Twitching Bees - not sure what's up

[AliciaH]

One of my hives has an inflated casualty count.  Every day there is a new pile that often requires me to clear out the front of their entrance.  I can sit and watch the bodies coming out.  Today, though, I noticed that some of the bees being dragged out were not entirely dead, but they were definitely on their way out.  Two bees on the front of the hive were alive, but weren't moving other than their wings, which were, for lack of a better term, twitching.  I could tell they weren't long for this world, either.

I've had problems with tracheal mites before, but this is different in that I don't have any bees crawling around on the ground.  I've been in the hive, and in fact reduced it from two deeps to one deep a couple of weeks ago, but even though my examination was quick (short weather window, was primarily checking for stores and cleaning bottom boards), I didn't notice any mite issues (though I admit I wasn't really looking for them, I treated with formed acid in the fall).  There is no evidence of dysentery either inside or outside of this hive.  Other considerations is that all hives are being fed syrup with top feeders (so far, condensation does not seem to be an issue), and I gave everyone a pollen substitute patty on the 17th.

As I said, none of my other hives are exhibiting this symptom...yet.  I think I'll send a sample off to be tested, but was wondering it anyone here had any suggestions for me of what the symptoms might mean, or what other clues I might look for.

Thanks!

[Countryboy]

Pesticide kills can cause twitching and large losses.

You might want to check out IAPV - Isreali Acute Paralysis Virus. It can cause some twitching in bees with partial paralysis.

With only 2 bees exhibiting symptoms - it can be hard to say if that is related to whatever is causing losses.  Now if you had hundreds of twitching bees...

Dry, dead bees from deadouts seem to flutter their wings because of light breezes.  For whatever reason, it's like their wing muscles are very relaxed when they die like that.  Is there a chance you had a slight breeze which was making the bee wings flutter?

[AliciaH]

Thanks for your input, Countryboy.  In trying to research the symptoms, I also tripped over IAPV.  I really hate to go there, but it's why I'm going to take a sample and have it tested.

The dying bees that the living bees are carrying out to the "graveyard" are also moving their legs to some degree.  Though we did have a slight breeze today, the leg movements were very much muscular in nature.  I don't know what their wings were trying to do, as the dying bees were upside down at the time (bad humor, I know).

I thought of pesticides because some, but not all, of the dead and bying bees have their tounges out.  But there are 14 hives in this apiary.  I would think that more than one hive would be displaying these symptoms if it were a pesticide issue.  But I'm not ruling that out entirely.

[T Beek]

Twitching, especially if not widespread, could just be those winter bees giving up their last breath.  They've done their job and its time to make room. 

Not 'all' colonies travel to the same feeding areas.  Remember, each colony is pretty much a world onto its own with little, if any 'known' intercommunication between them. 

Each has their own, queen, workers, scouts etc....and is not dependant on any other colony for survival.

thomas

[wildbeekeeper]

are they black and greasy looking?  I would lean towards IAPV....or some type of paralytic virus...did the right thing by getting some tested....maybe call your state be inspector as well.

[Countryboy]

Last summer I helped another beekeeper some.  In one of his yards, there was a hive which appeared to have a pesticide kill.  There was a very large pile of dead bees right outside the entrance.  I'm talking a foot and a half circle, and over an inch thick.  There were about 20 hives in that yard, and that was the only hive that showed a problem. 

If you have a pesticide kill, you will have a large number of dead bees.  It won't be one or two bees - it will be one or two inches of dead bees.

odfrank on beesource has posted some YouTube videos of some of his bee die-offs where the bees are covering the floor of his trailer, and the bees are crawling and twitching.  He's never figured out what the cause is, but he suspects it is IAPV or some other kind of paralysis virus.

[AliciaH]

wildbeekeeper:  They are black and greasy looking, but only after they've been dead for a few days.  I cleaned out the pile today and dispersed farther out in my field.  The suggestion to call my state bee inspector is a good one, I think in this situation I would do that, but WA doesn't have one.

Countryboy:  I will make a point to find those YouTube videos tomorrow (Sunday) and see what odfrank's bees look like in comparison to mine.  It's interesting that his hive was 1:20, mine is 1:14 in that apiary, I have 3 others in my front yard (900-1000 ft. distance between).

I did take a sample from the hive in question, as well as two others in that apiary, and one from my front yard.  I will send all off to WSU on Monday and will let you all know what results I get back. 

Thanks for the input, folks!  This truly is a tough time of year and it's hard to watch a dwindling hive die out.  I'm hoping the test results will either teach me something new, or clue me into something I missed.

[NancyMariposa]

Did you ever find out what it was?

[GSF]

Hey Nancy, Welcome first of all.

AliciaH hasn't been active since some time in June. Hopefully she'll get some time and share with us the outcome.