is it normal....

Peebels · Feb 8, 2010

to find a lot of dead bees in front of the hive?

I say a lot but i suppose that’s a matter of perspective? I would say there was about 100 or so? Maybe?

I noticed a few flying on Saturday as i passed but didn’t really have a closer look. It was cold but very sunny and i suspect it had warmed the hive up. On Sunday when i passed I had a little look around the outside of the hive and there was a fair few dead out front. Are these just bees that have died over the winter and been chucked out at the first available opportunity or is this something i should be concerned about? There are a few more dead ones dotted about the allotment, but nothing like the number out the front of the hive.

I did have a close look at a few and they appear to be correctly formed and varroa free!?! But i suspect varroa would soon leave a dead bee?

P

taff.. · Feb 8, 2010

Peebels said:
Are these just bees that have died over the winter and been chucked out at the first available opportunity

Yes, I would think so.

SixFooter · Feb 8, 2010

If it's any comfort, I counted about 600 dead bees a couple of weeks ago outside a hive, but on Saturday just gone, there was a lot of healthy looking activity at the entrance. I think the colony has survived OK so far.

banjomorris · Feb 8, 2010

I noticed exactly the same scenario - a few flying on Saturday and then on Sunday a hundred or so dead outside the entrance of each hive. Underneath the OMF was a lot of dust which I took to being the bees rapidly uncapping honey supplies.

PaleoPerson · Feb 8, 2010

About 50 or so outside the hives and on Saturday, they were having a good clear out. I could hear them dropping carcasses from a great height on my shed roof.

Hombre · Feb 8, 2010

The good news is that it takes a fair workforce to dump that many carcasses out the front. Some, probably not many, might also be just chilled.

The other day I picked up eight on a bit of kitchen towel and sat it on a radiator indoors for a short while. As they revived I popped most of them into a jar with the kitchen towel and a bit of brace comb with syrup dripped into it.

Before long there was one confirmed dead; seven were alive and well, of which one went flying around the lights in the living room to impress the OH.