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Chronological Thread  
  • From: Randall Austin <ra41717 AT gmail.com>
  • To: ocba AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [ocba] Dead bees/hive
  • Date: Thu, 02 Oct 2014 18:15:12 -0400

Thorsten,

Pesticides that cause bee kills kill the foragers. That's why true pesticide kills result in huge piles of dead bees. They die very quickly. The bees don't have time to transfer the nectar, turn it into nectar, have it seep into the wax, etc. before it kills them. So no, you don't have to do anything with your comb/honey/equipment; it is fine.

"Many many many" dead bees is subjective. Do you have a picture? A severe robbing episode can leave dead defenders in front of a hive. Also, with all the rain we've had recently, bees that normally would die going to-and-from the fields die in the hive, so end up out front. Many beekeepers don't really have a good idea of what a normal number of dead bees looks like because they are hidden in grass, carried off by ants, etc. Pictures help.

Randall Austin


On 10/2/2014 3:37 PM, thor0510 AT gmail.com wrote:
542dac4a.4d2fe00a.55b5.ffffc9da AT mx.google.com" type="cite">
H all,
I just got back from a 10 day trip and walking around my hives I noticed many many many dead bees piled up right in front one hive. There is still the occasional bee buzzing out of the hive. The hive was healthy before I left.
I’ll do an inspection tomorrow but I’m sure the hive is dead.
First thought that comes to my mind is that they got a pesticide into the hive.
My other hives seem to be unaffected (they are on the other side of my property) and I don’t want them to start robbing the dead hive and drag whatever killed it to my healthy hives.
If it was some pesticide should I discard all the frames, supers…..?
Any thoughts are welcome.
Thanks,
Thorsten
  



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