Welcome, Guest

Author Topic: What justifies a hot hive  (Read 2092 times)

Offline mjb1

  • New Bee
  • *
  • Posts: 29
  • Gender: Male
What justifies a hot hive
« on: June 03, 2009, 08:57:08 pm »
Have 2 Hive one is very gentle light in color Italian bees I never have to smoke them The other is a darker Honey bee with well defined stripes on the abdomen don't know the type I think Carnolians. When I remove the top and expose the inner cover 5 or 8 bees go directly for the screen on my veil. I didn't use smoke. Is this normal? I know its a newbie question so please be nice. Also I have been seeing a lot of flying outside the entrance in the evenings is this baby bees learning to fly?

Offline iddee

  • Universal Bee
  • *******
  • Posts: 10853
  • Gender: Male
Re: What justifies a hot hive
« Reply #1 on: June 03, 2009, 09:18:43 pm »
>>>>I didn't use smoke. Is this normal?<<<<

No, it isn't. Normal beekeepers use smoke. Being a beginner is no excuse for killing your bees by working them without smoke. Smoke can be used to keep them from stinging and dieing, guiding them out of the way to keep from mashing, keeping the beek from getting nervous and killing them in his haste, and many other things. Any hive worked without smoke is going to be hot. Maybe not every time, but for sure sometimes.
"Listen to the mustn'ts, child. Listen to the don'ts. Listen to the shouldn'ts, the impossibles, the won'ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me . . . Anything can happen, child. Anything can be"

*Shel Silverstein*

Offline troutstalker2

  • House Bee
  • **
  • Posts: 213
  • Gender: Male
Re: What justifies a hot hive
« Reply #2 on: June 03, 2009, 10:07:42 pm »

  I had what I would concider a hot hive. They would meet you 15 feet from the hive headbutting and would sting if I gave them the chance. Smoking did not help. When you opened the hive they would make a bee line for your hands and vail stinging at every opportunity, and then follow you 50 feet into the garage just to show you who's boss. Your's sound to me to be about normal, try a little smoke and move slowly and gently.
David

Offline johnnybigfish

  • Super Bee
  • *****
  • Posts: 2039
  • Gender: Male
    • The World of Johnnybigfish
Re: What justifies a hot hive
« Reply #3 on: June 03, 2009, 10:45:56 pm »
Yeh, use smoke...It makes a world of difference!
My bees all used to be calm and never stung me.....But, I have a dog now who runs thru the apiary chasing anything his eyes see or thinks they see, resulting in bees that sting me.
 However......I'm not the conventional type of beekeeper...I'm in my 3rd year...I hardly ever suit up...I'll take the stings over roasting alive in the beesuit any day! This doesnt mean I like stings by any means ;)...But, this year, I try to use my smoker more often, even when feeding...Like Iddee says, the smoker also moves bees out of the way so you dont mash as many when putting stuff back together. I dont like having to light my smoker as it seems to just start working good after Ive done what I needed to do! It always takes me awhile to get it lit too. I probably should use a propane torch to start it.
I dont know what the bees are doing outside in the evening but I sometimes have bees working my moonflowers way after the sun goes down(but not all dark yet).

your friend,
john

Offline Cheryl

  • House Bee
  • **
  • Posts: 232
  • Gender: Female
  • top bar beekeeper
Re: What justifies a hot hive
« Reply #4 on: June 04, 2009, 12:08:01 am »
I dont know what the bees are doing outside in the evening but I sometimes have bees working my moonflowers way after the sun goes down(but not all dark yet).
I'll bet that makes for some interesting honey!  8-)

I live in Arizona, and my bees are ferals - two from swarms, one from a cutout - three hives to date.  I had a fourth that was also a cutout, and it was HOT. I didn't keep them. Even as a small colony, I'd smoke 'em and then barely bump the hive and it would spit mad guards like a machine gun. These came straight to my head (veil!). Smoke wasn't enough to quiet them. I didn't keep them long enough for the colony to get big. Wasn't worth the trouble.

FYI, this particular cutout was found at ground level, under a set of deck stairs. I'm learning that ferals which nest low like that are more likely to be more AHB-ish than most. (Most bees out here are Africanized, but in varying degrees.)
We are what we repeatedly do.
Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.

~ Aristotle

Offline JP

  • The Swarm King
  • Universal Bee
  • *******
  • Posts: 11709
  • Gender: Male
  • I like doing cut-outs, but I love catching swarms!
    • JPthebeeman.com
Re: What justifies a hot hive
« Reply #5 on: June 04, 2009, 01:20:05 am »
To mimic what Iddee said, people, please use your smoker before going in and keep it handy.

There seems to be this wave lately of people having pride in the fact that they don't use the smoker, or only use it on certain hives, whatever.

Smoke helps you control your bees, masks alarm pheremone and helps you have the upper hand when they get pissy.

What I do when a hive is hot and pissy?

Smoke the living daylights out of them, this will teach most to conform.

A hot hive is imo, one that consistently goes for the jugular, they always on every inspection require lots of smoke, you constantly have to smoke them at every turn in order to get through your inspection, they always seem to be willing to put up a fight.

A hive like this is just no fun to work and should be re-queened.

With that said, I've had some that I've given third and fourth chances to that became workable and reasonably friendly.

I think we owe it to our bees to ride things out a bit before throwing in the towel and requeening.

Sometimes its a transition thing, perhaps they are in a supersedure mode, or the weather had them pissy, things can and do change with their temperments, so I'm not quick to requeen until I know the verdict is guilty.


...JP
My Youtube page is titled JPthebeeman with hundreds of educational & entertaining videos.

My website JPthebeeman.com http://jpthebeeman.com

Offline mjb1

  • New Bee
  • *
  • Posts: 29
  • Gender: Male
Re: What justifies a hot hive
« Reply #6 on: June 04, 2009, 08:56:03 pm »
Thank you for the replies the info is appreciated I wasnt thinking of requeening. Just seemed odd for the bees to react the way they did .I didnt provoke them only removed the outer part of the telescoping cover for a quick look since I added the second deep a week ago. Bought them as a nucleus from a local Bek that travels from state to state pollinating crops. They have grown very quickly and build comb very quickly. From now on I will smoke them everytime. Thanks again Happy Beekeeping.

Offline Michael Bush

  • Universal Bee
  • *******
  • Posts: 19805
  • Gender: Male
    • bushfarms.com
Re: What justifies a hot hive
« Reply #7 on: June 05, 2009, 03:14:54 pm »
There are many different traits that are sometimes interpreted as hot.  One is just excitable bees where many are in the air.  One is head butting.  One is following.  One is stinging. 

I don't mind a little excitable if they have enough other good traits, such as productivity and survivability, but I'd rather they were more calm. 

I don't care for the head butting, but it's tolerable.

Following is irritating.  I want to get back in my vehicle or my house and I don't like having a lot of bees following me.

But the trait I won't tolerate is when they all want to sting me at once.  :)
My website:  bushfarms.com/bees.htm en espanol: bushfarms.com/es_bees.htm  auf deutsche: bushfarms.com/de_bees.htm  em portugues:  bushfarms.com/pt_bees.htm
My book:  ThePracticalBeekeeper.com
-------------------
"Everything works if you let it."--James "Big Boy" Medlin

Offline Brian D. Bray

  • Heavenly Beekeeper
  • Heavenly Beekeeper
  • Galactic Bee
  • ********
  • Posts: 7369
  • Gender: Male
  • I really look like this, just ask Cindi.
    • http://spaces.msn.com/thecoonsden
Re: What justifies a hot hive
« Reply #8 on: June 05, 2009, 04:00:16 pm »
Hot bees are when they meet you at the gate to the bee yard and start stinging.
Proddy is when the head butt you at the gate and sting you during inspection.
Peaceful bees are those that ignore you while you work until you do something stupid like drop a frame of bees or squish 1 between your hand and the frame.  Clumsy stings are the beekeepers fault and shouldn't be considered at all when accessing bee temperment.
Life is a school.  What have you learned?   :brian:      The greatest danger to our society is apathy, vote in every election!

 

anything