05/15/2023
Identifying Poisoned Bees
Be ready….
If you keep bees, it’s likely that sooner or later, upon visiting your bee yard, you will find a pile of dead bees on the ground, in front of the hive.
Over the last few years, a common thought among beekeepers might have been that this might be the dreaded Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). But this is highly unlikely to be the case. With CCD the colony simply disappears, possibly leaving behind some brood, stores of pollen, honey and even the queen.
How to Tell If the Bees Were Poisoned
Mites can cause the loss of many bees or the entire colony. But those bees will normally be found inside the hive, on the bottom board. A large pile of bees outside the hive raises the likelihood of poisoning, but how can you tell?
If you had been to the bee yard in the last day or two and knew for sure the pile of dead bees was a recent occurrence, then it’s likely someone sprayed a pesticide nearby and the hive was caught in the drifting spray. Or, in situations where they are spraying mosquitoes, such as in the case of the Zika virus recently, it’s a onetime thing. In a situation when you know the day of the spraying in advance, close the hives at night and cover them with a wet sheet or blanket to keep them cool. This contains the bees in the hive during the time of the spraying and provides a measure of protection from the spray.
One way to tell if the bees were poisoned is to examine some of the dead bees and see if their proboscis (tongue) is sticking out. Poisoned bees typically exhibit this symptom. The next thing to consider is if the damage is occurring at the individual or hive level. In the example given above, the large pile of bees would indicate it occurred on the colony level from a onetime event. Let’s look at a case study that demonstrates a different kind of experience.
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