Beekeeping - Splitting an Angry Hive (Africanized Bees?) 

Stan Holloway correct I would bag the hive at night leave it for a few days. Once they all suffocate put docile bees and a queen in a hive with resources

"don't split them, kill them. All of them. " That is terrible advice and a waste of the GOOD genetics of AFB's.

We can thank a dimwhit substitute beekeeper for removing the queen excluders, which was enabled by Warwick Kerr. So much of rhe invasive species of any animals we have are due to carelessness and incompetence.

Ok boomer

Talk to me after you deal with a hive full of them. Incompetent little pricks. Reckon you gotta learn on your own.

+Joshua Richards alright, good idea. I'll see what I can do about that.

Blake Kirby​​ If you try this then keep them in pots because they spread via roots. And there are lots of "cultivars" of peppermint to select from. I know of peppermint, chocolate mint, orange mint, ginger mint, basil mint, and lavender mint.

Joshua Richards Do you have a favorite for this purpose?

Blake Kirby​ Likely Chocolate Mint and Basil Mint, they both have the strongest scents among the Peppermints. The others are simply unique vatieties.

Blake Kirby Mints are also good at repelling rodants and other animals too, but thats off topic info.

Thanks :)

We had Russians, wicked stingers on those, but thank goodness, the patience of Job, and I can very honestly say, in 5 years, I never ONCE had to deal with a hive *that* angry! Worst incident - ever, was we kept the same hive covers they arrived with(shiney aluminum) and had placed *one* right under a small fruit tree. As that tree got heavy with leaves, blooms and the beginnings of some tiny fruit, one branch was brought down low enough that the wind was rapping and scraping it across the top of *that* hive about every 2 seconds. Coupled with the shiny aluminum getting so hot, bees would often touch down on the top to orient before actually going to the front and inside the hive, made for some VERY angry bees! Scorched feet, constant disturbances on the roof.. That particular hive was a nightmare to deal with until I, accompanied by my faithful troupe of hens and roo, sat down for a long looksee and think. Then pulled the pallet the hive was set upon about 3' forward. Solved the entire problem 1 cup of tea, some observation, and then with 30 seconds of straining leg muscles! I also live far enough north that killer bees aren't in the equation. One of my largest concerns, so VERY thoroughly checked out! Helps that our Ministry of Agriculture has some expert science programs working on exactly that thought pattern too, and they are available to us(beeks across Canada) via a tap of the phone keys, or a simple email.😉🤝 Hot hive no more...and not a single sting out of the *entire* day! Record for a newb like me who made the cardinal sin of FIRST tending hives in black track pants!🤦‍♀️🧚‍♀️🧨found out quickly, I'm NOT allergic to bee stings!😁 truly, never been stung; go out get 4 hives of bees to start a new hobby!🤯🦄🤷‍♀️😎 I actually wore shorts around my ladies for the rest of the year!😁🤷‍♀️💞

@@highstandards6226 Hey I am a new beekeeper as of April this year and currently have 2 hives. I'm considering getting some russian bees from Oakley apiaries in Texas. A local beekeeping friend of mine cautioned me about getting russian bees. How many hives do you have and have they been aggressive at all? How well do the resist the hive bettle and wax moth?

+Lucian Franetovic I have loads of respect for beekeepers now :)

Aww shucks... I'm blushing :) Thanks!

Yes, he has a kind of charisma that somehow comes off as "This guy is a nice, cool, friendly beekeeper" which lends some credence to what he's doing. Jeff Horchoff is another guy like that. Just a great charisma that makes the videos funner to watch.

This blake kid is a tomato farmer. He doesn't have that good knowledge about beekeeping.

The Professional anyone ask u anything?

He's just a dude. A dude doing his job.

Don't work because you never kill ALL!

@@elemarmb a bucket of soapy water and kill 90% including queen and scrape any drone brood. use the rest (3-4 frames) and some resources to make a new colony with a gentle mated queen. it may take a while for them to accept as angry hives dont readily accept queens and make queen cells like crazy.

@@elemarmb wrong. Take a jumbo black garbage bag, over the hive with all bees still in it. Seal.leave for 2 weeks. If really want, stick a can of hornet spray in the bag and empty it.

When they're that hot, don't bother. Just bag 'em. New nucs with fresh queens aren't THAT expensive!

No way. Those bees are no longer honeybees.

So hard to watch you do the wrong thing so much of the time.where are you getting your info.

Bee experts really do know it all, don’t they?

+Rob Bob's Backyard Farming is all part of the plan... now if I can only keep up with my own plan!

@@daddykirbs My advice would be that. Wait for winter and replace the queen with an italian queen from a calmer hive. Come spring the agresive bees will all be replaced.

Thank you! I'll keep working on it :)

I get itchy when I get stung LOL

I didd ~

Alexandria Ingram I'm itching rn

I got the chills!

Are you in Texas or somewhere with the intense sun? I'm asking because many times when someone says "full sun" they live in Minnesota or somewhere like that where "full sun" has a different result than in the south. I have been concerned about the hives getting too hot so all my hives are in the shade from late afternoon to evening. That Western Texas sun is very intense. Yes, I agree now after looking it up that the problem is SHB not moths.

definatelyhive beetles

+justlivin really? Hmmm... maybe I'm wrong about it being moths then.

Just left a comment up there. I agree about the identification of the worms. Moth larvae don't give the hive that greasy looking, and you'd see lots of silk forming a mass between patches of torn comb.

Henrique Cardoso Ribeiro I learn more every day :)

I'm glad your beekeeping is going well! Thanks for the tips :)

+florie Brown my kids painted the boxes! Do you beekeep now?

+Blake “Daddykirbs” Kirby No sadly I do not I wish I had learned how to

+SELF-RELIANCE and a STRONG COMMUNITY I love the idea of a strong community :)

@@daddykirbs Everyone's self-reliance is what makes a strong community.

Never heard of him ;)

Hah! Love your videos!

Shirley Succubus Thank you for sharing them with me :)

I can't stop hearing Dale.

+wtglb it is a lot, but it's worth the effort. :)

Exactly that is the rule number one. "Good Queen"

Zak Whitewater

Actually genitics come from the male. Putting European drones in with a African queen will result in European bee's.

@@oldschool86chev but what if A frican drone done go and mate wit' yer "European" queen? 😵 Then what will happen. 🤷 Day gun git ya! 🤺

Lisa Thibodeau the safety of hacing calmed bees im fine with, but the africanized bees are more resistant to deseases, varoa etc. i keep africanized only bees and i dont medicate for anything they are very resilient bees.

aren't yo just adding to the Africanised bee population doing that? what if they swarm or your drones mate with wild queens in the area?

I absolutely agree they can become monsters going after all other farm animals just nasty !!

@@Konradbie I'm with you on keeping them based upon resilience and productivity over temperament, but I can also see the argument that for certain areas, it's just not feasible. If a wife or kid gets annihilated one day, or in my case, a retired professor and master gardener who graciously hosts my bees, it will not be good for anybody involved. I work with Russian bees, which have been great. Evidently, cold winters are a protective mechanism to prevent the spread of africanised bees up north, where they do not overwinter well.

Totally agree!

Do you harvest from the Africanized hives anyway? People should start finding a way because they could very well be the solution to Colony Collapse Disorder!

How is splitting them going to make them less aggressive won’t it make more hives of aggressive bees ?

@@Darkwatchbot The only way to reduce aggressive bees is to bring in a new queen. Africanized bees are produced by allowing feral Drones to mate with your feral queen. If you purchase a queen, she is likely already fertilized and she will not swarm to mate. This is why you add new queens to split hives and not allow them to make new queens. They almost always produce an angry colony.

@@Darkwatchbot YES - it will - and will produce yet more AFB. It's very irresponsible. A keeper has a duty to kill AFB queens at minimum. Possibly the entire hive.

I'm finding that it is more work than I anticipated LOL

Did you have nightmares after that? LOL

Blake Kirby lol, almost

Bergen Nicholson now you got PTSD?

@@LUXRAY_97 post traumatic STING disorder?🤣🤣

@@highstandards6226 It's not funny. I have nightmares where I get swarmed and I can feel pain within my night terrors. But I have nightmares of wasps though, literally being locked inside a house of them. Because no one can help, I had to teach myself to lucid dream so I can go all FLAME ON when they happen. But I still get stung before I master the dream and remove pain at will. Nightmares can be a serious issue for people, and may cause phobias where there was none before.

That was very encouraging Jeremy! I will let the chickens pick those moths clean if there are any still there today when I go out.

+freakygeaktwo my wife is picking the Queens up tomorrow while I'm at work. I hope to get the hives taken care of when I get home. Hopefully the weather cooperates :)

I'm glad you liked it :)

Given that he's in Texas...can't DISagree

so racist

My Jamaican Chef : LOL , thanks

@@dkelban hardly. Its merely a fact of life. Africanized bees are moving *north* from the *south*. Its *geographical.* Not *racial*. Kirby, you're starting to make enemies. Get some EDUCATION before getting new livestock. PLEASE! WITH THE HORSE; YOU REALLY PISSED *ME* OFF!(thats actually, a difficult thing to do, we've all btdt, learning starts somewhere... THERES NO EXCUSE FOR IGNORANCE IN THIS DAY AND AGE! AN ANIMAL SUFFERING BECAUSE OF THAT IS BEYOND *INEXCUSABLE!*!🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🍼

Thank you. I'll consider moving them.

I'll have to try that moth trap. Good idea. Normally I get 1 or 2 stings per visit. Most of them aren't bad.

"San Diego has rules that won't allow me bees, lot size and such", If it were up to me, I would build a shed on my lot and keep a few hives inside it (slovenian bee house), what the authorities can't see can't harm them and nobody else is any wiser. :)

Add a drop or two of unscented dish soap. Breaks up the surface tension.

Yep SHB I'm sure. I keep learning :)

Thank you for that advice!

+Mary Ann Ward yep... someday I'll be a real beekeeper :)

OUCH!! I'm so sorry to hear that you got hit on the nose!

+Cathie Z brave or just crazy? Lol

LOL -- definitely not crazy! Brave! I love bees, BUT, I've been stung many times so I have a tendency to stay WAY far away from them!

+Gapeys Grub I'm so glad to hear that your new queen is a good one. Just always stay aware. It takes 6 weeks or so to turn over the population of the hive. They can be gentle one day then NOT the next. If you are in the south I strongly recommend suiting up every time.

I'm in the North and I suit up every time anyway. I even wear gloves every time. I'm a scaredy cat. I only don't wear a suit/gloves if all I'm doing is feeding them. :) I also don't wear jeans with holes in them anymore. Learned that lesson.

Gapeys Grub Ouch! holes in the jeans would make for a bad day!

It's a job that requires a very flexible schedule and lots of time. I won't be a great beekeeper until I can give it more time. I'm working on that :)

You share some pretty awesome stuff man, thank you.

JX Editor Thank you :)

It takes 6 weeks for the population of a hive to turn over once a new queen is introduced. I'll be putting new queens today. :)

oh wow, that's quite some time! Let's hope the problem get's solved with this! ;)

Yep, fingers crossed.

If I let them raise queens yes. If I introduce virgin queens yes. However in the next couple beekeeping videos you will see that I'm introducing mated queens. They will get nothing from the surrounding drones.

@@daddykirbs Very smart, it's important to remember the aggressive genes are passed through the paternal side

There are two newer beekeeping videos since this one that shows my process for introducing new queens. Thanks! :)

I kinda like the sounds too :)

Thank you :)

Thank you! I love it when I have time for that. Many of my videos are simpler due to lack of time, but recording the journey is a true pleasure.

Don't be intimidated, but don't go in blind either. You CAN do this! Take caution, but have fun :)

Christina Gutierrez im also trying to get into this... where do you live cuz where I live there are no africanized bees if you live in northern states or Canada (like me from Alberta) you have nothing to worry about the climate will be too cold

Mach SCGA I live in Socal

***** ok so yes your right in their line of fire... I know yoy can still keep africanized bees but you need to suit up more... Not sure how you would keep them european and harmless

Yep, I'm sure they are SHB.

You can usually tell by the smell once they start taking over a hive.

Does it stink? or just have a distinct odor?

+Blake “Daddykirbs” Kirby to me it has a fermenting smell, and a rotting smell at the same time.

Desmond Simmons Interesting. I should have taken note of the smell. Hopefully there is no next time... but if there is, I'll stick my sniffer down there to check it out :)

+terry saunders I have no freezer space :(

I have the same problem. My daughter opens the freezer and gives me this look...(complete with eye roll) frames in the freezer. Someday I'll have a dedicated bee freezer. Someday...

Liz Spencer That would be nice to have a larger dedicated space to the beekeeping activities :)

Do not smoke the entrance since it will run the bees to the top of the box. Set the smoke up wind from the hive...