I just came back from my two hives to see how much pollen the girls are bringing in and noticed on the sheet metal I have on the ground to keep the weeds from blocking the entrance I noticed two bees that seemed to have been fighting. It ended when one bee picked the other up and flew away with him towards the neighbors (he has three hives). Does anyone have a guess what was going on?
Sounds like he was carring away a defective bee that he pulled out of the hive.
Jim
The injured, defective, or dying bees are carried away from the hive and dropped.
Thanks guys I just thought the misfits were just ejected out of the hive. I had no idea that they were "taken for a ride".
Sounds like a robber to me. The home team bees will struggle and fight with any robbers unless they are simply overwhelmed with robbers. This often results in the fighters falling off the landing board as they fight. If you find an adnormally high number of bees around your hive entrance, keep an eye out for robbing. If being robbed, reduce the entrances. Not a lot of nectar around here yet and bees are oppertunistic.