Mean Bees

[Gypsi]

I'm a newbie, but feeding my bees, and adding the yard feeder to pull off the robbers has definitely sweetened their temperament. I'm not wearing a suit just to go out and mess with a feeder, observe, or mess with the pond nearby, and I'm not being stung. Given the high temps that is a relief.

[Ben Franklin]

Aunt Bee is my sister and I went out to her house this past weekend to see her "mean bees". I have five hives and live within 20 miles, so our conditions are similar. We DID smoke the hive before opening it and waited a couple of minutes before opening it up. The hive is a top bar. I removed the first bar and they were a little defensive. By the time I pulled the third bar, they were VERY defensive. We were both in full gear, so we didn't get stung. We went ahead and found the queen (luckily she was near the end we started on) and verified there was capped brood. There was also honey/sugar water stored but not yet capped. I caught the queen and put her in a cage and took one sting on the hand. We had taken the comb around the other side of the house, and bees had followed us from the hive and were still mad. I can understand this since we had bees and the queen. We went back to the hive and closed it up. Fifteen minutes after the hive was closed, and 60 feet away, we were still being buzzed by mad bees. I had a spare queen at my house we were going to put in her hive, so at that point I pinched her queen. I then took a sting to the corner of my eye, Aunt Bee headed for the house and I jumped in my truck and went home! I would call the last part more aggressive than defensive. I thought she was doing something wrong until I went out and saw for myself. My bees are nothing like that. We'll see how the new queen works out.

I may have asked before but what race are these bees?
Just wondering.