[Ben Brewcat]

New package (and new beekeeper); second day in the hive. Sunny and warm today and lots of bees flying. I have the reducer on with the three-finger-sized entrance, and a Mann Lake top feeder full of syrup.

I see a ton of activity in and out, entrance packed with bees coming and going, lots of pollen coming in. Some bees land on each other but seem to go in anyway. I guess the questions are is that reducer too big an opening for a brand new package, and do fighting bees (if they're being robbed) roll and tussle for a while or is it a quick wrangle and disengage?

Additionally, is it advisable to remove the SBB corrugated during the day to allow ventilation if I then replace it at night (still cool nights here like 40)? Seems like the top feeder with the telescoping top wouldn't allow for much ventilation and I don't want to prop it much as lots of bees seem to be "sniffing" at the cracks.

 

[NHbees]

>I guess the questions are is that reducer too big an opening for a brand new package, and do fighting bees (if they're being robbed) roll and tussle for a while or is it a quick wrangle and disengage?

No I think that reducer is fine if you have that much activity in front. You didn't say if you were starting on all foundation, if you are then i would doubt robbing this early. Bees from the same colony sometimes tussle and release fairly quickly. Robbing tends to be an all out blood bath for a while with many dead bees.

>Additionally, is it advisable to remove the SBB corrugated during the day to allow ventilation if I then replace it at night

I wouldn't worry to much about it, they need to keep it around 96 degrees for the brood. I normally leave mine in until I see them fanning in front. That tells me they need to cool the hive and a little extra ventilation won't hurt then.

 

[Michael Bush]

Activity at the entrance with robbing varies greatly depending on the level of morale in the hive. There is almost always a lot of hovering (but you sometimes see this breifly in orientations too). The robbers are usually searching the whole outside of the hive for an entrance. Sometimes there are breif tussles, sometimes an all out war. Once a small hive gets disheartened they will put up little to no resistance but there is a very disharmonous wail coming from the hive if you listen to them. Sometimes robbers get shiny from getting their hair pulled, but a very strong hive robbing a very weak one sometimes doesn't .