# Thousands of dead bees without heads



## Bush_84 (Jan 9, 2011)

My best guess was that they starved and their heads are still in the cells. After a while they just decayed enough to where they fell off. Never seen that before, but it's what I first thought of.


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## BeeGhost (May 7, 2011)

Zombees?


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## ubernerd (Jul 17, 2012)

Ruthz said:


> I opened a hive today that was fine four weeks ago, but is now entirely dead. On the bottom board were 1-3 thousand dead bees with their heads removed from their bodies. Anybody know what that could be about? What would cause a massive decapitation? Thanks in advance for your ideas.


Did you look around in the hive for a little tiny guillotine?

Sorry, nothing helpful, but that was my first (odd) thought and it made me laugh, so I thought I'd share. I'm super curious to hear what real answers are proposed, though. Very weird!


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## virginiawolf (Feb 18, 2011)

I think hornets will decapitate bees,
They do in this video but I don't know if thet are out this time of year or if it is something else but it was my first thought.
Sorry to hear.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fTrSOFyfxs


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## Rick 1456 (Jun 22, 2010)

Did they starve??? Sounds like it. Just a WAG,,,,,Ants,,,, They are out too on warm days.
Rick


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## Michael Palmer (Dec 29, 2006)

No hollowed out abdomens? Sometimes shrews will eat parts of bees leaving bee partly consumed bees with no heads and empty abdomens.


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## pegorsch (Dec 19, 2010)

I agree with BeeGhost -- we have someone (thing) to thank for stopping a zom"bee" apocalypse.


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## Blackwater Bees (May 7, 2012)

Hornets. Put out a frame of the dead brood and honey they'll be there shortly. There won't be lots, like bees, but one or two every 4-5 minutes. Follow them back to the nest and dispose of it. Just remember, if you disturb the nest, they will chase you and you will get dozens and dozens of stings. Their sting feels like someone is grinding out a lit cigarette on you.


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## JRG13 (May 11, 2012)

I wouldn't think hornets would be active now and should just be overwintered queens anyways.


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## robo mantis (Aug 8, 2011)

I can promise you its not hornets especially up in maryland this time of year. Right now its hibernating queens and maybe far enough south, some queens are just emerging. There are fly parasites called phorid flies that lay eggs inside live bees and go to the head to pupate. Once pupated in the head, the head falls off. The phorid fly is famous for helping combat the fire ants (look it up). There are records of phorids attacking honey bees so its possible with a larger infestation.


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## Honey-4-All (Dec 19, 2008)

Ruthz said:


> I opened a hive today that was fine four weeks ago, but is now entirely dead. On the bottom board were 1-3 thousand dead bees with their heads removed from their bodies. Anybody know what that could be about? What would cause a massive decapitation? Thanks in advance for your ideas.


1. Looks like the economy is finally picking up steam. The headhunters are gearing up to work their way up the food chain again. Pull your turtleneck sweater over your head and watch out. 

2. Maybe a trailer from a bad sci-fi movie.


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## FlowerPlanter (Aug 3, 2011)

how many hive do you have? How are they?


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## Ruthz (Sep 13, 2011)

I have three hives at this location, and all seemed fine on the last "warm enough to fly" day about two weeks ago. I watched pretty carefully , keeping an eye out for robbing, and all three hives looked good. (I have one hive that is pretty aggressive about robbing, so I have been keeping a close eye it)

I can rule out hornets, as there aren't any out and about right now. I do keep these hives in my chicken yard, but the chickens and the bees don't seem to bother each other, plus there is no way they could get their beaks in that far. I will take a look today to figure out if their abdomens are hollowed out. Then I will google what a shrew is.

Thanks for the ideas. If this is a zommBEE apocalypse, I would expect another hive to get hit soon, so I will keep you posted, unless something eats my brains first.


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## Ruthz (Sep 13, 2011)

Oh, and I should explain. I found lots of both heads and bodies on the bottoms board, no heads in cells. There was a small cluster of dead bees spread across three frames that looks like it died/starved very recently, which I would expect given that half of the colony got killed. 

I will try to take some pictures later today.


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## FlowerPlanter (Aug 3, 2011)

>no heads in cells
Are you saying bees in the cells with no heads?

>There was a small cluster of dead bees spread across three frames that looks like it died/starved very recently
The last of the hive probably froze due to low population.

Did you teat for mites? how were you mite counts?

I have seen black carpenter ants take down bees one at a time cut it up and drinking all the fuild. Mybe something cleaning up dead bees.

Maybe a mouse or shrew.


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## khaas15 (Feb 17, 2010)

Ruthz, Odd enough I have experienced the same thing this year. I went to clean out the bottom of my hives the other day and swiped out all the dead bees in my first hive with a long stick. Out came about 75-100 dead, whole bees. I did the same thing to my second hive and out came a bunch of bee parts, and not one whole bee. It seemed very odd to me and I was going to post here asking why. I saw your post and decided to lurk to find the answer why.


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## Ruthz (Sep 13, 2011)

So on further examination, I found that the body cavities were hollowed out, and a small portion of comb was chewed away. So I think it was a shrew. I don't know how it got past the mouse guard into the hive, but the mouse-like damage on the comb seems pretty ****ing. I did save a small clump of still-intact dead bees in a jar, just to check for the phorid flies. If anything hatches out in the next few days, I may reconsider.

Unfortunately, the neighboring hive, which had a mouse hole chewed through the side of the hive body(!), had even worse damage. I didn't notice the mouse hole until I took apart the hive next to it. The carnage in there was worse. Many thousands of bees were in pieces, and much more comb torn apart.

This morning, I had never even heard of a non-Shakespearean shrew, and now it is my moral enemy. Any advice on how to keep the out of your hives?


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## Rader Sidetrack (Nov 30, 2011)

Ruthz said:


> This morning, I had never even heard of a non-Shakespearean shrew, and now it is my moral enemy.


I was curious about what kind of shrews were in MD (the 4-footed kind, that is). I was surprised to learn that the Northern Short-tailed Shrew is venomous!



> These tiny critters require respect, though, as they are the *only venomous mammals in the United States*! The saliva of these little beasts packs a potent punch to its prey in the form of a neurotoxin.
> 
> _More _here:
> http://www.dnr.state.md.us/wildlife/Plants_Wildlife/Short-tailedShrew.asp


The _pygmy shrew_, which has a range from Canada down to the Appalachians, can fit through 1/4" hardware cloth. 
http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/accounts/Sorex_hoyi/


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## curios1 (Jul 2, 2012)

what ever you find out, dont loose YOUR HEAD over this.


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## JRG13 (May 11, 2012)

lol


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## FlowerPlanter (Aug 3, 2011)

>This morning, I had never even heard of a non-Shakespearean shrew, and now it is my moral enemy. Any advice on how to keep the out of your hives? 

Top entrance


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## jim lyon (Feb 19, 2006)

Wow! Let's give credit where credit is due. MP pinned the tail on the donkey. Give that man a free teddy bear of his choice.


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## Ruthz (Sep 13, 2011)

Yes. Thank you so much Micheal Palmer for the tip, and for all your educational efforts. You are a huge help to the beekeeping community.

So after seeing the damage in my remaining two hives, I decided to throw a "hail Mary" pass to keep my remaining bees alive, because it didn't look like they could make it another night below freezing. I put the remaining bees in a single deep body with a center divider, (which I had made for queen rearing purposes last year, thanks again to MP), and put a seed starting mat underneath to give a little extra warmth, and put foam insulation boards around the box. They each have an extra frame of pollen/honey, and hopefully, they can cluster together in the middle to keep themselves warm enough until the weather turns. We will see.

They may not live, but had I not gotten some good advice from this forum, I would not have thought to look in the other hives, and they would surely had died within a few days.


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## rbees (Jun 25, 2012)

You answered your question...While I doubt the culpret were shrews, most definates something in the rodent family. If the dead bees are plentiful they will jusrt snarf on the heads and leave the rest...


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## Kirk Osborne (Oct 7, 2012)

Seriously? Man... I've had it with this dump!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bHPjx7hfb4


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## New Ky Beekeeper (Jun 27, 2011)

Take a sample and send to the Bee Lab in MD......


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## suzyq (Jun 30, 2014)

Just getting over below freezing temperatures at night so I decided to check my hive for dead bees. After scraping them out I also had bees with body parts missing. Heads and bodies separated. Have had mouse excluders on since September and this is the first I've seen of this. If it is a shrew or small mouse got in how do I get it out of the hive before my entire hive is demolished and my bees are dead? Any other possible motives? Not a lot of bees in this state but could be just the beginning.


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