In my apiary, I consider robbing screens a necessity. Since I began using them about ten years ago, I haven’t had a single case of robbing. Prior to that, it was an annual fight to keep things under control. This year in particular, I’ve had many beekeepers write in a panic asking how to stop […] Read more
If you are in the northern hemisphere, there’s a good chance you are in a nectar dearth or approaching one. A nectar dearth is simply a shortage of nectar-producing flowers. Summer dearths are usually caused by high temperatures, a lack of rainfall, or both. Honey bee workers may become irritable, or they may beard on […] Read more
Don’t get me wrong. I love upper entrances and use them a lot. EAS master beekeeper George Imirie was passionate about upper entrances and frequently wrote of their importance. He believed they solved two primary problems: they shortened the distance returning foragers had to travel through the hive and they provided hive ventilation, especially in […] Read more
Due to hot and dry weather in many areas, beekeepers are already messing with robbers. I’ve heard sad stories from beekeepers whose full honey supers suddenly turned up empty, and others whose smaller colonies were wiped out. This is not unusual, but it can bewilder new beekeepers. Besides taking the honey, the presence of robbing […] Read more
Last week, Scott Mathews, who lives in drought-besieged southern California, came home to a hive in turmoil. He writes: I came home today . . . to discover a lot of bees in the air and what looks like combative bearding. [There are] clumps of bees falling from the top entrance and what looks like […] Read more
After the recent discussion of robbing bees, beekeeper Kenneth Rhodes sent in the following photos of bees from one of his hives attempting to rob the other. They provide an excellent illustration of robbing in action. Because robbing bees are unfamiliar with the hive they are stealing from, they try to enter at the point […] Read more
Yesterday, shortly after I posted “Bearding or swarming?” and asked for your opinion, Joan wrote back with this photo: I went out to the bee yard Sunday morning at 0600 and those bees were still in the bearding position. I thought then that they must be robbers/visitors. Frantically I tried searching online what to do. […] Read more