Thread: The birth of a bee

I have bees too. When I robbed them some weeks back one of my hives went feral and belted the hell out of me. I think I have a new strain of bees with extra long stings because they got me through two layers, the bee suit and the long gloves. I recon they must have lost their queen because she settles them down. They are still working well so must have requeened themselves. I will wait till spring to find out and hopefully not the hard way. They were so bad I could barely rob them, And to get into the brood box would have been impossible. In the past I have had bees that were so quiet you could rob them without a smoke gun, although I had one going just in case. You could lift frames out and lean against the hive and the bees would keep on working on the frame. Lucky I am not allergic to stings but I keep anti histamine on hand just in case. Jim

What a great clip

Yup Bees are good

Bin keeping em in me yard

For a few years they

Increase the gardens

Productivity by 50%

Or more I reckon and

Then there is the Honey

Originally Posted by jx2mad

I have bees too. When I robbed them some weeks back one of my hives went feral and belted the hell out of me. I think I have a new strain of bees with extra long stings because they got me through two layers, the bee suit and the long gloves. I recon they must have lost their queen because she settles them down. They are still working well so must have requeened themselves. I will wait till spring to find out and hopefully not the hard way. They were so bad I could barely rob them, And to get into the brood box would have been impossible. In the past I have had bees that were so quiet you could rob them without a smoke gun, although I had one going just in case. You could lift frames out and lean against the hive and the bees would keep on working on the frame. Lucky I am not allergic to stings but I keep anti histamine on hand just in case. Jim

My hive is at present at the site of the treasurer of our association, I check it every Wednesday morning. He has about 20 hives, they are on the GERNS property at Nudgee, from Gerns smallgoods fame, he's on a good wicket, Andrew Gerns pays for all the bits & pieces, all he has to do is look after them. I have found that you can tell when a hive does not have a queen. The noise level is right up there, they sound very annoyed. How have you been with The small hive beetle? Bob

Mine get a bit toey when on the leatherwood

But settle down when back at home after a couple weeks

I requeen mine every 2 years seems to keep em quieter

They are great and produce a natural sweet health kick. Unfortunately it only took one to put me in emergency with a pretty severe anaphylactic reacaction.

I made the mistake of wearing gloves with some black colour on them. We inspected a stroppy hive, and they went for the black, got a few stings. Apparently bees see the colour red as black, so message is don't wear black or red, or use deodorant, if they get upset they may go you. Bob

American bee keepers lost 40% of their hives last year. Obama is spending millions to try to turn things around, Bob


Plan Bee: Feds Unveil Strategy to Reverse Honeybee, Butterfly Decline - NBC News

I had 3 good hives wiped out about 4 years ago with the beetle. My new hives have a few but a strong hive will keep them under control. It seems my rogue hive has requeened ok but I am not sure of their temperament yet. I go down at night and tap the hive. If I get a loud buzz and then silence I know there is a queen but if the buzzing continues they are without a queen until they grow a new one. Do you know that hive beetle will fly with a swarm and re-infest the new hive? America is in big trouble with a bee virus. Lets hope it does not reach us here. Most people don't realise that agriculture requires bees for pollination, and if we lose them then it is in big trouble. Jim