You can make it easier on yourself dealing with them in by first moving the hive over a metre for at least 24 hrs and leaving a separate box on the original spot to get all those mean flyers out of the way. Makes it a lot easier to find the queen safely
I am now addicted to your videos and have been binge watching them for about 3 weeks as I will be collecting my first two hives this Saturday. So much to learn and you have taught me a great deal which gives me the confidence to handle the bees. I am also lucky enough to have a lady in the next village who will be my mentor until I feel confident enough to go it alone. I thought the beekeeping world would be a little colicky but it is far from that. So welcoming from everyone I have spoken to .
Thank god British, I'm not complaining but our weather is different to most other country's and we do tend to do things differently, that was a good lesson on how to do a re-queen.
Hi Graham, Thanks for your comments, you're so right about the weather, especially at the moment, heat wave heading up from the African continent in mid September! I'm hopeful the new queen will have settled in ok but you can never really be sure. Watch this space! Stewart
Hi Stewart am are Beekeeper for 11 year am from the commonwealth of Dominica in the west Indies love your videos has been following ever since I found your informative videos thanks
There is a fair amount of beekeeping info available on the internet, some of it good and some of it not all that useful. The contents of your videos in my opinion are very useful also technically really well made and presented, thanks.
Somerset and thank you for your comment.we have a mixture of national red cedar hives and poly nuc hives from maisemore as shown in one of your videos from the Bbka show. Second season and up to 9 hives in total,most are empty and awaiting 2 nuc colonies arriving April 28th.
Hi Shaun, I'm excitedly waiting for the poly hives to arrive, can't wait to get started with them and see how they perform. Good luck with this season. Stewart
Hi Stewart Grest video I've swapped over to using 'push-in' cages as the new queen starts laying and newly emerged bees start to care for her. Acceptance rate is much greater but not 100%. Your transportation queen cage can be reused if instead of breaking off the tab you simply slide the roof of the cage back so 6-8mm of fondant is exposed. The queen will then emerge when the fondant has been consumed and the cage can be easily reused. Keep up the good work
Thanks once again for the comments, I really like the idea of sliding the roof back a little, makes a lot of sense and aren't the best ideas the simplest. Stewart
Hi Shaun, thanks for commenting. I hope you enjoyed your first year in beekeeping. I don't know where you are from but here in Norfolk we've had it fairly mild and the bees have been going through a lot of food so I've just been putting fondant on my bees, Would be worth checking yours to see if they need any extra stores. Stewart
Stuart that was really helpful.... I currently have a colony in my back garden that has just become aggressive and chasing and stinging my neighbours. It has 3 full (uncapped) honey supers on it. Prior to an inspection 3 days ago, the colony was placid and not a problem at all. I need to move it and likely re-queen. Watching your video what how long was it between introducing the new queen and then checking and removing multiple capped queen cells?
The dummy board is used to close a section of the hive off,for example if you haven't many bees and want to close the size of the brood box down to a size that they can keep warm etc
Hi Shaun, Yes that's another way that I use the dummy boards, i most of my hive I use them as an end board to prevent brace comb building up on the first frame to come out at inspection time. Makes my life just that little bit easier. Stewart
There may be other reasons why bees behaving more bad. For example. When I got my bees they where gentle and as times moved on they got more aggressive which was my fault because in my case the hive did not have enough ventilation to keep the hive cool. After providing more cooling the hive went back to normal again. So look for problems in/at your hive that may get your bees upset, like bug infestation or other things. Thank you for the video.
Hi J&B, Thanks for commenting, yes as always there are many reasons bees can change temperament. This particular colony had for some time been quite defensive which was the reason for the removal of the queen. Lots of variables with these things and you're right to point it out. Thanks Stewart
Sorry for the late response, looks like I never got notified. I made a wooden mini box the size of your brood box or super all the way around but only 1.5 inches high. Then I drilled three 1 inch holes on each sides (Did not do it for the front and back side) with an hole-saw and glued aluminum window screen over it with an inside/outside gorilla glue'. This shallow '' screened mini super '' will go on top of your brood box or super or on top of your last box. Then goes the inner cover and then the outer main cover. The good thing is that you could put a screen over the oval hole on the inner cover or you could even close that oval hole to keep critters out and /or in or use that hole as a feeder hole without loss of ventilation. I use a solid bottom board so the entrance is the only way the air can get into the hive. Been doing this for 2 years now and it looks like the bees doing better and so far I did not see any bearding nor is there any cross combs nor combs that go from the frames to the inner cover. When I do a oxalic acid tratment I take the inner cover out and take the mini screened super off, so the vapors stay inside the hive longer, if you have honey supers you need to take the honey super off before treatment.
Thanks for posting this video mr Stewart. Hopefully you'll show us the rest of the requeening. I have a hive very similar to this. I'm thinking of requeening next season. But they sure do produce.
Hi Rabbit, Thanks for your comments. Yes I am planning to go back to that colony next week to see how the queen has settled down and hopefully laying lots of eggs. I also find that some of the grumpy ones are also the best honey producers so you have to make a trade off sometimes between grumpy bees and high honey yields. Stewart
Very nice video. Thanks for sharing this knowledge. Where I live, Kenya, ALL our hives are extremely aggressive. We live with it harvesting at night only and putting all our colonies behind a small fence so they have less chance of seeing passersby.
Hi Neal, I can't imagine what it must be like to manage colonies like these all the time, it must be very demanding to say the least! Good luck with your beekeeping. Stewart
> ALL our hives are extremely aggressive. We live with it harvesting at night I had wondered how Africans coped with Africans that will breed in a dead lion and chase a man for miles, just for lulz. How do they react to a smoker?
Hi Michael, Where do you have your bees? I can't imagine having to do my beekeeping at night! I always thought the dead lion scenario was an Urban Myth, I can't see how honeybees would nest in a dead lion but happy to be shown it to be true! Stewart
Smoker's help but we have to be very careful which wood we use. A common mistake is to use croton megalocarpus as shavings burn very easily even if green - they contain a black tar. Problem is the tar produces a smoke that is toxic to bees killing very many in each hive and is extremely irritating to us. Acacia paperbark - from say Acacia Kirkii - is best. Burns long and clean. Our Kikuyu grass works well too. Some farmers use oily rags which of course is terrible for bee health. That said Michael, even after a good smoking they're still as aggressive as ever.
This is what I read on a comment from another RUclips video related to aggressive bees and how they deal with them in Africa (I took a screenshot of the comment and saved it for future reference). Comment by Neal Skelton. "When I was stationed in South Africa, I was able to meet a local beekeeper. After a while, he was asked to help out another beekeeper several miles away. He didn't have reliable transportation, so I gave him a ride. What he did, was build a bonfire in front of the hive about 10 feet away from the front of the hive. Then he banged on the hive. Several hundred bees came out and went straight to the fire. The next week we went back and it was a completely different hive. That's when he replaced the queen." My suggestion would be, if you can't replace the queen, then repeat the same procedure every time you see that the aggression starts to build up again, that way you will be able to keep the number of the most aggressive bees down very effectively. That's apparently how they deal with aggressive bees in Africa, and apparently it works for them, it should work on your Africanized bees also. You could use a portable grill instead of a bonfire, get creative, and share this technique so beekeeper can work around their Africanized bees.
Great video. Funny how beekeeping differs. I am from South Africa. Our mildest hives is what you worked on. It is our experience that these bees perform much better than the "friendly" hives.
Excellent documentary. Does the new queen in a hive start laying very slowly. For the first 2 weeks after mating. I had 2 hives, 1 strong 1 very weak. I placed a new queen cell in the weak hive and never removed the old queen. I checked the hive a few times all signs indicated that things went ok, I was just concerned about how much she starts laying this video is what I needed to see. The sound of your bee's is great. 👍👍👍
Hi Eddie, Thanks for your comments. Generally, once the new queen has mated she does take a day or two to settle down but once she starts laying if she has the space and strength of worker bees in the hive she will lay really well from the start. I'm not sure I would place a queen cell into a colony with the old queen still in place, they will either tear down the queen cell or possibly swarm with the old queen. Better to make the colony queenless first. Stewart
That colony definitely seemed displeased with you and your beekeeping duties. I hope all went well and I hope the new queen has been happy and healthy.
Do the queens ever get stung through the holes in the queen cage? Also, it is my understanding that the recognition of the queen by the workers is not a gas pheromone , Meaning that the workers need to be in physical contact with the queen to recognize her. Is that true? If it is True, then how do the workers Become accustomed to a queen inside the cage? Thanks as always for the wonderful video!
Hi A.H., I never have been stung no, but I have been stung trying to put workers into the cage! Regarding the pheromone issue, it is passed around the hive by workers in attendance of the queen and also as the queen moves around the hive generally. Queen pheromones are quite ethereal and dissipate quite quickly so old pheromones clear and are replaced by the new queen's pheromone. Bees in contact with the cage pick it up and move it about the general cage area. Stewart
I have two new hives that have artificially been swarmed from an extremely aggressive hive. They have now started laying eggs. I wonder if the bees of these new hives would behave similarly to the original hive, as the queens in them may have the same genes as the original hive.
Your queens young will be half moms genetics and half dads since females are fertilized. Your Queen's will have gone off and mated. So, yes and no. They will be half the old genetics (angry) and half the drones genetics, so hope the drones that mated your Queen's were cool as a cucumber and you may be ok.
Hi J.T., With egg laying workers I tend to shake them out, if they are a small enough colony you could unite them with another and the stronger colony will stop the workers from continuing to lay. Stewart
Would not the drones in the badly behaving hive spread the undesirable traits to any virgin queens of the other hives? I was thinking you would also want to eliminate as many of the drone cells that were left from the old queen. Yes?
Hi Bill, Yes, if I were in queen rearing mode I would have moved the colony to another apiary where there was no chance of them breeding with any of my virgin queens. I was quite late in the season and I had completed all of my queen rearing for the year. Stewart
Hi Richard, I never use cover clothes for two reasons, time and disease risk. Moving a cloth from one colony to another is too time consuming for me and the risk of transmitting disease too great. Most of the time I can inspect colonies a lot quicker than when I'm on camera so it's just not worth it for me. Yes the bees can sting through the gloves but you get a feeling that they are trying first so you have a chance to stop them before it's too late! Stewart
You assume too much my foolish friend, still your tongue and be silent with such gibberish or perhaps it is your goal to irritate in which case we shall surely cross swords.....if crossing swords is what you seek.
would it make sense to mark the new queen before introducing to the nasty colony a) because easier to find and do from a nuc and b) to ensure the queen you end up with is the introduced queen and not a QC that you might've missed when taking down queen cells? Great video thanks
Hi NKBKA Sec, Thanks for the comments, Yes probably, been a while since I've look at the video but if the queen wasn't marked it was something I had forgotten to do. You're right on both counts, glad you're enjoying the videos. Merry Christmas. Stewart
Well done for holding your nerve and carrying on the talk through. You could have made it easier on yourself and done the whole manipulation in one visit. If you'd have moved the brood box or boxes a few yards away from the supers it would have bled all the flying bees off and therefore less bees to look through when searching for the queen. You could have had the replacement queen with you at the first inspection. When I've removed the old queen I spray the whole colony with a few drops of peppermint oil in water, this removes the old queens pheromones. I then place the new caged queen including attendants exactly where the old queen was. I don't leave the tab in on the queen cage either. A week later I check to see if the new queen is laying.
Hi Hawk Lord, Thanks for the comments. You're absolutely right about moving the bees and it's something I've done previously, sometimes I'm so focussed on getting the video sorted I forget about the simplest of things. Thanks for the reminder. I've never used peppermint oil in water to remove the pheromones before, this is something I will definitely try as I have a couple of nasty colonies that need sorting out at the moment! Stewart
I have to pluck up courage to do this. Thankfully only a few times over the years. But I've got one at the moment, both my wife and I have been stung when we are well away from the apiary. So Ive got to find out which hive?
Hi Stuart, thanks for all the videos excellent content. I’m new to beekeeping myself and I’m starting a Beekeeping course next week, I’m really interested in the queen rearing side of things and the nucleus colonies you will be taking the queen from. How do you maintain the Nucs all year round with out the chances of swarming ? Thanks
Hi Nathan, Nucs can be used to supply the main colonies with additional frames of brood throughout the active season and that in turn reduces the population in the nuc. You muist be sure any frames swapped are from healthy colonies or nucs though. You don't want to be the cause of spreading disease! have a great season. Stewart
Thank you, this taught me so much. I'm picking up an aggressive hive tomorrow. Decided to do a split first and see how that colony develops but if they continue to be aggressive I will try this method :) you are really good :(🐝
Hi Dennis, Thanks for commenting, I take your comment but I have never pointed my queen cages up and I've never had a queen get trapped in a cage due to dead wokers. I normally go back into the colony a few days later to check on the release of the queen and very often the colony has accepted the queen but not chewed out the fondant which blocks her in. Very often I find myself sliding the cover open to let the new queen wander out and onto a frame instead of being released by the workers. Stewart
If there are hive robbing bees flyi ng back and forth at the hive door and i get stung as im near by is it most likely the robbing bees that stung me or my bees .
Here's a fact Stewart. My bees would get under the elastic on your wrists & 'ave you! If I let them requeen naturally (ie hatch a new queen) are they likely to be as aggressive?
Hi Tony, I know exactly what you mean! As far as allowing the colony to requeen from their existing genetic pool I would say it would be better to make them hopelessly queenless and then add a frame of eggs from a better colony if you can't simply requeen them. Stewart
Hi Pam, Yes, that's certainly a great option if you have the available queens. I wanted to show how to requeen a single colony with just one queen but your suggestion is one that I've used in the past. Stewart
Hi Akiva, you could do that to reduce the amount of "angry Bees" but that would also reduce the overall colony size and may result in the brood nest taking longer to grow and establish itself. For me, I am happy knowling they have a new queen and allow them the time to gradually improve their temperament. Stewart
Wow! I have never seen so many queen cells in one colony! We have several colonies with Russian genetics and they make numerous queen cells, often having 3 or 4 virgin queens at one time, but I have never seen that many cells. Did you happen to count them? I was at about 20 when you fast forwarded through the last 4 frames.
Hi Lawrence Apiary, Thanks for commenting. Yes there were a heap of queen cells! My record is 58 in one hive, I found 57 and removed them but missed the 58th and they swarmed! Stewart
Wow! That is insane. I have a few Russian hybrids in my apiary. (My grandpa passed and I am taking over so there are lots of wild adapted bees and hybrids to deal with) They usually have the most swarm cells, but I have never found this many. I will keep a record this year to see what the max is for mine but I am sure it is not that high.
Thanks for that , I may have to do likewise so that was good to know. Just one question, was there any reason why you didn't mark the queen when you took her out of the nucleus?
Very interesting video. How effective are the nylon/latex? gloves? I use traditional gloves but they are a bit clumsy. I hate being stung because of the itchy swelling that comes from them so bare hands is not an option.
Works well... They can still sting through particularly if you have them tight and you're sweaty. They sting through less as the material gets thicker. I use 9 mil but they're black gloves so there's a bit of give and take there. So much easier to handle the frames instead of those big goat skinned gloves.
Hi Stewart, I collected a swarm a couple of months ago, which is quite strong, they are also exceedingly cranky ! Have just watched you video about requeeninq a grumpy colony and found it very useful. Unlike you, I only have the one apiary with two mediocre swarms and the big one. Firstly, would it be foolish to remove the queen from one of the smaller ones and deposit her in a hive 20ft away ? This small colony is quite docile but the queen is laying well. My other question is, what happened to the two frame Nuc you got the queen from ? Did you just let it requeen itself ?
Hi Stuart, It's always tricky dealing with grumpy colonies. If you have a strong laying queen in the swarm you could use her as long as they are strong enough to produce another decent queen otherwise you could end up in a worse position. Stewart
Man those are some pissy bees! It's a shame, seems like those pissy bees are always pretty productive, the number of queen cells in there was pretty impressive.
Hi Brent, Thanks for commenting, yes they were quiet firey! I try not to leave them so long if they are mine to find out if they are productive or not, it's no fun trying to inspect bees like that. Fortunately, I have enough colonies to be able to rectify my own nasty colonies quickly. Stewart
Brent I agree my "nasty" hives are better at fighting off robbers, pests and really produce honey very well. I always suit up so doesn't matter to me if they get pissy when I go in. It is their nature to attack when you bust into their homes, fiddle with their babies and only food source. Just part of the beekeeping process.
I've a question. Was this your first encounter with an aggressive hive? The reason I ask, I live in an area where I can consider all feral hives Africanized. Only 2 miles from here a dog was killed and his man hospitalized from a swarm attack.( Loma Linda, CA) In another local incident a construction worker was killed (Riverside, CA) . I have two hives and one is extremely gentle, the other was a split from that hive and was re-queened with professed good genetics. After about 4 months the mood of the hive changed entirely and of course the look of the workers as well. It is very aggressive and I've decided to let it be until the spring where I will re-queen it. Luckily the first produces an abundance of drones and the second does not seem to have any inkling to do so. Now I think I saw a large number of drone cells in your frames, it would seem to me that you would entirely avoid introducing that genetics into your possible swarms. I raise my bees specifically to introduce good genetics to the local environment as if it is not done that way then only bad genetics are allowed to exist in the wild here. Every swarm I have encountered for the last 3 years here has turned to the dark side when settled in and I have extinguished them forthwith in each case with an overdose of ether (starter fluid) at night directly into the hive and sealed and let them be until the next day. Its effective. This type of hive absconds in an exceptional manner as I learned from one instance that I intended to re-queen and the next day it was gone from the super. With the abundance of people in this urban area there is no room for second chances on this type of behavior in bees. It's entirely too easy to be good to gentle hives and bring up the population in no time at all. I look forward to more from you.
Hi overlycreative1, Thanks for taking the time to comment. I have had several aggressive colonies over the years but never to the point that they dominate the apiary that they are in. As soon as they become a problem I requeen them to remove the risk of their drones mating with any virgin queens that might be present. We fortunately don't have the Africanised problem here in the UK, even the worst colonies can be dealt with with the right techniques, a quick re-queening is always the best solution. The issue we face is more a genetic mismatch that seems to occur with the granddaughter offspring of a well behaved colony. The original queen is calm and productive, her daughter offspring are also fine, but then her granddaughter offspring turn really nasty. I hope to produce a video over the Winter explaining what happens genetically from an aggression perspective. You are exactly right when you identify an abundance of the right Drones as the solution. Again, I have colonies that I actively encourage drone production and those are the calmer types. I don't mind a few "frisky" bees as they always seem to produce greater amounts of honey but there is always a tipping point when it becomes uncomfortable. We use petrol to destroy really bad colonies or badly infected colonies. I'm hoping the new queen has settled i and is laying by now, if not I will unite this colony with a stronger queenright colony over the next couple of weeks, for us Winter is Coming!! Stewart
I use starter fluid to gas africanized colonies here in Texas. That way you can use the wax and honey or add the boxes to a hive that needs room or put a new colony into it.
What is the company of the bee suit you are using? If it comes in camo would like to price & order here in California. Thanks for demonstrating your technique of requeening a testy hive. Most likely will be doing as bees here can be hot from time to time.
Hi Kryochrysalis, Thanks for commenting. The company I use is called BBWear in the UK. www.bbwear.co.uk/ They don't currently have a camo version but the sage is a subtle green and could easily be adapted with a bit of "tie dye". I think they are excellent suits and worth getting in touch with them to see if they may make a bespoke camo one for you. They do make "made to measure" as those are the suits I use. Mention my channel if you do get in touch with them. Stewart
Hi fasteddie389, The drones influence the colony at the point of mating with the virgin queen and the mix of genetic material that leads to the temperament of the colony. Drones have a part to play in the general wellbeing of the colony and I suspect a lot that we just don't understand but from an inspection point of view, the grumpy bees are most definitely the workers and that comes from the genetic makeup from the queen mating. Stewart
Hi Stewart, just a question - would it not be prudent to have marked your introduced queen just in case you missed a queen cell and risked them raising that one instead and not realising quickly enough that the aggressive genetics are still present? I guess being an inexperienced beekeeper myself I’d be more at risk of missing a hidden queen cell.
Hi Thomas, I think to make it worthwhile you'd need quite a lot more queen cells but yes it would be possible to harvest the royal jelly from queen cells that are going to be removed. Stewart
Hi Liz, Thanks for stopping to ask a great question. The dummy board fills in the gap at the end of the brood box where the last frame fits in but doesn'T fit right to the side of the brood box. It is possible to squeeze in another frame but this then makes it more difficult to remove without squashing or rolling bees against the frame and side of the box as you lift it out. With the dummy board in place you can remove it easily without rolling bees and it gives you a larger space to remove the first frame without damaging bees. Once that frame is out you have a much larger area to work in. Stewart
Ah, ok. So instead of putting 9 frames in a 10 frame box and centering them, you put in the board. That would keep them from building fatter comb on the outside frames. Interesting! I may have to try that!
I use a hive called the Commercial and it normally takes 11 frames plus the dummy board. I push all the frames tight to one end and then the dummy board slides in at the other end. I could squeeze in another frame but prefer to make it easier for myself when inspecting, and I always start inspecting from the end that has the dummy board.
Yes they can be heavy but we use a shallow Super above the brood nest for honey so most of the lifting is much lighter than trying to lift a brood box.
Hi,nice video as usual....how do you make your fondant ? I was told to mix icing sugar and honey but I found in youtube the recipe pastry chef use : bringing water and sugar to a certain temperature and finally beat down with a whisk (kitchenaid is best for this) until it is cooled down and white and harder consistency ? What are your thoughts on this process...actually is this the same fondant you feed the bees in Jan-Feb in case of emergency feeding ?
Hi, I buy my fondant ready mixed, as we get towards the end of the season I will have a bash at making some fondant and record the results on video for everyone! Stewart
Even though the video is old I would like to know about the following possibility. Didn't you miss one queen cell at 13:47 it was not capped(yet) but if it was to become a queen could the bees have killed the new queen which was laying properly but because of it being late in the season the new queen did not find a drone to mate with so it started laying drone brood. I did not see you marking the original queen.
Hi Patrick, The season is too far gone for me now and too late for the nuc to requeen itself now so I will be uniting them with another small nuc probably next week. I'll post a video showing how I do it. Stewart
Really liked the way you explained everything that you did. A great teaching video! I also liked that queen excluder and that cage. Are they available for purchase somewhere ?
Does requeening reduce aggression immediately? Or do you have to wait until the daughters of the old queen die off to see any meaningful effect? If it reduces aggression immediately does anyone have any idea why this could be?
Hi Mike, The can get through two pairs, for really nasty colonies I've reverted to the leather gauntlet style gloves. You can't feel a thing through them but for any rough work such as splitting a colony down or moving boxes they're fine. Once I've calmed a colpony I'd go back to either nitrile or marigolds! Stewart
Hi FL Bill, I recorded it today so will be editing and posting probably over the weekend. It wasn't a great outcome in the end but the video will explain all. Stewart
There is an update for this video. I introduced a new queen which ended up a drone layer so the colony was united with another and is currently doing fine. I will be splitting it in the Spring and giving it another new queen before returning it to the owners. Stewart
Yes we saw the video of uniting a full hive to another full hive and noticed that you did not remove the newspaper, does that not let water into the hive over the winter?In this video you took the queen from a 3 frame nuc and I was wondering how you then managed this queen less nuc?
Is a drone layer the same as a worker layer? Or, why does a queen become a drone layer? I thought a colony initially produces a lot of drones for a queen to mate with? Sorry, I am a newbie. This was a great video, and I am now subscribed and binge watching your videos. Many thanks for sharing your experiences!
Luke Galardi A drone laying queen could result from a failure to mate or an old queen who has run out of sperm. The queen's eggs will therefore be unfertilised and thus haploid, possessing only one set of chromosomes.
Thanks Stewart for the course. So far I’m up to badly behaved bees but then the videos seemed to jump to Queen rearing? I’ve also found another series about bees on the allotment. As a beginner I want sequential stuff. You’ve lost me. Fair do’s if it’s my fault but I’m now searching the internet to find episode 15 or 16. Lost count! The secret of a good informative video is to deliver what the audience want in a way they can absorb. Teachers spend years refining the art of disseminating information. Do you think maybe you’ve overstretched yourself with the different series of vids you’re producing? I’d just like something sequential as a beginner. Where is the info on the kit to buy and the purchase of bees? Or is that another series?
Queen Cells are made and Capped in approx 2 Weeks. Queens hatch on Day 16 !!! So 👀Look for QC's in your Fortnightly Inspections, # otherwise you will have Queens fighting each other, or worse Swarming !?! 🙄 Hope this Helps. 🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝 # You can always carefully cut those Swarm Cells out (with plenty of space around the Cell itself, not to damage them. : And then trim off that extra Comb, down to the Cell itself. Add them to a Queenless Nuc, or add them in QC Cell Cages (Protect the Virgin as she hatches.) And, 'Bank' them for a few Days in Roller Cages hung from a Frame.... Bees will fed them, but can't get to them and dispatch them (Kill them. 🥺)
Would not the drones from this colony also carry the aggressive genes? I would thing destroying the entire hive would be the safest way, and let another hive rob out the honey
Exactly, I think that the only reason why bee keepers keep these hot colony's are out of greed. Why take the chance of letting this colony spread and contaminate and take over good broods with their bad genes...
Hi D.E., Once the old queen has been removed a new caged queen can go in almost immediately but most beekeepers tend to leave the colony queenless for a few hours. Once the old queen's pheromones have weakened the new queen's pheromones will become dominant and hopefully she'll then be accepted by the colony. Stewart
hi stewart, my bees are more agressive i had upto 100 bees on each hand by the gaunlet an glove trying to get under them and stinging as well ,it has frightened me and i do not have a replacement queen.what shall i do thanks colin.
I had aggressive bees, sadly after consultation with more experienced bee keepers we culled the colony. I too have lost confidence in handling bees. My local group are quite supportive, and I have another hive which is lovely and calm, but I still get nervous handling them. Good luck.
I had my mentor come all she sorted it for me. One hive was full and the other packed with bees she noticed no queen but there was cells so she split the hive. I now have 3 hives and to nucs. Luvly and calm now.
@@elizabethperry5581 I am waiting for another week to see if the q. Cells have produced queens. Then I will put nucs into hives and feed ready for winter. Your right about honey. I was very fortunate and got 60lb.honey
Hi Steve, I would never say never but it hasn't happened to me yet and I have had to deal with some very nasty hives over the past few years when I worked as a Seasonal Bee Inspector. Stewart
Stewart, I meant to ask. What mil thickness are the gloves you use? I am going to do more queen rearing and handling this year so I have to get away from the leather gloves. But I have a few hives that will be like this one to work with so I want to be protected.
Hi Chris, I have put queens in cages into hives a couple of hours after removing the old queen with no ill effect. 24 hrs is a good time frame though. Stewart
You can make it easier on yourself dealing with them in by first moving the hive over a metre for at least 24 hrs and leaving a separate box on the original spot to get all those mean flyers out of the way. Makes it a lot easier to find the queen safely
I am now addicted to your videos and have been binge watching them for about 3 weeks as I will be collecting my first two hives this Saturday. So much to learn and you have taught me a great deal which gives me the confidence to handle the bees. I am also lucky enough to have a lady in the next village who will be my mentor until I feel confident enough to go it alone. I thought the beekeeping world would be a little colicky but it is far from that. So welcoming from everyone I have spoken to .
Thanks for your comments Grant, good luck with your beekeeping season.
Stewart
Thank god British, I'm not complaining but our weather is different to most other country's and we do tend to do things differently, that was a good lesson on how to do a re-queen.
Hi Graham,
Thanks for your comments, you're so right about the weather, especially at the moment, heat wave heading up from the African continent in mid September!
I'm hopeful the new queen will have settled in ok but you can never really be sure. Watch this space!
Stewart
Hi Stewart am are Beekeeper for 11 year am from the commonwealth of Dominica in the west Indies love your videos has been following ever since I found your informative videos thanks
Hi Antonia Joseph,
Thank you for your comments.
Stewart
I never knew. Awesome stuff. Reality T.V. At its very best. Gentle persuasion to solve a problem.
There is a fair amount of beekeeping info available on the internet, some of it good and some of it not all that useful. The contents of your videos in my opinion are very useful also technically really well made and presented, thanks.
Somerset and thank you for your comment.we have a mixture of national red cedar hives and poly nuc hives from maisemore as shown in one of your videos from the Bbka show.
Second season and up to 9 hives in total,most are empty and awaiting 2 nuc colonies arriving April 28th.
Hi Shaun,
I'm excitedly waiting for the poly hives to arrive, can't wait to get started with them and see how they perform.
Good luck with this season.
Stewart
New to beekeeping and wondered what happens to the bees left behind in the nuc when you move the queen. Thanks
Sensible, informative, matter of fact video. Thank you
Hi Oldbatwit,
Great name, thanks for your comments.
Stewart
Hi Stewart Grest video
I've swapped over to using 'push-in' cages as the new queen starts laying and newly emerged bees start to care for her. Acceptance rate is much greater but not 100%.
Your transportation queen cage can be reused if instead of breaking off the tab you simply slide the roof of the cage back so 6-8mm of fondant is exposed. The queen will then emerge when the fondant has been consumed and the cage can be easily reused.
Keep up the good work
Thanks once again for the comments,
I really like the idea of sliding the roof back a little, makes a lot of sense and aren't the best ideas the simplest.
Stewart
Great channel,
Very watchable and well presented. Good job fella thanks
"Quite happy... er, maybe not happy" the most British thing I've heard all day.
Very good video , I enjoyed it very much. Please have much success with your Bees.
Brillant video. very informative and easy to follow.
Hi Glaze,
Thank you for you comments. Do you have a colony with a badly behaved temperament?
Stewart
Completely fascinating. I've always wanted to keep bees.
I'm a first year keeper and learning all the time,hopefully my 2 hives are going to winter well
Hi Shaun,
thanks for commenting. I hope you enjoyed your first year in beekeeping. I don't know where you are from but here in Norfolk we've had it fairly mild and the bees have been going through a lot of food so I've just been putting fondant on my bees, Would be worth checking yours to see if they need any extra stores.
Stewart
Stuart that was really helpful.... I currently have a colony in my back garden that has just become aggressive and chasing and stinging my neighbours. It has 3 full (uncapped) honey supers on it. Prior to an inspection 3 days ago, the colony was placid and not a problem at all.
I need to move it and likely re-queen. Watching your video what how long was it between introducing the new queen and then checking and removing multiple capped queen cells?
The dummy board is used to close a section of the hive off,for example if you haven't many bees and want to close the size of the brood box down to a size that they can keep warm etc
Hi Shaun,
Yes that's another way that I use the dummy boards, i most of my hive I use them as an end board to prevent brace comb building up on the first frame to come out at inspection time. Makes my life just that little bit easier.
Stewart
There may be other reasons why bees behaving more bad.
For example.
When I got my bees they where gentle and as times moved on they got more aggressive which was my fault because in my case the hive did not have enough ventilation to keep the hive cool. After providing more cooling the hive went back to normal again.
So look for problems in/at your hive that may get your bees upset, like bug infestation or other things.
Thank you for the video.
Hi J&B,
Thanks for commenting, yes as always there are many reasons bees can change temperament. This particular colony had for some time been quite defensive which was the reason for the removal of the queen. Lots of variables with these things and you're right to point it out.
Thanks
Stewart
Sorry for the late response, looks like I never got notified.
I made a wooden mini box the size of your brood box or super all the way around but only 1.5 inches high. Then I drilled three 1 inch holes on each sides (Did not do it for the front and back side) with an hole-saw and glued aluminum window screen over it with an inside/outside gorilla glue'.
This shallow '' screened mini super '' will go on top of your brood box or super or on top of your last box. Then goes the inner cover and then the outer main cover.
The good thing is that you could put a screen over the oval hole on the inner cover or you could even close that oval hole to keep critters out and /or in or use that hole as a feeder hole without loss of ventilation. I use a solid bottom board so the entrance is the only way the air can get into the hive.
Been doing this for 2 years now and it looks like the bees doing better and so far I did not see any bearding nor is there any cross combs nor combs that go from the frames to the inner cover.
When I do a oxalic acid tratment I take the inner cover out and take the mini screened super off, so the vapors stay inside the hive longer, if you have honey supers you need to take the honey super off before treatment.
Hi Mr Stewart.this yousuf from Bahrain I really like your video and I learn a lot of information about of bee keeping
Hello Yousuf,
Thank you for your kind comments, I am glad you are enjoying watching the videos.
Stewart
Thank you for sharing this info
You are very welcome.
Thanks for posting this video mr Stewart. Hopefully you'll show us the rest of the requeening. I have a hive very similar to this. I'm thinking of requeening next season. But they sure do produce.
Hi Rabbit,
Thanks for your comments. Yes I am planning to go back to that colony next week to see how the queen has settled down and hopefully laying lots of eggs. I also find that some of the grumpy ones are also the best honey producers so you have to make a trade off sometimes between grumpy bees and high honey yields.
Stewart
This is exactly what I need to do with my grumpy hive, thanks for the video.
Hi Darren,
Thanks for commenting, I'm off to check up on this hive later today so will be posting an update over the next couple of days.
Stewart
Very nice video. Thanks for sharing this knowledge. Where I live, Kenya, ALL our hives are extremely aggressive. We live with it harvesting at night only and putting all our colonies behind a small fence so they have less chance of seeing passersby.
Hi Neal,
I can't imagine what it must be like to manage colonies like these all the time, it must be very demanding to say the least!
Good luck with your beekeeping.
Stewart
> ALL our hives are extremely aggressive. We live with it harvesting at night
I had wondered how Africans coped with Africans that will breed in a dead lion and chase a man for miles, just for lulz. How do they react to a smoker?
Hi Michael, Where do you have your bees? I can't imagine having to do my beekeeping at night!
I always thought the dead lion scenario was an Urban Myth, I can't see how honeybees would nest in a dead lion but happy to be shown it to be true!
Stewart
Smoker's help but we have to be very careful which wood we use. A common mistake is to use croton megalocarpus as shavings burn very easily even if green - they contain a black tar. Problem is the tar produces a smoke that is toxic to bees killing very many in each hive and is extremely irritating to us. Acacia paperbark - from say Acacia Kirkii - is best. Burns long and clean. Our Kikuyu grass works well too. Some farmers use oily rags which of course is terrible for bee health. That said Michael, even after a good smoking they're still as aggressive as ever.
This is what I read on a comment from another RUclips video related to aggressive bees and how they deal with them in Africa (I took a screenshot of the comment and saved it for future reference).
Comment by Neal Skelton.
"When I was stationed in South Africa, I was able to meet a local beekeeper. After a while, he was asked to help out another beekeeper several miles away. He didn't have reliable transportation, so I gave him a ride.
What he did, was build a bonfire in front of the hive about 10 feet away from the front of the hive.
Then he banged on the hive. Several hundred bees came out and went straight to the fire.
The next week we went back and it was a completely different hive.
That's when he replaced the queen."
My suggestion would be, if you can't replace the queen, then repeat the same procedure every time you see that the aggression starts to build up again, that way you will be able to keep the number of the most aggressive bees down very effectively.
That's apparently how they deal with aggressive bees in Africa, and apparently it works for them, it should work on your Africanized bees also. You could use a portable grill instead of a bonfire, get creative, and share this technique so beekeeper can work around their Africanized bees.
Great video. Funny how beekeeping differs. I am from South Africa. Our mildest hives is what you worked on. It is our experience that these bees perform much better than the "friendly" hives.
Yes, I’m in UK. Badly behaved bees do have a reputation here for producing more honey.
It’s true - my feral bees produce a lot more honey but they aren’t very nice.
Great video! Has a real Alfred Hitchcock feel to it.
Hi Stephen,
thanks for commenting, I'm not sure I'm up to Mr Hitchcock's standards as yet.... :)
But I'm trying as hard as I can!
Stewart
Thanks for the excellent video :)
Excellent documentary.
Does the new queen in a hive start laying very slowly. For the first 2 weeks after mating. I had 2 hives, 1 strong 1 very weak. I placed a new queen cell in the weak hive and never removed the old queen. I checked the hive a few times all signs indicated that things went ok, I was just concerned about how much she starts laying this video is what I needed to see. The sound of your bee's is great. 👍👍👍
Hi Eddie,
Thanks for your comments.
Generally, once the new queen has mated she does take a day or two to settle down but once she starts laying if she has the space and strength of worker bees in the hive she will lay really well from the start. I'm not sure I would place a queen cell into a colony with the old queen still in place, they will either tear down the queen cell or possibly swarm with the old queen. Better to make the colony queenless first.
Stewart
It would be nice to see a "re-visit" to this hive in 3 months and see how the new genetics have chnaged the bees.
If I've got a HIVE thats behaving badly, I'm not going to destroy the entire COLONY , but I'll certainly take care of that hive!
That colony definitely seemed displeased with you and your beekeeping duties. I hope all went well and I hope the new queen has been happy and healthy.
Hi HBA,
Yes they were a particularly troubled colony! I shall be checking them next week so watch out for the update!
Stewart
Thanks brother
Do the queens ever get stung through the holes in the queen cage?
Also, it is my understanding that the recognition of the queen by the workers is not a gas pheromone , Meaning that the workers need to be in physical contact with the queen to recognize her. Is that true? If it is True, then how do the workers Become accustomed to a queen inside the cage? Thanks as always for the wonderful video!
Hi A.H.,
I never have been stung no, but I have been stung trying to put workers into the cage!
Regarding the pheromone issue, it is passed around the hive by workers in attendance of the queen and also as the queen moves around the hive generally. Queen pheromones are quite ethereal and dissipate quite quickly so old pheromones clear and are replaced by the new queen's pheromone. Bees in contact with the cage pick it up and move it about the general cage area.
Stewart
What about the drone cells? Wouldn't drones also pass on the bad genetics?
I have two new hives that have artificially been swarmed from an extremely aggressive hive. They have now started laying eggs. I wonder if the bees of these new hives would behave similarly to the original hive, as the queens in them may have the same genes as the original hive.
Your queens young will be half moms genetics and half dads since females are fertilized. Your Queen's will have gone off and mated. So, yes and no. They will be half the old genetics (angry) and half the drones genetics, so hope the drones that mated your Queen's were cool as a cucumber and you may be ok.
This was really helpful. Any advises, when there is no queen in hive and workers have started to laid eggs?
Hi J.T.,
With egg laying workers I tend to shake them out, if they are a small enough colony you could unite them with another and the stronger colony will stop the workers from continuing to lay.
Stewart
Thanks for these superb videos -newbie question ; what becomes of the bees left in the donor nuc?
Hi Martin,
The nuc was united with another queenright nuc and moved into a full sized hive.
Stewart
Would not the drones in the badly behaving hive spread the undesirable traits to any virgin queens of the other hives? I was thinking you would also want to eliminate as many of the drone cells that were left from the old queen. Yes?
Hi Bill,
Yes, if I were in queen rearing mode I would have moved the colony to another apiary where there was no chance of them breeding with any of my virgin queens. I was quite late in the season and I had completed all of my queen rearing for the year.
Stewart
Do you ever use cover cloths to keep the bees in as you inspect?
Also do you find the bees sting through your nitrile gloves?
Hi Richard,
I never use cover clothes for two reasons, time and disease risk. Moving a cloth from one colony to another is too time consuming for me and the risk of transmitting disease too great. Most of the time I can inspect colonies a lot quicker than when I'm on camera so it's just not worth it for me.
Yes the bees can sting through the gloves but you get a feeling that they are trying first so you have a chance to stop them before it's too late!
Stewart
Richard Weekes just learned about using cover cloths. Love them
4:30 to 20:07 very good!
do I assume that the Nuc from which the calm Queen was taken will produce another one or more
Hi Michael,
Yes that's correct or I use the queenless nuc to add another queen cell to and produce another queen.
Stewart
You assume too much my foolish friend, still your tongue and be silent with such gibberish or perhaps it is your goal to irritate in which case we shall surely cross swords.....if crossing swords is what you seek.
Nice work thanks
I'm going to try and catch a swarm or two this year.... Subscribed... Ty
if you destroy an aggressive queen which has laid lots of eggs. Won't her offspring be aggressive when they hatch out?
thank you really good.
Did you mark that queen with your hive tool
Think there's a few bees playing some kazoos just off screen. :)
would it make sense to mark the new queen before introducing to the nasty colony a) because easier to find and do from a nuc and b) to ensure the queen you end up with is the introduced queen and not a QC that you might've missed when taking down queen cells? Great video thanks
Hi NKBKA Sec,
Thanks for the comments,
Yes probably, been a while since I've look at the video but if the queen wasn't marked it was something I had forgotten to do. You're right on both counts, glad you're enjoying the videos.
Merry Christmas.
Stewart
Well done for holding your nerve and carrying on the talk through. You could have made it easier on yourself and done the whole manipulation in one visit. If you'd have moved the brood box or boxes a few yards away from the supers it would have bled all the flying bees off and therefore less bees to look through when searching for the queen. You could have had the replacement queen with you at the first inspection. When I've removed the old queen I spray the whole colony with a few drops of peppermint oil in water, this removes the old queens pheromones. I then place the new caged queen including attendants exactly where the old queen was. I don't leave the tab in on the queen cage either. A week later I check to see if the new queen is laying.
Hi Hawk Lord,
Thanks for the comments. You're absolutely right about moving the bees and it's something I've done previously, sometimes I'm so focussed on getting the video sorted I forget about the simplest of things. Thanks for the reminder. I've never used peppermint oil in water to remove the pheromones before, this is something I will definitely try as I have a couple of nasty colonies that need sorting out at the moment!
Stewart
I have to pluck up courage to do this. Thankfully only a few times over the years. But I've got one at the moment, both my wife and I have been stung when we are well away from the apiary. So Ive got to find out which hive?
QUALITY CONTENT
Hi Vividdonkey2683,
Thanks for stopping by and commenting.
Really appreciated.
Stewart
Hi Stuart, thanks for all the videos excellent content. I’m new to beekeeping myself and I’m starting a Beekeeping course next week, I’m really interested in the queen rearing side of things and the nucleus colonies you will be taking the queen from. How do you maintain the Nucs all year round with out the chances of swarming ? Thanks
Hi Nathan,
Nucs can be used to supply the main colonies with additional frames of brood throughout the active season and that in turn reduces the population in the nuc. You muist be sure any frames swapped are from healthy colonies or nucs though. You don't want to be the cause of spreading disease!
have a great season.
Stewart
Thank you for the reply. Excellent that makes sense. Have a great season also
Very hard to find the queen and the bees are very aggressive. How do manage this hive
Thank you, this taught me so much. I'm picking up an aggressive hive tomorrow. Decided to do a split first and see how that colony develops but if they continue to be aggressive I will try this method :) you are really good :(🐝
Hi Katy,
thanks for commenting, good luck with your colony, let me know how it goes.
Stewart
Your Queen cage should ALWAYS POINT UP so as to not block the entrance if any attendant bees inside die and block her escape.
Hi Dennis,
Thanks for commenting, I take your comment but I have never pointed my queen cages up and I've never had a queen get trapped in a cage due to dead wokers. I normally go back into the colony a few days later to check on the release of the queen and very often the colony has accepted the queen but not chewed out the fondant which blocks her in. Very often I find myself sliding the cover open to let the new queen wander out and onto a frame instead of being released by the workers.
Stewart
Was there any royal jelly contained in the throwaway queen sells that could be utilized, or how does that work? Thanks
Hi probablyaduck,
I don't recall but it would be too time-consuming for me to extract it.
Stewart
If there are hive robbing bees flyi ng back and forth at the hive door and i get stung as im near by is it most likely the robbing bees that stung me or my bees .
Here's a fact Stewart. My bees would get under the elastic on your wrists & 'ave you! If I let them requeen naturally (ie hatch a new queen) are they likely to be as aggressive?
Hi Tony,
I know exactly what you mean! As far as allowing the colony to requeen from their existing genetic pool I would say it would be better to make them hopelessly queenless and then add a frame of eggs from a better colony if you can't simply requeen them.
Stewart
Can you tell me if what thickness the gloves are, I would like to try them out?
Hi, recommendation... why not divide up the whole colony into smaller hives with new queen each. This colony is so aggressive.
Pammie from Chicago
Hi Pam,
Yes, that's certainly a great option if you have the available queens. I wanted to show how to requeen a single colony with just one queen but your suggestion is one that I've used in the past.
Stewart
When requeening a badly behaved hive, is it worthwhile also removing some of the brood?
Hi Akiva,
you could do that to reduce the amount of "angry Bees" but that would also reduce the overall colony size and may result in the brood nest taking longer to grow and establish itself. For me, I am happy knowling they have a new queen and allow them the time to gradually improve their temperament.
Stewart
Wow! I have never seen so many queen cells in one colony! We have several colonies with Russian genetics and they make numerous queen cells, often having 3 or 4 virgin queens at one time, but I have never seen that many cells. Did you happen to count them? I was at about 20 when you fast forwarded through the last 4 frames.
Hi Lawrence Apiary,
Thanks for commenting.
Yes there were a heap of queen cells!
My record is 58 in one hive, I found 57 and removed them but missed the 58th and they swarmed!
Stewart
Wow! That is insane. I have a few Russian hybrids in my apiary. (My grandpa passed and I am taking over so there are lots of wild adapted bees and hybrids to deal with) They usually have the most swarm cells, but I have never found this many. I will keep a record this year to see what the max is for mine but I am sure it is not that high.
:| Those bees appeared quite ...
_Waspish_
... Ba-dum tss :D
Thanks for that , I may have to do likewise so that was good to know. Just one question, was there any reason why you didn't mark the queen when you took her out of the nucleus?
Very interesting video. How effective are the nylon/latex? gloves? I use traditional gloves but they are a bit clumsy. I hate being stung because of the itchy swelling that comes from them so bare hands is not an option.
Works well... They can still sting through particularly if you have them tight and you're sweaty. They sting through less as the material gets thicker. I use 9 mil but they're black gloves so there's a bit of give and take there. So much easier to handle the frames instead of those big goat skinned gloves.
Wouldn't you leave them queenless for 24/48hrs before putting the cage in?
Hi Stewart, I collected a swarm a couple of months ago, which is quite strong, they are also exceedingly cranky ! Have just watched you video about requeeninq a grumpy colony and found it very useful. Unlike you, I only have the one apiary with two mediocre swarms and the big one. Firstly, would it be foolish to remove the queen from one of the smaller ones and deposit her in a hive 20ft away ?
This small colony is quite docile but the queen is laying well. My other question is, what happened to the two frame Nuc you got the queen from ? Did you just let it requeen itself ?
Hi Stuart,
It's always tricky dealing with grumpy colonies. If you have a strong laying queen in the swarm you could use her as long as they are strong enough to produce another decent queen otherwise you could end up in a worse position.
Stewart
Man those are some pissy bees! It's a shame, seems like those pissy bees are always pretty productive, the number of queen cells in there was pretty impressive.
Hi Brent,
Thanks for commenting, yes they were quiet firey! I try not to leave them so long if they are mine to find out if they are productive or not, it's no fun trying to inspect bees like that. Fortunately, I have enough colonies to be able to rectify my own nasty colonies quickly.
Stewart
Brent I agree my "nasty" hives are better at fighting off robbers, pests and really produce honey very well. I always suit up so doesn't matter to me if they get pissy when I go in. It is their nature to attack when you bust into their homes, fiddle with their babies and only food source. Just part of the beekeeping process.
I've a question. Was this your first encounter with an aggressive hive? The reason I ask, I live in an area where I can consider all feral hives Africanized. Only 2 miles from here a dog was killed and his man hospitalized from a swarm attack.( Loma Linda, CA) In another local incident a construction worker was killed (Riverside, CA) . I have two hives and one is extremely gentle, the other was a split from that hive and was re-queened with professed good genetics. After about 4 months the mood of the hive changed entirely and of course the look of the workers as well. It is very aggressive and I've decided to let it be until the spring where I will re-queen it. Luckily the first produces an abundance of drones and the second does not seem to have any inkling to do so. Now I think I saw a large number of drone cells in your frames, it would seem to me that you would entirely avoid introducing that genetics into your possible swarms. I raise my bees specifically to introduce good genetics to the local environment as if it is not done that way then only bad genetics are allowed to exist in the wild here. Every swarm I have encountered for the last 3 years here has turned to the dark side when settled in and I have extinguished them forthwith in each case with an overdose of ether (starter fluid) at night directly into the hive and sealed and let them be until the next day. Its effective. This type of hive absconds in an exceptional manner as I learned from one instance that I intended to re-queen and the next day it was gone from the super. With the abundance of people in this urban area there is no room for second chances on this type of behavior in bees. It's entirely too easy to be good to gentle hives and bring up the population in no time at all. I look forward to more from you.
Hi overlycreative1,
Thanks for taking the time to comment.
I have had several aggressive colonies over the years but never to the point that they dominate the apiary that they are in. As soon as they become a problem I requeen them to remove the risk of their drones mating with any virgin queens that might be present.
We fortunately don't have the Africanised problem here in the UK, even the worst colonies can be dealt with with the right techniques, a quick re-queening is always the best solution. The issue we face is more a genetic mismatch that seems to occur with the granddaughter offspring of a well behaved colony. The original queen is calm and productive, her daughter offspring are also fine, but then her granddaughter offspring turn really nasty. I hope to produce a video over the Winter explaining what happens genetically from an aggression perspective.
You are exactly right when you identify an abundance of the right Drones as the solution. Again, I have colonies that I actively encourage drone production and those are the calmer types. I don't mind a few "frisky" bees as they always seem to produce greater amounts of honey but there is always a tipping point when it becomes uncomfortable.
We use petrol to destroy really bad colonies or badly infected colonies.
I'm hoping the new queen has settled i and is laying by now, if not I will unite this colony with a stronger queenright colony over the next couple of weeks, for us Winter is Coming!!
Stewart
Smiles. Thanks for the info. Looking forward to more from you here..
I use starter fluid to gas africanized colonies here in Texas. That way you can use the wax and honey or add the boxes to a hive that needs room or put a new colony into it.
What is the company of the bee suit you are using? If it comes in camo would like to price & order here in California. Thanks for demonstrating your technique of requeening a testy hive. Most likely will be doing as bees here can be hot from time to time.
Hi Kryochrysalis,
Thanks for commenting. The company I use is called BBWear in the UK. www.bbwear.co.uk/
They don't currently have a camo version but the sage is a subtle green and could easily be adapted with a bit of "tie dye". I think they are excellent suits and worth getting in touch with them to see if they may make a bespoke camo one for you. They do make "made to measure" as those are the suits I use.
Mention my channel if you do get in touch with them.
Stewart
Aren't the drones the ones that determine a hive's temperament, and not the queen?
Hi fasteddie389,
The drones influence the colony at the point of mating with the virgin queen and the mix of genetic material that leads to the temperament of the colony. Drones have a part to play in the general wellbeing of the colony and I suspect a lot that we just don't understand but from an inspection point of view, the grumpy bees are most definitely the workers and that comes from the genetic makeup from the queen mating.
Stewart
Hi Stewart, just a question - would it not be prudent to have marked your introduced queen just in case you missed a queen cell and risked them raising that one instead and not realising quickly enough that the aggressive genetics are still present? I guess being an inexperienced beekeeper myself I’d be more at risk of missing a hidden queen cell.
Hi,
Yes, it is possible and marking the queen would certainly help in this regard.
Stewart
I suppose you could harvest Royal Jelly when removing the Queen Cells.
Hi Thomas,
I think to make it worthwhile you'd need quite a lot more queen cells but yes it would be possible to harvest the royal jelly from queen cells that are going to be removed.
Stewart
What is the dummy board used for?
Hi Liz,
Thanks for stopping to ask a great question.
The dummy board fills in the gap at the end of the brood box where the last frame fits in but doesn'T fit right to the side of the brood box. It is possible to squeeze in another frame but this then makes it more difficult to remove without squashing or rolling bees against the frame and side of the box as you lift it out. With the dummy board in place you can remove it easily without rolling bees and it gives you a larger space to remove the first frame without damaging bees. Once that frame is out you have a much larger area to work in.
Stewart
Ah, ok. So instead of putting 9 frames in a 10 frame box and centering them, you put in the board. That would keep them from building fatter comb on the outside frames. Interesting! I may have to try that!
I use a hive called the Commercial and it normally takes 11 frames plus the dummy board. I push all the frames tight to one end and then the dummy board slides in at the other end. I could squeeze in another frame but prefer to make it easier for myself when inspecting, and I always start inspecting from the end that has the dummy board.
Wow! That must be heavy! I use all 8 frame mediums and put 7 frames in. Still, I can barely lift it when full
Yes they can be heavy but we use a shallow Super above the brood nest for honey so most of the lifting is much lighter than trying to lift a brood box.
Hi,nice video as usual....how do you make your fondant ? I was told to mix icing sugar and honey but I found in youtube the recipe pastry chef use : bringing water and sugar to a certain temperature and finally beat down with a whisk (kitchenaid is best for this) until it is cooled down and white and harder consistency ? What are your thoughts on this process...actually is this the same fondant you feed the bees in Jan-Feb in case of emergency feeding ?
Hi,
I buy my fondant ready mixed, as we get towards the end of the season I will have a bash at making some fondant and record the results on video for everyone!
Stewart
Thanks Stewart, I will be watching your video on this...
Even though the video is old I would like to know about the following possibility. Didn't you miss one queen cell at 13:47 it was not capped(yet) but if it was to become a queen could the bees have killed the new queen which was laying properly but because of it being late in the season the new queen did not find a drone to mate with so it started laying drone brood. I did not see you marking the original queen.
Is the plan to just let that two frame NUC just requeen themselves?
Hi Patrick,
The season is too far gone for me now and too late for the nuc to requeen itself now so I will be uniting them with another small nuc probably next week. I'll post a video showing how I do it.
Stewart
I had a hive that killed 2 horses.. 1000's of stings.. they were nuts...it was a swarm that came to me..
Hi. How long did you leave that queen cage in before you took the tab off the end of it please?
Hi Tom,
From memory it was a couple of days I think.
Stewart
I am not sure but I think that if the Queen that was replaced with the bad Queen is laying it has been mated for life and will not mate again.
Really liked the way you explained everything that you did. A great teaching video! I also liked that queen excluder and that cage. Are they available for purchase somewhere ?
Amazon, Simon the Beekeeper, Bee Equipment, Thorne, even eBay... These are UK Stockists. 👍
Does requeening reduce aggression immediately? Or do you have to wait until the daughters of the old queen die off to see any meaningful effect? If it reduces aggression immediately does anyone have any idea why this could be?
Which species of Honeybee were the bad bees?
Hi Norfolk honey, great content, so did they sting through the two pairs of gloves ? And are bee suits 100% sting proof ?
Hi Mike,
The can get through two pairs, for really nasty colonies I've reverted to the leather gauntlet style gloves. You can't feel a thing through them but for any rough work such as splitting a colony down or moving boxes they're fine.
Once I've calmed a colpony I'd go back to either nitrile or marigolds!
Stewart
When will you have a follow up on this hive? Thank you for the detailed video!
Hi FL Bill,
I recorded it today so will be editing and posting probably over the weekend. It wasn't a great outcome in the end but the video will explain all.
Stewart
Badly behaved is an understatement. They were just plain mean. Great video, however.
Hi Stan,
Yep, these bees were not nice at all!
Stewart
will this nuc make a new queen or wil u give one to them, thanks
There is an update for this video. I introduced a new queen which ended up a drone layer so the colony was united with another and is currently doing fine. I will be splitting it in the Spring and giving it another new queen before returning it to the owners.
Stewart
Yes we saw the video of uniting a full hive to another full hive and noticed that you did not remove the newspaper, does that not let water into the hive over the winter?In this video you took the queen from a 3 frame nuc and I was wondering how you then managed this queen less nuc?
Is a drone layer the same as a worker layer? Or, why does a queen become a drone layer? I thought a colony initially produces a lot of drones for a queen to mate with? Sorry, I am a newbie. This was a great video, and I am now subscribed and binge watching your videos. Many thanks for sharing your experiences!
Luke Galardi A drone laying queen could result from a failure to mate or an old queen who has run out of sperm. The queen's eggs will therefore be unfertilised and thus haploid, possessing only one set of chromosomes.
They were very naughty indeed!
Thanks Stewart for the course. So far I’m up to badly behaved bees but then the videos seemed to jump to Queen rearing? I’ve also found another series about bees on the allotment. As a beginner I want sequential stuff. You’ve lost me. Fair do’s if it’s my fault but I’m now searching the internet to find episode 15 or 16. Lost count!
The secret of a good informative video is to deliver what the audience want in a way they can absorb. Teachers spend years refining the art of disseminating information. Do you think maybe you’ve overstretched yourself with the different series of vids you’re producing? I’d just like something sequential as a beginner. Where is the info on the kit to buy and the purchase of bees? Or is that another series?
Can you tell me after how many days did you go back to destroy the queen cells?
Queen Cells are made and Capped in approx 2 Weeks. Queens hatch on Day 16 !!!
So 👀Look for QC's in your Fortnightly Inspections, # otherwise you will have Queens fighting each other, or worse Swarming !?! 🙄
Hope this Helps.
🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝
# You can always carefully cut those Swarm Cells out (with plenty of space around the Cell itself, not to damage them. : And then trim off that extra Comb, down to the Cell itself.
Add them to a Queenless Nuc, or add them in QC Cell Cages (Protect the Virgin as she hatches.) And, 'Bank' them for a few Days in Roller Cages hung from a Frame.... Bees will fed them, but can't get to them and dispatch them (Kill them. 🥺)
Can't the bees sting through those blue nitrile gloves?
Hi,
Yes, they can, I only use the gloves to protect my hands from getting dirty and sticky.
Stewart
it is great video
Would not the drones from this colony also carry the aggressive genes?
I would thing destroying the entire hive would be the safest way, and let another hive rob out the honey
Exactly, I think that the only reason why bee keepers keep these hot colony's are out of greed. Why take the chance of letting this colony spread and contaminate and take over good broods with their bad genes...
those bees sound a touch upset. i have a hot hive in my apiary. Just built me a shaker box to go looking for her come spring,then,off with her head.
Hi Greg,
Yes they weren't the friendliest!
Stewart
How long after killing the original queen do you replace with the new queen please. Excellent video
Hi D.E.,
Once the old queen has been removed a new caged queen can go in almost immediately but most beekeepers tend to leave the colony queenless for a few hours.
Once the old queen's pheromones have weakened the new queen's pheromones will become dominant and hopefully she'll then be accepted by the colony.
Stewart
@@TheNorfolkHoneyCo Thats great. Thanks for all your help
hi stewart, my bees are more agressive i had upto 100 bees on each hand by the gaunlet an glove trying to get under them and stinging as well ,it has frightened me and i do not have a replacement queen.what shall i do thanks colin.
I had aggressive bees, sadly after consultation with more experienced bee keepers we culled the colony. I too have lost confidence in handling bees. My local group are quite supportive, and I have another hive which is lovely and calm, but I still get nervous handling them. Good luck.
I had my mentor come all she sorted it for me. One hive was full and the other packed with bees she noticed no queen but there was cells so she split the hive. I now have 3 hives and to nucs. Luvly and calm now.
colincourier Glad it’s sorted. I took the honey supers off before we culled. Aggressive bees are certainly productive and I got 40lbs delicious honey.
@@elizabethperry5581 I am waiting for another week to see if the q. Cells have produced queens. Then I will put nucs into hives and feed ready for winter. Your right about honey. I was very fortunate and got 60lb.honey
Do double nitrile gloving totally prevent getting stung?
Hi Steve,
I would never say never but it hasn't happened to me yet and I have had to deal with some very nasty hives over the past few years when I worked as a Seasonal Bee Inspector.
Stewart
Stewart,
I meant to ask. What mil thickness are the gloves you use? I am going to do more queen rearing and handling this year so I have to get away from the leather gloves. But I have a few hives that will be like this one to work with so I want to be protected.
Exchange some of those frames with queen cells back to the nuc.
Hi Dennis,
not sure what you are referring to here? Do you mean frames with queen cells from the aggressive colony into a nuc box?
Stewart
Removing the queen how long before that colony gets a new queen
Hi Chris,
I have put queens in cages into hives a couple of hours after removing the old queen with no ill effect. 24 hrs is a good time frame though.
Stewart