# diy robbing screen plans



## biggraham610 (Jun 26, 2013)

I built mine off of this. No measurements but not very hard to figure out.
http://bushfarms.com/beesmisc.htm#robberscreen


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## Rusty Hills Farm (Mar 24, 2010)

I don't remember where I found this, but it is the one I use:



> *Super Cheap and Effective Robber Screen*
> 
> Cut a piece of 8 gauge screen 3" wide and 2" longer than the width of the opening on your hive.
> 
> ...











HTH

Rusty


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## David LaFerney (Jan 14, 2009)

"A virgin queen may be confused by them, so install after she has made her flight and has started laying."

The word "may" indicates speculation which is what this is. I've done it enough times now to be sure that robbing screens actually result in More successfully mated queens. They do not get confused by them, and reduced robbing stress results in higher acceptance. That's my theory anyhow - but no kidding my queens deal with them just fine. I raised about 50 this year - all nucs had robber screens and my success rate was higher than ever.


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## larryh (Jul 28, 2014)

This one's also too simple for plans.









That's my interpretation of:http://entomology.ucdavis.edu/files/147611.pdf


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## biggraham610 (Jun 26, 2013)

I guess its a proven screen, but with that much open, I cant envision it stopping the frenzys I have seen trying to attack my late nucs. Maybe its because they got in once so they dont give up. The frenzy I was witnessing, would have had robbers rolling over the top like a wave, an inch thick on the screen.


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## larryh (Jul 28, 2014)

Yeah, I'm surprised at how good it works. I've watched gobs of frantic home bees trying to get back in, and they just run around at the bottom. They never climb up past half way. In fact, the bees in that pic spent all night there..
On thing I like, and I think the bees might like, is that they have the entire landing board protected and available for fanning and guard bees. I also have the entrance reduced with screen.


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## kaizen (Mar 20, 2015)

I just take leftover screen from bottom boards and roll it into a tube like the size of papertowel roll then bend back the edges and staple flat. if they start getting robbed and you need to close the hive just crush each end closed. easy peasy


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## KenNashua (Jan 31, 2015)

biggraham610 said:


> I built mine off of this. No measurements but not very hard to figure out.
> http://bushfarms.com/beesmisc.htm#robberscreen


I know it's an old thread, but for future searchers...

I built mine similar to the one above, except I'm finding on my large hive (which was getting robbed), that it's restricting air flow too much. Shortly after I installed it I had huge beards on the back of the hive as well as the front. (The same design sized for a 5-frame nuc has been working fine all season since I hived a swarm.)

I'm thinking I'm going to try to rework mine similar to https://www.betterbee.com/images/Robber Screen instructions.pdf. Not sure if I'll make mine so that the entire bottom width, 3/8" high is fully-screened or similar to betterbee's where you can have the opening anywhere from 0-50% opened, 0-50% screened, or 0-50% mouseguard.

Do people think 50% open on a 8-frame box is sufficient space for a hive when it's max population at the end of the summer?


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## kaizen (Mar 20, 2015)

KenNashua said:


> I know it's an old thread, but for future searchers...
> 
> I built mine similar to the one above, except I'm finding on my large hive (which was getting robbed), that it's restricting air flow too much. Shortly after I installed it I had huge beards on the back of the hive as well as the front. (The same design sized for a 5-frame nuc has been working fine all season since I hived a swarm.)
> 
> ...


Here's the thing. We close the entrance to prevent robbing and so they can defend it easier. So putting on a robbing screen you can leave the entrance all open. I made some similar with four pieces of wood and screen. Has the same opening airside as it would without a robber screen. Here's one I made. attached with 2 screws. on my nucs I am trying Velcro for easy off and on. used scraps. lay down the long pieces staple the screen to them. put the side pieces on and staple those. when I just moved these all I had to do was shove some screen in the top opening. on my nucs I put another piece to close the top down to just a few bees.


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