$109.00
The Trap is an attachable device for Cathedral Hive™, Langstroth, and Top Bar hives that protects beehives from robbing bees and yellow jackets by trapping them before they gain access into the hive.
* Stop robbing from ever beginning!
* Robbing is one of the biggest causes of hive collapse
* Robber bees can bring mites and other diseases into the hive
* Trapping scout bees stops them from recruiting their hive mates
* Fits - Cathedral Hive - Langstroth - Golden Mean Hive - Top Bar Hives
* Simple to install
* Can be used as an effective mouse guard in the winter
* Identify when your hive is being targeted by robbing bees
* Made from durable reclaimed Redwood
The Robber Bee Scout Trap® is designed to catch the scouting bees or wasps and jail them until they are released by the beekeeper at sundown. When these unsuccessful scout bees return home after being released at dusk, they are treated as incompetent and no other bee in their colony is interested or willing to hear about their failed, futile mission, so no other bees get recruited to go and rob the hive.
*The Robber Bee Scout Trap® is a device that is installed onto the landing board in front of the hive entrance.
*The Trap consists of a “false or fake” landing board entrance, a simple confusion maze and a screened robber bee jail.
*The trap works by allowing the home bees to learn a "secret", new non-typical, alternate entrance to come and go.
*The Trap is installed before robbing season begins, allowing your bees time to learn their new entrance and how to avoid being trapped. The familiarization period takes less then a week.
"I finally feel relief this fall knowing the Robber Trap is keeping the robber bees from destroying my hives. I have always dreaded this time of year, feeling I couldn't leave my hives, knowing they were going to get robbed"
"This is amazing example of advanced problem solving and overcoming something that otherwise was out of reach of stopping."
When the robber bee scouts arrive to try and gain access to the hive, they land on what looks like a typical bee hive entrance. The robber bees are confused because they can smell and see the actual hive landing board, but they cannot advance forward because they are separated by a screen. The robber bees frantically pace back and forth along the fake entrance looking for a way in. On either side of the fake entrance is the “simple maze” consisting of enticing drilled holes, which the robber scouts must investigate. The robber bee scout enters the dark space in the simple maze, they see light issuing from another upper hole that attracts their attention. Once the robber bee ventures up through the maze vertically and enters the upper maze hole, they enter a cone that reduces down to a single small opening When the robber bee scout crawls out of the cone they find themselves trapped in the robber bee jail.
To keep robber bee scouts alive and well make sure to leave a wet sponge or water source inside the jail, and release them at sundown.
Robbing is difficult for new beekeepers to identify and is often mistaken for afternoon orientation flights or a strong nectar flow. When the Robber Bee Scout Trap is successfully installed before robbing season it allows for instant detection the day that scouts begin probing the hive, because suddenly the bee keeper will observe bees getting caught in the trap. The time it takes for the hive to collapse once robbing starts is a very short time span, usually in a day or two the hive is unrecoverable. There is very little a beekeeper can do once the robbing commences.
Screening off the entrance to one bee space is the typical defense, but used with minimal success. The targeted home hive often looses substantial numbers of the colony due to the fighting and can never fully recover.
To read more about robbing and to see a handy checklist on how to identify it,
What are other strategies to try to stop robbing?
An “entrance reducer” or a screen taped right to the entrance is the most common practice to close down the hive entrance during robbing season. An entrance reducer is a permanent wood or plastic insert that has a small hole only for just a few bees to pass. Closing down most of the entrance with an entrance reducer can be very risky. If the temperatures rises, often the bees do not have enough ventilation or air exchange to keep the colony cool and it will overheat. If the hive does not collapse from overheating there still exists a hidden danger of mold in the hive caused from the bees desperately bringing in copious amounts of water to cool the hive. If the temperatures drops there will be excess moisture in the hive which will cause mold to develop.
How the Robber Bee Scout Trap® ensures temperature regulation and defense of the hive.
The Robber Bee Scout Trap® is designed to screen off the hive entrance at the front of the landing board. This space allows the hive to be fully ventilated because the fanning bees have full access to the landing board. Allowing the bees to have full access to the landing board also allows guards to patrol and defend in the case that a robber bee or yellow jacket slips through. The roof of the Trap helps to further cool the hive by shading the landing board from the sun.
Installing the Robber Bee Scout Trap
By following these simple instructions you will learn how to protect your bees from robbing and you will be well on your way to trapping the first robber scouts.
Rest the Robber Bee Scout Trap on the landing board of your Cathedral Hive®, Top Bar or Langstroth hive.
The Jail door is left off during the initial training period for your bees.
Carefully stretch the bungee cord over the back of the hive, releasing when it is approximately parallel with the ground. Tension the bungee by sliding the toggle cord-lok forward, securing the trap to the front of the hive.
Slide the trap to the side of the landing board opposite of where the bees are mainly entering and exiting the hive. The beekeeper can usually determine which side of the entrance the bees are predominantly using and should install the trap on the opposite side. The trap will be offset to one side, leaving approximately 4 inches of open entrance for the bees. Open the secret hinged door completely on the side of trap where you've left an opening. Make sure the other secret hinged door is completely closed. Fasten the bungee cord into the closest hook on the roof, keeping the trap secured to one side
The trap will be slid back horizontally toward the bees preferred entrance over time. Conservatively the trap will be moved about an inch a day, but most bees can adapt even if the trap is moved an inch an hour! The trap is moved incrementally until it is nicely centered on the hive entrance.
Remember to leave the bee jail door off during this time.
The door of the bee jail is left off during this training period to allow the home bees that accidentally enter the simple maze not to be permanently captured. The home bees that do venture into the bee jail are able to fly off and try again. This progressive closing of the available entrance allows the bees to adapt to the ever decreasing entrance size and entrance location.
Once the home bees learn that their new entrance is accessed only by flying in one of the sides of the Robbing Bee Trap, then the screened door to the robber jail is closed.
If the Robber Bee Scout Trap is installed before the Robbing season, the beekeeper should see no bees in the bee jail for several days. This indicates that the home bees have fully orientated to the port of entry.
The beekeeper should keep a keen eye out for increased scout activity. If there has been no bees in the robber bee jail for a week or so and suddenly the bee keeper notices bees in the jail...guess what? You have caught your first robber scout bees!
A full Robbing scenario will be a fight a minute. The robber bees will be getting past the guards and scurrying along the observation in the window. You will also see fighting or tussling inside the hive. In the case of a full robbing scenario, completely close both secret hinged doors. Be sure you mist the real entrance through the trap screen several times during the day. At sun down, release the bees from the jail. The next morning before any of your bees depart the hive, put the jail door back on and keep the ports of entry totally closed off, so that none of your bees can get out. Now you will be able to completely assess the extent of the robbing and will be able to trap as many robbers as possible. Be sure to keep your bees hydrated. Usually after a couple days of this shut down, the robbers' numbers will taper off and you can start opening the secret hinged door to one or two bee spaces. The shut down method is going to be more risky if the temperature is hot and may not be the best choice.
