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Author Topic: need advice....robbing!  (Read 1478 times)

Offline funbee1

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need advice....robbing!
« on: May 03, 2012, 09:19:35 pm »
Hi I'm new to bee keeping, I started three hives this spring in Michigan. I started two hives on April 16 and the third on April 26. Yesterday I inspected all three hives, it was the first time into hive three. In hive three I found the queen had been released from her cage and they had one frame completly drawn and two others on one side only. I didn't locate the queen in that hive but there were already eggs in the fully drawn frame. I was however worried because there was what I'm sure are the beginings of two queen cells on the fully drawn frame. They aren't complete and I'm new but they are 100% going to be queen cells in the middle of the frame.

Today I walked over just to watch the hives for a few minutes and notices that hive three, my newest hive, is getting it's butt kicked by robbers. There are a couple hundred dead bees in front of the hive and there is a different species of bee entering the hive. I have Italians and these robbers are very dark colored. I had the entrance reducer set with the opening about three inches. I imediatly moved it to the smallest opening of about one inch and plan to go out there first thing in the morning and plug it right off with grass. I have about a gallon of 1:1 sugar water in a top feeder.

What else should I try to do? Do you think I'm queenless with the queen cells?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

thanks,
scott

Offline colbees

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Re: need advice....robbing!
« Reply #1 on: May 03, 2012, 09:25:26 pm »
just reduce the enterance and try a robber screen, it might not be robbing i thought that i was getting robbed last week until i had a local beekeeper who came over and said that the darker bees are just older than lighter bees ( I  have italian bees also). Good Luck
A swarm of bees in May is worth a load of hay; A swarm of bees in June is worth a silver spoon; A swarm of bees in July isn't worth a fly.

Offline AllenF

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Re: need advice....robbing!
« Reply #2 on: May 03, 2012, 10:20:18 pm »
You can reduce a hive down to a one bee opening.   That way only one bee can come and go at a time for a new installed package with limited numbers of bee.

Offline BlueBee

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Re: need advice....robbing!
« Reply #3 on: May 04, 2012, 02:33:33 am »
For a 3 pound package of bees, my feeling is that an entrance reduced down to 1” is sufficient do deal with most robbing.  The idea of the small entrance is it slows down how fast the robbers can get into and out of your hive.  Like the mall entrance at Christmas, if they only open one door, people can’t get in or out very quickly.  Small entrances slow the robbers down and limits how much they can steal, but it also slows your girls down too.  Like most things with bee keeping, it’s a compromise.  Personally I don’t like robber screens, I use reduced entrances when I need to.  I have no robbing issues right now in any of my hives.

The real problem is our recent warm spell and your 1:1 syrup.  The bees really smell that as the temps raise.  It looks like we’re going to cool down a bit for the next week so I would monitor the hives and you may see the robbing subside to some degree.  

To really get rid of the robbers you need to get rid of the 1:1 syrup.  I’m not running packages here, but I have caught 5 swarms this spring and only gave them 1 medium frame of honey for food.  There seems to be plenty of nectar in MI right now even though dandelions are starting to phase out.  If your bees have a frame of stores built up, and the robbing is out of control, then I would probably stop the 1:1 feeding and let the bees collect nectar from outside.  If they have nothing built up, then you probably have to accept some robbing for a while.

I have Italians and Carnioleans.  The Carnioleans are a darker bee and that is probably what is robbing your hive.  It is true that older Italians do start to look darker, but the Carnioleans are probably what you are seeing.  

Offline Michael Bush

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Re: need advice....robbing!
« Reply #4 on: May 04, 2012, 04:02:38 am »
My website:  bushfarms.com/bees.htm en espanol: bushfarms.com/es_bees.htm  auf deutsche: bushfarms.com/de_bees.htm  em portugues:  bushfarms.com/pt_bees.htm
My book:  ThePracticalBeekeeper.com
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