January 19, 2008 – Behave or Grandma Will Take You Out!
Finally, some farming pictures – outdoor farming pictures are few and far between during cold January weeks. However, there is one beehive at high hopes that is very aggressive and gj is not willing to work with overly aggressive bees.
The solution is to go out on a cold morning and remove the bees. She wasn’t too sure how long the bees would live in the 3 degree morning, so she’s dressed in full beekeeping attire. I bet you never thought that beekeeper’s attire worked well as winter camoflauge.
One frame is removed and the ball of bees is visible from in the hive.
Scraping the bees off into the snow and cold air. Some bees tried to fly away, but at 3 degrees the flight lasted about 5 seconds before they fell and perished. Next spring we’ll start over with a new queen and some buddies.
3 Responses to “January 19, 2008 – Behave or Grandma Will Take You Out!”
woody says:
January 21, 2008 at 7:36 am
Is it common for a hive to get aggressive over time? Africanized bees haven’t moved that far north yet, or have they?
highhopesgardens says:
January 21, 2008 at 9:15 am
Woody,
I’m not be bee expert, but I think that genetics plays some role and I suspect that some of the crosses of Africanized blood might drift northward in crosses, so while the whole-Africanized bees may not be able to survive, I’m guessing that a certain percentage of that blood could move north – or it just might be one of those nastier hives on the normal spectrum of variation.
rache says:
April 22, 2008 at 12:02 pm
why didn’t you just requeen?