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Bees throwing pollen out of the hive?

18K views 26 replies 20 participants last post by  thill 
#1 ·
Yesterday I noticed little yellow balls on the ground in front of one of my hives. I squished one of the balls between my fingers and i was mostly powdery. It looks like pollen. Today there are alot of the little balls in front of both of my hives. It looks like the pollen that the foragers are bringing in, but it also looks like the bees are actively throwing the pollen out of the hives. They look very intent on throwing the pollen out. Why would the bees do this? Is this something to be concerned about?

Thanks,
Shellie

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#25 · (Edited)
I plan to open the hives this weekend. I will report what I find.
.
My money is on, that it’s your “mouse guard” wire stripping the pollen out of there sacks as they enter. Once on the BB, no one is trying to recollect it, & tossing it to the ground?
 
#7 ·
Bees are not perfect, they sometimes drop pollen when they are placing it in cells. When they drop it, instead of picking it up and returning to the pollen cells, the house bees take it out as trash. This action is common when much pollen is comming in.
 
#10 ·
Remove the screen, it's knocking the pollen off their legs as they attempt to get in the blocked entrance.

I left the top cover lifted up a bit on my hivetop feeder and ended up with that same ragweed pollen in the bottom, the bees were getting in and couldn't get through the screen and dropped the pollen trying.

Peter
 
#14 ·
Michael, I considered the possibility of contaminated pollen as well but with the amount of wire mesh that was in front of the entrance that the bees had to traverse over it seemed more likely that the pollen was being pulled off by the wire as the bees made their way to the entrance. Contamination is always a possibility however and it would be a good idea for Shellie to keep it in mind. :)
 
#15 ·
I vote for wire stripping. If you look closely at the pellets, you will see that they are streamlined by airflow in flight. Shaped like a cyclist helmet. If packed in a cell, pollen loses that shape. So, not rejected internal to the hive.

Note that normal loss on the landing board is often retrieved for use inside - sometimes overnight. That lodged in the wire might give the bees some problem with retrieval.

Walt
Opinion is my worst enemy.
 
#16 ·
The bees were throwing pollen out of the hive before the wire was put on. Also, The pollen is on the ground before it would get brushed by the wire. I will say, that there is some pollen that is getting brushed off by the wire, however, that pollen is on the landing board, underneath the wire.

Micheal, If the pollen is contaminated, will that affect the bees? I have been considering moving them. Maybe now is the time?

I put the wire on the hives as a mouse guard.

Thank you!
Shellie
 
#21 ·
I had a similar screen on that caused them to lose their baskets earlier in the spring but when that was happening they did not turn around to throw it off the edge or to pick up what they dropped. If they dropped it passing thru no one would carry off the pollen besides me haha.
 
#22 ·
Just because you see pollen pellets on the landing board does not mean the bees are "throwing it out." A full load of pollen sometimes gets jarred loose on touchdown. One or both. They make no effort to retrieve it at that time. Too busy. Later, when things are less busy, they can retrieve it.
Walt
 
#23 ·
Yesterday I noticed little yellow balls on the ground in front of one of my hives. I squished one of the balls between my fingers and i was mostly powdery. It looks like pollen. Today there are alot of the little balls in front of both of my hives. It looks like the pollen that the foragers are bringing in, but it also looks like the bees are actively throwing the pollen out of the hives. They look very intent on throwing the pollen out. Why would the bees do this? Is this something to be concerned about?

Thanks,
Shellie

View attachment 3137 View attachment 3138
I noticed this happening and realized that the pollen was being knocked off of the bees because they were crawling through loose part of my robber screen. I adjusted the robber screen so it had a tighter fit and the problem vanished. So, perhaps there is some barrier causing the bees to lose pollen while crawling into the hive.
 
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