# Aggressive Bees in an Old Hive



## JRG13 (May 11, 2012)

Don't work hives in Winter?? Of course they're gonna be nasty now.


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## Kirk Osborne (Oct 7, 2012)

Also, if it is warmer... or downright hot, things should come apart a little bit easier. I'm not sure what the temps are in NV right now, but I'm sure it'll get warmer in the Spring. Try again then.


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## Bunkerville Bee Keeper (Nov 30, 2012)

Thx.


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## Bunkerville Bee Keeper (Nov 30, 2012)

That does make sense. It does get very hot here. I'll wait. Thanks.


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## Bunkerville Bee Keeper (Nov 30, 2012)

JRG13 said:


> Don't work hives in Winter?? Of course they're gonna be nasty now.


Of course? I'm still very new at this. I'm still in 101. Thanks for the advice.


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## JRG13 (May 11, 2012)

did u smoke them at all? Another thing, is you don't really want to break all the seals on the hive now either, keep em closed up.


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## Bunkerville Bee Keeper (Nov 30, 2012)

JRG13 said:


> did u smoke them at all? Another thing, is you don't really want to break all the seals on the hive now either, keep em closed up.


I did use smoke. Further, it is still so warm here that I didn't think that opening the box would be an issue. I really don't want to lose this hive, so I will wait until next late spring when we are back to our hot temps before I try to look at it again. Otherwise, I'm going to start a new hive. Do you buy bees, and if so, where?


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## Rader Sidetrack (Nov 30, 2011)

Bunkerville Bee Keeper said:


> Do you buy bees, and if so, where?


Unless you are withing driving distance of someone selling bees, most people buying bees will have them shipped (USPS or UPS). If they are getting shipped, then you have a lot of potential vendors. Many will start taking reservations/orders sometime in December.

One place to look for bees is on Beesource, either the display ads on the right side of the page, or in the _For Sale_ forum.

If you are not a member of a local bee club, see if you can find one. Many clubs will place a group order for bees, usually at a good price, and this may also assist in the transportation issue.


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## Bunkerville Bee Keeper (Nov 30, 2012)

\I am so glad that you wrote. I am not within driving distance yet because I haven't found any local keepers yet (I've been looking for 3 months). I am going to IFA St. George today, which is 45 miles from our house, and ask around there. Northern Nevada does have a club, but Southern Nevada does not, at least one that I can find. I can't find one in Southern Utah either.


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## DBeeCooper (Apr 28, 2010)

Is springtime when you have lots of wildflowers blooming out there in Nevada? You'll find the bees are generally a lot nicer when there's a flow on. And, since the bees will be out working, there will be less of them at home to give you a hard time.


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## Rader Sidetrack (Nov 30, 2011)

Bunkervile BK - This earlier thread may be of interest to you:
http://www.beesource.com/forums/showthread.php?252160-Las-Vegas-Nevada-Beekeeping-Class

Obviously the event is past history, but there is contact info for the instructor, and his website link. He's not "local", but within driving distance. He may be able to help with bees.


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## Bunkerville Bee Keeper (Nov 30, 2012)

DBeeCooper said:


> Is springtime when you have lots of wildflowers blooming out there in Nevada? You'll find the bees are generally a lot nicer when there's a flow on. And, since the bees will be out working, there will be less of them at home to give you a hard time.


That makes complete sense and should be obvious to me...argh, so much to learn. Thank you, and love the user name.


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## Bunkerville Bee Keeper (Nov 30, 2012)

Rader Sidetrack said:


> Bunkervile BK - This earlier thread may be of interest to you:
> http://www.beesource.com/forums/showthread.php?252160-Las-Vegas-Nevada-Beekeeping-Class
> 
> Obviously the event is past history, but there is contact info for the instructor, and his website link. He's not "local", but within driving distance. He may be able to help with bees.


This farm is not that far from where I live, probably less than two hours. I looked at the website, and it doesn't appear that there has been much activity on it since last March. Regardless, I will look more on line and in the phone books. I can't imagine a farm that big isn't around anymore. Thank you Graham. This type of information is why I joined "the source".

*Update*: Great call Graham. This farm is on Facebook and still very active. Although they have colder winters, their summers can be hot. This will be a great start for me in gathering local contacts. Thanks again.


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## JRG13 (May 11, 2012)

You can try craigslist for people selling hives Bunk. In the spring, if you split the hive down and requeen, they should mellow out. Bigger hives are generally more defensive as well. If the hive is heavy weight wise, don't worry about it now til spring, they should be fine unless you're noticing something you don't like, for example a lot of DWV (Deformed Wing Virus) or see a lot of mites on visible bees. I buy established hives locally, typically a few guys selling them on Craigslist for decent prices with decent equipment etc..

When I say requeen, I mean, you make a split and bring in 2 new queens if you break the hive down into 3 separate units, keeping the original queen in one. Just track her and if that hive is still hard to work with, you will have to pinch her and replace her.


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## Bunkerville Bee Keeper (Nov 30, 2012)

Thanks for the advice Jrg. I will wait until spring and then split them. I have a lot of work to do to to get them apart and get them cleaned up a little. Plus, I have found a bee keeper on a farm about 100 miles north of Bunkerville who is very willing to work with me. Thanks for all your help, everyone. I'll be in touch I'm sure.


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## psfred (Jul 16, 2011)

A piece of piano wire (otherwise known as music wire) attached to a pair of hefty sticks can be used to saw between boxes to get the frames apart more easily -- the bees like to put comb in between when left undisturbed, so that you cannot lift the top box without pulling frames from the next box down up with it. 

Beyond that, you can only wait for warmer weather. When it heats up, the propolis will be softer and it will be easier to get the frames out. Once you get one loose, pry the rest apart, hopefully the wood won't be softer than the bee glue!

As previously stated, you may have to pinch the queen and replace her if the bees stay aggressive in the spring, you are likely in africanized honey bee territory and you do NOT want an africanized hive.

Peter


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## Bunkerville Bee Keeper (Nov 30, 2012)

Great idea Peter. Between waiting until spring, using the wire, splitting the boxes and re-queening each, I have a very good plan for the spring for this hive. Thanks again everyone!


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## whiskers (Aug 28, 2011)

Somewhere I've read that a good place to begin, when everything has been attached together, is to take a whole box, turn it upside down on a piece of plywood or something similar, then cut between the frames and the box with a long knife, then lift the box off the frames. Then you can easily separate the frames and do what you have to do.
Bill


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## Vance G (Jan 6, 2011)

I expect that warmth is not the issue. I am sure you will have 80 degree days yet and that is more than warm enough. But until you get something blooming flowers, the bees will tend to be defensive. I wonder if the guy who had the bee quit working them because they were too hot tempered for him to enjoy? I know all the feral bees in Las Vegas are africanized but it sounds like you are quite a way north of there. Just pay attention suiting up until you know what you are dealing with and be careful. Lift one side and see how heavy they are too! If they are short of stores, that makes bees grumpy and you may need to feed them.


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## captwillie (May 7, 2012)

I was given an old hive that hadn't been managed for 15-20 years. It was sitting on two deep bodies. I didn't even try to manipulate the frames because they were stuck together. What I did was to get the two bodies apart and give each their own bottom and an empty mediem super with foundation ontop. One hive had the queen and the other made they're own and built up. I hope to get the old body And frames out this spring and continue to grow the collonies.


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## Vance G (Jan 6, 2011)

The easiest way to handle this might be to under super these colonies and the queens will move down onto the new equipment. At that point you can put a queen excluder over her and let any brood in the fused equipment emerge. Then since this fused box will probably be full of honey, I would put it on a bottom board with a closed entrance. put an excluder over it and stack the brood boxes over it and establish an upper entrance. The bees will them move the stores out of the fused equipment and it can be melted down for wax or pried apart at leisure. Not fast but would be minimum disruption to bees.


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## Bunkerville Bee Keeper (Nov 30, 2012)

whiskers said:


> Somewhere I've read that a good place to begin, when everything has been attached together, is to take a whole box, turn it upside down on a piece of plywood or something similar, then cut between the frames and the box with a long knife, then lift the box off the frames. Then you can easily separate the frames and do what you have to do.
> Bill


Thank you for your advice.


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## Bunkerville Bee Keeper (Nov 30, 2012)

Vance G said:


> I expect that warmth is not the issue. I am sure you will have 80 degree days yet and that is more than warm enough. But until you get something blooming flowers, the bees will tend to be defensive. I wonder if the guy who had the bee quit working them because they were too hot tempered for him to enjoy? I know all the feral bees in Las Vegas are africanized but it sounds like you are quite a way north of there. Just pay attention suiting up until you know what you are dealing with and be careful. Lift one side and see how heavy they are too! If they are short of stores, that makes bees grumpy and you may need to feed them.


Thanks for getting back to me.


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## cerezha (Oct 11, 2011)

Vance G said:


> The easiest way to handle this might be to under super these colonies and the queens will move down onto the new equipment. ...


 Tried and pathetically failed. In my hands (well, in bees "hands") it did not work at all in few occasions. The only way it worked to me was when I moved the box in question on top of the hive and removed it month later full of honey. But, it is SoCal... To control swarming, I tried to break the nest by introducing an empty box in the middle of the nest - it was empty for a few months, sort of empty - there were a lot of really angry girls in that box every time I checked the hive, but no comb at all! Finally,I moved the empty box two story up and .... girls decided to move the nest in that box... they insisted top entrance for that occasion... 2 month later, they moved down and box was filled with honey and hive swarmed... because I was trying to shrink bees operation for the winter and reduced the hive to 5 mediums... apparently there was not enough space for them in the end of November...


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