The books / Pests, Predators and Robbing / chapter 4 of 14
The beekeeper rings the bell
All chapters
- The dangerous weeks
- What a dearth looks like from the hive
- How robbing starts
- The beekeeper rings the bell
- Recognising it
- The entrance reducer
- The robbing screen
- When it is already bad
- Wasps through the year
- Strong colonies repel, weak ones fall
- The trap that works is the spring one
- Mice in October
- Bears
- Leaving them alone
Most robbing frenzies are not bad luck, they are rung in by the beekeeper's own hands:
- Spilling syrup while topping up a feeder, even a few drops on the outer cover or the ground nearby, puts a sugar scent in the air that drifts for a surprising distance during a dearth.
- Leaving a hive open too long during an inspection does the same with the honey already inside it, cappings and stores exposed to any forager passing by.
- Pulling wet, just-extracted supers and leaving them anywhere outside, even briefly, is one of the strongest lures there is.
None of these mistakes look dangerous while you are making them, a few minutes with the lid off, a careless top-up, and none of them matter outside a dearth.