# Killing a mean colony without harming the honey



## marytx (Dec 4, 2002)

I went to a friend's house today to help him harvest his honey. He said that one colony was mean. It turns out that a second one was now also very mean and very agressive. (Read Africanized). They hit hard and are too agressive to even work with a full suit plus extra protection without a serious risk of something going very wrong. He got a few in his veil and we had to leave quickly. When we came back later to put the lid back on the hive, they again hit us hard when we approached, but luckily no "leaks".

Is there a way to kill the colony without harming the honey? Perhaps putting a black plastic cover over the hive and over-heating the buzzers? Maybe add a bucket of water and dry ice under the cover to make CO2? They are much too agressive to try to requeen. Another friend used hot soapy water since there were neighbor children at risk, but of course, it made a mess of things. Any ideas?
Thanks,
Dale (DH of Mary, TX)


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## james dilley (Mar 21, 2004)

You should check and see if you can get a A H B suit they are thicker and harder to sting thru.ARe yu sure they don't need a extra super as they get mean when the boxes are full of bees and theres no room. Also you can split them ,We don't kill them we just live with them.Tou think about mean bees but the regular bees can get mean too.Just smoke them a little more than normal and work slow come back if need be.


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## foxtrapper (Dec 23, 2003)

http://www.beesource.com/plans/beevac/


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## westbrook (May 10, 2002)

thank you for the link. :bow:


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## marytx (Dec 4, 2002)

I will suggest to my friend to contact the county extention agent as well as contact someone from a bee club. I still would like to find a way to save the honey. We had one friend use hot soapy water on a wicked hive, but that of course ruined the honey. 

The bees were not simply mean, they were very agressive. Just walking toward the back of the hive (when the top was off for an hour--in a shaded area--after the first attempt) hundreds of bees shot out at us. They struck hard. No way to even get close with any smoke.

Looking at my friend's gloves afterwards, there were lots of stings around the cuffs. I was hit hard all over, but nothing appeared to "stick" in the materials I was wearing. I was very pleased that my suit survived the ultimate test--not one sting to me, but boy did they try.

A vacuum is an idea, but the hives are so far from the house, there is no way to power the thing. Neither one of us has a small generator, and I suspect, we would get an army after us when we started it up anyway. I want to get as many as possible and will attempt something at night. Perhaps plugging the hive enterance at night, then we could make noise starting a leaf blower or something.

Dale (DH of Mary, TX)


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## westbrook (May 10, 2002)

Dale,

from your description... yep.. AHB! scray aren't they?! and there is no living with them. Anyone that says you can live with them, hasn't had them. Requeening doesn't work either, you have to get rid of everything. It takes about a month after a hive has been africanized before I noticed the change... and what a change!

I am sorry you have to go through this.. it never ends.


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## james dilley (Mar 21, 2004)

I have about 20 hives of A H B 's and they pose very little risk if you know what you are doing. I think that most people are going on the reputation of the bee's. After 15 yr.s of having them in the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas.Only 15 people have died from stings. So education is needed. You may want to smoke them at night then keep the smoke going all nite, that way they will be confused. Also if the temps. are around 90 plus degrees the are full of honey and its harder for them to sting..There are Bee keepers down here who all told have several thousand hives of predominately A H B's And still make a good living to boot.


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## Mutti (Sep 7, 2002)

When my DH was a bee inspector up in Michigan they used cyanide gas to destroy hives. Contact your Dept of Ag in your state and they should be able to direct you to help; especially in a state already dealing with Africanized bees. DEE


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## BeesNBunnies (Aug 15, 2005)

I had AHB. My first two hives were africanized. Ignorance is bliss because until I went and worked some hives with another beekeeper I didn't realise that bees weren't supposed to behave that way! I know someone else on here said that they can't be requeened but that is contrary to what other beekeepers have told me(fortunately the mites took care of mine about the time I found out they were africanized). I would certainly try requeening first. Possibly you might try seriously weakening the hive before you requeen to make them more receptive. Remove the old queen then maybe half the brood....especially the young brood that could be used for queen rearing. Let them wait an appropriate period of time then introduce your new queen. There's always more than one way to skin a cat(appologies to all cat lovers).


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## marytx (Dec 4, 2002)

Problem with friend's AHBs taken care of.

We went very early in the morning while it was still quite cool and the bees were not yet out. Lots and lots of smoke to get them fat and happy (a bee drunken stupor) plus the cool temperatures kept most of them at bay. Took the super off and used Bee Gone or some product like that (my friend purchased it so I don't know what he used). Harvested only a gallon of honey, but didn't want it to go to waste.

Hot soapy water bath for the bees at night put them down. He promised his wife he would do them in (rather than try to weaken the colony and requeen).

Dale (DH of Mary, TX)


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## westbrook (May 10, 2002)

BeesNBunnies said:


> I know someone else on here said that they can't be requeened but that is contrary to what other beekeepers have told me.


ok, then by all means requeen... but you might want to read this little article

http://www.msstate.edu/Entomology/beenews/beenews0704.htm

starts about here....

Many experts expected that the farther from a tropical climate AHBs spread, the more they would interbreed with EHBs. But it appears that interbreeding is a transient condition in the United States, according to ARS entomologist Gloria DeGrandi-Hoffman. She is research leader at the Carl Hayden Bee Research Center in Tucson, Arizona, and ARS national coordinator for AHB research.

if you want to read the rest it starts about 2/3 down the page. very interesting findings.


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## terry stewart (Jun 12, 2005)

you may try replace the queen sometimes this will work


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## Iddee (Sep 25, 2005)

Just hit it a time or two with a co2 fire extinquisher down between the frames from the top.


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## Oregonsparkie (Sep 3, 2003)

This is not intended to kill the bees but you may try a ty-vek jumpsuit. I have never been stung through mine and I use it for extractions from walls and such.

You may consider keeping this hive, I hear that a AHB hive is more productive than a EHB hive..


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## seedspreader (Oct 18, 2004)

AHB... another reason I love winter and snow.


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