Ouch!

ConfedMarine · July 25, 2006, 08:40:56 PM

Saturday, 7/22, I collected five supers for extraction from three hives. One of the hives is a feral swarm I caught in the spring of this year. They have always had a good disposition. Saturday I think I could have gone into their hive without my gloves, none of the girls even cared I was robbing them. BUT, just now I went in to put a wet super back on the hive and was "attacked". It was like an AHB horror video. I smoked the entrance and gave a shot or three in the top. As the smoke went in, the tempo of their buzzing got faster and louder. As soon as I lifted the top, I had what seemed to be a hundred or more bees on me from head to toe. So far I have counted 12 stings that went through my heavy coveralls and a t-shirt. Fortunately, my 14 year old son only got stung once on his leg. What would change their demeanor in two days from a 4-5 month consistently good one? Right now my line of thinking is: I am going to leave them alone for 10 to 14 days and then attempt an inspection. If they still have a nasty attitude, I am going to try to re-queen. If that does not work, I will have a mass burial.

Jerrymac · July 26, 2006, 01:04:31 AM

What was the weather like? Was the flow over? maybe they were mad because you took their honey.

AdmiralD · July 26, 2006, 03:46:11 AM

Interesting.......

Last year, I had 2 hives, and robbed them both at the same time. One hive went on to collect another 20 lbs of honey. The other 'gave up', and eventually starved.

Go figure....

Understudy · July 26, 2006, 07:16:53 AM

Your bees may have lost their queen. I have had a hive go nuts for a couple of reasons. Lose of a queen was one. Recently being robbed was another. Dropping frames will also cause an issue.

Sincerely,
Brendhan

TwT · July 26, 2006, 01:45:34 PM

the meanest one of hive hives ever got was when they were queen less, this hive superseded the old queen and were hot for about 3-4 weeks then when the young queen got to laying strong they calmed right down.... it could be a few things that could make one mean at times... weather, time of year, queen less, animals bothering them, time of day, etc..... and in some area's AHB.......

ConfedMarine · July 27, 2006, 12:37:34 PM

Thanks for ya'lls input. I think I will wait a couple of weeks and check for the queen or queen cells. I hope I did not lose the queen, she was an excellent layer. Thanks again.

Brian D. Bray · July 29, 2006, 05:42:40 AM

Could be the time of year, it's now the time when bees begin to shift gear to concentrating on retaining stores, killing off drones, and decreasing brood production. All of which makes them a little proddy.

Rabbitdog · July 29, 2006, 10:42:13 PM

That's very strange!
I remember a wise old beekeeper telling me how to calm down a hot hive. He said it was absolutely slam gauranteed to work every time.
I can't remember all of the details but the jist of it was to give $100 to whoever got you interested in bees. Give it a try and let us know how it turns out.