Guilfordbeekeepers.org

i have 2 new hives. i believe they have been receiving robbing attacks and i was not experienced enough to recognize it immediately . last weekend i knew something was wrong at my weaker hive and finally figured out they had been getting robbed. i will be able to inspect this weekend i hope, but i fear i am too late. i did reduce entrance to smallest opening last weekend but there again i fear i am to late as there appeared to be no guard bees left and i saw 1 robber leaving with larvae (that is when i knew it was robbing). my question is if the hive is decimated from robbing what do i do with hive? what is the logical next step if upon inspection the hive is virtually wiped out? i just want to be prepared for the correct action at the next inspection. also, my stronger hive has been getting robbing attenpts as well and now i know why they always seemed much more aggressive during inspections. i think they have defended well, but my question is should i be doing something to help them. note: i cannot visit my hives daily, just weekends. i am a little surprised at how concerned i am , i guess i have become kinda fond of my girls and i see them like my pets. i wish i could have done better for them - live and learn. maybe i am not too late? any suggestions will be needed/appreciated. Thank you and please remember i'm a newbee.

Putting the entrance reducer at the smallest opening was the correct move to help your bees defend against robbing. The larva being carried out is not evidence of robbing. That was probably one of the house bees removing a larva that did not develop properly for some reason.

Bees are going to be more defensive now that the nectar flow has slowed from its peak. Were you seeing bees fighting on the landing boards? Were there more than normal numbers of dead bees in front of the hive? Were there bees at the joints between bee boxes that appeared to be smelling the inside of the hive? Did you see shards of wax either on the landing board or right in front of the hives? These are usually signs robbing.

If you really have significant robbing, you may want to consider getting robber screens and putting them on the hives in place of the entrance reducers.

If you haven't seen serious robbing efforts, this is what it is all about.

http://s844.photobucket.com/user/robert ... 1.mp4.html

I was working this hive this morning when the bees in my yard were going out foraging. After a few minutes of having this hive open, the yard got noisy and I closed up the hive. I reduced the entrances on all hives that appeared under attack and pulled back the top cover to close off the upper entrances of hives. I put a nuc robber screen on one nuc that was being attacked. In about half an hour, the whole yard was calm again.

Thank you very much for the video it was very helpful. At this point, even after last inspection I am not sure what happened. Since I do not see my hives every day and I try to keep my posts as short as possible, I will not try to post what I think happened as it would be very long. Do you (or any other experienced bkeeps) ever get up to my area north of Reidsville just off highway 29? If so, please let me know. Thanks again.

A road trip is not out of the question. If it is possible to do it on a Friday, it might even be as part of a trip up to Dadant in Chatham, VA.

Thanks for the offer. Sure would feel better if someone with experience went through my hives now. look for a pm. thanks again.

Robbing is getting to be a serious problem for the small swarms I have in nuc boxes. The robbers figured out the robber screen on one nuc and it is under constant attack. Yesterday, I took the jar feeder (not boardman, but on the inner cover and covered by a medium super) off and put a frame of honey into the nuc. This did not stop the robbing efforts.

The hive I suspect as being the robbers was light on stores and I put 4 frames of honey in it, but this "bribe" did not stop the activity. I may try moving the nuc to the back of my yard during this rainy period and see if it breaks the cycle.

The bees have been in the water very heavily the last few days. I don't think it has anything to do with temperature control, but most likely is evidence that the bees are tapping into honey stores and thinning the honey for consumption and ongoing brood rearing. We all need to keep an eye on food stores to know if and when to feed.

Rob, turn the nuc 180 degrees and see what happens.

Done. I'll report on what happens.

It took the robbers about 40 minutes to figure it out.

Did you leave the robber screen on and the sugar water off?

Yes to both.

Well, I guess that didn't work.

I checked the nuc this afternoon. The queen is still alive but not laying eggs. There were no stores in the hive. I moved it to the other side of my garden a few days ago, and that did not fool the robbers. I am trying something a little different this time. I pulled a frame of honey and nectar from my freezer and put it in the hive cold. Before, as, and after I was doing this I filled the air with smoke from my smoker, much like a WW II destroyer smoke screen. I have shut the robber screen completely and do not plan to open it until around dusk to dark. So far, robbers haven't shown much interest, but I'll give it about a half hour smoke free and check again.

I have a hive top feeder for a 5 frame nuc box if you want to use it.

You also have the choice to bring it down here for a few days if you want.
I have a flow going on from something, no idea what. I don't seem to be bothered with robbing. I am feeding 2 and have seen nothing out of the ordinary.

I appreciate the offer. I'm probably going to try and move it about a mile and a half from home to the church community garden. If it has any chance of making it over winter, I'll need to see the queen starting to lay and then boost with brood frames from my stronger hives.

Things are a bit more encouraging. The nuc has not been under significant robbing pressure for the last few days and the queen is laying again. I even saw one of the home bees dragging a yellow jacket across the front of the robber screen. I have just put a frame of capped brood (with bees) from my strongest hive into the nuc. In 10 days or less there should be a lot more help for the queen if all goes smoothly.

I realize robbing season is pretty much over but I thought I would pass along what happened to mine and a neighbor's hives back in mid-September. My neighbor (who lives about 1/3 rd of a mile away had several hives, including 4 new splits) texted me while I was at work because he thought his hives were robbing mine. I told him to go take a look at mine and report back. A while later he texted me: "Actually, I'm pretty sure your hives are robbing mine." I inspected my hives the following morning and found that the split I had created back in early June, with a new queen that I thought was doing pretty well, had been robbbed out. Meanwhile, my other three hives were (and remain now) fat and happy, brimming with bees and stores. My neighbor lost all 4 of his new splits, also made in early June.

I fed all 4 of my hives most of the summer, including September when the robbing occurred, but it wasn't enough to stop the thievery. Bees!

Paul

Robbing can still be going on now. I just saw it 3 days ago on a small hive. I also saw a parade of ants coming and going with abdomens full of honey. It didn't take me long to figure out that this hive had failed, and at the least, was queenless. The hive had been a nice early season swarm that swarmed again after I had it for around a month. The queen that took over never did perform well. I should have done something about her long ago. I am now putting frames out in the back of my yard 1 at a time to let my remaining bees clean them up without setting off massive riots.

This morning's activity began around 6:35 am. It was just light enough to see, but I could hear the sound of excited (robbing) bees. My very small June swarm that never did well was under attack. My guess is that the queen finally failed. I'm going to let it go. I did further reduce entrances on 2 other, stronger nucs to reduce the temptation to extend robbing efforts to those hives. If you have not had entrance reducers on hives, it may be time to consider putting them on.