“we wuz robbed”

Headline - YSFG hives decimated. Bees from the wrong side of the eggplant descended into our gated community and pillaged our winged settlers' apartments. Robbing is a thing in the bee-world: it happens in late season (like now) to young colonies (like ours) whose hives have some gaps (again, like ours). Visiting bees, panicked about lack of nectar late in the year, invade other bee-hives, overwhelm the current occupants, often killing the queen and anyone else who gets in the way. Once inside, the robbers rip open the combs and take the stolen honey back to their lair. A simple case of the strong preying on the weak. Another lesson learned in the high-stakes world of beekeeping. We will be ready next year with better defending.

However, the good news is that we were still able to harvest some honey and be bottling it up for sale in the coming weeks. Stay tuned and bee careful out there.