ROBBING. 
CHAPTER XVI. 
Robbing is the act of thé bees in stealing honey or other sweets not 
gathered by themselves, and is much easier to prevent than to stop after 
it gets started. 
The beginner will do well to understand that robbing may be a 
serious matter in beekeeping, and while it may occur at any time during the 
beekeeping season, yet it is just before or just after the time of honey 
harvest that the beginner is most apt to bring it on by some oversight or 
carelessness of his own. The bees themselves will often start robbing by at- 
tacking a weak colony to secure its too feebly guarded stores—especially 
early in the season. A strong colony keeps an efficient guard of defend- 
ers at the entrance at all times, which guard is particularly alert at times 
when no honey is coming in. 
4 Bees are creatures of hab- 
| it; and when once they get 
a taste of honey or other 
sweets for which they have 
not worked they become 
greatly excited and disre- 
gard the rules of their or- 
dinary conduct. The longer 
the robbing is kept up the 
wilder the robber bees be- 
come, until, in some cases, 
seeming madness results. It 
is true that robbing often 
starts from slight causes, but 
it does not take long for an 
uproar to develop. Bees 
tumbling into the home hive. 
a loaded, not with nectar, but 
Robbers do not attack a strong colony that keeps with fully-ripened honey OF 
such an efficient guard as this at the hive entrance. other sweet, excite the other 
bees of the hive, which then 
rush out to get some of the stolen sweets. In a short time, some weak 
colony is likely to be attacked, the bees fighting furiously until they reach 
such a condition that they will sting everything and everybody in sight, 
and perhaps keep at it for days. It is this sort of fracas that will cure 
any beginner of being so careless as to allow robbing to get started. 
When Bees Are Most Likely to Rob. 
When bees are very busily engaged in gathering nectar from the 
flowers, any quantity of honey might be left scattered all about the apiary, 
92 
