I saw something earlier in the season when I was watching bees when I should have been hoeing weeds in the field next to the hive. I was watching them land and take off and I saw a couple of bee who were evidently damaged or sick, kinda walk sideways to the edge of the landing board and jump of on to the ground. I went back to hoeing and kinda forgot about it . i inspected them the next weekend but didn't notice anything unusual. would this be caused by mites? I guess they are the cause of most birth defects, right?
Field bees die all the time. If they are shiny (and not fuzzy) and if they have perhaps frayed wings (and not curled up wings) then I'd say it's normal.