"Hell hath no fury like...."

[JPK]

"Hell hath no fury like...."

A hive full of Italians that you're trying to rob a frame of brood out of after it rained the day before......

YIKES!

Finished and walked away......girls were still hitting......walked further.....still hitting......must have walked 150' away and a few of these girls were still hanging on.

And here I thought my ex was bad

[iddee]

We loaded 44 hives late yesterday, drove 90 miles and unloaded around 10 last night. Unloading, they were stinging, biting, clawing, firing 9 millimeters, 45's, and AK-47's. I THINK.

[naturebee]

"Hell hath no fury like...."
must have walked 150' away and a few of these girls were still hanging on.

Italians just don’t follow more than about 60 feet. However, other strains do,,,
I would suspect they are crossed out, and perhaps Italians cannot be blamed in this case.

Joe

[JPK]

Italians just don’t follow more than about 60 feet. However, other strains do,,,
I would suspect they are crossed out, and perhaps Italians cannot be blamed in this case.

Joe

My girls must not have recieved the memo on that.

[JPK]

We loaded 44 hives late yesterday, drove 90 miles and unloaded around 10 last night. Unloading, they were stinging, biting, clawing, firing 9 millimeters, 45's, and AK-47's. I THINK.

Sounds like you deserve combat pay for that one

[dhood]

I have one hive that I know is Italian, still has the marked queen. They are usually very calm, but have their days. I was moving a hive one day without a suit, very carefully, like I've done before without any problems. And they got me good, they also followed me a good ways. (learned my lesson on that)

[NorthALABeeKeep]

We loaded 44 hives late yesterday, drove 90 miles and unloaded around 10 last night. Unloading, they were stinging, biting, clawing, firing 9 millimeters, 45's, and AK-47's. I THINK.

With that kind of description I'm surprised Homeland Security hasn't paid you a visit

[Ross]

Its fall.....

[blaine]

I had a very hot hive last year. Someone asked me, why dont you just requeen?

I replied, why don't you just show me... I will stand WAY back and shoot my entry for "americas funniest videos". 20 frames of mean, runny, stinging bees, and your gonna find a queen and replace her?

Kinda like a evil dictator with lots of arms. The solution in therory is "just re-king"... Both jobs are easy, if your doing the job from the safety of your overstuffed chair, armed with a laptop and puffing on a pipe... A bit different out on the front lines.

With men or bees, sometimes superceedure is your best friend.

[riverrat]

With men or bees, sometimes superceedure is your best friend.

Or your worst enemy. A lot of supercedures end up meaner than what you had before the supercedure. especially with some strains of bees. Ross said it best its Fall

[blaine]

Or your worst enemy. A lot of supercedures end up meaner than what you had before the supercedure. especially with some strains of bees. Ross said it best its Fall

If they get meaner next year, then soapy water can be your friend too...

[James Henderson]

"Hell hath no fury like...."

A hurricane...Gustav for that matter.

The day before our ass whoppin' I was running from yard to yard strapping and anchoring down the hives. I have one yard of what I call mutts. Swarms of various breeds I have captured and raised to production status. This yard has always been so very gentle where I can work them with not even a veil and no gloves. Maybe one or two stings amongst all the colonies.

I've heard that insects and other critters can detect an impending disaster, well I am a believer. The sky was mostly sunny and temperature pleasant just like previous times. Each hive I approached to strap and anchor, I was met with numerous angry guards pouring out of the hive. First hive I got nailed 5 times before even touching the colony. Had to break down and put on my pollinator jacket and gloves. Glad I didn't open any of them.

[naturebee]

My girls must not have recieved the memo on that.

OR, you must not have recieved the memo on that they crossed out.

[JPK]

OR, you must not have recieved the memo on that they crossed out.

What breeds in your opinion will display this sort of behavior?

This hive was started from a nuc late spring and I inspected every 7-10 days.....never found and supercedure or swarm cells and never saw a population drop that would indicate they swarmed.

[cow pollinater]

Given the right circumstances they will ALL do it. I ran out of smoke on my second to last hive a few days ago in a yard where nothing is coming in. I popped the lid on the last hive anyway because I knew there was a cordovan queen and they are exceptionally gentle.
To make a long story short, I left that yard in my beesuit with the windows down and stopped twice to shake off before I took off my gear.
There was nothing wrong with the hive to cause that response.
Look at it this way, some people have to pay for bee venom therapy.

[JPK]

Given the right circumstances they will ALL do it......
Look at it this way, some people have to pay for bee venom therapy.

I suspect thats probably what happened with me.....I really should have waited an extra day to let the flow come back after the rains and give them a chance to work off a little bit of that pent up "energy"

Lesson to self....if you think they might be hot.....wear heavier clothing under the beesuit....little psychos stung me through the suit with just a t-shirt underneath......got all the bee therapy I need for the month.

[naturebee]

What breeds in your opinion will display this sort of behavior?

This hive was started from a nuc late spring and I inspected every 7-10 days.....never found and supercedure or swarm cells and never saw a population drop that would indicate they swarmed.

I’m not suggesting this is a reason, but Carniloan will tend to follow, AHB will follow. The breed perhaps may not be a sure indication that they will have defensiveness and following behavior. But its when crossed, that traits can be unpredictable, sometimes to the defensive side. For instance in the late 19c when Americans were replacing the common black bee with the Italian; both known not to be all that defensive, but the crosses produced bees that were extremely defensive.

If you are assured they did not supercede, I would suspect the reason could just be defensive genetics which can pop up occasionally in all strains, and the remedy is requeening. Or crossed out in the breeders yard. I am not a big fan of breeders that make claims their stock to be pure or totally controlled mating.

Good luck with the hive, I would requeen next spring if it continues to be defensive. I haven’t had a hot hive for a few years, but I have had a few that were quite hot. So I’ve taken to requeening ASAP at first indication of a hot colony before they become to large.

Best Wishes,
Joe
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/H...neybeeArticles
1894- “A Medical exchange says that the first thing to be done when you have
been stung by a bee is to extract the sting. That is all a doctor knows about it.
The first thing to be done is to yell.”

[JPK]

I’m not suggesting this is a reason, but Carniloan will tend to follow, AHB will follow. The breed perhaps may not be a sure indication that they will have defensiveness and following behavior. But its when crossed, that traits can be unpredictable, sometimes to the defensive side. For instance in the late 19c when Americans were replacing the common black bee with the Italian; both known not to be all that defensive, but the crosses produced bees that were extremely defensive.

If you are assured they did not supercede, I would suspect the reason could just be defensive genetics which can pop up occasionally in all strains, and the remedy is requeening. Or crossed out in the breeders yard. I am not a big fan of breeders that make claims their stock to be pure or totally controlled mating.

Good luck with the hive, I would requeen next spring if it continues to be defensive. I haven’t had a hot hive for a few years, but I have had a few that were quite hot. So I’ve taken to requeening ASAP at first indication of a hot colony before they become to large.

Best Wishes,
Joe

They were like this earlier in the summer during a dearth so.....

I have a hive of NWC's next to them that are the most gentle bees I've ever seen and work like heck....good producers....depending on how they fare this winter if the colony is manageable in the spring and I can find the little witch with the defensive genes I may re-queen...on the other hand she lays like a champ and they put away honey like heck......I may just hope for the best and see what I get when they supercede her and maybe I get a cross between the NWC and Russians drones in the yard.....I hate to requeen a good producer.

[Ross]

Almost all of those mean old bees will be nice gentle puppy dogs when the spring flows start next year.

[naturebee]

They were like this earlier in the summer during a dearth so.....
......I may just hope for the best and see what I get when they supercede her and maybe I get a cross between the NWC and Russians drones in the yard.....I hate to requeen a good producer.

Some say it is ok, but I do not believe it is a good idea to keep different strains in the same area.

Keeping NWC’s that are known to be gentile, Russians which are also Carnies are known to follow greater distances, Italians crossed with a Russians or Carnie are known to become very defensive.

The predictability of traits in daughter queens in your apiary will be impossible to predict.

Hot colonies, sometimes tend to be good producers, but a hot colony that has the potential to cause problems, or become a liability, is not worth the risk IMO.

Best Wishes,
Joe