There may be as many as 50,000 bees in a hive at the height of the season,  
we are told.  They are all mortal, but generally we don't see many of the  
bodies. Many will have been snapped up by predators, many will have succumbed to  
old age and infirmity in the field and not make it back; others will feel 
death  approaching and take themselves as far away from the hive as they can to 
die,  taking any infection with them. Those that do die in the hive are removed 
by  their sisters acting as undertakers, sometimes acting by teamwork to 
remove  bodies.
 
The Devon Apicultural Research Group, (DARG) is planning this coming winter  
to arrange for its members to treat pairs of hives matching as well as 
possible,  one with an oxalic acid solution and the other with a placebo, in a blind  
test.  We shall have for the previous month monitored for a 'normal' body  
count to obtain a weekly average. From the date of application for 10 days we  
shall do a daily count and then for the next month revert to weekly  
monitoring.  The objective is to discover the extent to which bee mortality  is 
accelerated by the application of oxalic acid solution.
 
What we need before the start of the experiment is a good design for a dead  
bee trap that will prevent bees that die in the hive from being removed by 
their  sisters. Does anybody have such a design that we could use?  It would be  
helpful also to have an idea of its efficiency.
 
Chris



   

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