KNOW WHEN ROBBING IS A THREAT
Robbing bees are a problem when bee populations increase during nectar flows and then decrease when nectar becomes scarce. Older bees (foragers) will then seek out weaker hives to rob. This compounds when things change drastically from feast to famine suddenly such as when a tropical storm or hurricane happens during a major nectar flow and wipes out blossoms or nectar during a major flow such as a Brazilian Pepper flow.
PREVENTION TECHNIQUES
The best way to deal with robbing is to not have to deal with robbing. Preventing the hive from being robbed in the first place.
Reduce the entrance: Reduce the entrance to the hive to smallest setting (3/4" width or less).
Plan Ahead & Eliminate the stimulus: Remove any easy-to-access honey, sugar syrup, or discarded combs... and again AVOID spills or exposing honey (breaking burr comb, etc.). .Don't spend more than a few minutes (5 to 10 minutes max.) on hive inspections during a major dearth period. Have everything you need on hand prior to opening hive, so you don't have to leave hive to go get things you forgot...PREPARE. NO HONEY LEFT OUT... nothing that can be easy for foragers to find and set off the robbing frenzy.
Use internal or top feeders: Use feeders such as division board and top feeder rather than entrance or Boardman feeders. Be careful not to spill syrup when feeding bees. Wipe up spills quickly. Stop any feeding in the wide open areas (community feeding, open dishes, etc.) unless it is 75 yards or more away and out of the line-of-site of your colonies... plus placed out during late evening or early morning then covered or removed during daylight foraging ours (best to avoid during high expectations of robbing).
Return supers the same day: After harvesting keep your supers covered and put back on the extracted supers in the late evening to allow the colony to clean them up overnight. Supers placed back on hives in the middle of the day smell strongly of honey, attract the foragers from other colonies, and encourage or result in a robbing incident.
Use insulation: If daytime temperatures are over 80, shade the hive or use foam board insulation or buy an insulated lid to help keep heat out of the hive which can make the honey easier to smell when hot. Some of these techniques and reasoning can be found in the videos on this webpage (see below).
Seal all cracks: Seal cracks between boxes and around the lid to ensure there are absolutely no other way into the hive other than the reduced entrance. You can use blue painters tape. Replace ill-fitting or warped lids.
Reduce the entrance: Reduce the entrance to the hive to smallest setting (3/4" width or less).
Plan Ahead & Eliminate the stimulus: Remove any easy-to-access honey, sugar syrup, or discarded combs... and again AVOID spills or exposing honey (breaking burr comb, etc.). .Don't spend more than a few minutes (5 to 10 minutes max.) on hive inspections during a major dearth period. Have everything you need on hand prior to opening hive, so you don't have to leave hive to go get things you forgot...PREPARE. NO HONEY LEFT OUT... nothing that can be easy for foragers to find and set off the robbing frenzy.
Use internal or top feeders: Use feeders such as division board and top feeder rather than entrance or Boardman feeders. Be careful not to spill syrup when feeding bees. Wipe up spills quickly. Stop any feeding in the wide open areas (community feeding, open dishes, etc.) unless it is 75 yards or more away and out of the line-of-site of your colonies... plus placed out during late evening or early morning then covered or removed during daylight foraging ours (best to avoid during high expectations of robbing).
Return supers the same day: After harvesting keep your supers covered and put back on the extracted supers in the late evening to allow the colony to clean them up overnight. Supers placed back on hives in the middle of the day smell strongly of honey, attract the foragers from other colonies, and encourage or result in a robbing incident.
Use insulation: If daytime temperatures are over 80, shade the hive or use foam board insulation or buy an insulated lid to help keep heat out of the hive which can make the honey easier to smell when hot. Some of these techniques and reasoning can be found in the videos on this webpage (see below).
Seal all cracks: Seal cracks between boxes and around the lid to ensure there are absolutely no other way into the hive other than the reduced entrance. You can use blue painters tape. Replace ill-fitting or warped lids.
STOPPING OR HALTING ROBBING METHODS
If you have a robbing underway, then do NOT waste any time. Use one or more of the following suggestions ASAP to halt robbing and prevent devastation... it is not a pretty situation:
Reduce the Entrance: You can use an entrance reducer or in emergency robbing situation partially stuff the entrance with grass to reduce entrance to smaller than the smallest reducer setting... reduce to a single bee width... many possibilities: hardware cloth, robbing screens, etc. ALSO CLOSE OFF THE UPPER INNER COVER NOTCH AND/OR HOLE ENTRANCE. This entrance reduction will make it a lot easier for your bees to defend their colony. HOWEVER... word of caution. If the weather is very hot, then narrowing the entrance to this one bee width small entrance can result in high inside the hive temperatures (not because of lack of box ventilation, but because the bees cannot fan to remove the heat as they normally do). It is tricky balance of reducing entrance without overheating hive... you may be tempted to ventilate, but ventilation of hot honey smells can make robbing worsen. Get it under control fast. Covering hive with wet sheet and wider entrance (or secondary entrance) can help with the tricky balance... see Cover the Hive below.
Cover the hive: Cover the hive with a wet sheet or cloth to mask the scent of honey. You can also use a robbing screen to give your bees a secondary entrance. The wet sheet drapes all the way to the ground and stops robbing bees from finding the entrance. However, the bees in the hive seem to find their way out first and able to come back in... sort of their own secret way in and out while the robbers have difficulty finding the way in. Wet sheets are recommended and in dry weather you should rewet the sheet. WARNING: Make sure you remove the sheets after a few hours. Some say one or two days, but I would not risk having my hives covered with wet sheets for two days. My experience is that in about 3 hours robbers have all gone home. If robbers have not gone home, then yes keep a wet sheet on.
Distract the bees: Place a box with a small opening nearby to distract the robber bees... sort of a decoy hive.
Move the hive: Move the hive to a new location, ideally at least two miles away. If you move it nearby, leave a saucer of honey in its original location to keep the robber bees occupied.
Again... check out videos below for a better understanding why and how these methods or techniques work.
Reduce the Entrance: You can use an entrance reducer or in emergency robbing situation partially stuff the entrance with grass to reduce entrance to smaller than the smallest reducer setting... reduce to a single bee width... many possibilities: hardware cloth, robbing screens, etc. ALSO CLOSE OFF THE UPPER INNER COVER NOTCH AND/OR HOLE ENTRANCE. This entrance reduction will make it a lot easier for your bees to defend their colony. HOWEVER... word of caution. If the weather is very hot, then narrowing the entrance to this one bee width small entrance can result in high inside the hive temperatures (not because of lack of box ventilation, but because the bees cannot fan to remove the heat as they normally do). It is tricky balance of reducing entrance without overheating hive... you may be tempted to ventilate, but ventilation of hot honey smells can make robbing worsen. Get it under control fast. Covering hive with wet sheet and wider entrance (or secondary entrance) can help with the tricky balance... see Cover the Hive below.
Cover the hive: Cover the hive with a wet sheet or cloth to mask the scent of honey. You can also use a robbing screen to give your bees a secondary entrance. The wet sheet drapes all the way to the ground and stops robbing bees from finding the entrance. However, the bees in the hive seem to find their way out first and able to come back in... sort of their own secret way in and out while the robbers have difficulty finding the way in. Wet sheets are recommended and in dry weather you should rewet the sheet. WARNING: Make sure you remove the sheets after a few hours. Some say one or two days, but I would not risk having my hives covered with wet sheets for two days. My experience is that in about 3 hours robbers have all gone home. If robbers have not gone home, then yes keep a wet sheet on.
Distract the bees: Place a box with a small opening nearby to distract the robber bees... sort of a decoy hive.
Move the hive: Move the hive to a new location, ideally at least two miles away. If you move it nearby, leave a saucer of honey in its original location to keep the robber bees occupied.
Again... check out videos below for a better understanding why and how these methods or techniques work.
