# bees bringing out live wingless bees



## laurelmtnlover (May 29, 2009)

My first year, top bar hive. All has been well. Recently, the last few days, the bees have been bringing out live bees that look beat up, dewinged and kicking them out of the hive. 
What does this mean?


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## Ski (Jan 18, 2007)

Are the wings missing or just shriveled up where they may be hard to see as in deformed wing virus?


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## laurelmtnlover (May 29, 2009)

The wings look like they've been ripped off. Is this varroa mite?


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## earthchild (Jun 30, 2009)

They could just be robber bees getting what they deserve, but if there is more than just a few bees that are wingless, I would be concerned about a mite infestation. If mites are really bad you'll have bees hatch with shriveled up wings. It's gnarly looking.


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## UV Bee (Oct 7, 2009)

I would be very concerned about observing wingless bees. I would check to make sure young bees are hatching with their wings intact and monitor if you have any mites. If you do see bees hatching without wings, you are most likely dealing with the kashmir virus. I would isolate the hive and check your other hives. The most common way kashmir viruses spread is through varroa mites. In my operation, as long as we control our mite counts we don't see the missing wings. 

Hopefully, you are only seeing an isolated case of robbing bees or other bees getting thrown out though! 

Good luck


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## brac (Sep 30, 2009)

Are these beat up bees workers, or drones. Sometimes they chew the wings off of drones so they can't come back.


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## laurelmtnlover (May 29, 2009)

They are not drones. The drones were escorted out last month. With their wings.


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## Axtmann (Dec 29, 2002)

Get rid of the mites and there will be no bees with deformed wings. I have never seen that bees chew the wings from drones. They kill the drones in fall.


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## Ravenseye (Apr 2, 2006)

Baseline what you can and decide from there. In other words, check for mites and decide if treatment is called for. If you treat, check again at regular intervals. If you don't treat, you'll need to look for other reasons that disease might be present. In any case, check frequently and note the dates and the observations. If it's a singular event, you'll know soon enough although you may not be certain as to the cause of what you're seeing.


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## BEES4U (Oct 10, 2007)

Her's a very good photo of _Varroa mite_ damage to a worker bee.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/elvin/2306174547/

I think that the flower was used as a photo prop to show the damage.
Regards,
Ernie


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## BEES4U (Oct 10, 2007)

Here's another *good data source *on the_Varroa mite_ with very good photos.
By the time you see this amount/% damage to the hive it's probably to late to administer any treatment.

http://www.animalhealth.bayerhealthcare.com/3429.0.html

Regards,
Ernie


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## laurelmtnlover (May 29, 2009)

Thank you for all your replies. I have determined that they are mites. I have seen them on a dead bee, and done a preliminary mite count. The hive looks otherwise healthy. I haven't decided my next step yet.


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## beenovice (Jun 19, 2007)

BEES4U said:


> Here's another *good data source *on the_Varroa mite_ with very good photos.
> By the time you see this amount/% damage to the hive it's probably to late to administer any treatment.
> 
> http://www.animalhealth.bayerhealthcare.com/3429.0.html
> ...


Don't really see any good photos or good data source on the link you posted...more like "infomercial".... :no:



laurelmtnlover said:


> Thank you for all your replies. I have determined that they are mites. I have seen them on a dead bee, and done a preliminary mite count. The hive looks otherwise healthy. I haven't decided my next step yet.


If you don't do something quickly there will be no bees in the spring....


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## laurelmtnlover (May 29, 2009)

What would Michael Bush do?


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## Ian (Jan 16, 2003)

During one of my feeding rounds, I observed a hive much as your saying. I took a closer look at the enterence and not only found those bees kicked out, but also a tone of mites on the bottom board, big hive, seems to be doing good, no treatment this fall,
perhaps I have a hive that is expressing a high grooming trait? I dont know, I have marked it to see if it will winter sucessfully

Interesting stuff!


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