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capturing robbing bees

16K views 37 replies 11 participants last post by  Oldtimer 
#1 ·
i had a perhaps crazy idea after reading a post on Honey Bee Suite of capturing the robbers that are plaguing my week hive and keeping them to build up ht hive they were robbing—enslave the attackers.

i took an old hive body with old comb with honey still in it and set it out. it took a few days to build up to a full robbing scenario, but it was covered yesterday. last night i added two empty shallows to the top. the bottom shallow has a large hole with a triangle bee escape covered witha screen. the bee escape leads to another empty shallow with the top coved with a screen.

my thoughts were that bees would enter through the hive entrance and walk to the top of the frames and get into the open space above in the bottom super. the light coming through the escape would lead them out through the escape into the upper screened super.

after a few days in the trap i was planning to move the screened super to super my weak hive but keep the screen between the two groups for a few days, then let the captured bees leave through a top exit or just shake them out in front of the hive and let them go back in through the front door or fly away.

when i left for work this AM there were about 50 bees caught in the trap—less than i had hoped in 4 hours of robbing. i'm rethinking my design. maybe a top entrance through holes in the side into the screened empty supper then down to the honey in the hive body.and let the bees rob most of the day, then at mid day, put inward facing cone escapes and fill the box until the robing stops.

thoughts?
 
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#37 ·
trial 2 (same yard, seasoned boxes, new queen, one frame of brood and nurse bees, no honey stores. held 3 days before release.)

trial 3 (half mile, new boxes, new queen, two brood frames and honey stores all put together with the robber bees on the same day. held 4 days before release.)

if anyone was wondering, both took, no robbing or mass killing as some sources suggested. proof enough for me that field/robber bees can be grafted into another hive through forced confinement even if the bees are not moved 5 miles. exactly what percentage stayed i can't say, but it is obvious that there are many times more bees than were put in with the brood frames.

my last word/disclaimer is that there is very little practical application for this as i have done it which was to test a disputed concept the possibility of robber bee reorientation through forced confinement. please don't try to do this to build a hive—there are easier more proven ways to do that. however, should you find a hive being overrun with robbing and if what i experienced was not a 3 time fluke, rather than abandoning the hive to total loss, you might try closing up the hive completely with the robbers inside (with proper ventilation) and wait 3-4 days for them to settle and the robbing to stop then reopen the hive. if the queen lives, the robbers might reorient as they did in our trials and leave you with an intact hive that hopefully is stronger than before the robbing and not weaker.
 
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