Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum

BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => GENERAL BEEKEEPING - MAIN POSTING FORUM. => Topic started by: Mklangelo on September 20, 2008, 11:43:42 pm

Title: We was robbed!
Post by: Mklangelo on September 20, 2008, 11:43:42 pm
Since this is my second fall and I have some mite problems and some monumentally weak production from my three over wintered hives, I decided to shut it down and pull the supers off last week.  I know I'm not of the MB school of non-medication.  But I'm not set up for it. 


So anyway I took the supers off and had about 40 pounds of honey in one super.  I was in a hurry (not good in beekeeping, I know)  it had a ton of bees in it.  So in my non-wisdom, I set it outside the hive thinking the ladies would go home.  I went back two days later and they took their honey back! 

I took comfort in the fact that if they took it, they needed it.  Live and learn.  There were little flakes of wax all over the place.  They chewed through the caps and sucked up that honey and I'm assuming they took it back home, the crooks.  lol


Title: Re: We was robbed!
Post by: Shawn on September 22, 2008, 01:58:20 pm
Hopefully it was your own bees that took it.
Title: Re: We was robbed!
Post by: Mklangelo on September 22, 2008, 11:48:39 pm
I have no way of knowing.  But, I'll kid myself.  LOL.  In any event, if they took it, they needed it.  I'm not aware of any beeks in the area, so I'll assume it was my ladies.  Gil Grisom (of CSI fame) wasnt on duty that day.  :-)
Title: Re: We was robbed!
Post by: Sean Kelly on September 23, 2008, 01:56:52 am
You could have fed the yellowjacket population too.  When I finished extracting this year I set a medium super on the back porch (was done extracting it) and the yellowjackets were so thick the next day you could cut them out of the air with a knife!  Took a closer look at the super and it was LOADED with honeybees, mason bees, flies, hornets, yellowjackets, wasps, bumble bees, and other weird assorted flying insects.  The next day they were all gone and like Mklangelo said, the ground was littered with wax dust.  Was kinda neat to see.

Sean Kelly
Title: Re: We was robbed!
Post by: Mklangelo on September 23, 2008, 07:35:12 am
You could have fed the yellowjacket population too.  When I finished extracting this year I set a medium super on the back porch (was done extracting it) and the yellowjackets were so thick the next day you could cut them out of the air with a knife!  Took a closer look at the super and it was LOADED with honeybees, mason bees, flies, hornets, yellowjackets, wasps, bumble bees, and other weird assorted flying insects.  The next day they were all gone and like Mklangelo said, the ground was littered with wax dust.  Was kinda neat to see.

Sean Kelly

There were still quite a few bees in it when I took it to my shed, so based on what I saw, I'd say it was my bees. 
Title: Re: We was robbed!
Post by: Shawn on September 23, 2008, 03:25:51 pm
I had the same attitude as you when I got robbed. I figured they were bees and needed the extra boost. Now that the honey is gone Ive noticed the bees are really hitting the flowers again.