Hi Mike You question whether rough handling can in fact make bees bad tempered. I recently removed a swarm of bees from withing the joyces (sp) of a bridge over which a constant stream of heavy trucks thundered. They were, despite their large colony size, one of the nicest swarms I have ever worked with. In total the colony comprised well over twelve large combs (three pizza areas at least) and had at least half of that as brood - normally such a colony would be quite agro but these were friendly. I believe frequent handling calms bees. Keep well Garth Garth Cambray Camdini Apiaries Grahamstown Apis mellifera capensis Eastern Cape Prov. South Africa Time = Honey After careful consideration, I have decided that if I am ever a V.I.P the I. may not stand for important. (rather influential, ignorant, idiotic, intelectual, illadvised etc)