For the past 5 days or so, I have been dealing with, what appears to be, some very aggressive 
robber bees. Admittedly, the hive is weak and has been slow getting up to speed, and as far as I 
know this hive is the only one in about a five mile radius of suburbia. So I'm assuming that the 
robber bees are feral.
This past Saturday morning I found my bees (Italians with yellow and black striped abdomens) 
doing battle with robber bees (upper half of abdomen yellow, lower half black). I immediately 
reduced the entrance down to one bee width, smoked the front, and threw a wet sheet over the 
hive. Sunday there was still some activity around the sides of the sheet, so I left it on, rewetting it 
occasionally. By Monday morning things seemed back to normal, the sheet has been on for over 
two days, so I took the sheet off. By late in the day the robber bees were back. That night I 
constructed a bee screen and attached it to the front. On Tuesday morning it appeared that the 
screen was working, not too many bees leaving the hive, but a lot of robber bees around the sides 
and bouncing off the screen. By that afternoon the robber bees had found out how to get through 
the slot at the top of the screen and the bees were doing battle behind the screen in front of the 
entrance. I smoked the entrance again, left the screen in place and put the wet sheet back on.
Wednesday morning, things look normal. Some dead soldiers in front, but I don't see any guard 
bees, so now I become concerned that they may have given up (which I understand from my 
reading up on this, is a possiblity). I take off the sheet, leave the screen.
I don't get a chance to look at it again until this afternoon, and I find that the robber bees are back 
just as strong as the first day, and they're behind the screen doing battle again. I put a bar across 
the top of the screen so there's no way in or out, but still ventilation (there's still a covered hivetop 
feeder in place, so there's food available).  I'm just amazed, they're out there right now, IN THE 
RAIN, looking for a way in.
I've been afraid to open the hive with the robber bees around thinking that it could make things 
worse. I've never spilled any syrup when filling the feeder several weeks ago; I can't think of any 
reason they would end up at this hive to rob. I'm at a loss as to what to do. Any suggestions from 
vast array of knowledge out there?
-George

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