Peter Dillon wrote: "Several colonies had floors covered by freshly dead
bees (presumed so>due
> to the colouring of the cuticle, absence of other debris
> intermingled with bodies, no apparent compaction of the pile) - they
> looked as if they had just fallen. The piles were 2 - 3 cm deep and
> covered most of the floor area. So why are these bees there?"

Some years I find a colony or two where the bees die off fast once the
stress of brood rearing really gets going.  Sometimes there are bees not
quite dead on the pile - still twitching .  The colony dies out completely
over the next 2 to 3 weeks - or I kill it off first to avaid risk of
spreading.  I attribute this to virus - but the cost of getting bees tested
just for academic purposes (there is no cure if it is a virus) has stopped
me verifying this.  I have never been able to link the virus attack in a few
hives apparently at random to any causal factor.

Tell us if the high mortality continues or was a once off.

Robin Dartington

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