Category: Beekeeping

The Yellow Hive got robbed out

The weak Yellow Hive got robbed out by another bee colony.

Robbing is when another colony comes and steals/eats the honey in a weak hive. I noticed the sign of chewed up wax cappings and did an inspection.

During the robbing here is some fighting, where bees die, but usually the remaining bees and queen abscond.  Absconding is when bees leave a hive because it’s unsuitable due to damage, moisture, mites, pests, or being robbed.  They fly off to find a new home. A low success rate for an already weak colony.

Yellow Hive Robbed Out – May 5th, 2026

The weak Yellow Hive got robbed out, meaning another bee colony came in and stole all their honey.

Splitting bee hives

I was going to make a video of this, but the SD in the camera filled up five minutes in.

The Green Hive needed to be split. It was my last hive using two deep boxes and the frames inside were old and deep brown in color.

The hive had swarmed several weeks ago and there was a new feral queen inside. Lots of bees, but I didn’t want that feral queen to get started.

I picked up a couple of new VSH Pol-line 2.2 queens. They breed them up in San Luis Obispo.

A white cardboard box labeled "LIVE QUEEN BEES" and "RUSH" sits secured with a gray seatbelt on a car seat.


Took me a while going through the boxes, frame by frame, until I finally found the feral queen in the bottom box, trying to hide.

A clear plastic queen clip sits on a white box with "QUEEN BEES" visible in green text, containing a captured queen bee.


Once I had her in a clip, I was able to split up the frames and bees quickly.

I installed the two new queens and am hoping for the best. I might add a brood frame from the Pink & Green hives, but going to let the ladies settle a bit before I do that.

Colorful wooden beehive boxes in green, yellow, and blue are stacked on concrete blocks and 4x4 lumber.