This hive had one of my oldest queens coming in to this season, she was around 3 yrs old and this was the start of her 4th season. When I checked the hive over a month or so ago it wasn't very strong but she was still in there but there were supersedure cells so I buttoned the hive up and left them alone knowing next time I went in there'd be a new queen.
Went and checked the hive to make sure it was queen right now and knew immediately there was a big difference in temperament. These bees started after me before I could get the first puff of smoke in and when I cracked the lid they were loud and came out in numbers. This hive had always been one of my more gentle hives but not anymore. Went through the hive with a black cloud of bees around me at all times but I did find the queen and the hive is full of brood in all stages and they're putting up honey like crazy.
Now to the really bad part... This hive is on someone else's property and they love the bees and have never had a problem, the property is at least 5 acres and the bees are a quite a ways away from their house. Well today while I was working this hive one of the property owners was working in her garden about 400ft away and was chased by 20+ bees and subsequently stung a few times before she was able to get into her house. I've never seen a hive this HOT before and as I watched them from a distance(still wearing my full suit) afterwards there were a lot of bees(maybe 100 or so) flying in circles about 20ft off the ground and they were covering over an acre of property just looking for something to go after. They almost looked like giant orientation flights like after a hive has been moved but covered more area.
This hive is located in the Sierra foothills east of Sacramento, Calif. at about 2800ft elevation so I'm pretty sure we don't have any AHB around. From the hives on my property to my farthest hive is only about 6 miles and this hive is located in the middle so i'm concerned about drones from this hive mating with queens in my other yards and I don't want this to happen. I've always requeened hives I thought were to warm for my liking but this one is out of control. What should I do with it? If I requeen I still have drones from this queen in the hive and I'm not sure I'd even be able to requeen successfully because of their temperament, it's been my experience that the more docile hives are the easiest to requeen. Even if I could requeen them I'd still have these angry ones for a few months and the property owner loves bees so much she didn't want me do do anything with them until we gave them at least a few days to calm down. Any and all advice/ideas are greatly appreciated.
Went and checked the hive to make sure it was queen right now and knew immediately there was a big difference in temperament. These bees started after me before I could get the first puff of smoke in and when I cracked the lid they were loud and came out in numbers. This hive had always been one of my more gentle hives but not anymore. Went through the hive with a black cloud of bees around me at all times but I did find the queen and the hive is full of brood in all stages and they're putting up honey like crazy.
Now to the really bad part... This hive is on someone else's property and they love the bees and have never had a problem, the property is at least 5 acres and the bees are a quite a ways away from their house. Well today while I was working this hive one of the property owners was working in her garden about 400ft away and was chased by 20+ bees and subsequently stung a few times before she was able to get into her house. I've never seen a hive this HOT before and as I watched them from a distance(still wearing my full suit) afterwards there were a lot of bees(maybe 100 or so) flying in circles about 20ft off the ground and they were covering over an acre of property just looking for something to go after. They almost looked like giant orientation flights like after a hive has been moved but covered more area.
This hive is located in the Sierra foothills east of Sacramento, Calif. at about 2800ft elevation so I'm pretty sure we don't have any AHB around. From the hives on my property to my farthest hive is only about 6 miles and this hive is located in the middle so i'm concerned about drones from this hive mating with queens in my other yards and I don't want this to happen. I've always requeened hives I thought were to warm for my liking but this one is out of control. What should I do with it? If I requeen I still have drones from this queen in the hive and I'm not sure I'd even be able to requeen successfully because of their temperament, it's been my experience that the more docile hives are the easiest to requeen. Even if I could requeen them I'd still have these angry ones for a few months and the property owner loves bees so much she didn't want me do do anything with them until we gave them at least a few days to calm down. Any and all advice/ideas are greatly appreciated.