To have any beekeeping questions you would like us to answer, email questions@bee-craſt.com


ASK BeeCraft


In February and March there were quite a few dead bees on the landing board outside my hive.


I cleaned them off every few days but the next time I visited more had appeared – perhaps a dozen or so


at a time. This had been happening to varying degrees since about mid-November. Should I be worried? Emma Drayton


It is normal at this time of year to find dead bees in or in front of a hive. A strong colony going into winter might contain at least 20,000 bees and it is natural that some will die over the winter months. In warmer weather, when the colony is active, the bodies will be removed from the hive – sometimes flown out of sight and at other times leſt on the landing board. In colder weather, the bodies will stay beneath the hive or near the entrance. As long as your bees had plentiful stores in autumn and treated if necessary, it is unlikely that there is a problem with your colony – small numbers of dead bees now and then are nothing to worry about. It is, however, useful to have a paving slab or similar in front of the hive so that you can have a beter idea of the death rate at any one time (on grass, dead bees at the front of the hive are much less obvious).


Take care during winter that dead bees don’t block the entrance. It’s a good tip to make sure the entrance gap is at the top of the entrance block. That way any sudden drop-down of dead bees is less likely to pile up and block the entrance.


I recently saw a photo of a honey bee entering a daffodil. I was surprised by this because I have


thousands of daffodils in the garden and have never seen any of my bees visiting them – is there


something about my particular bees or my daffodils that makes them incompatible? Gerry Tuson


Daffodils (and narcissi) flower in profusion just when bees are in great need of pollen. However, they are very rarely visited by honey bees – although bumblebees are occasionally seen taking interest, particularly in the wild form, Narcissus pseudonarcissus.


There may be two reasons why bees avoid what could be a potential source of pollen and nectar. Firstly, nearly all planted daffodils are hybrids, selectively bred for colour, shape, and other characteristics desired by gardeners. In such cases what makes


Bee Craſt April 2020


a flower atractive to bees (fragrance, sweet nectar, nutritious pollen, accessibility) is oſten lost. Secondly, daffodils are highly poisonous – all parts containing a toxic chemical called lycorine. In fact, supermarkets selling cut daffodils are required to keep them well away from food. It is possible that the presence of lycorine makes daffodil pollen and nectar unatractive to many bees. Even if the nectar of wild daffodils were of interest, a fairly long tongue is required to reach it.


It is generally thought that honey bees will visit daffodils only when they can find no other sources of pollen or nectar and might otherwise starve. The bee you saw may have just been investigating. Respected beekeeper Clive de Bruyn says that if your bees are visiting daffodils, you should find a beter place to keep your bees.


Can I keep chickens and bees in close proximity? I have a large chicken run enclosed by wire on the


sides and top and wondered if I could keep my beehives inside it as well – it would stop them from


being atacked by woodpeckers over winter and would mean that our dog won’t keep geting stung on her nose! Amanda Cartwright


There is no reason that we can think of why you shouldn’t keep a hive or two of bees in with your chickens – as long as the cage is large, with wide mesh if it’s high, and there is plenty of room for you to undertake your beekeeping activities comfortably. We have heard stories of various farmyard fowl being stung by bees, but reports are few and there is litle reason to think this will be a problem.


We do, however, know of a reader whose peacocks wait next to lavender plants to pick bees off them! For this reason, it might be a good idea to make sure your hive stands are quite high to ensure bees exiting and entering hives don’t become fast food for your fowl. You might need a secondary stand so you can place removed supers and other equipment out of chicken reach. We have also heard of polystyrene hives being pecked and badly damaged by hens – another reason to keep them well off the ground – or stick to wooden ones. Please let us know how you get on!


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Photos: Amanda Berry, darkfoxprime CC BY-NC-ND 2.0


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