Something's Wrong...

[kensfarm]

My bee's have been in a flurry w/in the last week or so..  the sunflower field I planted next to the hives have bloomed..  and hundreds of acres of soybeans in the surrounding farms are blooming.  The bee's were coming and going in groups of 5 or more..  I could look up and see the bee's coming down from the space between the trees where the hives are located.  It was amazing to see how they zig-zag back & forth coming down to the hives to slow themselves down before they reached the hive.

Sat. morning I saw the big spray rig on the farm across the street.. they have a tanker truck for water..  they had already started spraying.  I went over and talked w/ them..  they were spraying generic roundup, combined w/ potash, nitrigen, and something w/ a label called Tri-Sec(from what I recall).  One of my concerns was spray drift.. I have a sweet corn field that caddy corners one of the soybean fields.  The farmer was nice and answered my questions..  said he wasn't spraying insecticides but wish he had some(jap beatles, grasshoppers eating everything).  I told him I had started 2 honeybee hives this spring.. gave him my phone number.. let him know he could call me.  

On the weekends I always go look at the hives.. usually in the morning & evening.. especially if I'm not working on the hives.  

Monday evening after work(6:30pm) I walked down to hives and immediately could tell something's wrong..  no flurry of activity.. only saw a couple bee's coming to the hive.  The bee's out on the front looked dazed..  they didn't have much wing movement.  Normally.. I wouldn't even attempt to be in front of the hive entrances because of the activity.. but tonight I could kneel in front of the hives w/ my face a foot away from the entrance and not a single bee budged to check me out.  The hive noise from before.. seemed very silent.  On the ground in front of the hives I picked up a dozen or so dead bee's..  half of them are drones..  one drone was still alive.. just barely walking.  I looked at all the dead bee's(top & bottom)for mites.. didn't find any..  saved the bees in  a plastic bag.  Knowing that they had just sprayed this weekend across the street..  I feared the worst.. my stomach is in knots.

Called one local beekeeper that night.. talked w/ him.. his advice was get into the hives & look..  I'll do that first thing tonight when I get home from work.  

Tuesday(Today) Called surrounding farmers I know..  other local farms had sprayed this weekend too.  Searched the Web for Tri-Sec.. called the Frederick County Extension Agent.. refered to MDA - Insecticide division.. no luck.  Called another local beekeeper(just a mile up the road)..  he said he'll check his hives.. said I should probably call the inspector.  I called.. he was about to get into bee-suits.. said he call me this evening at home.  

So..  guess I don't know much..  the one drone that was alive I picked up in front of the hive last night.. was still alive this morning.. is now dead.  Guess I'll see tonight when I open up the hives..  my expectations are a lot of dead bees.   I had already harvested 1 med. super+ of capped honey from these 2 hives..  and was looking forward to see how they'd do w/ the sunflowers & soybeans.  I'm bumming.. maybe I'll go home from work early.  Thanks for listening.

[randydrivesabus]

theres an herbicide called trimec...couldnt find anything for trisec.

i think a lot of farmers are spraying now for aphids on soybeans and even if the farmer you talked to isnt there might be some in your neighborhood that do. i dont know what they spray for aphids or whether it would kill honey bees.

[abejaruco]

Soybeans is a minor nectar source, are your bees visiting that flowers? Probably no, and, perhaps, only in few number.
Another matter is the sunflower. Frenchs beekeepers have had a great problem with that flower because the seed is treated with a strong insecticide -gaucho-.

Are the two hives losing population?

Perhaps one hive has swarmed.

Good luck!

[Kathyp]

he may have been spraying for rust.  i don't know if you have it in your area, but many soy bean growers spray for it.  the spray is a fungicide and there are a couple that i know of that start with 'tri'.

[abejaruco]

By the way, insecticide does not kill into the hive, field bees die foraging, and the drones would not eat honey-nectar with insecticide because the bees die at the moment.

Well, I am not Sherlock Holmes, but perphaps I am in the way. :)

[Apis629]

Abejaruco, that depends on the level of toxicity of the pesticide.  While most will kill the field bees before they get back, they may live long enough to pass on the contents of thier crop to other bees in the hive.

[Zoot]

If you can get the exact names of the substances sprayed you should call both William Troup, the state bee inspector for western MD (lives in Williamsport MD) and Jerry Fischer, the HEAD GUY in Annapolis. They are both extremely savy on this issue.

For what it's worth, the general consensus around here seems to be that the most important issue isn't so much what's being sprayed as much as when it's sprayed. Even with some of the more toxic stuff, if you can persuade your neighboring farmers not to spray too early or late in the day, there rarely seems to be much trouble. I don't like the idea of being exposed to stuff at any time in any form but it's a reality beekeepers have to live with. ANother issue in MD is the copious Gypsie moth aerial spraying that takes place frequently, often in huge quantities. I've actually literally felt it fall on me like mist on a few occasions. The state people swear that the larva-cides now in use are harmless to bees, people and livestock. What can you do...?

[kensfarm]

Thanks for all the replies..  I had such a knot in my stomach I ended up taking 1/2 day from work & went home to go into the hives.  

Yesterday(Tuesday)..  the State inspector had someone cancel on him and he had left messages at work & home.  When I got home at 1:30.. I walked down to the hives and I saw a little activity..  made me feel better.  Then a heard noise by my pasture.. crap..  one steer was out.. "Pretty Boy"..  by the time I got him back in.. and fixed a corner post.. it was 3:30.. it's no fun chasing a steer in this heat.. started having muscle cramps in my calf.. my legs were all scratched up & bleeding from herding the steer through the brush.  Jumped in the pool to cool down.  

In the house.. I got the State inspector's message... called him back.. he was in the next county over..  told him I was about to suit up and go into the hives.. said I'd call him later if I found anything.

Suit on..  down to the hives by 4:00..  spent 2 hours looking over hives..  I purposely didn't use any smoke..  the bees were as gentle as kittens.  Everything looked good..  lots of bees..  capped & emerging brood, larva, eggs.. no dead bees in the hive.  I have just never seen the bees so quiet and calm.

I did removed 3 really fat frames of honey from the broad area on one hive..  that makes almost 2 full med. supers I've removed from the 2 hives that started as nucs in May.  

So I went around to the front of the hives(they are on a hillside.. so the ground slopes down at the front entrances)..  hmmm.. more dead bees..  started picking them up..  drone.. drone... drone..  over 2 dozen dead drones.. only found 1 worker bee.  The day before it was half drones.. half workers.  So it's 6:30pm(my normal viewing time)..  I look up to see the rain of worker bee's coming through the space in the trees.. I'm feeling even better.. that's the normal activity I'm use to seeing.

So I'm in the pool(it's the blue.. blow up the top ring kind).. it's 7:30 or later.. here come's the state inspector.  He wanted to check the hives.. he suited up..  I just went down in shorts & t-shirt.  He def. works fast..  said lot's of bee's..  brood looked good..  no mites.. no SHB.. no waxmoth.. no sign of desease..  hives looked very good.  Put new inspection stickers on..  filled out his forms.. corrected the data for the location of hives on the maps.  I gave him all the bees I had collected.. and he put them in alcohol to send to the lab.  He did suggest to remove the entrance reducers..  I've had them at 4 inches since I transferred the nucs.  He also liked the field of sunflowers right next to the hives.  

I asked why so many drones.. but he didn't know.  Sunday night the temps did go down into the 50's.. would the workers start kicking out drones this early?  I feel like a worry-wart after the fact.. but the extreme change in behavior.. and knowing everyone was spraying made me fear for the worst.   Thanks again for listening..  I feel better today!  :D

[kensfarm]

randydrivesabus:  I did find out that at least 1/2 dozen farmers in the immediate area sprayed this weekend.. also noticed some landscaper trucks w/ a spray tank truck following..  the state inspector did say that if they had got into the really bad stuff.. it wouldn't have been handfuls of dead bees.. it would be piles of hundreds.  

zoot:  Yes.. William Troup.. was the inspector..  it would be interesting to go around and work w/ him for a day..  I'm glad he showed up.  He grew up w/ bee's..  I've had 2 months experience.  It was good(for me) to have him confirm what I thought about the hives.  

abejaruco:  The sunflowers seeds I used came from bird-food seed..  so the seeds weren't treated.  

I think a strong enough dose of any type spray isn't going to be good for the bee's..  and make them sick for a brief period.  If the bee-lab report show's anything.. I'll report back.  

Thanks again!

[abejaruco]

IMIDACLOPRID and FIPRONIL.
These are the worst pesticides on the earth. If you read in the label that a pesticide has any or them (like could be confidor) you can be worried.
They are sistemic, they are absorbed by the plant, as the sunflower, and can be ingested with the nectar, pollen or sap by the insects.

Every person has to think about the collateral damage of the insecticides.

On the other hand, as I suppoused, probably you have not problem with insecticides (congratulations).

[Brian D. Bray]

Please note that is now late July.  Except in rare occasions swarming is over so the need for lots of drones for queen fertilization is over.  Late July and Early August is normal for drone kill off as the bees begin to focus on stores, not wanting any unneccessary mouths to deplete them.  In a couple more weeks you should also see a slowing down of brood production for the same reason.
When the hive kills off it's drones the reduction in flyers returning to the hive is dramatic and can ring alarm bells in an inexperienced beekeeper.
As the posts show the hive was otherwise normal inside--just very few, if any, drones.