There is something forlorn in an abandoned bee hive. A few stragglers come looking for their Queen. One or two just born bees are struggling to get free. Here and there are dead larvae. Not a happy place.
One lone bee trying to save or salvage something.
This was typical of he comb in the bottom hive box
I did not know what these white specks were when I took the hive apart but here they look like abandoned eggs with the surrounding liquid removed.
More eggs??
One lone bee trying to save or salvage something.This was typical of he comb in the bottom hive boxI did not know what these white specks were when I took the hive apart but here they look like abandoned eggs with the surrounding liquid removed.More eggs??
This is what most of the comb looks like.
Another one looking for work to do.
The bottom board littered with bee bodies
What is all the little litter stuff? I thought bees did not poop in the hive but that is all I can come up with to describe it.
These were stuck to the bottom board. I am assuming they are wax moth larvae sacs.
There was some wax moth evidence but surely not enough to make the bees leave. I saw web stuff on only two cells and two places with the larvae sacs on the bottom board like that above. Of course those may not Wax Moth egg sacs. No sign of any other problems inside the hive. I can only guess that the combination of die-off (cause unknown) and ant attacks made the hive uninhabitable to them.
There was always water near by but I never saw a single bee using that source. The worse thing is having them leave this late in the year. It may take a while to replace them.
There will be more bees in The Dale only this time I may have to put in two hives so there is a back up if one of the absconds again. The Buzz will return.
Another one looking for work to do.The bottom board littered with bee bodiesWhat is all the little litter stuff? I thought bees did not poop in the hive but that is all I can come up with to describe it.These were stuck to the bottom board. I am assuming they are wax moth larvae sacs.There was some wax moth evidence but surely not enough to make the bees leave. I saw web stuff on only two cells and two places with the larvae sacs on the bottom board like that above. Of course those may not Wax Moth egg sacs. No sign of any other problems inside the hive. I can only guess that the combination of die-off (cause unknown) and ant attacks made the hive uninhabitable to them.
There was always water near by but I never saw a single bee using that source. The worse thing is having them leave this late in the year. It may take a while to replace them.
There will be more bees in The Dale only this time I may have to put in two hives so there is a back up if one of the absconds again. The Buzz will return.
3 comments:
The white specks in the comb look more like bits of wax. Especially if there has been any robbing going on, the bees chew off the cappings and it gets very messy with bits of wax. Most of the stuff on the floor of the hive also looks like wax bits.
That makes sense, they had to remove the caps to get to the stored honey before leaving. Thanks for the info.
Now that I think about it, there was a good bit of the small bits in the bottom of the hive when Russell and I modified and replaced the long frames with mediums. It is entirely possible there was robbing going on all long and that may have been another cause of the absconding.
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