?'s on guard bees regarding robbers, drift, shakeout,straglers,ect

[windfall]

Hoping someone here can clarify something for me:

People routinely talk about guard bees and fighting robbers at the door.

I also see many references to moving a hive and letting the returning bees be "absorbed" by the surrounding hives, or switching locations of weak and strong hives to help equalize, or for that matter shaking out a laying worker hive to disperse it's force among the remaining hives.

So how does this work out? By what mechanism do the bees allow these "foreigners" into the hive. Do the new bees still have to fight to gain admittance? Do the home bees have some way to determine the "intent" of the strangers?

Or are most of these bees actually becoming lost and dying in the field and we make ourselves feel better about the waste by saying they have found and joined other hives?

[FRAMEshift]

By what mechanism do the bees allow these "foreigners" into the hive. Do the new bees still have to fight to gain admittance? Do the home bees have some way to determine the "intent" of the strangers?

If you move a hive, the bees that are out in the field at the time are the foragers.  They come back with nectar and pollen looking for their old home.  When they can't find it, they join another hive.  They come into the new hive loaded with food so they are accepted.  If they show up "empty handed"  they would certainly look like robbers.

[boca]

Yes, bees with nectar in their honey sac are better accepted. Therefore it is a good practice to let them fill their belly with honey/syrup before shaking them out/ combining.
In addition young bees are readily accepted. So not flying bees shaken on the landing board can get in safely. It is obvious for the receiving family that they cannot be robbers.
I believe also that robbers betray themself  with their behaviour, not only at the entrance but also within the hive. For example trying to flee away when guards ask for their ID or fighting back if attacked or tearing apart honey cell capping.

All these things are my guessing. I also would like to hear about expert opinion / experiments.

[T Beek]

Excellent topic and responses.  I also hope more experience is on its way.

thomas

[windfall]

I thought food might well be a part of it.
Pollen I can see, but I would think(guess really) much of their nectar load would be consumed while circling in confusion....I wonder how quickly they "abandon" their orientation and go looking for a new home? This obviously would not be relevant to the swapped hive scenario.

[BeeMaster2]

I thought food might well be a part of it.
Pollen I can see, but I would think(guess really) much of their nectar load would be consumed while circling in confusion....I wonder how quickly they "abandon" their orientation and go looking for a new home? This obviously would not be relevant to the swapped hive scenario.

Move a hive 2' and see what happens. at first they will pile up where the old hive was then they will slowly work there way to the closest hive. In this case it is there own hive. When these field bees go back out into the field and collect honey they will return to the old site and do an "S" pattern to end up in the new hive. this will go on for the next 3 weeks until the old bees die off. The new bees only know the direct route.
If you move the old hive to the other side of another hive (a weak hive that you want to make stronger) the field bees will do the as same thing except this time most of the older bees end up in the weak hive that is now very strong. This is exactly what I did with a strong hive and a weak nuc size hive that had a queen that had a very laying weak laying pattern the previous 6 months, during the winter. That hive produced over 100 pounds of honey this year. The first week after I added the extra bees she had filled 4 empty drawn frames with brood, the hive had brood in every cell in the hive. I was shocked. the other hive produced about 40# this year so far and both hives have a capped super plus another 3 supers total that they were filling up, as of 2 weeks ago.
Jim