Bee's with attitude!

[chevydmax04]

I am a new Bee keeper, I started with three hives and over the summer I am sure that I rolled and killed the queens in two hives of my three hives. One hive requeened itself nicely, fell a little behind but has made a nice come back. The other one floundered, numbers dropped, no new queen so I combined it with the other hive I demo'd and that hive is now going gangbusters. Question I have is once these hives really get going, how often do you actually look into the bottom brood box? After killing my second queen I kinda took on the if it's not broke don't screw with it! and that has worked well thus far.

Next question, I have on a few occasions been down by the bee's, 40-50' away and every so often I get one bee that starts buzzing about my head. And it seems that once she get my number that bee is not happy till I'm stung! I walk away from the hives, remain calm, no swatting, and still once the bee has my number she won't stop till I'm stung. Is this normal or am I just lucky this way?

Sorry for the long winded question..

[NasalSponge]

For me, I check the brood boxes mostly in the spring before supering, once the supers are on I do not go deep unless something looks amiss out front. Then again in the fall when preparing for the cold. A good way help protect your queen is to pull an outer frame from your box first and set it aside, then scoot the others over and inspect one by one. She is rarely on the outer frames....HOWEVER, that is not 100% for just today I found my queen on the outside of the outer frame.

The next question has quite a few variables to it, dearth of nectar, just robbed (by you), or some other thing causing them to be aggressive. Or it could just be genetics.

[bnatural]

Like NS, I rarely did down into the deeps after the spring cleaning. As long as I see eggs and brood in a decent pattern in the upper box, I am happy.

As for the kamikaze bee, yeah, you will occasionally get a guard bee that doesn't turn 'off' after a few feet. Not much you can do about it.

I have an apple tree with low branches about 75 feet away from the hives (my 'swarm' tree). On days, when I have done a lot of manipulation and ticked off a lot of bees, some may follow me for a while. Usually, once I duck under the branches of that tree, they give up and return home.

Bill

[devdog108]

I am so afraid of rolling my queen that when I find her on a frame, that frame gets put back in the same spot it came from. She is pretty runny when the sun hits her, but if I have to move that frame to finish my inspection, i will pick it up and put it back into its place so slowly its hard to believe. I was sliding my frames together, but not any more....Everything is REALLY slow and deliberate...and yes, that 1 bee stung me yesterday in the crease of the back of the knee.....

[kwest]

I stopped looking in my deeps so often this year once the hives were built up in strength and i started getting stung. i know exactly what you mean about that one or two bees that just will not give up. what is wierd is that almost every time i have been stung it is from these few bees that have a death wish. hate to say it but i smash the one that is pissed off :D it is the only way that i have found to get rid of them. i have been 3-4 hundred feet from the hive with the single mad bee still on me. i will have to try the ducking under the tree thing as i have a bunch of willows 20 ft from the hives.

[ScadsOBees]

I ignored the advice the bee books gave, prefering to rip right into the middle. Did the same thing.

Since then, do what NasalSponge recommends, pull an outside frame first, work toward center slowly, work slow, only return brood frames to open spaces, if no open space then work it in really really slowly. I also prefer not to go into the brood boxes unless absolutely necessary.

Rick

[DIXIEROADIE]

I moved a hive last month and my girls were nice and calm no stings,the next day I was mowing and going close to the hive no problem I get about 20 yards away and they came unglued.It was kinda funny seeing me bail off the mower and run.They were about 10 or so that would not give up and I lost them by diving into the bushes,After about 5 minutes I thought the coast was clear and was just about in the house when I got stung right in the throat,thankfully it was not too bad I have no idea what to do to with them,but now I have some folks here who will suggest a way to calm this hive down....I hope!

[Ross]

It's fall guys. Lot's of bees get a bit Rambo this time of year.

[chevydmax04]

Kwest I hear you!! I try to be calm and more further from the hive, I have even trotted to get away. But that one bee, I swear she gets my number and there is no stopping till I have been stung. She got me about an inch under the eye the other day, and last month I got stung in the arch of my foot! talk about pain! that one hurt far worse than getting stung in the face!

I also am going to try the duck and cover in low branches next time maybe that will help!

[bnatural]

I also am going to try the duck and cover in low branches next time maybe that will help!

The idea is that the bees tend to stay up around your head, zeroing in on, among other things, the CO2 your breath gives off. By ducking and going under the branches they lose you. The bigger the tree the better; I doubt a little sapling would be of much help. My preferred tree is an old apple tree with a span of a good 20 feet.

Good luck.

Bill