desperate foraging?

[Albert Gunther]

People in my neighborhood (near W side) are reporting "lots of bees" or "swarms of bees" in their yards yesterday and today.  I checked on one; not a swarm that I can see but a lot of bees flying around.

And I am seeing a lot of attempted robbing in my back yard.

Is that what's going on?

--

Albert C. Gunther, Professor emeritus
School of Journalism and Mass Communication
University of Wisconsin-Madison
821 University Ave.
Madison, WI 53706

[Paul Zelenski]

Uh oh, I better go check my hive on the west side and make sure they're not getting robbed. They usually have some robbing problems each year when I treat them for mites. 

It is likely that if there is a sugar source in a yard this time of year it will attract a 'swarm' of bees. Accidentally leave out  frame of honey or extracted frames and you will see an impressive cloud of bees in a hurry. I'm not sure what people might have, but perhaps soda cans or something would induce this behavior. Generally if they are foraging flowers it is more orderly and has a relaxed feeling. I do think the weather is warmer in comparison to the available forage this year, which induces more robbing and desperate foraging, as you call it. 

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[Albert Gunther]

I did just put in MAQ strips yesterday.

But why they are abundant in other yards (not near mine) I can't figure.

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[Paul Zelenski]

How close? If there is robbing, there is usually a lot of bees circling which would explain it for your direct neighbors. 

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[BETSY TRUE]

Things might be a little different this year if that hail storm cleared out all the blossoms in a broad area like they did here. This area is quite denuded of any blooms. I suspect I will have to feed now if they start consuming their stores from today.

The bees might be more desperate.

[jeanne hansen]

Robbing event!!

Last week I put a jar of syrup in each of my hives, and once they were empty, just left them there, above the inner cover.  Today, I took out those empty jars and replaced them with different, filled jars.  I left the empties standing inside my enclosed porch.  Of course the porch is not insect-tight.  By late afternoon, the honey bees were swarming around my back door, entering the porch, and getting trapped on the windows.  The only thing different is those empty feeding jars.  What??  Do they smell of bee hives?  Does that trace of flavored syrup on the inside of the jar smell like flowers?  I never saw such a thing.

Whenever I extract honey in my kitchen, some bees swarm to the screens on the open window, but nothing like today.

So any non-beekeeper with anything sweet exposed in the yard, or even house, might see "swarms" of bees.  Very inetersting.

 

Thanks!
Jeanne Hansen
824 Jacobson Ave
Madison, WI 53714
608-244-5094

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From: BETSY TRUE <bt...@wisc.edu>
To: Madbees <mad...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, September 20, 2016 7:17 PM
Subject: Re: [madbees] desperate foraging?

[Joseph Bessetti]

You wrote "flavored syrup".  What did you put in it besides sugar and water?  If you put something in it besides pure sugar that is likely what the bees are smelling and attracted to.   

Joe

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From: 'jeanne hansen' via madbees <mad...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, September 20, 2016 8:03 PM
To: mad...@googlegroups.com

[James]

Like a lot of people, I used to hope for a late season flow to finish off supers.  I used to set a target date of getting all extracting done by Labor Day along with closing down the entrances.  After last years robbing blitz, I moved that date up two weeks.  Even if I can't immediately extract, I try to get the supers off and stored by then.  It made a world of difference.  I was also lucky this year to get the mite treatments done early.  I'm going to lay off feeding until it gets much cooler.  They're still foraging pretty well.  Everything seems orderly for now.  But the reports of robbing are pretty bad this year again.  I don't know if its the warmer falls, the increased frequency of hives, or something else.  I used to never worry about robbing, and usually left openings wide open well into the fall.  No more of that.  You just have to adapt to the times.  

[Paul Zelenski]

I agree. Every year I wish I had taken the honey earlier and treated earlier. Every year I am trying to treat and combine hives when the robbing pressure is high, which makes my job much more difficult. I also am always afraid I'm going to run out of time before it gets too cold. So, I'm going to do it earlier next year like Dan does. ...

...or at least hope I will.