Guilfordbeekeepers.org

Yesterday I noticed what I thought was a robbibg event on my hive. Bees frantically flying everywhere and hundreds of small bees on the ground in clumps .I thought my bees were attacking the robbers. I placed a robbing screen on the front of the hive immediately. This morning I inspected the hive and it was empty. Only a lot of small hive beetles remain. There was 4 mediums and only two had a small amount of honey left. The others 2 were basically bare. I can see where the SHB did its dammage. But was this alone enough for the bees to leave the hive? Or was it a pure robbing event? I only noticed what appearded to me as a swarm cell on the bottom of 1 frame. No moths. Just SHB.

Sadly,
dmiller

It sounds like a robbing event. Wally warned the club last night that the robbing season had begun and that we can lose a hive to robbing in a day. The SHB adults don't do damage and had unprotected comb to lay eggs in. The larvae will destroy your honey, nectar, and pollen. Freeze your frames for 3 days to kill any SHB eggs or larvae and then you can store them in tightly sealed plastic bags. I would still open the bags and check for infiltration about once a week. Your drawn comb is a very valuable resource that can be used again. Sorry for your loss. I just sent you a pm.