my bees look stoned. worried.

brit.thebee · September 20, 2012, 11:43:26 PM

Haven't been on in forever and I have relocated to Illinois from Texas. Started over with new bees so this will be my first time in winter.
Today I checked the hive and under the inner cover a bunch of bees were hanging out that looked sluggish, slow, confused, and drugged. But there was also giant activity going on around them and tons of bees bringing pollen into the hive. There were no dead bees in front of the hive or any of the slow ones crawling around on blades of grass. They were only inside the hive. Anybody have any ideas? Thanks.

Kathyp · September 21, 2012, 12:07:45 AM

other than pollen, what are their store like?

brit.thebee · September 21, 2012, 01:34:52 AM

They've got lots of uncapped and capped honey, as well as some brood

oblib · September 21, 2012, 11:02:42 AM

I can't really help with your question but wanted to say welcome to my neck of the woods. You are about 30 miles from me now.

Michael Bush · September 21, 2012, 04:35:08 PM

Cold bees are sluggish. Starving bees are sluggish...

brit.thebee · September 21, 2012, 07:54:53 PM

Yeah that's true. But it's 72 degrees here and they have plenty of honey. Any other ideas?

brit.thebee · September 21, 2012, 07:59:59 PM

It's so weird. It's like they're confused and walking like their legs weigh a ton.

jimsteelejr · September 21, 2012, 11:49:17 PM

were they all drones? As the weather cools the hive usually starts getting rid of the drones. Could they have just run them up under the inner cover and are starving them out?

Kathyp · September 22, 2012, 12:04:46 AM

got rotting fruit on the ground? :evil:

brit.thebee · September 22, 2012, 12:32:30 AM

No, though there were more drones hanging around than I thought there would be. They all looked like they were about to take off and work, but instead they were zombeeing around. Out of curiosity, what if there had been rotting fruit on the ground? I'm still learning so much...what would that mean?

paindragon1 · September 22, 2012, 12:46:43 PM

Rotten fruit = fermentation = drunk.

Bradeeen · August 15, 2013, 03:36:59 AM

Just wait for some time.It will be all right with the passage of time. You need not to much worried
about it . These things happen some time.

TenshiB · September 02, 2013, 11:30:33 PM

I would definitely start feeding them. Do you have an inner cover with a hole so that you can set up a feeder up towards the top of the hive?