First I like to introduce myself my name is Cindi from Burnet TX. I have 2 hives, I splited one hive into 3 hives on September 22rd each hive got 6 frames have brood, pollen, and honey and also I’m feeding them sugar water added apple cider vinegar n lemongrass oil. I only closed the entrance for one day, then lot of bees were hanging under the hive, some were fighting inside the hive. I was gone for the weekend, yesterday I found a lot dead bees under each hive n some inside the hive not as much as outside. I searched everywhere on internet try to find out why? I don’t think my bees have mites, Nosema, n deformed-wing virus, I will look carefully again today. If anyone has any ideas, I’d appreciate any information you could give me.
If they are just hanging out on the front and not looking agitated they are probably just bearding. But I would look inside. When small hive beetles take over it drives the bees out… if the bees on the outside are very agitated it is probalby robbing. Often, especially in the fall, when a hive ends up queenless they quickly get robbed out.
http://www.bushfarms.com/beesfaqs.htm#bearding
http://www.bushfarms.com/beesrobbing.htm
Wow what are honor to have you answer my issues, I love your method and watched all your videos.
I checked all my hives, I probably saw one or two beetle n using beetle traps. I do using Dia Earth food grade sprinkled around all my hives. They looked like they were poison.
I need to figure out why? I still have small amount of bees under hive #1 n 2 and I closed the bottom screen on all the hives cuz is getting cold 62 over here.
Hello Cindi and welcome to the forum. I’m wondering if the hive you didn’t split has attacked and is robbing the splits as they have been weakened and not able to well defend themselves. Is the issue of dead bees only happening since you did the split?, and if that is right then I would think it is robbing and not from a disease or poisoning. A further thought is why you closed up the hives for a day after doing a split, what type of split did you do, that is something I have never done. It is normal for bees to be confused, disorientated and not sure which hive they belong too but to find they can’t get inside it is no wonder they hung about outside of the hive.
Normally Spring is the time to do a split but you are now in Autumn and with the cooler weather the number of bees in a hive reduces naturally with the run-up to Winter.
Just my thoughts. Cheers
Hi Peter, thank you for your response, I saw on YouTube called walk away split, since I can’t take the hive somewhere else, so I closed the entrance like relocated, yes the bees were all confused, my mistake. But I don’t understand why they all dead (the one hanging outside)? They could fly to somewhere else.
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I would encourage you to replace those screen floors for solid floors. Then have an entrance of no more than 15 sq.cms. Less if the colony is not full strength. If a hive is closed for a day, natural mortality will take place inside. Therefore once the hive is reopened, the dead bees will be readily carted out.
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Hi JeffH, thank you for your response, I just got those screen floors, I don’t think I could replace to solid floors at this moment, but the screen bottom does come with a board and I did close it with the bees are hanging on the screen cuz was cold. And I did set up another hive for homeless bees and hoping the bees will go there. I need to figure out how to get the bees out under the hives to go the homeless hive. lol Any suggestions
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You can just put a tray in (or make one if you don’t have one) and put that in to close off the bottom. And I would also reduce the entrance. I leave my trays in and my entrances reduced all the time.
Thank you Michael! I will find a tray.
Typically people use coroplast (that plastic cardboard that they use on political signs etc.) cut to fit under the bottom board between the sides. Reguarl cardboard won’t last long, but it might last a while before it falls apart from getting wet. Sometimes you can find waxed cardboard boxes (fruit seems to come in this sometimes) and that would last longer than plain cardboard but not as long as the coroplast.