Bees all dead outside the hive entrance

[TwoHoneys]

All the bees in one of my top-bar hives died outside the hive entrance. There are essentially no dead bees inside the hive.

A few weeks ago, I noticed lots of bees dead on the ground just outside the hive entrance. At that time, other bees were sort of twitching around on the ground. Now they're all dead.

I have 4 other top-bar hives and 4 Langs in the same yard, and all the others seem fine.

1. Anyone know what could cause this behavior and the end result?
2. Do you think it's safe to reuse all the comb from this hive?

-Liz

[David McLeod]

Sounds like pesticide exposure but I would expect to see all the hives to show symptoms.

[G3farms]

Just as David said.

[Kathyp]

any chance that you had a yellowjacket or wasp invasion?  many might be killed, including the queen, then the others might drift to queen right hives.

i have never lost an entire hive like this, but i have lost queens and many bees when the hive is overwhelmed.  nothing left for it but to combine the few survivors with another hive.....

[sweet bee]

My Aunt checked one of her hives today and found the same thing. Lots of dead and dying bees crawling around on the ground. She's going in tomorrow to further investigate.

[BeeMaster2]

You probably have poison somewhere in the area. So far not all of the bees have found it. Once a bee in a hive finds it in a hive you may lose that hive. One by one you could lose them all.
You might want to move the hives from this area for a while.
Jim

[TwoHoneys]

any chance that you had a yellowjacket or wasp invasion?  many might be killed, including the queen, then the others might drift to queen right hives.

i have never lost an entire hive like this, but i have lost queens and many bees when the hive is overwhelmed.  nothing left for it but to combine the few survivors with another hive.....

No, kathyp, this was something systemic. You could just see it happening...bees left the hive to twitch on the ground, and then they died there. And ALL the dead bees (no survivors) are spread on the ground just outside the hive entrance. No bees died inside the hive. The hive body is totally empty. No dead bees on the bottom.

sweet bee: please let me know what your aunt discovers about her lost hive.

And what authorities would I contact in order to explore the cause of this? I have no idea where to begin. We do have a bee lab at Ohio State University...perhaps I should start there.

-Liz

[oliver]

They are spraying soy beans here for spider mites. Beans are blooming.