Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum

BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => GENERAL BEEKEEPING - MAIN POSTING FORUM. => Topic started by: sterling on July 04, 2012, 03:06:01 PM

Title: Sweat bees
Post by: sterling on July 04, 2012, 03:06:01 PM
The last few days I have had quit a few dead bees on the landing board of some hives [25 to 30 at a time]. I brush them off and come back 3 hours later and there is another bunch of dead bees. So Today I watched for awhile and saw that it is sweatbees killing the bees. There is a bunch of sweatbees trying to get into the hives and the honeybees will attack them and the little sweatbee will get under the honeybee and hold on and I guess sting the honeybee. The honeybee want die right away but will curl up and die after a few minutes.
And I thought yellowjackets were bad last year but they didn't kill but a few honeybees.

Have any of you beeks ever had a problem with the little bees and how can it be handled?

BTW a sweatbee is a little black bee and I don't know it by any other name. And I have never seen them as plentiful as they are around my hives.