# Angry bees



## Nferris (Jun 14, 2016)

This is our first experience with bees. Living in KS. We are 7 weeks in with 2 nucs. They sit about 6 feet apart in partial sun. Initially, one hive seemed more vigorous than the other. Both have been docile until week 5 when the weaker appearing hive seemed to have had a population explosion and suddenly became very aggressive. Feeding them about 1 quart daily. Why would they have become so aggressive suddenly?


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## squarepeg (Jul 9, 2010)

welcome the forum nferris!

by population explosion do you mean a dramatic increase in bees coming and going from the hive? is it possible that your weaker hive is succumbing to robbing and that's the reason for the increased activity? if this is happening it would certainly explain the aggressiveness you are reporting.

if you are experiencing a nectar flow it may be that you do not need a feeder on the hive at this time, and if the colony is weakened for some reason and getting robbed the feeder might be contributing to the problem.

i would consider removing the feeder and seeing if things settle down, as well as performing a thorough inspection to make sure the colony is queenright and has healthy brood in it.


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## RenTenTin (Jun 14, 2016)

Kinda new at this myself maybe someone can come along and correct me where I am wrong. This seems somewhat normal to me having one hive of survivor bees and two I acquired from swarms in bird houses. May have something to do with protecting brood and food stores they didn't have before.


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## tech.35058 (Jul 29, 2013)

I am thinking like Sqarepeg. "all" my hives have robber screens all the time.
beware of bee food supplements that have attractant like lemongrass oil. that was _my_ first year mistake.
Good luck ... CE


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## Nferris (Jun 14, 2016)

Yes, it seemed that the population nearly doubled overnight and when I feed them they chase me and sting me through my glove cuffs and jeans in spite of using a smoker(which I hadn't needed before). I suppose robbing could be the situation. I will stop feeding, wait & watch.


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## dlbrightjr (Dec 8, 2015)

Bigger hives are more defensive. I hived a package of Italians that you could almost cuddle with for 2 months. She hatched 10 frames of brood recently and now they are very defensive. Not mean, not angry, not aggressive, but very defensive. One week when I went to check them they were head bumping and giving me some stings on the gloves. Never did it previously. Still nothing like the mean nucs I bought that sound like a weedeater trying to get into your face the whole time you are around them. Good luck.


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## WD9N (Dec 28, 2014)

I don't know that bigger hive means more defensive. My first experience with bees was in established colonies in two deep brood boxes. That is normal in my area for strong, established colonies. I helped work the bees without gloves and never got a sting or bump. It could be weather, lack of forage, or the like. Are you sure they are queen right?

The timing also would be right for them to have replaced the queen if she got killed when you moved them into the hive from the nucs.(I am assuming you have moved them into a larger hive.) Another thing that I did when I first started was use TOO much smoke, instead of calming them with a puff at the entrance or now I like to give a puff under the screened bottom, I gave them enough to alarm them! Also, be sure you are working them calmly and as gently as possible, being new it is easy to make mistakes and fumble with the frames and bang them a bit, this could also lead to them getting a little testy.(Yes, every beek on here was new and likely made these mistakes. Even if they wouldn't admit it now.)

-Welcome to the source!


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## Nferris (Jun 14, 2016)

Never heard the term queen right. We know the queen was OK after the transfer of nuc to hive. The more I read, the more I have become convinced the bees are being robbed. We have installed robber screens (hoping we did it right). The screens are covered on the outside w/bees.


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## deknow (Jul 17, 2006)

The only real way to assess the 'strength' of a hive is to look at the brood.


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## squarepeg (Jul 9, 2010)

Nferris said:


> We know the queen was OK after the transfer of nuc to hive.


it's possible the status of the queen may have changed over the course of those 7 weeks. when was the last time you verified there were eggs and brood of all ages in the hives? queenless and/or broodless colonies are targets for robbing bees. on the other hand if that nuc has been queenright over that period of time the population should have strengthened to the point of fending off robbing attempts even with the addition of the feeder. it's been a long time since i've had robbing here, but in almost every case i've had in the past it turned out the colony was either queenless or had a failed queen.


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## WD9N (Dec 28, 2014)

Nferris said:


> Never heard the term queen right. We know the queen was OK after the transfer of nuc to hive. The more I read, the more I have become convinced the bees are being robbed. We have installed robber screens (hoping we did it right). The screens are covered on the outside w/bees.


The term queenright is used to mean a colony with a healthy laying queen. I have had no experiences with robbing, so don't know what that really looks like. The idea of the robbing screen is that the robbing bees can't find the entrance, but the foragers from the colony can. It would seem logical that if you have several bees on the screens that can't find the entrance they are the offenders. Sounds to me like you may have found the problem.


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## bbruff22 (Dec 24, 2013)

First off hello from NE Kansas. Most of what I would wonder about has been mentioned, queenless being the first thing I'd check. Our flow is ending in my area and it's hot as heck. My bees are a bit more aggressive right now too.


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## AmericasBeekeeper (Jan 24, 2010)

Welcome!


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