Robber Bees
/
handmade robbing screens work well to protect colonies from uninvited guest bees. (charlotte ekker wiggins photo)
Robber Bees
It’s the end of June in mid-Missouri with record hot temperatures - again - so plants are ending the nectar flow and heading into survival mode. So are bees.
We had a mild winter and early spring. Almost two months early so bees had early access to nectar and pollen. They store pollen to feed nurse bees to produce royal jelly to feed baby bees. Nectar is flight fuel for foragers and, once dehydrated to 18% and capped, becomes stored honey for winter food.
The larger the bee colony, the more food they can collect and store. As temperatures soar, the larger colonies also need more food to feed themselves so they will “rob” from smaller colonies.
For a beekeeper this time of year is tricky in terms of inspecting colonies. You don’t want to keep the hive open for very long because the lovely smell of honey beckons bees and is an invitation for robbing. And yet some days you don’t dare open hives, especially small ones, because they will be easy targets for the larger colonies.
Robber bees are female foragers - that’s right, not male bees - detecting a preferred food source - honey, at a time when other food sources in nature are not available. Bees will communicate to the robbing colony the location and move into the smaller hive, most often killing the queen and stealing all resources - honey and pollen. Flecks of wax they’ve torn off the stored honey will be found piled up at the bottom of the robbed hive.
I had one colony robbed in August several years ago. I saved them by throwing a wet cotton sheet over the hive and keeping it wet with a hose spray. Wet bees can’t fly so hosing them down every few minutes kept them from moving very far. I was lucky; sometimes water works for only so long.
The other tool I prefer to use is robbing screens on the front of my hives. These “porches” installed at night trains residents to come in and out up the side of the hive. Robbers approach the hive straight into the screen and can’t get in. I’m still working on how to make robbing screens myself. The ones I have were made by a friend now passed.
For more beekeeping, gardening, cooking and easy home decor tips, subscribe to Garden Notes.
