Strange happenings.

[Anonymous]

In a six mile square area there has been an uncommon (I'm told)thing happening in a number of colonys. Most of the capped brood is drone cells. In some colonies (3) the patteren sugguest a drone laying queen, but none are found upon a complete inspection. In some the pattern suggest a laying worker.
At a loss as to what is going on with the hives, the question was asked of a queen supplier of what could be the problem. They offered the answer that some one in the area was doing pestiside spraying. That doesn't make jive to me, since how does it effect the queen and not the workers?
Any body have any different Ideas????
:D Al

[Beth Kirkley]

If it WAS due to spraying..... are they suggesting that the queen has been made sterile?

Beth

[Anonymous]

Yes that is what they are saying. the pestisides are making the queen sterle. But of the 6 hives we have inspected only one of them yeilded a queen. 3 of us inspected each frame as we sprayed and shook the bees into the grass so I'm sure one of us would have seen any queens.

There is mixed thinking by the club members. Most believe since we have had such a cool wet year and the skeeders are so bad that more people are applying pestisides to controll them, that the workers are bring it back to the hive with pollen and the queen is being fed some of it and dies. I still don't under stand why, the drones are not dieing too, and why a worker in each case is assumed to be laying.
:D Al

[Beth Kirkley]

What all are you doing to try and figure out the problem? Also, who's working on this project to pull information together?

I love research projects, so a problem like this would fasinate me.

Beth

[Anonymous]

No Information being gathered other than how to requeen such hives. Has been exciting at times, as Bob is lighting his smoker 25 yards from the bee yard one girl stings him behind the ear. I get one under my shirt I forgot to tuck in and get stung on the chest and once in the little finger as I was leaning on the supposed empty hive body up to the pole barn where it was beeing stored.
A bee crawling around inside your jeans can make for some exciting times and then some rather crude joking afterwards.
Nope just doing the requeening and going on with things as there isn't any thing we can do about people spraying for skeeders.
:D Al

[Finman]

Yes that is what they are saying. the pestisides are making the queen sterle. But of the 6 hives we have inspected only one of them yeilded a queen.

Seems like systematic symtom ... The queen eats , how many times more, awfully much and the poison can consentrate in the body

Queen lay eggs during a day more than it's weigth?

Is there any poisonous plants?  I just read that alfa alfa has lack of some nutrietiens.

Also bees carry drinking water a lot per day. Is it possible that it has poisons or heavy metals?

[knightfamily]

A bee crawling around inside your jeans can make for some exciting times and then some rather crude joking afterwards.
... :D Al

Al
That happened to me when we went to extract honey. I felt something on my leg -told my hubby who was helping and the next thing he knew I was out of my pants  in the middle of the yard.
He hasn't said a word and he'd better not :lol:

Shelly

[Anonymous]

Shelly, believe me if Kare was helping me in the bee yard and suddenly was out of her jeans I would be doing a lot of talking and laughing too :lol:  :lol: . Whats life with out having fun at the spouses expence. I got some flack from her after all when telling her of the afair.
:D Al

[wingmaster]

Where did you get the queens? sounds like you got eather a vergen or an Artificial inseminated queen that was not don right. The later will lay for a wile and then turn into a drone layer.  :roll:

[Finsky]

how does it effect the queen and not the workers?
Any body have any different Ideas????
:D Al

I do not know, but queen eats over ot own weight per day. If some accumulates in it's body, it is very different than short living worker.

I have also read that in some pastures  there is lack of aminoacids. Alfa alfa is such one that hive stop brooding.