Hi Paul,
That's very interesting ! sorry if I'm a little behind.
I looked at the bees in my hive/s and wondered why they all looked such
different colours !!! Also, I know I did rather Tee them off when I
split the hive two weeks ago BUT I've NEVER had they attack the way they
did. They went for our ankles like savage dogs ! We had to retreat to
the car and hide lol. !!! It really was unexpected though. Come to
think about it there isn't much if any OSR near my bees either.
Regarding wasps, aren't they all queen wasps we're seeing at this time
of year? Seems a little early to have fully functioning wasp nests
issuing forth marauding wasps yet. Personally I've noticed a lot of
large wasps come into the house. I found one dead in two different
bedrooms lately and I've had to catch and remove at least 4 from the
house. They all look large though...too large for new wasps. They seem
more like queens looking for somewhere to nest to me. It does suggest
thought that this year is going to be BAD from a wasp "pillaging" point
of view :'(
I do hope this reaches the group...fingers crossed ha ha.
Ann
On 24/04/2019 19:44, Paul Honigmann (Redacted sender paul.honigmann for
DMARC) wrote:
I saw George Fenemore today. He's an (old) farmer who also keeps about 80 hives, and has been keeping bees since I think the 1960s. His opinion is that the bees are not grumpy because of OSR, but because of the /lack/ of it. His hives are producing very little honey. "I have lost 120 acres of OSR to flea beetle this year, because chemicals to treat flea beetle have been banned. I only have 30 acres of OSR left. It's their main nectar source in the early year. The bees are stressed because they are low on food. It is the same across the county. The low rainfall is not helping the other crops either - you can see from their odd colours that they are stressed. Colonies in areas with lots of gardens, especially ornamental trees, will have more food."
Lynne points out that we have a lot of wasps here. I haven't located the nest(s) yet. That may be another stress factor for smaller colonies, though as far as we can see the wasps are keeping clear of our big ones.
Lynne and I had a long chat about what might be winding up bees around the county last night. We suspect it is a number of things combining together. For example, if a colony is /really/ numerous this early in the year, the adults will be stretched as they race to raise all the new brood, gather all the food they can, groom varroa off each other / chuck out infested larvae /and/ process nectar to honey all at once, until enough young have become adult and the colony reaches a stable critical mass and can deal with all these factors at once. So (if this idea is true) you can be a temporary victim of your own success.
Paul
‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ Original Message ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐
On Tuesday, 23 April 2019 22:35, Gareth John <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Go back 40 years and bees used to get really excited and defensive when feeding on OSR. I had the impression that more modern varieties are less likely to cause such behaviour. Maybe the varieties being used this year are grump-causing? I don’t imagine the plant breeders test for bee grumpiness!
I have OSR around me but my bees generally prefer feeding on other plants that are in flower at the same time such as maple hybrids and the like so I wouldn’t expect to see any effect. In passing, OSR pollen is said to be lacking in certain key amino acids so is not that nutritious.
Gareth
On 23 Apr 2019, at 22:11, Paul Honigmann (Redacted sender "paul.honigmann" for DMARC) <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
This irritability-with-each-other observation by Micheal (see email trail below) is extraordinary. Is anyone else seeing that?
It sounds like an environmental factor, maybe a new pesticide's side effects.
I have heard that bees get grumpy when they feast on Oil Seed Rape. Do you folk with bees that are grumpy this year have OSR in bloom near you? There is plenty up my way but I think it is 3+ miles away, thenormal limit of foraging, so my bees haven't spotted it yet which would explain why they have not become over-defensive.
(I've asked other beekeepers why OSR should make bees bad tempered. They don't know, but guess that this bit of lore is because sometimes migratory beekeepers move their hives to areas where there is ONLY OSR to eat, and maybe bees get bored of a mono-diet.)
Your honey crop can vary enormously from year to year because farmers rotate crops, so this year you could get a huge OSR honey crop, when last year it was just wheat near you.
Paul
‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ Original Message ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐
On Tuesday, 23 April 2019 21:01, Michael King <kingmichael845@xxxxxxxxx <mailto:kingmichael845@xxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
Likewise, one of my hives that has previously been ultra calm, has started this season in very bad temper. The Queen was born, and successfully established, last year; so I don't think there has been a change there that would account for the mood swing.
I used to be able to sit in front of this hive and watch the comings and goings without any protection. Last year they were even content for me to put my nose right up to the entrance and smell if things were right.
They now attack without provocation. Yesterday I entered the apiary and was immediately stung just above the eye whilst still several metres away. (That has now swollen to monstrous proportions, which is a little inconvenient as I am giving evidence in Parliament tomorrow.)
The interesting thing is that their irritability seems to be with each other, as much as with intruders. There are constant angry skirmishes from the guard bees every time a bee leaves or enters (and these are returning foragers with pollen, not robbers).
Overall their behaviour is skittish and the sounds they are making are quite different to usual. Rather than the blissful hum of contented bees, it sounds more like the high pitched notes of angry flies around the entrance.
Everything else is normal. They are in good health, building up strongly, and have plenty of stores.
All very odd, but surprisingly similar to what others are reporting.
Best regards
Mick (in Warwickshire)
On 23 Apr 2019 18:39, "Oxnatbees" <oxnatbees@xxxxxxxxx <mailto:oxnatbees@xxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
It may be the weather. Bees get anxious when it is about to
rain / thunder, and it feels rather like that here.
In general bees which have swarmed are really nice... too nice
to judge their real character. At first, you see, they have
nothing to protect in their new home. It generally takes about
a week for them to settle down and have brood and comb and
stores to defend, and only then d you learn their true demeanour.
I have been wondering about my own bees, one hive seems more
defensive than usual since it re-activated in Spring. I've been
thinking about this. I note that I just added a box to that
hive without trouble, probably because I lifted the entire 3
boxes already there as one unit and never broke the nest up,
just confused them a bit. (Note: I would have difficulty
lifting just 2 boxes if they were full of honey! I'm not some
kind of muscleman.) I have also done observations on them
without protection. I think my memory is selectively
exaggerating the bad events when I got buzzed by guards (like
mowing the other day, or standing in the bee line of their busy
entrance while gardening) and forgetting the more numerous OK
ones. This cognitive bias can confuse matters.
Anyhow that's my bees. Yours may differ.
Lynne points out wasps seem quite active now. I'm not sure if
they raid hives in Spring - I know they do at the end of
Autumn. That could be a stressor.
Paul
On Tue, 23 Apr 2019 at 17:07, Dawn Gosling
<magikmum49@xxxxxxxxx <mailto:magikmum49@xxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
Do you know ( I'm a bit of a dreamer) but think they are
not aggressive but checking you out. If they are a little
insecure they may just be seeking comfort in someone they
know???
Ready for ridicule now be gentle:))
On Tue, 23 Apr 2019, 15:47 Marc Sheikh,
<marc.sheikh@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<mailto:marc.sheikh@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
Hi Gilliane,
Interesting you have noticed increased aggression, I
have also had the same experience the last couple of
weeks. I’ve also noticed quite a few hornets and wasps
around and had assumed it was spike in competitive
activity due to the increase in temperature which has
put the bees up to deathcon 5. I have the stings to
prove it which has not been an issue in the past...
Regards
Marc
> On 23 Apr 2019, at 15:05, Gilliane Sills
<dmarc-noreply-outsider@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<mailto:dmarc-noreply-outsider@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
>
> The bees in my hive swarmed some time over the
weekend - we came back from a sailing trip yesterday to
find them in a bush - a big swarm. Richard helped me
get them off the bush into a box and I hived them
yesterday evening. I shan't know for a couple of days
whether they've settled in the new hive, but I'm
keeping my fingers crossed. The colony had seemed very
vigorous earlier, I thought I'd seen drones, and the
parent colony had swarmed last year early in May so I
was half expecting that they'd swarm soon this year.
>
> One thing that surprised me is that they were more
aggressive when I was hiving them than the parent
colony has ever been. I shook the box on to a white
sheet in front of the hive and they started going in
immediately, but quite a few bees buzzed noisily round
me, clearly trying to get at my face. Does anyone have
any thoughts why this might have been?
>
> Best wishes
>
> Gilliane
>
>
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