Old Hive-Mean

Jacar · June 27, 2014, 04:49:55 PM

A little back story. My Dad, who recently passed, salvaged a couple of hives with a friend 2 years ago. He had bees for 27 years. I have been helping him for the last 15 years and am now the beekeeper. This hive is very aggressive and mean. The last two times I have checked them, they attack and are very difficult to work. Today I worked my way down to the brood box and was unable to remove any of the frames to check on the queen. Last year my Dad destroyed a similar hive after they killed a dozen of our chickens after we worked them. He told me last year that it probably needed re-queening.

Any suggestions on how to handle this hive? My experience level would be considered novice, because my Dad always worked the bees and I helped when I could. We plan on harvesting sometime in the middle of July. So I can wait till then to make a decision.

divemaster1963 · June 27, 2014, 06:36:46 PM

I word kill the hive unless there is another thing causing the aggression. Afb is bad in Texas. You can salvage the honey by waiting till night then seal it in a big bag and place dry ice in the top of it. It will kill the hive over night. If they are afb any mated queen you give them they well supersed her with there own.

John

BeeMaster2 · June 27, 2014, 06:48:27 PM

Jascar,
Check out Michael Bushes web site on how he handles aggressive hives. Sounds like you have enough experience to salvage this hive. If I can find it, I will post it here. Maybe Michael will post it.
Jim

BeeMaster2 · June 27, 2014, 06:51:36 PM

Here is the link:
http://www.bushfarms.com/beesrequeeninghot.htm
Jim

jayj200 · June 27, 2014, 07:47:51 PM

two ways
after requeening fails

black plastic bag over the top and cinched up tight. use a cinch strap to keep the hive together.
how to close the entrance first. guess a full entrance reducer then bag it. at night wearing a full be suit.

or a smoker with powered sulfur to smoke them. seams the sulfur kills on contact

their own heat will kill the hive. i would wait to be sure it is dead out.

listen to the side of the box, no buzzing. give the hive a sharp rap or two and listen again

see I gave a mean hive away. if it was African then that was not good. as an after thought now i would destroy them

biggraham610 · June 28, 2014, 01:28:20 PM

Just a thought, whatever you decide to do with the hive, perhaps you should send off a sample for testing for AHB. G :chop:

BeeMaster2 · June 28, 2014, 11:21:18 PM

Instead of paying big bucks for testing your bees, call your inspector and he can do a fabis test to get a quick answer. Not full proof but it is pretty good.
Jim

biggraham610 · June 29, 2014, 12:21:27 PM

Quote from: sawdstmakr on June 28, 2014, 11:21:18 PM
Instead of paying big bucks for testing your bees, call your inspector and he can do a fabis test to get a quick answer. Not full proof but it is pretty good.
Jim

Does the inspector have the right to force you to destroy hives with AHB genetics? Just a question? Seems like that could be devastating with open mating, where they are there is bound to be a little in most every hive. Thanks Jim. G :chop:

BeeMaster2 · June 29, 2014, 03:47:45 PM

G,
Every state has there own laws. That is a good question for your inspector.
Keep in mind, like you mentioned, with open mating, your queen may have mated with 20 Italian's drones and one African. The hives defensiveness will vary with the sperm that she uses. The queens pheromones also has a lot to do with the hives temperament.
If you are just taking a bunch of stings when you are working the hive, I would not kill the hive. Just requeen.
If the hive boils out of the hive and is all over you then you might consider killing the hive.
Jim

biggraham610 · June 29, 2014, 08:49:39 PM

I hear you Jim. I was just throwing that out there Hypothetically. We dont have any here......Yet.... I was just figuring if the Inspector has the power to test all your hives if one showed a gene, It might could be a mighty blow. I think I will just deal with any hives that come up hot on my own, like you said re-queening, or another approach. Just seems, sad as it is to say, anything the govt gets there hands on kinda goes south in a hurry if you know what I mean. On a brighter note, Harvested my first Honey today. Just stole 3 frames, but thats all I need. let them have the rest. Next spring will be another story........... G.... :chop:

capt44 · June 29, 2014, 11:15:23 PM

Last year I had 2 hives tested for Africanized Honey Bees.
It's just a matter of putting some bees in a jar of alcohol.
All test done in Arkansas last year came back negative.
I requeened and the hive is different this year. (calm)

BeeMaster2 · June 30, 2014, 05:32:13 AM

Quote from: biggraham610 on June 29, 2014, 08:49:39 PM
I hear you Jim. I was just throwing that out there Hypothetically. We dont have any here......Yet.... I was just figuring if the Inspector has the power to test all your hives if one showed a gene, It might could be a mighty blow. I think I will just deal with any hives that come up hot on my own, like you said re-queening, or another approach. Just seems, sad as it is to say, anything the govt gets there hands on kinda goes south in a hurry if you know what I mean. On a brighter note, Harvested my first Honey today. Just stole 3 frames, but thats all I need. let them have the rest. Next spring will be another story........... G.... :chop:

G,
I here you. :-\
When they do the test. They measure a certain segment of the wings of 10 bees and how ever many of them are over a certain length, that gives you the percentage of the hive that is AHB. Not real scientific but that is what they do. They claim all bees down here in Florida have some percentage of AHB.
Jim

Jacar · June 30, 2014, 07:07:27 PM

Thanks Sawdstmkr,

I read the Bush article. That gives me something to work with. I believe I can do that.

Regards,

Jack

Dallasbeek · June 30, 2014, 09:04:15 PM

In another string I've been discussing swarms in Laredo with a beekeeper in San Antonio. He talked to Texas A&M and found that they no longer attempt to regulate AHBs in Texas and lifted the quarantines along the border TWO YEARS AGO. But I didn't find anything about it in my searches. They just did it and kept it to themselves, I guess. So if you're a Texas beekeeper you're on your own. If you want to work with really hot bees, have at it.

BeeMaster2 · June 30, 2014, 09:51:40 PM

I am real glad they have not moved into this area. I hate wearing all of the protective gear in 90 degree heat with near 100% humidity. With AHB you have to wear full protection every time you work with them.
It is amazing what you can do with Italian bees with out having problems.
Jim

RHBee · July 01, 2014, 01:23:20 AM

Quote from: sawdstmakr on June 30, 2014, 09:51:40 PM
I am real glad they have not moved into this area. I hate wearing all of the protective gear in 90 degree heat with near 100% humidity. With AHB you have to wear full protection every time you work with them.
It is amazing what you can do with Italian bees with out having problems.
Jim

Sounds like my bees. It could be the beekeeper though. :-D