Worldwide Beekeeping
Beekeeping => General Beekeeping => Topic started by: Wandering Man on November 21, 2017, 12:24:32 am
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Do they really cause robbing?
3Reds and I put a Boardman on two of our three hives this morning. We put them on the end hives, with the center hive left alone. I also reduced the entrance to both hives, just in case of robbing, since I had heard they can cause robbing behavior.
This afternoon one of the hives had a lot of activity. This was about the time of day when we usually see orientation flights. I couldn't really see any fighting, but I was worried that the hive was being robbed. It seemed like the bees were not flying out into the yard as far as they usually do when orienting.
The syrup was going down pretty fast. There was very little activity at the other hive with the feeder in place. The three hives sit close to each other.
As a precaution, I moved the feeders from the entrance to the top of the hive, sitting on the inner cover, inside an empty hive body. I also narrowed the entrance even further.
We put on the feeders because these two hives felt light. I'm not sure there is a lot of nectar out there, although the bees seem to be bringing in plenty of pollen.
The question: Do Boardman feeders always cause robbing when placed at the entrance? Is it okay that I just moved them up? 3Reds likes them because it is easy to tell when it is time to refill. But maybe we should go back to frame feeders?
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not always but they can. any spilled syrup can start robbing syrup placed over the cluster the bees in the hive will clean it up before it gets to running out of the hive. the week hives will not have the population to keep their hive as warm so the bees could still be clustered away from the entrance and feeder, leaving an opportunity for other bees to start robbing. so if there is a strong population to defend the hive and your careful to avoid leaks and spills that could start robbing, then they will work good for you.
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My view is that boardman feeders do not always trigger robbing...in my location it is almost always. ;)
I gave my boardman feeders away with a caution about robbing. Your decision to put them inside a hive body was a good one. As apis described, weather, hive health, and size make all the difference. During a honey flow there will be less robbing, but certain times of the year, when brood rearing is underway and nectar isn't plentiful, robbing pressure is increased. :)
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My take on the boardman style feeder at the following link, about half way down the page. I talk about how to use them and how to fix them.
http://www.outyard.net/feeding.html