Whether someone's actions are negligent or not is usually decided by a judge or jury; not by a bunch of beekeepers in a garden forum. Your question is very subjective and without knowing all the facts, so would our answers be. There are simply too many variables which are unknown for any of us to give you meaningful feedback as to the degree of culpability of this individual beekeeper.

On the surface, it does seem reasonable to expect that smoking of the bees should have occurred (hindsight being 20/20). Just how aggressive (really: defensive) the bees are at any given point in time depends on a multitude of factors. Things as simple as how high the humidity is, can affect their behavior, did a skunk or opossum agitate their hive last night, did the beekeeper handle their hive gently or smash some bees causing alarm pheromone to be released? And then of course, there are more serious considerations to entertain; especially in your part of the country where AHB (Africanized, so-called killers bees) moved in several years ago. Is the hive just a "hot hive" of crossed-European lent age or is it partially Africanized?

Since you are "vitally concerned" about keeping yourself, your neighbors and their children safe from harm' I would have a talk with the beekeeper in question (it couldnÂt hurt) AND I would seriously consider moving out of California before it slides into the ocean.

Tx, txbeeguy. Humidity, you say? Is it higher or lower humidity that riles the bees? Maybe I'll come back to this in a separate question to the group.
So, I spoke by phone to another beekeeper in our area, and he said that it wasn't really poor management practice to fail to calm the bees down when you're just adding a super (I think I'd disagree, but I'm just a beginner). He did say, however, that such aggressive/defensive behavior is worrisome, and he recommended that the hives be destroyed for everyone's sake. He made the point that it is important to keep the bee population in one's area as gentle as possible, especially in Southern California which is known to have killer bees, because one bee population can affect other neighboring populations. I agree with this assessment, but I'm not the owner of the property, so we'll see what happens.
So, you want to cast aspersions on our fair state, do ye? Well, as far as the virtues of living in one state vs. another, I'll just recall the story of the Vermonter who went to Texas to visit relatives. As they were driving along, a roadrunner crossed in front of their car, and the Vermonter exclaimed, "What the heck was that?" To which his Texas cousin proudly said, "Why, that was a bird of paradise." "Kinda fur from home, ain't he?" the Vermonter dryly replied.

Yeah, to me it's worrisome too. I hate automatically pushing the panic button at the slightest mention of aggressive behavior. But some of this can't be helped, coming from someone who also lives in an AHB infested region (and has experienced them first-hand). They have a most nasty disposition and are downright dangerous if not handled properly. They ain't jest your normal 'hot hive'!

I assume you mean he was supering them from the top and not the bottom(?). I've done this myself many times and not used smoke. But still, you can never be completely certain how the bees are going to react. As I said, there's just too many variables which play a role in how they will react (unless of course, they are Africanized, in which case their reaction is assured). The humidity issue usually causes the bees to be agitated when it's high humidity and hot temperatures - most noticeable, like right before a thunderstorm. And because of this, I've even seen the bees' bad behavior being blamed on the electrostatic atmospheric discharges associated with thunderstorms. Mowing up next to the hives can lead to a bad situation. Some say it's because of the gasoline fumes and others say it's because of the ground vibrations imparted by the mower (maybe it's both?). When I use my gas powered push mower, the bees will no doubt cause me problems but when I mow up next to them with my diesel tractor, it doesn't seem to bother them. My whole point here, is that there is just a whole world of reasons the bees act (and react) the way they do and we couldn't begin to cover all the bases. And especially in an AHB area, I would ALWAYS come down on the side of caution and safety first - it's why I think smoking would have been the right thing to do.

Now I'll match your story on Texas (without any references to California being the land of the fruits and nuts). The most famous quote I like came from Gen. William Sherman after the civil war when he was stationed in Austin with the occupying Union forces. He said, if he owned both Texas and He11, that he would prefer to live in He11 and rent out Texas! (Of course, Texans just considered the source...).

The question as to whether to destroy an aggressive hive has to be considered carefully.

First of all, they may have been agreesive only on that day. I don't think it's humidity -- or humidity alone -- but also air pressure. Bees sense changes in the weather. On Monday last week, my bees were all abuzz and I took a sting almost immediately, as I unloaded a new hive into my back yard.

and some days I may take a sting mowing the lawn, but usually, not, in fact it amounted to four stings all summer while mowing. Hardly aggressive.

But on a single day, it can seem so.

However you're in an area with Africanized bees. Should the hive be destroyed?

Aggressive hives are sometime destroyed, even up north where the Africanized bees have not arrived. But they're often allowed to live, if they're far enough from anyone being hurt, because they're sometimes really good honey producers. The choice - the risk verses the revenue - is a decision for the beekeeper.

And there's more than one action. Killing the colony is rather drastic, but called for when people are at risk.

Requeening, when successful, takes 6 weeks in flying weather, to replace all the workers with new daughters from the new queen. So if the risk is low, requeening is preferable.

Requeening an africanized hive can be hard to do, I understand, and the workers may immediately try to replace the european queen. In this case, careful culling of all queen cells until the 6 weeks has passed is necessary.

and in areas of Africanized colonies, culling of all queen cells all the time, may be the only way to prevent open mated supercedure queens from reassuming control.

But is the original posting simply about whether the beekeeper should have used smoke? If it was a fast install of a super, I probably wouldn't have stoked up a smoker either. I would risk the stings, have gloves handy, and get out of there fast. I don't think what he did was irresponsible, because I don't this his doing this would make bees any more, or any less, agressive, except on the day of his activity.

> In this case [africanized hive], careful culling of all queen cells until the 6 weeks has passed is necessary.
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This is advice I would definitely NOT recommend. If the hive is Africanized, breaking the hive boxes down (and inspecting the individual frames) to the level necessary to ensure there are no remaining AHB queen cells will create the very kind of dangerous situation I alluded to earlier. I have first-hand experience with Africanized colonies and I would suggest those that do not, should not offer advice which works in normal practice. As I have tried to stress here all along, these aren't the normal critters you're used to dealing with.

In a populated area (be it humans or livestock), there is but one way to solve the problem of an Africanized colony - and that is, to kill it quickly. In my opinion, no potential return from the honey harvest of a single AHB colony is worth the tremendous liability involved (especially, in "sue-happy" America). In fact, it's literally against the law to possess (rather lone, maintain) an AHB hive in Texas (see Texas state beekeeping statutes). Killing of AHB hives is the recommended procedure throughout Texas (and other states I would guess).

In a populated area such as the original poster described, requeening of an AHB hive is neither practical or viabable.

Thanks for the advice, everyone. Since the posting a month ago, the bees have been well-behaved, but then again, we've kept our distance. I noticed that there are a number of dead, smooshed bees between the brood chamber below and the super above, which was just put on. I'm told that if you kill a bee it releases an alarm pheromone, so that may have been the source of the problem with the bees on that day. Of course, weather conditions or other factors may have played a role. Maybe I should put this into a separate topic, but since I'm on the subject, I'll ask it here--if the beekeeper had used smoke (or BeeQuick), wouldn't there be a lower probability that he would kill bees when placing the new super on top of the brood chamber? I've never used BeeQuick, and I don't think our beekeeper has either, but I'm told that the bees vamoose when the get a whiff of that stuff, so there should be fewer (if any) bees around the top of the brood chamber where they could be injured. Is this logical? Smoking also seems to make the bees "drunk" and easier to brush away to save them from getting smooshed. I'm just trying to think of ways that the beekeeper could have avoided killing bees, and thereby angering the hive with those alarm pheromones. Any suggestions would be welcome here.

Here's just a little follow-up tidbit on the dangers of AHB. From some recent news: South Texas man dies after being swarmed by bees when he was mowing a lawn. This September death on the 23rd follows another man's death from AHB on the 18th. (details from Ask.com with the keywords, "Texas bee attack"). This sort of thing is happening with some degree of regularity now - just doesn't hardly make the news anymore.
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Anything you can do to get the bees out of the way without harming or irritating them further is a good thing. Certainly, lightly smoking them and/or brushing them to remove them from where the super will be placed is a way to keep from smashing them. I also tend to place the super on the hive at an angle and then slowly "rotate" it into it's final alignment. This tends to keep from smashing bees that may be on the top outside edge of the box below (kinda scoots them out of the way as you go). You may occassionally catch a bees' leg but it's better than smashing their body and releasing alarm pheromone.

I agree with everything ccrb1 and txbeeguy have already stated.

Personally I usually work without smoke, but then my bees are very gentle and those found not to be gentle get replaced. But I do keep the smoker handy just in case, and for the hive I keep in a resdential setting (for my father's garden) I will use it just to be cautious. Of course I also work the hives without gloves, so I'm the first one to know it if the hives are the least bit aggressive.

-Tim

Look Ma, no gloves! Tim you are a brave man, that or crazy, I'm not sure which :) I'd give anything to be able to work our bees without gloves or other protection. We did have some bees like that, once, but they sadly died out. The one good thing about aggressive bees is that they've got what it takes to survive.

txbeeguy, that's a great suggestion regarding sliding the super on at an angle. I'll remember that one.

I couldn't always work without gloves. The italians I use to have were much more defensive the the NWC I have now, plus my hands use to swell up like baloons and hurt for days when I first started in beekeeping. Fortunately I've aquired quite a bit of tolerance.

Of course you should have seen the Ohio state regional bee inspector. He inspected this spring with a wide brimmed hat, sunglasses and very minimal smoke. (No gloves or veil. Of course the inspectors aren't allowed to use anything more than disposible gloves to avoid spreading AFB). He only got stung once, after the inspection was over and standing 50 feet from any hive (go figure).

-Tim

Did I miss something? How did we jump to the conclusion that these were AHB? They're normally gentle but got real cranky when a super was dumped on it without smoke. Sounds like common European behavior to me.

If there's a suspicion that they're africanized, this should be confirmed first.

Jumping to conclusions is not helpful.

Yeah, you apparently missed the first paragraph of my second posting.
The fact is unkown if they are AHB or not and I agree (it's what I've said previously), this can be normal behavior for EHB under some conditions (and I listed a few circumstances when this could happen). Please re-read my postings and also please refrain from advising new and/or inexperienced beekeepers in AHB infested areas from breaking a questionable hive apart in search for queen cells - this is certainly NOT the right way to proceed. Your opinion may differ if this would qualify as a "questionable" hive or not but as I've said, in an AHB infested region, it's better to be safe than sorry.

Here's exactly what I would have done as the owner and beekeeper of these hives (which the original poster apparently was not). After closing up the hive, I would wait two or three days. Then on the first available day that had fairly good weather (lower humidity, not too windy, not overcast, etc.) - in other words, as good of weather as you could reasonably expect without having to wait weeks, I would smoke the hive and open the top. I would also be prepared for the worst - fully suited up, veil, gloves, etc., making sure the area was clear of casual observers, I would smoke the hive well, wait just a minute or two, open the top and give a sharp tap or two on the front of the hive. Under these conditions, you would know in an instant if you have a problem or not.

If the bees weren't all over you, then you would have known that you should have smoked the hive before you placed the super on. If, on the other hand, they were all over you, you would know it's time for the soapy water/plastic jug sprayer immediately. I would not waste effort (time or money) having them tested (unless required by law). This is the experience that AHBs in your region teach you.

I'm sure agreeable to that.

I went back to the original title that was "unprofessional beekeeping"...

Just breathing on Africans can get them stirred up, so full suiting and a real good fuel in the smoker makes a lot of sense.

A year or two back one of my two hives got kinda nasty. Both hives were defensive in late summer when nectar is scarce, but the nasty hive stayed nasty for a day or so after working it, and the bees would follow me away from the hive. Sadly, it was an incredibly strong hive that had even rid itself of mites. The sad part was that I had to crush its spirit and requeen. I did not find the old queen and ended up killing many thousands bees with the shop vac (but it was a fair fight; I took 6-8 stings through my gear that day). I inserted the queen and backed away. A weeek later the hive was remarkably different...the new queen had taken, the hive was vigorous, and it was gentle. Unfortunately, the new queens were wimps and both hives got the snot kicked out of them last fall by robbers. I captured two feral swarms this spring and they seem medium mellow.

Point is....dunno...but locals here think the AHBs have mellowed to the point where one really can't say if they are AHB or just a nasty strain of EHB.

-dr, Los Angeles

> ...locals here think the AHBs have mellowed...

Now that would be a "first"! I'd have to say that's probably more wishful thinking on someone's part than reality. I recall that was the great hoped-for result when their movement north from Brazil began fifty years ago. The theory was, the AHB aggressive genetics would "hit a wall" once they reached all the multitude of managed European colonies in the U.S. It was theorized the genetics controlling their incredible defensive behavior would become kinda "watered down". Ahhh...but Mother Nature had other plans. Turns out the gene controlling their defensive behavior is a dominate gene; whatever region they invade, it's that defensive behavior that becomes pervasive in the area. And unfortunately, we have the whole south and central American continent as a track record of this spread of dominate genetics.
What really looks like the only thing that ultimately stops them is a certain climate combination (having to do with average winter temperature ranges and the spread of an area's average annual rainfall). Certain areas of South America are free of AHB due to this climate combination (but it's a relatively small area compared to the overall size of the continent). It's hoped the U.S. will fair somewhat better along these lines.

Followup: Today we went back into the hives that had been so aggressive the last time we opened them up. Unlike the last time, we smoked them well, gently but thoroughly, and we also used BeeQuick once the tops were off. The bees were very gentle and did not pursue us like the last time. So, thankfully, the bees have not become africanized, and the difference in their behavior is probably atributable to two factors:
1) this time we used two agents to calm the bees down, whereas last time we used nothing, we just ripped the lids off.
2) last time the bees had just recently been relocated to our farm, and they were probably anxious about their new surroundings, whereas by now they've gotten settled, have stored up quite a bit of honey, and are feeling pretty comfortable with their surroundings.

So, all in all, a learning experience. Thanks for everyone's inputs.

Well, I'm relieved to hear this all worked out well.

I think we tend to assume too quickly that they're nasty bees as all bees can seem that way given the circumstances... or that the buy was a bad beekeeper (I don't believe he was, he simply didn't want to bother with smoke the first time, and was willing to take the risk of what happened.

It's a good reminder though. Having smoke is always recommended. I'm setting up the revisions for the 2007 class of the Indiana Beekeeping School, and I'll emphasize that smoke is always to be considered mandatory, and should you choose to skip it, one might find the bees plenty irritated and willing to pursue.

has anyone mentioned that skunks may be eating bees at night? This will piss off any hive of bees EHB/AHB....As a bee inspector I have come across hives which were being visited by skunks.... I USED SMOKE...LOTS OF IT, and still received 100 stings from the 1st of 10 hives....needless to say I gave up inspection when I saw the skunk diggings at each and every hive!

Several dead skunks later, I was able to inspect this yard with 0 stings, only 3 weeks later.