Tossing out the kids

[campfirefan]

I am new to beekeeping. Just have one hive and I set it up May 23. Everything have been going good since I started. I added the second brood box last week. I was on vacation this past week. When I returned, I noticed the bees had thrown about 10 brood bees out of the hive. Some on the ground. Some on the hive entrance. I noticed one was alive and moving.
Has anyone seen this in their experiences? It had just rained before this and I was trying to figure it it had any effect on, or cause for, what was happening here.

[Beth Kirkley]

That's strange. I've only had bees for one year, so I'm certainly no expert, but I've never heard of them doing this. Not with healthy bees. So these were young bees as in still white??
The only thing that comes to mind (using my imagination here) is that maybe they had built some unstable comb on the bottom of a frame, and the queen laid eggs in it. Then when the brood grew, it broke off, and the bees were just doing some house cleaning. I know I often see clumps of comb on the bottoms of the frame. And the queen will lay eggs in there. When I catch it, I scrap it off on the landing board so the nurse bees can get back inside easily. If there's larvae in there, they don't like to leave it. It's sad to watch since the nurse bees look sort of frantic, as if they want to get the babies and help them. But I don't like them to build up the comb on the bottom of the frame since eventually it'll be a mess.

Beth

[campfirefan]

Hey thanks for the reply. I was thinking along the same lines. Must be something not right and possibly a housekeeping issue. I'm sure it's for the betterment of the colony and maybe something I'll never have an answer to. I checked the hive yesterday and there are healthy looking brood conditions throughout.
I have not seen any more evidence of this kind of activity since. Will post again here if I do.

[steve]

It's posable, concidering the age of your hive that that some of your young bees were on an orientation flight when they were caught in the rain....young bees and water don't mix to well, they lack the stiff body hairs of the mature adults that keep them from chilling......
 Steve,

[campfirefan]

Beth asked and I forgot to answer. These are still white. Really close to maturing but still white.

[Robo]

Where their wings deformed?

Hygenic bees will clean out brood that has died or been severely disformed from varroa.

[campfirefan]

I didn't notice that. They were at varying stages of development though. They may very well have been deformed. It rained again today but I didn't think to look and see if it had happened again.

[Lupus]

It might be that some brood got damage while you were in the hived and they were just cleaning them out. There are always some bees dying and getting tossed out especially in a very busy hive.

It is also possible that Varroa have infested some cells, or maybe some other pest or disease. I would give it a thorough check if you see more dead and dying undeveloped young that you did not injure being tossed out.