Robbing during mating

rookie2531 · July 26, 2014, 07:08:21 AM

I have three hives from one. Two are quarter of it(in 5 fr. Nuc.) and one is half (in 10 fr.)of the split. The large one and one of the small ones seem docile and like not much is happening. The other smaller one which is in between the other two seems to be getting robbed. The entrance is only 1.5 inches long and 3/8 tall. There is a top entrance the same size, but no one seems to know it is there. That entrance goes directly into jars, top feeding. I want to block these entrances for a couple days but am afraid to because of the timing issue that the virgin should be out mating now. I split them on July 10th and on the 12th, saw cells. I am thinking of blocking only one morning before dawn and watching for intruders but if there are then what? And also if I stop them from robbing that hive will they start on another, because I don't think they are mine because all the flights in and out and no activity on the other two.

BeeMaster2 · July 26, 2014, 08:26:45 AM

If I understand you correctly, you found queen cells and then made the splits. If so what you may be seeing is your bees escorting your queen out of the hive. They flood the area around your hive to protect her from the predators waiting to catch the bees.
Watch the bees on the entrance. Is it calm with the bees just going in or are there bees fighting. With no bees at the top entrance, the first place robbers go due to the smells exiting the hive, I do not think it is robbing.
Sit and watch it today and you may see your queen coming and going on her maiden flights.
Jim

rookie2531 · July 26, 2014, 08:42:07 AM

I was wondering about the lack of traffic at the top, but I did see a couple times yesterday evening two times, bees engaged in what looked like fighting. Looked like one had bitten the others leg and was shaking it feircly. It doesn't look too good as I don't see any pollen on any of them. If I set up a robbing screen will the queen be able to get out and back in?

BeeMaster2 · July 26, 2014, 09:12:32 AM

If you add one, add it late at night/evening to make sure she is not out on a flight which is normally around mid day.
You may have been seeing a defective/sick bee being removed from the hive. Did the bees being attacked get dragged to the ground? Was it real fuzzy like a very young bee.
Check the weight of the hive. Has it lost weight?
I still do not think you have a robbing problem.
Your queen may bee fully mated and it will not happen again.
What time is this happening? Is it mid day or is it around supper time. Supper time is orientation flights. Mid day would be mating.
Jim

rookie2531 · July 26, 2014, 09:29:03 AM

Jim, I stapled a screen in front of the entrance right at dawn and now the sun is out so I will be looking in at them. I don't know about the age of the wrestlers but one time they both fell off the board and one flew off and the other went back, the next fight stayed on the front wall until one flew off. As far as weight, I wouldn't know. I never picked it up after putting it together and have 3 jars feeding and wouldn't want to tip them over trying. I want to inspect today and see what the cells look like. And if they are doing well, add medium frames on top. Should I disturb or not?

BeeMaster2 · July 26, 2014, 09:51:18 AM

If you have a new queen, do not inspect the hive, give her another 2 weeks to get established. The bees will blame the q for the intrusion and if she has not started laying yet and have a bunch of brood they may kill her.
Jim

rookie2531 · July 26, 2014, 10:02:12 AM

Quote from: sawdstmakr on July 26, 2014, 09:51:18 AM
If you have a new queen, do not inspect the hive, give her another 2 weeks to get established. The bees will blame the q for the intrusion and if she has not started laying yet and have a bunch of brood they may kill her.
Jim

OK. TY.

rookie2531 · July 26, 2014, 01:36:45 PM

Just watched them and it seemed like the ones bringing pollen in was having a hard time finding how to enter so I removed the screen and closed it up to just one bee width. Now it does seem that they are guarding the entrance because a lot are trying to get in and there seems to be some in there stopping the flow in. It is plugging the entrance up that even the ones bringing pollen in are having to try three or four times. Even to the point they are flying off. I reduced the other two hives down as well and even though they are busy there seems to be no stopping and organized flow.

rookie2531 · July 27, 2014, 11:15:05 PM

After reducing the entrance down to a squeezing one bee width, I noticed today that if they couldn't get in right away in that hive, they flew right over to the other nuc. Now that one seems like it is being robbed. So, tonight after dark I went down and closed them all. I know I might have queens in there needing to mate, but it is supposed to rain off and on tomorrow so I figure good time to make sure if it is robbing. If it is I might move them. If I do, can I move them around to other side of barn, around 12 feet, would that confuse the robbers? If I get no replies I will start new topic.

10framer · July 28, 2014, 12:59:19 AM

i'm with jim, i don't think you have a robbing problem. robbers will dart around and look nervous.

rookie2531 · July 28, 2014, 04:19:45 PM

10 framer, they were crawling all around, even looked as if they were on the side conspiring a plan of attack. It was hard for me to describe there movement but after thinking about it, the best description is that the seemed jerky, kinda like watching them move with a strobe light on them, if that makes any sense and there would be 5 with there heads stuck in the entrance and there butts sticking out like they were squeezing to get in but was being denied access. Now after dark I shut the entrances and today there were about 100 flying and crawling around both nuc but not the ten frame hive right next to them. The only thing that was strange to me is that some were carrying pollen with them.

BeeMaster2 · July 29, 2014, 04:12:35 AM

Quote from: rookie2531 on July 28, 2014, 04:19:45 PM
10 framer, they were crawling all around, even looked as if they were on the side conspiring a plan of attack. It was hard for me to describe there movement but after thinking about it, the best description is that the seemed jerky, kinda like watching them move with a strobe light on them, if that makes any sense and there would be 5 with there heads stuck in the entrance and there butts sticking out like they were squeezing to get in but was being denied access. Now after dark I shut the entrances and today there were about 100 flying and crawling around both nuc but not the ten frame hive right next to them. The only thing that was strange to me is that some were carrying pollen with them.

Rookie,
The jerky movement you talk about sounds like wash boarding. Kind of like they have OCD and they are washing the same spot with their proboscis (tongue). Another sign that everything is OK.
Bee careful you do not shut down the entrance to much that they cannot cool the hive. Look closely at the bees in the entrance. Are they fanning their wings. They are trying to cool the hive.
Do you have only one entrance?
Jim

rookie2531 · July 29, 2014, 09:09:08 AM

Jim, not like in one spot but crawling all over, no organization at entrance just wanting in and nobody letting them in and all of a sudden burst of three to five come out and that seems to leave an opening for some to get in and then back to being stuck with all there heads stuck in. The other hives are this small also and they have no jam. But anyway I guess there is nothing else I can do so the strong survive, and we'll see when I inspect.

10framer · July 29, 2014, 09:17:36 AM

i'm with jim on the washboarding too. if you had a full blown robbing situation the bees would be coming out to sting you when you approached by now most likely.

GSF · July 30, 2014, 01:24:40 PM

...also they would be trying to get in the hive everywhere.