Increasingly irritable bees this season...anyone else?

Obee1 said:

Snap! My OH has abandoned me to due to nasty bees. When I insisted he help me find my mean queen he bellowed so much smoke my eyes were streaming. Every time I looked up to ask him to do something there he was spinning on the spot puffing the smoker trying to make a wall of smoke around him to keep the bees off him. Easier when he quit and I could get on without him

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I know it's not nice having bees stinging and trying to kill you but the use of excessive smoke can make them even more tetchy. I used to have horrid bees but got rid and now most of mine don't need any smoke, just careful handling whilst others a little smoke helps keep them calm.
. S


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madasafish said:

The odd manic bee chases me around the garden.. Had it occasionally in past: worse this year..

A used squash racket solves the problem. Permanently

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Thanks for the wonderful image of you dashing around, smashing bees out of your garden!!!!

Stiffy said:

I know it's not nice having bees stinging and trying to kill you but the use of excessive smoke can make them even more tetchy. I used to have horrid bees but got rid and now most of mine don't need any smoke, just careful handling whilst others a little smoke helps keep them calm.
. S


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I agree, and I normally use very little smoke - usually only to usher bees out of the way when putting boxes back together. I don't smoke the banshees either, as smoke definitely antagonises them.

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i have quite calm bees this year and no hive is angry. But when evening comes, I must stop inspecting. Hives start to boil over edges.

It has been times when I have had bad hives. AMM mongrels were mad. 8 boxes crazy bees. But now AMM is gone , and nowadays calm bees bring more honey that those mad hybrids.

Cure to those bad hives are spare queens. If hive gives 20 stings per inspection, the queen must go at once.

I select angry queens in mating nucs. If new bees of the queen lift their sting up when I open the hive, I change the queen. I have usually in late summer so much new queens that I must kill the rest what I do not need.

What I am saying. Queens need every summer harsh selection, otherwise things slip from my hands.

I even donate to my friend calm queens if he had problems. Last summer one hive followed after him to house door. When I heard it, I jumped into car and brought a new queen at once. The nuc had new bees and I knew that it has no aggressions


Yes. It is continuous work.

Douple

you can say that again

jenkinsbrynmair said:

you can say that again

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That again

Tis not just honeybees that get weather madness.... high pressure has given the Bombus hypornum tree bumbles a nastier edge, where i had advised let alone and live with them a couple of weeks ago,,, now have had to cut out and rehome nests!!!

Yeghes da

Have the tree bees been stinging then? Got several nests in my garden and not had a problem but I might be more careful if they can get aggressive!

Am currently doing an invert survey a of major road and come across them most days. Must say I have never found any of the 'Bombos' genus to be aggressive.
S

bontbee said:

Thanks for the wonderful image of you dashing around, smashing bees out of your garden!!!!



I agree, and I normally use very little smoke - usually only to usher bees out of the way when putting boxes back together. I don't smoke the banshees either, as smoke definitely antagonises them.

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Think the 'banshees' need banishing
S

How long after re-queening does it take for an aggressive colony to calm down?

ten seconds in some cases although the colony won't properly calm down until the new queen's genes are ascendant in the colony

Finman said:

That again

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Classic!

I know I'm a simpleton, but things like this just tickle me...and the one armed fisherman describing the size of the fish that got away.

jenkinsbrynmair said:

ten seconds in some cases although the colony won't properly calm down until the new queen's genes are ascendant in the colony

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Ah, ok, thanks JBM. I ask as ive recently introduced a hivemaker queen and went to check the colony today to see if they had released her yet, only to be bombarded with stinging bees!

After taking multiple hits, I see they haven't removed fondant fully yet so she is still captive.

Was hoping her pheromones would have done the trick (ideally within ten seconds!)

Stiffy said:

Think the 'banshees' need banishing
S

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Too right! A work in progress. I have split off the queen and brood. Her colony is now - probably because it's small and has few fliers - back to its delightful self.

New queen to be introduced at the weekend, once they've done all their emergency stuff then, as long as all goes according to plan I'll, ahem, dispatch madam and reunite.

That's the plan, anyway...

jenkinsbrynmair said:

ten seconds in some cases

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...even with just a queen cell.

jenkinsbrynmair said:

ten seconds in some cases although the colony won't properly calm down until the new queen's genes are ascendant in the colony

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My mean colony seems much improved now the hivemaker queen is in there. Only got my veil drilled at by 1 guard bee. Hopefully she is alive in there. Too cold to open up and look today

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When you change the Queen, you will notice when it stops stinging.
Wait about 3 months .

Brood cycle 3 weeks, home bee 3 weeks, foragers lifespan average 6 weeks.

.

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beecology said:

Ah, ok, thanks JBM. I ask as ive recently introduced a hivemaker queen and went to check the colony today to see if they had released her yet, only to be bombarded with stinging bees!

After taking multiple hits, I see they haven't removed fondant fully yet so she is still captive.

Was hoping her pheromones would have done the trick (ideally within ten seconds!)

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Introduced one of HM's queens into Redwood's hive week ago last Sunday - the tone of the bees had changed by the time we'd got the supers back on

jenkinsbrynmair said:

Introduced one of HM's queens into Redwood's hive week ago last Sunday - the tone of the bees had changed by the time we'd got the supers back on

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Was it because you were singing men of Harlech and they liked the tune?