Robbery in Progress

I went outside today to check on the chickens and rabbits in the hot afternoon, and went to investigate when I heard buzzing from the direction of the hive (you don't normally hear them, unless you've got the top open).  At first glance, it looked like there was a massive backup at the entrance holes, but knowing that our colony is currently fairly small, and knowing that there have been fewer numbers heading out to forage over the past few days, I took a closer look.  What I saw was a few larger bees wrestling at the entrance holes with some of our girls. The foreigners were trying to get in, while their compatriots hovered nearby, waiting for their chance to zip past the bees guarding the entrance.  In large part, our foraging Carnolians seemed to be ignoring the interlopers, trying to get around them and continue about their business. I'm not sure how many 'guard' bees are at work in the hive these days with their limited numbers.

I plugged the holes with twigs as my first reaction - trying to limit the amount of movement in and out of the hive.  The robbers stayed close by, and I ran to get my veil and gloves, while dialing my beekeeping friend.  You can see the robbers below - the much larger bees with long, dark abdomens were considerably bigger that our fuzzy little girls.

Veil and gloves on, I tried to secure the entrances to allow for passage of our smaller bees, while limiting how many of the robbers could get in - all of the bees ignored me.  I was hoping that blocking the passages would make it easier for the colony to fight back and prevent ingress.  The sheer numbers of robbers was disconcerting, and I had no idea what was happening inside the hive (robbers will kill workers and even the queen of a hive they are stealing from).  I couldn't open the hive to observe, since that would only allow more robbers a chance to get in, but could see that the queen cage was resting on the floor of the hive, possibly knocked off during the struggle inside. The cage was dutifully being attended from outside by 10 or more worker bees, doing their job regardless of the situation.  Twice while I watched and considered my options, the sheer volume of robbers trying to force their way in dislodged the smaller sticks I was using to reduce the space. 

I decided this wasn't going to be pretty, headed back to the workshop, grabbed the staple gun, and cut myself a piece of screening material.  I quickly removed the sticks, and secured the screen over all three holes, stapling it down to prevent any movement at all. Robbers were trapped inside, and our foragers were unable to return home.

I checked back on the hive at intervals, and found that the robbers had lost interest about 45 minutes after I placed the screen - now there were about 30 of our bees desperately trying to get out of the hive, bunched up under the fabric.  I pulled half of the screening off, freeing one entryway completely, while making it difficult to access the second entrance.  Several of our girls took up position at the edge of the open hole, fanning pheromones, I assume, to tell their foraging sisters that they could now access the hive.

Relieved and worried, I opened the hive to access the queen's cage - and found her unharmed and alive, covered in a protective coating of bees.  The candy plug is almost gone, and I feel fairly confident that the hive has accepted her and was protecting her during the invasion.

I'll keep a close eye on the hive tomorrow - and probably for several days!