Page 14 - AWA Vol.42-No.6 issue

BEES AND BEEKEEPING

How To Handle Aggressive Bees Without Replacing the Colony

Have you noticed your bees acting the heat breaks.
more aggressive lately and aren’t sure Predators Or Pests Testing the En-
what to do about it? There are many rea- trance
sons a colony may start charging at you
mid-inspection, following you well past A colony may react sharply during
the hive entrance, or stinging without the day because something disturbed
much provocation. Before you replace it overnight. Skunks scratching at the
an aggressive colony, look into wheth- entrance overnight push a colony into
er you can correct the behavior through a defensive stance that lingers well af-
other means first. Below, you’ll find the workers notice the missing queen scent ter the skunk wanders off. Mice nest-
most common causes of aggression within a day or two as pheromone lev- ing in an unused super or yellow jack-
and what each one tells you about your els drop. Without that scent circulating ets testing a weak colony for raiding
bees; once you know what’s driving the through the hive, workers lose the cue can trigger that same lingering edge.
behavior, you can handle aggressive that normally keeps them calm during Check the ground in front of the hive for
bees without giving up on the colony handling. Open the hive during this scratch marks or bee carcasses, since
altogether. window and you’ll meet a noticeably those marks point to nighttime visitors
sharper response than you’re used to. rather than anything happening inside
Recognizing The Signs of an Aggres- A quick check of a frame for eggs or the colony.
sive Colony young larvae can tell you whether the
A reduced entrance keeps smaller
How can you tell if your colony is ag- queen is still there and laying. predators out without restricting the
gressive or not? In most cases, it’s fairly If you don’t find either one, give the bees themselves, and clearing brush
obvious: your bees will be visibly irri- colony time to raise a new queen on its near the hive removes the hiding spots
tated and harder to work around. But own, or introduce a mated queen your- pests rely on. A motion-activated light
some signs show up before the colony self before the irritability becomes the near the hive stand discourages night-
reaches that point. Here are a few be- new pattern. The colony’s tempera- time visitors without adding much to
haviors that tell you the hive may be ment should settle within a few days of your routine.
more defensive than normal: the new queen beginning to lay.
Calming The Colony Without Start-
•Bees that follow you well beyond the Genetics From a Particular Queen ing Over
hive entrance instead of turning back Line
toward the colony once you’ve moved The fix that works depends on which
a few yards away. Some genetic lines run hotter than oth- cause is driving the aggression. Al-
ers, even when every other condition in ready narrowed it down to one cause?
•Multiple bees pinging off your veil or the hive looks normal. Africanized hy- Good, that’s the hardest part done.
suit before you’ve even cracked open brid genetics carry this trait most con-
the lid. sistently, but standard European lines A queenless hive calms back down

•Stings that land with little or no warn- can produce queens whose daughters once you confirm there’s no queen pres-
ent and either let the workers raise a
ing, with no head-butt or buzz before- sting with little provocation too. If you new one from existing eggs or introduce
hand to give you a beat to back away. requeen every year or two and the tem- a mated queen from a supplier. Genet-
perament change lined up with a new
•A sharp rise in the pitch of the colo- queen, compare that queen’s source ics calls for a different fix: requeening
ny’s hum the moment you walk up to the with the colony’s behavior. Swapping with stock from a calmer line changes
hive. in a queen from a calmer line changes the colony’s temperament within six to
eight weeks, as her brood gradually re-
•A change in how bees act when you the entire colony’s temperament within places the previous queen’s.
simply walk past the hive without open- about six weeks, once her daughters
Weather-driven aggression resolves
ing it, not just during inspections. take over the workforce. on its own as conditions shift, so timing
Common Reasons Bees Turn Aggres- Weather Pressure Building Before a your inspections around mild, calm af-
sive Storm ternoons keeps you out of the worst of it.
A jump in aggression almost always Bees respond to barometric pressure If predators or pests are testing the
traces back to something specific hap- changes. As pressure drops ahead of a hive, securing the entrance and clear-
pening in or around the hive. What storm, foragers stay packed inside the ing the area around it removes the pres-
changed right before the bees got tes- hive instead of working the field, and a sure that’s keeping the bees on edge.
ty? Once you can name the cause, you crowded brood box with extra bees un- About a week after you’ve made these
have a much better shot at correcting it derfoot turns defensive in a hurry. Heat changes is enough time to judge wheth-
instead of guessing your way through and humidity spikes cause a similar re- er the aggression has eased, since bees
inspection after inspection. Some caus- action, especially when a hive sits in di- don’t reset their behavior the moment a
es resolve within days, while others call rect sun without enough airflow moving threat disappears.
for a longer-term change like requeen- through the entrance.
A quick note about what changed and
ing. If the aggression shows up during a run when gives you something concrete to
of hot afternoons or right before storms,
A Hive Without a Laying Queen check against if the colony’s tempera-
wait for better weather before judging ment shifts again next season.
When a colony loses its queen and the colony’s temperament. Many hives
hasn’t raised a replacement yet, the calm down once the pressure passes or Circle 12 on enquiry card
12 Vol. 42 No. 6