Allen wrote:


So a mean hive is a mean hive is a mean hive.  What is the best way to 
de-fang it and make use of its resources?



It depends on the reason for the poor temper. A few weeks ago I was asked to help a friend move a hive from somebody's garden as it had become aggressive and the gardener was getting stung.

I went to help the beekeeper examine it earlier this week and it was perfectly well behaved - but broodless. I was also asked to lend some equipment to get bees out of a nearby barn wall where they had been 4 years ago.  It appears that they arrived at about the time we moved the 'aggressive' hive there (post hoc ergo propter hoc!).  I set up the equipment at their entrance with no protection, precautions or stings.

I have often noticed that temper deteriorates when a colony is getting in the swarming mood, sometimes weeks before queen cells appear.

Another member of our BKA reported that the hive at the end of the row was always bad tempered, even when positions were rearranged. Eventually he worked it out that this was where his dog habitually cocked a leg - a scent marker, presumably containing pheromones.

Chris

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