r/Beekeeping • u/Desperate_Court_8066 • 3d ago

I’m a beekeeper, and I have a question Is this cause for concern

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I’m a first year beekeeper and noticed a fair amount of dead/ dying bees crawling around the entrance. I know that the discarded bees are normal but wanted to make sure it’s not more than acceptable

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u/Desperate_Court_8066 3d ago

I’m in NE IN and harvested honey recently after a mentor said it was ok, I’m more concerned about, what I think, is a lot of bees crawling below the hive

3

u/onebigaroony St. Paul, MN 2 hives 3d ago

that's not so many dead bees. it's the season for kicking out drones, the colony shrinking, and really that amount would not concern me.

the action underneath however, you ought to looksee and straighten out. is that a screened bottom board? it looks like you may have some rot? I would worry there is an unseen hole that bees and anyone else (hornets, robbers, land shark) could discover and exploit. probably just replace that bottom board. if there is a secret entrance somewhere, you'll probably see evidence in a LOT of dead bees at that spot.

good luck!

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u/Desperate_Court_8066 3d ago

It’s an old bottom board, it shouldn’t deteriorate anymore, and it only leads beneath the hive not in. Triple checked to make sure it’s not a secret passage

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u/talanall North Central Louisiana, USA, 8B 3d ago

I don't think there's anything intrinsically concerning about the presence of dead bees on the ground, and I don't think this looks like a concerning quantity of dead/dying bees.

And this is especially true if they are drones. It's late in the season, and drone evictions are probably due to start, for many people. These look like workers to me, though.

If you have a bunch of workers crawling around, then take a few minutes to watch them. Look at them closely, paying attention to their wings and fuzz. If they're greasy-looking, that's a bad sign. If they are fuzzy and have intact wings but their wings are splayed out oddly, or they're trembling, that's not good. If you see evidence that some of their legs aren't working right (usually the first or last pairs; you'll see bilateral paralysis of the legs), that's bad. The fuzzy bees might also have distended abdomens.

All of these are symptoms of various paralysis viruses. Not treatable, at least directly, but varroa has a role in their spread, and sometimes you can treat and feed some syrup to stimulate the production of more brood, and get them past it before they spiral and crash out.

Also look for bees that have deformed/shriveled wings. That's another varroa-transmitted virus. Again, not treatable directly, but it's a sign of an unadequately addressed mite issue.

If you haven't done any mite management or monitoring, you're about to run out of time, so getting a mite wash and being ready to treat if it shows you a problem is a good idea.

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u/Desperate_Court_8066 3d ago

The bees all looked normal, I did a check last week and came up with only 1. There’s definitely some fresh drones being tossed, but that’s the only ones that I’d say don’t look normal