I have 3 hives, and what I would wager amounts to approximately 18 deep completely covered frames of bees spread across all three. Maybe a bit more than that.
On a daily basis I am finding what I estimate to be about 30 to 40 dead bees in front of the hives. Some are crawling around, others are just dead. The seem to accumulate primarily during the day, but there will also be some that appear during the night.
On three occasions I have witnessed them pulling pupa out. When I inspected the larvae, I didnt notice anything amiss, but then again, I am pretty new and not sure what "amiss" would even look like.
I do know that one of my hives has some varroa. I did a mite count after a powdered sugar shake and counted less than 20 mites from one hive.
In reading it seems that some amount of dead bees outside the hive is normal, and that most dont see them due to weeds, etc. But my hives are on concrete. So, I see everything on the ground around them.
So, what is normal for bees dead and dying out front?
On a daily basis I am finding what I estimate to be about 30 to 40 dead bees in front of the hives. Some are crawling around, others are just dead. The seem to accumulate primarily during the day, but there will also be some that appear during the night.
On three occasions I have witnessed them pulling pupa out. When I inspected the larvae, I didnt notice anything amiss, but then again, I am pretty new and not sure what "amiss" would even look like.
I do know that one of my hives has some varroa. I did a mite count after a powdered sugar shake and counted less than 20 mites from one hive.
In reading it seems that some amount of dead bees outside the hive is normal, and that most dont see them due to weeds, etc. But my hives are on concrete. So, I see everything on the ground around them.
So, what is normal for bees dead and dying out front?