What are they doing?

[Tia]

I pulled some supers for harvesting the other day and they're in my garden with escapes above & below. They're pretty much devoid of bees now and I was planning to bring them in tonight. Ever since I pulled them (2 days ago) there's been a handful of bees clustered on the outside of one of the boxes. Everytime I "shoo" them, they regroup and come right back. I've checked every single bee. None of them is a queen. There's no honey on the outside of the hive. What keeps bringing them back? Their home hive is only about 10 feet away. Not worried; just curious.

[iddee]

My guess is they smell honey.
Only a guess, tho.

[Big Ed]

Hello Tia.
My guess is also the smell of honey. It doesn't take much. Yesterday I was inspecting a hive and set the outermost frame, which was capped honey against the side of it, and within 3 minutes or so, I had robbers from my Italian colonies all over. Had to close everthing up in a hurry and reduce a couple entrances. Gets to be annoying.

[Tia]

Bingo, you guys. I forgot that I leaned a stray frame of capped honey up against the stack of supers for a second. "It doesn't take much." Guess not! Wow!

[Phoenix]

The best thing you can do if the robbers are coming from one your hives in the same apiary, is pop the lids off all the hives. The robbing frenzy is quenched almost immediately, as the robbers now have to protect their own hive, and the confusion of too many sources to choose from, takes the focus off the hive being robbed.

[Big Ed]

Thanks Phoenix, I'll remember that.