Dear Michaela.
I echo Monica’s response which is very comprehensive. One of my topbar hives
was very aggressive after the prime swarm and old queen departed. I can only
surmise that the new genes were more defensive. The colony survived only
another year and I put in a new swarm without a recurrence of such aggression.
I could not identify any other factors and none of the other colonies were like
the aggressive one.
Do you have another colony or are you without bees at home?
Best wishes, Ingo
Sent from my iPhone
On 8 Aug 2021, at 15:35, wyenaturalbeekeeping
<wyenaturalbeekeeping@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Hi Michaela
Good to hear from you: this is a great opportunity to revive the Wye Nat
Beeks mailing list!
I’m sorry to hear your bees became so defensive. Was this just one colony? Or
several? Are they thriving in their new location? And are they still just as
grumpy? I’ll offer a couple of suggestions, but there may not be a
straightforward answer.
If the colony has become queenless the bees may be defensive while they try
to raise a new queen. If they succeed in raising a new queen the behaviour
normally settles down in a few weeks. It’s quite late to raise queens now -
drones are being chucked out at this time - and if they don’t succeed then
the colony won't survive.
If they are weak and being robbed, or suffering other stresses, that too may
bring on defensive behaviour. Fumes and vibrations from lawnmowers can annoy
them but this would normally stop within a few days.
If the bees are in the process of swarming and raising queens in inclement
weather, they may be more defensive than usual. We had some thundery times
earlier this year which does seem to upset bees. We’ve also had periods of
dry heat and wet cold. Either of these can create a nectar dearth with will
agitate bees. However, they would normally settle down quite quickly once a
good nectar flow returns.
The swarming season does often change the character of a colony. The old
beekeeper folklore says that introducing non-local bees, particularly Am
ligustica, makes our local Am mellifera bees more defensive. If there are
beekeepers near you (within a few miles or so) who have brought in non-local
bees, your new queen may have mated with some non-local drones. If, like us,
you have quite dark bees, you can sometimes tell that there have been other
drones about because of the marked colour change (to more orange) in the new
bees emerging. In our experience, when another beekeeper has moved non-local
bees into our area we sometimes find that a colony will become more
defensive. They usually settle down after a month or so, and the next year /
swarming season their behaviour returns to normal. I should add that in
practice all our local bees will have some degree of hybridisation, so there
will often be a few lighter bees in any colony, but - certainly round here -
our bees are mostly dark and that seems to be the dominant trait.
Conventional beekeepers who prize gentleness (because it makes for easier
handling) will normally requeen a colony that has become too defensive. On
the other hand, there are beekeepers who say that their grumpiest bees make
the most honey. As natural beekeepers we would point out that gentleness may
not be a useful trait for bees. We don’t try and breed gentleness in because
we don’t know what we would also be breeding out; there are theories that
defensive colonies are healthier, but I couldn’t give you the science behind
that.
I quite understand that you won’t want a very grumpy colony in the middle of
your garden, so moving them away was probably a good idea. If you keep an eye
on them (wear a bee suit!) over the next few months you may find they settle
down once they’ve established themselves for the winter. Let’s hope you’ll be
able to have bees in the garden again soon.
Do let us know how it goes. And if any other of the WyeNat Beeks reading this
has further light to shed on the problem, please do join in the conversation!
Monmouth Bee Festival was a great success: it was well attended and everyone
enjoyed having an outdoor event to attend. Soon I’ll suggest reconvening a
Wye Nat Beeks meeting for early autumn; if we have a warm dry September an
outdoor meeting might be a welcome return to beekeeping conversation.
All best wishes
Monica
Monica Barlow
broadstonefarm@xxxxxxxxx
On 6 Aug 2021, at 20:28, michaela wedemeyer <michaelawedemeyer@xxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Dear Monica and Mark
I hope you are both well and life is good for you despite of covid etc.
Have you by any chance heard of any other beekeepers, whose bees have all of
a sudden turned aggressive? Ours did about 2 months ago, and it got so bad,
that we ended up relocating them a long way away from any civilisation. We
do miss them, but at least we can make use of our garden again.
Sadly, we missed the bee-day in Monmouth last Sunday, but I hope it went
well.
All the best,
Michaela
