Robbing screens: DIY hardware cloth vs commercial, and when do you actually put them on?
Vermont, second year, four hives now after a split. Last August I watched a weak nuc get robbed out in an afternoon — silvery frantic bees fighting on the landing board, wax crumbs under the entrance, the works. Not letting that happen again.
So, robbing screens. The commercial ones are ~$15 each which times four isn't awful, but I've seen DIY versions from #8 hardware cloth that look like ten minutes work. Anyone got a design that actually works? And the timing question: do they go on now, before the goldenrod gap, or only when I see trouble? I've heard once robbing starts a screen mostly traps the chaos rather than preventing it.
#robbing#robbing-screen#diy#dearth
▲ 13 votes💬 4 replies
4 replies
GeorgiaWes · Jul 22, 2026
You answered your own timing question — before, always before. I put screens on everything the week my scale hive stops gaining. Once robbing is underway, screening a hive that's already marked as a target just concentrates the fight. The principle of any design: residents learn the offset exit in a day or two, robbers keep flying at the smell coming through the mesh and never solve the maze.
QuebecBees · Jul 22, 2026
DIY works fine. Mine are a strip of hardware cloth folded into a shallow box over the entrance, exit gap at the top corner, stapled to a wood frame so I can pin it on and off. One batch of four cost me less than one commercial screen. The only advantage of the bought ones is the moveable gate for winter/summer settings.
TexasBeeSam · Jul 23, 2026
Screens matter most on your weak units — strong colonies defend themselves. On that nuc-turned-split, also shrink the entrance to an inch behind the screen and don't open the hive at all during dearth afternoons. Every drop of exposed honey smell is a dinner bell. I feed only at dusk, inside the hive, never entrance feeders.
VTBeeHannah · Jul 23, 2026
Built two tonight from scrap hardware cloth, took maybe 20 min each — going on tomorrow along with reducers. The 'dinner bell' framing is going to haunt my inspection habits, in a good way. Thanks folks.