Hive Splits and Robbing Behavior Trip Up New Beekeepers

“Bees are making their way across a hive stand and begging their way into another hive after a shakeout combine. I'm posting to show that a shakeout combine works. Yesterday morning I did a shakeout combine. My normal method for a shakeout combine method is to shake all the bees out a few meters in front of my other hives and remove the hive, bottom board, and the stand. The hive was on an occupied double stand, so I couldn't remove the stand. The bees returned to the stand. However by la”

“I am looking for a book or resources to study over the winter about splitting hive or swarm management. My hive is strong and I know that's not a guarantee it will make it over the winter but if it does I want to be ready to deal with spring time and potential swarms or requirements to split to avoid a swarming. So what I am looking for is a book or other resources How to recognize signs of a hive that is too full and needs to be split Swarm management Or other things related to those subjec”

“I am new to bee keeping and just came home from work to see a lot of activity that looked unusual. There are bees fighting, chaotic activity and a lot more noise than usual. I am in Victoria, Australia. I placed a wet towel over the hive as I assume that they are being robbed, is this correct? submitted by /u/amiddlelifeman [link] [comments]”

“Need help encouraging stubborn bees into the hive. I just moved to Panama city FL and I had strong colony under my shed. Immediately I was thrilled because ive always wanted to keep bees. I called a local keeper to help with a cutout because I was not equipped to do it alone I'll summarize the process with a brief timeline. Saturday we cutout and moved brood into the hive. Monday we reassessed and found the queen still in the cavity, captured and caged her. Wednesday released the queen onto”

“This is new too me. I just moved to my new home, 20 Miles away. Relocated my hives about a week ago. No issues. Woke up to both my hives going crazy 😅 its August, so not sure if they are swarming and even so what are chances both hives would be? Never seen them this active. submitted by /u/Gojiraninja12 [link] [comments]”

“Had this hive for a few years. Never got bees. It was here when we moved here. Bees moved in end of July. Everything seemed normal. But this afternoon they are doing this. Is this normal? submitted by /u/AngstyAF5020 [link] [comments]”

“Backstory. This year my son wanted to keep bees. I was a little apprehensive because we live in a subdivision but relented because our house backs up to a seldom used dead end road. We learned a lot and had a lot of fun, but we both are ready for the next hobby. It will be nice to mow the back yard again. Free colony to an EXPERIENCED beekeeper. I'd like to keep the equipment in case we ever decide to try again. submitted by /u/Oakens_Trading_Post [link] [comments]”

“I have 4 hives and help take care of one more quite the distance away. Like 50km. All four as of a week ago had capped drone cells, a lot of them, and a bunch of drones inside. The season is winding down, it feels like fall out here- Atlantic coast, Canada. So why would they be making more drones and not kicking out the old ones by now? Only one of these hives seems weak, the rest are full of bees and honey 🤔 All treated for mites. submitted by /u/One-Bit5717 [link] [comments]”

“I was removing frames from my supers for harvest. There must be a wasp nest nearby, as there were wasps intermingling with the bees. I guess they are robbing while I opened the hive. The bees were going crazy, even with a lot of smoke. I seem to have gotten a lot of stings in my wrists, through the long sleeved gloves. Are bee stings less bad if the bee has to sting trough fabric. I'm guessing they can't get you as good as they would if you had bare skin. My current stings are irritating”

“Im in Essex in England. I’m hoping someone can give me a suggestion what to do here. Yesterday I noticed this mass of bees just flying round and round, close to the ground outside my neighbours front door. There’s a small hole in the ground, but I’ve only seen the one bee that I happened to catch in this video go in, most will occasionally pause by it but not enter. They never seem to fly away, just keep going round and round. My neighbour had a small strip of the front garden dug for a cable a”

“I just split a beehive (the bigger one) and added a new queen (to the smaller one) now the new hive seems to be chaotic and the bees are going into the shed and hanging out in the windows. What could this be? Are they not adjusting well to the new queen. Pittsburgh PA submitted by /u/Yeaheatsoup [link] [comments]”

“I checked for queen cells last week and there were several uncharged and none that were capped. I assumed washboarding, but they are too heavily stacked for that. Thoughts? Edit: Zone 6b. It's currently 66F outside, so I don't think they are cooling. submitted by /u/TheGoblinPopper [link] [comments]”

“Started with three hives, might be going into winter with two. One strong one, one with a lot of issues. I’ve learned a mighty lot. Still, I might come out of winter with only 1 hive. Honestly, if that happens, I will still consider my first year a success 😅 what do you guys think? Here’s hoping 🤞 submitted by /u/BeeShepherdess [link] [comments]”

“1st year beekeeper so please be gentle. In central south carolina. Moved like 7 minutes, 3 miles away 5 and a half weeks ago. Moved from an area with apparently no competition to the most bee competitive spot in my city. Hive was doing super well, just harvested about 4 pounds of honey in 1 box, still left them with like a box and a half. Didn’t use an entrance reducer because it was super hot so they bearded a lot. Kinda realized a week ago they might be getting robbed when I did an inspection”

“Third year beekeping in Massachusetts, first year growing sunflowers (they just recently bloomed) Is this normal for them near sunflowers, or did I catch the start of a swarm? I don't see a queen in there and there is some travel back to the hive. Also the new batch of brood just had their orientation flight, which is why I was checking and saw them grouped up. submitted by /u/FakeRedditName2 [link] [comments]”

“my location is ohio. im usually a night person and i often go outside to check on my fish or rabbit. last night i fell asleep early and went outside around 6am and bees were swarming my back porch light. i ran in the house thinking thats odd maybe there is a nest under the vinyl of that light. so i got a flashlight and went out my front door to the back again and bees were all over that light in middle of house, and another light far right of my house. and also on all kitchen windows since light”

“North Texas 2 of my 6 hives have a singular frame like this- tons of drone brood at an odd pattern. Both of these hives are very populous and have tons of honey stored and we do have a mild flow of Snow of the Prairie coming in. In each hive, the rest of the frames are normal in regard to brood pattern. One of the hives with this frame has 8/10 frames being used with the outer two frames completely undrawn but with rolled wax on the frame. It also has a super with drawn comb that they could be u”

“First year Beekeeper SE Wy So I apparently smashed my queen in one of my hives. Panicked when I saw "swarm cells" and smushed those too, along with the newly hatched queen I thought was "extra." Checked yesterday and 0 brood or eggs. So reddit people, can I just take a frame of new eggs from my one hive with a queen and put in fhe queenless hive and let nature run its course? Or does anyone know someone with queens to purchase in my area? submitted by /u/Iorek0317”

“Hardiness zone: 9a Location: Central Texas My husband and I just got our 1st hive. A colony moved into our compost bin and we hired a local bee keeper to relocate them into a bee box. When the bee keeper moved the bees he didn’t check for a queen and recommended we just let them bee in there new box for at least a week. My husband and I inspected the box today for the first time and didn’t see a queen or any obvious signs of one (eggs or larva) but the combs is kind of a mess from the relocation”

submitted by /u/soupmcgoose [link] [comments]

“First Year beekeeper. I just walked out to see my hive completely covering the front of the box. The second photo is closer to what we are used to seeing. I'm in a pretty dry area and we did just have rain come through suddenly. Is this swarming or some weird reaction to the sudden downpour? Edit: I'm in Western Colorado. submitted by /u/YortRulz49 [link] [comments]”

“Northwest Kansas So I went on vacation for 3 weeks and meant to add a 3 box to my hive before I left and did not. My mom said she would, but apparently did not understand what i meant. So now it's the end of August and I have 2 brood boxes at 90% capacity and frankly they just look like they are overstuffed in there. What do I do? submitted by /u/megalegann [link] [comments]”

“This is my first year with a lot of hives. Had a robbing situation so I built these screens. Just noticed all seven hives have a pile of pollen out front now. Is it correct to assume these screens are somehow making the bees drop the pollen? The mesh is so small they have to crawl over it, so it is not because they are squeaking through. submitted by /u/MarvinMoonwalk [link] [comments]”

“Figure I would post here since I am foreign to this situation. My neighbor in my subdivision has recently put a bee hive in his side driveway at ground level in plain view from the street. It is situated about 20 feet away from my property line, having no buffer with the bees exit being directly pointed at my yard. I asked politely if he could relocate it to his privacy fenced backyard, but he just gave an excuse of having a dog and was the only place with lots of sun he could put it. Beekeeping”

“Weird question. I'm very pro bee and have a big pollinator yard in a neighborhood in the northwest US. Neighbor who owns the house next door and had been renting it out is now moving in and apparently bringing hive/hives with him. My yard currently gets a huge variety of bees and other pollinators. Will it be a more the merrier situation, or will the hive drive off or cause problems for the local bees, especially the solitary and carpenter bees? Anything I can do in advance to support the be”

“New York City, NY. 1 yr. 3 hives. My son and I have a rooftop apiary in midtown. Our first hive had a full medium super but I waited a couple weeks. Hive was split in early July. Clearly the bees consumed their own honey. Do they use the honey super honey before brood nest honey to feed brood? Brood nest continues to feel heavy with packed stores. I expect another flow in late Aug/Sep. Any thoughts? submitted by /u/weirdblitzboy [link] [comments]”

Hello, First year beekepeer. Currently it’s 5:30pm where i’m at, and it’s dearth period. I gave my bees sugar syrup 3 days ago during evening period around 9pm when it was slightly…

“So for the last couple of days we have seen bees swarming around our ring camera early in the morning. Just hundreds of them buzzing around the porch light. We eventually figured out that (thankfully) they were not creating a hive in our attic but instead a hollow part of our pepper tree. It's not uncommon to see hundreds of bees pollinating that tree every spring, but this is the first time we've seen a hive form. At least I think it's a hive. The hole is very small. Should we leave”

“On the foundation of a home. Appears to be bees? They fly, huge conglomerate of them on the ground. Don’t see a nest. Any idea what they’re doing? What they are specifically and how to treat? submitted by /u/JojoDaJoel [link] [comments]”

“Hello, Coastal SC First year I have a robbing problem. The little hive has been struggling since I installed it from a nuc in spring, however it is definitely queenright and trying to thrive. The issue is every single time I feed them(top feeder inside a closed box), the large strong hive next to it completely robs it. I took some honey frames out of the strong hive and put them in the weak one instead of feeding, they still went over and completely ransacked those frames. Basically any time the”

“Hudson Valley New York I bought a package of bees from a local farmer back in April. When I picked up the package, it looked like it wasn't as packed with bees as I've normally gotten in the past but figured I would give it a shot. I fed them later than normal and the hive never built past 5 frames in an 8 frame hive. I thought that they're likely a slower breed and since I wasn't planning on taking any honey this year, I'd let them "BEE". I didn't overdo my ins”

“My thinking so you can figure if I'm crazy, or not. I have two hives, first year packages, they are current the same config. 2 deeps(brood chambers), a queen excluder, and a medium super. The deeps are pretty full, and HEAVY. I was thinking about going into the future with a brood setup: 1 deep(bottom) and 1 medium(top), for weight issues. Hives are in eastern PA, I was wondering if I grab equipment now, I can split the deeps, into four hives, top all with mediums, and re-queen the two new o”

“Location: Central Virginia, USA New beekeepers here, getting stressed and frustrated with our second hive. Our first hive is quite docile and relaxed, and we went through the wringer getting the package to accept a queen. At this point, we can do simple inspections with no gear or smoke, they're happy as can be. This second hive has been a challenge. June 6, we brought them home, they were a split from our local club's apiary. We were told the hive was queenright when they wrapped it up.”

“Went on vacation after having to get a new queen, came back to find yellow jackets in and out of my hive within the 5 days i was gone. Started putting out traps and making a cardboard box to put in front of the hive to make a “maze” for them but not the bees. I also fed with the outside feeder and i think that caused this even more so… But today i see yellow jackets not so much anymore, but maybe other hives robbing it now? submitted by /u/sw3atypaws [link] [comments]”

“Hello! 🐝 It is my first year beekeeping with serious intent to make it a business. I’ve been beekeeping previously as a hobby for about 5 years. I have raised 2 unrelated colonies this spring from packages and they’ve done very well (both are currently double brood deeps). In my area (S.E. USA) we are due for a nectar/pollen flow in mid-late September. Right now, neither of my two colonies have any medium frames built up with comb. All my super frames are plastic foundation (painted with wax).”

“Cane back from holiday and we clearly have bees that have moved in. Should we be concerned? They’re not really bothering us but not sure if they’ll move all their mates if we’re a soft touch. As you may have noticed I don’t know anything about bees so any help much appreciated. We’re in London if that’s relevant submitted by /u/Hashtagbarkeep [link] [comments]”

“1 out of 3 of my hives are building out comb like crazy but not filling with honey / capping. This is only on the 2nd medium super, the lower one is mostly full. It's been about 3 weeks of all the frames having fresh comb but maybe 3% has capped honey. I also have a queen excluder in place if that makes any difference. I haven't seen this behavior before and wondering if there's anything to be concerned about. My other hives are slowly chugging along. Nectar flow seems pretty good (s”

“This was the same swarm where I set up a black sock with swarm commander and a queen cage. There was a steep hill so I decided against using the ladder and they were on a big branch I would have felt terrible trimming such a large limb off the tree. submitted by /u/joebojax [link] [comments]”

“So my pissy bees from previous post haven’t gotten better, they are now hopelessly queenless (MY TIME HAS COME!!!!) My “model citizen” hive provided larvae free frames w only fresh eggs (because that hive rocks) and my third party donor hive built up some queen cells because they needed a queen and made extra. Question is: will the pissy bees tear down a capped queen cell? These bitches are mean as hell, and by the time this queen would be laying in September, is it better to re-queen via a news”

“I live in Hailey, ID, and just checked my bee box. It is very full is it too late to add another box? submitted by /u/Foreign-Artist8577 [link] [comments]”

“Our hive swarmed into two clusters (Same hive swarmed a few weeks ago leaving queen cells and we were leaving nature do its thing and two queens must’ve hatched at the same time) we are just outside of stony plains. Looking for advice as they are higher up in a tree and our ladder doesn’t reach. The lower hive I was able to somewhat get into a Nuc box but the other is too high up. It’s a little late to split and we want as much of a healthy hive this winter as possible. First year beekeeper, par”

“Hello all. I have a workshop in the Castaic area that has become the home to what I believe is a large swarm of honey bees. If I get my landlord involved I don’t believe a humane collection will be performed and I’d hate to see that. My sister keeps bees in Indiana and I know she’ll often go collect an invasive colony in order to save them and I was hoping someone on here does the same or knows someone who does. I don’t mind paying someone for their time but I can’t afford to go crazy and would”

“So I have this hive that consists of three deep boxes. First two boxes (from bottom to top) is where the brood is and food for the brood. The third box is slowly getting filled with honey. As I was inspecting the hive, I noticed caped queen cels that are on the bottom or on side of the frame. There is only one queen cell per frame but there are even frames with brood that don't have any queen cells. I have confirmed that fresh eggs are present (so fresh that are still upright). So basically”

“At this point I now realize the mistake I’d made, which was letting this hive get away from me in the first place. Then the method of split I chose. I’m a new beekeeper. That being said, I’m wondering the best way to go from here. Here’s the full story: I live in growing zone 2B northern Canada. Captured this swarm last spring, they did really well over summer and filled 3 deep then swarmed into a neighbouring empty hive setup I’d had nearby. So I requeened the queenless hive. All seems well goi”

“First year beekeeper and sadly one our two NUCs swarmed about a week ago and disappeared into the sunset. The hive was doing incredibly good but I guess we didn’t put the 2nd brood box on soon enough. Now the numbers are less than half and we have a good amount of queen swarm cells. There are no new eggs since the hive swarmed. How long should we wait to see a new queen emerge before throwing in the towel and buying a new queen? First year beekeeper located in parkland county, Alberta Canada. &#”

“5 days ago a swarm of bees landed on the windscreen of my car. I called some local bee keepers who told me due to the bad weather they needed to rest and dry out and they will move on. Now they have made there way into the vent and I can't open the compartment as it is attached to my windscreen. I have been told on other pages to insecticide them and that they are feral European bees that will cause more damage to my car and wildlife than anything else. I don't want to kill them. I don&#”

submitted by /u/AvaLaurice [link] [comments]

“Hi Guys, First year beekeeper here and quick background, paranoid over the colony winter loss rates I keep reading. Currently have 2 hives(early may packages) and they exploded(might have overfed them), 2 deeps now. I have several broad frames and many food stores each. I feel I have too strong colonies, and look a little crowded. I was wondering if I grab a few frames of broad from each, and a new mail order queen, could I put together a third hive to increase my odds coming out of winter with”

“Newbie here, in Milwaukee WI. Should I be concerned that this shows they are preparing to swarm? My “bee buddy” says the hive is hot and they are just cooling off. It has been hotter than normal here this week, climbing into the mid 90’s. If it’s pre-swarming, what’s my best move? Try to find the queen and put her in a nuc with some frames and workers? And if I do that, is it advisable to put the nuc some distance away from the current hive? TIA submitted by /u/timhenk [link] [”

“First year beekeeper in NY’s Hudson Valley I began feeding internally this week, and the girls decided to do a little redecorating 😅 My mentor quickly pointed out my mistake— had the feeder directly on the frames vs separated by the inner cover. Fixed now! submitted by /u/haikugoo [link] [comments]”

“Victoria, B.C. Zone 8 Beginner/intermediate beekeeper with a bit of a weird situation going on with one of my hives. 14 days ago, we noticed swarming intentions with one of our hives, so we split the queen off into a nuc box, and reduced the number of queen cells to 2-3 (or so we thought...) Today, the original hive swarmed with a huge number of bees into a tree. I was able to tang them with pots and pans back into the original hive (can't believe this actually worked...) I am assuming it wa”

“Walked by my hive and it looks pretty crazy with bees flying around I had looked in previously and there was honey in the suppers but hadn’t fully looked in the brood box but hadn’t seen any cells. They have 4 honey suppers so I would’ve thought they had room. Thoughts? submitted by /u/Artistic_Mix8671 [link] [comments]”

“Today I was putting one of my last extracted supers back on its hive, I knew we are hitting the dearth hard but these are my strongest bees so I didn't think much about it and I had already reduced the entrance. Proceeded to walk down to the pond and went back to the bees about 30 minutes later to a heavy robbing attempt going on with the hive I had put the wet super on. What do? I thought nothing since this colony can fight it off but gonna be a big fight and no point in weakening the robbe”

“NW Florida, Zone 8 Two weeks ago I made a 5 frame split. The split had eggs and larvae for queen making. Today, 2 weeks later, no eggs. Possibly virgin queen yet to mate. Bees are plentiful and foraging. Question/opinion: what’s next step if remains queenless? submitted by /u/mslilly2007 [link] [comments]”

“Hey all, my girlfriend just got a hive this season in the spring and all things considered it’s going pretty well. Queen has been laying a ton of brood and we are two boxes deep. The problem is we definitely were finding some queen cells our last look into the hive and think the want to swarm. We are not prepared for that and if what I’m reading online is true this is not the time of year to do that. Kinda in a rock and a hard place. Don’t want to disturb the hive too much but don’t want them to”

“We got two NUCS about 6 weeks ago and things have been going well. We put the second brood box on both hives about 2 weeks ago as 70% of the first box was full. We checked last week and both hives were building and doing great. Today we check and one of the hives was super quiet as if a bunch of the bees died or left and we could not find the queen. We did find some eggs on the 2nd brood box but the comb building has really slowed down. At the bottom of the frames were the weirdly shaped structu”

“I had a large tree with an established bee colony inside the rotten branch fall over. The bees have remained so far. Is it possible to entice the beed to a hive and keep them on the property? Is this something a novice beekeepers can do? I have a hive and equipment but lack the knowledge to complete this task. I would be willing to pay someone to help me out. I don't want the bees to swarm or get killed by predators. submitted by /u/Classic-Ad1245 [link] [comments]”

“Strange happening yesterday, looking for feedback. Heard a hum outside, and came out to find this, what I assumed was a swarm. Thousands of bees everywhere. We were prepared to locate the queen, capture the swarm if necessary. But no cluster was visible in the trees, around the yard. Within 15 or so minutes, all the bees went back into the hive. Apart from about 50 bees we found on the ground, who seemed to be aggressively moving on our old queen (second part of the video). This hive was a split”

“I'm a 2nd year beekeeper in southern ON. I had one strong hive survive the winter. I got through May and assumed the swarming danger was mostly over. I had a deep and 2 mediums above the excluder, when I checked today 1 med full, 1 med <25% full and the deep ~ 60-70% full. I rearranged the boxes and put a bee escape under the full (now top) med, planning to harvest in a couple of days. I went out, when I returned my neighbour told me a massive cloud of bees had hovered over my hives and t”