Comments on: How to Walk Away From an Angry Hive

By: Gloria Nelson

Gloria Nelson — Thu, 01 Apr 2021 22:28:34 +0000

Mine will be arriving here April 12th. Getting two. My colonies died last year. Plenty honey so not sure why. Anxious to start over. I am down to my last two jars of honey

By: Ron

Ron — Thu, 30 Apr 2020 21:16:20 +0000

My bees are spread out at several apiaries. When I am done and every hive is put back together, I just jump in my van and wait for the bees to fly to the windows and then I open the driver’s side and passenger side windows about an inch and let them all fly out. It is a behavior all flying insects do…in that in a darkened room, they fly to the windows like flies and seek to get out even though they were trying to rip your head off just a minute ago.

By: Beth Field

Beth Field — Thu, 24 Jan 2019 14:34:21 +0000

We notice our hives are much more defensive when the barometer drops – as in just before rain. Anytime that barometer is low, they are going to be more defensive. Also, the more bees there are, the more “hot” they seem to get. We noticed this because we have two deep brood boxes on the bottom of the supers. We used two deeps to give the queen plenty of room to lay and expand without swarming, and while that seems to be working, the colonies get more defensive when they’ve got more bees. Also, when we go into the brood boxes and are near the frame where they queen is, or is laying, they also get more defensive – which is another way to spot where the queen might be in the hive, by the way.

Walking away from the hive and walking through some bushes or other natural barrier, usually is enough to get rid of any bees that are still following us after we’ve closed up the hive. Smoking the hive often helps, but sometimes we have found a light spray of sugar water does more to calm them. During dearth, when we have to inspect, we use the sugar water.

By: susan rudnicki

susan rudnicki — Thu, 28 Dec 2017 17:05:09 +0000

Queenlessness or a colony in process of re-queening or with a virgin will often be fussy, too

By: Hilary Kearney

Hilary Kearney — Thu, 28 Dec 2017 02:28:41 +0000

In reply to Renee. I have definitely had hives get defensive while taking honey, but it is not consistent. My guess is that the taking of the honey has little to do with it and it is more about other factors. Certainly they are more defensive when food is scarce. I have seen certain hives be calm while I took the honey, but then they get defensive for days afterwards. Chasing anyone who comes near them. In that case I am more likely to believe it was the taking of the honey that caused the defensiveness.

By: Renee

Renee — Thu, 28 Dec 2017 00:56:50 +0000

Interesting and helpful article. Our bees were generally content bees this year. It was our first year for harvesting and I found the bees were very defensive on the days we had the hives open for harvesting. Bees with stingers at the ready. I figured they were in full defence mode as their honey was being stolen, but noticed this wasn’t mentioned. Perhaps it had more to do with it being fall and food sources were scarce? Is it normal for bees to be defensive when the honey harvest happens?
Thanks!

By: Keeping Backyard Bees

Keeping Backyard Bees — Thu, 21 Dec 2017 20:36:05 +0000

In reply to Diana. Thank you, Diana. The problem should be fixed!

By: Diana

Diana — Thu, 21 Dec 2017 15:06:46 +0000

I tried to sign up for your newsletter and the name and email stayed blank as I typed in info. I came back here to inform you of the problem.