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Robbing

14K views 44 replies 17 participants last post by  tommyt 
#1 ·
I have some nuc robbing going on in the yard. If I take the feeders away, will the robbing stop. Or will they start going after the honey?
 
#30 ·
My feeding theory is that there's no perfect way to do it. All options are fraught with dangers. So I try not to.

I have used robber screens. Their whole point is that robbers are after a scent whereas home bees know how to get into their own house. So let the scent out one place, let the bees out another. My queen castles (mating nucs) have them built in and also serve as ventilation.

Once it is happening and you do catch it, my method has been to let it finish, let the robbers get everything, then come in and do your repair work before the hive starves. Place some capped honey in and reduce entrances to one or two bees.

I imagine I don't catch it every time because I do lose a couple hives over the dearth in the summer. I guess they should have tried harder. Can't protect them from everything, so I hardly protect them from anything.
 
#32 ·
Once it is happening and you do catch it, my method has been to let it finish, let the robbers get everything, then come in and do your repair work before the hive starves. Place some capped honey in and reduce entrances to one or two bees.
Beg to differ here! What if he only has one hive??? Perhaps this is a case of what works for one won't work for another. Maybe your yards arent close enough to make it reasonable to try. But robbing can be stopped, it just takes some serious attention. I won't sacrifice my hive if I can keep from it.
 
#31 ·
Michael, I reread your info on robbing (I can see I probably learned a lot of my tactics from reading that previously) and noted the part about reducing all hive entrances in the event of a dearth - which I think nearly everyone is in - ugh - including me. I had entrance reducers on all 3 hives - but at their widest opening, even for the nuc. No robbing issues as yet (since stopping one earlier this year). However, they were recently inspected and the inspector took them all off. I scratched my head and figured she knew best. I do have screened inner cover and bottom board. In your opinion, should I put them back on? I have felt before that this inspector does things to one hive because it is what is being done in another hive somewhere else - if you know what I'm saying. I wondered if that was the only reason she did it. I asked her why and she said as hot as it is they will burn up. I sorta felt I had as much of that covered as possible - including propped lids, even with screened inner.
 
#37 ·
Tommy, it was a nuc that I made up and it had 1 frame of honey in it so nobody went hungry, because the nuc had no foragers. The feed was 1:1 syrup that I put on the nucs to get them to draw out frames, I put one undrawn frame in the nuc because I have no empty drawn out frames. I asked the question about closeing them because I want to start more nucs in the next month or so, and figured it would be a good way to start the nucs off, to prevent robbing. If you are going to start nucs without that many foragers in them I dont see how it would hurt to just shut them up for a couple of days.
 
#38 ·
I'm a new keeper, I think I might have robbers, but can't tell, I was watching the entrance last nite, and there were several fights between bees, some were gang attacks, which leads me to believe their robbers.
Also, I have black bee's, when I purchased my brood this spring, I was told they were Italians, but I've noticed several black bees or mutts, so my question is two fold! Could I have mutts, and are the ones being attacked robbers, since it is over 100 degrees here, lots O' bees are hanging out in front of the bottom entrance, so I assume their just hot!
 
#40 ·
Sorry to hijack but I'm a first year and noticed this evening a few, maybe 3-4, outsiders trying to get in. My bees are significantly smaller than the intruders. However, my girls seem to be fending off the unwanted guests with ease. I'm fairly confident that I have strong hive (this is my only one and I'm in an urban setting). Started with a nuc in mid-April and have added 3 mediums to accomodate their growth. At what point should I start taking action, if any?
 
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