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Winter Robbing??

  • 31 Jan 2021 2:53 PM
    Message # 10051473

    1st year beekeeper here... Anything I can do for winter robbing? I believe my hive is/was strong, but maybe not. Definitely robbing going on. Bees dragging others away, more/louder buzzing and too much activity at the front for the winter day. My entrance was already small so I made is one bee width. I also put on a sprinkler in front of my hive. I'm sure I killed some of my own bees, but the activity is gone now. Guess no one likes to rob in the rain. I didn't know what else to do. Seems like the bees that know where to go(with pollen packed legs) are still coming in back in fine.  I also have an oversized roof over my bee boxes so that is shielding the rain from the very entrance some. Should I completely close my hive up tomorrow? Looks like it's going to rain tomorrow so maybe it's fine. Will be keeping a close eye on it on nice days now. Lots of other hives in my neighborhood I think.

    Last modified: 31 Jan 2021 8:24 PM | Anonymous member
    Moved from General Bee Topics, including how to obtain bees: 23 Aug 2021 6:17 AM
  • 2 Feb 2021 3:54 PM
    Reply # 10057269 on 10051473

    Great question, and it looks like you did well to intervene and resolve.  As the weather warms, it is quite likely that there will be hungry colonies looking for easy food sources. Basically with climate change, bees stay active later than food resources are available in the landscape so they eat down their winter stores, and and also become active in late winter before many flower and pollen resources are available. You may have neighbor beekeepers who are not feeding their hungry colonies, or hungry feral colonies nearby (the Labor Day fires smoke could well have messed up the poor feral colonies so they ate down their winter food supply). I would definitely keep and eye on that colony. If it is strong and you have made the entrance one bee wide, they should be able to defend. If the robbing continues, you might possibly consider offering an alternate food source well away from your vulnerable colony.

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