Had our first robbing incident

[Denise]

Came home from work day before yesterday to my hubby saying "listen". You could hear the bees from about 150 feet away. Not good. I thought maybe one of them threw another swarm. But it was all the frantic activity in front of the middle hive, The Romans. Oh boy. Robbing going on. But it would be kind of a suicide run for them because the Romans are a very strong hive. So we suited up and grabbed the smoker and the hose. A few dousings with the hose shut that action right down. I did put the entrance reducer on just so it would be easier for them to defend even with their high numbers. Things went back to normal pretty quick. I think the robbers were coming from the Trojans which was the swarm we captured back in June.

Since they don't have near the honey stocked away compared to the others, are they feeling like they need to just take more? Should we feed them to make them feel better about it? Or just wait for the fall flow to get going? I just didn't want them making these suicide runs and wasting lives for nothing. What to do?

[thomashton]

I'd wait for the fall flow. There should be plenty of time. I'm not even extracting for 2 weeks and then will leave them to their own devices to get as much of the fall flow. After I see what they have, I will then feed if need be (or steal again and then feed :twisted: ).

[Brian D. Bray]

I stopped using the wider 3/4 inch side of the reversible bottom board a long time ago.  I've found that the thinner 3/8 inch entrance makes it much harder for robber bees to successfully bypass the guard bees.  One of the advantages of slatted racks are that they put a lot of bees in close proximity to the entrance--another robber deterent.  Making the entrance longer by placing s 3/8 strip of wood across the front of the hive, like a porch, also seems to help.  

I dislike robber screens as they seem to cause confusion and also creates problems for swarms and mating of virgin queens.   I've found the methods i use work better.

[Denise]

Thank you guys for the replies! Things seem to be calm for now. We have been keeping an eye out to see if it starts up again. I did remove the entrance reducer on the Roman's (the robbed) hive yesterday. If the robbing tribe tries it again, I'll probably put it back. I wanted to check in on the Trojans (most likely the robbers) to see if they are low on supplies, but it's not a good idea to open things up in the middle of a dearth. Everyone is a little pissy right now.

[Michael Bush]

I'd leave the reducer on.