Once robbed....

[Zoot]

..are one's hives more than normally vulnerable for the near future? Both of mine were hit hard today taking me by surprize. I have had no problems during earlier dearths or when I was feeding in the spring (I was even using  Boardman feeders then).

I have been feeding syrup via 1 gal. pail feeders located inside the hives with a full width opening below the bottom brood boxes. I had also left the small top entrance open on the front of my inner covers - perhaps that was a mistake as the pail feeders are just inside sitting on top of the covers.

[pdmattox]

I would reduce the bottom entrance and close the top one.

[Zoot]

Did that this afternoon. Curious as to whether it should remain that way for the duration of the time that I will continue to feed.

[Zoot]

pdmattox,

By the way, ever go swimming in the Itchetucknee river?

[pdmattox]

I would leave the entrance reducer on till spring and yes we love the Itchetucknee.  The river is about 20 miles or so from the house.   good luck.

[Zoot]

Well, we'll see. I still had not re-organized one of the hives (the bigger of the 2) for winter yet and it definitely needs to be done. The queen was in the top-most honey super laying a week ago. I was going to do it yesterday as the weather was hot and still but then the robbing started up. Not real excited about going into a huge, agitated hive (possibly both hives if I decide to shift brood, honey, etc) and embarking on the relatively lengthy process of winterizing with robbing going on.

[Brian D. Bray]

IMO running a hive with more than 1 entrance is asking for robbing.  Bees usually prefer a top entrance to a bottom one and will often abandon a bottom entrance if an upper one is used.  It is better to do away with any bottom entrance at all when opting for an upper entrance.

[Michael Bush]

Once the robbers know where to find a free lunch they usually come back.