hive with bees on the ground.

**reef10** · 01-09-2013, 03:47 PM

We had a warm day so the girls were flying. In front of the hive was a bunch ~100 bees that were sitting on the grass. This is occurring in front of both hives. Now that night is here I checked again and they are still there. They don't show signs of DWV ie they have normal wings. I don't think they are drones. This is the first warm day in a couple of weeks. Is this normal or is there a problem I should look for in the hive? The bees on the ground will freeze tonight and they are not going back in.

**Maryland Beekeeper** · 01-09-2013, 04:20 PM

tough to recommend inspection in winter, sounds abnormal to me, that said I'll leave it for others to decide if it could be a situation in need of or with hope of remedy.
Cheers,
Drew

**reef10** · 01-11-2013, 04:14 PM

I have one hive at another location about 6 miles away. I checked that hive and I am not seeing the same thing. It is not a huge amount of bees but is it something to be worried about? Any other ideas about what it could be?

**beepro** · 01-11-2013, 06:07 PM

This is obviously not a normal sign for the bees. 200 is a lot of bees on the grass at this cold winter days. My little hive has normal 200 bees flying around in a sunny 50F degree. When you have many bees then not a concern but when your hive just have fewer bees then it is a big concern for me. Reading from other folks aobut their abnormal bee situation makes me very concern about mine too.
So I have not much idea what it is. Might suspect something wrong inside the hive though. In winter time the small moth larvae can hatch too. I just picked off one and took out the frame last night. But will definitely scoope up the bees to put back into the hive if no known problem I seen. Because when temp drop into the 30s they will die outside. Try to find to see if there is a queen bee in that pile the next time it happens. Definitely not a normal sign I think. Hope this helps.

**Will O'Brien** · 01-11-2013, 09:25 PM

It is probably too late now, but I would not put the bees back into the hive. They left the hive and did not return for a reason. Forcing them back into the hive could put sick bees in with the rest of their sisters and spread disease. If they die in the hive then it will be more work for the bees to get them out and dead bees will be in the hive for weeks or months, depending on the weather.

Good luck and let us know what happens.