Beehive Robbing & How to Manage It in Your Bee Yard

“Robbing” is a term in the beekeeping world that refers to the act of bees (or other insects and animals, like wasps) invading another hive to steal the resources from within.  

Robbing often occurs during periods of a nectar dearth, or whenever natural sources are hard to come by. Times where robbing is occurring can be pretty stressful, for both the beekeeper and the honeybee.  

We’ll dive a little deeper into managing robbing and helping to limit your and your colony’s stresses and agitation during a difficult threat facing many beehives. 

When & Why Does Robbing Occur?

As mentioned above, robbing occurs when there are very few natural resources available to give honeybees and/or other insects the sufficient resources they need to grow and survive.  

Since honeybees consistently collect and store both pollen and nectar resources within their hive to use later when they need it, they become a target to those other insects that are scrambling for food and can smell your colony’s sweet bounty. 

There are several times when robbing activities are most prevalent, like in the late summer or early fall months. Robbing can realistically occur at any point throughout the year, however, so it’s important to make note of what’s happening at your hive’s entrance upon each visit to the bee yard. 

The Impact of Robbing High-Risk Colonies 

Even if it’s your colony that’s low on stores and robbing another colony that has some, many risks can come along with increased robbing activities. Bees and insects that are traveling among many colonies can spread varroa mites and diseases. If robbing activities aren’t mitigated, your colony’s health can be impacted directly. 

Honeybees who are always on high alert and need to combat intruders at the entrance of their hive are also affected, being run ragged by being on the defense.  

Weaker or smaller colonies, especially later in the season, are even more susceptible to succumbing to the dangers of robbing. See more below on how you can help weaker or smaller colonies ahead of robbing activity and/or a dearth. 

The other obvious impact of robbing happens when the guards at the entrance are unable to fully protect it, either due to lack of numbers or to having too large of a space to defend. Other honeybees and insects like wasps or hornets make their way inside the hive and to the stored nectar or pollen. If the colony is not strong enough for the bees inside to defend the area, the intruders will make off with some of the colony’s stores.  

Robbing typically occurs when insects need nectar or honey as opposed to pollen. They may even rip open capped honey cells to take what’s inside. In times of increased robbing, you’ll notice stores being depleted and you might also notice an excess of wax pieces building up on your bottom board. 

What You Can Do to Help

Follow the steps below (ahead of a dearth and increased robbing activity whenever possible) to ensure your bees are able to keep themselves protected, without undue stress, during times of increased robbing activity.

• Install Entrance Protection – Add a robbing screen or entrance reducer (see the “Learn More” section below for hive entrance guarding products) to give honeybees a smaller space to defend. Many beekeepers will install these between the months of July and September, though this timeline may change based on your beekeeping season. Ensure a reduced entrance is installed before a dearth is likely to occur in your area.  
• Combine Weaker Colonies – If you have a colony that is weaker and hasn’t progressed as well as you’d hoped, it could be completely decimated by robbers. Robbers can impact both honey stores and a colony’s ability to overwinter, as well as their overall health now. If you have more than one colony and another is stronger and able to defend themselves better, it may benefit both colonies to combine them into one. Learn more about one way to complete this task here. 
• Ensure Queen Health – If a queen’s laying pattern is interrupted or inconsistent, it can stunt colony growth and set them back in being able to fend off robbers. If a queen is failing or has had issues with laying successfully, replace her to retain continued brood production and colony growth. It helps to ensure you’re keeping an eye on this well before a dearth occurs as it will ensure enough bees are successfully bred to guard the entrance during heavier robbing periods.  
• Continually Check Mite Levels (and treat when necessary*) – A hive that’s impacted by high levels of varroa mites is likely to be sicker, weaker, and much less able to defend against robbing bees. Making sure you know what mite counts are and when it’s time to help bees manage them creates a chain reaction to having stronger, more capable defender bees.  
  • *Important Note: Some varroa mite treatments not only have temperature restrictions and can’t be used when robbing is likely to occur, they may also have guidelines for hive entrances and screened openings. Pay close attention to these labels and avoid using a mite treatment that would require you to leave entrances open during a dearth or other period of robbing. 
• Make Note of When Robbing Occurs in Your Area – Take good notes on when you see robbing activity and responses from your colony throughout the year, like times that the hive is extra defensive and when entrance-guarding activity is increased. It can help you to be prepared in future seasons to have entrance reducers or robbing screens in place ahead of when the activity is set to begin. Use your beekeeping logbook or a printable resource like Marta’s beehive inspection checklist to help you keep track. 
• Feed Bees When Necessary – If a colony has not been able to build up sufficient nectar or pollen stores, or if their stores have been decimated by robbers, it is likely time to feed them. If bees are robbed out, they run the risk of succumbing to starvation and not overwintering successfully. The “Learn More” section below has some additional resources and products relating to feeding your bees. 
  • But… Don’t Feed at the Hive Entrance – Feeding bees outside the hive in any way is just asking for trouble. The enticing smell of free sugar syrup is much more pungent when not inside the hive protected by propolis and wax. Feed using in-hive feeders or those that can sit inside the hive above the inner cover but inside another hive body. 
  • And… Watch Out for Honey Spillage or Exposed Frames – If you’re feeding your hive and pouring from a container into the feeder itself, be sure to clean up any spilled syrup. Same thing with exposed frames that have honey, store them in sealed containers and don’t leave them out anywhere close to hives. Any syrup, wax, or old comb outside near a beehive will attract other robbing bees and insects, and possibly even bears, to its entrance as the sweet scent of honey wafts through the air. It’s not worth the risk! 
  • One more tip… – When adding supplemental feed to your hives, try to do so in the late afternoon/early evening or very early in the morning. During these times of day, there are fewer scouts out and about searching for nectar.

Robbing can be a huge threat to some hives, often taking place during a time when bees should be able to focus on growing their colony, not just defending themselves. Being conscious of when and why robbing happens, and knowing how to help your bees make it less difficult to manage can make all the difference. 

Learn More

Check out some of our free resources below that are related to managing the threat of robbing and related concerns, like helping bees through a dearth, keeping hives safe from varroa infestations, and feeding bees.

• A Guide to Beehive Entrance Management – Find out more in our article about helping your colonies to guard their entrance. 
• Helping Your Bees Through a Pollen or Nectar Dearth – A common cause for increased robbing activity is a nectar or pollen dearth. Learn more about how to help your bees through a dearth in our Snippet. 
• When to Feed Honeybee Colonies – A PerfectBee Snippet on knowing when it’s time to feed your colonies.  
• How to Feed Your Honeybees – Another feeding Snippet that details how to go about the task of feeding your bees.  
• The Beekeeper’s Role in Avoiding Colony Starvation – Some colonies may meet the unfortunate fate of perishing due to starvation, sometimes directly related to robbing activities during a nectar dearth. Learn more in our article about your role in avoiding this fate for your bees. 
• A New Beekeeper’s Journal: A Fall Checklist – Our blog post gives some great tips for managing colonies in the fall, especially when it comes to robbing. 
• A New Beekeeper’s Journal: Fall Changes in the Apiary – More on the fall season and ensuring bees are strong enough to fend off robbers and start preparing for winter.  
• A New Beekeeper’s Journal: Colony Growth Spurt – This post touches on dealing with growing colonies and helping them to manage certain situations like robbing. 
• A New Beekeeper’s Journal: Educational Resources for Beekeepers – This post goes over a ton of great resources for beekeepers and gives some great examples of ways to handle robbing in your bee yard. 
• Perspective on Feeding Bees – Find out more about when and how you should consider feeding your bees. 
• Outside the Swarm: Bees in Late Summer – This blog post goes into managing bees during late summer months, a time when robbing is often seen. 
• The Types of Mite Treatments Available – Some mite treatments have special regulations and treatment requirements according to the EPA label. When choosing a mite treatment during times of robbing, pay close attention to the restrictions on each treatment and ensure you aren’t choosing a treatment that requires entrances to remain fully open, making it difficult for bees to defend. 
• Practical Hive Inspection Tips – Our Snippet touches on some tips you can use when inspecting your beehives to make things a little bit easier, even when it comes to robbing emergencies. 
• A Beehive Autopsy – Though no beekeeper wants to inspect a deadout hive, it’s a sad reality that some beekeepers may face. Knowing how to tell if robbers played a part in your colony’s demise can make it much easier to keep future colonies healthy. 
• Maintaining the Integrity of the Beehive – As a beekeeper, it’s your responsibility to ensure you maintain your beehive’s integrity. Find out more about what this means and how it relates to robbing in our article. 

Robbing Prevention & Assistance Products in the PerfectBee Store

As with many beekeeping tasks, having the right equipment on hand before you need it can make completing the task and aiding your bees much easier for both you and them. Some of our favorite robbing prevention tools and equipment are below, get yours today to help your bees keep their entrance guarded a little more easily.

• Wooden Robbing Screen (8 or 10-frame boxes) – Adding a robbing screen gives bees the ability to keep the hive ventilated, but to also better protect the hive’s entrance from robbers.  
• Also available for wooden nucleus colony boxes here.  
• BeeSmart Universal IPM Robbing Screen – The Universal robbing screen is the perfect choice for many beekeepers to give hives entrance protection and ventilation with its innovative and effective design. 
• Wooden Cedar Langstroth Entrance Reducer – The standard option for those looking to reduce their hive’s entrance. With 2 different sized openings, you can choose how much area your bees will be able to defend. 
• Also available for 5-frame wooden nucleus colony boxes here.  
• HiveGate Single Entrance – HiveGate™ provides a missing link between your hive’s entrance and the winter cluster by positioning the hive entrance inside the hive, directly under the cluster, where the colony can actively and more easily control what comes in and goes out. 
• An entrance reducer or adapter plate is required but not included. 
• Stainless Steel Entrance Reducer – Add this stainless reducer to your wooden entrance reducer to keep both mice and other insects from easily entering your hive. 
• Lyson Entrance Reducer – If you have a Lyson polystyrene hive and want to replace your entrance reducer, you can get one in the PerfectBee Store! 
• 1 Gallon Feeder Pail – When feeding bees during times of dearth and/or robbing, the 1-gallon feeder pail is a great choice as it can stay protected inside a hive body. 
• Ultimate Direct Feeder – An in-hive feeder that provides the preferred method for bees to feed on sugar syrup.  
• Wood Frame Hive-Top Feeder – This hive-top feeder has a large syrup capacity and stays protected by the hive’s outer cover to help inhibit robbing.  
• Division Board Feeder – Though a frame (sometimes two) must be removed to use one, many beekeepers prefer division board feeders as they keep the syrup safe inside the hive. 
• Small Jar Feeder – This small jar feeder works perfectly to securely hold a mason jar full of sugar syrup (mason jar not included). Place it on the inner cover inside another hive body to ensure syrup is safe from robbers. 
• Boardman Feeder (with Jug) – During a nectar dearth, using a Boardman feeder at the hive’s entrance is not recommended as it can encourage a LOT of robbing activity. A Boardman feeder can be used inside the hive instead, with an extra hive body placed around it (and the inner and outer covers on top) to keep the syrup inside the jug or jar protected. 

Colony Member Resources

Member-Only Academy Lessons 

Colony members, check out these lessons in our PerfectBee Academy Syllabus that can help you learn more about robbing and how to help your bees fight it. 

• The Threat of Robbing – Our members-only Academy lesson that dives even deeper into mitigating the threat of robbing  
• Preparing for a Deep and Long Winter- Since no natural resources are available, robbing can still be a threat on warmer days in the winter. Learn about protecting your hive through the colder months in our lesson. 
• Thoughts on Responsible Beekeeping – This lesson goes into detail on what responsible beekeeping means for both you and your bees and covers how that relates to robbing, too. 
• Using Feeders With Your Hive – Using feeders during a nectar dearth may be necessary, especially if robbing is occurring and your hive is losing its resources to robbers. But take care and ensure to feed inside the hive, not outside. Learn more in this lesson. 
• Tracking Hive Progress and Keeping Records – We’re consistently mentioning the importance of taking notes and how it can help you in your beekeeping. Robbing is certainly no exception! Learn more about taking good notes about your colonies with this interesting lesson.  

Forum Posts 

Many members have asked questions and started discussions on the Colony Forum relating to robbing activities in their bee yards and how to handle it. Colony members, check out the threads below about robbing or start one of your own on the Forum. 

• Bees Flying Everywhere – Karen notices an increase in bee activity around her hives, should she be worried about robbing? How should she handle it? 
• Formic Pro / Fully Open Entrance (Robber Threat?) – Heather has some worries (but gets some great insights) about using Formic Pro, especially during a dearth when robbing may be occurring. 
• About robbing screens – Jay asks about robbing screens & gets other members’ and Ambassador’s thoughts on their pros and cons. 
• Am I being robbed? – Michael wonders if he has a hive that’s being robbed & gets some insights. 
• Robbing Protection – PerfectBee Ambassador Joe shares a fascinating video and some assistance to beekeepers in need of robbing protection. 
• Robbers 1 day HELP! – Sarah has robbers attacking her hive and needs help, but luckily gets some awesome insights from her questions 
• Lost my weak hive to robbers…photos attached – Roberta may have lost a hive due to robbers, but instead of getting discouraged, chooses to see it as a lesson for better beekeeping in the future. 
• Bring Out Your Dead – Michael asks a great question, can robbing screens slow down housekeeping activities? Learn more about his and other members’ thoughts on that concern in his discussion thread. 
• 2022 From Great to Disaster – Another member with colonies who suffered greatly due to beehive robbery. Ernie does get some insights on protecting other colonies in the future, though. 
• Entrance Reducer- Another great question from Michael, which size entrance should be in place on his hives? 
• IPM. Integrated pest management – Protection from robbers should be part of any IPM plan, find out more about IPM and robbing from Jim’s question. 
• When To Increase Hive Entrance? – Ted asks how he can know when it’s time to increase his hive’s entrance opening. 
• Recovery from Varroa Mites – Chris’s hive has been affected by robbing AND varroa mites. This thread is filled with great insights from Ambassadors and members alike on fighting both threats. 
•  Cooling Off in Hot Weather – What concerns come along with opening a hive’s entrance to give them more ventilation in hot weather? Well, robbing of course! Dennis shares a photo and question and gets some great responses. 
• Entrance Size for Winter in NJ – Even in the winter months, robbing from insects or mice may still be an issue as resources aren’t available. Find out about what an appropriate winter entrance may look like in this thread. 

Are you not yet a Colony member but have an interest in accessing the awesome member-only beekeeping resources like the Academy lessons and Forum discussion threads listed above? Head here to learn more about all the benefits that come along with Colony membership and to sign up!