Beggar your Neighbour

[beeno]

Hi all,
Had a colony being robbed in my apiary, not the weakest by any means, for the first time at this time of the year. There was fighting at the entrance with about forty dead bees and there were about sixty bees trying to get in between the boxes. By shaking some icing sugar over the robbers I was able to identify that they came from one of my stronger hives. I shut the robbers in for a day to give the victims some respite and they foraged in force. I covered their hive in a wet sheet, reduced the entrance to one bee space and put some Vick vapour around the entrance as suggested by Michael Bush. I let the bees from the robbing hive out late afternoon and today they have all been out all day, which was a very warm day, and no robbing taking place. Fingers crossed.

 

[Obee1]

Interesting.... As I've just started keeping bees at an out apiary I'm finding it very helpful to have a comprehensive beek toolkit with me. Think I will add a little pack of icing sugar and some Vicks to my kit just in case. (I already have a sheet and water)

Hope your robbers have got the message now.

 

[misterbee82]

Had a similar situation earlier this year. We have a hive my cousin started, then she abandoned it when she went to California. Due to my mom and step dad not knowing the precautions to take for winter we lost the bees. We have all been to classes and educated since then. We were told we had about 90 pounds of honey to start out. The colony on the opposite side of my mom's house took about 40 pounds of it while robbing, luckily no bees were in the hive at the time. Now we bought a nuc and introduced it into that hive and their using the other 50 pounds. Also there have been no additional incidents with robbing since the bees were introduced to the hive. I hope you have excellent luck with your occupying bees, and hopefully the other hive will not attempt to rob again.

 

[beeno]

Interesting.... As I've just started keeping bees at an out apiary I'm finding it very helpful to have a comprehensive beek toolkit with me. Think I will add a little pack of icing sugar and some Vicks to my kit just in case. (I already have a sheet and water)

Hope your robbers have got the message now.

That made me smile. However, you need a method of applying the icing sugar. I used a plastic tea strainer.

 

[beeno]

Thanks for the well wishes masterbee82. Watch out that they don't swarm with all that honey about!

 

[maddydog]

I covered their hive in a wet sheet.

What's the theory behind this please?

 

[wessexmario]

What's the theory behind this please?

If you stand next to a hive you can smell it.

Bees, and any other robbers, have a much greater sense of smell than we do, so to stop attracting them, covering with a wet sheet absorbs and contains most of the aromas escaping from the hive.

 

[maddydog]

If you stand next to a hive you can smell it.

Bees, and any other robbers, have a much greater sense of smell than we do, so to stop attracting them, covering with a wet sheet absorbs and contains most of the aromas escaping from the hive.

Thank you

 

[beeno]

If you stand next to a hive you can smell it.

Bees, and any other robbers, have a much greater sense of smell than we do, so to stop attracting them, covering with a wet sheet absorbs and contains most of the aromas escaping from the hive.

Thank you for answering the question. On the same lines that's why you smear the entrance with Vicks vapour.

 

[beeno]

Pleased to say 'all quiet on the western front' (fingers X). Taken out the entrance block on the robber hive and opened to four holes on the hive that was being robbed as they lost too much pollen. The theory on the robber hive is to make the bees busy having to defend a larger area.

 

[Obee1]

That made me smile. However, you need a method of applying the icing sugar. I used a plastic tea strainer.

I'm one step ahead of you- plastic tea strainer already purloined from kitchen drawer and placed in beek kit.

 

[beeno]

I'm one step ahead of you- plastic tea strainer already purloined from kitchen drawer and placed in beek kit.

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

Pleased to say 'all quiet on the western front' (fingers X). Taken out the entrance block on the robber hive and opened to four holes on the hive that was being robbed as they lost too much pollen. The theory on the robber hive is to make the bees busy having to defend a larger area.

I hope the better weather helps you out,@beeno

 

[beeno]

I hope the better weather helps you out,@beeno

Hi TTLTB and thank you.
I think I caught it early and stressed the robbers out by shutting them in, so hopefully it is all over.
I did a full inspection on the robbers and they are best organised in the apiary with their ill-gotten gains. However, I do look forward to nice weather as there is still a lot of forage here and it will keep all of them out of mischief!

 

[Rio]

Thanks for this post!
I checked my hives this evening and found one robbing another. The beggars! I think I stopped it in time by closing in the robbers, but will keep a good eye on them.

 

[beeno]

Thanks for this post!
I checked my hives this evening and found one robbing another. The beggars! I think I stopped it in time by closing in the robbers, but will keep a good eye on them.

Glad to be of service. I don't know where you are located, but make sure the bees don't overheat being shut in.