Guilfordbeekeepers.org

Well, I am fresh back from NC Summer Meeting and energized to to check mite levels. I want to use the sugar shake method but am concerned that opening hives at this time may encourage robbing. Am I OK or should I wait? What do others think?

It is the beginning of robbing season, but not in full swing yet. I would do the sugar shake and just watch the hives for a few hours afterward. Keep the entrance at a size that can be guarded according to the size of the colony, Be familiar with a robber screen.


http://www.beekeepingforums.com/threads ... ber+screen

I'm still so new at this so this might seem like a silly question. How do you know which ones are robber bees when so many bees are coming in and out of the hive? I mean, how do you know they're robbers and not your own bees? I've noticed bees "falling" from inside the hive onto the entrance board. Are they fighting and/or robbing in there and falling from the frames before flying out or is that just normal "bee'havior?

Really serious robbing looks like this-- http://s844.photobucket.com/user/robert ... 1.mp4.html

If not stopped, this hive would have been wiped out. Bees wrestling on the landing board are at least indicators of serious probing and possibly robbing. Bees along he seams of the hive or in the back of the hive or in areas the bees belonging to the hive usually do not occupy are also strong indicators of robbing.

Whoa! That is what I needed to see and I'm glad that's not going on in my hive. Thanks for posting the link, Rob!

I'm still going to learn more about the robber screen for which you posted a link, Wally. I'm not quite sure I understand where it goes. If "my" bees can get in under the telescoping top, why can't the robbers? It looks like the robber bees were trying it in the video Rob shared. As I said, I'm not worried about it now but I do need to know just in case it happens in the future.

Thanks, you guys!
Maurie

Most robbing is not as dramatic as the video I posted, but over time, can destroy a hive. If your inner cover has an entrance slot, you can pull the outer cover tight on that side to close the upper entrance until things calm down.

The robber screen goes on the front of the hive. It closes off the entrance at the landing board and along the sides. The opening is at the top of the screen. Unless there is massive robbing, the robbers will go to the screen and the landing board and not figure the way in. The home bees will be more persistent in figuring out how to get into their hive. That is the theory and usually the practice.