Robbers!

[FlowerPower]

They're back.

The hive has had a one-bee-sized entrance for weeks now to keep them at bay, but it looks like the hive is too weak to keep them fended off.

Is it possible to fix this? Should I gather up the remaining bees and give them to someone w/a strong hive?

[Maine_Beekeeper]

Move the hive.
Take them anywhere +- 3 miles away.

Then feed them like crazy

Best of luck,
-Erin

[Duboisi]

Have you tried a robbing screen? That should allow the bees to move freely and at the same time keep the robbers at bay.

[nc checkers]

I had a hive last summer low in numbers and starving. They were being robbed faster than I could feed them.

I gave them 2 frames of capped brood, moved them a half mile and fed. Now they are about the strongest hive I have. I think they are heavier than when I stopped feeding.

Give them some capped brood if you have a hive that can spare it.

Be careful if you give them a brood and honey frame with bees on it as the bees can return to the parent hive and tell the others where the honey went. This is where the 3 mile move would be helpful.

[FlowerPower]

No robber screen, but I will invest or make one next year for sure!

Also, it's my only surviving hive (out of three) so there's no spare brood.

This is my first year and it's been rather frustrating to say the least. I was really hoping this hive would make it, but it looks like it's now become a LW hive so that's the end of it. Checked it today and the honey's mostly gone and the bees are MEAN.

Sigh. At least I'll get some beeswax out of the deal.

[Michael Bush]

http://www.bushfarms.com/beesrobbing.htm

The most important thing is to stop it now. Close it off completely for a time. Especially after dark and leave it closed until all arrivals in the morning give up.

[FlowerPower]

I did that last week, hoping for the best. The robbers disappeared for awhile then apparently snuck back in. The weather's been coolish and overcast here so there's not been much visible bee activity.

The bigger problem is there's no sign of the queen, I had hoped with my last hives, I was finished with laying workers. No such luck. There are not a lot of bees left now, and with the honey mostly stripped out of the hive, they're doomed.

If I disassembled the hive and forced the bees outside, would they go find another hive? (Maybe they can follow the robbers home!)