Absconding or CCD?
How can you tell if your bees absconded or disappeared due to colony collapse disorder? Many similarities exist between the two and it can be confusing.
When a colony absconds, the entire colony leaves the hive including all the workers and the queen. The bees usually take everything with them, including the stored honey, and leave only the empty combs behind.
Bees that abscond usually leave for one or more of the following reasons:
- Lack of food
- Lack of water
- Overheating
- Loud and continuous noise
- Fires that cause prolonged exposure to smoke
- Bad odors in the hive
- Frequent disturbance
- Invasion by predators such as yellowjackets, small hive beetles, Argentine ants, or wax moths
- Parasites such as Varroa mites
- Diseases such as American foul brood
Colony collapse disorder also results in a hive without bees, but the circumstances are different. Although we still don’t know the specific cause of CCD, a collapsed colony has specific characteristics.
- Before a colony collapses it may contain much more brood than the small workforce can care for. In addition, the adult bees that are present are reluctant to take feed.
- Once the colony disappears, it may leave behind both capped brood and the queen. The hive may be full of stored food as well—honey, uncured nectar, and pollen are all abandoned.
- Then, after the collapse, a long period of time may elapse before the food stores and honeycombs are attacked by hive pests such as wax moths and small hive beetles.
Most of the time, especially in the spring, a new beekeeper is more likely to experience an absconding hive. A package of bees hived in brand new equipment may easily decide it would rather live somewhere else. Absconding also occurs frequently during a nectar dearth when food and water are scarce. In that case, the colony may decide to try its luck elsewhere.
However, when the bees disappear late in the year, when they leave lots of stores behind, when they leave brood behind, or when they seem to disappear without a trace, careful scrutiny is warranted. Yes, your particular bees may have absconded for some compelling reason and left some things behind. On the other hand, you should at least check for signs of CCD.
Rusty
HoneyBeeSuite
Comments
Rusty, you said one contributing factor to a colony absconding is ‘Bad odors in the hive’ – what exactly are we talking about here? I’m not planning on having my hives near a sewer, but what constitutes a ‘bad odor’ for bees?
Chris,
One thing that comes to mind is chemicals used for mite treatments, such as thymol or formic acid. Another is chemicals used as wood preservatives. Also some paints can cause absconding which is why painted hives should be thoroughly dried before using. Some folks say bees don’t like cedar, but I don’t know if that is true or not. Harsh environmental pollutants, such as that from pulp mills, can also cause absconding, presumably because it causes the bees to have trouble detecting other smells such as nectar sources and pheromones.
Ah, makes sense, thanks for the feedback.
My experience with CCD would indicate no bees left in the hive, no dead ones at the entrance and strangely enough, honey stores that the other colonies leave alone. It seems that the colonies were a bit light on workers before vanishing but not anything as noticeable as the leftovers after swarming. This year I lost no overwintered colonies nor divides late season (AUG) but new packages were a challenge this year. Of course the weather (lack of rain) has a huge impact. The new order probably warrants feeding packages for a long, long time. I mix it up with new and old equipment…not sure bees really like that new product lumberyard smell.
John,
I agree that bees are wary of new lumber. When I’ve had colonies abscond it was almost always from a brand new hive with the freshly milled smell. If the smell is noticeable to us, imagine how strong it must seem to bees.
Great info. Thanks Rusty. I was called by a homeowner to collect a swarm this fall. It was a pretty large swarm and seems strong and healthy. I couldn’t imagine why a colony would swarm so late in the season. After reading your post I am thinking it might be a colony that absconded instead. Your thoughts?
JoAnne,
It’s hard to say for sure, but since it was fall and since the colony is large, I would say there is a very good chance that it absconded from somewhere, probably from lack of food or water.
Mr Rusty,
I have honey bees, but when I feed them inside, most honey bees die after that. What can be the reason? Another question, what precautions should be adopted for the month of December and January to make honey bees healthy? Please send some tips for the next two cold months.
Abdul,
When you say “feed them inside” I assume you are feeding inside the hive. Also, I assume they are drowning in the syrup? I don’t know where you are, but the most important thing during the cold months is to make sure they have enough food, that they are kept dry, and they are free from cold drafts. If they need food, you should give them hard candy or fondant in the winter, not syrup. You should open up the hive on a warmish day and make sure water is not condensing on the inner cover. If it is, you need to ventilate the hive such that the moisture dries out, but you don’t want to set up too much draft. There are lots of suggestions in this site if you search for keywords such as ventilation, moisture, overwintering, winter feed, candy, etc.
I am a newbie. I have two hives and my two colonies have absconded. One colony the bees were all gone. The other colony, there were numerous dead bees remaining in the hive. I have been unable to determine the reason. My question is, can I extract the honey from the hives? Thanks.
Dave,
I see no problem with extracting the honey, but if you are going to continue beekeeping you may want to save the frames for starting new colonies. New colonies will start quicker and build faster with a few frames of honey. In addition, newly installed colonies are less likely to abscond in spring if they have a ready-made food supply.
Of course, I’m assuming there is no honey bee disease such as foul brood that could be passed on through the honey. If that were the case, you are better off extracting the honey. Bee diseases are not passed on to humans.
Is it possible that one of your hives died out and one absconded? I’m thinking the one with dead bees may have died for some reason. Was there honey in just the hive with dead bees or in both hives?
There was honey in both. They seemed to have taken a turn after I started feeding them. I did a 2 to 1 ratio. One colony was always stronger by probably at least twice the number of bees. That is the one I found the dead bees in. Thank you for your comments and attention to my problem.
Dave,
I don’t think I’ve been much help but I am very interested in the large number of absconding colonies I’ve heard about this year. It seems crazy that there have been so many, especially those leaving behind honey stores. I don’t think that feeding the bees had anything to do with them leaving; it was probably just coincidence, although feeding can lure predators and robbers. But since the honey wasn’t taken, that doesn’t seem to be the case.
Don’t forget that you need to protect those frames of honey from damage regardless of what you decide to do with them. You don’t want them to be attacked by insects or small mammals, or large ones either.
I lost several of my hives this summer, not exactly sure what happened, they were doing good then 2 weeks later they were all gone, most of the honey gone also. Had predators stealing what was left behind. The wax was hard and brittle in most of the frames, why would this be? Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Bobbi,
It is nearly impossible to say without actually seeing the hives. With the bees and most of the honey gone, I wouldn’t be surprised if it were caused by wasps, yellowjackets, or robbing honey bees.
Wax becomes hard and brittle when the volatile elements in it evaporate. When the hive is dry inside—in other words no honey, no pollen, no nectar, no bees—it dries out quickly and becomes brittle. In late summer when the nectar resources become scarce, it is a good idea to reduce the size of the entrance or put a robbing screen on the outside of the hive.
I too have heard about large numbers of “absconding” colonies this year and late into the fall. In SC we tend to have erratic weather; 28 degrees one night and 70 the next day. So we blame a lot on the weather. I’ve been hearing the statement tossed around, “Have YOU ever known anybody who experienced CCD?” That got me thinking about the difference between absconding and CCD. Now it’s happened to me.
Last week I noticed no activity outside a hive and inside, no bees! A little capped brood, pollen, nectar, a super+ of honey. Very few dead bees on the screen bottom??? Well, today same thing on another hive. A few more dead bees on the screen bottom, a few dead SHB and the dead queen. No dead bees on the ground outside either hive. Is this considered CCD? This is perplexing.
This very concise description of CCD from Wikipedia is based on the work of the MAAREC CCD Working Group:
A colony which has collapsed from CCD is generally characterized by all of these conditions occurring simultaneously:
-Presence of capped brood in abandoned colonies. Bees normally will not abandon a hive until the capped brood have all hatched.
-Presence of food stores, both honey and bee pollen:
–i. which are not immediately robbed by other bees
–ii. which when attacked by hive pests such as wax moth and small hive beetle, the attack is noticeably delayed.
-Presence of the queen bee. If the queen is not present, the hive died because it was queenless, which is not considered CCD.
Your case sounds suspicious, especially since it happened to more than one hive.
There were no conditions that might have promoted absconding. I think the remaining bees & SHB’s died from the cold. There were not enuff bees left in the hive to cluster & keep warm. There may have been a dead queen on the screen bottom of the first hive, but I didn’t think to look for her before I brushed some leaves away. I’ve had it in my mind that CCD was a commercial beekeepers problem. My way of thinking has changed. Us “small time hobbyist” need to observe closely too!
Donna,
I think a lot of us think that way, that CCD is a problem belonging to “them” not “us.” It will be helpful if we can ever figure out what causes it.
I agree. It’s a truly sad sight to see. Not a good Christmas present for me, however Merry Christmas to everyone at Honey bee Suite!
D