# Dying Bees in Observation Hive



## Ben Brewcat (Oct 27, 2004)

How many dead bees? A couple/few may be normal, but a good kill will have a carpet of death outside the entrance. Usually the chemlawn staff if herbicides which don't kill bees (at least not directly), but who knows what else they may be getting into.


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## bigwoodsbees (Dec 24, 2010)

There were dead bees all over the ground and landing board this morning. The living bees seem to have done a good job of cleaning out the dead bees over the course of the day and my hope is that everything will be back to normal tomorrow. There are a lot of new bees emerging from the comb right now so that should help boost the number of bees in the hive. The nights are still cold here so I was very worried when I saw so many dead bees - it wouldn't be good if there weren't enough bees to cover the brood nest at night.


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## bigwoodsbees (Dec 24, 2010)

After inspecting my other hives which are out at a friends farm I found that they also have dead bees on the ground. One of the hives had poop on the inner cover which makes me think that this is actually Nosema. Many of the bees are dying with their tongues sticking out. I think this die off is related to me having stopped feeding the bees and I am considering putting the feeders back on. Any thoughts on this from experienced beekeepers who run their hives without antibiotics?


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

The only way to diagnose Nosema is with a microscope. Bees poop. When confined like in a package they poop more. The field diagnosis for Nosema is to field strip a bee (pull them apart and look for an opaque white gut instead of a normal yellow transparent gut), but that's not 100%. Feeding anything will clear up Nosema. Feeding honey will clear it up faster.

http://www.bushfarms.com/beesnosema.htm

I wouldn't say that's what it is. It could be a lot of things. Are they starving? Is someone spraying pesticides?


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