how can i tell if i am being robed?

[adamant]

how can i tell if i am being robed? one guy was saying to check your hives before day light if there are bees all around they are the robbers! is this true?

 

[victor meldrew]

how can i tell if i am being robed?

A mirror helps
VM

 

[biggles]

We're all being robbed by bankers

How many hives do you have and are there more close by. If there are watch and see if the come from another hive. Are they fighting? What makes you think you have robbers?

 

[victor meldrew]

Sprinkle a little flour on the bees as they are leaving! if they then enter another hive then you have robbers
Also fighting should be evident unless of course the robbed colony has given up !
The flour bit won't work properly if there's balsam around.
VM

 

[greatbritishhoney]

A mirror helps
VM

 

[stilllearning]

take the lid off and if bees come out the top and ignore you and fly away............they're being robbed, also there will no doubt be a few wasps come out too

 

[drstitson]

if you bought your sugar at Tesco the answer is yes.

 

[betterbee]

How can i tell if i am being robbed

If you see your hives on a trailer being driven away,,you are witnessing a serious case of robbing

 

[For want of a better word]

We're all being robbed by bankers​

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iagree:
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and peeples who are attempting to honey !

 

[Midland Beek]

Robbing = dead bees.

 

[oliver90owner]

Robbing = dead bees.

Usually, but not always.

 

[newportbuzz]

anytime i found robbing i also found lots of chewed up wax cappings on the inspection board. i mean LOTS

 

[Hebeegeebee]

Robbing = dead bees.

Usually, but not always.

This time last year I had a case of "silent robbing" where I was filling a hive up at the top with syrup and it was coming out of the bottom in the bees that were taking it to another hive. The other hive weighed a hernia and a half and the robbed hive was just not storing anything.
With silent robbing there were no dead bees and no bees flying up when the hive was opened, the robbers were accepted without a fuss. I suspected by the colour of the bees entering the robbed hive. (Hive was dark bees; robbers had orangy bands of Italian extraction). It was confirmed by shaking icing sugar over the exiting bees which flew back to the orange-bee-hive.
If you then close up the robbed hive in the evening you'll see dick-turpin bees hanging around the entrance in the morning trying to get in.

The solution was to seal up the robbed hive for 3 days and then the robber hive for a couple of days - I think that's what I did.

Italians have a reputation for being robbers I think. (Thats the bees not the people who seem to like Bunga Bunga instead - or is that just Silvio?).