Hi,
I noticed an unusual number of dead bees in front of my hive today. I had a busy weekend so I hadn't really taken a look in a couple of days. I raked the area about 1:30 this afternoon. When I checked again at 8:30 this evening I collected about 25 dead bees. I think they are deformed from varroa mites. I have a screened bottom board and I removed the tray a few weeks ago for better summer ventilation. I did note evidence of varroa mites on the tray, but not enough to be too concerned about. Here's a photo. Does is look like I have a varroa mite infestation?
JoanneMarie,
You probably weren't able to post your pix because you do not have enough posts yet. It is a security issue. You might ask a moderator to post your pix for you.
You said you thought your bees were deformed....as in deformed wing virus? It would be kind of unusual for 25 to show up dead all at once, with out seeing a more gradual build up. I had a bad varroa problem on one of my hives late last summer but the DWV was gradual, not all at once. The sick bees tended to be small, lighter in color, and of course had deformed wings. Even eventually had deformed pupa being pulled out and deposited out front.
I noticed a small die off of 100 or more bees yesterday in front of one of my busier hives but I think they just got into some pesticide somewhere. No DWV. You can get small die offs like that if they are foraging on something that has been treated with bad chemicals.
Joanne
25 bees doesn't sound like a large amount of dead bees. I start to worry when I see a pile of bees on the ground. It could be older bees. As long as the hive looks strong and healthy I would not worry about it.
.
Varroa douples itsels in a month.
June 250 - 500 - 1000 kritical line - 2000 mites go into wintering bee brood - - - DEAD
with varroa you cannot see "good and healthy".
The hive is not healthy if you see wingless bees in front of the hive in june.
One way is that you make a laying gap in the middle on main flow. You take the queen away for 2 weeks.
Then you take all the rest brood away into the nuc.
You may handle then the main hive with 3% oxalic acid water solution spray.
Last summer I tried to catch the mites with drone larvae frame in a broodless hive but in winter he hive was dead.
When the brood part has all brood emerged, handle it with OA spray.
I just raked in front of the hive. In the last 24 hours there were about 60 dead bees in front of the hive. More a short distance from the hive. There are always some staggering bees, I just saw about four, on their way to dyeing. Lots of the dead bees are drones with stubby wings. The worker bees are very small with rounded abdomens. This hive is from a package started just a little over a year ago. I started it using small, plastic, foundation in the frames. I've quit using foundation and I'm letting the bees draw there own comb. So the additional brood space I gave them a month ago had foundationless frames. When I inspected the hive a few weeks ago I was impressed at the new comb and the larger cells they were making for drone brood. Is this a factor in varroa mites?
A healthy hive has hundreds of bees dying every day as they wear out. Usually this happens further from the hive. Finding dead bees is not a problem, even if there are quite a few, but seeing signs of disease on most of them is reason for worry.
The twisted, shriveled wings are the result of a virus carried by varroa. There isn't any scientific consensus yet as to what rate of deformed wing virus infection corresponds to what rate of varroa infestation. But it does mean you have an increasing varroa population AND they are beginning to impact your hive.
Are the dead drones adults or late-stage pupae? Are they hard and glossy or pale and soft? My girls, who have some hygienic traits, will detect drones infested with varroa and pull them out of the hive a day or so before hatching and throw them out along with the parasites. If you only ever see these bees dead in front of the hive, especially if they are all pupae, then you have a varroa problem but the bees are coping.
If, when you open the hive, you also see more than a few live adult bees, especially workers, with the same deformed wings, then you have serious varroa trouble.
Have you done a mite drop this year? Recently? You should do one ASAP to get more information on how bad it is. Don't rely on just what you see in front of the hive.
Here is the photo that Joanne cannot post.
(http://i56.tinypic.com/15zwp2.jpg)
I started another post on this, but should have just posted it all here.
Here is the link to it: Wish I could just combine it all into one post.
http://forum.beemaster.com/index.php/topic,33602.msg276571.html#msg276571 (http://forum.beemaster.com/index.php/topic,33602.msg276571.html#msg276571)