Wax Scraps and Robbing

[WannaBee1]

Question: Does placing comb with scraps in a bee yard with multiple hives encourage robbing? I don't know but it seems to me that the bees would be less likely to enter other hives if an extracted frame(s) were hung in a nearby tree but, then again, I can imagine it might make them want to rob other hives. I'm curious to know and would appreciate hearing what others may have experienced. Thanks.

[Jacobs]

My experience is that small scraps get attention, but don't trigger strong probing or robbing. Putting extracted frames out in the open for clean up is a different matter--under some conditions, the excitement created in the rush for a significant source of food and the smell of the honey in the air can lead to strong probing or a robbing incident. If extracted frames need to be cleaned, a safer (not totally safe) method for getting them cleaned is to put them above the inner cover (the kind with a hole where hive bees can get on the top of the inner cover) and below the telescoping top of a strong hive. Those bees can access the frames without throwing strong smells into the air. The closer to dusk that this can be done, the less time for bad things to get started before darkness stops robbing for the night.