i'm new at this so i'm not really sure what i'm looking at. there has been utter chaos at the hive entrance, but i thought maybe it was because i had restricted the entrance and approx 5,000 to 10,000 new bees have hatched recently.
when robbing occurs, arent there usually dead bees all around ? how long does robbing usually last ? an hour ? all day ? several days ? or until the honey is all gone ?
should i move the hive to a new location ? or would this not help ?
any help or insight is greatly appreciated thanks
What are you seeing? Are there dead bees or fighting bees? May just be bees getting orientated.
i don't see any dead bees. but it's a huge traffic jam at the entrance so i don't know if they are fighting or not. but it just seems like they aren't storing much honey and it's getting late in the year. there seems to be a lot of bees crawling around on the front of the hive also. do bees ever return to the hive without pollen ? because it looks like about 50/50 with pollen and without so i was thinking maybe they are robbers
Robbing is very aggressive, you will see lots and lots of bees, some literally tussling with each other. Cappings will be deposited on bottom boards as honey combs are opened and robbed out.
There may be dead bees.
It will run its course when all the honey stores are depleted.
Moving the hive can help or greatly reducing the entrance.
Not all foragers enter with pollen, some bring back water, some propolis, some nectar.
...JP
http://bushfarms.com/beesrobbing.htm (http://bushfarms.com/beesrobbing.htm)