568 CAKE AND MANAGEMENT OF liEES. 



Robbing The bee, although he possesses a typically exalted 

 character for methodical industry, is a most cold-blooded and heart- 

 Jess animal, and moreover, wherever an opportunity offers, an un- 

 conscionable thief. As Root, in his "A B C of Bee Culture,'' says: 

 " If by the loss of a queen the population of any hive becomes weak, 

 the very moment the fact is discovered by other swarms, they all 

 rush in and knock down the sentinels with the most perfect indiffer- 

 ence, plunder the ruined house of its last bit of provision, and then 

 rejoice in their own home, it may be but a yard away, while their 

 defrauded neighbors are so weak from starvation as to have fallen 

 to the bottom of the hive, and only just able to crawl out of the en- 

 trance." If a bee can discover a colony weak or careless, he will slip 

 in past the sentinel, and at once proceed to load himself from a 

 honey cell. If he is discovered, he is attacked by the natives of the 

 colony, and frequently killed. If he gets safely away, he speedily re- 

 turns more rapacious than ever, with four or five of his comrades; 

 the attack becomes systematic, many bees are killed, and if the hive 

 assaulted is not able to protect itself, the stores are plundered. 



How TO KNOW ROBBER BEES A robber, in approaching a 

 hive for plunder, will have a sly, peculiar action, going cautiously 

 up to the entrance, and quickly dodging back if he sees a bee com- 

 ing towards him. If he is promptly grabbed for and driven away 

 by the sentinels as he goes in, there is no fear. If he gets in and 

 you are not certain, you have to watch for his exit. The bee start- 

 ing out for the fields is slim and moves briskly, because he has no 

 load. The bee with stolen food is plump and full, moves hurriedly 

 and takes wing with some difficulty. 



How TO STOP ROBBERS If there is plenty of fighting going 

 on, and the bees are stinging each other occasionally, they will gen- 

 erally manage their own defense, particularly if the entrances are 

 contracted. Sometimes, however, a hive of bees will make no de- 

 fense, but suffer their hive to be plundered. If bees are going in 

 and out rapidly, indicating that the sentinels are overpowered, the 

 hive must be shut up at once. They may be set at liberty the next 

 morning, bat if they will not defend themselves after that, then 

 shut them up for three days. By this time all the robbers that may 

 have been secured with the rest will stick to the hive as if it had 

 been their own. 



WHAT HAPPENS IF ROBBING is NOT STOPPED If precautions 

 are not taken to stop robbing promptly, by watching and acting as 

 directed, the honey of a strong colony will often disappear in from 

 two to twelve hours, and the bees will either starve in the hive, go 

 home with the pillagers, or scatter about and die. This is not all, 

 for when the passion is once aroused, they will attack the strongest 

 stocks, and you may find the dead bees in heaps in front of the 

 hives. Thus the whole apiary is demoralized and the work of pro- 

 duction stopped, for nothing is being stored up either by the rob- 

 bers or their victims 



