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Author Topic: too hot for me  (Read 8769 times)

Offline randydrivesabus

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too hot for me
« on: July 26, 2006, 01:18:36 pm »
i just came back from trying to work my 2 hives. the plan was to take a frame of brood from the strong hive and give it to the weak one and then super the strong one. i was wearing tyvek coveralls which seem to work very well. they cant sting through them at all. but they did find my grey socks and went to town on them. so i was stung on my ankels a lot. they were very aggressive and i found them to be impossible to work. every time i touched the hive a few hundred of them flew up to attack me. they followed me for a few hundred feet away from the hive and did not leave me alone. smoking them just got them more angry.
so i was able to get the super on and close them up but i could not do much more. i reckon i need better protection. the last time i worked that hive they were pretty hot too.
any comments or suggestions, etc. are welcome.

Offline TwT

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« Reply #1 on: July 26, 2006, 01:25:25 pm »
were did you buy them bee's from????
THAT's ME TO THE LEFT JUST 5 MONTHS FROM NOW!!!!!!!!

Never be afraid to try something new.
Amateurs built the ark,
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Offline randydrivesabus

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« Reply #2 on: July 26, 2006, 02:02:02 pm »
walter kelley....i got them back in april. italian queens.
up until about 3 weeks ago i was able to work both hives with a veil, t shirt, and shorts.

Offline TwT

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« Reply #3 on: July 26, 2006, 02:08:58 pm »
a dearth will make some hives defencive, I'm not sure were Kelly get there bee's but I was think from Ga not sure... drapers gets their bee's from the weavers and that's why I was asking...... you could be in a dearth and that could be the problem as long as their not queen less because a queen less hive can get mean as heck......
THAT's ME TO THE LEFT JUST 5 MONTHS FROM NOW!!!!!!!!

Never be afraid to try something new.
Amateurs built the ark,
Professionals built the Titanic

Offline randydrivesabus

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« Reply #4 on: July 26, 2006, 02:18:10 pm »
i dont think its a dearth here. the field is covered with clover blossoms.
i'll leave them alone for a coupla weeks and see what happens. the hive is packed with bees. interesting because this package arrived with a lot of dead bees and it used to be my weak hive.

Offline TwT

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« Reply #5 on: July 26, 2006, 02:20:48 pm »
see if you see any scratch marks on the entrance, it could be a animal at night getting them mean....
THAT's ME TO THE LEFT JUST 5 MONTHS FROM NOW!!!!!!!!

Never be afraid to try something new.
Amateurs built the ark,
Professionals built the Titanic

Offline abejaruco

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too hot for me
« Reply #6 on: July 26, 2006, 02:52:34 pm »
When you smoking, do you wait for a couple of minutes before opening the hive?
I have crossed bees, bucfast/nigra, the cocktail is explosive. I would say they are cannibals. But I have observed that when smoking the hive, and coming back 2 or 3 minutes later I can open the hive without casualties.

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Offline fcderosa

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« Reply #7 on: July 26, 2006, 03:25:12 pm »
Kelly gets their bees from GA.   :lol:


Hurts like heck getting stung there, that's why I now wear boots when I work the hives
The good life is honey on a Ritz.

Offline Kathyp

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« Reply #8 on: July 26, 2006, 04:15:20 pm »
mine came from ca.  i have the same problem.  very gentle up until a couple of weeks ago.

i think it's robbing, heat, honey, and no flow.  

smoke made them mad as heck, but a i turned the top cover over next to the hive, and sprayed the inside with some sugar water.  they all jumped on that and left me alone (kind of). figured if it was on the inside of the top cover, it would go back into the hive and not encourage robbers.  i also used a little light spray on the top of the heaviest frames and that helped too.

don't know if that's the recommended course of action, but i was a little desperate!
Someone really ought to tell them that the world of Ayn Rand?s novel was not meant to be aspirational.

Offline pembroke

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« Reply #9 on: July 26, 2006, 07:14:24 pm »
I mentioned to my mentor the other day about aggresssive bees and he said that this time of year  bees start to protect stored honey. Just a thought. Pembroke

Offline Diver

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« Reply #10 on: July 27, 2006, 08:36:35 am »
I'm not sure of your location (not big on American geography) but I sincerely hope you do not have a little bit of African that crept in the back door. What prompts me to think that is the distance you were followed and the quantity, a bit excessive for European bee's. Hopfully it's as the others suggest, weather etc. Best of luck.
listen to others. You do not always know as much as you think you do.

Offline randydrivesabus

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« Reply #11 on: July 27, 2006, 09:16:51 am »
thanks all. my ankles swelled up pretty good yesterday evening and it was a bit difficult to walk but its much better today....still a bit swollen but not too bad to move around. if i were wearing boots as fcderosa mentioned none of this would have happened. live and learn.
if there is some AHB in my bees then it seems to me that they would have been aggressive all along instead of just lately.
as in everything else theres no knowledge as good as experience and that takes time.

Offline TwT

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« Reply #12 on: July 27, 2006, 10:12:20 am »
randydrivesabus, it probably the heat, we all get cranky when we get hot.....,  :wink:
THAT's ME TO THE LEFT JUST 5 MONTHS FROM NOW!!!!!!!!

Never be afraid to try something new.
Amateurs built the ark,
Professionals built the Titanic

Offline leominsterbeeman

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« Reply #13 on: July 27, 2006, 10:23:40 pm »
Also -  Did yo spill anything on the Tyvek suit,  have on cologne?  Or even perfume? Hey,  I had to ask!   You may have had a stong odor they didn't like.
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Offline BEE C

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« Reply #14 on: July 28, 2006, 02:06:49 am »
At the commercial apiary I work at the bees have been hot too.  I wonder about the time of year (protecting the honey).  It also seems that once hives are three brood boxes high they get pretty hot, lots of population??Hives we moved into a cranberry field were the worst, it rained, and they were all large populations that we were marking to make splits later.  I picked out hundreds of stingers from my gloves.  Are hives at seasonal peak populations for your area?

Offline randydrivesabus

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« Reply #15 on: July 28, 2006, 06:43:10 am »
this particular hive is very populated. 2 deeps full.

the tyvek suit was new..no odor detectable by me.

Offline Diver

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« Reply #16 on: July 28, 2006, 08:35:20 am »
randydrivesabus: if there is some AHB in my bees then it seems to me that they would have been aggressive all along instead of just lately.

I was thinking on the lines of large hive, swarm/supercedure Africanised drone mating with new queen ( a little bit of African by  the backdoor). Then you would have the scenario gentle until new queen and brood then suddenly aggressive. Perhaps next time you open hive you could check the queen to see if it is your old one, if it is, then I am most certainly wrong ( which I sincerely hope I am). As I said Just the distance and quantity prompted these thoughts.
listen to others. You do not always know as much as you think you do.

Offline randydrivesabus

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« Reply #17 on: July 28, 2006, 10:38:14 am »
diver....i will do that next time when i have full body armor on. its definitely something i need to check out.
i am able to mow (with a lawn tractor)around the hive without being attacked.

Offline rapi

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« Reply #18 on: July 28, 2006, 12:40:58 pm »
at this time of year, mine are really mean too...Last time, all was ok working on super, when i tried to take a look in the body (i'm on Dadant hive) it was Lebanon............i guess they defend honey...

Offline Apis629

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« Reply #19 on: July 29, 2006, 01:45:39 am »
Rapi, you use those JUMBO dadant hive?  How do you lift that?!

 

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