# calm bees ?????



## tom j (Apr 3, 2009)

yesterday I messed up big time .. I have a hive that I didn't put one of the frames in and didn't notice till they filled in were the missing frame should have been ( a weeks time ) I want to join it with a weak hive .. so the comb is hooked on to two frames ,, I cut it away from one lifted it up theres only a small space between the frame comb and the bur comb ,, the bur comb is large about 8in by 4 in , thickly covered with bees .. I thought I just might have the luck to see the queen and be able to pinch her .. I'm looking at it and all of a suden it drops , lands on my shoe and lays there . about 20 girls run up the pant leg ,, my shoe is now full of bees .. I picked up the comb put it in the hive , brushed the bees off of my leg (no bee brush so this has to be done by hand ) ..
take off the shoe dump them in the hive , put the cover on end next to all the bees on the ground half crawl on the cover ,( the first ones on the cover start fanning , this draws more on to the cover ) , dump them in the hive ,, put the cover back by the ones on the ground most get on the cover only a few still on the ground .. now I have comb thats not in a frame , so I get a frame and string , tye the comb in the frame , like you would for a cut out . put it in the hive ... now lets count the stings ,, NONE ,, all this and NO STINGS ... Talk about CALM bees .. when it fell , I thought Now I'm going to get the crap stung out of me .. but all my hives this year are calm like this .. it makes it a lot of fun to work the hives .. I have opened a hive , and Bonnie will say "" thats not the best Idea to do in ths weather or time of day '''' ,, but 4 stings all summer , and 2 was my fault . I put my hand down on them ...


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## AverageJo (Sep 24, 2010)

OMG. When I read that you dropped the piece of comb, my eyes opened wide. I also thought I was going to read that you went screaming like a school girl in that next sentance. )

I'm so glad you have a wonderfully calm hive. That's one hive I'd be wanting to keep going to keep those genetics in my bees. Hope they make it through the winter for you.


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## mare (Aug 31, 2006)

hahaha i was waiting for the running sceaming line too.


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## Michael W. Smith (Jun 2, 2002)

Good for you. Consider yourself lucky that you have calm bees.

I have 2 hives. One was a package I got from Georgia. The other a full hive that some amish guy had. The amish moved and left it and the people who bought the property didn't want them.

I noticed right away when I tried to get into the amish hive they weren't friendly.

Since then, my package hive has got a major attitude - in fact, they are now worse than the amish hive! But I know that they have brood and honey they are protecting now - and besides, they say "hot" hives usually produce more.


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## tom j (Apr 3, 2009)

I still can not understand why there were no stings ..when I dropped the comb ,, I thought that they would show what that little back end has in it ,,, no one is more surprised , about not getting stung then me . :shocked::shocked: I thought I would more then make up for the few stings I've gotten from the first year having bees .. I never have been slow and careful ,, the kids say I'm like a bear in the hives .. so here I need a calm hive ,, the grand kids like to work the hives with me ,, if they find out that I'm in the hives they come running , and want to help .. this summer they liked to pick drones off the frames and pet them .. they would push the worker bees around so they could find drones ... they also like playing right in front of the hives ,, like 6 feet from the hives ,, and now and then closer .. we would tell them its not a good idea to play in front of the hives ,, they would look at the hives and say ,, yea we know . the bees coming back to the hive would fly right into them ,, but no stings .. they all have got stung more then once so they know what it feels like . but thats kids ..


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

I dropped a whole frame with a bunch of bees on it once. Bet you can't guess who got the mad bees around them and stung? Even today Kare gets this wild evil look in her eyes if I even bobble a frame, which earns a lecture.

Here it was colder day yesterday than we have had in some time. It is also the time of the year when the girls protect their store with viger.
I want to inspect a few hoives in the a couple of outyards. Never even took the smoker out of the box and lit it. I told kare I am so glad we raise queens that have that trait of kill on sight, YA RIGHT. They were about as gentile as in the middle of a spring flow.

 Al


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## Queen Bee (Apr 7, 2004)

If your hives are calm--why are you killing the queen? Is the laying pattern bad? low? Are your hives not thriving? If the hive is strong and the queen is doing well..I would leave her in there..


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## tom j (Apr 3, 2009)

I stated the queens to late in the spring so I have to join the 2 , and with those 2 I messed up big time ,, no fault of eather queen


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