# Video of dying bees... Diagnosis? Mites?



## Harley Craig (Sep 18, 2012)

Those are dirty Russians and they are showing allogrooming behavior


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## jwcarlson (Feb 14, 2014)

Harley Craig said:


> Those are dirty Russians and they are showing allogrooming behavior


Funny you mention this. I picked up a drone by his wings and he "had sex" with the air right there in my hand without me even touching him. Wish I'd have had it on video, but would have had to age gate it.


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## wildbranch2007 (Dec 3, 2008)

so what is going on in the hive?


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## jwcarlson (Feb 14, 2014)

wildbranch2007 said:


> so what is going on in the hive?


Looks pretty well normal. No dead larva, plenty of capped brood. Not greatest pattern, but not the worst I've ever seen. They're expanding, he just supered both of them. Queens still laying. Good amount of food. Good amount of bees. 

These are young bees not the old foraging force.


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## aunt betty (May 4, 2015)

Could it be the result of insecticides? They're about to kick-off the mosquito killing season to control Zika and West Nile Virus. People are demanding it here. They found a sick blue-jay and...


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## jwcarlson (Feb 14, 2014)

We've been in the process of requeening these colonies. Did a half dose of MAQS, split original queens off into 'nucs' and requeened with cells from my proven bees. There's been continued die-off during this time, with another round apparently just starting now. Seems like a bi-weekly thing.

Has anyone else seen anything like this? Same exact song and dance as last year for this guy.

I personally know of four colonies from the same package supplier and none of them have had this issue. I've had bees in my yard which is less than a mile from his and have never had anything like this. One of them is this guy's brother-in-law who is less than a mile away from him as well and has had no issues.

Has anyone ever experienced neighbors killing bees in some fashion? This guy's neighbor had a pretty strange conversation with him awhile back that worried him a little bit. Went as far as to say "Well, if they all died again this year you'd probably just give up, right?" Which seemed odd to my friend and to me when he relayed the story.
The thing is this guy is a tootie fruity hippy type. He cannot walk, drives a Hoveround around his yard. Could have been an honest line of questioning, I guess. It just seemed suspicious.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

Maybe...
http://www.bushfarms.com/beespests.htm#neighbors


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## sakhoney (Apr 3, 2016)

Last time I seen something like that a mosquitos plane had flown over my bee yard blowing spray all over the yard - wiped out 100 hives - pulled honey crop in flip flops, tee shirt. and shorts. Then headed over to see my attorney. - Yep they had to pay - took a couple of years but they paid


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## RayMarler (Jun 18, 2008)

i would suggest testing for mite loads right away. It may or may not be the total cause, but ruling them one way or the other would be a good thing.


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## jwcarlson (Feb 14, 2014)

RayMarler said:


> i would suggest testing for mite loads right away. It may or may not be the total cause, but ruling them one way or the other would be a good thing.


We MAQS'd them awhile back. Pulled the original queens, and he requeened with queen cells from my "breeder" queen. 

They both just started laying, so now the recovery period begins... hopefully.
Now that they're laying I believe he's planning on OAVing them as a clean up. But I will remind him.


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## snapper1d (Apr 8, 2011)

Michael Bush said:


> Maybe...
> http://www.bushfarms.com/beespests.htm#neighbors


I had one walk right into my yard and spray with wasp and hornet spray!


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

>I had one walk right into my yard and spray with wasp and hornet spray!

Makes you wonder how they would feel if someone walked into their yard and shot their dog...


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