A Penny for Your Thoughts

[Old Blue]

I saw orientation flights for the first time a couple weeks ago.  They have obviously been making them through the spring etc but I just haven't been there at the time of day that they did it.  When I had my hive in my backyard I would see them all the time, not so now that I have to keep them a few miles away.  This time one of my three nucs oriented for the exact same 30-40 minute period that my big hive did, it was like they had a common time schedule and was interesting to see.

I have been noticing that my big hive usually has a bee or two sniffing around the upper vent.  I have been keeping the lid propped open with wooden matchsticks to vent but not wide enough to allow bees in or out.  I always see a fight or two on the porch during observation and the bees on the porch seem a little agitated.  I have never seen any more than a few dead bees in front of the hive or any gang fights so I never thought it was a problem that needed attention.

At the end of the orientation flight that I watched, I noticed that there were about 20 or so live bees spread out on the ground in front of the big hive that looked like they just couldn't make it back up to the stand to get in the hive.  The hive stand sits about 18 inches above the ground.  I thought that they would rest up and make it back in, or they wouldn't and I left. 
Has anyone seen this before? 
Is this an indication of a sick hive?

After looking at my hive and nucs today, I saw about 200 dead bees in front of the big hive.  They were in a smaller area on the ground than the bees that didn't get back in after orientation. 
Was this a small robbing event? 
Or maybe a larger one that happened almost a week ago and the dead have been getting removed or eaten since then and now only a few hundred are left?

I have usually seen a couple of yellow jackets or hornets cruising around in a 3-5 foot radius in front of the big hive.  I always thought that they were just looking for dead bees that were thrown out of the hive since I never saw them near the entrance.
Should I be doing something about these?

Thanks for any answers, thoughts or advice.
Old Blue

[tecumseh]

 old blue writes:
Is this an indication of a sick hive?

After looking at my hive and nucs today, I saw about 200 dead bees in front of the big hive.

tecumseh:
could well be.  200 dead bees accumulated in one day would tell me I need to look a bit deeper to figure out what is going wrong here.

my question... are the dead bees only in front of one hive or all the hives?

[Kathyp]

also look closely at the bees on the ground.  you may notice that they have worn wings or look older.  the may very well not have made it all the way back inside.  the bees may just have been cleaning house and whatever was eating your dead bees in the past is not there anymore. 

do you have entrance reducers on?  you might consider that especially for the nuc.  this is the time for robbing and if you even suspect that it's going on, take precautions.  one good episode can ruin your hive.  what do they look like insider?

[Old Blue]

tecumseh
I didn't look for dead bees in front of the nucs,  I guess a rookie mistake, but I would like to think it would of caught my attention.  I did open and look at the other three and saw excellent growth in 1, good growth in the other and what I am convinced is a shrinking colony in the third.  The shrinking colony may not be completely unexpected however since I think we are just coming out of the summer dearth and that is the only nuc that is not receiving bag feeding and I am beginning to wonder if its placement next to the big hive is stifling it or just not a good location for it.

Old Blue

[Old Blue]

kathyp
The dead bees were in a relatively small area, maybe 2 foot in diameter.  I didn't get the impression that so many unsuccessful returning bees would drop in that small of a spot, whereas the live bees I saw on the ground after the orientation were fairly evenly spaced in about a 3-4 foot area.  I have seen the girls fly 20 or 30 feet away and drop dead bees before so I'm not sure what to make of it.  I did not note if they looked worn out but after the orientation strandings I did notice that those ones looked new. 

The big hive has about 1/3 of a deep capped which it has till now very slowly been increasing.  When I put a box underneath (on the bottom of the stack) last weekend I was surprised at how light all the boxes were.  This is the hives second fall (that I have had a suit and been better able to inspect etc)

All three nuc entrances have been reduced to a 2-3 bee width and I am not seeing any issues so far.  The large hive is reduced to about a 2 inch width which gets a little crowded at the end of the day but during the day seems ok.

[AliciaH]

So when do other beekeepers in your area start feeding their hives for winter?  I know the winters there are milder than up here, so was wondering if feeding is in your plans?

Do you treat your girls for anything?  And/or, is there a way to have your bees tested?  Last season about this time, I had a hive with many crawling bees and a lot of dead bees outside that ended up testing high for tracheal mites.  Though those symptons can mean other things...

[hardwood]

Symptoms can be from anything like dysentery to dwv from mites to poisoning...photos might help here.

Are you noticing any fecal staining near the entrance to the hive?  Did this just "happen" all at once?  Do you r bees seem to be kinda sluggish and not building the way you think they should?

Scott

[Old Blue]

Alicia
So far as I know, beeks out here don't feed.  The guy who gave me the initial colony doesn't treat or feed and is a pretty hands off keeper who caught swarms to replace failed colonies from what I could tell.  I was hoping to run across someone from this area who keeps bees and has better local knowledge than I do to help speed up the learning process.  I am learning by reading what I can, but there are apparently thousands of beekeeping styles or techniques and blindly trying out the ones that sound like they may apply to this area is turning out to be slow.  I can find nothing in any forums re the San Diego area.
I haven't treated and would like to run them treatment free if I can.  This is the second year I have had them.  The three nucs I have, I have collected from swarms just this summer.

[Old Blue]

Scott
No fecal staining near the entrance.  This is the first time I have seen any dead bees in numbers that caught my attention – usually just singles here and there.   

I won't really know for sure if they aren't building up as fast as they should till October or so.  That is when they boomed and swarmed last year to the best of my recollection (I have now seen the value of a log and am now keeping one)  That was about 3 queens ago (swarms).  My best guess at this point is that they are lagging – but maybe not, we are just coming out of what I am guessing is a summer dearth. 

I went back this evening and took another look.  No more or less dead bees in front of the hive and they don't look harassed or unhappy and have a little pollen coming in.  None of the nucs have any dead in front of them and look fine.

Old Blue