was it robbing???

[TwT]

went out to look at my hives today and saw something I have never seen before, 2 bee's fighting, well 1 bee was attacking another and the bee being attacked was trying to run, its wing were chewed off, only a 1/4 of 1 wing left, well the attacking bee flew back to the hive and the wingless be found my natural SHB larva trap (fire ant nest in front of my hives) watched a while long and another bee came out of the hive and another worker came out and attacked it , its wings were chewed off also, watch about a hour longer and never seen it happen again. aw and this was happening just after sun-up.

[peggjam]

Could be robbing, or a couple workers lost their way and ended up in the wrong hive.

peggjam

[newbee 101]

Are you sure it wasn't your bees dragging out other bees in the hive with DWV (deformed wing virus) They have no use for the sick or injured.

[TwT]

these looked like older bee's, no hairs, but both were darker that the rest, might have been 2 bee's that lost there way back

[TwT]

ok I seen another bee being drug out of the hive today , so I got it and looked at it good , what i seen was that part of its wings are looked chewed off but could be DWV, the bee was also smaller than the others, if it is the virus, what do I need to do with the hive , treat it some how ??

[newbee 101]

I am not sure what to do, I have a hive with it.
The hive seems very strong. I am going to do a mite count to see what is going on there. Maybe one of the experienced beekeepers on this forum knows what we can do?

[junglebill007]

I'm new too, but I have noticed others refering to VM infestation of the larva resulting in this type of deformity.

Hope that helps. If it's VM, there seems to be many positive things you can do to correct it.

Good luck!

[naturebee]

Hey newbee 101,,,,

Excellent diagnosis!!! The suggestion by TwT, the topic starter was that it ‘is robbing‘. But I’m impressed that you looked at the evidence at hand to derive your own conclusion. No hairs is symptomatic of severe grooming caused by mites, varroa, or possibly TM. Chewed wings could be from grooming or DWV. Although, I wouldn't totally eliminate the robbing possibility just yet. BUT, honeybees coming out of the hive before being attacked does suggest that the bee is not a robber, but instead a resident of the colony.

Newbee, you need to change your name, because you don’t sound like a newbee to me.
Best Wishes,

[Robert Hawkins]

101, that's a good guess but I'm thinkin just old bees. Ted, try to look at the wing and see if it has grown deformed or if it's just worn out. What time of day was this?

Hawk