Is this good or bad?

[topdog17]

Over the last few days I thought my hive may have been being robbed because of the heavy bee activity. I have been feeding with a bag feeder for the last month. They seem to take it within a couple of days. I mix 4c sugar and 4c water put it in a gallon baggy on the top of the frames. Well, after reading about robbing and what to do I decided to block off the entrance last night. This is what has devoloped today. They have apperantly moved the block enough to get in and out. Will robber bees stack up like this or will they just leave if its too much trouble to get in? Are these my bees coming out to because they are too hot? (About 82 today) Is this pre swarm activity? Do I need to worry about this or not? Should I leave the entrance blocked or open it up? I'm so confused!!(Vinny Barbarino)


http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll155/butchew/hiveentrance017.jpg


http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll155/butchew/hiveentrance018.jpg


http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll155/butchew/hiveentrance019.jpg


http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll155/butchew/hiveentrance020.jpg

[peletier]

From here (North Carolina) it looks like those are your bees and they are warm. They also look strong enough (numbers, not muscles) to fend off robbers if there are any.

[Radar]

Most probable these are your bees from that hive, Robbing bees do not take in pollen and I see some bees with pollen. You can tell if you have robbers as the edges of the cells on the frames that have contained honey are usually frayed and damaged. You may need a bigger entrance that looks small.

[hankdog1]

doesn't look like robbing to me you can tell robber bees because they will be a smidge darker then your bees and will circle the hive instead of comming straight in

[beedeetee]

you can tell robber bees because they will be a smidge darker then your bees
Why would robber bees be darker?

[Jorn Johanesson]

Why would robber bees be darker?
The bees loose their hair so that the feromones from their origin hive will not stick that easy to them.

best regards Jorn

[dcross]

Bearding!

[RayMarler]

Your hive looks plenty strong enough to defend itself from robbers. I think you need to remove the entrance reducer. It looks to me like these are bees that belong in the hive but the entrance is so small they beard up on the outside. Make sure there are no openings around the top lid cover, as that is where robbers will try to get in to get syrup from your baggy feeders.

[DoubleB]

I agree with everyone on this. Also, I remember being told that when robbing is going on there will be more "spilled" honey on outside of hive. Like they are messy in leaving hive with there robbed honey. With temps there in 80's they are probabally pretty warm. I also notice in one of your pictures of cement pieces outside of entrance.....those pieces are pretty hot too, and I see hardly any bees walking on them. Maybe they are acting as a heat collector right in front of hive. Anyway, good luck with your heat, and your ladies....lol

[wcubed]

BAD. By restricting the entry, you have deprived the colony of circulating air to cool the colony. The above entry on bearding IMO was correct. The bees you see live there. There is no evidence of robbing - the photo captered no bees in the air.

You are at or near the peak population for the season. Open the entry and add a super for growth. It may be too late to prevent swarming, but you can't make any honey without a place to put it.

Walt

[Mike Gillmore]

If you would like an indisputable answer to the robbing question, to relieve your anxiety here's what you can try tonight.

Go to your colony after dark when all of the bees are inside the colony and none are visible outside. Remove your entrance reducer and stuff screen in the full length so no bees have any gaps to go in or out. Also screen off the notch in your inner cover.

Check about mid morning tomorrow and see what it looks like before removing the screens . If you see the same number of bees on the outside of the boxes you probably have a robbing problem. If not, then it's likely bearding and you need to leave the entrance reducer out.

It looks like bearding to me, but this is a quick way to be absolutely sure.