Bee Wrestling?

[Wandering Man]

Is this what happens when you try to rob the hive?

Or are they just eliminating a sick bee who doesn't want to go?



After they tumbled to the ground they wrestled a bit longer, then one bee flew back into the hive.  The other kinda stumbled around on the grass.  I didn't see her fly off, and I'm not sure she could.

[Perry]

Either somebody showed up at the wrong address or perhaps a sick bee as you suggest, not all that uncommon.

[pistolpete]

that's why a boardman feeder is the least desireable way to feed bees, robbers try to sneak in there to get a snack.   it's better to place that feeder in an extra box on top of the inner cover.

[Wandering Man]

that's why a boardman feeder is the least desireable way to feed bees, robbers try to sneak in there to get a snack.   it's better to place that feeder in an extra box on top of the inner cover.

We're feeding until our first inspection, which will happen Tuesday or Wednesday, depending on the weather.

We have a frame feeder, but one of the hives has gone through more than the gallon that it holds. Without the boardman, we wouldn't have known the bees needed to be fed more.

[riverbee]

it looks to me like what perry said a bee that got the wrong address and the guard bees took her out.

this is nothing like robbing........you will know when the hive is being robbed from all the frenzy and bees in flight and guard bees trying to defend the hive.

boardman feeders.........this is my two cents.  boardman feeders with sugar syrup on is nothing short of inviting bees to rob.  best use for these is for water, not syrup. although they are convenient to use, it is best to feed bees like pete said in a feeder above the box and covered.

when your bees have been robbed with a boardman feeder on the front, you will most likely never use them again for feeding syrup.   

[Wandering Man]

The boardman is gone.

Saw another pair wrestling today. Interesting to watch.

At first I thought it was grooming, then one bee pulled the other off the landing board.

[LazyBkpr]

Boardmans work fine if you use some caution and keep an eye on them.  Use a reducer to keep the entrance small and to the opposite side, and then put something across the entrance so the bees have to go around it.   I also drilla hole in the back of my boardman feeders so any leaking syrup drips from that hole rather than going into the hive.
    Looks like your entrance is beside the boardman?  Also didnt look like one of those bees was putting up much of a fight, got a free ride down..  maybe old or sick...

[iddee]

March, April, boardman is the best feeder you can have.

July, Aug., boardman is the worst feeder you can have.

Other times, it depends on the flow.

[Retroguy]

"I'm not dead yet!" (Monty Python & the Holy Grail).

[riverbee]

i guess i will have to disagree with scott and iddee........... ..........

i do not like boardmans (except for water) march and april?.......maybe for others, not for me, hives or nucs.  if you ask me, these placed on the front of a hive is just plain asking for your bees to have problems, not just from other honey bees, but from all the other pests looking for a free meal and pester their way in or disturb your hive...........wasps, hornets, mice, ants, critters.........etc..........insects love sugar syrup and so do critters..........

just my ho.............

[LazyBkpr]

Drilling a small hole for any leaking syrup to get out the FRONT edge furthest from the hive....   Never mind, its here...

http://www.outyard.net/feeding.html


   Using a boardman that way has worked VERY well for me...   I have pulled factory style boardmans from a hive to find them packed SOLID with dead sticky bees. I have seen Syrup running out the hives entrance when the sun heated the jars and they leaked madly.. so I went searching for an answer, and made my OWN boardman feeders with a larger opening, Holes drilled in the edge furthest away from the hive so they could NOT leak INTO the hives, and then placed an entrance reducer and board to block would be robbers...
   I dont use these much anymore, but NEVER had an issue with them when used as described, even when feeding weak hives later in the fall...  Since I started using reversible inner covers, it is just so much easier to put the feeders and jars on the top, so the boardmans are gathering dust.
   They DO have serious issues if used as they come from the supply houses.