[oregonsparkie]

I got a call to bring my OB hive to a school to show the kids since they are learning about bees.

I had a bunch of bees at the entrance last night so I smoked them to get them inside, once inside I put a newspaper plug in the entrance. This morning almost all the bees are dead, anyone know what I did wrong??

 

[Dan Williamson]

what is the ventilation like?

 

[Tatonka]

use screen wire to plug entrance

 

[power napper]

Just a hap hazzard guess here but just maybe the bees were dead before you even sealed the entrance. Were any dead bees laying in front of the entrance? Did the bees act normal or kind of lethargic? Were any bees disoriented?
curious to know what the inside of the hive looked like, were the cappings on the honey secure or ripped open? Is there any honey left inside the comb?

 

[jalal]

maybe the kids will be happy with learning about dead bees

 

[oregonsparkie]

OK... Heres what I think happened. My wife noticed that the vent holes(6 of them) were covered or partially covered with propilis. Of course she didnt tell me until after they were dead. I am guessing the died from lack of oxygen.

 

[Joseph Clemens]

Sounds like a reasonable assumption. Limited ventilation, many oxygen breathing creatures, asphyxiation.

 

[jalal]

slightly reasonable

what a poetic death.

 

[power napper]

Does that mean that it is your wifes fault?

 

[Ross]

I doubt it. The bees propolise lots of openings, but they also open them back up when they need to.

 

[The Honey House]

What was in the smoker?

 

[Robert Hawkins]

What was in the smoker?

Hawk

 

[iddee]

Yeah, Hawk, What was in the smoker? He said he smoked them the night before, but didn't say if he used something weak, like pot, or maybe a good grade of very strong opium. The grade of smoke means a lot, ya know. HA!!

 

[Robert Hawkins]

If the smoker was the only foreign substance introduced shortly before the bees died, I want to know if there was something in there that may have poisoned them.

Hawk

 

[The Honey House]

Ditto!

 

[oregonsparkie]

All I had in the smoker was left over wooden stick that were partially burned from the last time I used the smoker. All the vent hole were plugged up, when I closed off the entrance they suffocated.

 

[YBCute]

Thats another reason why I build the observation hives with top and bottom venting. Not side venting. They never plug the bottom vents.