Hive #1 robbed

FOOD RIOT IN HIVE #1

HUNDREDS KILLED

September 25, 2014

It was an ugly scene at the Sherwood Apiary this afternoon when hive #1 was robbed of its honey stores.  Since the demise of its queen in June, its population has been gradually diminishing.  Even though, the intrepid insects continued to bring in nectar and pollen.  Although the hive had been reduced to a single deep box and the entrance reducer was in place, Tom Sherwood, beekeeper, expected that eventually the population would become too small to defend itself. 

"I noticed an unusual amount of activity around the hive this morning", Sherwood said.  "I suspected it might be robbing especially with the bees flying erratically, climbing on the walls of the hive and gathering around the vents of the Vivaldi box."

This afternoon, Sherwood donned his bee suit and went into the hive to get a closer look and confirm his suspicions.  "I first looked closely at what was going on at the entrance.  Immediately I could tell this was robbing because of the large number of fights occurring."

A yellow jacket drinking its fill

He next examined the tray below the screen for chewed off capping.  "I didn't see cappings, but there were about a dozen bees and a yellow jacket on the tray."  Another yellow jacket was in the Vivaldi box and one or two others were on the comb.
Inside the hive a few bees were fighting, but most were busy chewing open the cells and drinking the honey.  On the picture to the right, one can see the rough edges of the robbed cells and a small mob of bees gorging themselves.

Fallen dead on screen bottom

Uncounted hundreds of bees lost their lives defending the honey they had worked for so hard.
At the time of the inspection, there were still untouched stores, but Sherwood expects that it will all be gone within a couple of days.

Yet to be robbed capped honey

"It was to be expected", said Sherwood philosophically.

#1 down to one box

There are subjectively fewer bees in #1, although still a fair number.  I did see many wax moth larva in the tray but saw no damage in the hive.
Because the population had diminished, I removed the top brood box.  I selected frames with no comb or the least nectar/honey/pollen and removed them, combining the remaining frames in a single box.  There was one frame that had some capped drone cells, so it seems another worker has started laying.  I removed that frame as well.  I leaned it against the bridge while I checked the honey production in #2 and 3.  (There is still room in the supers for more honey.)  When I went to put things away I discovered a cloud of bees around the frame, eating the nectar and honey.

Capped drone cells in middle and feeding bees at the ends

I will leave the frames out until it cools off this evening.

 This is from later on.  The bees have chewed open and eaten all the capped honey on the frame.

What to do about those danged woodpeckers

The woodpeckers have now found the hives to be a reliable source of food.  There are four or five that regularly hang out on the stakes in the rose bed to gorge on my girls.  I'm not the only beekeeper who has been plagued by these birds.
I have to do something.  I thought of a scarecrow or an owl statue.  Then I remembered my roll of flash tape.  A search through my collection of stakes uncovered one long enough to reach between the hives.  We will see tomorrow if this works.