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pesticide kill?

4K views 20 replies 10 participants last post by  Michael Bush 
#1 ·
I went out to check my 3 hives today. Two large colonies and a nuc.

To my dismay one of the large colonies had the bottom entrance clogged with dead bees.
I thought maybe at first they had been drowned by the sudden storms we had last night.

But when I took off the top cover there were more dead bees. As I worked my way down frame
by frame (hive is 5 mediums) each frame was empty. No bees except for a straggler here and there.
There was still capped brood. I could see what appeared to be dead bees half emerged.

On the bottom board the dead bees were two inches thick. A few seemed to be barely alive.

On one frame in the bottom box I found a fist sized clump of bees and the queen. Still alive.

I did the only thing that occurred to me using what I had with me at the time. (remote site)

I took the single frame with live bees and queen and put it into a new medium box I had
in my vehicle. It was supposed to be for my nuc. I put in clean frames that had been extracted
just 2 weeks ago. I took a frame of honey and a frame of brood and nurse bees from my other
large colony (which is fine) and made up a 5 frame nuc using a follower board to close it down.

So I had one frame with a fist size clump of bees and queen...one frame of honey...and one frame
of brood plus nurse bees from the other colony. And two frames of drawn out comb.

I know this very small nuc has almost zero chance of surviving. Just not enough bees and they may
be dying as well. But I had a live queen and thought I should do something.

The dead hive had been robbed out. Probably shortly after they collapsed. There wasnt a speck of
honey left in it.

I just hope whatever killed this one doesnt spread to the other two hives.

Im thinking it had to be a pesticide kill. This hive was booming and full of bees just 8 days ago.

Unfortunately no pictures. Didnt take the camera. This was supposed to be just a quick check.

It was quite a shock to see so many dead bees.
 
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#4 ·
I didnt think to save any bees until after I got home. I did bring the empty frames home still containing brood and they are in the
freezer now. Unfortunately no pictures. Didnt have the camera with me.

It will be reported Monday morning.

The hives were on 27 acres of private property and I know the land owner didnt do any spraying.
 
#5 ·
Mine are on 80 private acres and they still got a pesticide hit from the farmer renting next farm over. I think the driftwatch mapping is in your state. I put my hives on the map. National Pollinator defense fund 832-727-9492 great number to call. They will get you pointed in the direction you need. state Ag, EPA.
 
#9 ·
I guess I can't answer your question then. A pesticide kill will usually have an odor and some "crawlers" in front. If any of the sealed brood has holes in it (indicating the hive was "sucking" out the last nutrients) that would be a pretty sure sign of starvation as would bees that died with their heads in cells. However if there is a large amount of unattended rotting brood then that would most likely be a pesticide issue. Queens are usually about the last to die in either scenario, though perhaps they hang on a bit longer when a hive is starving. Starving bees are usually pretty dry while poisoned bees are damp. I'm not saying this hive wasn't a victim of a pesticide kill only that it would be a bit odd if a neighboring hive of similar strength didn't show at least some signs of damage.
 
#10 ·
Ive got conflicting evidence. I dont know what to think. The dead bees were wet. But we had heavy rain overnight. Lots of abandoned brood.
Many half emerged and dead. I did see a few dead bees head down in cells. Not a lot but a few.

There was an odor but I think it was just from the mass of dead wet bees. There were a few barely alive crawling around.

I did remove a foundationless frame with all drone comb and drone brood. I opened the cells and looked for mites.
Out of 20 cells I opened I only saw 2 mites. I had planned on treating with MAQS as soon as the honey supers were off.

Is it really possible for a hive to starve in the summer with lots of blooming plants around? If this was March I would think so
but surely not in August?
 
#14 ·
I had a hive starve in the summer out of my own ignorance once. It is amazing how much honey/nectar a hive will go thru raising brood. My bees now throttle back in times of dearth. Not those. I try and be diligent about checking stores regularly after our main flow. good Luck. G
 
#18 ·
Yes...Once I found the queen still alive with a small cluster of live bees I scrambled to set up something.
I took a new medium hive body I had in my vehicle and put the queen and bees into it along with a frame
of brood and nurse bees from my other hive and a frame of honey. I also put two frames of clean drawn
comb in with them. I added a follower board to close it down to 5 frames. Entrance reducer to smallest opening.

I sprayed the empty comb with some syrup to give them something to eat right away. And I put a baggie of syrup
in for them as well.

It was the best i could do for them with what I had available at the time.

The more I think about this and review what I saw the more Im agreeing that this was
a starve out. Lesson learned.
 
#16 ·
We have often seen the strongest hives hit first and worst with poison. My guess is the effected area was more distant.

DO NOT PUT the dead bees in alcohol. Freeze them in a plastic bag and find 332 dollars for testing.I will find the place to send them tomorrow.

Crazy Roland
 
#20 ·
Our Bee Lady sent me to Beltsville, contact Bart Smith, who refered me to Roger Simonds, 704 833-1525 of the AMS, USDA.

Yes, they may have been robbed, but that should be easy to determine by inspecting the comb. Ussually robbers rip up the comb pretty bad. The fact that the strongest hive died first is consistent with our observations.


Crazy Roland
 
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