Over the last couple days I’ve noticed several bee robbers fighting my bees and trying to get in my hive. I’ve tried some remedies, I put the flow hive entrance reducer on and put a wet towel over the hive and yesterday even put some Vicks vaporub around the entrance. But I guess they were just the scouts because today the full army of robbers started their invasion. I closed off the hive completely and am trying to find 1/8 inch hardware cloth to make a bee robber screen but can’t find any locally, ordering online might take a couple days and I’m not sure what to do until then if I order it. Do I open the hive when the robbers leave and then close it back up the next day if they attack again? I got the nuc at the beginning of summer and so far seemed to be doing good building some new comb frames and good amount of honey and last I checked couple weeks ago didn’t see the Queen but saw larvae in the cells and capped brood, though I think there is quite a nectar dearth going on recently and I haven’t been feeding them. New beekeeper any help appreciated.
Hi Cody, if you are certain that the bees outside trying to get in are robber bees, and not bees from your hive, you could try sitting there with a vacuum cleaner to suck up all the robber bees. That will stop them from returning to their own hive, where they will communicate your hive’s location. The secret will be in your vac bag.
A similar strategy is in the video on Youtube, “Hornets From Hell”. In this video, the bees (native to Japan) do it themselves.
I don’t know how small the Flow reducer entrance is, but I would reduce the entrance to 1" until you have either a robbing screen or some other solution. Robbers can empty a weak hive in 2 days, if they are numerous.
Is it an 8 or 10 frame hive? I have a gently used robbing screen I could let you have for a low price if you want one fast, but it is 8 frame size.
Thanks for the replies. I’m pretty sure most the robbers know about my hive now, maybe I’ll try the vacuum approach if it comes to that. You can use any kind of vacuum? @Dawn_SD I would say they were pretty numerous today, you think its good idea to close the hive again tomorrow when theyre really attacking? and I have a 10 frame hive, an 8 size won’t work? Thanks for the offer I know your also in SD.
I have never tried that, so your guess is as good as mine. Bees really don’t like being locked into the hive though, and unless you did it early, you may lose some foragers if they are locked out.
One other thing. You don’t have to use #8 hardware cloth to make the robbing screen. Any old insect screen material will do (like the stuff you use for window screens in your house - Ace and Home Depot have plenty of it for low prices) when your back is to the wall. It just won’t be durable. But you can use it for now. I have some #8 somewhere, not sure how much though. It is quite hard to find. I had to pay an exorbitant price on the internet for mine
Hi Cody, the vacuum cleaner strategy would be assuming you have plenty of spare time to sit next to the hive holding the hose with the end at the entrance. You could prop it in place with the engine running for an hour or so. The bees typically hover around, which means they’ll get sucked in as they fly past the hose end.
This strategy would be assuming your own bees are locked it.
The thing about catching the robbers is that they can’t return to communicate the hive’s position.
They say to put a robbing screen on after the day is over right? But I guess I should put one on now, I made entrance smaller I guess but to my untrained eye the robbers look like a overwhelming force, will my bees defend from outside the entrance because if not there’s a lot of robbers crowded at the entrance. I feel like it’s probably too late now.
They will do what they have to do, assuming they have the numbers to do it. They prefer to fight at the entrance, but I have seen them fighting on the landing board too. It is a numbers game at this point…
Maybe I will put a window screen robber screen on tonight, how would I go about doing that? I feel like it’ll be easy for them to get underneath it if it’s not really sealed
Without seeing your setup and the potential screen in place, it is impossible to say. But just remember, duct tape is a beekeeper’s friend too!