My bees have gone from mellow to aggressive.

[dgoodman]

Hello,

I have 3 hives. Yesterday I did an inspection, and a bit of rearranging of frames, removed some comb constructed in the "wrong" places.

My bees then switched from mellow to aggressive. Until yesterday, I used to be able to walk around the back of the hives without any headcover. Now the bees go at me, as soon as I arrive, beginning about 15' away.

Certainly makes bees in the garden an unpleasant experience. Will they calm down? Does this happen after inspections sometimes?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

DG

[Sundance]

This is totally normal in my experience at least. You messed with their house.

What you did is better described as a manipulation rather than an inspection. Give them a day or two for sure.

Is there a nectar flow? They get crabby at times of dearth.

[dgoodman]

I think the nectar is flowing. You know, I still don't know how to tell. There's always something blooming here in Northern California, so there's nectar in that context. I've heard folks mention the flight behavior of the bees as being weighted down upon approaching the hive. I've never noticed this.

They are building comb very fast if that helps.

DG

[Owen]

dgoodman, I have one hive and the last two or three weeks now they have gone from nice little lady's to just plain mean. Each time I go into the brood nest body they get upset and turn mean. It isn't any fun to work the hive when they are mean. The first three months I had them they were really nice.

Her in the Sacramento area we have a lot of things blooming and I have seen my bee's comming in loaded with pollen and it seems they come in low and have to come up to the front of the hive.

Owen

[Sundance]

If they continue to be nasty with a flow on, find the queen and hug her real good :mad: Then order a new one from known stock.

[peggjam]

I usually find there is an underlaying factor to hives turning mean. Sometimes it's the queen, either the organial one has been lost, superceded or they swarmed and you are dealing with a daughter. But this is not always the case. If they are being bothered by shunks, YJ's, or any other preditor, they will become highly defensive, and "mean" to anything that comes near the hive. I would check for other problems first, but would not hesitate to requeen if the problem persists.

[FordGuy]

3 things happened. 1. hive reached critical mass. 2. dearth. 3. bad experience taught them the guy in the white suit is bad.

[dgoodman]

It is my understanding that there is a difference between pollen and nectar flow, i.e., you can have pollen but no nectar...not sure about the reverse.

As Sundance mentioned earlier, they have started to chill a bit (Day 2). But these colonies are definitely more irritable than last year. I'll give them/her one more chance, they I'll bring out a pinch hitter.

FordGuy, I can't see why they would like me. An uninvited guest rips the roof off their house, starts scraping furniture away that doesn't suit my taste, then rearranges the room the way I prefer it, kills a few friends (by accident of course...but they don't know that), then leaves without an apology, only to return 7 days later to rearrange...etc, etc.

DG

[Brent Bean]

What kind of bees do you have? I started out with Buckfast they were great until they superseded then they got mean.

[tecumseh]

dgoodman sezs:
They are building comb very fast if that helps.

tecumseh pipes in:
this indicates a significant nectar flow. sometime if you do a manipulation without allowing a goodly time period inbetween then the girls can get a bit fiesty. the other variable that effects the hives personality here is when the queen begins to fail even a previously workable hive become unmanagable and just down right mean.

[RAlex]

>I have 3 hives. Yesterday I did an inspection, and a bit of rearranging of frames, removed some comb constructed in the "wrong" places.<

The bees will manage the hive and the combs so that as they rear brood the pollen and honey are close to where they will be using them. Unless they are getting honey bound, where the queen doesnt have room to lay,I would let them do as they wish.
During your inspection if you see eggs and capped brood your queen is doing what she is supposed to do, not necessary to see her. The more often you invade thier domain the more it will upset them . Much can be learned from observing them as opposed to going in the hive, other than making sure they have a place to store thier honey supers
I suspect you might be over managing them increasing the chance that you might injure a queen...just my thoughts Rick

[dgoodman]

Brent,

I have Italian bees. That's all I know. All 3 packages were installed this spring, as I lost my one and only late in the winter (still not sure what happened).

RAlex,

I have been going in the hive once a week. I'm using follower boards on two of the hives, in the bottom and top deeps. Things look pretty congested in their. In fact, in one of the hives, a boat load of bees are hanging around between the outside of the follower board and the inner wall of the deep. This doesn't look right. I think I'll be removing the boards, and adding back the frames this week. Yep, more angry bees.

A bit of background on the follower boards. I took a class from a well-respected beekeeper here in my area. He's a huge proponent of the boards. I think they're probably great during the winter, as they help the bees control their space. But I'm thinking that during the peak season, they can use all the room possible.

Thoughts?

DG

[ June 05, 2006, 10:50 AM: Message edited by: dgoodman ]

[John Gesner]

A lot of things can happen when you're in there moving frames around and such. You can pinch a bee when you're putting a frame back in and not even know it. But they get PO'd and stay that way for a few days. Give 'em four days to settle down. They'll be OK.

If they're building lots of comb, they've got to have food to do that. It takes a lot of honey to build comb, so they're probably bringing it in from a fairly prolific source.

Sounds like you've got your hives sitting directly in your garden. Might want to consider moving them. I like to be in my garden everyday suckering tomatoes and such. If my beehives were in my garden, I wouldn't be able to garden for three to four days after I worked my bees. Not without a veil, anyway.

[dgoodman]

John,

I only have 1/4 acre, so I'm pretty limited on space. In fact, the name of our honey is Quarter Acre Honey.

I do have my bees directly in the garden. In fact, their flight path is directly over the vegis, etc.

Normally, I just go about my business, with the bees zooming over my head. This weekend was the first time my head became a pylon for them to circle, like the air races in Reno.

[John Gesner]

LOL! I understand the space limitation thing. Grew up that way.

Still, you could face them away a little or put a small section of wood fencing between them and the veggies. At least that way the guard bees at the entrance won't see you and come gunning.

I had one come out to greet me about 50 feet as I was contemplating some deer damage in my apple trees. She gave my ear a stinger that brought tears to my eyes. Guess she just wanted to. :rolleyes:

[ June 05, 2006, 11:23 AM: Message edited by: John Gesner ]

[gtbee]

I've been going through the same thing DG. Two hives, inspecting once a week. Real peacful up until about two weeks ago. I have attributed to high heat (90s) but they got me good again on Saturday and it was in the low 70s. They probably are just tired of me cleaning up the hive and plain ol messin with em.