ROBBING IN THE APIARY
A CAUSE OF DEMORALISATION
The moral law seems to be as potent among the bees as among men,
and if the law be broken there is a moral penalty attached. Nothing
demonstrates this more fully than robbing in the apiaries, for as
soon as it begins utter demoralisation ensues. All legitimate work is
stopped, and all the energies of the bees are devoted to ill-gotten
gain and in fighting with each other, or attacking anything or anybody
that comes near them. One of the signs of this demoralisation is that
robbing makes the bees very cross. The experienced bee-keeper can
detect robbing by the angry humming which pervades the apiary, which is
a sound as different from the ordinary contented hum of the working bee
as martial music is from a pastoral symphony.
WHY BEES ROB
Bees rob for the very human and natural reason that the stores gathered
by the hard work of others are coveted and are more easily stolen
than earned by labour. When dealing with bees we must always remember
that the interest of the individual centres in its own colony, and
that it has neither love nor devotion to any other colony, nor to
bees in general; indeed, quite otherwise. Endowed with an instinct
almost fiendish, bees seem to understand when another colony is weak
or discouraged, and, therefore, offers a legitimate field for plunder.
Strong colonies are seldom robbed, as they are able to drive out and
kill the thieves; but the weak colony is a constant temptation to ill
doing, and should be carefully watched and guarded.
WHEN BEES ROB
This occurs usually when there is little honey to be found in the
field. Satan provides mischief for the idle six feet and four wings
quite as efficiently as for hands. At the end of the honey-harvest
there may be a general temptation throughout the apiary to break open
vaults of precious stores belonging to others, and escape with the
contents. At the close of the honey season strong colonies usually have
plenty of sentinels to guard the entrance and look after suspicious
strangers. Never at any time should honey-comb be left open around the
apiary, for it always leads to robbing. It seems to suggest to the bees
that honey gathered is a much more desirable product than that worked
for in the fields.
Sometimes when preserving or pickling is going on in the house the bees
start to rob the kitchen; and while they may be deterred by screened
windows, yet the smell of the sweets may so excite them to desires for
forbidden wealth that they seem to become discontented with the grind
of daily toil, and so begin robbing their neighbours.
HOW THE ROBBING IS DONE
The robber, unless she be hardened by success, alights on the threshold
of the hive which contains coveted stores with an air that is decidedly
apologetic, having the general appearance of a prospecting dog with his
tail apprehensively between his legs. She shows her guilty conscience
by dodging back if she meets one of the legitimate owners coming out of
the hive; she is thus trying the skill and prowess of the sentinels,
for if by assuming bravado she can pass the sentinels she is usually
safe; then she has nothing to do but to fill with honey and to run the
gauntlet of the sentinels again, for perchance some of them may stop
her and ask her why she is going out of the hive _filled_ with honey, a
proceeding altogether reprehensible in the bee world. If she succeeds
in carrying back to her own hive the honey thus stolen, she creates
great excitement there and soon she leads back a mob to pillage;
and the air is full of bees bent on wickedness. Mr. Root describes
graphically the successful robber thus: “A bee that has stolen a load
is generally very plump and full, and as it comes out has a hurried and
guilty look; besides it is almost always wiping its mouth like a man
who has just come out of a beer shop. Most of all it finds it a little
difficult to take wing as bees ordinarily do because of its weight.” As
a consequence a robber bee borne down with its load of sweetness is
likely to crawl up the hive a little way so as to have the advantage of
a high place to “jump from” as it takes wing. The virtuous worker comes
out of the hive slim and depleted of her load and flies off leisurely
to the field, while the robber comes out stuffed full and furtively
climbs up the side of the hive in order to be able to be off.
We usually detect robbing in our apiary by the fighting which we
observe about the entrance; when we see a pair of workers rolling over
and over with each other in the grass near the hive we know that one
of them is a robber, but as we do not know which one we are obliged
to apply the test meted to the knights of old, and believe that the
one who survives is in the right. However, we take measures at once to
defend this hive. Also if we discover the bees to be particularly cross
some day, we look about to see what has aroused their ire, and nine
times out of ten find that robbing is the cause of their ill temper.
HOW TO STOP ROBBING
Contract the entrance to the hive being robbed. To do this we place
blocks in front of it, leaving only enough space so that one or two
bees can pass in at a time. The robbers having to enter in single file
attract the attention of the suspicious sentinels and are either driven
back or killed at once. It is unsafe to close the entrance entirely,
unless it is done with a wire screen, for the bees within will smother
unless the air is admitted through the entrance. It is always well
to keep the entrance of the hive which contains a weak colony or a
nucleus somewhat contracted as a measure of insurance. If contracting
the entrance does not stop robbing, Mr. Root advises strewing long
grass about the entrance which he wets thoroughly. The robbers are too
wary to try to rob after they have wet their “feathers” in passing
through this grass; for thus handicapped they could hardly escape from
their enraged victims; while the robbers already within the hive after
having thus to crawl out will hasten home to get their clothes dry. Mr.
Doolittle uses a common sheet which he places over the hive that is
being robbed, while Mr. Miller places over the victimised hive a bee
tent of mosquito netting, which has a hole in the top which permits the
robbers to escape.
A bee tent is a most useful adjunct to the apiary; there are many times
when it may be used, but it is especially useful in preventing robbing.
It is simply a tent made of mosquito netting large enough to be set
over the hive and the operator. When opening the hives at midday the
tent is used to prevent the robbers from attacking the exposed stores.
Mr. Root advises working at nightfall when bees are cross or given to
robbing; but most bee-keepers declare that the bees will crawl all
over one at night, and are no more to be gotten rid of than a porous
plaster, at which Mr. Root promptly responds, “Do not stand near the
lamp.”
Enterprising men exchange places of the robbers and victims, which
produces a confusion that restores quiet. The robbers come back to
the weak colony laden with its own stores and join it and help fight
off intruders; while a strong colony of robbers is quite capable of
defending itself.
Another clever trick practised in Europe is to place some disagreeable,
strong-smelling substance on the bottom board of the hive that is being
robbed; wormwood, musk, carbolised paper, are used for this. The odour
disconcerts the robber unless she is lost to all sense of bee decency;
and if she does steal honey from such a hive and returns home her doom
is sealed; for although in the bee world the way of the transgressor is
not always hard, the way of the citizen that smells differently from
her sisters leads to her murder and sudden death.
If a robber colony has almost completed its nefarious work, some people
believe that it is best to let it make a clean job, and thus become
satisfied there is no more plunder to be had, else the robbers will
hunt other hives for depredation. The bee memory seems to be very
good, and if the robbers have not cleaned up all the honey which they
remember is there, they hunt for it elsewhere. We could never bring
ourselves to a frame of mind to permit this calmly, though it seems
like sensible advice. Robbing makes us so indignant that we refuse to
allow the spoils to the victor.
Bees are certainly very clever, and they are able to learn. The old and
successful robber soon reasons it out that where the bee-keeper with a
smoker belches forth annoying fumes, there are to be found open hives
ready for robbing; such bees will follow the operator from hive to
hive, taking their tithe from the helpless colonies. For such robbers
as these a way to appease them is a device for letting them rob where
they can do little damage. Unsalable comb partly filled is put in hives
or supers piled up. These are ventilated by having a wire screen above,
the cover lifted, and the entrance contracted so that only one bee can
pass in and out at a time. This keeps the robbers busy and happy and
out of the way, and the process is called “slow robbing.”
Some apiarists remove the robbed colony to a cellar for a day or two
until it can recover its communal courage.
BORROWING
When a colony is queenless, or for some reason has no brood, it often
allows the robbers to come and go at will, as if it had found life
worthless anyhow, and that there was no use in struggling. It seems
possessed of the sort of pessimism which leads to stoic recklessness.
This can usually be stopped by giving the plundered colony a queen and
brood; as soon as the bees find they have something worth while to live
for and fight for they are mightily heartened and offer a brave defence.
WHAT BECOMES OF THE ROBBED COLONY
Some of the bees are adaptable, and when they lose courage in defending
their own stores they turn about and help carry these stores to the
hive of the robbers, which they join, thus swearing allegiance to a
new flag. Others, more loyal, will cling to the old empty comb, cluster
there, hopeless and despairing until they die of starvation.
MAXIMS TO PREVENT ROBBING
Be sure that the bees are robbing, before applying remedies.
Keep the colonies strong.
Keep watch of the hives in early spring and late fall when there is no
honey coming in.
Leave no honey or loose comb open around the apiary under any
circumstances.
If bees are determined to rob when the hives are opened by the
operator, it is best to work under a bee tent or after nightfall.
Robbing demoralises the whole apiary. If the bees are cross, look out
for robbers.
Be very careful in uncapping not to let the bees get a taste of the
chyle food, as that makes them very cross and wild to rob.
Keep Italians.
Do not let the colony become queenless, as a queenless colony is
legitimate prey for many depredators.