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Subject: Orange County, NC Beekeepers
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- From: Brad Kosiba <bradkosiba AT gmail.com>
- Cc: Orange County Beekeepers <ocba AT lists.ibiblio.org>
- Subject: Re: [ocba] Robbing?
- Date: Sun, 6 Aug 2017 15:31:17 -0400
Scott,
We all too often invoke this cause without evidence, but a load of dead bees like this looks like it could be a pesticide kill. They may be too long dead for the lab to test but you might want to give an inspector a call tomorrow just the same. Couldn't hurt to scoop up a bag full and freeze them. They are looking out for such occurrences.
Brad
On Sat, Aug 5, 2017 at 5:14 PM, Scott Sipe <cscotts AT gmail.com> wrote:
I have one hive, now in its third year, that has been going strong. I removed 2 supers full of honey about 4 weeks ago. I had not inspected since then, but things seemed good based on the number of bees hanging around the entrance and coming/going. Currently two 10-frame deeps.I was out of town for 8 days and coming back today I noticed immediately that the volume of bees coming and going was dramatically reduced. Getting closer, the ground in front of the hive looks like total beepocalypse. Thousands of dead bees. I had mowed the grass in front of the hive exactly 8 days ago, so I know whatever happened was within the last week. The entrance reducer even looked like it had been gnawed on in some places? (See pics. I had smoked the entrance right before the entrance picture, so there's only one bee around--there were about a dozen or so hanging around before. I had the entrance reducer set so that there was the "large" entrance and also the small entrance facing up and barely open--the small entrance looks enlarged now?)No signs of robbing today. I still see bees coming back with pollen, guard bees hanging out around the entrance, and so forth. I didn't have time to do a full inspection, but I pulled off the inner lid and it seemed like a lot of bees around the top.Does this sound or look like the aftermath of robbing? Is there anything special I should look for when I do a full inspection?Pictures of the ground in front of the hive and the front of the hive are here:Thanks,Scott
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-
[ocba] Robbing?,
Scott Sipe, 08/05/2017
- Re: [ocba] Robbing?, Brad Kosiba, 08/06/2017
-
Re: [ocba] Robbing?,
Randall Austin, 08/06/2017
- Re: [ocba] Robbing?, Chris Apple, 08/07/2017
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