> > From: Michael Moroney <[log in to unmask]>
> > Anyway, around here on a nice sunny day the bees are too busy out gathering
> > nectar, and almost don't care if you open their hive.  Most beekeepers
> > would requeen a hive as mean as the one you describe.  It is true that
> > killing bees does trigger the defensive mechanism in other bees.
>
>         How does requeening calm a mean hive?
 
The behavior ("meanness") of bees is genetic to a certain extent.  The
queen is the mother of all the bees, so her genes (and that of the drones
that had mated with her) determine the behavior of her offspring, the
workers.  A new queen (assumed from a reputable queen breeder or a "nice"
hive) will produce less agressive bees, so after the period of time it
takes for most of the older "mean" bees to die off the hive will be "nice".
 
A mean hive is likely to have undergone natural queen replacement and the
queen probably mated with wild drones.  Mean bees are more likely to
survive in the wild so a random wild drone is likely to have mean genes to
pass on.
 
-Mike