bees getting evicted and deformed or damaged wings

[tlynn]

Hi All,

We are witnessing a lot of bees being carried out of the hive and dropped on the ground.  By a lot, well I don't know how to quantify, but it seems that every time we go over to the hive and sit there and watch for a few minutes, we usually will see one dropping from the entrance or being carried away.  So is this coincidence or it it happening all the time?  We also infrequently see a wayward bee here and there trying to climb up blades of grass and then falling back to the ground (I read could be a sign of tracheal mites).  I know there have been a lot of postings about this, and I wanted to include a short video clip so somebody can possibly tell me if one of the bees that was carried out of the hive has damaged or deformed wings.  Michael Bush asks in another post if she's fuzzy or smooth.  I believe she is more fuzzy than smooth, so I am guessing she's young.  Is that accurate?

We sugared the bees the first time 5 days ago and got maybe 40 mites and 13 beetles on a sheet of paper we placed below the hive.

Please take a look.  I got a flash converter so you won't have to download any big files to watch.  Thanks for the help!

Tracy

http://www.purplemangomedia.com/damagedbees.htm

[Erik T]

Looks like damage from deformed wing virus spread by varroa mites.  60-180 mites being dropped in a 24 hour period is what's usually quoted as the economic threshold.  If your seeing a lot of DWV I wouldn't wait till the mites got to that level.  Treat with powder sugar or oxalic vapor every 7 days for 3 weeks.