# Catching robber bees and making them your own.



## drem00 (Aug 9, 2017)

If it was that easy then this would have been a long time ago. Forage bee's are "programed" to there beehives smell and queen pheromone and will always go back. That's why when beehives are moved the forage bees usually go back to there original beehive location. It's much easier to package nurse bees because they have never flown out of the hive and will stay in a new hive once moved.


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## Nhaupt2 (May 31, 2016)

sounds like bee rustling to me. I would be pissed if my neighbor did this


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## hive beetle (Sep 26, 2017)

Yeah, I kind of figured that, but I did catch half a package of robbers last September and put a queen in with them. I left them together for a week under the house and fed them, like a new package. They seemed to come together, and released them into a hive with some drawn brood. they stayed but began to dwindle after 2 weeks, and I couldnt find the queen. They did seem to fly in and out set up some guards, etc, so it wasnt like they just all flew away to their initial hive. Maybe it just took some time for them to figure their way back home.

I just was wondering if I could have done something different to overcome their desire to return to their own hive after a time, and accept that queen. i dont know if they killed her, or if the queen was sick as she did come from a failing hive.

I guess it would be very difficult to do to overcome that initial programming. Hard to teach old bees new tricks. I would have guessed on some level a forager could regress to duties of a younger bee if the cluster found itself in need for some reason, just due to the efficiency of design as to the needs of the whole to survive. Thanks.


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## hive beetle (Sep 26, 2017)

BEE RUSTLING!!! now theres a thought!


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## Mike Gillmore (Feb 25, 2006)

I suppose it might be possible. 
Is it ethical? Your neighbor beekeepers might not think so. 

I suggest taking the high road. Spend your spare time building some swarm traps for next spring, or get yourself on a local swarm call list.


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## hive beetle (Sep 26, 2017)

I dont know about the ethics question. just thinking out loud. 

the thought was generally if old bees can somehow regress in their hive duties if they find themselves in a situation where the foragers return to the hive and somehow an animal or something has wiped out the brood but the queen survives. So you are left with the queen and a majority of foragers. What will they do and what happens?

I know I threw in too many variables with the new queen, and the bees from anywhere. I guess these robbers were democrats, republicans, conservatives and liberals, jews and palestinians, all from parts unknown, all thrown together in a box with nothing to protect. Can they be manipulated to form a cohesive and productive unit? It seemed like they managed not to kill each other, and maybe they would have been productive if they had a decent queen. That is the question. being new I have zero idea of how a bee package is made--are they all shook from the same hive, or do they combine boxes and give them a new queen? 

The ethics question is interesting and could, it seems to me, to also relate to swarms. Are you catching the swarms of your neighbors by setting out traps to entice them? Or are they feral bees? who knows? Does anyone brand their bees like cattle for identification? whats the difference between doing this and setting out honey to catch feral free flying bees and re-queening them, IF that was even possible? 
My argument would be that the swarm is a reproductive action by the swarm, and if it comes on your property and you catch them its ok. Its more of a passive action. the robber catching situation is more like bee hunting in a way. But both ways you are ACTIVELY enticing them to catch and use as your own. I dont know--interesting question with many opinions i would guess. 

I think in the end buying a package or getting a swarm is the cheapest. I dont think a great industry in bee rustling would be spawned, where you get a partridge family type bus full of honey and traps and park it near an apiary to get bees. Then repackage angry bees with a crappy queen to sell? nah, think i would stick to a Bitcoin investment.


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## JWPalmer (May 1, 2017)

You're almost there. Putting swarm traps near an apiary is not illegal or unethical as long as you have the landowner's permission. Wouldn't be mentioning it to anyone though...


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## mlanden (Jun 19, 2016)

Just out of curiosity, beetle -- are your hives actually ON Wr. Beach? I've wondered how hives on the islands would fare (considering being off the mainland, and the weather conditions, etc). I'm in Greenville -- used to live in Wilmington. Hard to imagine hives in Hatteras or Rodanthe flourishing. I don't recall seeing many blooming things that way in past visits.

Re: concerns of ethics and nabbing robber bees -- should anybody really care? I mean ..... the bees're robbers, for God's sakes, not friendly visitors. I think all bets s/b off in regard to them. When my 2 hives collapsed last year, my neighbor's bees robbed 'em. I'd've blasted the lousy little bugs if I'd had the option.


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## RayMarler (Jun 18, 2008)

Forage bees are old enough that they only have a couple weeks of life left. You trap them in with a queen, and the queen starts laying, but the first new brood won't emerge for 3 weeks. The hive will be empty of bees by then. You'll do much better buying a package or setting out some swarm traps.


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## ericweller (Jan 10, 2013)

Last year, a small hive was under a massive robbing attack. I closed the moving screen locking the robbers inside and moved it to another outyard. Since the robbers couldn't find their way back home, they stayed with the hive and really boosted the hive's numbers.


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## JWPalmer (May 1, 2017)

And that, my fellow beeks, is bee rustling done right!

:thumbsup:


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## heaflaw (Feb 26, 2007)

ericweller said:


> Last year, a small hive was under a massive robbing attack. I closed the moving screen locking the robbers inside and moved it to another outyard. Since the robbers couldn't find their way back home, they stayed with the hive and really boosted the hive's numbers.



I've always wondered if that would work.


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## hive beetle (Sep 26, 2017)

Hi mlanden. Go Pirates! 

I am basically on the intracoastal waterway overlooking the Island of Wrightsville. So my bees were on the mainland mostly. I dont know of a beek on the island proper, but with their range and Landfall right across the waterway I am sure they would do well. We do have the beach wind here on a regular basis, and its hard to see how they dry that nectar out with all the humidity here in the summer. I think a bee's range here would get them enough to use on the mainland. Hatteras and the OBX area are desolate and nothing but sand and cut off by the pamlico sound. I would think bees there would be hard pressed for nectar, unless they could get it out of a mullet. 

I had 2 top bar type hives (cathedral hives) and have just enough property to put one top bar hive on it without much notice of the neighbors. This place is only 28 houses with a gated community and a marina, and way too many bosses than workers, so you dont want to tee anyone in here off. They all have lawyers on retainers.

the other hive was at my farm 40 miles away. both hives finally died due to my "no treatment deal" that I was doing being this is the first year. I am going to reboot and do different next year, plus doing some lang hives also. Up until I lost them, the cathedrals were bee generators and were huge and nearly completely built out until they fell off the cliff. it was totally my mismanagement I am sure. 

the thing is--the beach bees really outperformed the farm bees as far as honey goes. The bees here were a package from Ga. while the farm bees were from a commercial guy near Burgaw who shook nearly 2 deeps in to that hive. The farm bees were surrounded by corn, soybeans and swamp, and here it seems everything is ornamental and blooming all summer. Everything here is built up now from the river to the sea. Houses everywhere. 

Neither hive made it to the golden rod bloom. 

I was cleaning up the box here and claiming their honey when the robbers showed up. It was amazing with all those bees in the air---my few that were left were fighting many of them before I threw a sheet over it and got the robbers interested in that honey bucket. Then my trap idea came up and I jailed some of them. Some of the robbers were mainly black in color, so I dont know where they came from. 

I have had only one neighbor ask me about bees so far--I think she saw me in the hat. I told her that mine were stingless, and if she ever got stung then it had to be someone elses bees. no problems so far.


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## hive beetle (Sep 26, 2017)

ericweller said:


> Last year, a small hive was under a massive robbing attack. I closed the moving screen locking the robbers inside and moved it to another outyard. Since the robbers couldn't find their way back home, they stayed with the hive and really boosted the hive's numbers.


Nice. So the robbers just took up with the small hives and accepted the queen? I guess they dont kill a queen thats not on their home hive. thanks. thats interesting.


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## msl (Sep 6, 2016)

> Forage bees are old enough that they only have a couple weeks of life left. You trap them in with a queen, and the queen starts laying, but the first new brood won't emerge for 3 weeks. The hive will be empty of bees by then


I disagree, fly away spits have worked well for me and many others and almost entirely use foragers


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## RayMarler (Jun 18, 2008)

Well, I think fly back splits have some bees that are not just foragers, but bees that have taken their orientation flights but have not graduated to foragers yet and are still honey storage area workers. They are still hive bees for two weeks after their orientation flights. I might be wrong of course, but that's what I had figured. Older forager bees in the field only live 2 or maybe 3 weeks at most, is what I've studied anyway.


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## RayMarler (Jun 18, 2008)

But I've never tried to capture robbing bees to make a hive from, so what do I know? Nothing from experience for sure. I've never tried to capture robbers, just practice keeping them at bay.


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## msl (Sep 6, 2016)

> Older forager bees in the field only live 2 or maybe 3 weeks at most, is what I've studied anyway.


yep, but thier not in the feild, I am thinking at some point it may be the miles, not the age that wears them out. But you may be right on the some what younger "orientated" bees


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## JWPalmer (May 1, 2017)

You guys are giving me way too much to think about for next spring as a way to populate nucs.


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## Eikel (Mar 12, 2014)

Not looking to target anyone, just looking at the bee rustling subject. As pointed out earlier, I believe there's an underlying ethics issue in bee rustling which come from the intent of the action and implied knowledge/expertise in hanging out the "I am a beekeeper" shingle. Liability laws even recognize a beekeepers inability to corral or otherwise contain bees on the beekeeper's property, a beekeeper should know that forage range can exceed 2 miles. To bait with the intent or retaining any of the arriving bees without the due diligence of insuring no apiaries exist within the 2+ mile radius, would appear to be an action with the sole purpose of depriving any/all beekeepers within the 2+ miles of their rightful property and potential crop those bees would have produced. To me, the intent and inherent knowledge a beekeeper should possess draw a clear line.
To change the dynamics slightly, if someone baited your bees and fed or sprayed them with an insecticide; would you feel this is an acceptable action as the "owner" of the bees?


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## Eikel (Mar 12, 2014)

dup post


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## Mike Gillmore (Feb 25, 2006)

hive beetle said:


> The ethics question is interesting and could, it seems to me, to also relate to swarms. Are you catching the swarms of your neighbors by setting out traps to entice them? Or are they feral bees? who knows? Does anyone brand their bees like cattle for identification?
> 
> ...whats the difference between doing this and setting out honey to catch feral free flying bees and re-queening them, IF that was even possible?
> 
> ... But both ways you are ACTIVELY enticing them to catch and use as your own.


Since I'm the one that initially brought up the ethics angle I guess I'll take a stab at it. Everyone sees things their own way, this is just the way I look at it. No right or wrong, but a personal opinion, for what it's worth.

Swarms are triggered by the colony's instinct to reproduce. Scout bees are out looking for hollow trees, house walls, any suitable cavity where the swarm can start over. The swarm has no intention of returning to the mother hive. Through inattentive beekeeping, or simply swarmy genetics, that swarm is leaving the hive and not coming back, it's the bees choice to leave. 

Setting out swarm traps is "not enticing" them to leave. They are leaving regardless, and the traps are just another one of many cavities for the bees to inspect and decide if it would make a good home for the swarm to occupy. Looking at it from the neighbor beekeepers perspective, those bees are gone. No one took them, the bees made the decision to leave.

Now on the other hand. Setting out honey, "enticing" bees to forage on it, and then restraining them from returning to their colony ... quite a different situation in my eyes. 

I guess I'm a little corny, the Golden Rule and all. If a beekeeper down the road was capturing my foraging bees to boost his own hive's population, I would not be too happy about it. So in questions like this I base my decisions on ... how would I feel if someone did this to me? I usually figure it out pretty quickly. 

Putting that aside, this is an interesting thread. You can tell that winter is arriving.


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## gww (Feb 14, 2015)

I mostly agree with mike. I do add one thing. If I had a hive that was just getting robbed, I might close the robbers up in the hive and move it to try and save it. So, in my view I think setting up a situation to try and capture bees that did not want to leave on thier own is probly bad but trying to salvage a bad situation that you would like to not be happening and certainly did not create on purpose would be differrent even if it ended up that you took a few of the niehbors bees plus proby some from your own other hives. 
Just my view and not saying I am correct. 

On the swarm trap thing, I doubt it intices bees cause I sure have seen some of mine being checked out but not always picked even though the bees did leave and go some where.
Cheers
gww


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## Eikel (Mar 12, 2014)

> You can tell that winter is arriving


 Amen to that and we haven't even mentioned mites ....... yet anyway.

I did a quick check on "swarm ownership" and found two articles, one from Canada and one from the UK. Nothing from the US yet but assume something similar. According to the articles you're spot on with the bee's intent; foragers intend to return to the hive, swarms do not and therefore considered wild ... ownership appears to be clear but a rather fragile thing.

http://www.northantsbees.org.uk/owner_swarm.html

https://ontariorealestatesource.wordpress.com/tag/ownership-of-swarm-of-bees/

I'm with you on the Golden Rule approach which I try to live by but unfortunately what's right frequently isn't how the law reads. Also the up close and personal approach doesn't achieve all the desired outcomes either.


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## JWPalmer (May 1, 2017)

All joking aside, deliberately trapping bees from a neighboring hive is stealing. Capturing a swarm cast off from the same hive is not. I think it is pretty cut and dried. But, the topic does make for some interesting "what ifs".


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## hive beetle (Sep 26, 2017)

Great points Mike. 

What you are doing with swarm traps, it seems to me, is not enticing the bees to leave, but rather enticing the bees to STAY. So if you set up swarm traps near a huge apiary, with all permissions and such as to landowners, etc., you can probably be assured of where the swarms are coming from. That beek loses those bees to you in any case, if you consider that swarm to be HIS bees. But nevertheless, the bees themselves have somewhat of a say in where they go and where they stay. SO i guess we call this ethical.

With the rustling deal, the bees come to get the free honey, are trapped and then manipulated into another hive, theoretically. So you set up your rustling traps at the same place as the swarm traps, the bees come, you trap 5000 or more and off you go. SO now you have a box of bees from everywhere, which you then take to another area to use them as you wish. So say we assume in both cases you move those bees to another location, which was not there choice. 

so in essence, the swarm stays as they wish, the trapped bees are prevented against their desires to go back to their hive. Thats the ethical difference to me--its with the bees themselves, not the beeks. When that bee flies off, you as a beek have no say as to what it does or what happens to it. That goes for trapping, spraying, anything else that happens to that bee. Its a total crap shoot, in and out of the hive. THE "intent" of the bee keeper doesn't seem to have much to do with it. In either case, the swarm trap or the rustler trap, the beek intends to reduce these bees to his possession. He gets free bees either way. But the bees have no choice in the rustling scenario. It's their intent that seems to me to beg the ethical question for the beek. 

I agree with the golden rule deal, but dont know how you can stop it. Like I said, I live in a small community with a bunch of A type personalities. I have 2 neighbors about 3 houses down that use that mosquito spraying crap service once a week in their yards during the summer. the guy fogs every tree, bush, and fence with that mess. God forbid a mosquito would bite their little pipe cleaner dog. So i am incognito here and worry about the bees going down there and killing themselves and/or bringing it to the hive. But what can I do other than move the bees? Believe me, they wouldnt stop spraying if you went down and explained that you had bees, yada yada....they would call the county to get rid of bees if they could in case Fido gets stung. Its their yard and I sure dont want FIdo getting Zika. Now if they were trapping my bees, what could i do about that, legally? 

(an aside, speaking of Fido, did you know they have dog crap pickup services--guy comes out twice a week in a nice truck with a legitimate business just doing that and picks up tootsie rolls left by Fido because thats a huge chore for the owners? never seen that before i came here). can you train bees to kill a dog? anywho, I digress......

same with the rustling theory. no way to stop it I dont think if it did happen, as there is no way to stop someone from getting your swarm, or whoever's swarm. 

Wonder if I could invent some type of string net or bristles that goes over the entrance that leaves a marking color on my bees but doesnt harm them? Then I could catch me some rustlers!

anyway, interesting spitballing here. Just opinions and nothing set in stone here.


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## JWPalmer (May 1, 2017)

HB, your neighbors are way too gentrified for me. Just for s' and g's, check out your county ordinances regarding dogs and livestock. Around here, if a dog messes with your (name an animal that is considered livestock), you have the right to shoot it. Worth mentioning if the little yapper ever gets out and strays into your yard in the vein of "don't spray my bees and I won't shoot Fifi, Fido, or Precious". I managed to get the last part out without throwing up. Yay me.


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## hive beetle (Sep 26, 2017)

haha JWPalmer. 

Believe me Fido's feet rarely hit the ground. He is strictly an inside and purse dog, until he goes outside to do his "duty". I am sure they have an umbrella over him at that time if its raining. Doubt he would ever get down here. They treat that thing like its the second coming. I had an old Lab once that I would have liked him to have met Fido for about 2 minutes.  I got a real close look at him at the Community Christmas party last year where he made an appearance. What a treat.


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## Marti (Jun 29, 2014)

ericweller said:


> Last year, a small hive was under a massive robbing attack. I closed the moving screen locking the robbers inside and moved it to another outyard. Since the robbers couldn't find their way back home, they stayed with the hive and really boosted the hive's numbers.


Did the very same thing last year with the same reults.


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## JRG13 (May 11, 2012)

Remember, foragers won't be good nurse bees either....


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## JRG13 (May 11, 2012)

Remember, foragers won't be good nurse bees either....


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## Eikel (Mar 12, 2014)

The UK article drew distinct differences between foragers and swarms.



> n his recent talk to the association on Bees and the Law, Andrew Beer referred to the ownership of a swarm. He made a distinction between bees in a swarm and bees that leave a hive to forage. The latter has the instinct to return to the colony and, therefore, remain the property of the beekeeper, whilst away from the hive. In contrast, a queenright swarm has abandoned the hive and has no intention of returning.


 Locking down a hive being robbed is an action to protect destruction of one's property and doesn't have the intent to prevent return of foragers. Retention of any robbers in this case is no more material than the "robber's owner" is responsible/liable for the felonious act of the robbers.

I read an earlier BS post where a beekeeper followed a swarm from his apiary that flew to the road "right of way." The owner left a family member in close proximity of the swarm to "maintain ownership," as per Roman law, while the owner went to get equipment. Apparently in the mean time, the local government was contacted and they dispatched someone to collect the swarm. Despite the family member's protest, the individual did collect the swarm. Unfortunately, the final outcome/resolution or even if actions were taken. I'd be curious to hear a legal US ruling.

As far as Fido, too bad he doesn't visit your yard, not for skeet practice but for golf. A friend, who I might add doesn't play golf, obtained some form of a wedge that he used to lift the little presents back to the rightful owners. He took great pride if he could put one in the gutter. You really need to know your sh&% to get a ruling on who violated what.


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## JWPalmer (May 1, 2017)

Under US law those bees still belonged to the owner of the hive since he maintained visual contact sufficient to identify the swarm as his bees. He was under no obligation to remove them within a certain amount of time and is entitled to the value of the bees the county stole from him.

Interesting paper on bee law from 1926.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sou...5BpQQFgg0MAM&usg=AOvVaw1caUam895vk6EFmCqmAMjE


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## gww (Feb 14, 2015)

Jw
The link did not take me to the right place. 
Cheers
gww
Ps could be my operating system


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## JWPalmer (May 1, 2017)

Try it now. It should take you to a paper titled "The Law of Bees" in .pdf format.


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## gww (Feb 14, 2015)

Jw
And so it did take me there. 
Thanks
gww


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## minz (Jan 15, 2011)

I keep following this thread waiting for tips of how to do it without capturing my own. Lets get to the ‘how to’ of it!:lpf:


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## Eikel (Mar 12, 2014)

You need the little signs and whistle for that, those items are sold separately.


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## JWPalmer (May 1, 2017)

Wish I knew the how to. I am the only beek that I know of within 3 miles so when my hives are getting robbed, it is my own bees doing the robbing. The next closest hive I already have permission to swarm trap from and pull larvae for qc's. It is a 7 year TF hive so I REALLY want those genetics for my own.


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## Cape Bee (May 8, 2015)

Very interesting
It has been tried here in South Africa with sucess.

Here in the Western Cape provence we have the Cape Bee (Capensis)
It is difficult to split the Cape Bee with nurse bees around and unhatched brood.
As soon as brood emerges and no queen is present, then they become laying workers. They also normally tear down any existing queen cells. We have probably the worst kind of bee when it comes to laying workers.
So here we have to try to split with foraging bees.
This method would work well with our bees even if you" stole" foragers from your own apiary.


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## Cape Bee (May 8, 2015)

Very interesting
It has been tried here in South Africa with sucess.

Here in the Western Cape provence we have the Cape Bee (Capensis)
It is difficult to split the Cape Bee with nurse bees around and unhatched brood.
As soon as brood emerges and no queen is present, then they become laying workers. They also normally tear down any existing queen cells. We have probably the worst kind of bee when it comes to laying workers.
So here we have to try to split with foraging bees.
This method would work well with our bees even if you" stole" foragers from your own apiary.


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## McBee7 (Dec 25, 2013)

I wouldn't bat an eye about the ethics of robber bees, because 3/4ths of them would be mine anyway :}
And here is a little bit of practical application of the robbing of robber bees ;]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryMUzy3lVRY

==McBee7==


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## FlowerPlanter (Aug 3, 2011)

It's likely to cost more in queens, honey and time than you could gain. Foragers are old bees you are likely to have a hive full of bees that live a few weeks, not even long enough to raise a brood cycle. 

Increase avenues to pick up diseases. If there are any diseases in a three mile circle you will have them.

Just set swarm traps, you are likely to get more and better quality bees with little a lot less work.


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## Mike Gillmore (Feb 25, 2006)

FlowerPlanter said:


> Just set swarm traps, you are likely to get more and better quality bees with little a lot less work.


This topic makes for interesting coffee table discussion, but I agree with FlowerPlanter. From a practical perspective it really doesn't make much sense.

If catching swarms is not an option then spending a little extra time nurturing an existing colony would be much more practical, and safer, than devoting time to gathering up a mixed bag of forager bees and cobbling together a questionable starter hive. With a little additional effort put into an existing colony early in the season you could do a spring split and end up with 2 good colonies. 

I guess if you have time to kill, rustling bees could be an interesting experiment. But for me anyway, time is precious and I prefer to try to use it wisely.


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## WesternWilson (Jul 18, 2012)

Whether or not this makes sense, or works, it would in any case be stealing forager bees from all your nearby beekeepers (and your own colonies as well). That makes the practice both unethical and unwise.


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## McBee7 (Dec 25, 2013)

Well I hope you have written your neighbor out a check for the multiple drones that mated with your "ethical" virgin queens ,which caused them to die ,while you profit from his genetic pool..
I don't intend to pollute your punch bowl, but you are trying to control and quantify what mother nature designed to thrive out of diversity.

And the only thing your box full of robber bees lack is a queen cell and a frame of emerging brood to care for the queen and give you more bees for the next 6 weeks, replacing the old robbers that are riding off into the sunset....sounds like a easy split to me...

==McBee7==


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## JWPalmer (May 1, 2017)

It must be really cold in International Falls...


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## heaflaw (Feb 26, 2007)

Cape Bee said:


> Very interesting
> It has been tried here in South Africa with sucess.
> 
> Here in the Western Cape provence we have the Cape Bee (Capensis)
> ...


correct me if I'm wrong: Aren't those laying workers capable of laying female eggs and so are in effect a "queen"?


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## JWPalmer (May 1, 2017)

Nope. Laying workers lay unfertilized eggs. Drones. Althouh, if you dress the drone in a skirt, you could call him a queen.


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## hive beetle (Sep 26, 2017)

Check out the Cape Bee JWPalmer. I think Heaflaw is correct. Seems I saw a Jamie Ellis (Ga boy from Univ. of Florida I think) talk on you tube where he studied bees down there,, and the Cape Bee is capable of workers laying female eggs if the queen is gone. Or something weird like that---I have to look it up tonight. 

I plan to go to South Africa and rustle up a bunch of those, combine them with some of your Italian "queen" drones with Russian and africanized genetics, and see what happens!!  NOT. 

Also, that old case law that you provided from UNC Law Review was great as to how swarms and bees and the establishment of ownership. What was interesting were those cases where bees killed those horses because the hives were too close to a road, etc. That has to be a helluva thing for bees to kill something the size of a horse. 

McBee7

That was a great video. Thats what Im talkin bout! This guy was just using a hive instead of a trap, and was probably catching mainly his own bees. He seemed to like the method though, and looked like a primo way to stop robbing. 

I may set something up down in the swamp next year and catch some bees and try this again with a new queen. Our land down there backs up to thousands of acres of gamelands, and I am fairly certain that there are no beeks around for 5 or so miles. Its pretty desolate back there are and full of bears. 

But i did see a lot of honeybees in a field working the goldenrods in the fall. The only thing they grow for miles around there is corn and soybeans, so I am guessing a lot of those bees are feral. They were darker in color than the ones I had for sure, and seemed a bit smaller in size. 

Maybe I will get my snake boots and go bee hunting this spring like that Tom Seely guy, and try to see where they go and find a tree they are in. If there are feral bees around, there should be some back there- ON OUR LAND-----I think everything else is back in those deep woods and swamp, probably a Bigfoot too. Seeing if those older foragers can regress to their previous jobs in the hive is what would interest me.


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## hive beetle (Sep 26, 2017)

OK. here is Jamie Ellis talking about bees----I think this guy has forgot more about bees than I will ever know.

At 19:50 he talks about Cape Bees.

At 49 minutes he addresses my bee duty regression question and how they can jump and regress tasks depending on the hive condition.

Happy cold weather viewing--its long but a lot of interesting facts, esp the mating cycles and drones. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmZjElSC-po


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## JWPalmer (May 1, 2017)

Well I'll bee dipped and smothered in onions. According to wiki, some Cape bees are able to produce fertilized eggs. It appears to be a recesive trait but nonetheless, it exists. Wintertime is great time to relearn everything you thought you knew.


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## Slow Drone (Apr 19, 2014)

JWPalmer said:


> Well I'll bee dipped and smothered in onions. According to wiki, some Cape bees are able to produce fertilized eggs. It appears to be a recesive trait but nonetheless, it exists. Wintertime is great time to relearn everything you thought you knew.


It's what's known as Thelytoky pretty common in Cape bees.


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## McBee7 (Dec 25, 2013)

JWPalmer said:


> It must be really cold in International Falls...


Got up to 19 above today, JW, but yesterday morning it was -7F . Which is why I'll be in your area Christmas time 
I've got a daughter in the Louisa Va.area and another near Releigh, Nc. So warm it up next week, would you please 

==McBee7==


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## McBee7 (Dec 25, 2013)

JWPalmer said:


> It must be really cold in International Falls...


Got up to 19 above today, JW, but yesterday morning it was -7F . Which is why I'll be in your area Christmas time 
I've got a daughter in the Louisa Va.area and another near Releigh, Nc. So warm it up next week, would you please 

==McBee7==


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## JWPalmer (May 1, 2017)

I've heard it said that when I talk the surrounding air temperature increases significantly. I'll do my best to warm it up around here.


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