# Bees dying outside hive



## Keth Comollo (Nov 4, 2011)

The links don't appear to be working. Just sending me to my Google+ page asking me to download an Iphone app.


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## d.justins (Aug 31, 2009)

sorry, i posted the wrong links. I think i fixed them now. 

Thanks.


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## Keth Comollo (Nov 4, 2011)

That is odd. Are you aware of any orchards nearby that may be spraying chemicals right now?


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## d.justins (Aug 31, 2009)

There is an orchard about two to three miles away, mostly apples, but i don't know what their treatments are. Is this behavior attributed to bad chemical treatments?


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## Bsupplier (Dec 23, 2008)

I would scoop some up and send them to Beltsville for testing. This is possibly tracheal mite, paralysis or something else such as chemical spraying.


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## d.justins (Aug 31, 2009)

sounds like a good idea. i'll do that and get back to this. 

Thanks for pointing me in that direction.


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## wildbranch2007 (Dec 3, 2008)

if its cold, and all of the bees appear to have pollen on them, they can't make the hive b'4 getting to cold, spend the night out side, and die. doesn't look like a pesticide kill but get them tested any way. normally a orchard 2 miles away, spraying pesticides, your bees won't make it back to the hive b/4 dying unless its cold.


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## Mike Gillmore (Feb 25, 2006)

Put some of the most recent ones in a jar and take them into the house to warm up for a while. See if any of them "come back to life" and start flying around in the jar. I see this happen occasionally in the evening when the temperature drops rapidly and they become paralyzed before they make it back into the hive. Just not as many as you are seeing.


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## crofter (May 5, 2011)

I wonder if it could be an indicator of Nosema Ceranae. Foraging in cold conditions, focus on pollen, drowning in feeders etc., has been associated. 
"One could also
speculate that the precocious foraging observed in Nosema infected
bees is partly driven by hunger in addition to the physiological
changes associated with the atrophy of the hypopharengeal gland
(Hassanein, 1953; Wang and Moeller, 1971). If Nosema infected
bees are indeed hungrier, the riskier foraging observed for such
bees (Woyciechowski and Kozlowski, 1998) could be an outcome
of the energy budget rule of Risk Sensitivity Theory (Stephens
and Krebs, 1986)"


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## mjfish1975 (Jul 3, 2011)

I too have been seeing this. IMO the temps have been marginal for good flying but they go out anyway. The wind that we have had this past week doesn't help. It appears to me that when they fall just short of the entrance they get too chilled to make it back in and just hang there by themselves or in small clusters. If the sun manages to come out long enough they do seem to perk up but by then its too late and they die. I was out today and noticed it again but not as many on the ground. But then again its much warmer than it has been and not as windy. Just my opinion. It would be interesting to see the lab report.


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## d.justins (Aug 31, 2009)

It turns out that it was just the chilly wind that hit the more ambitious bees before they made it back in. 

Thanks for everyone's help.


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## merdoc (May 4, 2010)

I think bees hanging on grass like they cant fly is caused by trac mites but if deformed wings by varroa.


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## HONEYDEW (Mar 9, 2007)

merdoc said:


> but if deformed wings by varroa.


 They wouldn't be flying with pollen if they have DWV...


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## Intheswamp (Jul 5, 2011)

d.justins said:


> It turns out that it was just the chilly wind that hit the more ambitious bees before they made it back in.
> 
> Thanks for everyone's help.


I'm curious as to your course of action now. What are you doing about the short landings? Are you laying one end of a small sheet of plywood or something on the ground and the other end against the entrance area so if they land a foot or two short they can walk on up to the hive entrance?

Ed


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## d.justins (Aug 31, 2009)

Well, now that it has warmed up, the issue has completely gone away. 

Unfortunately, this hive is in my in-laws back yard. Part of a fancy sub-urban housing area, so any sort of "unsightly", as my mother-in-law- would put it, modifications is out of the question. Hopefully i will be able to convince them to grow some shrubbery along the windy side that should give them some more cover. Their hive is rather low to the ground already, and they shouldn't have any problem crawling in if they're not chilled enough. 

Thanks for the advice though.


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## Intheswamp (Jul 5, 2011)

Roger that, d.justins. ...and, I just realized your OP was from a month ago. 

Ed


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## Smoke'm (Feb 25, 2012)

We have been having problems with foraging bees dying here in Southern Ontario. We have had yards with what looks like mulch in front of the hive that is all dead bees. It is simular to you describe and your pictures. We think but are not sure that this is from neonicotinoids applied to corn seed. Air seeders blow this stuff around and the bees pick it up as they forage near by plants. We have taken samples and have yet to hear back. We had some rain the planting stopped so did the bee kills. The weather has been good for planting and we are having more bee kills. 
Could this have happened when corn was being planted in your area?
I found this http://bee-life.eu/en/doc/199/


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