[Honeyeater]

Today I saw something that I thought it was strange. A dead bee, head down in a honey cell. The cell was also capped. Looks like she drew her last breath in there and a slack worker capped the honey cell over her corpse.

I'm only new to beekeeping so these incidents still puzzle me. I'm sure you experience keepers here have seen this before - is it a common occurrence?

Perhaps I was lucky to see it because this hive is a Flow hive with see-through frames, and I was able to see this through when I opened the back cover, the the dead bee was in a cell close to the edge.

I'll try to take a photo too after they go to sleep tonight, as they were toey this morning.

 

[Gray Goose]

never seen this before.
likely the bee was crushed during a "flow" cycle and the "cap" slid over and back.

could be flow hive specific. a "feature"

not likely the "slack" worker capped a dead bee in the cell.


GG

 

[Honeyeater]

could be flow hive specific. a "feature"

Pretty sure it is not. Transparent sides of frames just make it easier to see.
I do have a list of headaches with them though, don’t get me started there.

 

[Gray Goose]

never had one, not sure I would want one now.
Is an odd thing to cap in a bee.

good luck with your spring, Am in fall preps here now.