The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Bees & Beekeeping => Topic started by: walshie on April 19, 2015, 07:50:54 pm
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A guy has kept bees on small bit of my land for several years now. His arrangement with the previous owner was that he would supply her with honey and as a keen sea fisherman, the occasional crab and mackerel.
I WAS quite happy to continue this arrangement, but having only been here full time for 2 weeks, my wife has been stung on her back after a bee flew down her top and a couple of days ago a bee kept buzzing me then flew into a visitor's face and stung him on the lip.
I thought bees were supposed to be placid, but this doesn't seem right.
Is there something wrong with the bees or is the beekeeper doing something wrong?
Thanks.
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Sometimes they can turn aggressive and more territorial, I had a hive do this when it went queenless.
Unless the guard bees are actually chasing you, it may just be an accident as they felt threatened. I would ask the beekeeper to do an inspection just to check on the bees.
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I have in the past had 'angry' bee's. One lot very nearly got the queen euthanized to get those bad genes out of the colony, but they superceded her and all was good.
One of my current hives is 'angry' I found that out when i opened them up, but they are curently queen less, they will settle down once they sort that out.
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One of my hives is a bit too feisty. We may find we need to replace the queen.
Helen
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Father Adam at Buckfast Abbey developed a very placid strain of queens.
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Out bee club apiary has one nasty colony and everyone is advised to steer clear of them but the others are fine. I suspect the apiary manager will put a new queen in to sort them out.
My brother in law has Buckfast bees and his do seem pretty quiet but I believe a local strain probably does the best work.
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How far from the hives are you when getting stung, and does it correspond to a visit by the beekeeper? I would talk to him - if it's generally an angry colony he should already be aware, if not it could be a sign of something not quite right.
We had a hive last year that would be aggressive for 24 hours after an inspection. Unfortunately our neighbour got the worst of it so they've now been re-queened and relocated :relief:
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How far from the hives are you when getting stung, and does it correspond to a visit by the beekeeper? I would talk to him - if it's generally an angry colony he should already be aware, if not it could be a sign of something not quite right.
We had a hive last year that would be aggressive for 24 hours after an inspection. Unfortunately our neighbour got the worst of it so they've now been re-queened and relocated :relief:
We were about 20 yards away from the colony when we got stung and it wasn't after he came to visit. I've spoken to him and he is going to install a fence beside the hives to make the bees fly higher. Let's hope this works as the only other option is to ask him to move them elsewhere. my family and guests getting stung is too high a price for a jar of honey (which I'm not keen on anyhow.)
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In my last garden, I had 8 foot trellis about a foot in front of the hives and even that encouraged them to fly straight up. We could literally stand in front of the trellis and watch then come and go.
This will solve the issue if it was a case of accidental and being in their flight path, but will not if they have become a bit aggressive and territorial. I hope it is the former :fc:
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One of my current hives is 'angry' I found that out when i opened them up, but they are curently queen less, they will settle down once they sort that out.
Newbie question: How are they going to do that then? ???
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One of my current hives is 'angry' I found that out when i opened them up, but they are curently queen less, they will settle down once they sort that out.
Newbie question: How are they going to do that then? ???
I robbed a couple of frames of eggs from another hive, they should do the business.
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Ah, you never told me you'd given them outside assistance! :)
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Sorry a bit of cheating :innocent:
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Not cheating its a standard way of finding out if they are really queen less.
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I knew someone who kept bees on an estate in north wales, or rather he looked after em, when he retired the national trust brought in someone else and the bees kept attacking visitors and the keeper. I think that bees only prefer one person to look after them and any change usually causes that behavior, whether they adjust I do not know. Bees are very sensitive creatures.
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Had a word with the beekeepr who's put up a mesh fence beside the hives. Seems to be doing the trick so far. (Fingers crossed.)
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Two other reasons. If your visitors are wearing perfume/hair products that can also cause them to attack. Have you had a large crop in the vicinity that has finished flowering eg rape ( I don't know where you are)they can get very may of their supplies have suddenly died up
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One of my current hives is 'angry' I found that out when i opened them up, but they are curently queen less, they will settle down once they sort that out.
Newbie question: How are they going to do that then? ???
Left to themselves they will feed a worker special food to turn her into a queen. Fascinating!
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Mine were very feisty after the rape went over last summer - apparently normal, like taking away a kid's sweets. They also flare up with bad weather and by autumn were really horrid. I thought I was going to have to requeen this year but they were so lovely last week I've nearly forgiven them. The rape is further away this year so I'll see whether they go through the same cycle.
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Being in the Bee Line to their easiest source of nectat or pollen and/or by a gap in a hedge or between building that they use a s a gentler flight path out of the full strength of the wind or so that they fly in a warmer air current is often mistaken for vicious bee's being hell bent /intent on wiping out the entire human race . if the screen does not fix the problem get the keper to resite them
Do beware that if some one is permanantly allowed to farm their bees on yoyr land that in england 7 ales that can be construed as ownership of theland unles you challeng them ( thzt's why private rights of way are coolsed for 2 X 2 number of day per year.
You're also best getting something in writing in triplicate that says it's your land and he has you permission to site the hive/s in a safe manner & place and that they are responsible for any claims made as a result to the bees being on your land . These days it only takes a coupe of complaints and your soon finding it's costing you time , money & community friendships to have the bees on your land .
I was accused of letting my bees swarm by several peoplewho discovered nests in their garages stables out buildings, chimney's & roof voids etc. . . when I went and removed the settled nests I soon realised it was not my bees as all the nests had light Italian queens & stock whereas my bees were all old British strains of black bees well adapted to the locality . To prove a point I collected a jar of my big fat black drones and took them along with me in the end .
On two of th nests I did the old trick of placing a suacer of honey & water about 400 mtrs away and then mover it out to 800 mtrs ..it was not long beforeIi found a bee line heading to a small dense copse on my farming friends land .
On asking Barry who had their bees on the land he said how did I know . So I told him about being blamed for the feral nestings & how I discovered where the were coming from .
It turned out to be a vicar from Parson Drove some 5 miles away, he'd sited his hives with Barry's permission and had rarely bothered to check them out ...only to come and thieve the honey .
Barry rang the Vicar there & then and told him to take the bees off his land asap ,the vicar didn't bother over the next three weeks.
Varroa sorted them out along with 1/4 pint of petrol one cold evening. The old sky fairy was really amazed that he'd had his permission resinded & even more upset when I took the empty now robbed out hives back to the vicarage for Barry .