Sick Bee's?

[billdean]

Today while watching my hives I noticed one hive that seemed to be less active. I also noticed on the landing board there were what appeared to be 2 baby bees (about half the size of the other bees in the hive). They seemed to struggle to walk and could not fly as it appeared. They finally fell off the landing board onto the ground. Is this something to worry about? Has anyone else experienced this? I have attached a couple of pictures. They seem to look ok.[attachment=0][/attachment]

[little john]

No takers ?  Ok - I'll have a go ...

It's a bit difficult to judge, because of the camera angle - but it appears,  by comparing wing length to abdomen length, that these bees may have incompletely developed abdomens.

Undeveloped (shortened) abdomens render the bees unable to balance when flying, and so don't have much of a future.

If this is the case, then this would indicate a possible Varroa infestation.  However, if their abdomens are indeed ok, but just out of shot - then I simply don't know.

Hmmm - that may not be much help.

LJ

[KeyLargoBees]

Its hard to tell from those photos.....how does brood pattern look in the hive? spotty lots of uncapped cells or anything?

I had a hive coming out of "winter" (what we have of it in the FL Keys)  that on every orientation flight in the evening would have bees come out to orient who would ultimately not make it back to the hive. My back patio was littered with bees struggling to "walk" back to the hive....I did a Mite count and found it very high....3 weeks of oav treatment and voila....mites are virtually nonexistent and the hive is booming and one of my best producers this year...

Might be worth it to check....mites don't go away on their own.

[billdean]

Thank You Little John........I am thinking it could be Varroa also though I see no sign of mites in the tray below the bottom board nor have I seen any.  There are 4 frames in that hive that are emerging now with a lot of bees. One other possible solution maybe as I am told that there may have not been enough nurse bees to properly take care of the newly emerging bees and they are malnourished. The new package is 4 weeks old.


[attachment=0][/attachment][attachment=1][/attachment]

[KeyLargoBees]

if its just a few bees I wouldn't worry about it....sometimes duds hatch out....if it becomes a LOT of malformed or sick appearing bees then start to consider treatment options.

[little john]

I very much agree with Jeff - if it's just a handful, then I'd be inclined to turn a blind eye to the situation.  When you think of the many thousands of bees which are produced in the normal life-cycle of a colony, then a dozen or so duds from time to time isn't a bad average - but - it's curious how a few malformed bees really stand out from the crowd, especially if they're looking sad and dejected like those two  !

Malnourished/ not enough nurse bees ?  Yes, that sounds plausible too.

'best
LJ

[Michael Bush]

Newly emerged bees are always smaller than fully developed bees.  Foragers are always larger than nurse bees.  This observation was first made by Huber, who at the time did not know about age vs job in the colony and assumed they were specialized bees, but the difference in size has always been noticeable.

"Two kinds of workers in the hive

"The following observations may also furnish indications of the presence of honey in the flowers.  They are based upon a remarkable fact which was unknown to my precursors; it is that there are two kinds of workers in the hive; the ones which may attain a considerable size when they have filled themselves with all the honey that their stomach may contain, are in general destined to the elaboration of wax; the others whose abdomen does not perceptibly change in appearance, retain only the quantity of honey which is necessary for their sustenance and immediately hand out to others that which they have harvested; they are not in charge of the provisioning of the hive, their particular function being to care for the young:  we will call them nurse bees, or small bees, in opposition to those whose abdomen may be dilated and which deserve the name of wax-workers.

"Although the external difference by which the two sorts may be recognized be inconsiderable, this distinction is not imaginary.  Anatomical observations have taught us that there is a real difference in the capacity of their stomach.  We have also ascertained that the bees of one sort cannot fulfill all the functions shared among the workers of a hive.  In one of these tests we painted with different colors the bees of each class, to observe their behavior, and we did not see any interchange.  In another test, we gave the bees of a queenless colony both brood and pollen and we at once saw the small bees busy themselves with the food of the larvae, while those of the wax-working class paid no attention to them.

"When the hives are full of combs, the wax-working bees disgorge their honey into the usual magazines and make no wax; but if they have no reservoir in which to deposit it, and if their queen does not find already built cells to deposit her eggs, they retain in their stomach the honey which they have gathered, and at the end of twenty-four hours wax exudes through the rings; then the labor of comb construction begins.

"One might believe that, when the country does not furnish honey, wax builders may encroach upon the provisions stored up in the hive; but they are not permitted to do it; a part of the honey is carefully put away; the cells in which it is deposited are protected with a wax covering which is removed only in case of extreme need and when there is no other way to procure it elsewhere; they are never opened during the good season; other reservoirs, always open, supply the daily needs of the community; but each bee takes only that which is absolutely necessary for present requirements.

"The wax-workers appear with large bellies at the entrance of the hive only when the country supplies an abundant crop of honey; they produce wax only when the hive is not full of combs.  It may be conceived, from what we have said, that the production of the waxy matter depends upon a concourse of circumstances that do not always appear.

"The small bees may also produce wax, but in a very infe-rior quantity to that produced by the real wax workers.

"Another characteristic, whereby an attentive observer cannot fail to recognize the time when bees collect sufficient honey to produce wax, is the strong odor of both these sub-stances which is produced from the hives at that time and which does not exist with such intensity at any other time.

"From such data it was easy for us to recognize whether the bees worked upon their combs in our hives and in those of the cultivators of the same district."--Huber's New Observations On Bees, Volume II Chapter II starting at paragraph 27. (Page 217 of the Bicentennial edition)

[billdean]

THANKS!! Michael