Dead bees piled up at the back of my brood box

[The Riviera Kid]

I did a full inspection of one of my hives today, the first one of the year and everything was textbook: healthy brood, lots of pollen and honey in stores, the bees in good humour and busy foraging and returning with lots of pollen. There are no obvious signs of disease.

However, when going through the frames I got to the rear of the brood box and found a mound of dead bees piled up, very deliberately, against the back wall. the frames at the back of the brood box were empty of stores.

There were no dead bees elsewhere in the brood box so I am puzzled as to why the housekeeping bees piled the corpses where they did and didn't chuck them out of the front. the total volume would fill maybe 1.5 average coffee mugs.

I have never seen this before.

The mouse guard was still in place (I took it off now) so is it that the restricted entrance deterred the housekeepers from their task and they did the second best that they could?

Any ideas??

Cheers.

 

[greatbritishhoney]

Could have been a temporary measure due to the cold weather.

 

[Midland Beek]

The mouse guard was still in place (I took it off now) so is it that the restricted entrance deterred the housekeepers from their task and they did the second best that they could? .

Undertaker bees do not like mouseguards. And not only that but spring is late this year so why waste bees having them clear out the hive when they have life and death issues of the colony to tend to, like brood rearing and foraging for early pollen?

There is a case for lifting off the brood box/boxes onto the roof for 3 or 4 mins and doing a quick clean of the floor. A stiff brush comes in handy or a few scrapes with the hive tool might suffice.

 

[The Riviera Kid]

Thanks for the replies. I cleared out the dead bees and the board under the mesh too.

I think that the bees are ok. It was just the unusual behaviour that puzzled me and I wondered if anyone else had experienced it.

Cheers