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144 Posts
Thanks for looking over my question.
As a brand new beekeeper, I enjoy watching the bee activity on a daily basis, and I am learning to read the bees. One of the things I enjoy most is to get closer to the entrance in the later evenings, and watch the bees returning with their haul. Most of the other bees seem to be in for the night, so this offers a nice way to get up close without alarming them too much.
My question:
If I'm merely standing near (not in front) of the hive entrance watching things, do I need to be concerned with a sting attack from other bees outside of the hive like the returning bees, or will the "guard bees" be the first to react, coming out from the hive itself? I've been under the assumption that the first defensive bees to react to me would be the guard bees that come from the hive, so I've really only been watching for fuzzy bee missiles coming at me and I thought I should see if I've just been lucky or if in fact the guard bees will be the first to react.
And along the same lines, can somebody give me an idea of how long the bees remain defensive on average? I did my second hive inspection the other day and later that evening when I went to do some bee watching, they seemed to buzz my face within moments, which was the first time that's happened, so I left. The following day things are pretty much back to normal, but I was wondering if there was a time limit for bees being pissed?
Thanks again,
b1rd
As a brand new beekeeper, I enjoy watching the bee activity on a daily basis, and I am learning to read the bees. One of the things I enjoy most is to get closer to the entrance in the later evenings, and watch the bees returning with their haul. Most of the other bees seem to be in for the night, so this offers a nice way to get up close without alarming them too much.
My question:
If I'm merely standing near (not in front) of the hive entrance watching things, do I need to be concerned with a sting attack from other bees outside of the hive like the returning bees, or will the "guard bees" be the first to react, coming out from the hive itself? I've been under the assumption that the first defensive bees to react to me would be the guard bees that come from the hive, so I've really only been watching for fuzzy bee missiles coming at me and I thought I should see if I've just been lucky or if in fact the guard bees will be the first to react.
And along the same lines, can somebody give me an idea of how long the bees remain defensive on average? I did my second hive inspection the other day and later that evening when I went to do some bee watching, they seemed to buzz my face within moments, which was the first time that's happened, so I left. The following day things are pretty much back to normal, but I was wondering if there was a time limit for bees being pissed?
Thanks again,
b1rd