Robbing bees

[ledifni]

So...this evening I went out to my hive and the first thing I noticed was two bees rolling around fighting in front of the hive.  There was a (small) crowd of bees around the entrance, and numerous bees flying back and forth facing the entrance, and others crawling up the face of the hive and taking off directly to the south in a straight line.  I saw a few dead bees in the grass and other bees crawling around under the hive.  My diagnosis: robbing.  If anyone disputes this diagnosis, please let me know because I'd very much like to be wrong here.

Anyway, I've seen in a number of places that throwing a wet sheet over the hive is a good way to quickly stop robbing, the idea being that after not being able to get in for a few hours, the robbers will just give up.  I immediately did that and left it that way.  I'm planning to leave it that way all night.

My questions are, then:

1) Is there anything else I can do and/or should I not do the wet sheet thing for any reason?

2) What can I do to prevent similar episodes in the future?  The entrance reducer is in place with only the smallest slot open.  My feeders are in the top, closed up, on the inner cover.  What else can I do to discourage robbing?  Note: I had an entrance feeder in place until yesterday, so it's quite possible the robbing started before then and I just didn't notice it.

[iddee]

First, the sheet was a good idea.

Second, get a robber screen on the hive.

http://www.worldwidebeekeeping.com/forum/index.php/topic,1420.msg19070.html#msg19070

If you are feeding HBH or other smelly additive, remove it. Quit feeding anything until the robbing stops, then plain sugar water only.

[ledifni]

Ok thanks, I'll do all that. I'm not putting any additives in the sugar water, but I'll hold off feeding for a few days while I assess the situation.

[Jen]

Hi led    my first thought is a robbing screen. There are plans on this forum on how to make your own, probably others will show pics of home made robbing screens. This is the one that I use and that is because they are affordable and so easy to take on and off of the hive.

I posted this same scenario a couple of weeks ago and was told the wet sheet idea, and to turn on a sprinkler on the hive as well.

http://www.countryrubes.com/instructions/robbingscreens.html

[riverbee]

what iddee said ledifni......... 

robber screen, and every hive gets one....

it probably started and you didn't notice it as you said,  with the set up you had going with feed before you enclosed it, from boardman to the top of the inner cover and unprotected.  the screens will help a great deal.  in the future?  reduce entrances, keep the screens handy.  no open feeding, and in my HO get rid of the boardman feeding, keep the feed enclosed.

ps. boardmans only for water

[iddee]

I love my boardmans in March, April, and May. They stay in the shed the rest of the year.

[ledifni]

I don't have any easy way to cut those pieces of wood between tonight and tomorrow, so I'm stapling this simple contraption over the hive entrance in the morning:



That should give me time to construct a proper robber guard.  What do you guys think?  Will that work?  I don't want to trap my own bees out of the hive, but it should keep the robbers out, I think.

[Gypsi]

put it on tonight. No light nearby, use the moon or a flashlight way back from the hive, and do be sure you are suited and either booted or jeans duct taped to your shoes, there will be creepers and they will all come out at the sound of the staple gun

Tomorrow morning the bees will go out and discover how to get in and out.

[ledifni]

Hmm...ok...I'll try it...but if I get stings all over my legs I'm blaming you

[ledifni]

Changed my mind...it's just too dark tonight.  Wouldn't even be able to see well enough to tack it on.  I'll do it at the crack of dawn tomorrow -- I can stuff the entrance with a little dry grass to temporarily block it until I can get the screen on.  As I understand it, they'll chew through a blockade like that pretty quickly, so I won't have to clear it back out.

[iddee]

Just don't stop the air flow. They can cook and all be dead in 30 minutes if they can't circulate the air.

[Gypsi]

Texas heat, Texas drought and Texas robbing are reasons 1, 2 and 3 to use Screened bottom boards. He has one. His sticky is in, but they tend to allow a little bit of venting (I hope)

[ledifni]

Update.

With the screen I tacked on, and all feeders hidden under the top cover (I haven't actually refilled them since I noticed the robbing), it looks to me like the robbing is down to a manageable level.  I still see bees coming in looking like robbers, but not very many, and more of the approaching bees are carrying pollen (which means, if I'm not mistaken, that they're hive bees).

Last night when I got home just before dark, there was a large mass of several hundred bees moving around at the front of the hive, which worried me a little, but they were relatively calm and when it got dark they all just bedded down there, so again -- I think just hive bees keeping watch.

So my question now is this: This Saturday I was going to do a complete hive inspection, and possibly rearrange the frames a bit since there were only two brood frames in between honey frames last I checked (I want to give that queen room to lay in).  But, given the robbing situation, I'm not sure if opening the hive might encourage more robbing.  On the other hand, I wonder if an inspection might not be really important right now, just to make sure they're still in decent shape after all that robbing.  Any thoughts?

[iddee]

I would do a semi-quick inspection just about sundown. If robbing starts, it will be easier to stop, as they all go home before it gets dark.

[Lburou]

You are on the right track with advice given above.  I would just add the obvious and caution you not to spill any sugar water when refilling the feeder, that will draw robbers in the right conditions.

[Jen]

Remind me again Led... one or two deeps to your hive?

[ledifni]

Just one - I have another I could put on but I doubt I'll need it this winter. If I can get them to fill one deep then it's just that and fondant for winter.

[Jen]

Well then my answer is like Iddee's, I would be doing quick checks on it just for the learning process. I think new beeks should do that 

[ledifni]

Well, it's hardly a matter of "should" -- I have to restrain myself from opening it up once every ten minutes just to see how the girls are doing   Ok, this Saturday I'll proceed as planned, but closer to nightfall.  I'll be watching it closely from the outside in the meantime so I should have a pretty good idea of how the hive is doing by then.

[Jen]

May I ask why closer to nightfall?

Curious, because so many say that that is the time of day when they will be the most fiesty. But I haven't found that to be all together true with my hives.