December 30, 2014 Holiday Bummer I checked in on the bees at my moms house today. Looking at the entrance I knew something was not right. The entrance was covered in wax particles and no activity. I opened the hive and there were no bees and obvious signs that the hive had been robbed. The first picture shows the wax cappings on the floor of the hive. When a hive is robbed the robbers, either other bees or yellow jackets, chew through the wax cappings covering the honey leaving the wax on the ground. They then take everything inside. This was a new hive this year with new bees. I did not pull any honey out and left it all for them for the winter. I thought the hive was strong enough to defend against robbers but I guess not. Im sure it was yellow jackets. Yellow jackets wiped out all 5 of my neighbors hives this fall. All of them. The three hives in my yard were fine but I did reduce my entrances to guard against it in my yard but I didnt think it would be an issue at my moms as I had not noticed any real yellow jacket activity. Oh well. If my bees make it through the winter I shall have a split or two to make this spring. Heres hoping the other three hives make it.
Posted on: Wed, 31 Dec 2014 00:21:15 +0000
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