I'm fighting robbers for over two months. I'm doing all I can, short of moving the hive: reduced - then closed - entrances; a wet white sheet; heavy smoke on the robbers; lexan in front of the hive. Moving doesn't work well as explained below. Any other ideas short of building a screened enclosure with a maze entrance?
I'm in the Florida panhandle where we have nectar & pollen even in late autumn. September 3, with expert help, I bought a nuc on Lang frames and tried to move them onto old, clean (frozen), foundationless TBH combs with pollen and some honey. Due to the difference in bar types, the hive wasn't sealed well, but the colony was defensive and intact for weeks. Robbing began mid September when I was (ill) advised to remove the Lang frames, set them out, let the colony move over their resources, and then settle on the top bars. In the ensuing robbing pandemonium, the queen was killed. Too late in the season for natural supercedure, I bought another queen from good stock. They settled on to the bars. I had to feed because they were robbed dry. I used quart feeders inside the tightly closed TBH. The TBH does have an SBB for ventilation, but no direct access underneath. The robbers always appeared en masse within 5 minutes of opening the hive - I had to be quick.
On October 7, a friend brought a cutout from a house removal. That colony was hived nearby and fed in the same way, having few reserves. The cutout was immediately attacked by Robbers. A few days later we had Hurricane Michael pass close by, and my hives went into the garage. On bringing them out, the Robbers were waiting. They killed the queen in the cutout colony; again, too late for mating a new queen.
The hurricane passed by us at 50 mph max, but wiped off pollen and nectar. (And it brought in an abundance of bronchially-irritating red algae.) We're located 60 miles from Michael's main path. I'm hearing reports that robbing is a huge problem now throughout our county. Clouds of wasps are coming above ground because of the flooding, and wiping out strong hives, eating honey and larvae.
What am I missing? I don't feed now; all the bees who died in the Bee War had a chance to stow some reserves in comb. If I move the hive, I'd be even less able to monitor twice daily and shut the one-bee entrance when robbers show, then open it at sunset to let field bees back in. And there are other marauding bands everywhere!
What about building a robber-proof tent from mosquito netting and showing my foragers how to get in/out? All ideas appreciated, thank you.