It’s been a busy couple months, and we’ve reached a milestone. The honeybees have been doing extremely well, growing in number, still amazingly calm and gentle. From egg to pupae to emergence as a worker bee, takes 21 days. In the summer, hard working worker bees typically live 45 days at most, which brings us to 66 days total, that’s today. Every honey bee in our hive is officially a Lumberton Leasian.
However, several residents’ enjoyment has been interrupted by bees in their hummingbird feeders. In an effort to combat this problem, I purchased an ant/bee proof hummingbird feeder. Being the biggest skeptic, I set out to disprove its claim and hung it right in front of the hive. I humbly watched as one of our bee scouts tried to access the syrup. Unsuccessful, the word spread quickly throughout the hive and they didn`t even try anymore. In two days I was able to take some pictures of a hummingbird drinking, which was nice. The ants fall into a water trap and drown.
Honeybees have to enter a flower/feeder via a slanted entryway; this feeder is flat topped, almost horizontal. Honeybees are attracted to yellow, so if your feeder has those yellow flowers at the syrup access points, remove them. Replace them with available little plastic tubular sleeves with self mending bottoms that slip down the holes in those slanted feeders. The hummingbirds’ tongues easily poke through the slotted bottom to get the syrup. The honeybees’ tongues are not long or strong enough to get in.
Some of you have noticed our bees hanging around en mass out front. They’ll do this for a few reasons. Our reason is; it`s hot and humid inside the hive. The best temperature for brood rearing is 92º. They will be found at the entrance and under the screened bottom fanning the wings to remove excess moisture and ventilate the hive.
This is a lot of work especially for a young colony. So I decided to help them out by adding a ventilation hole in one of the upper bodies, along with an empty body for added dead air space as a cushion. This action proved to be a bad idea.
This new air vent not only provided a hot air escape, but to my surprise, a second entrance for starving outsiders to siege. August is typically a time of dearth, many beekeepers choose to supplement their bees, and others do not. Feral bees must always fend for themselves. Especially having a new colony, I’ve supplemented constantly to reduce stress.
The next day, all the syrup was gone and 100 or more dead bees were lying out front. The “robbers,” as they`re referred to, were trying to get into the new vent/entrance and it was taking two or three of our bees per robber to defend. I quickly removed the extra entrance/vent, refilled the syrup and swept away the dead. I caught one of the robbers to take home and try to identify.
Beekeepers have their own preference in strains of bee. Ours are Italian; small, furry, light yellowish brown with two to three rings of black at the end of the abdomen. Italian-bred bees are known for their gentleness, good hygiene, ease of handling and are good honey producers. For example, I rarely wear as little as a bandana anymore and have yet to get stung. I believe I identified the robbers as Carolinian Caucasians.
Caucasians are bigger, stronger, and more aggressive. The strongest will survive theory. Some beekeepers choose them for those very reasons. The robbers were easy to distinguish from our bees at our hive because they are a little bigger, hardly fuzzy, with a shiny longer abdomen that is almost one-half black. Plus their behavior was ruder. I was stung twice that day.
Several robbers remained at the site of the missing upper vent the next day, but no more dead, and only one or two robbers the day after that. This leaves us with our original problems: the robbing of the hummingbird feeders, the heat and humidity in the hive, and the newly added stress from the attack.
I believe if we amend our hummingbird feeders with those minor changes mentioned earlier, the feeder-robbing will stop. Please feel free to come and borrow the honeybees’ hummingbird feeder and test it out in your own back yard. It’s red and hanging on a wire left-front the hive. Share with others how it works out for you.
Honeybees’ lives are so short; their wings only last so long. Fanning the entrance to ventilate a hot hive is a waste of precious wing resources, and now they`re understaffed. Since we know an extra vent near the roof is an invitation for robbers, I’ll add a temporary awning or umbrella for extra shade, which should do the trick while it remains hot and humid. Things should get back to normal soon after that.
I’ve never been a journal writer, but I was encouraged to keep an account of my observations each visit to the hive, if for no other reason than a reference. I’m so glad I did. Now I have a very informal thick journal in an old notebook, and I have some pictures too. If anyone would care to see it, feel welcomed.