Very Strange rob out?

[brooksbeefarm]

Had another robbing of a strong two deep (brood boxes) and three med. supers (full of honey) hive ? My wife and i was working in the garden and kept hearing bees that sound like they were swarming, i went to check and found they was being robbed . I put a robing screen on it and closed the top entrance that got me two hits for interfering .That was two weeks ago. Yesterday i broke it down because there wasn't any bees coming and going? Well i found about 5 frames of bees and the queen, they were scattered from top to bottem on the two middle frames in all five boxes?? Thousands of dead bees in front of the hive and on the solid bottom board, not a drop of stores left or fresh or old  brood? just torn cappings on all the frames except 5 frames of pollen in the bottom box.I broke it down to one deep brood box and one med super, i put 4 frames of honey in the super and left the robber screen on. I can understand the honey all gone, but no brood to be found? and that many bees and the queen still alive?? I am so busy at this time of year that the bees have taken a back seat with putting up hay and harvest time for the farmers market.Any ideas what took place, i was sure it was a dead out, there are 16 hives in that yard and it looked like all 16 hives were involved in the robbing.Jack

[apisbees]

The longer the robbing has been happening and allowed to continue the more bees from other hives will join in, even a weak hive will join in once the colony being robbed has been demoralized and the older guard force bees have been defeated and decimated. This all being said there could be a problem with the queen seen as there is no brood or eggs in the hive. although being 2 weeks any caped brood will have emerged and any eggs and open brood could have been salvaged. A virus related to mites that are the cause of CCD could have caused the colony population to diminish and so there were no longer enough bees to guard the hive. It is hard to know for certain unless an inspection was preformed shortly after the incident to see what condition the hive was in. Sorry I can't be more definitive Jack.

[Jen]

Wow Jack, that's a real bummer. Curious, will robbers also take out capped brood?

[riverbee]

no they won't jen.....

robber bees are only interested in the honey and nothing else.

[apisbees]

Wasps and yellow jackets will though, and they are often the cause of robbing getting started.

[barry42001]

Getting towards the end of season, yellow jackets and hornet populations are at their highest and most aggressive. Won't necessarily cause a strong colony to weaken, but weak colonies are a different matter.

[efmesch]

When I read your description, Jack, I too thought of wasps.  Open brood is a favorite source of protein for wasps.  Can't say what came first to weaken the family and cause the loss of the honey (maybe the honey was robbed out after the brood was already gone), but the total lack of brood certainly points to wasps.

[brooksbeefarm]

efmesch, that could be? at the time the robbing took place i only saw a cloud of bees and fighting. I'm going to take a look at this hive next week to see if the queen is laying, if so that will deepen the mystery??. In my almost 50 years of beekeeping i've never seen more than one wasp or yellow jacket enter a hive at a time, only to be dispatched and pitched off the landing board . Jack

[Riverrat]

Not that it would have helped in Jacks bee yard as he wasn't there.  If your ever in the yard and robbing starts take the tops off all the hives to help stop the robbing. I usually do this as a precaution when pulling honey during a dearth

[brooksbeefarm]

Rb, Squirt  , i have heard of keeps doing that, but never tried it. There are some feral hives in my area (probably from my own hives) that would have a field day if i tried that. JMHO Jack

[riverbee]

jack......

i didn't say that, RIVERRAT did...........

[LazyBkpr]

He knew that! He just wanted to blame you. 

[brooksbeefarm]

  Jack