unwanted visitors

hvac professor · August 20, 2011, 12:17:13 AM

today i observed 3 bumble ot carpenter bees entering the bottom super and then coming back out, the honey bees didnt seem to care. being a new beekeeper I was told that honey bees would quickly swarm any unwanted visitors? or is this a sign of an internal hive problem

BlueBee · August 20, 2011, 03:00:56 AM

I believe you said on your greeting post that this is your first year and you have FIVE deeps on your hive! WOW, you're off to a great start. That said, I can't believe a 5 deep hive would let anything in. Is the hive packed with bees? Is that 5 deeps of drawn frames and honey?

My bottom entrances are PACKED with bees; nothing is going to get in without plowing through a bunch of bees and I don't have any 5 deep hives. My concern would be how many bees is really in your 5 deep hive? If the guard bees are not guarding, I would be worried about being queenless. Check for eggs/larvae.

Sundog · August 20, 2011, 11:58:12 AM

How large is the entrance? Perhaps making it smaller would help the bees keep out unwanted guests.

Have fun!

hvac professor · August 20, 2011, 12:46:43 PM

the bottom entrance is not packed with bees but during the day there are lots of bees coming and going.
I think because all of the supers except the top one have a 1" entrance hole all of the bees do not have to go through the bottom.
Today I did not see any other types of bees around nor did I see the carcus of any dead bees

AllenF · August 20, 2011, 07:44:29 PM

Open up all the boxes and see just how many boxes have bees. I bet you have empty boxes there or not enough bees to require 5 deeps.

hvac professor · August 20, 2011, 09:28:16 PM

i know there are bees in all 5 supers as there are many bees coming and going to each box, when you put your ear to each box you can hear the swarm inside, we are getting ready to collect soon

rober · August 21, 2011, 02:52:32 PM

i think what allen is asking is whether the bees have filled the boxes not if there are bees in them. i was taught on a new hive you let the bees fill a box with drawn out comb & brood before adding a 2nd box. when the 2nd is filled you start adding supers as they fill them.

BlueBee · August 21, 2011, 03:46:24 PM

If the robbing problem persists, I would at least experiment with plugging up the 1" holes in your supers and going with just a single entrance (top or bottom) and seeing if the guard bees are more effective then.

If the purpose of those 1" holes is to ventilation, I would replace them with a small crack (1 or 2 mm) at the top of the hive. A 1 or 2mm crack times the perimeter of a hive = a large effective ventilation hole.

Say you've got 3 deep supers with 1" holes. Area of a circle hole = Pie*R*R. Total ventilation from 3 holes = 3 x 3.14 x 0.5 x 0.5 = 2.35 square inches.

A 1mm crack at the top of your hive would give you a ventilation area of 1mm x hive perimeter. That would be 0.04" x 70" = 2.82 square inches.

Just a super small crack like 1mm gives you the same ventilation area while keeping all robbers away except maybe the ants. I might actually go with 2mm as the bees would be a little slower at propolizing over a 2mm gap than a 1mm gap.