How to retrain a hive NOT to rob...

[AliciaH]

I brought home a beautiful swarm two weeks ago.  The minute they hit the property, they started robbing other hives.  I reduce the entrance on the hive being robbed and they move onto the next.  I have a lot of hives so this is getting a bit tedious.  Also the blackberries are starting to bloom, our major flow, so I don't really want to keep everyone shut down that much for traffic reasons.

Is there a way to retrain the hive not to rob?  I was thinking of removing the queen and all brood to another location and leave an empty hive in the original spot for the naughty foragers to return to.  This assumes, of course, the they are "teaching" the behavior to each other, rather than it being solely genetic.

In all other regards, the colony is beautiful!  Queen is huge, very wide and long and she's an egg-laying machine - tons of brood!  Their disposition is wonderful, very gentle to work.  It's just the robbing that's a problem.

Suggestions?

[little john]

Because I live in a 'nectar desert', this happens within my apiary every single year, as regular as clockwork. I have found the solution is to feed very weak syrup - typically 1:4 - to all the full-sized colonies.  (the nucs get 1:1)

The reason for giving such weak syrup is to create the illusion that there is a flow of nectar coming into the hive (and therefore removing the motivation to rob), without risking the loss of too much brood comb by having it filled with stores.

All feeding is done late in the evening, so that the excitement generated dies down well before morning.

Might be worth trying with your problem colony ?

LJ

[AliciaH]

I fed them when I first brought them home, but I could try that again.  How weak do you make your syrup?

[little john]

Normally, beekeepers either feed bees to stimulate their activity or help them survive by building up stores - but here it's being done only in order to fool them into thinking that there's a flow on, and that "there's no need to take desperate measures". When a nectar flow does finally arrive, the bees will quickly abandon sugar syrup for 'the real thing'.

I normally keep a small stock of 2:1 syrup handy, as at that strength it keeps all year without spoiling.  All I do is then dilute some of it (roughly) 50/50 x 3. So - it becomes 1:1, then 1:2, then 1:4 .  Accuracy doen't matter at all, the aim is just to give them enough sweetened water to 'fool them' into believing that there's an abundant local food source that's more convenient for them than trying to blag their way into other hives.

If the robbing has become well established, then sealing the entrances of the target hives for a day (assuming they have ventilation) to break the cycle is a good idea, as is placing #8 wire mesh in front of their entrances. The residents soon learn to work around the mesh, whereas any bees intent on robbing just keep pinging away at the front surface as they try to directly enter guided by the odour plume.

I must say it's a great bonus that you already know which hive is doing the robbing, as I find that identifying the culprit can sometimes be difficult, and I usually end up feeding all of them weak syrup even though perhaps only one or two hives are actually doing the robbing. Luckily, I have no interest in honey production (there's not enough nectar in this locale for that !), so I can feed sugar at any time without concerns.

'best
LJ