I've got some robbing going on!

Started by Hethen57, August 07, 2009, 01:54:47 AM

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Hethen57

August 07, 2009, 01:54:47 AM
I've been waiting for a free weekend to harvest some of my honey, and now I hope I have some left.  I have noticed a few tussles on the landing boards recently with foreign looking bees...so I sat out there and watched my hives for a while.  The intruders are definately different looking bees...probably wild...they are either dark with whiteish fur and heads or italian looking with white heads...none of my bees look like this.  They are way outnumbered, but many are just entering the hive unimpeded.  I shut down all the entrances to a couple of inches and will hope for the best when I can inspect this weekend.  Any other advice or suggestions would be appreciated...maybe I could make some robber screens this weekend..not sure it I can shut them in becasue there are too many bees on the porch..even at night.

On a positive note...I didn't think we had any feral bees around here, so if I can find their hive...maybe I can do a cut out, or something.
-Mike
-Mike

Joelel

#1
August 07, 2009, 09:07:52 AM
Quote from: Hethen57 on August 07, 2009, 01:54:47 AM
I've been waiting for a free weekend to harvest some of my honey, and now I hope I have some left.  I have noticed a few tussles on the landing boards recently with foreign looking bees...so I sat out there and watched my hives for a while.  The intruders are definately different looking bees...probably wild...they are either dark with whiteish fur and heads or italian looking with white heads...none of my bees look like this.  They are way outnumbered, but many are just entering the hive unimpeded.  I shut down all the entrances to a couple of inches and will hope for the best when I can inspect this weekend.  Any other advice or suggestions would be appreciated...maybe I could make some robber screens this weekend..not sure it I can shut them in becasue there are too many bees on the porch..even at night.

On a positive note...I didn't think we had any feral bees around here, so if I can find their hive...maybe I can do a cut out, or something.
-Mike

Make your entrance smaller,just big enough for your bees to go in and out with out a traffic jam.
Acts2:37: Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?
38: Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
39: For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.
40: And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation

Hethen57

#2
August 07, 2009, 01:31:17 PM
Fortunately it rained last night, so I could get the reducers on and make some quick robber screens.  The hives still appear strong, but I'll need to assess the insides over the weekend.  I can see this time of year will be a problem...all of the nuisance insects are trying to get at the sweets inside the hives...yellow jackets and wasps are also buzzing around.

JP or others raising ferals...do white faced bees sound like wild ones you have seen?...I've never seen Carnies or Italians that looked like that...the robbers definately have white faces and some white fur, but otherwise would blend in..they almost look dusted in powdered sugar...they stand out.
-Mike

fermentedhiker

#3
August 07, 2009, 08:37:06 PM
I've had native bees rob from my italian hive last year(none this year so far) but it never reached a level of what the books describe when talking about robbing behavior between hives of honeybees.  Mostly because the natives don't have a large enough population to mount such an all out assault I think.  It really amounted to pilfering rather than wholesale robbing in my case.  I talked to a couple local beeks about it and they said not too worry.  That as the season got later my bees would get defensive enough to drive them off and in the mean time they wouldn't take enough to matter.  I did reduce the entrance on one day when around 12 miner bees were making regular trips into the hive.  At that time there were too many returning foragers for the guard bees to keep track of who was an intruder.  The reduced entrance caused a traffic jam and the miner bees couldn't find a gap to get through and so gave up.  I opened the entrance back up the next day and didn't have any problems after that.  Get a pic of the intruders if you can, I'm curious to see what they look like.
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Hethen57

#4
August 09, 2009, 02:57:21 AM
I will get into the hives tomorrow and try to snap some pictures.  Thanks for checking on the wild bee thing.  It looks like the screens slowed them down, but I noticed some have figured out how to crawl around the screen.  I haven't taken any pictures yet, because I need to get right in front of my row of hives and it is a bee frenzy, with lots coming and going.  It is good to see they are bringing in lots of pollen...I would have guessed that they were just bees that were dusted with pollen, but if there is a fight on the landing board, it is with one of those same bees.
-Mike
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