I'm not sure of the interaction between what we call "love bugs" and honey bees. Over the last week or so we've see these nuisance bugs appear in our area. I've been seeing a few around the bee hives but today they seemed to have multiplied in number and lots were crawling on the outside of the hives and flying in the air around the hives. The adult love bugs forage for nectar and I figure that they are attracted to the hives from the fresh nectar being stored and the honey being cured. The bees don't like them close to the entrance but do not appear to harass them if they are a fair distance from the entrance. I saw a couple of incidences where a bee grabbed a love bug couple and hauled them off. Saw a few more bees tackle some that had landed on the porch and fall to the ground clutching them while what appeared to be attempting to sting them. The only entrance into my hives are the main bottom entrances...no access through the top (screened or propolised) so I'm not concerned with but the main entrances.
Other than being greatly aggravating, does anyone know of a problem that love bugs cause the bees or the honey? Ed
Here's some shots of what I saw today:
All the bugs you see that are not on the porch are love bugs. They seemed to be drawn to the top cover where honey bee aroma is coming from...
Notice the two love bugs on the front of the hive....
I wish the shot was better but those two honey bees you see close to the area where the love bugs were have grabbed the love bugs and are beginning to fly away with them. You can see one of the bees legs sticking out at an odd angle as it grabs the love bug...