Curious Problems

[Joseph Clemens]

Here is the expected cause of the issue:
Even though our Summer rains have inspired various plants to provide forage presently the bees seem to be collecting quite a bit of light pink to dark red liquid, they collect various quantities of this substance around this time each year. I had always believed it was exclusively feed from humming bird feeders, but a fellow beekeeper mentioned that he had observed his bees collecting the pink/red liquid from Prickly Pear Cactus fruits after the fruits had been damaged by birds or rodents. Since there is so much of this liquid being collected I find it hard to imagine their being that many humming bird lovers within foraging range of my bees, and since there are major quantities of Opuntia fruits throughout the foraging range - I am convinced that at least some, if not all, of this pink/red liquid is Opuntia fruit juice.

Here is a description of the issue:
Most all bees seem to have a residue of this pink/red substance in their gut.

There are small quantities stored in many combs, but none seem to have a large quantity of this substance stored.

In the queen cell starter/builder/finisher, the royal jelly is now a light shade of pink, queen larvae develop an overall tinge of pink, and their mid-vein becomes a dark pink. This wouldn't be much of a concern, but my last three sets of grafts have produced very few finished cells. Most cells are aborted just before they would be sealed - the larvae are cannibalized and the jelly cleaned out. A few just keep being elongated and filled with jelly, until they too are aborted several days after they should have been sealed, but weren't. I am going to start feeding sugar syrup in the hopes that they will stop collecting and using this pink/red "fruit juice".

[BjornBee]

Most hummingbird people I know, after they make the first syrup and use the pre-mixed sugar with red dye that come with the feeder, usually just mix 1/3 water to sugar. I am always amazed at those who buy the more expensive pre-made mix with dye to make the water red. The feeders are red....the water does not matter.

Anyways, it would be nice to see if this fruit juice is something to just stay away from not just with queen rearing but brood rearing in general. It may be best if this is a problem, to feed during these times to at least dilute it down to a point where there is no impact, or dangers of stored honey over winter.

Do you see any brood problems besides queen rearing?

[Joseph Clemens]

BjornBee,
Interesting that you would ask about other brood. I had noticed that some worker brood - in some other hives was also "pink". Most hives and Nucs are bringing in a little of this pink/red liquid, though most are not bringing in enough to store or to feed brood with. Some don't appear to be collecting enough for me to even notice. The dynamics of how the hives in an apiary - all with the same forage area, each seeming to harvest from different sources, is fascinating.

I will have to make it a point in my inspections to see if I can determine if the worker brood, fed with the pink/red mystery liquid, is developing normally, or not. If a simple food additive such as this can modify how brood develops (perhaps lengthening time before capping), maybe something like this could be used to affect mite development.

[BEES4U]

You might check out the photos that James Henderson has on BeeSource
Prickly pear bees
James Henderson
My bees have made watermelon honey and that was obvious.
Regards,
Ernie Lucas Apiaries.

[Tom G. Laury]

Once in a while the raisins get rained on so much that they are ruined and split open. The bees can gather large amounts BUT it's no good for them in fact it's bad for them. I think all these fruit juices are pretty similar.