Mark Franklin Almond wrote:
>
> I have started two new hives which are Italians bees and the Queen is a
> Buckfast queen. The queens are laying a good brood pattern. My question
> is when I add another half gallon of sugar syrup, there is lots more
> activity at the entrance of each hive. Seem like that robber bees are
> coming in but there is no fighting at the entrances.
 
 
        Your bees are responding to a stimulus, the rush of sugar into the
hive. The foragers interpret this as a honey flow and fly out to see
where all this "nectar" is coming from. In a large apiary this can
initiate robbing and the death of nucs or weak colonies, especialy when
feeding during a dearth. In this situation it may be a good idea to
reduce the entrance size of your smaller colonies. The bees respond this
way even in cold weather. When feeding in the late fall, on days there
is no flight, they start flying as soon as we start feeding. It always
surpries me that some colonies start flying before we get to them. Could
it be the smell of the syrup, or some kind of communication between
colonies?