After closing up my hive completely for 2 days, I opened the entrance half-way this morning. By afternoon the robbing had resumed, worse than ever.
Again, this is a 2-deep hive, but for some reason they're not deterring the robbers. I'm out of ideas.
Since I know people sometimes mistake orientation flights for robbing, let me reassure you:
- the bees are frantic and very aggressive
- there are tussles at the entrance and dead bees (not yellowjackets) on the ground
- bees are coming in light and leaving heavy. They walk up the front of the hive before taking off, then dip a bit when they fly
- the comb is torn
- when I closed the hive in the evening, a bunch of bees were hovering outside in the morning.
OK? It's certainly robbing, and I can't make it stop. The robbers are coming from somewhere else, and they keep coming back.