Large wild hive died before I arrived

omnimirage · November 10, 2015, 04:42:54 PM

On a rather hot day, a client rang me in distress, stating that his home was flooded with thousands of flying bees. He said there had always been a hive at his house, but only that day they behaved like so. Two days later, I arrived at the scene. I found quite a large comb structure, and thousands of dead bees underneath it. There were hardly any bees left, a few hundred at most, and they didn't seem to cluster together.

Any idea what could have happened to them? I find it odd that they were all flying about, and then proceeded to drop dead. Since they didn't seem to cluster together, is this an indication that the queen died? I put most of their comb structure into a super, so I now have lots of comb with brew in it. What should I do with it? Not sure if I should give it to my other swarms, to help them grow, or whether that's foolish due to potential risk of disease.

Kathyp · November 10, 2015, 06:14:17 PM

The homeowner sprayed them

Dallasbeek · November 10, 2015, 06:15:25 PM

Homeowner or somebody. That was my first guess, too.

cao · November 10, 2015, 11:58:03 PM

Spray or pesticides. That was my first thought also.

GSF · November 11, 2015, 06:47:15 AM

ditto

BeeMaster2 · November 11, 2015, 12:27:48 PM

Ditto, Poisoned somehow. Did you ask him what he sprayed on them? Not "did you spray them?".
Jim

Dallasbeek · November 11, 2015, 12:29:40 PM

Okay, you have a lot of comb, some with brood (brew? -- guessing that's brood). What do you do with it? Be very careful. Do NOT put this comb into another hive. If you have some bees suitable to serve as nurse bees for the larvae, shake them into the hive in which you install this comb. If they raise healthy bees, then you MIGHT have good reason to believe the comb is free of pesticide. If not, you'll probably want to destroy the remaining comb, honey and all.

Further elaboration, debate or comments welcome.

BeeMaster2 · November 11, 2015, 12:36:16 PM

What Dallas said.

mtnb · November 11, 2015, 12:40:27 PM

Newbee here but my first thought also was that they got sprayed. Good way to word it sawdstmkr. You'd get a more honest answer that way. I would love to know if what was asked is so...do bees not cluster if there is no Queen?

BeeMaster2 · November 11, 2015, 12:50:24 PM

Quote from: MT Bee Girl on November 11, 2015, 12:40:27 PM
I would love to know if what was asked is so...do bees not cluster if there is no Queen?

They will cluster without a queen. When the commercial Beeks remove their hives from an apiary, especially during the day, they leave thousands of bees that will cluster on the ground or a bush. Usually in one location but sometimes in 2 or three locations at that site.
When I took apart my observation hive last month, because the queen did not return from mating, and I closed the hole up from the inside, the bees clustered at the entrance even after I tried numerous time to collect them up and put them in other hives. There was a few there this past week.
Jim

mtnb · November 11, 2015, 01:17:42 PM

Thanks Jim.

chux · November 13, 2015, 10:29:19 AM

If that happened to me, I might try to raise a queen off the brood. Find comb with eggs and make up a NUC with a couple of frames of bees from one of my hives. Let them try to raise a queen. Either that, or graft.

More than likely, someone sprayed the mass of bees on the comb, and some of the poison got on the comb. I would not put any of it in any of my hives. And if you waited for a day or two, before adding bees to it, the brood is dead anyway. Get rid of it.