Robbing -horrendous - never seen this before

[thepliedes]

Admin edit:Youtube link in post below

Peeps - thought this may be useful to share at this time of year. I hope this doesn't happen to any of our hives!

The lady beekeeper threw a wet sheet over the hive when all else failed and returned to the hive the next day to witness its demise and see the honeybees carrying out their dead. A sad event. I hope I never see this.

 

[tonybloke]

can you put up the short link?

 

[thepliedes]

A better link maybe.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vOfn2Nj4JY[/ame]

 

[broandy]

think she might have just fed or put wet supers back on maybe

 

[Into the lions den]

You can see this even in this country.............clearing honey in a dearth, and you get sticky marks on the boxes, or they think there are gaps to gain entry but they actually cannot get through, hence the volume of bees builds up and they fall to the ground.

Frenzied robbing can be an issue but usually it is initiated by some fault of the beekeeper (not saying negligence, it might just be normal operations that set it off.you do not know a frenzy is going to start until it does.)

A few ways to deal with it. Each depend on it being the right time for that move.

1. Feed all the other colonies. Do not feed the robbing target until a little later ( like a couple of hours, not days or weeks).

2. Seal with tape all joints in the target hive, not forgetting around the crown board, to deny any access.

3. reduce the entrance of the target colony to one or two bee ways.

4. This one is counterintuitive. Open EVERY colony in the apiary. Makes them too busy looking after thier own to go out and rob others. Best done right away at the start if it is suspected to be a big robbing day.

5. Do not leave supers of honey, brood combs with stores, or wet supers anywhere the robbers can gain easy access.

Once this starts up it can be hard to stop, and best to seal things up and go away. The heightened defensiveness that the colonies will be displaying whilst such a thing is happening beside them makes bee working at the time of robbing a pretty unpleasant experience. Fortunately it is relatively rare for us except at heather stripping time in September, when it is a fairly constant threat on warm days. Heather honey, being relatively aromatic, seems to set it off quicker than blossom type honey, but it can happen with both.

Suspect the womans colony may have been vulnerable. As most experienced beekeepers will know the weak and the failing are from time to time found robbed out in the field. Bees are not the nice ethical 'touchy feely' beasts that some like to think. They will rob at the slightest opportunity....the easier the meal the better.........and exploit weakness where they find it during dearths. Give them a nice nectar flow or a good feed and they will not even take from wet supers in the open on the truck.

Bees showing a keen interest in the boxes on the truck when we turn up at a site is the first sign of no, or inadequate, flow.

 

[Finman]

.
ÄH!

It is better not to arrange those happenings in the yeard.

Life teaches very soon.


Some hints:

When there is no yield and bees are eager to rob,

- when you put extracted frames back to the hive, put them in the evening.
- let the hive be without couple of frames and them give frames before dark

- dont give extracted frames to nucs. Not at all.

- sprite water mist onto comb that bees are able to clean honey easier.

- don't put too much frames to be cleanéd at same time.

- dont use open feeding or licking

- when robbers arrive, stop hive nursing and let the yard calm down.

.

 

[meidel]

the woman hoped for rain - if we see this happening and a garden hose is nearby, could we spray the hive in question with water? or if no garden hose available a few buckets of water?

 

[Chris Luck]

Good post ITLD, says it all.

and I would say that there is no reason not to try "local steady rain" with a hose if handy but not buckets. It would need to literally create steady rain over a long period of time, not a two minute deluge.

Chris

 

[Karol]

In addition to the measures stated is there any benefit in moving the hive to a new location?

 

[Chris Luck]

In addition to the measures stated is there any benefit in moving the hive to a new location?

If that's the only solution - yes, of course as long as it's far enough, you can keep an eye on it and it's not "out of the frying pan and into the fire".

Chris

 

[DorsetB]

the woman hoped for rain - if we see this happening and a garden hose is nearby, could we spray the hive in question with water? or if no garden hose available a few buckets of water?

Yes! exactly what I do. I read about a NZ beekeeper who found out he could virtually stop the robbing by putting a garden sprinkler in the middle of his apiary, and now do this if there is the slightest hint of robbing. Seems to stop things pretty quickly, particularly if I train the hose on the roofs first to simulate heavy rain.

 

[Karol]

If that's the only solution - yes, of course as long as it's far enough, you can keep an eye on it and it's not "out of the frying pan and into the fire".

Chris

Is distance that important? What if the hive were moved a short distance but at the same time a food source were placed in the exact original location of the hive to feed the robbing bees and keep them at bay?

 

[Chris Luck]

You think bees are stupid? A couple of feet isn't going to help once it's started and putting "a food source" next door on the original location will simply encourage more.

Chris

 

[VEG]

Is distance that important? What if the hive were moved a short distance but at the same time a food source were placed in the exact original location of the hive to feed the robbing bees and keep them at bay?

You could start all the colonies robbing if you put an open food source there not to mention the chance of spreading disease to other colonies.

 

[richardbees]

Surely moving the hive is hardly feasible? You'd first have to open it up and take the supers off......like throwing petrol on a fire

 

[Chris Luck]

You can move hives with supers on, takes more than one person though, straps and handles.

Chris

 

[Karol]

You think bees are stupid? A couple of feet isn't going to help once it's started and putting "a food source" next door on the original location will simply encourage more.

Chris

No I don't think bees are stupid.

My speciality is wasp management. Wasps exhibit programmed swarm feeding which is point source specific. If one wants to eradicate a swarm of wasps already programmed to a food source then all one needs do is move the food source (and that can be a few inches never mind feet) and place a trap in its stead and one can eradicate the whole swarm (provided that one uses a high efficiency trap).

I don't profess to understand bees and I admit to asking the question in ignorance. However, there are some behavioural traits which are similar between species and I just wondered if using a food source in place of the affected hive would keep those robbing bees at bay until satiated. Presumbly robbing is a sign of starvation and without tackling the starvation the robbing will continue.

 

[aberreef]

Awesome answer

I think the biggest difference between the two species is the bees need to store large amounts of food for the colony to survive the winter. They do remember and communicate the location of a food source but are also heavily influenced by scent. I think this is why it's believed open feeding can lead to increased robbing (no practical experience of this event so far I'm pleased to say )

 

[Chris Luck]

Wasps exhibit programmed swarm feeding which is point source specific. If one wants to eradicate a swarm of wasps already programmed to a food source then all one needs do is move the food source (and that can be a few inches never mind feet) and place a trap in its stead and one can eradicate the whole swarm (provided that one uses a high efficiency trap).

Really, well I'm not a specialist in wasp and hornet behaviour but I have observed them closely over the years and I know they don't swarm and I know that they will search the immediate vicinity for a food source if you move it, certainly they always rove around in a radius of a couple of metres were the food source is but I understand the principle.

Presumbly robbing is a sign of starvation and without tackling the starvation the robbing will continue.

Not at all, robbing is usually the result of an easy honey source being available one way or another although this can be completely ignored if there is a very strong flow on from a plant species they find "exciting". Bees that rob will usually have plentiful stores, it's just that good old selfish gene.

Chris

 

[Chris Luck]

I think this is why it's believed open feeding can lead to increased robbing (no practical experience of this event so far I'm pleased to say

Pleased you say believed although you don't say believed by whom.

In the spring there is no problem with open feeding in my experience, I always put out, (under cover), large trays of the previous years wax capping and honey residues.

The original post from ITLD summed it up concisely.

Chris