Beehive Intruders!

[Ernie]

Outside in one of my beehives, there’s a major fight going on. These large bee-looking insects have shown up and are flying inside. The locals (my bee ladies) are fighting them and there’s not any of the strangers leaving alive, but a few have been drug outside with 3 or 4 little bees on them, stinging them to death. I put a brick in front of the hive entrance to close off about half of it, to give my ladies less entry space that they need to defend.

I have no idea what this strange bee-creature that’s doing the robbing is. It looks much like a honeybee, only larger and without the characteristic markings on its back half. It doesn’t have the three golden stripes that honeybees have. It doesn’t look like they’re succeeding, but it isn’t a good thing. I don’t know why they’re attempting to rob. Hopefully my hive hasn’t been weakened somehow.

Any idea what this bug might be?

[the kid]

Have no idea were you live .. Each local has its own bug world .
so with out knowing were you are we can't be to much help ...
the kid

[Ernie]

I'm up in Northwestern Illinois.

This evening there didn't seem to be any of the fighting going on. Plenty of the good gals still around. Maybe whatever it was got chased off.

[alleyyooper]

Take a good close look at them. If they have a lot of yellow on them they are probably Yellow Jackets a WASP.
We seem to have a extra large amount of them this year.
We have more yellow jackets getting in the honey house than any thing. can't believe all the entrances they have found.

Al

[Ernie]

No, it doesn't have the wasp shape. I wish I could post a picture, but I don't have a decent macro lens. It's exactly like a honeybee, but missing the three bands that apis mellifera have. Slightly bigger. I am thinking maybe it's another strain of bee, maybe even a honeybee, that I just don't know about.

I have seen some yellowjackets though. I don't know where they all came from this year.

[the kid]

It may bee a honey bee .. As a lot of my girls are black with little or no other color .. the kid

[Terri]

Honey bees are hairy: wasps are shiney.

The midnight strain of honey bees are dark: the starlight strain of honey bees are light.

[dcross]

Any chance of getting one of the deceased for a picture?

[Ernie]

I took some photos but I'm not sure how well they turned out. I'll transfer them in a few days and see if I can figure out how to post them.

The assault on Alpha Hive has been successfully repelled, it seems. The big black ones are gone and only the usual sneaky wasps trying to get in. They get driven off easily enough. So it was three days of constant warfare at the hive, but as far as I can tell there's no real damage done. Still plenty of brood down inside there and everything looks good.

[Terri]

Keep the entrance reduced. Chances are good they will try again: I lost a nuc that way 2 years back! Bees have pretty good memories!

[moonwolf]

are these it?:



look around for their characteristic hives:



I used to have a couple of beehives that were terrorized by bald faced hornets, until I rid the place of their nest in the eave of a garage.

read about them here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bald-faced_hornet