Every time Tom entered the apiary, ‘the aggressive bees would swarm around him, attack his veil and try to sting him through his bee suit’.
‘Tom was grateful to have been very kindly gifted the colony by his mentor, but he knew he couldn’t continue to manage the bees as they were just too aggressive’ and it meant he wasn’t enjoying his beekeeping.
‘Tom knew that if he if requeened the colony with a new queen, it could change the bees attitude and behaviour.’ Tom tried to find a local supplier who could provide calm, placid queen bees, but struggled to find anyone within a reasonable distance.
‘Tom was understandably nervous about using a mail order service for queen bees but having seen some videos on YouTube, he decided to try an F1 Buckfast Queen from Black Mountain Honey.’
‘Tom ordered the queen on the website at 2pm and the next morning the queen arrived in perfect condition, in the cage, with a full complement of healthy attendants and a chunk of fondant.’
Tom ‘popped her straight in the hive and gave it a couple of weeks and their behaviour in that short amount of time changed significantly!
Tom Ward is a young beekeeper who inherited some very angry and aggressive honey bees.
After a couple of cycles of brood (around 6 weeks), ‘they are now an absolute pleasure to work with. They are ever so calm on the comb’.
‘It’s the first time Tom has ever been able to be in any of his apiaries without a full bee suit, veil and gloves and it’s the first time he has been able to sit near his hive without getting stung by his bees. They are not remotely interested in him any more’.
Even with the late introduction of the queen in August, ‘the bees produced a super of honey for Tom (around 50 small jars)’.
The colony managed to source plenty of stores to overwinter successfully and Tom has big plans for his bees next year.
