Unusual Honey Bee-havior

by Gaby
(Phoenix, Arizona)

I live in north central Phoenix. This season I noticed a difference in bee behavior. The bees are often half-dead for no obvious reason (stingers intact, no wounds or discoloration, nothing obviously visually wrong).

If they are not half-dead, they otherwise seem confused heading straight for objects they would not normally get very close to (people, animals). When they have flown in the house in the past they have always tried to find a door or window or some big light (or source of moving air) and the two that have flown in are not doing that - I would almost describe them as panicked and confused.

I have also noticed that when they are dead or half dead they are inevitably landing close to a spot where, roughly 20 feet up, I have a pair of sparrows nesting in a gutter under my roof tiles.

So my questions, I guess, is, would sparrows be trying to eat the bees or somehow fighting in their nesting space with the bees and killing the bees? Do the other behaviors constitute colony collapse disorder/syndrome?

Is it possible the bees are ingesting some poison in the area that is causing what I perceive at erratic behavior? What would are plausible explanations for this behavior?

Oh, I have done a cursory search for a hive in and around my complex but cannot find one.

I'm curious - it's distressing to see this odd behavior.

Thanks,

Gaby

Hi Gaby

It's difficult to say what is causing this behavior since each individual colony has its own 'temperament' and so it's possible to detect unusual behavior in a hive. When the bees are out and about it isn't possible to tell whether these are all from one hive, and whether their behavior has changed in any way.

Without any other indications I suspect they may have encountered some insecticide which has killed some and affected the behavior of the others.

There is another possibility. You don't say whether there has been a long period during whch this has happened. If it's only happening for a short period, it might be a swarm which is located nearby. It seems as though bees in a swarm begin to die if they stay in their swarm stage too long.

It appears as though they simply run out of stored energy if they fail to find a new home quickly enough. It's also possible these workers are just dying of 'old age'. Normally they would die while foraging and you wouldn't notice them. Bees which are scouting for a new location are inspecting your house and many other possibilities, not out in the field collecting nectar and pollen.

I'm not sure if that helps.

The Bee Guy