Some species of wasps take a little honey at times—more particularly when hives are opened—and they annoy the bees; others capture and eat workers, as do also the large ant-like "cow-killers" (Mutillidæ), and certain predaceous flies (Asilidæ), true bugs (Phymatidæ), and neuropterous and orthopterous insects (Libellulidæ and Mantidæ). The larvæ of certain beetles (Dermestidæ and Tenebrio) feed upon pollen and the cast-off skins of developing larvæ and pupæ, and certain of the Meloid larvæ attach themselves to the bodies of bees as parasites. Ants (Formicidæ) and cockroaches (Blattidæ), which gather above the quilts and between the quilts and the tops of the frames in order to be benefited by the warmth of the cluster of bees, sometimes help themselves to honey, and their presence annoys the bees more or less. Some of the insects here mentioned are only found locally, the predaceous ones being confined mainly to the South, while it may be said that the general welfare of strong colonies is not often materially affected nor the return noticeably reduced through the attacks of any of them.
Spiders, toads, and lizards destroy, in addition to many injurious insects, also some bees, and should be tolerated in the vegetable garden rather than in the apiary.
Swallows, kingbirds or bee martins, mice, skunks, and bears only occasionally commit depredations in the apiary.
Properly constructed hives enable the bees to limit in a great measure the injury which these various enemies might inflict, and the avoidance of overswarming, with care to insure the constant presence of a prolific queen and a supply of food suited to the needs of the colony at the time, will keep it populous and therefore in shape to repel attacks or to make good most of the unavoidable losses.
Robbing is sometimes a more serious matter, although it very rarely happens that a little careful attention just at the right time on the part of the bee keeper would not avoid all serious trouble on this score. When bees find nothing to gather during weather when they can still fly out they are easily tempted to appropriate the stores of weaker colonies. Exposure of combs of honey at such times may even occasion a combined attack upon a good colony otherwise quite able to take care of itself. It is then that the greatest destruction ensues, for such a colony will defend itself vigorously, and a pitched battle, with perhaps fifty or sixty thousand Amazons on either side, leaves the ground literally strewn with dead and dying.
If the invaders conquer, every drop of honey is taken from the few vanquished that are likely to be still alive; and in turn the despoilers invariably fight among themselves as to the possession of the booty. When the robbing takes place during the absence of the owner, the condition of the robbed colony may not attract immediate attention, and during warm weather moth larvæ gain full possession of the combs within a few days. When this condition is observed, the whole damage is very likely to be attributed to the moth larvæ. Colonies that have been left queenless for some time, and those weakened by disease or by overswarming, are especial marks for such attacks. Of course these defects should be remedied whenever observed, but meanwhile, if legitimate field work is likely to be interrupted, every colony should be assisted in protecting itself against assault by having its hive made secure and the entrance such a narrow pass as to enable a few workers to repel attack there.
Should robbers get well started before being observed, the entrance of the hive should be narrowed at once, and wet grass or weeds may be thrown loosely over it, or a pane of glass may be stood against the front of the hive in a slanting manner to confuse the intruders. In extreme cases the attacked colonies may be removed to a cellar for a few days, plenty of ventilation being given during confinement, and a new location, apart from other colonies, selected, on which they are to be placed just at nightfall; or, instead of putting them in the cellar, they may be taken a mile or more away and returned only when the danger has passed. With these precautions, little loss is to be feared on this score.
In general, the intelligent owner who gives careful attention to certain important points in bee management finds that he very rarely has disease to contend with, and that the reduction of profits through the depredations of bee enemies is not, in most parts of the Union, a serious discouragement. Altogether it seems to the writer that the risks in these directions are even less in bee keeping than those usually met in the keeping of other animals, which, like bees, are legitimately made to contribute to the wealth of the individual and of the nation.