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Bees

Hi, we've had five hives in our garden for about a yr, with no problems. Recently they have become aggressive without being threatened, both my husband and I have been literally chased by bees and stung whilst going about our normal business...and not near the hives. i reacted quite badly to a sting and now 3 other family members have been stung over the last 2 weeks. Is it the hot weather? I'm concerned that if we have guests they will be  divebombed as we have . Can anyone help? Is this just a phase that will pass?

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  • BoaterBoater Posts: 241

    I remember being told as a kid, by a science teacher who had beehives, that bees can get aggressive because of what they are feeding on. As I recall keepers like to put hives in oilseed rape fields because the pollen makes good honey, but also makes the bees aggressive, I think pollen from all mustard family can make them aggressive.

    Don't see much oilseed rape in this part of the country, is it the season for it now? and if so do you have some near you? I guess there could be other plants which make bees aggressive too (or alternatively that whole idea may have been debunked in the last 25 years.....)?

  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,139

    Are these 'your' hives or do they belong to another beekeeper ?

    If they're yours I would consult with your local branch of the British Beekeepers' Association and see if this is happening to other colonies in your area .

    If they belong to someone else you need to let them know that the behaviour of the bees is changing.

    Just a thought, what were you wearing? - I remember in the past being told not to wear black around beehives because it makes them aggressive. 


    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • Bee witchedBee witched Posts: 1,295

    Hi grimble,

    We have 10 hives in our garden and don't have a problem .... but the apiary is at a considerable distance from the house with a large meadow area between. You might want to look at where the hives are sited ... it is possible to use hedges / screens to direct the bees flight path up and away from where you will be in the garden.

    It might just be one particular hive that is the problem ... if you (or the beekeeper if they are not your hives) can identify a problem hive then re-queening should be considered. Also bees can become a bit feisty if they are queenless and will settle down once they have their new queen.

    Hope you can get to the bottom of the problem ... there will be a reason for the change in temperament ...  just needs a bit of detective work to figure it out.

     

    Gardener and beekeeper in beautiful Scottish Borders  

    A single bee creates just one twelfth of a teaspoon of honey in her lifetime
  • somapopsomapop Posts: 71

    Out of interest, are these natural hives or something you've built/purchased in order to bee keep?

    I wouldn't mind looking into that one day.

    Never had a problem with bees but every year we have a wasps nest somewhere in part of our house (usually under the eaves of the roof).

  • vjwukvjwuk Posts: 30

    If the queens have bred with an aggressive strain last year this could be coming out, that is why swarm control is good practise as you can breed out bad genes.  I am assuming these are your or someones hives and being managed image.

  • The bees are not wild, I have a beekeeper that comes in to look after them. He has noticed that they have been more feisty of late, although they do seem to have calmed down a bit now the weather has cooled. He is bringing a master beekeeper with him to investigate . So hopefully it's just a blip. 

  • Somapop, try contacting your local beekeping society, that's how I got our hives. The beekeper was only too pleased to be able to gather all his hives and put them in the one plot. We get the benefit of the pollination and also a proportion of the honey! Result all round except the stinging incident, but hopefully that has now passed.

  • barry islandbarry island Posts: 1,846

    I just googled this and it seems that one reason for bees becoming aggressive is if there is a nectar shortage and then they can start to rob honey from other nests this can cause all the hives in that area to be on high alert and anything that moves could become a target.

  • BLTBLT Posts: 525

    I agree with Barry Islands poost. I recall a local Essex bee keeper tellong me he provided a sugar solution for the hives he kept on the allotments. Every now and then we used to leave him bags of sugar, seeing as his bees pollinated our crops...We never ever got stung...

    This year in my garden there is a real lack of bees, the odd bumble bee but thats it...I noticed Hover flies doing their bit but Bees are obviously in short supply around here..

  • The beekeeper is here as we speak, I will chat to him and let you all know the outcome, thankyou all for your input. Incidentally, we had a BBQ here on sat and no one was stung, they didn't even come round this part of the garden despite there being pimms and jam cream tea! So hopefully it was just a passing phase. 

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