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My bees (6 big hives) have never robbed out another hive, but they did this afternoon. I'd found a nice swarm cell in a favorite hive so I pulled it (plus some capped brood, pollen, stores) and made a little mating nuc. Added entrance reducer. That was a few days ago.
This afternoon I go out to work some hives and the little split was being robbed. I didn't see any fighting back, but they don't really have a queen yet. There's a nice early nectar flow going on, so that's not the probelm. I closed the entrance with grass for lack of anything better to do as I don't have a robbing screen (yet). Will check on them tomorrow I guess to see if anything is left.
My question is, will I be able to pull little splits like this in the future? This is the way I've increased hives in the past.
I don't understand why this happened EXCEPT I did some open feeding the other day (few hundred yards from the hives) to clean out some leftover goldenrod honey (very strong smelling). This was also the honey I gave the split. I wonder if the smell, after being open fed those supers, attracted robbers?
I don't really have another place to put little splits/nucs, but I'd like to raise some. Any advice appreciated - on how to salvage this mating nuc if there's anything left...and how to do this better in future. Thank you in advance - everyone has been so helpful in the past and I appreciate it!
BlueRidgeBee
4th year beek
This afternoon I go out to work some hives and the little split was being robbed. I didn't see any fighting back, but they don't really have a queen yet. There's a nice early nectar flow going on, so that's not the probelm. I closed the entrance with grass for lack of anything better to do as I don't have a robbing screen (yet). Will check on them tomorrow I guess to see if anything is left.
My question is, will I be able to pull little splits like this in the future? This is the way I've increased hives in the past.
I don't understand why this happened EXCEPT I did some open feeding the other day (few hundred yards from the hives) to clean out some leftover goldenrod honey (very strong smelling). This was also the honey I gave the split. I wonder if the smell, after being open fed those supers, attracted robbers?
I don't really have another place to put little splits/nucs, but I'd like to raise some. Any advice appreciated - on how to salvage this mating nuc if there's anything left...and how to do this better in future. Thank you in advance - everyone has been so helpful in the past and I appreciate it!
BlueRidgeBee
4th year beek