Packages and Bee Poop

[Chef Isaac]

My friend and I hived twenty packages this last Sunday and, to me, there seemed more bee poop then most years but maybe this year, I am just noticing more. I do not know.

Anyone finding this to be true as well?

[Michael Bush]

I've never seen packages that didn't poop when you let them out. But Jim apparently has.

[Jim Fischer]

You are the second person to mention more pooping than usual
from packages. Yellow or brown?

But yeah, it would be unusual. These bees may have some dysentery
right out of the package, which is a very substandard condition.
Ridicule is not known to cure it.

I've noted it as unusual, in another thread, and Lloyd Spear as also
voiced concern. We've managed about 500 colonies each, and both
Lloyd and I have been helping new beekeepers with things like packages since at least the 1980s. Lloyd may have been doing it even longer.

I agree with Chef, its not normal, and worth
checking out. At the price of packages these days, one expects
quality.

The good news is that some cases clear up "by themselves", given
some decent weather and a bloom.

[Dick Allen]

I've hived bee packages for some years now, myself. The bees travel up here from you folks down there in the Lower 48 by air cargo. They have to spend time in packages, get jostled around, transfered from truck to airplane and sometimes to another airplane, sit on the tarmac, get moved to an indoor air cargo facility, etc. During this time they are undoubtedly stressed while at the same time consuming a thin liquid syrup with no chance to fly and void within the shipping cages. It seems quite reasonable to me they'd be building up feces within themselves. In fact, we do sometimes see spotting on the outside of their hives for a day or two after being hived. It always clears up in a short time and the bees produce quite well. Certainly, of course, you don't want to see the hive painted with feces, but some spotting is nothing to get overly alarmed about.

[coondogger]

I'm up in New Hampshire and I just installed two packages. One Carni's and one Italians. Both have more feces on around the entrance than I've seen before. I installed both last Friday (a cool, drizzly day). It has rained steadily since then. I intend to check them next Thursday to see if the queen has been sprung and to refill the frame feeders. When I do, I'll most likely add some Fumigillin.