Hello the list, I had an amusing (to me at least) experience over the weekend which caused me to think about smoke and alarm response. I was making splits, the weather was great, and the bees in a mellow mood. A little bit of smoke at the entrance, and a puff or two under the lid and I was able to make splits in shirtsleeves and shorts...was only stung once during about 4 hours of opening boxes, pulling frames, and shifting supers about. On the fifth or so hive, I smoked them lightly and opened the box whereupon I was jumped by about 10 drones. The workers were going about their business, ignoring me but these drones were acting like an agressive worker...the buzzing the face, the bumping into me,...all the actions a worker would take when mad enough to say "go away" but not yet mad enough to sting. This went on the entire time I was working on the hive and continued a little bit when I moved to the next hive. No queens in my pocket...no other hive acting the same way, just the one. In the past I have had one or two drones buzz and bump me from time to time but never this many and this concentrated an effort. Brought to mind several question though.... 1. If the actions were not aggression, what were they? The queens for the splits hadnt yet arrived so, no queen pheremone on me. My teeshirt was a neutral grey, no bright colors, no tiedye patterns. The other hives didnt invoke the same response so, maybe it was an aggressive response. Which then leads to 2. If the actions were aggression, why would a stingless drone act agressively? I can see a benifit for the hive...they are large, noisy bees and, to animals or humans who associate all bees with painful stings, they communicate the message "We are bees, leave us alone" very loudly. If they are swatted and killed, the hive is not out the investment in a worker. 3. If it was aggression, why didnt smoke calm them like it did their sisters? Anyway, for me that one of the fun parts of working with bees, these little oddball moments that cause you to do a doubletake and maybe think a bit about their actions and reactions. take care Patrick M. O'Hearn Bears Choice Honey Bloomfield, New Mexico [log in to unmask]