advice for cut-out

[bhough]

Dear Friends,

An elderly couple I know from work told me how they had been admitted to the hospital (both of them!) from stings related to a feral hive in their backyard.  The hive has set up shop in the nooks and crannies of a cinderblock wall.  This morning I went over intending to get myself another hive, but found them very aggressive and changed gears into trying to kill them to protect my elderly friends. 

I was using my smoker and hammering open the cinderblock wall, pulling out the brood.  However, the bees were so aggressive, they would follow me 1/4 mile down the road.  When I came back, I turned the hose on them and kept working, but they were still able to bite me at least 20 times through my suit.  (had light work pants and long sleeve shirt on).

I told my friends I've got to take a week off to recover and tend to my wounds (both on my body and ego).  I'm planning on taking with me next time some syrup to spray on them to slow them down somewhat.  Also going to wear heavy denim under my suit with copious duct-tape.

I live in Florida and have a call out to my inspector explaining these are probably africanized.  However, after they were stung, the city has not set up any help to remove the hive, which is why i felt like I should go.

Beside my above plan, any good advice on how to help these old folks?

Thanks,
Bruce

[Apis_M_Rescue]

Heard someone mention water hose w/ mister (makes em think its raining). Haven't tried, but soapy water will do em in (not sure of mixing measurements) as will sulfur in smoker (but smells). Can drive out of wall w/ BeeGo or BeeQuick & then try the above?

I suppose you are doing during day when security forces can meet & chase you. Can you do at night w/ red light to catch em all in hive & do em in all at once? Haven't had this aggression yet but am interested to see how handled as will have this happen eventually.

Cheers, David S

[JP]

A discussion on how to kill off a hive is not something that is discussed on this site. This site is about bee keeping but since you have gone there already a few things.

First off, we don't have any specifics on this situation other than what you have provided. We cannot agree or disagree with you in regards to whether the hive in question is overly aggressive or not.

This hive may or may not be africanized.

Your first concern other than protecting yourself is to protect the home owner and anyone else who may come in contact with an aggressive situation.

Suit up, use your smoker, access the colony and vacuum the bees from the colony.

Finish up at dark.

Or involve someone much more experienced than yourself for this job.

Safety first.


...JP

[Tommyt]

I am not the best in cut outs, but did a few
not near close too Hardwood,JP and 100 more on this page
who handle bees like kittens
I did one this spring under a mobile home
they where a "tough mean crew" what I learned
was,the hive was big and strong, once I had removed
a fair amount they tamed down,still a little hot but
workable on day 2,they became a good calm
colony after they got boxed and moved to a
bee yard.
I am in Clearwater,I will be happy to help
You can PM me your email or phone number
I'll do my best to help
I'm sure,we can get this problem solved
and hopefully leave everyone Happy
Pm if you wish


Tommyt

[CapnChkn]

I second what JP and TommyT are saying.

I have a hive that was started from a nuc.  I handled these bees like I always have, sometimes without any protective gear.  I took a video of myself wearing nothing but shorts and a hat getting into the top super to check how they were drawing comb, and hold the frame up to show the camera.  Bees festooning from an arc of newly drawn comb.  Not even a head bump.

One week later, I put on my veil, fire up the smoker and look into the brood nest.  I decided to put my gloves on; a good idea as it turns out.  As soon as I started lifting the frames from the Langstroth deep, they started climbing out to bite, buzz, and sting my gloves.  It ended with me leaving supers and stuff laying all around the bee yard.  I barely got the covers on.

I ended moving those bees into a yard I set up about 100 feet away, isolated in the trees.  The field bees drifted to a very gentle hive and continued to terrorize me wherever I went in the barnyard, sometimes 75 feet away from that gentle hive.  Without provocation, I was attacked and stung by two of them, under cover in the barn, 40 or 50 feet from the adopted home, and once one of them harassed me for 400 ft as I went through the trees.

I dodged them around the barnyard for 3 weeks, and they've calmed down considerably.  I've gotten back to sitting at my resting spot 3 feet from the entrance of that hive.  The hive in the woods is also letting me in, to sit close.  I've been reading up on bees and pheromones thinking they might have some instinctive reaction to a neurotic queen.  I haven't been in the "colmena de loco" to do more than take out stores to put in the other hives, so I haven't made any definite conclusions yet.

[G3farms]

I've been reading up on bees and pheromones thinking they might have some instinctive reaction to a neurotic queen. 

You know the saying "If mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy"

[Brian D. Bray]

When confronted with an overly aggressive hive the primary thing to do is attempt to figure out why they are so aggressive.
Aggressiveness can come from many sources, not just genetics.  Bees are almost always aggressive for a reason, the least common being genetics.

But, if necessary, it is better to remove an aggressive hive than to risk someones health.

[Danger Brown]

Could hammering open the cinder-block wall have had something to do with it? I assume a trap-out didn't make sense for some reason.