[nkhd1]

:doh:--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I put a couple frames of brood in a nuc and waited a few hours before installing the store bought queen.
Went outside to put her in and the little nuc is being robbed out.
I installed the queen and closed off the nuc. - it has 6 1" holes in it for ventilation and the one for access has a sliding cover.
There is no honey left inside but they keep coming. I let some in and closed it off again and move the nuc 100yds away.

With the robber bees will they release the queen too early.
I havent started feeding because of the robbers.

What else should I do?

 

[fish_stix]

I'd close the nuc up with screen for a couple days. The foragers have long since returned to the original hive anyway so all you have in it are young bees. While you wait to open it back up, build a robber screen.

 

[beedeetee]

Robbing is the most aggravating thing about beekeeping for me. Even when the robbers are my own bees. Nucs are the worst to get robbed. I don't feed nucs anymore. I feed larger hives and take the capped honey to the nuc. After robbing starts it is very difficult to get it to stop.

Some people say that if you can deny access for a day or so that the robbers will get tired and go elsewhere. This has not been my experience. They come back and test every day for days or weeks.

Try this. At night when all of the robbers have gone home (don't close any in and take them with you because they will remember where you took the nuc) move the nuc. Try to find a place under a tree or brush where bees won't be foraging. I know that this isn't easy for the beekeeper, but when the nuc is a little larger you can move it out. The robbers may still find it, but the little nuc might be hidden enough as long as you don't feed it. Take frames of capped honey from you larger hives to give it.

The other option is a nuc yard separate from other hives. This may or not work for you.

 

[trainwrecker]

a question for this post? i have 2 hives side by side. i got them as nucs in early may. one hive has always done better and i believe it is now robbing the other. it usually occurs between 4 and 6 pm. the weaker hive has alot of bees flying in front like the robber flight, while the strong hive looks business as usual. which hive should i move and how far. solutions?

 

[gconran]

I think I saw someone comment on this type of problem before - did you try swapping the position of the hives? Others have commented that the distance of hives doesn't make a difference - some folks have them touching side to side, others have them more distance apart.

I had this problem on my first installations this year when I installed my packages - two of the 6 hives decided they liked the nearby ones and moved into them. I had to split them back, and still lost a queen or two while doing it.

 

[Michael Bush]

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

Robbing has to be controlled immediately if you are going to save the hive. The robbers will kill the queen along with all the bees if you don't put a stop to it. Closing things off altogether may be the best first step, but you'll have to take other steps, like reduced entrance, etc.