What do you do about ugly or mean bees? It can be difficult to determine which colony in a beeyard with several colonies is the one, or maybe one of several, that has scouting guard bees meet you at the gate when you go to a beeyard.

If you can determine which colony is the one with the problems, why is it behaving so aggressively? Several reasons come to mind – something is bothering it at night, maybe a skunk for several nights, then you come along and they’ve about had it with being disturbed.

Or, you caught a swarm. Where did those bees come from? Did you make a split, keep the mother-queen and let the other half raise their own queen? Who she mated with could result in a mean colony due to genes.

Sometimes, it’s just because a big colony has more bees, more guards, more foragers…just more bees. So, a big colony is going to be more of everything…more bees, more honey, more guards. More mean.

What do you do? Worry about the neighbors? Wear heavy duty equipment? Work them at a different time of day? Have a second, isolated beeyard?

Do mean colonies make more honey than gentle colonies? Sometimes.

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We welcome Betterbee as sponsor of today's episode. BetterBee’s mission is to support every beekeeper with excellent customer service, continued education and quality equipment. From their colorful and informative catalog to their support of beekeeper educational activities, including this podcast series, BetterBee truly is Beekeepers Serving Beekeepers. See for yourself at www.betterbee.com

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Honey Bee Obscura is brought to you by Growing Planet Media, LLC, the home of Beekeeping Today Podcast.

Music: Heart & Soul by Gyom, Walking in Paris by Studio Le Bus, original guitar music by Jeffrey Ott

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