Brown goo on queen cage

[busybeemum]

Hi, long story short I lost 3 and a half of my 4 hives including queen from the latter to a careless neighbor who sprayed their lawn about 2 weeks ago I have ordered a new queen but she has arrived (in the post less than 24 hours later) and the cage has brown goo with white dots in which leaked onto the paperwork she came with. I assume it's just poop or similar but just wanted to check I am not about to endanger my now sole hive which is already weakened. As a precaution I have taken away all of their reserves and have put feeders on. I didn't order a new queen straight away as I didn't know if these girls would die too.Thankfully we have had alot of rain so I hope that has go rid of the "lawn fixer" Anyway... Trying not to rant

So my question is: what's the brown goop?

 

[Antipodes]

Hi, long story short I lost 3 and a half of my 4 hives including queen from the latter to a careless neighbor who sprayed their lawn about 2 weeks ago I have ordered a new queen but she has arrived (in the post less than 24 hours later) and the cage has brown goo with white dots in which leaked onto the paperwork she came with. I assume it's just poop or similar but just wanted to check I am not about to endanger my now sole hive which is already weakened. As a precaution I have taken away all of their reserves and have put feeders on. I didn't order a new queen straight away as I didn't know if these girls would die too.Thankfully we have had alot of rain so I hope that has go rid of the "lawn fixer" Anyway... Trying not to rant

So my question is: what's the brown goop?

That sounds shocking. What on earth were they using, as in what was the active ingredient?

 

[busybeemum]

That sounds shocking. What on earth were they using, as in what was the active ingredient?

They refused to tell me despite me telling them my kids had eaten honey from the affected hives. They just keep telling me that it is "organic" weedkiller to get rid of the clover, dandelions and buttercups they also had these tiny little blue and pink flowers in their lawn that the bumblebees loved

 

[Swarm]

Sounds to me like it was no accident.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Sounds to me like it was no accident.

Agree. Time to keep any more bees you have in an out apiary away from home.
Picture of the queen cage might help.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Sounds to me like it was no accident.

doubt it was the 'spray' on the lawn that did for them either.

 

[Antipodes]

doubt it was the 'spray' on the lawn that did for them either.

On that vein, what is the general health of the remaining hive like and did you notice casualties in that?
Edit: I see you say you've lost half of it.
Herbicides do not normally worry bees ...it is normally pesticides which do that...unless they put in an "additive" of some sort.

 

[busybeemum]

Maybe I have half an acre and the bees are in the center of it so that they are nowhere near fences etc. I'm looking for somewhere to keep my hives now

 

[busybeemum]

I have no idea unless they have sprayed something else, or it could be pure coincidence that they died out within 48 hours of their lawn being sprayed. We have found a dead hedgehog in the garden last week too. Again I don't know if coincidence? I'm devastated as all 4 hives came through winter beautifully. My biggest concern now though is I have no idea what the brown goo that came with my new queen is?

 

[pargyle]

Propolis or bee poo ... doesn't look to me like anything that would cause concern - might be just propolis off the beekeeper's gloves who caged the queen,

The dead outs - bit more of a concern - lawn weed treatments are not usually a cause of bee deaths ... something else I suspect. What does the inside of the dead outs look like -were there stores in there ? With the dreadful weather I've been getting reports down here of big colonies starving.

 

[Erichalfbee]

I have no idea unless they have sprayed something else, or it could be pure coincidence that they died out within 48 hours of their lawn being sprayed. We have found a dead hedgehog in the garden last week too. Again I don't know if coincidence? I'm devastated as all 4 hives came through winter beautifully. My biggest concern now though is I have no idea what the brown goo that came with my new queen is?

Can you post a picture of the cage?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Propolis or bee poo ... doesn't look to me like anything that would cause concern - might be just propolis off the beekeeper's gloves who caged the queen,

The dead outs - bit more of a concern - lawn weed treatments are not usually a cause of bee deaths ... something else I suspect. What does the inside of the dead outs look like -were there stores in there ? With the dreadful weather I've been getting reports down here of big colonies starving.

Propolis or bee poo ... doesn't look to me like anything that would cause concern - might be just propolis off the beekeeper's gloves who caged the queen,

The dead outs - bit more of a concern - lawn weed treatments are not usually a cause of bee deaths ... something else I suspect. What does the inside of the dead outs look like -were there stores in there ? With the dreadful weather I've been getting reports down here of big colonies starving.

a little dab of propolis on the paper accompanying the queen means nothing.
I'm of the same opinion as Phillip - strong colonies starving. Just come back from an apiary now that I haven't been able to get to for a few weeks - one powerful colony there, two supers on and packed with bees and plenty of stores - Starved out, probably at the beginning of this week.

 

[Erichalfbee]

So the lost colonies.
What was the state of play in the boxes?
Bees dead inside or outside?

 

[hemo]

Maybe I have half an acre and the bees are in the center of it so that they are nowhere near fences etc. I'm looking for somewhere to keep my hives now

Your issue may not be the neighbour, as has been mentioned of late (esp the last 4 weeks) the weather generally has been pretty terrible for decent spring foraging, like the others I would suspect starvation.

Ideally show us some pics of the colonies inside and outside.

Inside of the hives if there is a thick carpet of bees and many bees with heads stuck in the cells then this is signs of starvation, there may be sparse areas of stores on combs but not enough to feed all and the brood. Outside of the hive if there are piles of dead bees then this again is a sign of starvation.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Don’t worry @busybeemum. We are not giving you the third degree simply trying to help. As a beginner with little support it is easy to make mistakes. We all lose bees. Nobody is judging you just trying to get to the bottom of the problem.

 

[hemo]

The goo is likely propolis as others have mentioned, just like chewing gum the stuff goes everywhere any ticks to anything. One reason why I don't touch my mobile phone in the apiary even my car steering wheel is propolis stained here and there.

 

[hemo]

I gave my colonies extra stores last week, sealed combs spare from over winter feeding and ivy. Last two days noticed all of that has gone, there is some fresh stores incoming and one colony particularly was givng off a nice aroma from foraging, it isn't much at the mo but enough that they don't starve. Hopefully they will make good use of the better weather over the next 8 days.

No shame in getting a diagnosis wrong or laying the blame at the wrong door we are here to help you out.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Yes my colonies have been running on vapour and the bigger they are the quicker they fall

 

[Gilberdyke John]

Hi, long story short I lost 3 and a half of my 4 hives including queen from the latter to a careless neighbor who sprayed their lawn about 2 weeks ago I have ordered a new queen but she has arrived (in the post less than 24 hours later) and the cage has brown goo with white dots in which leaked onto the paperwork she came with. I assume it's just poop or similar but just wanted to check I am not about to endanger my now sole hive which is already weakened. As a precaution I have taken away all of their reserves and have put feeders on. I didn't order a new queen straight away as I didn't know if these girls would die too.Thankfully we have had alot of rain so I hope that has go rid of the "lawn fixer" Anyway... Trying not to rant

So my question is: what's the brown goop?

Effective weed killer is rarely organic (apart from manually weeding). It might or might not be related to your losses but I'd be wondering if it was some home brewed concoction with an insecticide component to kill lawn pests such as leather jackets etc.
There are hedgehog protection groups all over who might be interested in testing the corpse for poisons and take the matter further. However all sorts of permitted toxins eg in slug pellets could equally be involved.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Effective weed killer is rarely organic

Well, I suppose using Diesel as a weed suppresant is technically using an organic compound