Robbing is sometimes a more serious matter, although it very rarely
happens that a little careful attention just at the right time on the
part of the bee keeper would not avoid all serious trouble on this
score. When bees find nothing to gather during weather when they can
still fly out they are easily tempted to appropriate the stores of
weaker colonies. Exposure of combs of honey at such times may even
occasion a combined attack upon a good colony otherwise quite able to
take care of itself. It is then that the greatest destruction ensues,
for such a colony will defend itself vigorously, and a pitched battle,
with perhaps fifty or sixty thousand Amazons on either side, leaves the
ground literally strewn with dead and dying.
If the invaders conquer, every drop of honey is taken from the
few vanquished that are likely to be still alive; and in turn the
despoilers invariably fight among themselves as to the possession of
the booty. When the robbing takes place during the absence of the
owner, the condition of the robbed colony may not attract immediate
attention, and during warm weather moth larvæ gain full possession of
the combs within a few days. When this condition is observed, the whole
damage is very likely to be attributed to the moth larvæ. Colonies that
have been left queenless for some time, and those weakened by disease
or by overswarming, are especial marks for such attacks. Of course
these defects should be remedied whenever observed, but meanwhile, if
legitimate field work is likely to be interrupted, every colony should
be assisted in protecting itself against assault by having its hive
made secure and the entrance such a narrow pass as to enable a few
workers to repel attack there.
Should robbers get well started before being observed, the entrance
of the hive should be narrowed at once, and wet grass or weeds may be
thrown loosely over it, or a pane of glass may be stood against the
front of the hive in a slanting manner to confuse the intruders. In
extreme cases the attacked colonies may be removed to a cellar for a
few days, plenty of ventilation being given during confinement, and a
new location, apart from other colonies, selected, on which they are to
be placed just at nightfall; or, instead of putting them in the cellar,
they may be taken a mile or more away and returned only when the danger
has passed. With these precautions, little loss is to be feared on this
score.
In general, the intelligent owner who gives careful attention to
certain important points in bee management finds that he very rarely
has disease to contend with, and that the reduction of profits through
the depredations of bee enemies is not, in most parts of the Union,
a serious discouragement. Altogether it seems to the writer that the
risks in these directions are even less in bee keeping than those
usually met in the keeping of other animals, which, like bees, are
legitimately made to contribute to the wealth of the individual and of
the nation.