Bees from weak hive still walking around on the ground like drunk

annette · June 12, 2007, 12:11:04 AM

I'm sorry dear people, but I have to bring up this problem again.

Checked on hives this evening after work, and the weak hive has that same problem again. Many bees (about 20) just walking around on the grass in front of the hive and a few feet away looking lost, drunk and stumbling. My heart goes out to them as they look like they are suffering. (Once again looking at the landing board, the bees look fine to me and energetic)

Noticed many ants pulling apart the dead bodies and carrying them away. Also yellow jackets taking advantage of the strange behavior of the bees on the ground.

It has been suggested here that I should do a powdered sugar shake. Since I do not care about getting any honey from this hive (if they even make enough for themselves), do you all think this would make a difference. Could my mite count have gotten so high that the bees are sick?? I will do the shake this week, but could that make the difference???

Let me know what you think
Annette

rdy-b · June 12, 2007, 01:07:28 AM

Im not sure about your area but around here there is a fair amount of California Buckeye it is toxic to the bees sometimes they store pollen and neactar. the symtoms are very simular to trachea mite.(aimlessly crawling on the ground unable to fly)most years no sighns of it.I hope it is not in your area.just something to consider. :-\ RDY-B

annette · June 12, 2007, 12:44:50 PM

I will do a search about this Buckeye, because it is happening every day now. I have noticed today some bees looking kind of bald. Pale beige color with no hair, very small looking. Creepy looking bees. What do you all think about this???

Annette

likes2grill · June 12, 2007, 01:09:09 PM

Are you sure its not just old worn out bees and its time to leave the hive and die? In the summer bees ware out their wings faster than they do the rest of the year.

annette · June 12, 2007, 01:11:56 PM

I am not sure of anything because I do not know. Not experienced enough to understand this behavior, but I am worried.

Annette

sean · June 12, 2007, 01:52:23 PM

have you tried pulling out some sealed brood(drone) and looking to see if there are mites present? Don't think it would make sense to do a pwdered shake until you ascertain what the problem is.

tillie · June 12, 2007, 02:27:55 PM

I'm a relative novice, but hairless bees are often older more worn-out bees. As likes2grill says, during the honey flow many more bees get worn out and die. I see dead bees outside my hives every day until a bird comes and snacks on them. It's part of the process.

One easy way to do a mite count is to do a powdered sugar shake.

It isn't a curative measure for drunken bees, but you can get a good mite count that way. Everyone says it won't hurt your honey.

During the season, I do the powdered sugar shake just over the brood boxes. In other words, take the honey supers off and then do the shake. It both will give you a mite count and a good number of the mites, if present, will leave the bees. I would do that before I'd look at drone larvae - why destroy drones if there are not a significant number of mites in the hive and one way to find that out is to do a powdered sugar shake.

Good luck,

Linda T in Atlanta

annette · June 12, 2007, 06:11:36 PM

Time for powdered sugar shake, and will do this on Thursday.

Thanks friends,

Annette

sean · June 13, 2007, 10:22:36 AM

Quote from: tillie on June 12, 2007, 02:27:55 PM
I'm a relative novice, but hairless bees are often older more worn-out bees. As likes2grill says, during the honey flow many more bees get worn out and die. I see dead bees outside my hives every day until a bird comes and snacks on them. It's part of the process.

One easy way to do a mite count is to do a powdered sugar shake.

It isn't a curative measure for drunken bees, but you can get a good mite count that way. Everyone says it won't hurt your honey.

During the season, I do the powdered sugar shake just over the brood boxes. In other words, take the honey supers off and then do the shake. It both will give you a mite count and a good number of the mites, if present, will leave the bees. I would do that before I'd look at drone larvae - why destroy drones if there are not a significant number of mites in the hive and one way to find that out is to do a powdered sugar shake.

Good luck,

Linda T in Atlanta

I am relatively new as well, but it would seem easier to me to sacrifice a few drones to see if it is actually varroa before beggining to lift off those supers to do a sugar shake. The problem could be tracheal mites.(forgive the ignorance if i am wrong) I dont know if the sugar shake would show up tracheal mites