robbed out!

[tlynn]

Hello all,

Today I found one of my hives to be very weak, this after not checking them for a good 2 months (coldest winter on record here in central FLA).  This one had a marked queen from last year and she was there with only a small cluster.  There were just a little honey stores and pollen on the end frames and some wax moth infestation.  No sealed brood, no eggs.  No larvae.  I removed the infested frames, which just had a couple short spiderwebby tunnels and threw them in the freezer.  I put the rest of the frames with the bees in a nuc and decided to put on some feed (Boardman).  Pretty quickly I noticed interest from the adjacent hive, which is all out booming right now and so I removed the feed and closed down the entrance to about an inch.  

Early this evening before sundown I walked by the window and saw abnormally high activity at the entrance and went out and opened the top and sure enough they were getting robbed out.  The cluster was gone, no queen to be found and just bees all over the honey areas ripping off cappings.  I'm not sure I screwed this hive or if it was a goner anyway.  I closed off the entrance and am going to open it after dark.  I rubbed some Vicks around the entrance (I read here, I think from Mr. Bush, the Vicks confuses the robbers but the resident bees still identify their hive).  I'm going to check it again in the morning, but I am afraid they're done.

Anything I could have done differently?  Not use a boardman for one.  Anything else to do?  I figure I'll add the brood box to the next door hive.  Oh, and I was going to pull 2 brood frames from strong hives, smoke them down and put them in tomorrow. 

Thanks

[Natalie]

I'll leave this to the experts but wanted to say I don't think we have seen you for a while. Good to see you are still around and your other bees at least did well this year. It has been a cold winter for sure.

[fish_stix]

Next time set the Boardman feeder on top of the frames and place an empty box on top and then the lid. Close the entrance down to 3/4" or so.

[JP]

I believe you answered your own questions. That colony may have been doomed anyway. I like boardman's but they can often lead to robbing if entrances are available to a weak colony.

I have to wonder if the colony/colonies that did the robbing have enough feed now?


...JP

[tlynn]

I'll leave this to the experts but wanted to say I don't think we have seen you for a while. Good to see you are still around and your other bees at least did well this year. It has been a cold winter for sure.

Thanks Natalie.  Yep all the rest made it through fine.

[tlynn]

I believe you answered your own questions. That colony may have been doomed anyway. I like boardman's but they can often lead to robbing if entrances are available to a weak colony.

I have to wonder if the colony/colonies that did the robbing have enough feed now?


...JP

Hi JP,

The robbing hive is full of stores in the brood box.  In fact they are adding fresh nectar to their overwinter super so I added a fresh box yesterday.  Some citrus is starting to flower and I imagine that's where they're getting it.  So it's not like they're starving.

And to fish_stix's point - yes I agree with adding a box and placing the feeder inside and unfortunately that was my only available nuc. 

My guess is it didn't help matters to disrupt the guard bees when I switched them over.