Robber screens on nucs

[VolunteerK9]

I have about a dozen or so 5 frame nucs that I have built hoping to stuff em full of bees this summer. I know from first hand experience of robbing last year and the devastating effect that it has on a colony and want to prevent if from happening on my nucs. My question is, can I leave robber screens on full time? Or only when I'm feeding? I had planned on keeping the nucs in the same yard as my other hives or should I move my nucs to a different area?

Looking back, I wish I had built the nucs differently. I built them with a bottom board, hive body, and migratory top. The next ones I build will have a permanently attached bottom with only a small, drilled out hole for an entrance (where I can use a plastic disc to control it)

[Robo]

Looking back, I wish I had built the nucs differently. I built them with a bottom board, hive body, and migratory top. The next ones I build will have a permanently attached bottom with only a small, drilled out hole for an entrance (where I can use a plastic disc to control it)

Can't really speak for the plastic disks, because I've never found a good use for them.  But I can say a small lower entrance hole with an upper screened vent hole work great.   The scent coming out of the vent hole lures the robbers up there and away from the real entrance.


I don't know if I would attach the robber screens permanently, you will run into a lot of congestion when the nuc gets strong.   A strong nuc should have no problem protecting their entrance.

[VolunteerK9]

Okie doke. Thanks. Was just visiting your website (again)  :-D

[AllenF]

I use entrance reducers (scrap wood) on my nucs to keep the robbing down.

[iddee]

You can leave the robber screen on indefinitely. I would not mount them permanently, as you never know why or when you may want to remove them for one reason or another.

[danno]

I use the type of robber screen pictured in Laidlaws book Queen Rearing and Bee Breeding on all my colonies during the summer.  They provide and 1/2 - 3/4 main enterance on one bottom end but the whole top in open.  They are about 4" high and screwed to the nuc or hive body.  These are removed from hive bodies in fall and replaced with mouse guards.  Colony bee's soon learn to enter and exit the top but robbers will try get get in the main enterance.  I also drill and screen 2 holes in the upper back of the nucs. 

[Michael Bush]

What works even better for an entrance reducer than wood, is #8 hardware cloth.  Then it acts as a sort of robber screen as the robbers can smell through it but can't get through it.  If you leave the entrance only about 1/4" by 1/4" up to 3/8" by 3/8" then it severly restricts the access and makes it defensible.  If you feed the nucs only feed at night and only as much as they will take before morning.

But, yes, you can leave the robber screens on all year long.

[VolunteerK9]

Thanks MB. I do plan on throwing the feed to them . Im going to use a jar feeder through a hole cut out in the migratory cover to keep it away from the entrance

[jajtiii]

I have had  enough bad luck with keeping Nuc's in yards with established hives that I no longer do it. I started using a Nuc yard last year and the robbing evaporated. I'm sure I will run into it again, but (since you asked) I would advise putting them in their own yard if you can.

[Michael Bush]

I only feed mating nucs at night.  I have never had any luck feeding them in the daytime without setting off robbing.

[Brian D. Bray]

I make what I call moving screens that double as robber screens I use 2 4inch lengths of 1X2 notch it on one of each end cut to fit some screen molding then cover it with 38 Hardware cloth.  I attach them using 2 1/2 inch screens, one on each side.  The bees come out climb up the screen and out of the hive.  I make 3 sizes, 15, 12, & 8 inches that fit 10, 8, & 5 frame hives.  Easy on easy off and to move the hive just run a strip of duct tape over the top and removed when the hive is at its new location. 
It is kind of interesting to watch the robber bees land on the side of the hive poke its head around the corner, then make its probing run across the entrance and get to responce and find to way to enter.
One of the advantages is that any robber bee that figures out how to get in must pass by the guard bees posted on each side of the screen above the entrance, and the guard bees just inside the entrance.  They must transverse 4 times the distance and 3 times the hurdles to gain entrance.
Making the robber guards so that they span the entire entrance doesn't slow the working of the home bees that much as they still have a full entrance to utilize.  If you want to reduce the entrance just lay a short length of 1X2 on top the guard.

Most robbing is generated by spelt syrup, when feeding the week hive(s) in a beeyard.  The best way to curb robbing is to also use a community feeder when feeding selected hives.  All the bees in the beeyard, included the selected hives, will feed at the community feeder which greatly reduces the likely hood of stronger hives rading the weeker hives.  Place the community at least 50 feet away from the beeyard, perferably near a current, past, or future nector source such as under the fruit trees or near the blackberry canes.

[VolunteerK9]

I make what I call moving screens that double as robber screens I use 2 4inch lengths of 1X2 notch it on one of each end cut to fit some screen molding then cover it with 38 Hardware cloth.  I attach them using 2 1/2 inch screens, one on each side.  The bees come out climb up the screen and out of the hive.  I make 3 sizes, 15, 12, & 8 inches that fit 10, 8, & 5 frame hives.  Easy on easy off and to move the hive just run a strip of duct tape over the top and removed when the hive is at its new location. 
It is kind of interesting to watch the robber bees land on the side of the hive poke its head around the corner, then make its probing run across the entrance and get to responce and find to way to enter.
One of the advantages is that any robber bee that figures out how to get in must pass by the guard bees posted on each side of the screen above the entrance, and the guard bees just inside the entrance.  They must transverse 4 times the distance and 3 times the hurdles to gain entrance.
Making the robber guards so that they span the entire entrance doesn't slow the working of the home bees that much as they still have a full entrance to utilize.  If you want to reduce the entrance just lay a short length of 1X2 on top the guard.

Most robbing is generated by spelt syrup, when feeding the week hive(s) in a beeyard.  The best way to curb robbing is to also use a community feeder when feeding selected hives.  All the bees in the beeyard, included the selected hives, will feed at the community feeder which greatly reduces the likely hood of stronger hives rading the weeker hives.  Place the community at least 50 feet away from the beeyard, perferably near a current, past, or future nector source such as under the fruit trees or near the blackberry canes.

What are you using as a community feeder? Five gallons buckets with a float?

[Brian D. Bray]

That's one way, a 2 gallon feeder pail is another, but I just use a few 1 gallon paint cans with holes in the lids inverted and supported by a couple of boards.

Feeding syrup requires a few considerations.
1. Bees will take more in a shorter time if the syrup is warm when first fed.
2. When the temperature of the syrup drops below the mean weather temperature the bees will stop feeding.
3. It is better, and easier, to feed syrup in smaller containers.
4. It is best to feed no more than the bees can take before the tempature of the syrup drops to a point that the bees won't take it.
5. Bees can be feed syrup anytime of the year, and they'll take it, as long as it is a limited amount for the weather conditions.  In late fall after the 1st freeze it is best to feed nothing more than a quart per hive on the warmer days (preferably sunny).


I consider a 1 gallon container the max size of a syrup container when tempertures, weather conditions, and cooling are taken into account.  Therefore I might use 4 1 gallon cans for a community feeder while using 4-6 quart or pint cans or s frame feeder, with the selected hives needing feeding.

[VolunteerK9]

That's one way, a 2 gallon feeder pail is another, but I just use a few 1 gallon paint cans with holes in the lids inverted and supported by a couple of boards.

Feeding syrup requires a few considerations.
1. Bees will take more in a shorter time if the syrup is warm when first fed.
2. When the temperature of the syrup drops below the mean weather temperature the bees will stop feeding.
3. It is better, and easier, to feed syrup in smaller containers.
4. It is best to feed no more than the bees can take before the tempature of the syrup drops to a point that the bees won't take it.
5. Bees can be feed syrup anytime of the year, and they'll take it, as long as it is a limited amount for the weather conditions.  In late fall after the 1st freeze it is best to feed nothing more than a quart per hive on the warmer days (preferably sunny).

Will somewhere like Lowes or Home Depot sell me new, empty paint cans? Thanks for the info.


I consider a 1 gallon container the max size of a syrup container when tempertures, weather conditions, and cooling are taken into account.  Therefore I might use 4 1 gallon cans for a community feeder while using 4-6 quart or pint cans or s frame feeder, with the selected hives needing feeding.

[Brian D. Bray]

I get 1 quart and 1 gallon new, unused, paint cans from Ace, but they are available at most hardware or paint outlets.