[beekeeper1756]

I was checking on the first hive from my cutout of this weekend. I have that first hive still with the brood comb intact. I had four frames of brood comb with rubber bands to the frame. They have cut all the rubber bands, which I found encouraging. When I simply reached for the first frame, they reacted vehemently. They just slammed my veil. I'm beginning to wonder about Africanized bees here. OR it could be because they don't have a queen. I was going to check to see if they had drawn out any emergency cells but just couldn't stand the onslaught of bees. It was just unreal. Scary even. I walked over 80 yards away from the hive with no noticable let up of attack bees bumping my veil, my suit, my gloves, etc.

I'm going to requeen that first hive that is staying with the brood comb. I pick up a queen for them on Saturday morning. Right now, I don't believe they have a queen at all. Can't even really check to see if they do, really, really aggressive.

 

[peacekeeperapiaries]

how are you going to re-queen if ya cant get in there to find the existing one? If your not sure, or just cant get in there to do a proper inspection and find her... placing the queen in there might result in her death and lost money. I dont envy your situation been there many times, glad you are considering they might be AHB, in your area its a strong possibility. IMO, if I couldnt guarantee they were queenless and they are that agressive I would sacrifice the hive. Some people dont like that advice, some dont really know what an agressive/AHB hive is like to deal with, but having dealt with my fair share I wont waste the time on them or the money to re-queen, and take the chance myself or someone else might get hammered again while waiting for those nasty bees to die off and new offispring to take over. And even if they are queenless they might kill your new queen anyway. Good luck would like to hear back on how you resolved it.

 

[Throttlebender]

Lets back up for a second. I want to make certain I understand all this. You have two separate hives now, and both were from one original hive in the tractor tire.
The "HOT" hive you're talking about is the first group that you collected, and the second group you collected actaully contains the queen from the tractor tire hive. Correct so far?
OK, so is the second hive containing the original queen "HOT"? If it's not, then it seems logical that the first hive is indeed just pissed off because they're queenless. Yes? No? Let's hear from some more of the pros.

 

[beekeeper1756]

I'm going to go back into the hive...with smoke this time, perhaps even syrup in a sprayer and spray the bees down. I'll decide later which one to use. For centuries, it was smoke, so I'll probably smoke them.

I'm going to carefully go over the frames and comb inch by inch looking for a queen and if I find one, I'm going to pinch her. I'm convinced of AHB now. I'm also going to cut out any emergency queen cells I find and then place the new queen in a cage into the hive.

I'm going to wait at least 4-5 days before releasing her and then hopefully the hive will have accepted her by that time.

I want to save this hive if I can. I put a lot of work into getting these bees from that cutout and I want at least a partial return on my investment of time and money. The second part of the cutout (where I was able to get the queen) they all absconded and got outta Dodge. I've lost 50% of my cutout so I want to save these if I can.

I realize that even if I requeen them, I'll have to wait until the capped brood now, hatches, matures and eventually dies off before I will know the true rewards of my requeening endeavor. I've got a bunch of bees in that hive. I hope it works. I'm going to continue to cut out any queen cells that I find. I'm going to go back and look again Saturday...with smoke LOL.

 

[arthur]

bees bumping gloves, veil, beesuit.

Is that universally scary, or just different than the bees you are used to dealing with?

I'm completely on board, working with bees who don't seem to care you are there is much more pleasant.

 

[Throttlebender]

I'm going to go back into the hive...with smoke this time, perhaps even syrup in a sprayer and spray the bees down. I'll decide later which one to use. For centuries, it was smoke, so I'll probably smoke them.

I'm going to carefully go over the frames and comb inch by inch looking for a queen and if I find one, I'm going to pinch her. I'm convinced of AHB now. I'm also going to cut out any emergency queen cells I find and then place the new queen in a cage into the hive.

I'm going to wait at least 4-5 days before releasing her and then hopefully the hive will have accepted her by that time.

I want to save this hive if I can. I put a lot of work into getting these bees from that cutout and I want at least a partial return on my investment of time and money. The second part of the cutout (where I was able to get the queen) they all absconded and got outta Dodge. I've lost 50% of my cutout so I want to save these if I can.

I realize that even if I requeen them, I'll have to wait until the capped brood now, hatches, matures and eventually dies off before I will know the true rewards of my requeening endeavor. I've got a bunch of bees in that hive. I hope it works. I'm going to continue to cut out any queen cells that I find. I'm going to go back and look again Saturday...with smoke LOL.

AAHHHHH.....absconded. That makes sense. Well, in that case ity sounds like you have it figured out.

 

[Kingfisher Apiaries]

Did you smoke them the first time you worked them?

Kingfisher

 

[peacekeeperapiaries]

I understand, here is a thought, rather than a bred queen in a cage, why not put a queen cell (in a cell protector) in the hive. This is how we re-queen our hives all the time should work for your situation. When the virgin emerges she usually has free access to the hive and wanders around, then she find and kills the laying queen (virgin is a better,, quicker and more agile fighter) then she flies out and gets mated comes back and she is accepted. We have about 95% success rate with this method (placing a cell in a queenright hive). If your hive does not have a queen then your virgin takes over, if it does have a nasty queen then the virgin will kill her and take over. If you need any more info on this method feel free to PM me.

steve

 

[StevenG]

Please correct me if I'm wrong, ok? Trying to understand your posts...
You went into the hive without smoke? They were overly aggressive, bumping you and chasing you, but you did not mention stings, so you did not get stung? Seems like it's time to go back into the hive and do an inspection, with smoke, veil, gloves... When you take 6-10 stings in the first few minutes, that's a hot hive. fwiw. Otherwise, it seems they were simply po'd for some reason.
Regards,
Steven

 

[beekeeper1756]

I was wearing a full body beesuit with zippered veil and long, leather gloves. The only reason I didn't get stung was because of the protective gear. For many seconds I fully expected the bees to find a way through the gear and I just stood there in a hail of bees, knowing, waiting as seconds ticked by I was going to get stung. I was stung through my suit in the original cutout.

I didn't get stung. I walked a long ways off and they were still with me. Got into my truck and drove off and they had filled the cab of the truck. Finally the air, etc. got them all out.

I will go back in with smoke, all my protective gear and do a thorough search and inspection frame by frame.

I've seriously thought about getting a queen cell from another of my calm hives and putting it into the hot hive of bees. Hadn't considered a cell protector but I like the idea alot.

 

[Beeslave]

Working hives that have had drastic meddling recently done to them without using smoke. HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!!!!:lpf::lpf::lpf:

 

[Ross]

You're working to hard. Give them a frame of eggs. If they don't have a queen, they'll make queen cells. If not, she's in there.

 

[honeybeekeeper]

HAHAHAHAHA...Boy this thread is just wayyy too funny!! Really UPSET bees is more like it.....HAHAHAHA...:doh:

 

[mythomane]

Please, please read a few bee books. Glad you finally got a smoker.:applause:

 

[wolfpenfarm]

I was wearing a full body beesuit with zippered veil and long, leather gloves. The only reason I didn't get stung was because of the protective gear. For many seconds I fully expected the bees to find a way through the gear and I just stood there in a hail of bees, knowing, waiting as seconds ticked by I was going to get stung. I was stung through my suit in the original cutout.

I didn't get stung. I walked a long ways off and they were still with me. Got into my truck and drove off and they had filled the cab of the truck. Finally the air, etc. got them all out.

I will go back in with smoke, all my protective gear and do a thorough search and inspection frame by frame.

I've seriously thought about getting a queen cell from another of my calm hives and putting it into the hot hive of bees. Hadn't considered a cell protector but I like the idea alot.

sounds like a africanized hive.

 

[wolfpenfarm]

I understand, here is a thought, rather than a bred queen in a cage, why not put a queen cell (in a cell protector) in the hive. This is how we re-queen our hives all the time should work for your situation. When the virgin emerges she usually has free access to the hive and wanders around, then she find and kills the laying queen (virgin is a better,, quicker and more agile fighter) then she flies out and gets mated comes back and she is accepted. We have about 95% success rate with this method (placing a cell in a queenright hive). If your hive does not have a queen then your virgin takes over, if it does have a nasty queen then the virgin will kill her and take over. If you need any more info on this method feel free to PM me.

steve

Now if you go and put a queen cell into this hive, and this virgin queen kills any queen in there, and then mates with the drones this potentially AHB queen produced, then your defeating the purpose of requeening. The new queen will be producing AHBs too.

 

[StevenG]

When you work them with smoke next time, you'll get an indication how hot they are. Circumstances can turn a docile hive into an Attila the Hun hive, and the next week they're back to their docile selves... I'm not saying you don't have a truly hot hive, but for me, the jury is still out.
Good luck to you! Sounds like quite an adventure, and education, you're getting real quick!
Regards,
Steven

 

[daknoodle]

I have to agree with others, its not AHB.

If you arn't getting hit by just walking around the hive or opening the lid and you are managing it using normal, traditional EHB methods, then it isn't AHB.

Go in with smoke, add a frame of eggs and wait a month.

 

[blueline]

Just a new beeks opinion, but, You just done the cut-out 4-5 days ago right?
You broke into their home, tore it apart, sucked them into a bee-vac, etc. and start them over in a new home, non of which was very pleasant for them, I'm sure. Then 4 days later you go digging through the hive without smoke. Sounds to me like they are queenless, and/or just tired of being messed with. I would give them about 2 weeks without being harrassed and then do a thorough inspection for the queen.

Blueline

 

[beekeeper1756]

Went out to my bee yard today to just check on the calm hives and so I parked my truck right next to my calm hives. Literally, the moment, I stepped out of the truck, BAM, the hot bees from 20 yards away were bumping my veil.

I didn't go anywhere near them and they were on me. This is crazy.

I only had a very short time period with specific tasks.

Picking up a bred queen this Saturday morning. I really believe that these bees will calm down alot as soon as they get a new, bred queen. They just are suffering the loss of their queen and they need some help. I'm hoping anyway.