Death of Hive

26 views
Skip to first unread message

Jeanne Hansen

unread,
Apr 4, 2026, 1:38:45 PMApr 4
to mad...@googlegroups.com
My brother lives in rural Waupaca, WI, and keeps 2 hives of bees.  One hive is still alive.

Last fall, one hive was weakening, and died out in October.  Yesterday, we opened the hive to do an autopsy.  Most of the frames held empty comb.  The central frames in the hive, where the cluster would have been, were chewed, see photos.  The bottom board was covered with the bees.

The remarkable feature was that the heads had been removed from ALL the bees, and (presumably) the abdomens sucked dry. Death by mites, and death by disease does not happen like this. What could have demolished the bees in this way?

Jeanne
Sadly, the photos are too large to send as-is.  If you can't deal with this compressed file on a Google drive, Let me know, and I can send 6 messages with 6 photos.

 John's Dead Hive.zip

--
Jeanne Hansen
824 Jacobson Ave
Madison,WI

Ralph Nyquist

unread,
Apr 4, 2026, 1:52:31 PMApr 4
to mad...@googlegroups.com
Never heard of this before so I googled it.  Shrews and/ or voles. 



--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "madbees" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to madbees+u...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/madbees/CAJgVaprugFETNck-cWvSW4RMekv1EWvuzz9D7vp%2Bn%3DNeRGbeMA%40mail.gmail.com.

Joseph Bessetti

unread,
Apr 4, 2026, 2:47:49 PMApr 4
to mad...@googlegroups.com
Almost certainly the bees were eaten by shrews.  Where the combs were chewed down there had been pollen. The extent of damage suggests to me that a mouse may have gotten in there as well. There is a gap chewed at the back corner of the bottom board. 

Joe

Jack Rademacher

unread,
Apr 4, 2026, 3:02:30 PMApr 4
to mad...@googlegroups.com
I have a master beekeeper friend that lives west of Omro and he has crazy problems with pigmy shrews. He needs to to use 1/4” mesh screen to cover all openings for the winter. The pigmy shrew are so small that they can fit through 1/2” mesh screen 

Paul Zelenski

unread,
Apr 4, 2026, 3:18:53 PMApr 4
to mad...@googlegroups.com
As others have said, it's probably shrews and mice with all the comb damage and the piles of dead bees inside the hive. I just wanted to add that yellowjackets and other wasps will also remove the head to eat the meaty thorax. Last fall had the worst robbing I have ever seen. First time I have seen yellowjackets actually kill healthy hives. 
From: mad...@googlegroups.com <mad...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Jack Rademacher <jrad...@gmail.com>
Sent: Saturday, April 4, 2026 2:02 PM
To: mad...@googlegroups.com <mad...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: [madbees] Death of Hive
 

Jack Rademacher

unread,
Apr 5, 2026, 3:30:01 AMApr 5
to mad...@googlegroups.com
I 2nd the worst Yellowjacket problem last fall. They started hitting my hives while we were out of town. It took a few days to get it under control with robbing screens. Lost 6 hives before I had it under control. This spring I’ve been placing out boric acid bait stations. I’m also supplying the neighbors with the boric/apple juice mixture for them to set out. Hopefully will have a very low yellow jacket population this fall. 

Ed Spoon

unread,
Apr 6, 2026, 1:28:48 PMApr 6
to mad...@googlegroups.com
Jack, 
 
I'm interested in the yellow jacket bait.  Would you describe the recipe and how you make it available to the wasps?  It doesn't attract honeybees at all? 
 
Thanks.
 
Ed Spoon
Verona 

--------------------

Jack Rademacher

unread,
Apr 6, 2026, 2:49:28 PMApr 6
to mad...@googlegroups.com
Having some real issues with trying to copy the recipe to this chain. The boric acid recipes are all over the net. I read that adding just a small amount of apple cider vinegar to the mix will discourage the honey bees. I used it last fall and never saw a honey bee near the bait dishes. 

Jack Rademacher

unread,
Apr 6, 2026, 2:52:39 PMApr 6
to mad...@googlegroups.com
Figured out what I was doing wrong. 
Check YouTube for other recipes and comments on effectiveness. 

How to use boric acid for yellow
jackets
1. Prepare the bait: Mix a solution o f pure
granular boric acid (approximately 1/2
teaspoon per cup o f liquid) with a sweet
bait like apple juice, cantaloupe, or a
commercial hummingbird food. You can
also add protein like bacon to the mix t o
make it more attractive. ®


On Mon, Apr 6, 2026 at 12:28 PM Ed Spoon <eds...@charter.net> wrote:

Jeanne Hansen

unread,
Apr 7, 2026, 10:17:52 AMApr 7
to mad...@googlegroups.com
Thanks to this group for the many helpful replies!!
JEANNE

Reply all
Reply to author
Forward
0 new messages