OSR poo ?

[Bumble Bee Slim]

At the beginning of the week the outside of all six of my hives were pretty clean,this morning all had a liberal splattering of light brown/yellowish bee droppings.Yesterday afternoon they were strongly flying and I have 5 fields of osr just over a mile away coming into flower,I'm wondering if this could explain the new exterior decor ?

 

[pargyle]

If it's been as cold as it has been down here in Fareham the bees won't fly that far to defecate and you can get bee poop around the front of the hive and it's nothing much to worry about ... if it's a lot of bee poo then it can be a sign of Nosema in spring. If you have clear crownboards and can look in the hives check for signs of faeces on top of the frames or on the face of the comb ...if it's there as well as on the outside of the hive they may have a dose. If you have a microscope you can easily check with Randy Olivers quick Nosema test on a sample of bees.



If it is Nosema then there are successful treatments with Thymol - in the worst cases it may be necessary to change the queen and frames.

 

[Bumble Bee Slim]

If it's been as cold as it has been down here is Fareham the bees won't fly that far to defecate and you can get bee poop around the front of the hive and it's nothing much to worry about ... if it's a lot of bee poo then it can be a sign of Nosema in spring. If you have clear crownboards and can look in the hives check for signs of faeces on top of the frames or on the face of the comb ...if it's there as well as on the outside of the hive they may have dose. If you have a microscope you can easily check with Randy Olivers quick Nosema test on a sample of bees.



If it is Nosema then there are successful treatments with Thymol - in the worst cases it may be necessary to change the queen and frames.

Thankyou for the info and yes l have clear crownboards and all seems fine on the frame tops and am pretty certain its not nosema but will test with microscope if I become worried.It just seemed rather a coincidence that all hives exhibited this just as they had started foraging on this crop ,small amounts of nectar coming in and lots of yellow pollen which I'm assuming is osr as the willow appears to be over here ( but no foraging today I hasten to add 9° and piddling down)

 

[pargyle]

Small cases of dysentry are not ususual in spring when they start to go out foraging and there's food aound for them ... then we get a cold snap and they can't get out as much and they fly out, do a couple of circuits for orientation and then realise it's a bit nippy and head back to the hive ... and take a dump as they are heading back ! Better just outside the hive than inside where someone will need to clear it up. I think, in Spring, it's also new bees who have been well fed in the hive and need to relieve themselves and don't get very far before the urge to go overtakes them !

 

[Bumble Bee Slim]

Small cases of dysentry are not ususual in spring when they start to go out foraging and there's food aound for them ... then we get a cold snap and they can't get out as much and they fly out, do a couple of circuits for orientation and then realise it's a bit nippy and head back to the hive ... and take a dump as they are heading back ! Better just outside the hive than inside where someone will need to clear it up. I think, in Spring, it's also new bees who have been well fed in the hive and need to relieve themselves and don't get very far before the urge to go overtakes them !

This explains exactly what I'm seeing, thank you for your answer,much appreciated.