Good tempered bees are important. Since more work can be done with the same effort and with more comfort with good tempered bees than with cross ones, it is a good practice to replace the queens of vicious colonies, either with good stock from one's own apiary or with a better tempered strain from some outside source.

With the advance of intensive agriculture in beekeeping regions, good tempered bees become necessary, and an operator, in many regions, cannot afford to have cross bees in his apiaries, not only because they lessen his own working efficiency, but because they cause trouble with neighbors and also make it difficult for other beekeepers who do not have cross bees to find locations, because most people do not know the great difference between cross and gentle strains of bees.

One of the common causes of cross bees is brushing and shaking them from extracting combs. While this can be done so carefully that few bees become cross, the commercial beekeeper operating large apiaries seldom uses the requisite time and care. He goes ahead with his work, encasing himself in "armor" that will insure him against stings, and lets the bees rage.

Nearly all brushing and rough handling of bees can be avoided if a clear brood nest system of management is used. With all brood in a known position instead of scattered through the hive, bee escapes can be used successfully if desired. If shallow supers are used, bees may be quite readily driven, by smoke or otherwise, from supers of honey containing no brood. Even from full depth frames, when the combs are well sealed, and if no brood is present, bees may be driven down to supers of unsealed honey if the hives are not too much crowded.

For his own comfort and profit, and if he has any close neighbors, or if any ranchers or farmers live within a mile or two of his apiaries, a good operator prefers to keep his bees gentle.