Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum

What's the deal with this? This makes twice that I've checked the bees (just looking from outside) in the mornings and this particular hive looked like this. Lots of dead bees on the entrance. Last time was about a week ago.  I have a hive right next to them that hasn't had this issue at all. Also this is the hive that was superseding the queen I posted about the other day....any ideas?

Also I had to crop the picture way down to post here. There are more dead bees than what's in the photo. Probably 50 or so.

Have the evenings been cool? Or overcast/rain?  How strong is the hive relative the other one mentioned?  Reason for asking is if it has been cool, it may be simply that the undertaker bees have just staged their loads out there and have not hauled them off yet.
The bees in the picture do not look abnormal. I would chalk it up as regular old bees. You do know that a hive looses bees, dead bees, in the order of a couple hundred every day.  50 or so dead bees on the doorstep is nothing to be concerned about. Imho.
Keep an eye on it.  If it gets worse or you notice the population dwindling that should trigger you to be looking for something sinister inside the hive. (pest-disease).

Your hive is very likely poisoned.  I had a hive, 1 out of 15 that found a particular garden and the bees died by the hundreds.  Just one hive in the whole apiary.  The bees acted like they were covered with hot sauce, shaking, quivering then death,  there were hundreds of dead bees in front of the hive.  After a few weeks, I presume the gardener quit spraying or the bloom finished as the bees stoped dying.

They are a pretty strong 10 frame deep. Lots of bees in the hive. We have had a cold snap here in georgia (down in the high 30's and low 40's at night)

It has been unusually cold here also in North Arkansas.  Cold temps in thirties or fourties might kill brood, but not the bees in a strong hive as you described.

You can determine if cold kill by the bees by their dragging out chill killed brood/larva.  Last March my bees dragged out a lot of larva, entire frames chilled that were close to the hive body.

Ditto what van said. Poison..... Cold would affect both hives. Poison, only the hive that found it.

Yall think it will kill the hive or will they just quit messing with the stuff?

I would think they will keep going back until the bloom is gone, or their scouts find something more plentiful.

I'll go into them tomorrow. It's been raining today.  Strong hive but dang I don't like them dying off like that.

Fishing-Nut,

I attended a seminar that an apiary inspector presented the results of samples and photos from hives with high mortality.  It included results from all the inspectors for that state for that year.   In almost all cases but one, the causes were by a paralysis virus (CBPV, IAPV, ABPV) to name a few.  Some vectored by mites, others by robbing, poor forage (nectar, pollen), or possibly genetics that are susceptible to disease.  The one that was caused by poisoning was suspicious.  Sure enough when the beekeeper replaced his bees he caught his neighbor on camera spraying his hives.  If it was one of my hives and the dying bees didn't clear up soon with warm temperatures and lots of pollen and nectar coming in I would just requeen the hive.

beesnweeds, Did they teach you how to treat these ailments?  CBPV, IAPV, ABPV etc

Sounds like a peach of a neighbor, the fella that sprayed the hives.

Quote from: van from Arkansas on May 08, 2020, 11:25:26 PM
Sounds like a peach of a neighbor, the fella that sprayed the hives.

Wow, Sorry beesnweeds. 

Quote from: Ben Framed on May 08, 2020, 11:45:13 PM

Quote from: van from Arkansas on May 08, 2020, 11:25:26 PM
Sounds like a peach of a neighbor, the fella that sprayed the hives.

Wow, Sorry beesnweeds.

Thanks!  But "NO" that wasn't my hives.  It was some other unfortunate beekeeper in the inspectors presentation.

 

Quote from: Ben Framed on May 08, 2020, 11:16:06 PM
beesnweeds, Did they teach you how to treat these ailments?  CBPV, IAPV, ABPV etc

No treatments.  The only defense is to do your best keeping mite levels down and make sure your hives have enough stores.  Of course good weather would be nice.  I'm looking at snow this morning! Good grief.

The point is while we assume dead bees are a result of poisoning (and it could be), its usually caused by viruses/illnesses we have no treatments for like Nosema and ABPV. 

All great points to consider.  Imho not enough in the picture to give any diagnosis and not enough dead as described for there to be alarmed nor concerned.
We can certainly give some ideas of what kills bees for which the list can get long.
OP should keep an eye on it for if it progresses to be a carpet of dead or hive dwindling.

Fishing-Nut keep us updated.

Quote from: TheHoneyPump on May 09, 2020, 11:22:07 AM

All great points to consider.  Imho not enough in the picture to give any diagnosis and not enough dead as described for there to be alarmed nor concerned.
We can certainly give some ideas of what kills bees for which the list can get long.
OP should keep an eye on it for if it progresses to be a carpet of dead or hive dwindling.

I completely agree with HoneyPump. Too many variables.  When my bees show up like this I chalk it up to normal mortality.  Usually shows up on cold, rainy days. Saw exactly the same thing on a few of my entrances here this past week.

Mid-summer, NYC does truck spraying for mosquitos. Not one area they miss. Not much we all can do about protecting the bees.  It?s an awful thing to see the week after, on the pavement in my yard. They exhibit the same behavior as bees infested with tracheal mites; inability to fly, crawling around the ground. Big mortality but they seem to bounce back eventually

I think this spraying has something to do with queen failure.  All six of my hives came out of winter but I ended up with 5 queenless hives as the weeks passed. Exasperating beyond description.