Bees from hell

[Jeff Buzz]

I have a colony on a farm well away from anyone that are the bees from hell.
As soon as you crack the crown board they are on you trying to sting you any way they can and they will follow you for miles waiting for there chance.
So since the spring, I have just stuck another super on every time I have visited they now have 8 supers with maybe 6 full of honey the rest will have some brood.
I want that honey so worked out a plan to requeen and get my crop without causing the bees or me too much hassle.
I have set up another brood box with a frame of brood and a caged queen filled with new wax. I put two supers on top with used frames and a rhombus clearer board.
I kitted up well and took all the supers off and moved them over to the new brood box without looking at them just moved them over leaving the old queen for now.
I took off the cleared supers the next day so I now have my honey. I will now move the new box over to the old hive position to catch the flying bees thus weakening the colony as all the flying bees will now join the new box. I will give them a week then release the new queen.
I now have a much-depleted colony with the old queen who should be easy to find.
Now I know I should kill the old queen but she has made me 150lb of honey this year and although she makes nasty bees I have not been stung and I do have my honey maybe she will do the same next year.

 

[jeff33]

Get rid of her, no point spreading those genes. You can get a similar honey crop with good tempered bees.

 

[SWEET]

Check the final posts in this thread on how i'm dealing with mine;

https://beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=44836

Regards agressive and lots of honey, not only are they a danger to you but any unfortunate sole that happens across them, the drones will spread that anger.

Impressive stack tho.

 

[Newbeeneil]

I am in the throes of sorting out a very strong double nuc that was a swarm 6 weeks ago. I tried to inspect on Saturday and as soon as I opened the crown board they were all over my wrists..... nice collection of 6 stings..... so tonight I thought I'd loose the mature bees by moving the colony away from the stand and replace it with a box so the faragers have somewhere to return to.
So......... I gingerly moved the double nuc about 50' away, placed on a new stand along side a new brood box and placed a box on the original place.
As I returned to sort out the BB and double nuc I unfortunately rearranged the weight on the stand and saw to my horror the double nuc tumble off the side resulting in its floor coming off!
Out came a load of extremely pissed off bees. I managed to right the nuc by only sustaining about 4 stings..... quite a result in my book!
I'm off to do the deed in half an hour when, hopefully they have calmed down!

 

[Helen]

A few drops of clove oil on your hands and wrists deters them, I find.



I also use a couple of drops in a water spray - very dilute. If loads of bees in the hive when I check it, a quick light spray across the lugs clears enough of the bees from the lugs so easier handling.

 

[philipm]

IMHO no bad tempered bees are worth the hassle even if they do give you a good crop of honey.There are easier ways to have a good crop without the risk of getting badly stung and spreading bad genes around the area.

 

[SWEET]

My veil was black on Saturday, zero vision (really bad).

 

[Jeff Buzz]

Yes, I think you are right I will reduce the numbers by taking frames from the hive then go for the queen.
I have never had a colony like these, I have had grumpy bees due to weather, time of day lack of forage all quite understandable but these are something else.
I had around 10 get in my truck with me and when I got out at the gate they still would not go so I had to squish them all one by one.
The noise is something else they emit this high pitched wine when they attack and you can smell the alarm pheromone of pear drops in the air.
She needs to go I think.

 

[Millet]

 

[ShinySideUp]

All this talk of re-queening every time someone gets a few irate bees is getting a bit old. A year ago I had very defensive bees in one hive that almost had me heading for the petrol and a complete departure from beekeeping. I tried all sorts of things but not requeening because I could never find the queen and in the end I did nothing of note. This year I have no problem with the bees at all. Perhaps they re-queened themselves, perhaps an aggressive drone had mated with the queen, perhaps I just became a more amenable beekeeper; who knows? All I do know is that left to their own devices they sort themselves out and just like humans, they just can't be angry forever, it takes too much energy.

 

[Poly Hive]

Frankly what is being described is not that bad.

When you're getting several hundred stings then you know there is real problem.

PH

 

[Millet]

Frankly what is being described is not that bad.

When you're getting several hundred stings then you know there is real problem.

PH

Exactly.. i have three hives i hate opening up...once i get going and doing what needs doing they sharp calm down if i do it slowly..any banging or quick reactions to stings makes matters worse..best thing i find is go slow but quick..if you get my drift.. .

 

[viridens]

Frankly what is being described is not that bad.

When you're getting several hundred stings then you know there is real problem.

PH

Absolutely. There are so many variables which contribute to colonies being labelled as 'bees from hell', and I have found :
a) Colonies described as such to be only little more than normally defensive,
b) Found them to be even more docile on subsequent visits.
I have certainly been'black veiled' and received a bunch of stings, but I have never owned a sting proof 'suit of armour' bee suit, nor re-queened or resorted to petrol or whatever. Maybe the ability to manage lively colonies without panic or big drama comes with experience?

 

[Walrus]

As soon as you crack the crown board they are on you trying to sting you any way they can and they will follow you for miles waiting for there chance.

If I had bees that did this more than a few times I'd change the queen.

 

[Stiffy]

I find some hives are a bit more defensive at this time year and put it down to:
Having full colonies with many, many ‘flying ‘ bees with not as much to do as a few weeks ago and supers packed with honey to defend from wasps and of course me
I give them the benefit of doubt but there are limits and a few queens are in line to be dispatched
S

 

[shudderdun]

]QUOTE=Jeff Buzz;684413]

The noise is something else they emit this high pitched wine when they attack and you can smell the alarm pheromone of pear drops in the air.

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

I had a coloney similar to this a couple of seasons ago, fortunately they were in my out apiary in the middle of nowhere EVIL, EVIL, EVIL, I managed to "eventually" find the Q and dispatch her.

I know exactly what you mean regarding the "pear drop smell" never mind the smell, I could actual taste it in my mouth, with reading your post I think I can still taste it now haha !!!

 

[Finman]

All this talk of re-queening every time someone gets a few irate bees is getting a bit old. ..Perhaps they re-queened themselves, perhaps an y.

To get angry bees best method is to take daughters from angry hive . That is breeding.

 

[SWEET]

All this talk of re-queening every time someone gets a few irate bees is getting a bit old..

In my case a few bees were around 3000 + super angry and stinging so I'm glad of all the posts around these issues as helped me pull the best information and deal with the offending queen(s)*. This aggression built over 2-3 months, low-level jumping on the hands (and I'm super slow/gentle) to full on attacks from simply opening to hive.

Someone posted about experience, well the DEFRA inspector (with many years beekeeping and assume opening 1000's hives) also got a beating, they've become far worse over the past month.

It's meant to be an enjoyable interest not a danger, all my other hives are lovely to deal with and I'm intending to keep my apiaries that way, as intend to involve friends/family (children).

Art and science of beekeeping is the pull for me and I've learnt a vast amount dealing with this situation, if one can't even find a queen in such circumstances then maybe do some research; found two queens* in the horror hive, real fat cows fast moving and aggressive.

If anyones feeling *aggression insecurity*, I've a nuc full of hell if anyone wants to pop over and pour it over themselves ha ha.

 

[SWEET]

]QUOTE=Jeff Buzz;684413]
I know exactly what you mean regarding the "pear drop smell" never mind the smell, I could actual taste it in my mouth, with reading your post I think I can still taste it now haha !!!

Actually felt sick Saturday evening from the amount of nasties I'd breathed in, when handling the suit afterwards (to wash it) my fingertips were tingling!

 

[Jeff Buzz]

Absolutely. There are so many variables which contribute to colonies being labelled as 'bees from hell', and I have found :
a) Colonies described as such to be only little more than normally defensive,
b) Found them to be even more docile on subsequent visits.
I have certainly been'black veiled' and received a bunch of stings, but I have never owned a sting proof 'suit of armour' bee suit, nor re-queened or resorted to petrol or whatever. Maybe the ability to manage lively colonies without panic or big drama comes with experience?

I do know how to handle bees I normally have between 20 and 30 hives and have been keeping bees for 10 years I know the difference between grumpy bees and Bees from Hell