Two weeks ago we harvested honey from our farm’s first colony of bees. We took 13 frames full of honeycomb out, leaving about 13 more frames full of honey for the bees. We got 50.5 pounds of honey from those frames!!
But the harvest was bitter – sweet. We went out of town for about 6 days just after that weekend we harvested the honey. When we returned I noticed a lot of activity around the hive. I was excited because of the low numbers of bees we had seen when harvesting. I was worried about them.
But as I watched, I noticed bees all over the hive, as if trying to get in any crack. And instead of flying in and out as the bees usually do when they are going out to forage, there was lots of kind of zig zag buzzing all around the hive. When I got closer, I saw many dead bees outside the entrance, and even saw pairs of bees tumbling and wrestling. Were they fighting each other?
I suspected robbing, and after looking in my books, I suited up and went out to close up the entrance to the hive, leaving only a 1/2″ hole for them to get in and out – smaller opening for my bees to defend. I scrubbed down the outside of the boxes which had sticky spots of honey we had carelessly and ignorantly left on the outside of the boxes, and even sprayed bee quick on the back three panels and the top of the hive to try to repel the robbers. It was evening. The invading bees seemed to leave.
But early the next morning, they were back – hundreds of bees crawling all over, and going in and out. I don’t know at that point, how long the robbing had been going on. I tried a sprinkler. The water deterred them only slightly.
That evening (yesterday evening) later, I went out to the hive when there was no more visible activity. I knocked all around and heard nothing. So with sinking heart, I sealed the entrance, figuring if there were only a small number of bees left, I might protect them for a few days while the robbers gave up on this source of honey.
Tonight I just opened up the hive, and there were about three lonely bees left, moving very slowly. The last weary survivors of the raid and massacre. I examined the frames. Wow, those robbers had cleaned up. There were only about 2 frames 1/2 full of honey remaining. And I saw what looked like clusters of capped drone cells in several of the frames.
I was very sad. I figured I had played the key role in their decline, perhaps in their losing their queen, or at least in their weakening and in spreading the wonderful aroma of honey which attracted the robbers.
If anyone reading this has experience with preventing robbing, or stopping robbing in progress before it’s too late – please leave some of your wisdom and experience here!
I am learning. Goodbye bees, I’m sorry.
