Hi All.
Bees Eating Grapes.
We’ve noticed bees eating our grapes, the sort of behaviour I would expect from wasps I didn’t know bees ate fruit.
Dead Bees.
Today I inspected the Flow super there were a few dead bees on the inner cover basically all in the one area, as in the photo. Is there anything to be concerned over? all the rest seem ok busy filling the frames.
Cheers Dave.
Hiya Dave, here’s a past thread on grapes.
As for the dead bees on the inner cover, I had that issue also, outside of hive thing maybe?
I don’t use them anymore as I use std tops now.
Maybe those grapes have fermented and the bees got intoxicated?
I don’t think so… 
I once found a large bunch of dead bees under the hive, and it was just after a harvest that leaked a fair bit.
Hi @Zzz, you were lucky that hive beetles aren’t a problem yet. A lot of bees get covered in honey, possibly a lot of them didn’t make it trying to clean themselves up.
That sort of situation is a recipe for disaster, with hive beetles in the equation.
It was those dreaded loose wires, and not being aware I have to turn key in steps. I also left the harvest unattended so didn’t realise It was leaking until it was too late, not that there was anything I could do to stop the leak.
I now tightened all of my 18 frames.
Hi Dave.
Bees feeding on fruit is totally normal. Absolutely nothing to worry about.
Those dead bees on the other hand, deserve a closer look. I zoomed in photo and can see they are not drones, so that eliminates drones being trapped in the super.
I suspect they may have been poisoned. Usually the way to tell is by checking whether they have their proboscis (tongue) sticking out like the photo below. Do you or your neighbours spray any pesticides?
What’s the water situation in your state? If it’s dry they might need some water.
Hi Dave, I have heard or bees going for sweet fruits, my guess it is that they are going for it for the sugar but it might also be for the water in the fruit. When I have heard of this in the past there was no mention of bee deaths caused from it so I would be looking for another reason for the deaths.
Cheers
Hi Martha, No water’s not a problem we have several large fish ponds within a few metres of the hive. Ive
had a look around on the net it appears it’s not unusual for bees to eat fruit.
Cheers Dave.
Hi Peter, yeah it appears it’s not unusual for bees to eat fruit, guess I’ve just never noticed before. I don’t think the deaths had anything to do with the grapes, we never spray our fruit. Hopefully it’s just a one off, anyway I’ll do an inspection again next week. Cheers Dave.
