Aggressiveness After Formic Pro

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rallyrabbit
Newbee
Posts: 20
Joined: Thu May 12, 2022 7:59 am

Aggressiveness After Formic Pro

Post by rallyrabbit »

Backstory, thriving hive that has been pretty calm so far. Added another deep about 3 weeks ago and they've filled it up already.

12 days ago they got their first formic pro treatment since we had a 3 day "cool" spell, similar to the past few days where they got treatment 2.

Serving the hive Sunday, they got massively aggressive on me. I see brood and larva, didn't tear it apart enough to see a queen because really i just wanted to dose and go. 3 days later, they are massively aggressive. Dealing with the chickens 30 feet away I get 10 bees swarming me, picking blackberries 20-50ft away I get swarmed again. Kids be in the back yard right now.

Thoughts? Next step opinions?

This is a new package from Beez Needz this year, both my hives last year swarmed and what was left didn't survive, so this is a new colony.
Jacobs
Guard bee
Posts: 1888
Joined: Sat Feb 17, 2007 12:36 pm
Location: Greensboro, NC

Re: Aggressiveness After Formic Pro

Post by Jacobs »

Formic Pro can take out queens-especially older queens or queens that are weakened for some other reason. I would give them a few more days to settle in after completing the treatment and check for queen status. The Formic Pro label does instruct to check queen status, I think, 4 weeks after ending treatment. You may want to review the label to see if I have that right.

Also, if you are in the dearth at your location, bees can become more defensive when disturbed.
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