What does robbing look like?

[Newbee]

I think my hive is being robbed?

Over the weekend I was out there and saw 20-30 bee's hanging around the outside acting normal, very calm, a few coming and going... It's fall now, the population clearly dropped off since the summer peak.

Tuesday I was there, and there was a swarm of activity all around, hundreds of bee's on, under, and coming and going. Buzzing sound not normally present...There was a cloud near the entrance, I smoked the whole thing, swatted a few, and took a look at some of the casualties.

They don't look like my bee's? Are these Apis melifera?



And they were still there thurs?
If it is a robbing, what can I do?

Thanks.

- Kevin

[barry42001]

Weak hive vs strong hive. Immediately reduce entrance to save that hive or it will get wiped out. Reduce space bees have to defend. If 3 supers take off what's not fully occupied

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[Newbee]

The swarming activity is so severe, I don't know if I can even get in there!
I was going to treat them for mites the 1st time, but forgot the strips. Went there a second time prepared, and that's when I saw the active bee's, couldn't get too close, so I tried smoking them out (didn't work).

Guess I'll have to put on some super-thick clothes and get in there.

- K

[barry42001]

Lol put on your big-boy pants and take you to licking because surely they will try to take you around the woodshed. Don't worry I can tell you on the pasting that I have taken it only lasts for about a week and then it's done LOL

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[Perry]

Sounds like it's being robbed out alright, better get in there pronto.

[Les]

One of my hives being robbed out last year.  This is the time of year when robbing takes place due to lack of
nectar and pollen.

[neillsayers]

newbie, if you can get a hose down there spray the robbers with a wide mist of water. That will cool their jets. Then you can drape a large towel or small sheet over the front of the hive and wet it down until you can get in there to reduce the entrance. Condider constructing and installing a robber screen over the the hive entrance. Iddee has a good design on a previous thread here.

The picture is apis mellifera, likely Italian, notorious for robbing. What color are your bees?

[eltalia]

@NewBee
This colony is not in your immediate view, yeh...?.. the boxes are in an outyard, no? Move them, pronto.... and to a place easily kept an eye on.

Bill

[Newbee]

Thanks everyone. That's correct Bill, we own a piece of rural property about 15 min. from here, where we intended to build, but right now we're not there every day.
Dang, might be a few more before I can get out there and fix things.
My bee's were a package installed this Spring, Carni's I think?
Is the colony likely to abandon? I can feed heavily once I get things settled down, just wondering if there will be anything left to feed?
Thanks again.

- K

[barry42001]

Thanks everyone. That's correct Bill, we own a piece of rural property about 15 min. from here, where we intended to build, but right now we're not there every day.
Dang, might be a few more before I can get out there and fix things.
My bee's were a package installed this Spring, Carni's I think?
Is the colony likely to abandon? I can feed heavily once I get things settled down, just wondering if there will be anything left to feed?
Thanks again.

- K

Oncw they've been robbed out, that Colony will be so decimated population wise that there's not a chance that it can survive the winter without extensive feeding Rica mining might be the only way of saving with these will be left again reduce the entrance the next to nothing covered up with straw or hay wood chips whatever it takes so that the robbers can't run straight in of course if it's been going on for a while they're not worried about problems. Depending on how long this has been going on there might not be a whole lot to worry about stealing but the population quickly decimate from what it is now. It's getting late in the season for them to recover stores lost and if you try to feed them they'll just get robbed at again unless you make changes described above reduce the space so that the bees are concentrated in one area one super reduce the entrance to almost nothing One or two bee width.

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[Newbee]

Thanks Barry. It was my intention Sunday to winterize the hive (e.g. remove super, treat for mites, remove shim and change entrance reducer), but I'd forgotten the mite-strips, so I went back on Tues. w/ the mite strips and first noticed the robbing...
Dang, Monday may be the next time I'll be able to make to get back out there. Guess I'm going to have to try. Thanks for the advice and suggestions.

- K

[eltalia]

@ Newbee

You can maybe take a chance during fullon flows - or maybe your winter -  with mixing colonys under CM (critical mass) into apiarys at strength, out of easy sight. Anything else is going to end badly as often there is just one day of daylight followed by a balmy morning and the damage is done - applies to box damage, robbing and swarming.

New starts - any of - require at least six months (9/10 brood cycles) before you can call them "set to go" at CM... and that is here (.au) where we have pretty much 360+ days of activity.  I know from report colonys in the NH require at least two "seasons" to reach CM proper. Nursery colonys require close attention, so management - decisions on what to do when - has to be flexible, catering to their environment.
Plan to take the mortician's tools with you next trip so upside is you will have clean drawn frames to start another colony when time and conditions permit.

Bill

[Newbee]

Well, the hive is a total loss. Had I done more inspections more regular, I might have been able to save it. I was aware there was SHB in there, and gotten some beetle traps (the kind that go in between the  frames, fill w/ cooking oil?) They worked, found about 80-or so dead one's in there. Hive was also infested w/ wax moths, they were everywhere, through all the comb, thousands of little grubs, some big one's, ugh. Saw they built a nice queen-cell, saw some drone comb, but I only found a few live bee's, and the poor queen... bunch of other bee's (bumble, etc.) were in the hive as well, not a single-cell had any stores left, it was COMPLETELY cleaned out (except for the pests).

A few questions for the short-term...
Can I save any of the comb? Pics below, but I was thinking of putting them in plastic bags in the freezer to kill anything off, then re-using them in the spring? How long in the freezer to kill everything?
Anything I can/should treat the wood-ware with? Short of a good scraping, any suggestions on cleaning things up?









Lots of lessons learned, some still to come.
I'm assuming it was robbed b/c it was already weakened (errr.. the robbing was successful b/c...). Had I been more on top of it and inspecting regularly, doing more towards IPM, it might have been salvageable. The little worms from the wax-moths started showing up early in the year, as well as SHB, so I knew they were there, just didn't do enough to save it. Was a package installed this Spring. Put in some beetle traps earlier in the year which did work a little (the one's between frame you fill w/ cooking oil?) Found about 80-or-so dead beetles in there, but there were quite a few large one's running about as well.

And the poor girl herself. She flew out of the hive when I cracked it open, then came back. Gave her a little honey, was hoping she would leave, but stuck around until after I was gone. Going back there today to check again.



Sigh... got the winter to educate myself and plan for the next one!
Thanks for all the help.

- Kevin