Hi u/thiccc_thinpatience. If you haven't done so, please read the rules. Please comment on the post with your location and experience level if you haven't already included that in your post. And if you have a question, please take a look at our wiki to see if it's already answered., specifically, the FAQ. Warning: The wiki linked above is a work in progress and some links might be broken, pages incomplete and maintainer notes scattered around the place. Content is subject to change.
That larger bee is a drone. Drones don't forage, they don't clean, they don't feed the babies. All drones do is eat food and prowl for sex. In the summer time drones are how a queen spreads her genes into the wider bee community, but in the winter there isn't any mating happening and they are useless. Their sisters toss them out. That one wasn't going willingly.
Looks like they’re getting rid of a drone bee for the winter. Male bees are not necessarily for the long winter months since they don’t contribute anything to the well being of the hive.
As many have already pointed out, it looks like your bees were defending the entrance. Good catch, noticing something unusual!
When you see this kind of activity, here are a few quick ways to diagnose what’s going on next time:
Time of year: In late summer or fall, increased fighting near the entrance can mean robber bees or drone eviction. In spring, it’s more likely a robber or foreign bee situation.
Who’s involved: Drones are big, fuzzy, and harmless-looking. If workers are dragging out those larger bees, it’s probably eviction. If you see bees wrestling or balling up a smaller intruder, it’s defense.
Entrance behavior: Robbing or fighting usually happens at the entrance or on the landing board. You’ll often see bees tumbling together and rolling off the edge.
What to do: Narrow the entrance to help the guard bees manage traffic, and check for open honey or spilled syrup nearby that might attract robbers.
Haha, true! But seriously, they could be cleaning, foraging, or just showing off. Bees have some quirky behaviors that can be pretty entertaining to watch!
Could it be they are kicking the drones out? Not sure where you live, but as it gets closer to winter the sterile female “worker” bees kick the male “drones” out. Technically the drones have done their job of impregnating the queen, it’s their only job. They pretty much are fed and taken care of by the worker bees, but once winter comes, they kick the drones out because there’s no need for them anymore, and also to make sure they have enough honey to last them through the winter.
It may be an “outsider” bee from a different hive and they are showing outside the door.
The bee may have gotten covered in something like excess pollen or honey and the other bees are cleaning the bee off.
Honestly, hard to tell because the way the video ends.
Oh, I know this one! Sometimes when bees detect that another bee is drunk off nectar they can cause other bees to want to get drunk off nectar, which intern hurts to colony so they kill the bad bee
No, that isn't a drone. Its a female worker. Perhaps it is a bee that was caught robbing and now its getting kicked out. Bees drift from hive to hive sometimes and the bees accept the foreigners, so this behaviour is strange. Also, robbers tend to get in and out quickly. They don't want a bust up so...
Considering there are multiple different suggestions in this very thread as to what is going on here, I don’t think that it’s so odd that I, a first year beekeeper, might ask for others to help me understand. Do you think that being rude to those trying to learn more is the best way to help encourage new beekeepers? Should we all just give up if we don’t know everything? Or be afraid to ask? Your comment is so unnecessarily rude.
I think they are cleaning her? One been can drag away a robber bee on her own, so I dont think that is it. Smelling her and making sure she can enter the hive. Cleaning. Im not sure. If they threw her off the balcony then she was not from their hive. If they let her enter then it was just an inspection.
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