The prescription for a nasty hive is to requeen it with gentler stock.
Unfortunately, there is no nastier job in beekeeping.

The best advice I can give for making such a hive a little easier to work is
to split the hive into two smaller units (no need to find out immediately
which one has the queen).  Work in the middle of a cool afternoon if
possible.  Each of the two sub-hives will be less populous and will tend to
be easier to work.  Once the queen is found and replaced, the hives can be
reunited.

W. G. miller
Gaithersburg, MD