Decapitaed dead bees in winter?

Beekeeping & Apiculture Forum

Help Support Beekeeping & Apiculture Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

nickysolar

New Bee
Joined
Jan 1, 2016
Messages
30
Reaction score
0
Location
Oxfordshire
Hive Type
National
Number of Hives
4
I topped up the fondant today and as usual found a few dead bees on the top, nothing unusual however on closer inspection a number of them have been decapitated, same way wasps do this in late summer. However its February. Any suggestions before I go in deep?
 
I topped up the fondant today and as usual found a few dead bees on the top, nothing unusual however on closer inspection a number of them have been decapitated, same way wasps do this in late summer. However its February. Any suggestions before I go in deep?

I wouldnt worry about it, it very ofter happens if the bee's are trying to remove dead bees.
I wouldnt be inspecting because a few dead bees had been dismembered, you very often see legs, wings and body parts.. Hopefully not in piles as this might suggest a shrew or mouse is either having a munch in the hive or getting under the floor in between floor and inspection board.
 
I would suspect a shrew
Yes ... if the dead bees are on top of the fondant then I'd be inclined to agree ... I would give the box a good bang with the entrance wide open and see if anything runs out ...check on the top of the fondant for any rodent droppings and if in doubt ... put some sort of restrictor on the entrance to stop any gettting in.
 
Righto, I'll take a look and give the hive a bang. Thanks people
 

Latest posts

Back
Top