Natural Beekeeping International Forum

[rakeman]

Just been stung by a bee in the garden . Last year my first colony (a very docile and easy to mange colony) swarmed and I managed to retrieve them and put the in a new TBH. It appears that they are not a particularly big colony but they do seem quite feisty. Not good when we have grandchildren moving in next door or when we're working on our vegetable plot. I feel we need to re-home this colony. It would be great if someone who knows better how to manage such bees, could take them on. A token donation for the hive would be appreciated.
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[Barbara]

Hi

Sorry to hear your bees have turned a bit feisty. I'm not in a position to take them but I just wanted to mention that my bees (which I keep right outside my back door) go through a temperamental phase at this time of year and they usually settle down after a few weeks. I'm not sure if it is a hormone imbalance due to swarming season or just the fact that there are more nurse bees than the hive has a use for and they go looking for mischief instead....I see it as them being promoted to guard duty before they are mature enough to handle it. Whilst I understand that you want to protect your grandchildren, I also see it as the responsibility of beekeepers to try to negate the general public's fear about getting stung..... let's face it, most of us got stung by something as a child.... it is part of growing up and living on the earth with other creatures and learning respect for them.

Just my thoughts anyway.

Good luck finding a solution, whatever that might be.

Regards

Barbara

[catchercradle]

A lot of the bee keepers around me here in Cambridge,reckon the bees are often a bit feisty when the junk food (oil seed rape) comes to an end. It was a bout two weeks early starting here but I haven't been been out in the right direction to see if it is over here yet. I haven't noticed this myself but am on an allotment site and surrounded by gardens so it may be that bees in the city as opposed to out on farmland don't have the sudden drop off in availability of food.

[DrMartin]

Yes, the OSR coming to an end can make the bees a little tetchy. Moving a TBH isn't trivial so I'd suggest requeening with a bought-in docile queen as first resort.