Noticed dead bees in front of my hives yesterday. Examined the dead and found them to be missing body parts. I watched for awhile and saw some bees tumble out of a hive and fall dead on the ground. I have zig-zag flight patterns around my hives. I reduced the entrances in 100 degree weather but am not convinced this will stop the problem. Major bee supply houses do not have robber screens for sale.
What now?
Are you running screened bottoms? If so reduce the entrance to about zero. Check to see if the hive is queenless. Are you feeding them? That will set it off also.
I cover the hives with a wet sheet down to the ground, but with it so, so hot, the sheet would probably dry instantly. You could try and spray water on the bees to break up the fighting. I have heard of this.
Yes, I use robber screens when the fighting breaks out and the wet sheet. Wait for more help here from others.
Annette
The reduced entrance does not seem to help. Yes, I have screened bottom boards. And yes, I did fill top feeders about five days ago, but they should be dry now. I just finished piling an armful of tree limbs with leaves in front of hives. Maby this will at least slow things down.
Later,
John.
John,
I have used the wet sheet method before, too. Reducing the entrance to the smallest slot has got to help some.
Did you use Honey B Healthy or Pro Health in your feeder? Sometimes that attracts robbers.
Linda D
Yes to the honey-b-healthy. New nucs this year and they were out of stores. It has been hot and dry here for awhile. There has been zero pollen coming into the hives for well over two weeks now. I filled top feeders half full on Monday and got the double he hockey sticks stung out of me. Couldnt walk for two days.
I just made it down to the hives yesterday and saw the dead bees. On examination, found them to be missing body parts; legs, etc. Watched bees roll out of the hive and die today. Entrance reducer is not a winner.
:? I just finished stacking loose tree limbs with leaves on front of hives hoping to eliminate the problem. Brushy Mountain sells robber screens but are closed today. Their on-line delivery window is 7-10 days. I think I need major intervention long before this.
Thanks for your help,
John.
Robber screens are not hard to make. All you really need is some window screen. Get the metal kind. Build a frame for it that covers the front of the hive and make sure they have an entrance. I have some weird problem with robbers, I can't tell where they come from. So far the screens are a winner.
In the case of the hive on the left, I had stuck the stick in a single bee sized hole to lock the bees out and in. After dark I took the stick out so the resident bees would know where the entrance was, and the robbers from another hive wouldn't.
(http://www.captainchicken.com/pictures/robscreen.jpg)
This is the same screen in an earlier incarnation, with the block in the photo. Here you can see the entrance, the entire block is removable so the residents can get in and out after the attack.
(http://www.captainchicken.com/pictures/RobberScreen.JPG)
I would take the feeders off, if they are needing to be fed try open feeding them at least 50 yards away.
You don't even have to have construction skills. I used a window screen insert that I bought at a big box store. I still use it when robbing happens even though I have a couple of purchased robber screens/moving screen covers.
It's an old post on my blog and I think here at the forum (http://forum.beemaster.com/index.php/topic,5431.0.html (http://forum.beemaster.com/index.php/topic,5431.0.html)), but here's what I used and it worked.....
http://beekeeperlinda.blogspot.com/2006/06/installed-new-robber-screen.html (http://beekeeperlinda.blogspot.com/2006/06/installed-new-robber-screen.html)
Easy-peasy - and cheap!
when it was happening, people on this forum advised the wet sheet, also opening the tops on all of your hives so that the robbers need to go home to defend their own hive instead of robbing the weak hive, and running the sprinkler over the victim hive as if it is raining.
Linda T in Atlanta
I have nothing to lose with the sprinkler idea and will construct robber screens of some type tomorrow. I am sure the robber bees are coming from afar due to their coloration. My bees are little and mostly black; the robbers are italian - naturally!
Later,
John.
I had my one and only hive being robbed a few monthes ago so I completely blocked up the entrance because it was a newly established swarm.
DID I DO THE RIGHT THING??????? (my hive is still up and running)
I think the reason it was being robbed is that I put a jam jar feeder (an inverted bottle with holes in the lid) inside the hive, with some of the frames taken out. I noticed that there was a small pool of syrup dibbling out of the hive.
So far this morning the robbing is under control. I watched for about 15 minutes and saw one robber circle the hive then leave with no attempt to enter the hive. I will check again later in the day.
Yesterday I reduced the entrances to no avail. Then I piled cypress branches over the entrances. This slowed the home bees down but did not stop them. It is possible that the odor of the branches helped to mask the odor of the hive and confused the robbers.
Tomorrow when the stores open, I will set-up remote feeders and feed all the neighborhood bees sugar water. Don't know what else to do. My bees are out of stores. Robber bees will not allow me to feed in hive. I don't want to feed sugar water to outside bees storing honey. I don't want my bees to die the first year.
Darned if I do, darned if I don't.
Later,
John.
John,
If you put a robber screen on the hive and feed on the inside of the hive, the robbers won't get in. The home bees can enter the robber screen through the provided upper entry and will because they are drawn to the queen's pheromone. The robbers only aim for the entrance to the hive.
If robbing has stopped (probably because they've taken all of your hive's stores) then you need to feed your bees.
Feed them inside the hive - you can use baggies, a Boardman INSIDE the hive surrounded by an empty box, etc.
Close any entrance to your hive other than the entry from the upper edge of the robber screen and you should be OK and your bees have a chance to survive.
Linda T in Atlanta
Yes I was going to suggest the baggie feeders, which I am doing right now as well. I have hives that get robbed out every time I place a feeder on the hives. So with the baggie feeders, there is absolutely no robbing going on.
Quote from: peter on June 05, 2011, 05:22:02 AM
I had my one and only hive being robbed a few monthes ago so I completely blocked up the entrance because it was a newly established swarm.
DID I DO THE RIGHT THING??????? (my hive is still up and running)
I think the reason it was being robbed is that I put a jam jar feeder (an inverted bottle with holes in the lid) inside the hive, with some of the frames taken out. I noticed that there was a small pool of syrup dibbling out of the hive.
Anything dripping like that would cause a robbing. How long did you block up the entrance??
YEEEeeiks! :-X I didn't realize bees would rob and fight and dismember each other! I'm just here lurking, trying to learn about bees....
How often does this stuff happen???? and Italians? they are the most likely to rob? why is this? does anyone have time to explain to me the dynamics of what triggers robbing?
And my final question, out in the wild is robbing far less frequent than the domestic bees raised side-by-side....
Sorry about intruding on this thread, but just trying to learn about the bees....
Any honey bee will rob if given the chance. Just keep it from starting. Reduce entrance on weak hives. Watch the feeding.
In the wild, I am sure rob the same, but there are normally not hives side by side and wild hives do you get fed syrup during dry times.
The leading cause of robbing is feeding. Next is a dearth. Weak hives get robbed the most. Smaller entrances are the best prevention. Not feeding unless you have to helps. Stealing capped honey from strong hives to boost starving weak hives and feeding the strong instead of the weak will help.
http://www.bushfarms.com/beesrobbing.htm (http://www.bushfarms.com/beesrobbing.htm)
wow, thanks so much Allen and Michael! Michael, that was a very informative read....and it makes perfect sense how man-fed feeding can actually increase robbing because then the bees expect an immediate source instead. Sort of like the warning DO NOT FEED THE BEARS! Feeding that is too easy makes the honeybees act like Italian mobstas...all too aggressive and dependent on "easy pickings" instead of natural foraging? Or am I missing the point completely...
I think trying to integrate weak with the strong I am curious how this process happens...You see with ants, they can immediate recognize an ant from a different colony and will attack it mercilessly. I am curious how one is able to fool the bees into not! making this differentiation and accepting the "alien" bees....wouldn't the nurse bees be recognized as being from a different hive?
From what I vaguely remember from watching Nova? ages ago as a kid, I remember bees have specific codes and pattern dancing. Is there a danger that some of the bees would have a different pattern and be called out as an invader???
Quote from: Michael Bush on June 05, 2011, 11:45:43 PM
The leading cause of robbing is feeding. Next is a dearth. Weak hives get robbed the most. Smaller entrances are the best prevention. Not feeding unless you have to helps. Stealing capped honey from strong hives to boost starving weak hives and feeding the strong instead of the weak will help.
http://www.bushfarms.com/beesrobbing.htm (http://www.bushfarms.com/beesrobbing.htm)
Over feeding is the biggest and most common mistake beekeepers make.
Only feed for specifi reasons and short periods of time.
Over feeding a hive will produce all four of the following consequences in the order given: Honey Bound (unable to increase hive population), Swarming (crowded bees will swarm to make more room, bees become crowded from eith lack of space or lock of brood area, Robbing (a weak hive with lots of stores is the ideal robbing target, a fed hive meets that parameter), Loss of hive (a hive that can't produce brood because of back filled brood chambers, that has swarmed to force open cells to rear brood in, and has been fed excessively will be robbed to the point of zero population remaining).
Well said.