Natural Beekeeping International Forum

[triscleeire]

I got very aggressive black Irish bees. I am generally fine with this as the colony appears to be exceptionally strong and healthy.
After inspections individual bees attack any passer by within a 100m radius without obvious reason.
Once 2 bees were actually waiting for me at the front door 100m from the hive on the other side of the house and stung me 2 days after the inspection.

Do bees generally hold a grudge and retaliate for unwanted hive inspections?

[zaunreiter]

Yes, they generally do. That's why one waits a couple of days in between inspections minimum.

You don't have black bees. Black bees do not sting...at least according to some members.
http://www.biobees.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=109500#109500

[AugustC]

Depends on the colony. I have had bees that seem to have no memory of incursion and others they are defensive for upto two weeks afterwards.

[zaunreiter]

Yes, especially the black bees.

[Heartstone]

Maybe some black bees do not sting but Irish black bees most definitely DO sting. They are a lot more aggressive then Buckfast bees. I have had both. Currently I have only black bees and they are not very aggressive with me unless I upset them by over smoking, inspecting too long or shaking the hive. They also get aggressive if they have no queen or virgin queens and you inspect them.

The reason I tried Buckfasts was due to my first hive of Irish black bees being very, very aggressive. On one occasion I got stung over 20 times through my jeans, gloves and bee suite.

The Buckfasts did not do very well for me, they all died. So I went back to blacks from another source and so far they have been great.

There is a colony of Irish Blacks in Waterford I believe that are said not to be aggressive.

Lots of bee keeping politics around black / buckfast bees in Ireland that I try to stay out of. Personally I just keep bees and at the moment they are all Irish Blacks.