[OldGaffer]

Moleskins, I had exactly the same problem. I bought a Buckfast cross Cecropia queen which was great, until the next queen took over and I ended up with the same problem. In fact I still have in a remote spot a hive that has some of these genes! It has now been split and requeened with Amm queens. Out of interest, where did you obtain your Irish queens, I assume they are Amm?

[Mel]

My own bees have been quite aggressive towards me this year on ocassion!  I think it is something to do with water or lack thereof.  Times when I have been attacked have been whilst I was at the field tap running water for my pigs!  they seem to come straight at me with intent!  A couple of times now I have had to run away flapping at my head (they always seem to get into my hair) and had to come bak in a bee suit to feed and water my pigs!  This only happens at 4pm - never had any problems at other times - it's weird.  If you have disturbed them whilst they are looking for water that might back up my theory?

That is just So weird as these only seem to attack on Saturday's around 4pm! Last Saturday they stung my hubby in the head,my neighbours children on their faces and one chased me the entire length of the paddock and into the house,I have to say my heart was pounding,I put my head under the hottest shower possible,thought it had gone,whilst sitting at the pc,I felt movement in my hair,took my towel off and it fell on the floor,nasty little black thing,tiny really, but I ave to say,we ave managed to locate the keeper,and he is moving them at least 3 miles away on Monday...Phew,I can tell you,they  shall not be missed at all.And there was me saying,I would not mind having a go and keeping them....Nooo chance now.Like Moleskins said,these are completely nuts!

[Mel]

Ok. this is what you do:

You go to see the 'owners' of the bees. You explain very nicely that you appreciate having the bees around but that they are situated too close to yours - and others - people's properties and that you are worried about them. Say you understand the '5 miles, 5 foot' situation, but would they please resite the apiary in one of the other fields they own, which are much further away from you and your neighbours land. If the beekeeper is worth his/her salt, they will understand.

All is not lost - if things are as bad as you say, and this particular 'batch' of babies are aggressive, the queen is mated by many drones, so the next batch of eggs to hatch could be more docile.

Bees should not be sited next to footpaths, rights of way, roads, houses etc.

As per my last post,after all this time we managed to locate the keeper,he lives quite a few miles from us and nobody actually resides in the farm now,he was given permission to put them there by the new owners but is supposedly a very nice Gent and is moving them Monday,I suppose after last weekend with at least 7 other villagers stung everyone was up in arms about them,We just stayed in for the remainder like most others!

[lachlanandmarcus]

I suppose thats one advantage of this type of nuisance problem; you arent likely to be the only one affected so theres much more likely to be a resolution than if its just you who is affected :-))) Glad it sounds as tho it is being sorted out for the bees and for you!

[Greenerlife]

So weird about the 4pm business!  . Wonder whats in that?  Glad you have it sorted now anyway.

[Mel]

We have a natural pond,our neighbours have a man made pond,less than 600 yards away is a large natural lake,plus all the farmers land with livestock drinkers so there is plenty of water around for them.When Chris was stung,so were the children next door,another neighbour next to them,two next to us,all within moments of each other,it really was chaotic to say the least.I had worked in the paddock all week with no problems at all.The 4pm is though very peculiar I must admit .

[OldGaffer]

I have one hypotheses as to why they would sting on a Saturday afternoon and that is if the beekeeper works, then a Saturday afternoon would be a good time to inspect the bees if the weather is reasonably warm and fine. After June I normally only inspect my bees once in July. They require weekly inspection in the Spring and early Summer to prevent swarming. So, if the bees are normally OK and only become aggressive on a Saturday afternoon, then that would probably be the time the beekeeper took their hive apart for inspection and the bees became angry, some colonies do not like intruders! After the beekeeper had left the apairy, the guard bees probably started patrolling a wider area, to try and prevent this intruder or other intruders from returning. They are overly defensive bees.

[pikilily]

Stephen King will be taking notes 
ET

[Greenerlife]

i think Oldgaffer may be right.  Most of the times my bees have come after me at 4 pm it is after I have inspected my bees in the morning (not always, but mostly, but not on Saturdays! Lol)

[Mel]

I think we have found why they are upset,we have noticed that the sheep from the owner tend to free range around the top of the farm and hives on Saturday's!-they are let in from the bottom field,I wonder if they are disturbing the hives somehow?! Funnily enough,Saturday this week was like a ghost village!

Anyhow,today is the day,they are being removed-Guess I shall be staying in until it is all over,you know,just in case

[waterhouse]

Just catching up - my wife has just eliminated one of our colonies which had turned aggressive. If it had been earlier in the season she'd have requeened but we've got too many colonies anyway. Aggressive bees aren't worth keeping. Our hives are distributed about so we could tell the offending colony.

There's a footpath near us with half a dozen hives right on it. We told the local bee inspector who said they were not labelled in any way. They've been there at least six years tho' and aren't owned by any of the known local bee people. Odd.