Steven A. Creasy wrote:
>
> Howdy All!
>
> I have 4 hives, and have been trying to work them recently without the
> aid of a smoker.  I usually do this only on sunny days, in mid afternoon
> (1-3 PM).  Three of the hives usually do well with this method.  If I
> work slowly, only the occasional bee will rush to my glove and check me
> out and rarely will I get stung.  ONE hive, however, when opened,
> IMMEDIATELY reacts by sending 20-30 bees out and stinging like crazy!
> When my hand *slowly* approaches the top of the box to lift out a  frame,
> the bees just jump up to my hand and immediately begin stinging and
> quickly move to my chest and arms where I am stung through my coveralls.
> Is this behavior to be blamed on the queen?  She is a new queen, placed
> in that hive last fall.  They overwintered well, and are raising lots of
> new brood.  Will requeening this fall solve the problem?
 
Hello Steve!    I have read at least two responses to these questions,
which I thought quite accurate, and good.  Your description mirrows my
experiences with aggressiveness in that about 10-15% of colonies here in
my yard in Alabama show exactly your reaction patterns.
 
As queens age their colonies get more irritable, and if you buy new
queens from a good breeder he/she selects for gentleness, but genetics
in producing queens goes astray sometimes.  As a hobby beekeeper, I am
not going to put up with a queen whose colony is ugly.  Of course you
know that under certain conditions, ANY colony may be very unpleasant:
no nectar flow, very hot, large and/or crowded with lots of fighting
guards, and hurried and inaccurate work by the keeper, to name just a
few.
 
I am interested in why you chose to work your bees without smoke (pine
straw in my opinion is unbeatable), but too much smoke will some time
make an aggressive colony worse.  If you believe smoke disturbs the
colony unduly, and wish to minimize this, I understand it, though I have
some doubt that visiting in colonies is disruptive.  Not dedicated to
making honey, I go in at the drop of a hat, because following what they
do is so interesting; some nucs I look through nearly every day, and
until the honey supers get too many and too heavy I may go there twice a
week.  Three colonies in my backyard made 60.1 gallons (721 #) of honey
(extracted) last spring-summer, so visiting must not do much harm!
 I usually don't use a veil with most of my bees, never gloves, BUT,
 1) When one lights the smoker, *first* give you exposed parts---face
and neck, hands and bare arms, and any other skin, and hair, a through
"smoking" to disguise your animal scent...nose, mouth, and eyes
especially give it off, and most of all, your breath...Hold it, or
breath shallow if a few bees are buzzing about the face.  I seem to
rarely get stung.  (I don't wear the veil because its hard to see eggs
quickly and well, as well as small larvae (as when grafting queens at
hobby level), and even V.Mites on adult bees and brood.  BTY, I'm no
martyr and don't seek stings!  A professional beekeeper showed me this
trick when I was a beginner.
 
2. Pinch that Queen! Requeen as soon as the honey flow is over.  During
the buildup, and during the flow, just avoid entry into that colony.
The reasons here are too obvious.  I follow this to the letter, and 90+%
of the time, 6 weeks after requeening, happy time has arrived.
Hobbiests don't need the aggravation of a mean colony!
 
Don't forget, I am very curious as to why you don't use your smoker all
the time....except the fact that it takes time to fire up, even 'tho not
much!  Thanks!                                                                  Bob Barnett, Birmingham, Alabama
>
> Curiously,
>
> Steve Creasy-                           (\
> Maryville, Tennessee USA   {|||8-
> Proverbs 24:13, 25:16            (/
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