We live in a remote ranching region in the Dragoon Mountains (renowned for the Cochise stronghold where the army and Native Americans signed a contract in the Old West). It is very dry, cattle grazing resources, at a 4,600’ elevation, summers peak at 100 F, and winters single digits as low as 8 F. Very large range of temperatures. The ranch is broke up into 40 acre parcels and contains approximately 16,000 acres total with zero surrounding communities for over 10 miles in all directions. Pollination is moderate during monsoon season and Spring. Lots of tall, flowing grasses, yucca cacti, small Mesquite trees. That should give you a good picture. We happen to have an additional pool that we converted into a pond over 7 years ago brimming with cattails, catfish and koi. Surrounding the pool is a lovely rose garden of 18 varieties that bloom the entire summer, along with an adjoining apple, pear and apricot orchard also constantly in bloom. Yes, a bee’s paradise. A neighbor moved in from New Jersey about 3 years ago and began building their home about two blocks away. They brought along their bee hive of approximately 40,000 Italian bees, a thriving hive chock full of honey. The hive has since doubled in size. The bees are located approximately a half mile to three-quarters of a mile away from us, and the bees do constantly enjoy our resources. In the meantime, we opted to raise our own bees, Italians bred in Phoenix, AZ that prove hardy to our region and weather. In the past two years we have had all of our hives abscond. They have taken everything and disappeared. The neighbor attempted to catch one hive from another neighbor (clearly our hive), and successfully did so, but they absconded within two days of capture from his courtesy box. We have had no other issues with our bees. Nothing has been robbing them such as ants, hornets, etc. But, we have noticed on occasion other bees around their hives. Additionally, every time the bees abscond, I have noticed dozens of bees busily zipping around our pond in fury, as if running one another off. Water resources are very limited in this location. We have the only major body of water on this ranch for miles in any direction. Those that have pools are chlorinated and not of a natural status or pond like ours. We have relocated all three hives when purchased and tried various locations on our 40 acres, yet they all end up absconding within 60 days of establishment. We desperately desire to raise bees as we are farmers and plant heavily every Spring through fall. We desire our own honey, and the joy of bee keeping. Our hives are kept in shaded locations, up off of the ground to eliminate ant invasions, and we feed during dearths or times of low pollination. We provide additional water for our bees despite having the pond in the distance, but it appears the neighbors bees are attracted to their honey stores and invade. Our bees are young and freshly established. The New Jersey bee hive is at least five years old and their numbers are up to 60,000 bees. What can we do to combat this problem, and what breed of bee would be best suited for defending their hive against such a strong and persistent force of bees? We do not wish to quit trying. We feel there has to be a solution to this problem.
Welcome to the forum, Billie.
You’re certainly getting a taste of the frustrating side of beekeeping and it’s good to see you’re still keen to persist.
My first thought is what are you doing about varroa? Heavy mite counts will cause colonies to abscond.
If you are keeping mites down, then I’d look at your hive site and orientation. While it’s preferable to face the entrance approximately towards the morning sun, if there’s prevailing breeze from that direction, the bees won’t be happy. Full sun in the morning with some shade in the afternoon will usually work, but bees are adaptable. I have hives that get only a couple of hours direct sun.
Next, I’d consider pathogens in the equipment. Thoroughly clean everything, maybe scorch the inside of the boxes with a flame. Start the next colony on new or cleaned frames of foundation.
Genetics are important. If all your bees came from the same supplier, try someone else. Maybe your neighbour can do a split for you, since their bees are doing so well. Carniolans are well adapted to cold winters. They reduce to a smaller cluster than other breeds, conserving stores. They build up fast in spring. Italians tend to have large numbers and therefore consume more winter stores. The best choice tends to be what other beekeepers in your environment succeed with.
Robbing happens in a dearth and strong colonies overpower weaker ones. It’s full on, with robbers frantically trying to enter the hive and searching for any way in. Have you seen that? You can use a robbing screen and only use internal feeders. Open feeding can start a robbing frenzy.
It sounds like you have your water situation sorted.
Mike
Hi @bmbranno and welcome! Your place sounds really beautiful.
Adding to what Mike said, if you notice a robbing frenzy going on, get a large damp beach towel and drape it over the front of the hive so the entrance is hidden and trickier to get to. Sometimes I pin the end of the towel back and put a brick on top if there’s a strong breeze so it stays put. The damp towel also masks the scent somewhat. This slows down the robbers long enough for your colony to muster a better defense. Returning foragers from your colony will also be confused but will eventually make it in.
I leave a towel on for a day or two and it usually does the trick. Most of the time, a colony is a robbing target because its population is relatively lower. This might be due to colony size differences of bee breeds, timing of a split or other young colony getting started closer to dearth, or already struggling with disease or pests which is why Mike brings up varroa.
Thanks so much to both Mike and Eva for suggestions. As for varroa, we had Apivar strips in the boxes, and saw almost no dead bees once they absconded. The site location is beneath a really large and tall shaded awning, hives facing mostly southerly to catch the early morning sun, but on a slight westerly angle to avoid any of the wind sheers we can sometimes incur at the break of dawn from the mountains surrounding us. They were receiving ample shade throughout the day, and mostly an early morning sun warming. I would be outside at the rise of the sun and could see them take flight for their daily forage. The hives were in great shape with lots of comb, some brood, and the bees literally seemed very happy. As a desert region, we do go through dearths, but this was an exceptional summer with many gentle monsoon rains keeping the desert consistently in pollen. We did provide fondant for the bees as a backup, but very little was eaten due to such a well-flowered spring and summer. My gardens are very active in blossom, and the rose garden is amazing. Our hive boxes are brand new. Two are Apimaye boxes which are amazing structures, incredibly efficient, great for maintaining a cooler interior when we hit the 90s, and quite functional for keeping out robbers. We also had a brand new Langstroth for our third hive. All of the bees were incredibly active, and the boxes were kept underneath the awning as a trio, with plenty of room between them to avoid any possible warring/robbing from each other. Every day I would sit and watch, and all of the bees seemed absolutely content, sticking to their own box without issues. We had one ant infestation, but the hive of Italians did a lovely job protecting their quarters, and the ants ceased to bother them. We checked the boxes approximately once every couple of weeks to monitor growth of the comb, honey stores, etc. Everything progressed nicely the first two months, but come the third month one right after the other absconded. As I mentioned before, I remember observing what looked to be a warring between bees outside surrounding the pond and rose garden. The air was awhirl with bees, and this occurred numerous times. At first I didn’t think anything of it, but once we discovered our first absconded colony we were more intune with the surroundings in an effort to find a commonality and a cause for the loss. The second hive absconded only a couple of weeks later, and the last hive followed about a week after that. Again, lots of resources, mild weather, no major winds, a pretty calm summer compared to our usual fiercely windy monsoon seasons and intense heat. It did not get nearly as hot this year due to adequate rain. Of the three colonies, two were Italians from the same supplier in Phoenix. The last hive was Carnolian from Georgia. Again, when incorporating the last hive they remained busy and to themselves. Not once did I witness animosity between our hives. I guess that is why we are so deflated in our enthusiasm. We did everything right, we didn’t pester them consistently, we checked regularly every two weeks and took great care to be absolutely sure they were building comb and brood, and there was ample honey storage as well. All looked absolutely perfect. The hive boxes are truly not the issue. No chemicals, and the Apimaye are outstanding in so many ways. So, it’s my belief that when witnessing the violent buzzing around the pond and rose garden, this had to have been our neighboring bees that had already established their domain in our yard. This has been their domain for a few years now, and I believe they were none too happy to have to share their paradise. Once they ousted the first colony they were apparently aware of the hive boxes and started following the bees to their location to rob. It all happened so quickly, too. Little indication of problems until the day they absconded. Unfortunately the neighbor with the ‘Jersey’ bees is not a big advocate or hobbyist in the field. He likes the honey, gets tons of it from his bees, and that’s about it. To convince him to give us his own nuc would be next to impossible. He doesn’t dabble beyond his immediate honey needs, and spends very little time with his bees, unlike those of us who sit and wantonly watch our little pollinators with adulation and great joy. He’s a nice man, but very undereducated in the bee field and doesn’t care to worry about it because he’s getting exactly what he wants from our ample resources. Why break what’s not broken, right? In turn we get lots and lots of vegetables plus fruit on our orchard trees, so we really can’t complain.
I could try the towel idea, but better yet, we have neighbors to the north of us on 80 acres located about a mile and a half away. They have volunteered their area for us to set up boxes come next spring. They are avid gardeners with numerous open greenhouses and gardens and just loved the idea of the bees being nearby for pollination purposes. We figured that this would determine whether or not territoriality is the cause of our losses. We intend to only provide one hive and simply wait and see what happens. We will place the box at the furthermost corner of their property without any risk of interference from anyone or anything. We will also set up our small bistro seating set so we can sit and observe our little buzzing friends as they work their hive and grow stronger in number. That is what we crave from our bee keeping efforts; the joy of watching a social creature so efficient in contributing to what our world needs, pollination. We are a simple people and bees are a blessing.
I will update on our progress next summer. Hopefully it will be all good news! We have found that most of the bee community and participants in general are hobbyists for primarily the same reason we are…nature’s wonders. We have seen more enthusiasm in these communities online than any other social media, and everyone is helpful and happy to contribute.
Thanks again for your sage advice. You are the glue that keeps us sojourners on track so we don’t give up hope!
With gratitude,
Billie
Sounds more like swarming to me, given the timing.
A healthy colony will issue several swarms in a season, when there is plentiful forage and no more room in their cavity.
Hi Mike!
We’ve been using Apivar strips all along for mites. Never really saw any bodies when the hives absconded. Robbing was never really witnessed except with ants once, and to the bees victory. We kept fondant available, but pollen has been ample due to a good but gentle monsoon season with lots of rain. Weather has been moderate and seldom touched 100 here which is rare for the high Huachucan desert region. I’d watch them daily from a distance and they seemed perfectly happy under their tall overhead awning. I’d watch their return at sunset which all three hives split up and went to their own box. No discord. No warring amongst the threesome. The warring occurred by the pond and rose gardens.
Thanks so much for your advice. All suggestions have been helpful.
Regards,
Billie
Hi Eva!
They took everything with them. Perfectly clean boxes left behind. No bees left, no queen, no honey or brood, just a beautiful, empty and extensive comb. I do know absconding is a commonality in fall, but these were clean boxes with nothing to indicate a splitting up of the hive. Not even queen cells were evident in the comb. Also, we added a super to each box to ensure plenty of room for expansion as they had amassed lots of comb, brood and honey so we didn’t want them to feel cramped or get too warm despite being under an awning. Plus no queen cells. Nothing to indicate a reason to swarm. All three hives vacated within a couple weeks of each other, and the warring by the pond began about a week before the first hive absconded. Very odd.
Thanks again for your suggestions.
Best,
Billie
This is quite the mystery.
European races of bees aren’t territorial other than protecting their hive. They’ll happily live in rows of dozens or six to a pallet. In Slovenia, bee houses can have three high by ten long and more. I have no experience with Africanised bees, but they will usurp a queen and take over a hive. They can be highly defensive and prone to absconding. I don’t think that applies in your case, though.
There must be some environmental condition that they’re not happy about. It will be interesting to see how the new colonies go at new location. If they do well, you might do a split and put one at your place again.
I look forward to seeing how you go next season.
Mike
I have had a hive abscond when I put Apivar strips in it in autumn/fall. It doesn’t happen often, but if they think that there are too many strips in there, they just up and leave… Very distressing for all involved. That is why I try to get the mite counts down much earlier in the season, so that I can avoid Apivar altogether. 
Puzzling, because they don’t do that in spring/summer, but then I don’t use Apivar at that time of year any more either. For me, it is a treatment of last resort if I can’t get the counts low enough with oxalic acid.
Good to know, Dawn.
In the heavily infested areas here, we’re getting huge rates of absconding. It seemed to be overwhelming mite loads, but could also be the treatments. We’re seeing dozens of mites in washes and still over threshold after treatment. It’s a difficult time until it stabilises. So far, no DWV.
Mike
We have a huge issue with Africanized bees infiltrating Italian hives and taking dominance. And this is yet another concern. We happen to live in a migration area so to see swarms overhead is not uncommon. Many times they do an overnighter to partake of water before taking flight. Their numbers are off the charts in AZ. In Bisbee, AZ, where 200 year old homes reside, they are finding enormous colonies inside house walls, chimneys, etc. Far more than any average honey bee hive. We’ve had a number of folks die here, as well as dogs and barnyard critters. It is a pretty big problem in this state currently. So we are fairly certain that many of the swarms passing through could also be Africanized. As for Apivar, we only use a single strip in only one of the three hives that showed any signs. Mites are not as prevalent here due to our incredibly dry weather with low humidity levels. So it’s unlikely that is the cause to send bees away. Additionally, we live in an extremely remote region with endless virgin land that was only traversed by the Apache Indians in the late 1800’s. So there are no chemicals, no pollutants, air is remarkably clean, deep water wells full of natural minerals…just about as clean and pure as it can get in this state. The nearest inhabited town is over 25 miles away, and even at that it is very very small. Any major city is no less than 45 miles away. Our terrain is waist high flowing grasses, many Mesquite Trees, excessive amounts of desert wildflowers, and a very extended season of moderate temperatures from the end of March until the end of November. There are no freezing temps until December, mild winters, and frost is gone again by mid-March. So what is offered here is ideal for honey bees to thrive. But water is a very limited commodity, and our pond is the only one around for miles. Because we are fenced, nothing can access the pond beyond our own livestock and a few predators. This is why I believe it is all about territoriality and the water. If the neighbor is not watering their bees separately, and they come here (which they do, as I see them all over the pond’s surface all day long) then they will rely upon this resource every bit as fiercely as they would their own hive because without water, the bees will not thrive. Especially in the desert. But I do appreciate all the insight and suggestions.
Thank you all so much!
Billie
Hi Billie, welcome to the forum.
I have had colonies abscond over the years, however in every case I was able to think of a plausible reason for it.
In one case I used a customer’s sticky frames to put with his colony. The honey in the sticky frames was rancid. I wont do that again.
In another case, a colony absconded simply because there wasn’t enough brood in the box to hold them. My lesson there was to make sure that a colony has lots of brood, especially worker brood. I believe that bees are reluctant to leave a good amount of brood to the elements.
The other occasion was that a colony, on more than one occasion absconded from a box that had recently been scorched. In those cases, there was an added element in that there was insufficient brood to hold the colonies. I found that I was able to transfer a full brood box of bees, with brood into a box that had recently been scorched, without any problems. Plus I started using lemongrass oil in the recently scorched boxes.
I think the takeaway message is to make sure that a colony has a good amount of brood to care for.
Bees being bees, they probably don’t like the boxes we keep them in. They would much rather take off to find something that suits them better, like a hollow in a tree, high off the ground, away from predators.