[woollybee]

The bees just now pulled a drone out of the hive and threw him overboard. He was still alive. His wings are totally undeveloped and don't look like wings at all, more like skinny, deformed appendages. The body is kind of grayish.

I am sure experienced beekeepers know what that is. I just hope it's not an indication of something totally devastating.

Thanks.

 

[Robert Hawkins]

Don't worry about it. deformed births happen all the time in the hive. In fact, it may not bee deformed. There are about seven types of honey bees. only three are allowed to live. The others are what you saw. Maybe I can find the page on that. If so, I'll bee back.

Hawk
AR317

 

[concrete-bees]

could be DWV - deformed Wing Virus-- result is usually from Mites

but could be just a deformed bee- i have no mites in my Observation hive - but at least one deformed be hatches everyday -- they usually tear it apart while its alive and remove it - within 20 minutes of hatching - simply amazing healthcare program they have !!!!!!

 

[Robert Hawkins]

It's not where I thought it was. So I thought I'd better get back and finish the exception before someone else did. DWV is caused by varroa mites. If you have this problem, they lay three or four eggs in the cell just before the workers close the egg up in there and the mites feed off the blood (hemolymph) of the developing bees. Of course they're going to have a problem.

If you have a mite counting/treatment program going then no worries. If not, time to start.
It's become a normal part of beekeeping now.

Hawk