I am not sure if I have robbing or a flush of new bees. Here is what has happened the last 2 days:
Yesterday morning I placed a new box on a hive, and moved one frame up into the new box. In doing so some honey cell were ruptured. I did not inspect the entire hive, but think there was plenty of capped brood.
Yesterday afternoon about 5 PM there were a lot of bees around the hive, entering and leaving. I could not determine if they were fighting, but there were not a lot of dead bees in front of the hive. I was anxious about robbing and reduced the entry to one bee width. The mass of bees flying around reduced (cause and effect? maybe not).
Today I have the same thing happening at the same time. Now I think it is probably new bees orienting, but am not sure. I just closed the entry completely, under the theory that if it is robbing it will stop, and if they are new bees on orientation they will beard on the closed entry. Do not know if that is a valid analysis or not.
I guess the real issue is: How do you tell if it is robbing or orientation flights?
Any advice?
Yesterday morning I placed a new box on a hive, and moved one frame up into the new box. In doing so some honey cell were ruptured. I did not inspect the entire hive, but think there was plenty of capped brood.
Yesterday afternoon about 5 PM there were a lot of bees around the hive, entering and leaving. I could not determine if they were fighting, but there were not a lot of dead bees in front of the hive. I was anxious about robbing and reduced the entry to one bee width. The mass of bees flying around reduced (cause and effect? maybe not).
Today I have the same thing happening at the same time. Now I think it is probably new bees orienting, but am not sure. I just closed the entry completely, under the theory that if it is robbing it will stop, and if they are new bees on orientation they will beard on the closed entry. Do not know if that is a valid analysis or not.
I guess the real issue is: How do you tell if it is robbing or orientation flights?
Any advice?