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Offline Wandering Man

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50 Shades of
« on: May 02, 2018, 01:09:52 am »
Aggression.

I never would have thought that I would start becoming a connoisseur of aggression in bees.

My Hot Sick hive has taught me about some of the subtleties.

First, there was the all out aggression.  The one where I caught 112 stingers on my gloves when mowing.  Later the same day, I caught another 40 stingers on my gloves and veil while moving the hive off my property.

Cooling down a bit from this, was a few days later when I went into the hive and killed the queen.  Probably around 20 stings.  Fortunately, my defenses were never penetrated, and I did not catch any of their abuse in my body.  Bees followed 3Reds and I into the truck, and we had to travel about two miles down the road with windows down to loose all of them.

The next day, I was only hit 12 times as we installed the new queen in her cage.  Walking several hundred yards away resulted in a mass of bees escorting me and refusing to leave.  They flew into the truck with me, but we lost the bees after about a mile.

On Monday, when 3Reds and I went in to check on the queen, the sting count was down to around 5 or 6.  The walk resulted in two bees sticking it out with me.  But the bees were back as I approached my truck, probably within 25 yards of the hives.  The bees were gone in less than a mile.

Today, I got no stings.  I had a face full of bees buzzing madly, and an occasional bump on the hand or veil, but I didn't see any stingers in my gloves of jacket.  All but a couple of bees abandoned me when I walked half the distance I'd walked the day before.  They returned as I approached my truck, and a few joined me for a short ride.  But, all of the bees left my truck before I got off the property, maybe a quarter of a mile.  I think I would call the bees I encountered today as Very Defensive, but not really Aggressive.
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Offline Jen

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Re: 50 Shades of
« Reply #1 on: May 02, 2018, 01:51:24 am »
Hi Wman, hearing more stories of aggressive bees this year, myself included with one very problematic nuc that I split twice. The splits have calmed just beautifully, but donor nuc is still in my face. And I have a dear friend that installed a package, then checked the packaged hive a couple weeks later and got nailed over 200 times. Bees came out of the hive butt first.

Glad you and 3reds are okay  ;) 8)
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Offline Perry

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Re: 50 Shades of
« Reply #2 on: May 02, 2018, 07:32:23 am »
Don't forget that the nasty queen's prodigy will still be hatching and living for another 4 to 5 weeks so change will be slow.
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Offline Wandering Man

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Re: 50 Shades of
« Reply #3 on: May 02, 2018, 08:57:02 am »
Yes, it will take a while for things to calm down. We have to move the hives further away from the road at the landowners request. A task slated for Saturday morning.

About 3Reds ... the bees seem to love her. We both had our hands in the hive, both lifting out and examining frames. She’s the one that actually placed the cages into the hives. She’s the one that pulled the empty cages out.

I think she got 8 stingers in her gloves when I got 40, and 2 when I got 20, and that was it!

I know this because she’s a little braggy about it.
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Offline riverbee

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Re: 50 Shades of
« Reply #4 on: May 02, 2018, 11:50:52 am »
"I know this because she’s a little braggy about it."

......... :D :D :laugh:
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Offline Jen

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Re: 50 Shades of
« Reply #5 on: May 02, 2018, 12:09:49 pm »
 :D Brag away 3Reds! I can't think of a better compliment. And I might add that women have a different scent than men, must be that lingering estrogen...  ;D
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Offline neillsayers

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Re: 50 Shades of
« Reply #6 on: May 02, 2018, 03:03:50 pm »
Quote from: Jen on May 02, 2018, 12:09:49 pm
:D Brag away 3Reds! I can't think of a better compliment. And I might add that women have a different scent than men, must be that lingering estrogen...  ;D

It's a "girl" thing, WM, we'll never understand-just accept. :)
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Offline Les

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Re: 50 Shades of
« Reply #7 on: May 02, 2018, 03:20:11 pm »
Just curious, since you are in Texas is there any chance that the original queen bred with some Africanized drones?
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Offline Jen

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Re: 50 Shades of
« Reply #8 on: May 02, 2018, 03:42:27 pm »
Les, I wondered that as well, I have heard that the Africans are in Texas now.
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Offline Wandering Man

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Re: 50 Shades of
« Reply #9 on: May 02, 2018, 06:14:52 pm »
Quote from: Les on May 02, 2018, 03:20:11 pm
Just curious, since you are in Texas is there any chance that the original queen bred with some Africanized drones?

There is that chance.  That's what I'm trying to avoid by brining in a new queen.

I bought the queen a year ago from a beekeeper who imports queens from one or two breeders in California.  So this would be one of Jen's neighbors' queens.

It is possible I lost the queen at the beginning of the season and this is a new queen that the bees raised themselves.

And I think of Africanized bees as being hardier than this.  The bees became aggressive, and the virus appeared after I treated the hive for mites with Formalic Pro.  I wonder if the treatment could have in any way reduced the bees' resistance to virus.  It really looked like a war being raged inside the hive the last two times we looked in it.  There were way too many hairless bees, and they were resisting being dragged out.  I watched at least one health bee attempt to sting a hairless bee.

I may have lost this hive, anyway.  But I want to give it a chance with the new queen.  The first of her progeny should emerge May 15.
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Offline Lburou

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Re: 50 Shades of
« Reply #10 on: May 02, 2018, 08:33:32 pm »
One other possibility is your queen was killed and the hive usurped by a new queen of unknown origin and genetic makeup.  Could be European or African genetic influences.  Requeening is the right thing to do in my view.  :)

These pictures are from my bee yard and show confirmed usuration attempts.







This picture from a friend's hive.


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Offline Wandering Man

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Re: 50 Shades of
« Reply #11 on: May 02, 2018, 09:34:36 pm »
Yeah, that’s a possibility, too.

I’m still bettin on the Chronic Bee Paralysis virus as the cause of the defensiveness.
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