Mystery aggressive colony in apiary

[Patrick]

Read James Tew article in recent BBKA News with interest.

Describes a fairly typical scenario with a dozen hive apiary in which some flying bees suddenly become excessively aggressive. He describes being unsure from which hive(s) they were coming from and not wishing to imperil neighbours what option he should consider next.

What would you have done?

[Chrisbarlow]

I havent read the article but based on your description.

If I didnt know which colony was being aggressive

Seal all hives up night before as late as possible.

then inspect them as early as possible (temps allowing/depending on time of year)

Before you inspect, open the colony entrance and inspect. they would be quick 5minute inspections. Just enough to make sure the flying bees knew you were there and could have a go if they wanted to.

As you work round I would hope the aggresive one would "jump out"

If it doesnt, then make a note when you start getting harrassed. the suspects would be the last two hives inspected, removed these hives to an out apiary and see if the problem continues. If it does. repeat the above before bring those two back.

Thats my suggestion

[AdamD]

One would normally have an inkling as to which colony is misbehaving - although not always so. In general, if there were followers or veil pingers, after an inspection, that would be an indication of a colony that needs to be moved or dealt with in some way.

As Chris suggests, opening colonies in the morning one by one after they were shut in for the night could be a means of identifying the culprits.
You can sometimes used colony history as a clue - for example if it was re-queened a month or two previously and the new queens' daughters have started their transition from house bees to flying bees and the behaviour starts to get worse, then you can pin it down to dodgy genetics of that queen.

It is worth pointing out that as we move towards first inspections of the year, if not done already, a colony that is aggressive as a small one in Spring will probably get worse as it grows, so rather than 'hope it will get better' action needs to be taken, possibly be uniting to a larger one. A 'naughty' small colony is manageable; a 'naughty' full-sized one can be challenging and unpleasant.

[Jim Norfolk]

I wonder if it would be possible to catch some of the aggressive bees and then shake them up with flour and release them. I have used this method when finding a settled swarm in my apiary. The white floured bees can be seen going back to their original hive.

[Patrick]

All good tactics.

I thought the article was surprisingly short on some of the above ways to narrow down the problem hive aside from a slightly vague reference to the suspected hive.

Odd that apparently the problem hive was not particularly an issue on inspection. Most of the excessively defensive I have encountered were pretty self evident.

Particularly like the closing up and then reopening in slow sequence, allowing the flying bees to do their thing hive by hive.

[Chrisbarlow]

I wonder if it would be possible to catch some of the aggressive bees and then shake them up with flour and release them. I have used this method when finding a settled swarm in my apiary. The white floured bees can be seen going back to their original hive.

I have never though about flouring up nasty bees but must be worth a try if you cant find the nasty one.

[NigelP]

Odd that apparently the problem hive was not particularly an issue on inspection. Most of the excessively defensive I have encountered were pretty self evident.

Yes, I thought that was a bit odd. Like yourself they usually go hand in glove so a quick inspection usually lets you know which are the aggressive ones.