What the heck did I do to make my bees so mad?

[joker1656]

I pulled one super yesterday, and finished crushing/straining the last of it this morning.  I took the wax, the empty frames, and some trays outside.  I placed them about 100 yds from the hives, and about 100 yds from our house.  My dog has a dog house about 30 yds from where I placed the stuff to be cleaned.  There are trees and brush between the spot and the doghouse.  Nothing but a straight shot, for the most part, from the hives to the spot. 

My dog, Sully, was actually more like 50+ yds from the spot.  For some reason, within minutes of placing the stuff out there he was yelping like crazy.  He was being stung and hiding in his dog house.  I could see bees everywhere. I realized I had left him on his cable.  (He wanders to the neighbors a 1/8 mi away at night).  Needless to say, I ran out to him and released him immediately.  They went after me like crazy. 

I am sure that you all can set me straight, but the flight path and location of the "spot" should have prevented this it seemed.  He never approached the "feeding area".  My nephew was outside and saw everything.  It just happened too fast to get to Sully before I did.

There is Goldenrod everywhere.  I pulled the super last night in shorts, t-shirt, and veil.  I used smoke, of course, but no one out there seemed to worked up.  Sully is a big white Great Pyr.  I don't think his color has anything to do with it.  Are honey bees that protective of a food source?  I have never had them act like this.  Granted I am a rookie, but I understood bees to protect their hive and themselves, but not their food.  Is this because they were in a robbing mode?  I put the stuff to be cleaned far from the hives to prevent a robbery amongst my hives. 

I am hopefully going to get some advice.  I am bracing for the berating LOL  :-D..... Where did I screw up?   :?

[Kathyp]

probably the same thing that happened here.  a robbing frenzy.. and they can be nasty.  in my case, the feed i put out attracted yellowjackets along with the bees, and it was on.  i couldn't go near my barn,  hives, wax that i wanted to retrieve for melting, etc.  it lasted two days and then settled down.

this seems to happen more in late summer and fall when bees are packing in for winter, and other critters are competing.  if ever one of my hives are going to be nasty, it's at this time of the year even if i'm not pulling supers.

[BeeHopper]

Sooooooooo, is Sully moving his house or what  ;) :-D

[Boom Buzz]

Sorry I can't help you with why they are mad or what you should have done differently.  My bees are in a similar mode.  Can't walk near them now without being warned off with head butting or stinging.  And there has been some robbing going on by bees and yellow jackets so maybe this has them riled up.  I did an inspection last week and the bees were very aggressive.  I was only in the hive for maybe two minutes and received multiple stings to the gloves.  The head butting was fierce!  So I buttoned up the hive and will wait for a calmer day.
Is this normal?  Multiple stings to the gloves on an inspection?  I was calm and smooth - no dropping frames, no bumps or bangs.
Thinking about lacing the feed with prozac!  :-D

John

[joker1656]

Thanks, Kathy.  Another time I am happy you are back LOL.  That makes total sense.  I actually saw some bald faced hornets out there. 

Beehopper, yes, his house is moved. LOL  I also moved the bee stuff farther into the woods. 

Lesson learned ......  :-D

[gaucho10]

At this time of year hornets/wasps/etc.  are slowing their brood production.  During the summer they feed their brood insect parts and the brood in turn produce a sweet nectar that the adult wasps eat.  Now with the decline of brood the adults need the sweets and go foraging, robbing or find a location where someone left their honey equipment to be cleaned out  :-D  All bees, wasps and hornets congregate to eat up the open honey and they all become more aggressive.  Ever noticed that during a picnick, yellow jackets tend to land on your soda can more often at this time of year? :)   There might still be a honey flow but the congregation of too many different families of insects does make them more aggressive.

[RayMarler]

This time of year the bees do tend to be more aggressive. One thing I've learned, is I don't do any open feeding in the summer and early fall, it has a tendency to cause high frenzy robbing. This sounds like what happened to you.