Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum
BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => GENERAL BEEKEEPING - MAIN POSTING FORUM. => Topic started by: GSF on March 31, 2017, 04:27:54 pm
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It may be just in my yard. Has anyone experienced an uptick in the number of aggressive hives in your apiary? I have moved 5 hives away from eyesight of my home. I need to move about 3 more. These bees will seek you out and sting you. If you get about 30-40 yards from the hives and stand still it won't take long for about 6 or 8 to be flying around your face.
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It may be just in my yard. Has anyone experienced an uptick in the number of aggressive hives in your apiary? I have moved 5 hives away from eyesight of my home. I need to move about 3 more. These bees will seek you out and sting you. If you get about 30-40 yards from the hives and stand still it won't take long for about 6 or 8 to be flying around your face.
That is not mine. I weed eat in front of mine and walk about 20 yards from it and they never bother me. Sometimes I turn and watch them. I am not even sure one has landed on me the last 10 times I have been in a hive. Now those feral's I want to catch a swarm off of are probably a much different story but they will be at best 200 yards from commonly walked areas.
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If you get about 30-40 yards from the hives and stand still it won't take long for about 6 or 8 to be flying around your face.
I can't tolerate that. They would have to go. Sure don't want their drones near my bees.
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If you get about 30-40 yards from the hives and stand still it won't take long for about 6 or 8 to be flying around your face.
I can't tolerate that. They would have to go. Sure don't want their drones near my bees.
Is it common to get hives that hot?
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I'd requeen. Absolutely. I had a hive that was at least as hot as you describe and shortly after requeening, they settled down.
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Last year 2 of my hives were pretty hot. They boiled out like crazy when I opened them. This year one already has six medium boxes and needs another one now and is as calm as can bee. The other one has 4 boxes and is also calm.
Not sure what the difference is but I am glad they calmed down.
Jim
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Requeen
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Yes I have... for some reason? I think it because we are still in a dearth. Strange year...
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Last year 2 of my hives were pretty hot. They boiled out like crazy when I opened them. This year one already has six medium boxes and needs another one now and is as calm as can bee. The other one has 4 boxes and is also calm.
Not sure what the difference is but I am glad they calmed down.
Jim
I thought we were supposed to split before a hive got that big.
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I thought we were supposed to split before a hive got that big.
Six what meidum 8's --- at least three would be brood, right? Is that not a normal 8 frame configuration? No he didn't say 8 or ten frame. Either way six in not a lot...
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Last year 2 of my hives were pretty hot. They boiled out like crazy when I opened them. This year one already has six medium boxes and needs another one now and is as calm as can bee. The other one has 4 boxes and is also calm.
Not sure what the difference is but I am glad they calmed down.
Jim
I thought we were supposed to split before a hive got that big.
Do you make honey with weak hives? Mine are a minimum of two broods and two supers.
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Splitting is a method of swarm control and varroa suppression. If your hive swarms or it crashes because of varroa you get no honey. It is my experience that splitting in the spring does not kill your honey production. It saves it.
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Splitting is a method of swarm control and varroa suppression. If your hive swarms or it crashes because of varroa you get no honey. It is my experience that splitting in the spring does not kill your honey production. It saves it.
Depends on where you are... beekeeping is about location...I have no idea what bees do in NY and don't plan on finding out :wink:
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I thought we were supposed to split before a hive got that big.
Six what meidum 8's --- at least three would be brood, right? Is that not a normal 8 frame configuration? No he didn't say 8 or ten frame. Either way six in not a lot...
I have 10 frame medium boxes. Sometimes they get to bee 8 boxes high. I pulled a box of brood off already and made 4 nucs out of it. Tomorrow I will bee adding a drawn super. In 2 weeks I will bee pulling honey, getting ready for moving them to the farm for gallberry.
Jim
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Six what meidum 8's --- at least three would be brood, right? Is that not a normal 8 frame configuration? No he didn't say 8 or ten frame. Either way six in not a lot...
Maybe it is NY... I typically do even walk away splits on a 5 box 8 frame configuration. Both halves will collect nearly the same amount of honey in the first month even though the queenless side loses its old foragers. Of course the net for the season is not the same because the queenless side is one month behind the other side when you let it raise its own queen. If I were to add a mated queen both sides would net honey and I would have too much as I already have too much for my needs already.
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Too much honey??? I didn't know there was such a thing :cool:
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Maybe it is NY...
Where I am in SC and I think pretty much the rest of the state we get no surplus Fall flow... Nothing... NO THING.... Notta.... Zilch.... Zero :sad:
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I'm guessing that hives that big are a southern phenomenon - with the longer season the bees just keep building up. Here in New England (granted, I'm only in my 5th year as a beek), I've ever only had two deeps with supers on top for honey. Three mediums never get top to bottom full of brood in the bottom two boxes.
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Three mediums never get top to bottom full of brood in the bottom two boxes.
Well, how could that be? The nest is an oval. They don't get top to bottom full of brood in two deeps either.
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Too much honey???
If you have no interest in selling honey ... Let me rephrase that, if you have no interest in the work required to sell honey then yes you can get too much with three hives.
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I'm guessing that hives that big are a southern phenomenon - with the longer season the bees just keep building up. Here in New England (granted, I'm only in my 5th year as a beek), I've ever only had two deeps with supers on top for honey. Three mediums never get top to bottom full of brood in the bottom two boxes.
I would have to agree on the southern thing. I split two hives last week for the second time. This winter was nonexistent and the bees just burped once for less than a month the started rolling again hard in January. I getting tired of splitting. Never thought those words would come out of my mouth.
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Three mediums never get top to bottom full of brood in the bottom two boxes.
Well, how could that be? The nest is an oval. They don't get top to bottom full of brood in two deeps either.
Sorry, I wasn't being clear. I meant that the bottom-most box has often had some empty frames in mid summer. I should have said 'fully used'.
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I'm guessing that hives that big are a southern phenomenon - with the longer season the bees just keep building up. Here in New England (granted, I'm only in my 5th year as a beek), I've ever only had two deeps with supers on top for honey. Three mediums never get top to bottom full of brood in the bottom two boxes.
There is a guy in the Tampa area that has pulled 400 pounds of honey per year from each of his 4 hives and sells it for $10 a pound. If I could do that I would have 50 hives and quit my day job. That 's
$200,000 a year in sales.
Jim
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Dang Jim, that's impressive. It's also a lot of work :wink: I have heard before that if a hive gets big they get mean. Of course I have plenty of hives that just got started that don't even have a full medium and they are plenty mean. My meanest hive is also my biggest most populated hive. It's 3 8f deeps that I "think" is brood, with one medium on top.
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That info came from our bee inspector right after they set the dollar limit on how much you can make as a hobbyist. He had full documentation on how much he collected and sold.
Jim
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Too much honey???
If you have no interest in selling honey ... Let me rephrase that, if you have no interest in the work required to sell honey then yes you can get too much with three hives.
i went through a double deep yesterday that was top to bottom full of brood except for the very outside frames. i pulled 5 frames of brood and made a ten frame split and added a medium as well as 5 deep frames of foundation back to the original hive. i bought the queens for that yard spring before last and i'm beating my head agains a wall trying to remember who i got them from. they were all heavy layers.
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i bought the queens for that yard spring before last and i'm beating my head agains a wall trying to remember who i got them from. they were all heavy layers.
and I am waiting to hear :wink:
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I'm guessing that hives that big are a southern phenomenon - with the longer season the bees just keep building up. Here in New England (granted, I'm only in my 5th year as a beek), I've ever only had two deeps with supers on top for honey. Three mediums never get top to bottom full of brood in the bottom two boxes.
There is a guy in the Tampa area that has pulled 400 pounds of honey per year from each of his 4 hives and sells it for $10 a pound. If I could do that I would have 50 hives and quit my day job. That 's
$200,000 a year in sales.
Jim
What do they feed on? I am just hoping to get 30 pounds of honey this year
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I'm guessing that hives that big are a southern phenomenon - with the longer season the bees just keep building up. Here in New England (granted, I'm only in my 5th year as a beek), I've ever only had two deeps with supers on top for honey. Three mediums never get top to bottom full of brood in the bottom two boxes.
There is a guy in the Tampa area that has pulled 400 pounds of honey per year from each of his 4 hives and sells it for $10 a pound. If I could do that I would have 50 hives and quit my day job. That 's
$200,000 a year in sales.
Jim
What do they feed on? I am just hoping to get 30 pounds of honey this year
A lot of different things. He removed honey 5 times in one year. Time to move to Tampa.
Jim
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i expect in the tampa area you have about 9 months of some kind of flow, don't you? a few hives in a subdivision would probably do well between ornamentals and everything else available.
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I'm guessing that hives that big are a southern phenomenon - with the longer season the bees just keep building up. Here in New England (granted, I'm only in my 5th year as a beek), I've ever only had two deeps with supers on top for honey. Three mediums never get top to bottom full of brood in the bottom two boxes.
There is a guy in the Tampa area that has pulled 400 pounds of honey per year from each of his 4 hives and sells it for $10 a pound. If I could do that I would have 50 hives and quit my day job. That 's
$200,000 a year in sales.
Jim
What do they feed on? I am just hoping to get 30 pounds of honey this year
A lot of different things. He removed honey 5 times in one year. Time to move to Tampa.
Jim
That is wild. Around here talking to old time beeks we get a fall and a spring flow and that is the only time you can get honey unless you move your hives around.
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Funny that I have been commenting on this thread. Just walked out to my bee hive while on the phone talking to my mom and said what hit my hat. Took the hat off and a bee popped me in my forearm kinda of. I don't remember getting stung but there is a mark. Fun times.
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I was probably 40 yards away and it hit me in the head first. It was odd because normally my bees never bother me. Do you think the bees are turning hot or was it just an odd coincidence? If they are getting hot I have to move them further away as they are near a person's house, my garden, and my place of employment. I can't have random people getting stung.
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BW,
A few years ago I had a hive that once a week a bee would come out and sting me right between the eyes. This went on for about a month or more. Then I moved them to my farm and shortly after that they swarmed. I used the bucket bump trick and was covered in bees. Not abnormal but this swarm tore me up. Stung me un countable times in the head. I have dropped a lot of swarms all over me, with no protection, without being stung.
If they are near your neighbors, I would move them
Jim
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They are not super near the neighbors or work but about 60 yards away. I am going to see their reaction a few more times as I go out there, not today though because of the weather, and then see if this was not a one off event or if I did not startle one by stepping on it or something.
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What I would like to know is if you are away from the hives and get tagged by a bee how do you know which hive it came from? I had that problem two years ago. Never did figure out which hive it was or even if it was mine.
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I just have one hive where I am at. I know which one it came from.
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I got a hot one! I stole all of their brood for queen castles last summer and this spring I took their honey for some of the weaker ones. The hive is still twice as strong as the next-they fly in the rain. Just ugly to work. Last year they were stinging the road workers. They get too strong the chase me back into the house. I know which one it is because my pants and gloves are covered with stingers when I work it.
My plan is to use if for a cell builder or to move it to an out yard
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They may be hot because they are over crowded.
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how do you know which hive it came from? I do one of two things, wearing a suit I'll blow on the entrance. If they bolt out in numbers and land on your veil then that's probably it. The other thing is just open the inner cover, they'll let you know :)
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i'm beating my head agains a wall trying to remember who i got them from Maybe Don, the fatbeeman? aka Dixie bee supply? I've heard several folks brag on his bees. I may be fixing to do some business with him.
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The other thing is just open the inner cover, they'll let you know :)
I did do this without smoke and all three hives showed no aggression even though I was expecting it. In summer though the top is 3-4 boxes away from brood nest. How many guard bees hang around the top of the hive? Oh yeah, I got a top vent some use as an entrance. There should be some guard bees there.
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They may be hot because they are over crowded.
I doubt they are over crowded. I just added a new box.
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GSF,
Your hives may be hot because they are over crowded.
30-40 yards away is pretty aggressive. It may be more than over crowding.
My hives are over crowded now, mainly because i can't get into them with good weather the same day I'm off work. Some are mean with lots of guard bees. Some not so mean.
I'm getting hit 5-10 yards out, first sting yesterday right before a big storm.
I've had problems with robbing as well.
When I smoke they calm down, just smoke in the yard helps.
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GSF,
Your hives may be hot because they are over crowded.
30-40 yards away is pretty aggressive. It may be more than over crowding.
My hives are over crowded now, mainly because i can't get into them with good weather the same day I'm off work. Some are mean with lots of guard bees. Some not so mean.
I'm getting hit 5-10 yards out, first sting yesterday right before a big storm.
I've had problems with robbing as well.
When I smoke they calm down, just smoke in the yard helps.
Thanks for the information
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Thanks jvalentour, These hives have been pretty packed population wise when I went in them and that may account for some of the activity. However, two or three of the swarms were hot just hanging on the limbs. The more you got stung, the more you'd get stung. I had them stinging me from a swarm about 30' up on a limb.
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Thanks jvalentour, These hives have been pretty packed population wise when I went in them and that may account for some of the activity. However, two or three of the swarms were hot just hanging on the limbs. The more you got stung, the more you'd get stung. I had them stinging me from a swarm about 30' up on a limb.
I was always under the impression that swarms were pretty calm
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Not all. As mentioned before, some are darn right mean.
On the other hand an African swarm can be nice and calm until they start to build.
Jim
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Not all. As mentioned before, some are darn right mean.
On the other hand an African swarm can be nice and calm until they start to build.
Jim
Thanks. Yeah I read your account. It shocked me and I thought it was a one off thing. As for my getting stung from a long ways off I figure it has to be my hat I was wearing that did it. I have only ever had two good head butts and both have come while wearing that hat . It is a camo hat and they must not like the black on it. I have since been out by the hive much closer to the hive than either of the two head butts with no activity around me. They are now back to thinking I am harmless again.
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BW,
Were you wearing that hat when you were taking a hive apart?
It may bee that they recognize it as being the one that injured there hive mates.
Jim
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BW,
Were you wearing that hat when you were taking a hive apart?
It may bee that they recognize it as being the one that injured there hive mates.
Jim
No because I almost always wear a veil and have a white hat. They might recognize me in that hat as I used to wear it all the time out there. Two headbutts and a sting later I don't wear the hat now. It was odd. Headbutt then I felt the buzzing around my forearm but did not swat it away in time.
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We would not tolerate bees that are aggressive from 6 ft away let alone 40-60 ft.
We have one agro hive in 300 and it will be requeened in spring. working agro bees in not fun.
Do you guys not routinely use smoke?
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We would not tolerate bees that are aggressive from 6 ft away let alone 40-60 ft.
We have one agro hive in 300 and it will be requeened in spring. working agro bees in not fun.
Do you guys not routinely use smoke?
I use it every time I open the hive. I have come to believe that I probably stepped on a spooked a scavenger since I was walking among where they were feasting at the time.
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Yep had to be the hat. Been all over my bees without going in them and even cutting the grass around them and have not been bothered. Took 2 head butts and a sting with the hat on. The hat did have black on it.
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I am brand new to this with my first hive but will soon have 5 and see how it is to mange 5 and go from there.
Honey won't be a money maker here in Thailand because the locals already sell unprocessed wild honey for 4.50 USD /quart.
You can go to the weekly farmers market and there will be a vendor or 2 crushing comb in a bucket and pretty much filling bottles to order because it sells so fast.
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I am brand new to this with my first hive but will soon have 5 and see how it is to mange 5 and go from there.
Honey won't be a money maker here in Thailand because the locals already sell unprocessed wild honey for 4.50 USD /quart.
You can go to the weekly farmers market and there will be a vendor or 2 crushing comb in a bucket and pretty much filling bottles to order because it sells so fast.
Most hives are not hot. You will be ok
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I am brand new to this with my first hive but will soon have 5 and see how it is to mange 5 and go from there.
Honey won't be a money maker here in Thailand because the locals already sell unprocessed wild honey for 4.50 USD /quart.
You can go to the weekly farmers market and there will be a vendor or 2 crushing comb in a bucket and pretty much filling bottles to order because it sells so fast.
Most hives are not hot. You will be ok
My bees are very docile. First few times I opened the hive, it was just to take a quick look inside to make sure all looked OK and they had sugar. I put some sugar in there when I got the NUC home until they did their first flights and found out where the food is.
The first real frame by frame inspection, I wore veil, gloves, last ng sleeve shirt, not one Bee came near me. I can probably transfer the NUC without gear, I am going to give it a try.
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I am brand new to this with my first hive but will soon have 5 and see how it is to mange 5 and go from there.
Honey won't be a money maker here in Thailand because the locals already sell unprocessed wild honey for 4.50 USD /quart.
You can go to the weekly farmers market and there will be a vendor or 2 crushing comb in a bucket and pretty much filling bottles to order because it sells so fast.
Most hives are not hot. You will be ok
Yeah most of the time my bees do not even know I am there.
My bees are very docile. First few times I opened the hive, it was just to take a quick look inside to make sure all looked OK and they had sugar. I put some sugar in there when I got the NUC home until they did their first flights and found out where the food is.
The first real frame by frame inspection, I wore veil, gloves, last ng sleeve shirt, not one Bee came near me. I can probably transfer the NUC without gear, I am going to give it a try.
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Well, it's like someone flipped a switch. I walked out by the hives yesterday and nothing happened. I then walked through them a couple of times even crisscrossing and walking in front of hives, still nothing happened. I got buzzed once. A week ago they were stinging us whenever and wherever they saw us.
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GFS,
I'll bet there is a flow on now and wasn't when there was a problem.
Jim
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Jim, you're right. A friend of mine who bought package bees a year ago had the same problem. They were stinging him in the yard. Now his bees are not interested in people anymore.
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I am new and just have the one hive I set up from an 8 frame NUC April 7.
Never wore a full suit, just long sleeve shirt, veil, gloves but no bees ever came near me when doing an inspection or putting sugar inside the first week until they got oriented.
A few days ago, I did a full inspection, added one more frame with starter strip and a top feeder and didn't use any protection, just a little smoke before taking off the cover, then no more smoke, none of them were the least bit interested in me.
I like it~!!
Bruce
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none of them were the least bit interested in me.
I like it~!!
Bruce
When there is other hives next to them they will be more protective.
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My neighbor was thinning trees across the street from my hives (60-90 feet away)and said he had several bees start head butting him. He walked away from the hives and when he got on his lawnmower he got stung. :shocked:
I keep saying that I am going to remove that queen but she is laying 3 solid frames per week. I used the hive as a cell builder, gave 3 frames of open to another hive, took 3 more frames for a queen castle and this week it is still the strongest hive I own.
It has been such a wet, cold winter/spring that throwing away resources is difficult. I am feeding instead of extracting.
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I keep saying that I am going to remove that queen but she is laying 3 solid frames per week.
I can picture the neighbor dousing all your hives with poison. Just saying.
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Splitting is a method of swarm control and varroa suppression. If your hive swarms or it crashes because of varroa you get no honey. It is my experience that splitting in the spring does not kill your honey production. It saves it.
It is pretty much spring and summer all year here, even when we get to our cool months, it does not go below 60 and something us always in bloom
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I can picture the neighbor dousing all your hives with poison. Just saying.
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I have come close to putting it in a black plastic garbage bag a couple of times!
This next batch of cells every queen castle is getting one frame of that hive and it is done! So she has 8 days left (unless I change my mind and put her in a nuc). :cheesy:
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none of them were the least bit interested in me.
I like it~!!
Bruce
When there is other hives next to them they will be more protective.
We are fixing to find out, I am picking up 2 NUC's tomorrow
Stay Tuned
Bruce
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They survived-unbelievable! Got a call from the yard I dumped the mean hive (broken into 7 small pieces, killed the queen and gave queen cells) she said it was swarming. I found the queen cup encased in wax, 6 rouge queen cells, two open, one torn down the side, bees all over the outside of the hive. I swept all the bees from the outside of the hive to a spare deep with 3 frames from the original hive. I slid the original hive over 2?, I cut out queen cells in sets of pairs and put one in the original hive, one in the center. During inspection I found a queen with her head in a cell, still small but a queen. I dumped her into the far hive.
Son got a bee up his pants leg (got in his tall boot, under the pants, up the leg) nailed him in the calf. After a couple of minutes had to send him back to the truck, the front of his jeans looked like a pin cushion. We do not put that much smoke to a ham and it was not stopping it. We parked 50 yards away and he took the bees along.
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Minz,
The next time you work this hive, try smoking it with a few puffs in the bottom, then wait a full 10 minutes, then smoke it again and wait 30 seconds.
I have done this with my most aggressive hive and they stay very calm. It puts them in swarm mode.
Jim
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I will hit them with smoke first and go work the other hives. Can I just give them a short blast as I move from hive to hive for a more prolonged approach or after about 6 times will it just have the opposite affect?
If somebody knows mean bees it is FL or TX with the Africans.
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Minz,
You want to give them enough smoke to go and fill up with honey. If your other bees are pretty calm, I would smoke this hive, set a timer and then work another calm hive. The wait will bee worth your time.
Jim
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Thanks I had a set of hives that one of the two started to get a bit hot. This weekend I used this trick and hit them all before starting (not a full 10 on the first). I didn?t think anything of it until I went to write the notes on the box and it said ?getting hot? on the box. Nice take away, now we will see if it works on the monster.
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Glad it helped. Let me know how it works on the monster.
The 10 minutes puts them in swarm mode. The 30 seconds takes away their communications.
Jim