Beekeeping > Beekeeping 101

Dead bees around hive

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TheFuzz:
Shortly after I made this post, I sweeped up all the dead bees and disposed of them. Now about seven weeks later, there's yet again a huge pile up of dead bees, and here's some photos showing such:

https://postimg.cc/gallery/dKgDhJ1

I know bees die in high numbers quite naturally. Where these hives are, there's no dirt for the dead bees to decompose in, nor are there any ants coming to eat their dead bee bodies. The hives are also surrounded by a rather tall building, and then fence, so it'd be difficult for the bees to take their dead elsewhere, they'd have to fly over quite a tall fence in order to do so.

Is it possible that these bees are dying from natural causes? Perhaps with the tall fence, that's why they're building up their dead in large quantities here? Or is this not natural, and a sign that the bees are dying from something unnatural? These hives are in the suburbs, surrounded by people's homes, it wouldn't surprise me that at least a few people use poisonous spray on their gardens.

The hives themselves are all doing well, they're producing a good amount of honey and they have a healthy, large amount of bees in them. Are these bee deaths something I should be concerned about?

iddee:
I would be checking the neighborhood for poisons. It looks like way too many to be natural.

Zweefer:
I agree with iddee - first thing I’d check would be pesticides.

Bakersdozen:
Poisoned honey bees will typically die with their proboscis, or tongues, sticking out.  It could also be a contaminated water source.  Have you provided fresh, clean water?

TheFuzz:
How would I check if someone is using pesticides? There's more than thousands of people living near me so any of them could be using pesticides.

I checked their tongues, and none of them seem to have their tongues sticking out.

I don't provide them with clean, fresh water. There's a few wetlands and duck ponds within their flying distance, I'm not sure where exactly where they're getting their water from though. Could it be worth it for me to supply my own water to them?

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