# LOTS of dead bees



## Anavim (May 29, 2016)

I installed new hives from packages in April this year. Things went well until suddenly I found one hive full of dead bees - about half of the bees in the hive were dead. There were piles of dead bees near the entrance and inside the hive. The hive overall looks not up-kept and lots of brood caps are damaged. I did not see any mites, but I am not experienced in that and could have missed them. It all happened in about 2 weeks (time since my last inspection when I saw things looked well - happy queen, new brood, etc). Any ideas what could happen? The weather has been cool - mid sixties during the day and fifties at night. Other hives seem fine.


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## beepro (Dec 31, 2012)

It is hard to say.
Looks like a robbing scene to me.
Any active foragers left? Maybe they have killed all the guard bees.
Any sign of the jagged comb?


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## wildbranch2007 (Dec 3, 2008)

any honey or nectar in the hive?


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## wvbeeguy (Feb 20, 2011)

in the photos attached i dont see stored pollen or nectar. New hives can succumb to starvation with several days in a row of bad weather. If thats the case and you feed 1:1 and pollen patties they should begin to improve. Maybe not the problem, just basing on photos.


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## tech.35058 (Jul 29, 2013)

Not to discount the previous posts, & not to fall into the "its always mites" hole, How do you check for mites? Great debate on various methods.
Send a sample to beelab in Maryland.
examine a cup of dead bees one by one with a magnifying glass, look for shriveled wing, and "k"wings
look for mites on the recently dead.
I did not see much drone brood, but pull some out, again looking for mites.
Is the queen still alive & present? eggs?
( she should lay in relation to the amount of nurse bees, pollen & nectar, unless she has failed-run out of sperm-, but I don see much drone brood)
I tend to go with the starvation theory ( easy fix), but anything is possible, especially "over the internet" from across the country! good luck. CE

edit... PS, don't forget to reduce the size of the hive down to what the bees can defend. in the south hive beetles & wax moths are the demons. quarantine the equipment ( dont share with other hives) until you know what is going on. protect from robbing as the hive gets weaker, but keep in mind the robbing screen needs to let the bees carry out the dead. yeah, right .... good luck. CE


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## aunt betty (May 4, 2015)

Have you fed your bees?


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## indypartridge (Nov 18, 2004)

Anavim said:


> There were piles of dead bees near the entrance and inside the hive.


That sounds like a pesticide kill.
Any farmers planting nearby? 
Neighbors spraying yards or fruit trees?


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## Daniel Y (Sep 12, 2011)

My first thought was pesticide or some other means of poisoned. second was robbing.


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## JRG13 (May 11, 2012)

That hive looks bone dry, any open nectar or stored honey?


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## beepro (Dec 31, 2012)

It is hard to say. By now if they are not in a dearth situation then there
should be many foragers bringing in the resources for the hive. If there is no
pollen or honey on the comb then it is starvation. I'll feed to keep them going
into the Autumn time. Or you can plant something for them while supplement feed
them patty subs and syrup.


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## FlowerPlanter (Aug 3, 2011)

>Other hives seem fine.
>I did not see any mites

How did you check for mites?
Looks like they are uncapping larva and pulling them out.

Could be an indicator of mites.


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## jwcarlson (Feb 14, 2014)

I don't see a single cell with liquid in it... open or capped.


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## Anavim (May 29, 2016)

I opened this hive again - things actually got a bit better. No more massive piles of dead bees. I saw some honey, some brood and the queen. Hive is still weak, but there is hope. I guess the theory that makes the most sense to me is that they starved. I stopped feeding them a month ago because the weather was warm and lots of things in bloom, but than it got colder, so there was probably no nectar. Last week was warm with lots of clover, blackberries and wild radish in full bloom, so they are recovering.

Thank you all for your help.


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## beepro (Dec 31, 2012)

Only this time some of us did not jump in on the conclusion that
the mites are at play here. Just starvation that's all. Go ahead to
give them some patty subs if you have them. There are some sub recipes on this site
for large and smaller batches too. I got good results from using the recipes here.

Take a look at what I've whipped up for them:


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## Rader Sidetrack (Nov 30, 2011)

>> Just starvation that's all. Go ahead to give them some patty subs if you have them. 

If starvation is the issue, _sugar syrup_ would be a better choice than patties. Bees need carbohydrates (honey/sugar) to fuel their daily activities.


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## beepro (Dec 31, 2012)

Yes, though my homemade patty subs have all the needed carbs
to fuel their daily needs. I have added honey, corn syrup and lots of
sugar to this batch. Great for newly made up nucs too! And in case they
needed the extra kicks I have added honey water for them.


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## snapper1d (Apr 8, 2011)

Get syrup on them right now and clean all the dead off the bottom board.Beetles love dead bees piled up and you will have a pile of beetle larvae in no time.


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