thousand answers 205 
Generally robbing is owing to some carelessness on the part of 
the beekeeper, and prevention is better than cure. 
Q. (a) Last summer I cut a bee-tree and secured a fine swann 
of Italians, with a fine-looking queen. I put it in an 8-frame hive, 
and in a few weeks examined it, and it had six frames of capped 
brood, and the other two frames very nearly full. In a few days 
I noticed the bees dragging out their young, and every morning 
the ground would be covered with young bees not large enough 
to fly. I opened the hive and found they were tearing the combs 
to pieces and had nearly all the brood out of the combs. The 
queen was still in the hive and seemed to be in good condition. In 
a few weeks more I opened the hive again, and found only a 
handful of bees — queen and bees had disappeared. They were 
within a few feet of the kitchen door, and I do not think they 
could have left without some of us hearing them. Can you tell me 
what was the matter? 
(b) Do you think it will be safe for me to use these frames of 
comb in another colony this spring? 
A. (a) I don’t know. The only way I can account for the 
combs being torn is that robbers did it. They might also drag out 
the young bees, leaving the queen, at least for a time. Yet it 
seems very strange that a colony strong enough to have six 
brood-combs should have been overcome by robbers. Perhaps 
they were starving. 
(b) If my guess is right that the combs were torn up by rob- 
bers, then it will be safe to use them again. 
Q. I have read in the bee journals about bees that seemed de- 
termined to rob, and if any of them are that way probably I have 
some of that stock. I would be glad if you can tell me where I 
can get a stock that is not inclined to rob. 
A. It is possible that there may be a strain of bees naturally 
given to robbing; yet you will find that all bees are inclined that 
way when opportunity offers at a time when nothing is to be had 
in the field. Please understand that bees have no morals, and 
when they can’t get honey from the fields it seems entirely hon- 
est to get it from some other hive if they can, and you will prob- 
ably find that the better they are at gathering from the field the 
better they are at robbing if they turn in that direction. When 
robbing occurs, it is not generally because the bees are such bad 
robbers, but because the beekeeper has done some fool thing to 
expose a weak colony and start robbing. Keep colonies always 
strong and avoid the start. Bees that have once engaged in rob- 
bing are the more inclined to begin another time, but it is not 
true to say of them, “Once a robber always a robber.” 
