In a message dated 97-10-21 14:07:54 EDT, [log in to unmask] (Marlin
(SCOTT) Kline) writes:
 
<< Did I do some thing wrong ?
 and any idea what type of bees I own.?"I also counted somewhere in the
 area 150 + stingers in my gloves and pants." But the honey is good.! >>
 
   I've seen bees like that. The old german black bee used to be common in
this area before mites and the return of cotton (pesticide misuse).
 
   It was the bee brought by the early settlers, and a remnant predominated
in the wild. So our Italian queens would mate with them, and produce some
remarkably savage offspring sometimes. I have commented to other beekeepers
on more than one occasion: "You know, these bees could kill us, if we didn't
have protection."
 
   I don't like the bees that hammer on the plastic helmet like a hailstorm.
The ones that hit the air, when the smoke hits them.  They are not happy
bees, and the beekeeper who works them is guaranteed to not be very happy
either.
 
   A friend of mine used to split all his bees into nucs each year and let
them raise their own queens. He did not buy queens, nor make any effort at
selective breeding. He has an outfit that became known for bad bees, and he
began to lose nuc sales. He did not want to stop, he claimed that the black
bees made more honey, but he finally did begin to requeen many of the worst.
 
   If your hive is really bad, and it stays bad no matter what the condition,
it may be there are still some of these wild germans around your area, and
your hives superceded and got crossed with them. The solution would be
requeening (wait until spring now). You might have to get some assistance
from someone with experience.
 
   Personally I would (in the spring) place a nuc into a full sized box
alongside them. Then I'd move the hive a hundred feet or so. The field force
will go into the young hive. They will be nasty for a while, but the old bees
will soon die off and the new hive will be going like gangbusters.
 
   Then after a day, requeen the old hive, with most of the field force gone
and they will not be near as bad.  If they still are too much for you to
handle, move them again. When you requeen, you will have nothing but young
bees and they will accept the new queen much better.
 
   If the hive is fine the next time you work it, genetics is not the
problem; there was some condition that set them off.  Was there any evidence
of skunks, or other animal or human molesters? Was there a distant
thunderstorm rumbling when you worked them? Any evidence of bees robbing each
others' hives? Had all nectar flow just stopped? Several days of
overcast/rain?
 
   I once went into a bee yard that a couple kids had been tearing through
with four wheelers, skidding about and throwing sand against the hives. They
ate me up! I went to see their papa, and solved that problem.  (When a dog
keeps chickens in a turmoil, they will stop laying - a good way to present it
to folks. It's also a wonder that the kids did not get stung.)
 
   Some of the hybrid queens are very gentle, but when they are superceded,
their offspring can be really bad. Did you have hybrid queens?
 
   Don't give up! Get some experienced help, if you need it. But bad bees are
a fluke, and they are less and less common these days, as the wild germans
are mostly gone. And with experience, you will learn that there are some
times when it is best to simply let the bees alone and come back to them on a
better day. That is one of the wonderful things about being a hobbyist. A
commercial beekeeper who is staying in a motel, and paying some help, is
going to do the bee work no matter what, so we sometimes have to just grin
and bear it.
 
[log in to unmask]    Dave Green   Hemingway, SC  USA
http://users.aol.com/pollinator/polpage1.html