Is it possible a hot hive can cool itself?

[Wombat2]

I have two hives one docile and one as angry as all heck - until this week

12 months ago the hot hive when smoked would boil up and all the bees would form a cloud over the hive and chase me away with only a few frames - OK I was advised to kill the queen but I couldn't get near her ( OK just read MBs article on re queening a hot hive) plus I procrastinated!

Anyway last Monday I was working the hive and apart from a dozen or so aggressive bees who still got me a good few stings the hive as a whole was a lot more friendly  - responded to smoke by going down into the hive - didn't attack when brushed off frames etc but still by the end I had a couple of hundred chase me away but in general the bulk of the hive seamed a lot calmer and didn't get as agitated in the past.

Could the hive have requeened itself with a queen who has mated with a drone from my docile hive ?
If so how long will it take for the aggressiveness to fully dissipate ?

[don2]

Sounds like some of mine. I have found out if you have Ferrell bees in your area,{not Africans, or killer bees as some say} . I believe the Italians are the dominant Ferrell breed in this area here in middle Ga. When I get Queens from another breed they turn out a little hotter than the mother hive. The swarms I have got from the wild are more gentle than these cross out's

Weather conditions can also affect their temperament. I do not go into mine when there is static in the air. Agitation from animals
or pest can also have an affect on their behavior. hope this helps.   

[GSF]

Like you said, it may be that the docile drones' seed have now came up.

[CapnChkn]

I had a hive that was just about like that.  The bees were the only colony in my experience where they would actually, seemingly. hunt me.  I.E. I would walk into the barnyard and they would start hounding me 75 feet from the yard.  I finally moved them into the woods, where I would not have any contact and be out of sight. after I was dive-bombed and stung twice in succession under cover in the barn.

I split the hive, bought a queen, gave the queen to the half that didn't seem MORE angry toward her, and after a couple of weeks moved them back in with the other hives.  I was planning on usurping the Queen of Hearts (Off with their heads!), but after I saw the bees chasing a small hive beetle, I thought better of it.

The split gentled in a few weeks.  It's simple enough, during a flow they work themselves to death in a few weeks time, and the brood have to hatch out, so the defensive genetics would be gone in the time from egg to death, or about 9 weeks I think.

I left the other, neurotic, half alone and looked in on them rarely and from a distance for the rest of that year.  Surprisingly, the next spring, they were tolerable.  I later lost that hive to robbers, ironically.