Funny smell coming from hive

[Smudger55]

When I checked my hives quickly for stores there were two that had a funny smell coming from the hives , I have been keeping bees for 11 yrs and have never had this smell before and have never lost bees in the winter YET... The bees in the hives I am on about are alive and have stores .... any solutions

 

[Ian123]

11 years and no losses that’s good going! As to the smell the bees are alive and well by all accounts so is it an issue? Could be fermenting stores could be damp, in fairness your in a better position to figure it out than we are.

 

[Smudger55]

It’s just that I have never come across it
Hence the asking and always learning when it comes to bees

 

[Antipodes]

Smudger55...what does the smell remind you of? Rotting meat or more like stinky wet dog/dishcloth perhaps?

 

[Smudger55]

when I am the apiary next I will let you know ....thanks

 

[Millet]

When I checked my hives quickly for stores there were two that had a funny smell coming from the hives , I have been keeping bees for 11 yrs and have never had this smell before and have never lost bees in the winter YET... The bees in the hives I am on about are alive and have stores .... any solutions

All i can say is phone NASA..

 

[pargyle]

When I checked my hives quickly for stores there were two that had a funny smell coming from the hives , I have been keeping bees for 11 yrs and have never had this smell before and have never lost bees in the winter YET... The bees in the hives I am on about are alive and have stores .... any solutions

Sometimes, when you interfere with them when they don't want to be interfered with .. and you can never tell when it will be .. they can give off attack pheremones .. it smells a bit like over ripe bananas. I've only ever come across it twice.. once in my bees when I opened them up on a day when it was raining - they didn't come up and at me, just this odd smell and a lot of buzzing. It was early days in my beekeeping and my first thought was foul brood .. but my mentor put me wise when he came round the next day - we opened them up and no smell at all and no signs of any disease. The only other time was in a walk away split I did for a new beekeeper and we were checking to see how many queen cells had been made - the bees were very calm but there was that smell again .. somewhere between ripe bananas and musty cider. Difficult to describe.

 

[Monbees]

Could it be ivy honey? I always think that smells pretty bad.

 

[pargyle]

Could it be ivy honey? I always think that smells pretty bad.

There's a few plants that produce fairly smelly nectar .. Ivy is one of them .. but it tends to smell when the honey is being ripened and there's no Ivy left in bloom where I am down here, it's all long since capped. I've never noticed it smelling when the bees uncap it but I don't generally open my bees up in winter.

One of my holly trees has just come into blossom and those flowers smell like pee .. I was watching some insects on the flowers on Wednesday and there seems to be some pollen on them .. Perhaps there is something the OP's bees are bringing in that has a smell ?

 

[user 819]

I have some set comb ivy which I like and using it in my tea once it has cooled a little, even in the comb it still has a strong aroma. Maybe Smudger's bees are uncapping and using, if so there should be some clear indications of white/cream grains under the hive or on an insert if colony is on an OMF.

 

[ShinySideUp]

Last summer I thought one of my hives had gone off, took the lid off and it was not a pleasant smell. I can't really describe it but it wasn't nice and didn't smell like the other hives; a couple of weeks later and it had gone. The colony is still alive and I took two supers of honey (which was nice) from them last August so whatever it was, it got better.

 

[Stiffy]

When I checked my hives quickly for stores there were two that had a funny smell coming from the hives , I have been keeping bees for 11 yrs and have never had this smell before and have never lost bees in the winter YET... The bees in the hives I am on about are alive and have stores .... any solutions

Won’t be long now until you can check the floor of hive.
I would suggest a mouse was either trapped when you put on mouse guards or as it’s been warm the bees have dealt with one. The only ‘pong’ I notice from any of mine is when they forage on dandelion, awful !
S

 

[Erichalfbee]

One of my holly trees has just come into blossom and those flowers smell like pee .. I was watching some insects on the flowers on Wednesday and there seems to be some pollen on them .. Perhaps there is something the OP's bees are bringing in that has a smell ?

This is our eighth year in Wales. There is a lot of holly about and we have quite a few trees in the garden. There is one very large one by the sun room door. One year( and it’s only ever happened the one ) every morning the trees were alive with bees. It’s never happened again.

 

[pargyle]

This is our eighth year in Wales. There is a lot of holly about and we have quite a few trees in the garden. There is one very large one by the sun room door. One year( and it’s only ever happened the one ) every morning the trees were alive with bees. It’s never happened again.

We have two large holly trees in the garden - one has flowes on it - the other shows no sign of flowering. It's very early, we would normally expect it around end of March when some of the other tree blossom has come out and I don't ever remember seeing any honey bees on it - but that may be because there is so much more forage available at that time and the bees are opportunist. They will go where their efforts give them the best rewards.

This mild winter down here is really screwing up nature ..

 

[Smudger55]

Sometimes, when you interfere with them when they don't want to be interfered with .. and you can never tell when it will be .. they can give off attack pheremones .. it smells a bit like over ripe bananas. I've only ever come across it twice.. once in my bees when I opened them up on a day when it was raining - they didn't come up and at me, just this odd smell and a lot of buzzing. It was early days in my beekeeping and my first thought was foul brood .. but my mentor put me wise when he came round the next day - we opened them up and no smell at all and no signs of any disease. The only other time was in a walk away split I did for a new beekeeper and we were checking to see how many queen cells had been made - the bees were very calm but there was that smell again .. somewhere between ripe bananas and musty cider. Difficult to describe.

Definitely not alarm pheromones as I know what that is like .....

 

[masterBK]

Are you using solid floors? If so, some colonies (lacking good hygenic behaviour) leave the dead on the floor, especially after a heavy drop during a cold spell, instead of dragging them outside and in moist conditions they rot with a characteristic smell

 

[pargyle]

Are you using solid floors? If so, some colonies (lacking good hygenic behaviour) leave the dead on the floor, especially after a heavy drop during a cold spell, instead of dragging them outside and in moist conditions they rot with a characteristic smell

Not very hygienic bees then !! I've never seen anywhere near that amount of bees dead on my open mesh floors ... Could explain the smell in the OP's hive though ...

 

[Hachi]

Not very hygienic bees then !! I've never seen anywhere near that amount of bees dead on my open mesh floors ... Could explain the smell in the OP's hive though ...

I'd be guessing Phil the bee's have better things to do in winter, like surviving and worrying about the dead in easier times....

 

[pargyle]

I'd be guessing Phil the bee's have better things to do in winter, like surviving and worrying about the dead in easier times....

I don't know ..I see mine regularly dumping the dead out often when the weather is not very clement - sometimes they only make it as far as the (admittedly very large !) landing board on my Paynes Poly hives. Albeit I also have a super filled with insulation on top of the brood box and 6mm polycarb crownboards so they are a bit snug.

Also, I always see a few guard bees in the entrance slot even on colder and wet days - mine very rarely cluster as far as I can see.

Perhaps it's the product of cold hives where the bees cluster tightly in areas (unlike down here on the Costa del Fareham) where you get proper winters ?

Two years ago I finally pursuaded a fellow beekeeper in our association to the benefits of a lump of insulation on the top of his timber hives ... He confessed this week that he is a firm convert ..

I wonder whether the huge number of bees not cleared on that solid floor are the product of a cold hive and a cold winter ?

 

[Erichalfbee]

I don't know ..I see mine regularly dumping the dead out often when the weather is not very clement - sometimes they only make it as far as the (admittedly very large !) landing board

I wonder whether the huge number of bees not cleared on that solid floor are the product of a cold hive and a cold winter ?

Could well be.
I checked all the hives this morning. All are humming their winter tunes reassuringly and there is hardly a dead bee on any omf.