We are fairly new beekeepers, had a few hives for several years, from
wild swarms  we originally caught. This year we got big time and bought 3
more hives from an  guy gettin out of it, bringing us up to 5. We requeened
2 hives with Weaver buckfast queens back in Septemebr to try them out. We
had little honey production this year in any of our hives .We had gone to
Peirco Frames this year and between that and the drought not sure we were
not sure if  the bees themselve were responsible for poor honey  gathering
or other factors.
    Anyway, The hive in question was very strong, numbers wise, (one of the
original "wild" swarms)  and very agressive  when the hive was opened,
always has been more aggressive than the other hives. We  requeend it, then
we checked about a week later and found fresh brood so thought all was
well. We then installed apistan stips and patties as we have done last
several years. Just went back today to remove apistan and have very few
bees in the hive,1000-2000 maybe, very slow moving,(other hives we were in
today had  lots of activity) no brood, and a fair number of yellow jackets,
who were very active. I'm sure there is a good reason  for this but I don't
know it.
 
We live in the mountains of East Tennessee, and had our first real frost
about a week ago. Tempeture today is in the 60's
Thanks for the replies
Scott Pilkington