is it normal?

[rgy]

went to the hves today and there is a pile of dead bees out front!!!!!  Like a big pile and they have pollen on there legs so I would think they are workers and not drones, correct??  why would workers with legs full of pollen be dead out side the hive now? 

[AllenF]

That don't sound good.   Maybe you came after there was a robbing fit?   Dead bees left from the earlier battle?

[Kathyp]

they might have gotten into something.  how many bees are you talking about?  one hive? all hives?

[Tommyt]

Could it Be Poison Picked up in the fields and they just
made it back landed and Lost it ?

Tom

[Michael Bush]

Sounds like insecticide, but it's not the typical time of year for that...

[tecumseh]

normal no.

cause unidentified.  have you had any sharp changes in the weather?  do the workers in the hive appear healthy?  have you been feeding recently?

 

[rgy]

no, yes, no.  WEnt back yesterday and took the honey super off and reduced the hive entrance.  they looked ok to me- lots of activity around the honeyand comb we had to scrape off and discard.

that fall honey is not very apealing to my taste!!  awful aftertaste- reminds me of the smell of an old cow barn!  I take it that that is the goldenrod and aster.  We froze 6 frames to feed back in the spring

[AllenF]

There are people out there that really like stinky fall honey to eat.   Have you seen any new piles of dead bees or just the pile from the one time?     

[tecumseh]

rgy writes:
I take it that that is the goldenrod and aster.

tecumseh:
I think that is a good guess.  my old abc/xyz says the smell disappears after a short while.

well your problems is not robbing... but was generally a low possibility since robbers generally do not come equipped with pollen.

insecticide poisoning was also highly unlikely since insecticide leaves dead bees everywhere and not just at the front door.

if the pile was large enough at the front door beyond some late season death of old bee (typically these will look very slick with no hair to give them a fuzzy appearance) then I would suspect one of the nosema twins.