Day of the living dead --Strange hive happenings

[Jennifer Yanco]

Greetings all,

I wonder if anyone else has seen this phenomenon:

Bees stagger out of hive onto landing board, gradually stop moving, and then die. But there's the catch (scary music): do they really die?

A few days ago, I brought one of the 'dead' bees into the house to take a closer look. I turned it over and looked at it carefully with a magnifying glass. No mites or anything obvious. I set it in a little dish and left the roo. I came back a bit later and noticed it was moving. I put a tea strainer over it and left again. After a bit I heard buzzing and found it back to life. So I took it out near the hive and it flew away.

I have repeated this exercise on three different days and the result is always the same. I am sure that the bees on the landing board will die--I see them having been pushed off onto the slab below the hive.

Has anyone else seen this? Any idea what it could be/mean🐝🐝🐝?

Thanks,

Jennifer

Jennifer J. Yanco, PhD
Author of Misremembering Dr. King
16 Monument Street
Medford, MA 02155
jjy...@gmail.com

Justice is indivisible. If it is accorded to some and not others it is not justice but privilege.   Gary Younge