[dm.clark]

My neighbor and I are novice beekeepers. We have one hive, combined from about a month ago. Bottom brood box has a good looking queen, a good amount of brood, and many bees. Super on top of the brood box, has lots of capped honey, and super on top of that has only one full honey tray, but they are drawing out comb on about 3 other frames. We've recently found a handful of bits of pollen on the ground out front of the entrance, which is the first we've ever seen of that. Any ideas why they'd be putting the pollen out? Thanks for any ideas.

 

[dkvello]

Are you sure it's pollen. It could be chewed up wax as they do some repairs to the comb.

 

[Beeslave]

They could be cleaning out bad pollen from the comb or they are losing their load prematurely as they enter a hole in the hive.

 

[fish_stix]

They leave those little crumbs as they fly out to forage. Helps them find their way back to the hive. :lookout:

 

[dm.clark]

Thanks everyone, great ideas, especially leaving crumbs on the ground!! It really seems to be pollen, when I crush it between my fingers, it is beautiful fluffy pollen! We're having hive beetle problems, and so are watching so carefully for problems...maybe this pollen isn't a sign of anything bad....

 

[alpha6]

I would like to think that it is contaminated pollen the bees are getting rid of. If so, you may have some of the smartest bees around. It could also be pollen that because of the hive Beatles is not properly stored and just falls to the bottom board which the bees then clean out.