GETTING A BUZZ FROM BEES

..And not a sting!

BEEKEEPING Is relatively easy but when things go wrong they can go really wrong and I was caught up in a rather nasty experience just the other day ... happily for me I was more on the sidelines and not in the thick of it for once.

 But this is a salutory tale and shows when SH one T happens it can happen to the most experienced of beekeepers.

 Wanting to build up my stock I was scanning various sites to find if any beekeepers had a colony or two for sale and there, right in my native County Durham, was a chap who had two.

 We agreed a very reasonable price and I arranged to pick up the bees and set about preparing the colonies for departure; they were black bees which have a reputation for being a tad more volatile than other strains like my cuddly Buckfasts.

STEADFAST & FRIENDLY: Buckfast bees like the ones from

my apiary above, are known for their good temperament

 As I headed to collect the bees I made a call and his frantic wife garbled the word "trouble" adding that "they're going crazy, I can't let the children out and they're bouncing off the windows."

 Initially I thought she was having problems with the kids and wondered what a set of rowdy young'uns had to do with me. Apart from hoping her double glazing would not crack under the strain of these lively offspring I was rather bemused by our conversation.

 When the penny finally dropped it transpired the kids weren't going crazy but the bees were and in the interests of everyone's safety the garden was under lockdown while the president of the local beekeeping association went along to check out the situation.

 My new best friend the beekeeper had been trying to gather one colony which had decided to swarm when the second colony of black bees suddenly erupted and went in to psycho mode just like on the film Swarm about a killer strain of bees.

 Try as he might he was unable to pacify them and following advice from fellow beekeepers he had to do the unthinkable and destroy the entire colony by fire. As he told me the story I felt so sorry for him although he seemed more concerned that I would be upset at losing the promise of two colonies.

 Quite what triggered the incident is still a mystery but bees are incredibly sensitive to smells and they communicate with each other using alarm pheromones.As long as they can smell/communicate with their queen most bees are happy but hives can turn testy when they become queenless.

 However these bees were out and out psycho. His fellow beekeepers thought the killer behaviour could've been triggered by a certain species of orchid or flower which can trigger an alarm pheromone while someone else thought it could be some type of nectar which has a seven day kicking in process before the bees turn nasty.

 I've heard compost heaps which are constantly in some sort of fermenting process could do it with byproducts of smelly compounds such as n-Butanol and Isoamyl acetate. If they produce a pong which can mimic a bee's alarm pheromones that could cause them to attack.

  Whatever happened I am heartily sorry for the beekeeper who lost two colonies but I am eternally grateful I did not get the bees just before they turned psycho.

 However, it got me thinking. I wonder how I could trigger such a reaction in my bees everytime the fox appears - a swarm attack like that would see him off once and for all.

 In the meantime if you know anyone with a spare colony of bees to sell do let me know - but I would prefer nice, happy clappy bees.