Hi John & all!
 
Does anyone know how long bees can retain information?
 
There was a feral hive I had the displeasure of moving after the wind
knocked a 50' high cottonwood down to a 3" pile of ruble, devastating
the hive it held.  These bees weren't happy and were queen-less for a
couple days.  You can imagine how the next few days were for everyone -
including the neighbors.
 
The point I'm getting to, and which John brought up (bees violent for
several days) is something which happened that night.  Most of the bees
stayed on the side of the house where the new hive was placed (some
50-70' from the front door & clearly out of eyesight).   At night, after
everything was finished, a lone bee chased me in through the front door
as I was disrobing from my gear.  The very next morning around 7am, I
walked out the same door and began suiting up to check on the bees.
Within 10 seconds,  just as I sat down and not three feet out the door,
a bee dropped onto me and stung right next to my eye (ended up closing
the eye - so I remember it well).  No other bees were in flight, right
up to the hive (end of summer & a bit cool).
 
IF that was the same bee whom chased me the night before, HOW did it
remember that it was angry all night long?   Did it sit waiting for my
return or am I just imagining the causal events?  Did John's bees
remember they were angry for 2 days or did they stay that way by seeing
them enter & exit the house?
 
BTW - I've given up on using those so-called ventilating helmets.  When
bees are super-angry they'll find EVERY bee-space available to enter.
This past summer I had an event I'll hope NEVER-NEVER-NEVER happens
again (to anyone) when the whole hive unleashed unholy terror on me -
and suffered stings to my face time & time again - until I finally
figured out they were pulling themselves through my extra-special prize
Dadant 'ventilated' helmet.  Mesh is the only way to properly shield if
you want a ventilated helmet.  Those people living in AHB zones may want
to re-think their equipment for this coming year.
 
Matthew Westall - Castle Rock, CO
 
 
John Valentine wrote:
 
> she came outside and taped my helmet.  All this just to close-up the
> hive.
> The bees from that hive attacked the neighbors several hundred feet
> away the
> next day.  And for two days whenever we left the house, we and the
> dogs were
> under attack.  I moved the hive out into the woods "at night" and
> while