Neighbours Bees Seem Aggressive

eggy81

Howdy folks. Our neighbour has beehives in his garden and has kept them for many years completely without incident. The hives are not even close to our yard, theres another yard between ours and theirs which is owned by the in laws. This week we took to painting the house and all was going well until my partners brother got stung by a bee while standing in the middle of the yard.
My partner was painting on a ladder and I was around on the gable in a hoist painting the high wall. Not 10 minutes later I was cheesed out of the yard by two bees and eventually one got me and stung me. They were aggressively chasing with the intention of stinging.Went inside for a bit and came back out and rest of the day passed without a hitch. At this stage we didn't even suspect ig was the neigbours bees.
That evening he happened to call up to the house and we mentioned the stinging incidents. We were only sure the first sting was a bee because the stinger was left behind. Thought my sting may have been a wasp but the agressive way it chased now has me convinced it was a bee, partially because he said he had been at his bees and they were agitated at the time the stinging happened.
Fast forward to today and I've been stung while sitting in back garden. The bee came over the wall, made a bee line towards me and fles over my head. I never even moved because wed had a full day of no bees but it circled around fles back and stung me on the finger as I raised a glass tk my mouth. Left the stinger in. I went inside and a few minutes later 2 or 3 other bees were over clearly agitated and on high alert buzzing around the chair in had been sat in. They hng around for 5 or so minutes. Turns out 2 people in the neighbouring garden were stung too.
Does this sound like something to worry about. My partner is allergic to bees stings, not sure about my son. The bee keeper is a friend of partners family so dont want to be annoying him and have had no incidents before. Should I shelve the painting for a week.
Cheers. Sorry for the long post.

Loveinapril

eggy81 wrote: »

Howdy folks. Our neighbour has beehives in his garden and has kept them for many years completely without incident. The hives are not even close to our yard, theres another yard between ours and theirs which is owned by the in laws. This week we took to painting the house and all was going well until my partners brother got stung by a bee while standing in the middle of the yard.
My partner was painting on a ladder and I was around on the gable in a hoist painting the high wall. Not 10 minutes later I was cheesed out of the yard by two bees and eventually one got me and stung me. They were aggressively chasing with the intention of stinging.Went inside for a bit and came back out and rest of the day passed without a hitch. At this stage we didn't even suspect ig was the neigbours bees.
That evening he happened to call up to the house and we mentioned the stinging incidents. We were only sure the first sting was a bee because the stinger was left behind. Thought my sting may have been a wasp but the agressive way it chased now has me convinced it was a bee, partially because he said he had been at his bees and they were agitated at the time the stinging happened.
Fast forward to today and I've been stung while sitting in back garden. The bee came over the wall, made a bee line towards me and fles over my head. I never even moved because wed had a full day of no bees but it circled around fles back and stung me on the finger as I raised a glass tk my mouth. Left the stinger in. I went inside and a few minutes later 2 or 3 other bees were over clearly agitated and on high alert buzzing around the chair in had been sat in. They hng around for 5 or so minutes. Turns out 2 people in the neighbouring garden were stung too.
Does this sound like something to worry about. My partner is allergic to bees stings, not sure about my son. The bee keeper is a friend of partners family so dont want to be annoying him and have had no incidents before. Should I shelve the painting for a week.
Cheers. Sorry for the long post.

Bees tend to get a bit aggressive when protecting their honey so it is likely that they were protecting their stores and the beekeeper opening the hive would agitate them a bit. Another thing is that when bees sting, it releases a pheromone telling their bee pals that they are in danger so they will go on the attack then too. Could you ask the beekeeper to let you know when he is opening up the hives so you (and especially) your partner can stay indoors? And if you do get stung, use a card or something flat to scrape the sting out. It is attached to a venom sac so if use your fingers to pull it out, you may inadvertently squeeze more venom in.

eggy81

Loveinapril wrote: »

Bees tend to get a bit aggressive when protecting their honey so it is likely that they were protecting their stores and the beekeeper opening the hive would agitate them a bit. Another thing is that when bees sting, it releases a pheromone telling their bee pals that they are in danger so they will go on the attack then too. Could you ask the beekeeper to let you know when he is opening up the hives so you (and especially) your partner can stay indoors? And if you do get stung, use a card or something flat to scrape the sting out. It is attached to a venom sac so if use your fingers to pull it out, you may inadvertently squeeze more venom in.

I will get him to give us a warning. It was an eye opener to see the cavalry investigating the incident. I could see that the bee that stung me today was dying over by the turf shed and I'd been stung on the patio. They thoroughly searched both places for danger. That's probably how I got stung the first day too. Being in the vicinity of the first sting on partners brother when the cavalry arrived. First interaction with Bess in alarm state. They don't take prisoners!!

blueskys

Just wondering if it was the paint or something in it that might have set them off, sometimes There is a common solvent (in spray paint, some other paints, some nail polishes) called butyl acetate. This mimics the attack pheromone, though is not as effective. Effective enough, however.

eggy81

blueskys wrote: »

Just wondering if it was the paint or something in it that might have set them off, sometimes There is a common solvent (in spray paint, some other paints, some nail polishes) called butyl acetate. This mimics the attack pheromone, though is not as effective. Effective enough, however.

It crossed our minds at first. Its dulux wearhershield masonry paint. The thing I found most unusual about these incidents is that there didn't seem to be much bee activity on our garden on either day. It's like there were scouts on the look out for threats and an attack on sight policy. I was wearing a black hat both days while my partner who is allergic wasnt even threatened was wearing bright multi coloured clothing.. I was chased several times too until I went inside the first day. The stinging today was after all work finished and sitting relaxing. Not a bee in sight and one just strikes. Right on the knuckle. The backup brigade means some form of alert. She stayed out there when the back up came and still didn't get stung. Shed had cancer treatment in the not too distant past whether that might influence their desire to attack or not Iv no idea.

Apiarist

Do tell your neighbour about the stings. If this behaviour continues, the hive would need to be moved to a more remote place while a new, calmer queen is introduced to replace the current one.