jitters

[thelorax]

Hi, my mentor was away for the day and I told him I'd check out two hives. One was dead, the other was cranking. It had two brood boxes and two medium supers. This was the 1st time the hive has been checked this year. The weather was 60 and cloudy, I suited up (white painters suit, veil, gloves, everything tucked in) and took off the the supers. The 2nd super had a lot of bees on it, no brood that I could see. Then came off the inner cover. I had my smoker going, paused to give them a couple puffs every minute, and was slow and deliberate. I only had one or two persistent bees buzzing me so my heart rate was only slightly high.

Then I knelt down and cracked the 2nd deep from the 1st in order to tip it up. I was primarily interested in looking for swarm cells. I didn't get that far. The bees seemed really agitated. On my 2nd attempt to loosen the hive body it was as if I suddenly became magnetized. 20-30 bees took off and flew straight at me hitting all around my veil, maybe another 100 took to the air. When I reached out with my glove (not over the top but on the side) to grab the hive body from the other side the activity increased more and a few bees flew immediately on my arm and glove.

So I bailed and closed it back up. This is the first time I've attempted to go thru a large hive totally on my own. So I am looking for opinions on my jitters. I realize there could be a dozen or more variables here, if anybody can point me to a similar thread (or two) that would be appreciated.

Thanks, ohh & no I didn't get stung, that bee proof suit sure seemed like a good idea though.

[Joseph Clemens]

You said you had your smoker going, and that you used it? But it was cool and cloudy too, definitely calls for more smoke.

Sounds to me that your smoker technique was a little lacking - the moment you broke the two supers apart you should have had your smoker ready and given them some puffs between the supers. Another common mistake that beginners make is to exhale through your mouth - never exhale through your mouth unless your face is pointing away from any hives, especially any open hives. If you become winded and need to breath hard, and exhale through your mouth, walk away until you can breath easier, return to the bees when you can breath by exhaling only through your nose.

[clarkfarm]

Did you give a few puffs of smoke into the entrance before you started? When you got to the point of raising the top hive body (after the supers were off) did you puff some smoke between the two boxes and then wait for 20 seconds or so before tilting the top box to look at the bottom? If you did these things and got the result you did, the hive sounds like it was agitated from something before you got there. I am a second year beekeeper and my gentle hive in Spring turned out to be very aggressive later. There is lots of advice about that but I will defer to more experienced beekeepers.

[thelorax]

yes, smoker was going, I used it but didn't go crazy with it. Yes, I puffed a few times in the entrance and waited. I also puffed in between the medium supers, and also over the top of the 2nd deep (the one on top) a couple times. All times I used smoke I waited 15 or more seconds. By the way, the smoke didn't really drive the bees down on the 2nd deep. I didn't puff between the 1st and 2nd hive bodies, I guess I thought they had enough smoke (too much my mentor explained can be a bad thing as well). I wanted to tilt the 2nd deep up but bailed when a bunch of them were bumping my veil (again my estimate was 20-30).

I'm glad I'm typing this in because I am already looking forward to going back (this time with my mentor in the lead!!!)

[thelorax]

You said you had your smoker going, and that you used it? But it was cool and cloudy too, definitely calls for more smoke.

Another common mistake that beginners make is to exhale through your mouth

Crap, I was totaling breathing the wrong way then, thanks

[no1cowboy]

Another common mistake that beginners make is to exhale through your mouth - never exhale through your mouth unless your face is pointing away from any hives,
I have seen this statment a few times on this forum, and dont understand it.
I blow on the frames all the time when checking my hives, I do it to move the bees along so I can see the comb or looking for queen, been doing it for years http://www.beesource.com/forums/images/smilies/scratch_head.gif

[RayMarler]

You had the inner cover on top of the two deeps and under the two supers? Why? That causes the bees to pull honey down from the supers and into the brood sections, they could have been plugged with honey and sealed brood in the brood sections with no place for queen to lay eggs. Were there a good number of drones in the hive? Maybe they were on the verge of swarming? They can be testy if they were in that situation.

All this is just suppositions on my part. normally the inner cover is placed on top just under the telescoping cover. When it's placed under the supers and over the brood chamber, it is for having the bees clean out honey frames to pull the honey down into the lower boxes.

[MapMan]

I have seen this statment a few times on this forum, and dont understand it.
I blow on the frames all the time when checking my hives, I do it to move the bees along so I can see the comb or looking for queen, been doing it for years :scratch:

I do the same here. I think that rapidly exhaling is different from what we do, slowly blowing across the frame to get them to "unclump".


MM

[Hobie]

As for my opinion of your jitters:
1) Been there, done that!
2) It gets easier with practice, trust me.
3) I still get jittery, after 3 years, if the hive is riled. In that situation, I tend to pack up and try again another day, when we're all calmer.

[clarkfarm]

Can't prove it myself but I have read that bees are excited by/attracted to the carbon dioxide that humans exhale. Therefore, some experienced beekeepers say not to exhale more than you need to when working bees. Maybe if the bees are calm it doesn't matter but a hot hive will be worse if you are talking a lot or panting after moving all that heavy equipment.

[BonnieBee]

I find that removing one or more stimuli helps with the jitters and losing your nerve at the hive.
What I mean by this is that I'm hard-of-hearing and if I take my hearing aids off before working the hives I have an easier go at it.
You might want to try some earplugs.

Sometimes when the girls are wiled up, you just gotta go for it and not hearing their angry buzz helps.

[thelorax]

I find that removing one or more stimuli helps with the jitters and losing your nerve at the hive.

Good point, maybe I'll get a couple Miller Lites polished off to get my gumption up :)

[thelorax]

Well, I guess my spidey-sense was correct, my mentor got over to that hive just now and he got stung 5 or more times splitting it up (weather is sunny and 70).

I just gave him that article on splitting hot hives a few days ago, good timing!
http://www.bushfarms.com/beesrequeeninghot.htm.

Thanks

[thelorax]

<edit> double posted sorry