Hi All This tuesday I recieved an URGENT call from the local municipality about a swarm that had stung some people etc. I went to investigate. Upon arrival the street was rather clear. I drove up to the address I had been given and opened my car door. At that point I noticed bees bumping all my windows and coming in the passenger window which was open, as well as my now open door. Everything was quickly closed, stings scraped out and bee suit put on. At that point it became obvious that the bees had gone on a rampage. A sort of quacking sound came from a house about sixty yards away (30ish meters). Upon getting there there was a cloud of bees surrounding a litter of two week old puppies who were hidding in a patch of arum lillies. Another dog was inside the kitchen of the house, abandoned by the domestic worker with all doors open. The dog had smashed the cupboards and was inside, covered in margarine and beestings and was unable to move. All were sent to the vet. The pups died (sadly the offspring of a retired police dog, who had left the force after her companion was promoted out of the dog unit), and the other dog is still on a drip two days later. The mother of the pups being an alsation jumped the fence and left. Another person lost a cockateel and interestingly enough cats appeared to be exempt. Three people had to be hospitalised, one who was sitting in her garden unawares and suddenly got stung. Why did the bee do this? It appears that one of the municipal workers tried to rob the hive, which was located in an old oak tree. After locating a hive it appears he went and asked a domestic servant from a nearby housefor a can of pesticide to kill the bees so he could get the honey. (not very sharp) She gave him a can of insect repellant called Peaceful Sleep. This is non-toxic, just chases bugs like mosquitos away. Next, he climbed the tree and sprayed most of the can into the hive it would appear. This drove the bees mad and they flew out en mass, and were then unable to return to their hive, eventually electing to go on a rampage. To get the swarm out of the tree later, smoke failed, so I decided to gas them. Not wanting to use pesticide to kill them, I tried using a Hydrogen sulphide (H2S) supposedly highly toxic. A small hole was drilled in the tree and a long bottle with a few chuncks of iron sulphide and a few teaspoons of hydrochloric acid were dropped in. The hole was blocked up. After thirty seconds the whole swarm appeared to rush out of the hive entrance and abscond. Next they landed on a branch nearby and settled, no longer aggeressive at all. It appeared that most of the hive must have stung things as it was not an amazingly huge swarm, weighing about four pounds (2kg). The queen was located and killed, just in case it was here fualt the hive was so touchy about pesticide and a frame of brood from a good hive given. So lessons learned: Insect repellant makes bees cross. Hydrogen Sulphide is an excellent way of chasing a swarm out of a tight corner. (dangerous though) It also seems to calm the bees. I will post in a few weeks to say if the bees are acting normally in case there are long term effects. Anyhow, keep well Garth --- Garth Cambray Kamdini Apiaries 15 Park Road Apis melifera capensis Grahamstown 800ml annual precipitation 6139 Eastern Cape South Africa Phone 27-0461-311663 3rd year Biochemistry/Microbiology Rhodes University In general, generalisations are bad. Interests: Flii's and Bees.