Today was interesting day ...
Noticed an unusual amount of activity at the hive this afternoon, and a closer look revealed it to be under attack from yellow jackets! This is apparently common in the bee world. Instead of gathering their own resources, bees will sometimes try to rob out honey from another colony.
There were more bees buzzing around the hive than I've ever seen, and there were clearly fights going on among groups of bees.
I did a little internet research, and it seemed to boil down to two options:
> Reduce the size of the entrance to the hive
> Throw a wet sheet over the hive to stave off the intruders
While I know there are such things as entrance reducers, I don't yet have one. It's on the list to buy because as the weather turns cooler, I want to discourage mice from taking up refuge in the hive, but I haven't ordered it yet.
I don't fully understand WHY the wet sheet method works, but that's the way I went.
About 15 minutes later ...
There's still a ton of activity going on at the hive, and I can't tell if the bees massing on the sheet are mine or the robbers, but the research I did says to give it a couple days. The robbers leave as they're unable to get to the booty, and they're on to other targets. The sheet gets removed, and the hive gets back to normal.
Here's hoping.