R & S Adams wrote: > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Automatic digest processor" <[log in to unmask]> > To: "Recipients of BEE-L digests" <[log in to unmask]> > Sent: Monday, September 18, 2000 11:00 PM > Subject: > Hello ...My name is Randy and I live in S.W. Missouri. My > problem is I lost two of my hives. After taking supers of honey a few weeks > ago and replacing empty supers a day later, the person, whose land they are > sitting on, told me he saw a large swarm take off. When I went to check > out the seven hives I have there, the two on the one end were empty. The > strongest hive box was empty and the one next to it well bees were dead > everywhere. The ground was covered with allot of bees right in front of the > entrance and allot of dead bees in the box. Anyone have a answer? Did one > colony attack the other? I later > put out empty supers for them to clean out and also a four gallon feeder > that I made, which they emptied in a few days. Thanks again Hello Randy, Without looking at the hives i can only guess. My guess would be the two end hives were robbed out. I would also guess that the *large swarm* was the robbing activity taking place. Wet supers and open feeding this time of year will start robbing. I had to leave a large yard yesterday only half done because robbing on the truck was getting started. Even with tops covered the bees knew those boxes contained honey. The air was full of bees,bees were all along the cracks between super even though they couldn't get into the supers and bees were starting to hang on the truck. All i could do was pack up and leave the area. I returned about two hours later and finnished the job. Any open feeding needs to be done around 300 feet from the colony this time of year. Italian bees are the worst about robbing and any swarms you have cought or weak hives should have entrances reduced this time of year when wet supers are put back on. Surely you didn't just stack the supers in the yard for the bees to clean out. Putting wet supers back on the hives has been known to start robbing. I personally don't return supers to the hives to let the bees clean up. My extraction process leaves the supers drier than most and i like the supers slightly wet in the spring as it makes the bees move into them as soon as they are put on. Also are you the Randy from southwest Missouri which drove up and bought a trunk full of 5 gallon pails from me several times a few years back? Sincerely, Bob Harrison Busy Bee Acres inc. Odessa,Missouri