bees being thrown out of hive

[barry]

Being a newbee I'm slightly puzzled by something I witnessed yesterday whilst putting some apigard into the hive. I noticed that a few times a worker would drag out a bee from the entrance and then fall to the ground grappling with it. Every time I saw this happen the bee that was being evicted was still alive, is this normal behaviour as I assumed they would only drag out dead bees or drones. Could they be taking out robber bees or bees that are diseased. There did'nt seem to be anything wrong with the evictee bees, in fact one of them looked like a newly emerged youngster.

 

[Monsieur Abeille]

Robbing very common this time of year

 

[barry]

the colony is seemingly strong and healthy so if robbing is going on they should be able to deal with it should'nt they ? do I need to keep a close eye on them to make sure its not getting out of hand

 

[MJBee]

If you have not already done so close the entrance down to about 3", this will allow the colony to defend its self (if it is being robbed) and also improve the effectiveness of the Apiguard treatment.

 

[barry]

Thanks for the advice, the entrance is already about 3 inches so should be ok

 

[Queens59]

Or they could be kicking out the drones?

 

[Midland Beek]

Fighting = robbing.

 

[Dishmop]

Take a close look at all the ones that have been chucked out and should be walking away from the hive, and you should see (as in my case) that they are all drones.....

 

[Queens59]

Oh, sorry - seceral of my books say that the eviction process can be quite violent...I bow to experience...

 

[barry]

None of the bees I've have seen thrown out have been drones, they are all workers, we still have a fair few drones in the colony so I don't suppose it will be long before we see them being kicked out

 

[CB008]

Bees being ejected

Whilst I am not an experienced beekeeper, I have had experience for many weeks of what you have reported. Since I took in a swarm I have had a horrible varroa problem which I have been just about controlling and this has caused deformed wing virus and other non perfect bees. These are ejected as soon as they are discovered; indeed some are grappled out, fall to the ground and are then carried away in the air to be dropped away from the hive. Whilst the dwv’s are obvious to spot, some of the bees look normal to me. My belief is that the bees know instantly when any bee born is not 100% and these they eject. Could it be that this is what is happening with yours.
Once I discovered the Varroa I treated with everything from icing sugar to Hiveclean and now have thousands dropping under Apiguard.

 

[oliver90owner]

CB008,

.....a swarm I have had a horrible varroa problem.....

You are experienced in this now. A lot, or most, new beeks fall into that trap. BTDT.

In future you will treat all swarms for varroa as soon as you get them? No capped brood for a period means there are a few days to knock them off with almost any treatment (apart from apistan or bayvarol, dependent on mite resistance, unless you 'finish the course of treatment') you care to choose.

Mite drop, and removal of the first capped brood (an important operation) and 'forking' out some pupae will indicate the level of the possible infestation.

As the olde saying goes, 'a stitch in time saves nine'.

Hope this helps you, and a few other new beeks, in the future.

Regards, RAB

 

[barry]

I'm wondering if the varroa are the problem like you say and that the workers know instinctively that a newly emerged bee is not right. We have been monitoring the varroa since we got the colony early july. We were pleased because we did'nt seem to have much of a varroa problem, then last week there seemed to be a sudden explosion when we did a count. Hence we have started treating with apiguard. We have joined bee base and I think will get in touch with local bee inspector to see if we are going about things in the correct way