Took some advice from local old bee"havers".  Learned a hard lesson.   Saw
a post about the same thing, just came a week or so too late.
 
Anyway, everyone told us to let the bees clean up after you extract.  They
do a good job and you save some work.  Sounded good.  When we were done
extracting, we opened our honey room window and door and left it for two
days.  (We extracted the supers before the goldenrod and aster flow,
thinking the bees could just keep the strong stuff)  Learned two hard
lessons from this clean up.
 
1.      The italian bees would rather rob than work goldenrod and aster.  Once
they got used to robbing, they started on each other.  (The one buckfast
hive we have continued to work blossoms and collect pollen.)  We have a
couple fields full of goldenrod and aster and I checked them each day,
three times per day, and there were seldom any bees working.
 
2.      The yellow jackets and hornets got a taste for the honey from the honey
room.  Then they turned on the hives.  We have already put the entrance
reducers on, but still didn't help.  I stood and watched one hive.  There
were 3 hornets and 4 yellow jackets sitting on the landing.  One bee came
out to chase them away.  The first yellow jacket got her, bit off her
stomach, and flew away.  The next bee succumbed to a bald faced hornet.  I
came right in and found the post for yellow jacket traps.  Made 3 of them,
not knowing what they are eating, besides bees, I used a turkey hot dog
piece in one, I used some tuna in nylon net in one, and I used a rotten
pear in one.
 
The bees were clustering in the hive and the yellow jackets were walking up
and taking the outermost bees.
 
We have one hive that had moved up to the second box.  The bottom box was
empty of all brood and honey.  Just a little pollen left.  We had just done
a bee collection so we added these bees to the top over a newspaper, after
we reversed the boxes.
 
Is this a normal yellow jacket/hornet undertaking (no pun intended).  Was
it our mistake to open the honey room.  (Still will never do it again)
Why had the bees already moved up to the second box.  About a month ago,
they were in the bottom box with the second box full of honey.   Fall is
just beginning, we usually don't have to reverse boxes til spring.
 
Help, please.
 
Loving these bees,
 
Judy in Kentucky, USA