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Subject: Orange County, NC Beekeepers

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Chronological Thread  
  • From: Lewis Cauble <lewis AT hivebody.com>
  • To: "ocba AT lists.ibiblio.org" <ocba AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [ocba] Robbing
  • Date: Thu, 29 May 2014 15:18:31 -0400 (EDT)

Janet,
I am not sure about the robbing behavior but did want to talk about the comb everywhere.  It sounds like the colony with comb everywhere was overwintered.  I believe if you have been feeding all through spring they are quite overfed, having no room in the frames to store what you have been giving them.  This has forced them to place comb anywhere they could find space to store this food.  Upon inspection I believe you will also find that there is barely any room left for raising brood as they have stored sugar syrup most everywhere.  It is time to inspect and see what it looks like in there.  I suspect that you will need to take out some frames of honey and give them empty drawn comb or foundation to give the queen some space to lay eggs.  Alternatively, I believe you could add a new box of foundation.  Feeding is a good thing to do when they need food, but feeding them when they do not need food can take away space resources that could be used to store pollen or rear brood.  Here is a reasonable article on honey bound colonies.  I am sure there are others out there as well.
 
Lewis
 

On May 28, 2014 at 5:05 PM Janet Weinberg via ocba <ocba AT lists.ibiblio.org> wrote:
While watching one of my hives I noticed some bees around it that were not honey bees.  They were a bit larger and seemed to have a mostly black abdomen.  I then looked at my second hive about 2 feet away and they had them too.  I did not see any fighting or dead bodies  but my bees were all over the entrance and not happy.  It was only a handful of them the best I could tell.  It appeared the bad guys were flying in and right out.  Fast. I was  wondering if they are, or are attempting to rob?  Do other species rob honey bee hives? That made me wonder what do my bees do if they are robbed?  Run away or go back to work.  There is a lot of honey in one hive and the other has honey but swarmed last Sat.  Is there anything I can  do to help my girls?
 
Also, for the first time one of my hives has honey everywhere.  They are building castles and tunnels. It's on the feeder, sides and top and bottom of everything. The frames started out  straight and level both ways.  What has gotten into them?  (It is not the hive that swarmed).  The only thing I can think of is that I decided not to bother them this year so I have not been going in.  Maybe 3 times.  Just kept them fed until 10 days ago.  Did they take advantage of their freedom?
 
If someone would like to come over they would be welcome.  I am in Efland.
 
Janet Weinberg
919-563-4224

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