[WBVC]

Title says it all.

I have a hive that has been strong all year...chugs along without interference from me. It currently has 2 deeps and 2 honey dadants. I have already extracted several dadant frames from this hive.

I had a dadant box with extracted wet frames so I thought I would put it on top of this hives honey supers. I carried it out to the hive. Placed it on a fence as I opened the hive, put on the super and closed the hive. Took but a few moments. Was around 7 PM and all hives were calm. I looked out a short while later to see this hive covered in bees...you couldn't see the entrance, or the notch in the inner cover. The seam between the new super and existing super was covered in bees. The air space in front of the hive was filled with bees...hovering facing the hive as if orienting but it was the wrong time of day. It was odd in I didn't see a lot of fighting or a lot of dead bees on the ground. I screened the notch and shut the entrance screen. At 10 PM the hive was quiet and there were a lot of bees clustered on the front. I opened up a couple of bee spaces. This morning there was a handful of bees sitting quietly outside the entrance. I left them with a small entrance opening and went to work.

Was this likely robbing even though the hive is very strong?

Will the robbers likely try again while I am at work...I won't get back until evening.

 

[SpringGreen]

I feel your pain...I inadvertently set one off too the other day. Everything seemed to calm down and has been ok for the last few days, but I looked outside this morning and saw it happening again. I closed everything up, but gosh...my stubborn children have nothing on these bees!

 

[psfred]

You did indeed tempt all the local hives to a feeding frenzy.

Hopefully no damage was done and your bees managed to defend their hive, but I would put the frames with honey in them inside the house if the bees have not cleaned them off. Bees can smell honey for miles, and will try to get in as long as they can smell it outside the hive.

This is why I have three supers with some honey on them in the basement, hopefully not yet infested with hive beetles. Too many robbers when I put them on the hive for the bees to clean up.

I lost a hive to robbing last year, don't want to repeat that experience.

Peter

 

[RD35]

I am a newbie! That said, I would think temporarily adding feeders to the other hives would alleviate the robbing as the other bees would not be so aggressive with plenty of food in their own homes. Am I missing something?

 

[Santa Caras]

Yes they do go crazy when free honey is to be had!!!! I had some cross comb I cut out of a hive and it was packed full of honey. I put it in a plate and took it about250' away and let them have their way with it. While they had that comb cleaned out within hours it was a blast to watch them fly in and jostle to get in line to that comb. If your gonna have frames with honey....best to move it AS FAR AWAY from the hives as possible....the further the better so they dont associate the hives with the free meal to be had.

"I would think temporarily adding feeders to the other hives would alleviate the robbing as the other bees would not be so aggressive with plenty of food in their own homes"

Dont think this will work. The bees could have 10 supers full of honey and they will still rob. Bees are "oppertunistic" creatures.

 

[Pete O]

I screwed up too. The other day I pulled some honey supers and otherwise "old dead" frames but failed to close the lid on my the box that held the supers. Within an hour there was a fog of bees hovering and totally covering the frames in the box. It took a few tries to move the frames back and forth into a sealed box but I finally got the bees off. Next time I'll probably use a bee repellent in the collection box.

 

[njrunner]

I screwed up too. The other day I pulled some honey supers and otherwise "old dead" frames but failed to close the lid on my the box that held the supers. Within an hour there was a fog of bees hovering and totally covering the frames in the box. It took a few tries to move the frames back and forth into a sealed box but I finally got the bees off. Next time I'll probably use a bee repellent in the collection box.

Ok. I need help. I inadvertently set off robbing frenzy by making a stupid mistake. I left honey supers out which had been extracted and SHOULD have been pretty well cleaned by the hive. What is the best way to get the supers from the bees? Will the robbing stop in the evening?

 

[JRG13]

yeah, wait for night, all the bees will go home or most of them, then go reclaim them.

 

[njrunner]

yeah, wait for night, all the bees will go home or most of them, then go reclaim them.

Thank you! Things have calmed down a bunch. I'm sure things are pretty much cleaned out, but I will wait for tonight.

 

[Mr.Beeman]

I set the "wet" super out across the street about 300 yards from the hives. The can rob the wet supers all they want. Those robbing frenzies at the hives can be real scary.