dead bees

[irishguy]

Was out just watching my bees coming in and out of the hive late afternoon and noticed there was a few dead bees on the ground below the entrance of the hive. When I say a few, there was 10 at 1 hive and about 15 at the other. Would this be normal or should I call someone to have a look.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

sounds about normal

 

[aidskywalker]

It's the mortuary bees removing dead ones out of the hive. It's normal unless there's hundreds of dead bees then something's not right.

 

[einsteinagogo]

Sorry to hijack thread at one colony which is on a wooden pallet on grass I see very few dead bees and those that I do get picked up very quickly. At my other apiary site with two nucs transferred into nationals which are on hive stands on weed fabric the dead bees get pushed out of the hive onto floor under hive and if you get 15 a day over seven days that's almost a pile of 100 dead bees and these seemed to be ignored and not taken away so I clear them up I assume Bees clear up around their hives?

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[einsteinagogo]

That should be Bees clear up sweep the dead bees up

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[Summerslease]

From my observations the mortuary bees clear them out of the hive. Some get dropped immediately outside and others get carried away from the hive. 100 over 15 days would be as low a death rate as you could expect. If you get 100s in a day then you could suspect they've got a dose of insecticide while out foraging. I've not seen the bees clear the ground around the hive, sparrows or the wind do it for me.