night entrance cluster - slugs?

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Pendragon

New Bee
Joined
Apr 27, 2013
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Location
Derbyshire
Hive Type
National
I have a hive I can see through the patio door and at night there is a cluster of bees gathered at the front entrance. Is this normal? Do they need a smaller entrance? The entrance seems quite busy in the day and they bump into one another as some go in and others are coming out? ....


Just been and had another look and there is a slug on the porch so I think they are on slug defence.

I have noticed some slug trails on the slab underneath.

Any suggestions please? Thanks
 
Slug bait based on ferric phosphate around the stand. Or if you have some sand handy make a thick covering around the hive area.
 
Clusters of bees at the entrance in the evening can suggest that the hive is overcrowded and close to swarming, or that it's close to overheating - or a combination of the two.

Given that we're in the middle of a heatwave, I think the likely explanation this time is that they're feeling a bit warm!
 
I've read somewhere recently, it could be on here, that there's a risk of bees drinking from moist slug pellets and it doesn't do them any good.

We have a damp garden, which has heavy dew even in the summer. Eggshells, sand, coffee grounds, expensive deterrents etc don't work because the slugs and snails still wander across the top. The only thing we've found that will stop them climbing is the copper strips intended for plant pots - wrap a couple of strips next to each other around the legs of the hive stand so the total width is about two inches.
 
I sometimes find the slugs on the floor especially at night. The ones that I see visit are the carnivorous leopard slugs. The bees definitely let them in even when it is warm and there is a crowd of bees bearding at the entrance. They seem to act as undertakers, eating dead bees and bee debris.

I think they do not harm and may even help. Slug pellets are not good news. Would you want that poison in your honey?
 
It's completely normal to have numbers of bees out at night on and around the entrance when it's warm and slugs cause no problem to the bees what so ever, the bees aren't even interested in them.

Chris
 
I've read somewhere recently, it could be on here, that there's a risk of bees drinking from moist slug pellets and it doesn't do them any good.

We have a damp garden, which has heavy dew even in the summer. Eggshells, sand, coffee grounds, expensive deterrents etc don't work because the slugs and snails still wander across the top. The only thing we've found that will stop them climbing is the copper strips intended for plant pots - wrap a couple of strips next to each other around the legs of the hive stand so the total width is about two inches.

I started using copper pan scourers (unwound) which are a £1.00 at the local cheap shop and seem to work on flower pots as well as the very expensive copper tape sold at garden centers.
 
... and slugs cause no problem to the bees what so ever, the bees aren't even interested in them.

Chris

Slugs made a right mess of my mating nuc attempts last year.
They certainly can (and did) cause problems for the tiny colonies.
 
Slugs made a right mess of my mating nuc attempts last year.
They certainly can (and did) cause problems for the tiny colonies.

Ah, interesting point. What sort of right mess did they make?

Chris
 
Ah, interesting point. What sort of right mess did they make?

Chris

The homemade boxes (Andy's - from veg packing poly boxes) were not 100% syrup-tight at the feeder. The slugs were attracted to the outside of the feeder, and ate their way through ... then they were found on the combs. Whether they were after wax, stores or brood, I can't say, but they messed up the colonies and more waves replaced those evicted.
Wrong kit, wrong place, failure. Slugs definitely one major element.
 
I started using copper pan scourers (unwound) which are a £1.00 at the local cheap shop and seem to work on flower pots as well as the very expensive copper tape sold at garden centers.
My tape came from a local cheap shop. I haven't seen copper pan scourers, but will take a look now. Thanks for the tip.
What sort of right mess did they make?
They sit on the top bars and surround themselves with slime which makes the frames mouldy, they eat both honey and comb.
 
Thank you for the replies - I don't like using slug pellets so will try the copper things.
It maybe just a way of staying cool - I hadn't read or heard of it before, this is my first year keeping bees, so I was surprised when I spotted them.
 
My tape came from a local cheap shop. I haven't seen copper pan scourers, but will take a look now. Thanks for the tip.

They sit on the top bars and surround themselves with slime which makes the frames mouldy, they eat both honey and comb.

Not in a normal colony they don't.

I'll happily accept the example ITMA gave and it's both interesting and understandable but not in a normal colony where apart from anything else the bees simply wouldn't allow it. They would throw them out just as they do wax moth larvae and any other intruders.

Chris
 
I can't understand this desire to kill things unnecessarily, it's a most peculiar human trait...

...not wonderful for the species that eat them either.

Chris
 
Not in a normal colony they don't.

I'll happily accept the example ITMA gave and it's both interesting and understandable but not in a normal colony where apart from anything else the bees simply wouldn't allow it. They would throw them out just as they do wax moth larvae and any other intruders.

Chris

I'm with you Chris. I've never seen slugs in the hives. Perhaps they are trouble in very damp sites???
cazza
 
Perhaps they are trouble in very damp sites???

Exactly! Not a usually damp area, but constant rain for months on end, onto heavy clay soil meant it was waterlogged. There was nothing we could do about it because water was also draining from higher ground.

The bees didn't seem to take any notice of the slugs, which kept coming back even though they were thrown quite a long way from the hive. I won't use slug pellets because even the so-called organic ones will kill other wildlife, and we've got a good range of birds, mammals and amphibians that we want to keep.
 
Bottom of Hive stand legs in small cups of oil. The bottom of leg insulator submerged in oil. The exposed bit of leg near top of cup metal. Cup made of metal. Apply 10 kv between leg and cup. Small craw lies go into oil, bigger things get zapped.
 
I can't understand this desire to kill things unnecessarily, it's a most peculiar human trait...

Perhaps that is one of the reasons Natural England are against beekeepers keeping bees on SSSI sites, there would be nothing left alive on the sites except honey bees, by the time the beekeepers had finished.
 
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