When bees go bad

Bees are known for leaving you alone if you leave them alone (unlike wasps!) As beekeepers, we're very careful to refer to any unwanted behaviour as 'defensive' rather than 'aggressive' - they're only defending their hive.

However, there's a scale of 'defensiveness'! At the most defensive, they will see you off if you're in sight of the hive. As responsible beekeepers, we can't tolerate this, and in fact if your hives are near a public footpath, or where people go, then this can be dangerous. It would be irresponsilble to ignore such behaviour.

Sometimes they can get a bit nasty if conditions aren't right - such as a sudden stop in nectar flow, a thunderstorm coming, etc. (Or as I found out once, I changed to a coconut shampoo and they absolutely hated me!)

If they're "just a bit stroppy" then I move the hive to an apiary where nobody goes near - this is normally a farm. I'll then work on them to try and calm them down, normally by replacing the queen with one with calmer genetics (see Introducing a Queen).

Only once have I had to 'go nuclear' and euthanase a hive. It's a very depressing job. They had stung lots of people, and I couldn't risk them turning on someone (there were kids nearby) en masse.