I sat outside the hive for an hour. It was 10 C with some occasional sunshine.
About every 5 mins or so, a bee stuck its head out.
Probably half of these walk around a bit, then decided against it and went back in. Of the rest, half flew around a bit, voided their guts very impressively, did some hovering to remember the hive image, then flew off purposefully.
The remaining ones (about a quarter) just fell out drunkenly, crawled around on the floor, chilled down and stopped moving.
I tried to 'rescue' one on a leaf and have a good look at it. It had the biggest Varroa mite on its 'neck' I had ever seen!
Maybe these dying bees are taking themselves out because the mites are weakening them? Maybe its a 'keep the colony mite level down' reaction. Maybe they are just too weak to fly when it's cold.
Here's a photo of the bee + mite (taken a long way from from the hive)
About every 5 mins or so, a bee stuck its head out.
Probably half of these walk around a bit, then decided against it and went back in. Of the rest, half flew around a bit, voided their guts very impressively, did some hovering to remember the hive image, then flew off purposefully.
The remaining ones (about a quarter) just fell out drunkenly, crawled around on the floor, chilled down and stopped moving.
I tried to 'rescue' one on a leaf and have a good look at it. It had the biggest Varroa mite on its 'neck' I had ever seen!
Maybe these dying bees are taking themselves out because the mites are weakening them? Maybe its a 'keep the colony mite level down' reaction. Maybe they are just too weak to fly when it's cold.
Here's a photo of the bee + mite (taken a long way from from the hive)
