3Reds and I spent 4 hours hunting down and asassinating two queens today.
The nuc with the swarm was pretty calm. The queen tried to hide, but 3Reds spotted her the second time through.
The full hive was a lot different. I pulled the honey super off and set it aside. Then started on the top deep. There were not as many bees on these frames as there were on the nuc’s frames. I noticed as we worked through the top deep that the bees got a little louder as I removed the 3rd and 4th frames from my end. But the queen wasn’t found.
The bees became aggressive as we started pulling frames and inspecting them, beginning on my side.
These frames were crowded with bees, and we made it all the way through the 10 frames without spotting the queen. The bees became calmer as we neared 3Reds’ side.
I figured the bees had betrayed their queen and told us where to look. We worked our way back to my side, with quick looks at the frames. As we approached the 3rd frame from my side, the roar and aggression increased.
This time, I was the one who spotted her. But she was quick. She darted to the other side and buried herself under a crowd of bees. After more searching, I moved the frame over the inverted outer cover and knocked some bees off. 3Reds checked the bees on the cover. I kept vigil over the frame.
I knocked some more bees off.
Then finally shook the frame.
3Reds spotted her and caught her in a queen clip.
We shook the queens out of the clips and onto a table where I did the ugly deed.
We will return tomorrow afternoon with the new BeeWeaver queens.
We left with quite a few bees in the truck. Open windows, and most were gone after about a mile.
We ended up with several still in the truck with us. But these girls were incredibly calm and sweet. They walked, rather than flew, and allowed us to release them back outside.
On the way home, 3Reds commented that I had a lot of stingers around my face. She wondered if she did, too. So, I pulled and counted stingers after we got home. I had 12 in my gloves, and 68 in my suit, mostly on the ribbed area around my face.
3Reds had 8 on her gloves. That’s it! Nothing on her suit.
I think those bees are showing discrimination against men!
