Small die off...

[L Daxon]

I hardly ever see a dead bee in front of my hives (think combo of wind and birds must get carcases).  Last evening saw about 200 or more dead bees in front of one of my 3 hives.  Nothing in front of the other two. Don't think it was fighting/robbing as this is a strong hive and I am not feeding. All the hives have good stores and I think we still have a bit of a flow.  For a die off like this I am guessing the girls in this hive must have gotten into some bad  (i.e. pesticide) nectar/pollen and brought it back to the hive. I live in a nicely planted urban area. I used to think the girls were all working the same plants but I guess different hives work different sources, depending what their foragers find.

[Brian D. Bray]

There are several reasons why one won't find dead bees in front of a hive.
1.  House bees carry away the bees that die with in the hive.
2.  Ants and other critters carry away dead bees.
3.  Bees no longer able to fly will crawl away from the hive to die, they usually crawl towards the sun (SE).
4.  There aren't any live bees in the hive to expel any dead bees.

[jimhuck]

I've heard that it's common for bees to get into buckeye this time of year....I think there are many sources of poisonous pollen/nectar, and every once in a while, the girls get into the wrong stuff.

[L Daxon]

Yeah, Brian, I see the girls carrying bodies out and flying some distance before dropping them.  These dead ones showed up in the space of a few hours a foot or so outside the front landing. My hives are in my back yard and I check them several times a day and was surprised to all of a sudden notice the bodies piling up.

I guess the point of my post was that I was surprised that with three hive located real close together in my yard, only one of them seemed to have gotten into the bad stuff.  I figured they were all working the same sources, but apparently not.

When I look at my big vitex bush, for example, and it has a dozen or so bees working it, are they all mostly from the same hive or could several different hives be working it at the same time?

[Brian D. Bray]

Yeah, Brian, I see the girls carrying bodies out and flying some distance before dropping them.  These dead ones showed up in the space of a few hours a foot or so outside the front landing. My hives are in my back yard and I check them several times a day and was surprised to all of a sudden notice the bodies piling up.

I guess the point of my post was that I was surprised that with three hive located real close together in my yard, only one of them seemed to have gotten into the bad stuff.  I figured they were all working the same sources, but apparently not.

When I look at my big vitex bush, for example, and it has a dozen or so bees working it, are they all mostly from the same hive or could several different hives be working it at the same time?

I r3cently advised one of my students over the phone concerning  this topic.  He had 4 hives and only one, initially got in the sprayed trees, once that hive went critical another hive visited the same source.  It is not unusual for the different hives in any given apiary to be working completely different forage sources.  My best guess is that they don't work flowers with the hive scent of a different hive until some period of time in which the scent dissipates.

[L Daxon]

I r3cently advised one of my students over the phone concerning  this topic.  He had 4 hives and only one, initially got in the sprayed trees, once that hive went critical another hive visited the same source.  It is not unusual for the different hives in any given apiary to be working completely different forage sources.  My best guess is that they don't work flowers with the hive scent of a different hive until some period of time in which the scent dissipates.
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Interesting about the "hive scent" getting on different flowers.

As for my three hives, the die off spread to the other two hives 2 days later, with the oldest and strongest hive really taking a hit.  I suspect there is at least 1,000 dead bees out front.  I don't see a lot of foragers coming out of the hive right now. This same hive was queenless for a couple weeks earlier this month so I may have to give them a little extra brood. 

It is soooo sad to watch the girls dying out front and know there is nothing I can do. :'(