# bees aggressive after swarm



## Troop (Jun 4, 2015)

got a question regarding my TBH My first hive, established June 1st last year has been going gangbusters since installed. Two weeks it swarmed before I could split it. A week after that it swarmed again ( the hive was 90% capped brood when the first swarm took off) Both of the swarms went into hives I had just built so I lucked out there. My issue is since, the hive that had always been pretty gentle, looks like a war is occurring at the entrance in the afternoon about 3:30 or so with lots of drones all over the landing board. I get chased back to the house by guard bees during this time even if i'm 15 feet from it. Does this have something to do with a new queen? non mated queen? etc?? thanks in advance for the help.

Tony


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## Bees of SC (Apr 12, 2013)

first you may need a bigger entry, drones and worked coming home at the same time. Its like being on the interstate in a traffic jam, every one is upset trying to get home..Most likely you older queen swarmed with some of the girls. You then had a second swarm with a virgin queen, maybe more that one. If that was my hive, I would go in it, very gently, to see what is going on..JMO...


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## FlowerPlanter (Aug 3, 2011)

>Does this have something to do with a new queen? non mated queen?

Yes. Right now they are queenless, only q cells, in the next few days, within a week, another virgin queen should hatch she will need a few days then be ready for another swarm or mating flight in a week or two. In the mean time a queenless hive does get aggressive or mean. 
Your second swarm most likely also has a virgin, you will need to make sure she gets mated and is laying in a few weeks. 

A big robust hive can swarm itself to death, that's why I like to remove all but two q cell of the same age close together (then go back in a few days later and check again), this reduces the chance of multiple swarms. 

http://www.bushfarms.com/beesmath.htm


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## Troop (Jun 4, 2015)

thanks so much for the reply. That explains a lot and makes sense to what i'm seeing in the hive. I actually went in after the first swarm and saw two queens tooting. One was on another unhatched Queen cell. As of two days ago there are still unhatched Queen cells, just don't know if they are dead or not. will give them a couple weeks to get on track. Thanks again!

Tony


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