may have doused in smoke as a concealment).
I would try it and report the results myself if I had to deal with an angry hive (and didn't have another hive nearby to irritate with the scent.)
I'm just saying - if they're gonna be mad, give them something besides YOU to be mad at.
Definitely need a more experienced response to my thought.

Michael Bush · April 17, 2010, 04:10:37 AM

>Would it be possible to bring a green(ish) banana out with you - peel it (without touching it) and leaving it a few feet away opposite where you're working to bait the angry bees away from yourself (who may have doused in smoke as a concealment).

If it worked it would only make them miore angry...

>I would try it and report the results myself if I had to deal with an angry hive (and didn't have another hive nearby to irritate with the scent.)
I'm just saying - if they're gonna be mad, give them something besides YOU to be mad at.

Take someone else along... :)

Divide and conquer. Split up the hive.

schawee · April 17, 2010, 06:04:22 PM

what's with the green banana.and you are welcome to join me. :-D

buzzbee · April 17, 2010, 06:11:18 PM

Quote from: Michael Bush on April 17, 2010, 04:10:37 AM

Divide and conquer. Split up the hive.

I had one particularly nasty hive two years ago. I took out a second bottom board and split the two boxes to two hives. They calmed right down in a day. one box raised a new queen and the old box calmed down when it went to rebuilding.

The green banana? It doesn't have to be green,but the smell of a banana is similar to the alarm pheremone in a hive.It likely would arouse more bees than it would distract them away.
But the only stupid question is one you don't ask. How else will you learn?

schawee · April 17, 2010, 06:27:46 PM

ken, do you have to kill the queen when you split them? ...schawee

buzzbee · April 17, 2010, 06:41:53 PM

I was planning on it,but when they calmed right down I left her live.But if I was in a populated area I would consider it. Especially if you can readily requeen or there is fresh eggs for them to raise a new one.
Is there any possibility that a skunk or something is bothering the hive at night?This will leave the bees quite agitated.In that case ,dividing and requeening may be pointless.

schawee · April 17, 2010, 10:01:18 PM

ken, im in a populated area and i will move them to my beeyard on the farm.i will put a queen in each split from my nucs and put that queen in a nuc to see what happens.we dont have skunks around here . thanks for the info. ...schawee

RayMarler · April 18, 2010, 06:55:55 AM

A green banana? I think a better idea would be to smoke yourself good and keep puffing on a lit cigar as you work. :D That is, as you are dividing and conquering!

Scadsobees · April 19, 2010, 09:47:19 AM

So these open queen cells...

Do you mean ones in process? Or ones that had just hatched?

And if they were in process, were they all on the bottom of the frames, or were there some half way up the frames?

The reason that I ask is that queenless hives can be very aggressive, if something happened and the queen killed.....this would explain a sudden aggressiveness. If this is the case I'd leave them for a week or two.

schawee · April 19, 2010, 02:43:37 PM

the cells were superseded cells. i split them yesterday and hope to find her today.she is laying eggs.im hoping to requeen the hive in hope that will calm them down.i would like to keep them as 1 hive because they are a honey making machine.if not i will split them and bring them to the farm. ...schawee