Bumblebee Massacre

[Paulus Worm]

I hope someone can help.
Walking to work today I found 5 - 10 bumblebees of the same species all dead within 10 feet of each other.
( There was an open can of Stella nearby!!!!! )
Can anyone tell me what might have happened?

[henrya]

Don't think the can had anything to do with it. Had the previous night been cold or wet? Did you notice if the bumblebees had lots of mites on them? Might be a natural, if unusual, occurrence. Was it close to a road and a good pollen source? - the bees might have been killed by traffic whilst loaded with pollen.

henrya

[Vedeco]

We are finding dead or dying bumblebees every day. They are unable to fly and seem to be covered in tiny buff/brownish mites. One was so thickly covered that no black could be seen on the bee's back. Are the mites responsible for the deaths? Is there anything we can do? The death toll is at least 20, all in the same area, over the last three days.

[henrya]

The mites don't actually do the bumblebees any harm. They live in the bee nests, and just use the bumblebees to get around (on the new queens, preferably, to get to a new nest). However, if the bee is unwell (through some infection or old age) it doesn't clean itself as it would normally do and gets more mites than usual hitchng a ride. These dead and dying bees that you are finding are probably weak, young queens, or workers from a declining nest, possibly where the queen has been lost. Workers live up to about two months, but sometimes as little as three weeks. I think there is nothing you can do.

henrya