I was wondering if someone could explain the presence of a whole bunch of dead bees in my bedroom.
Last Friday and again yesterday I found 20 to 30 dead bees on the floor. Two or three were still moving a bit (I put those in the sun on the window sill).
They were lying under an open window.
I’ve been wondering if they came out of nests I failed to see and couldn’t find a way out or if they were outside and somehow found their way inside and couldn’t leave again.
I’ve noticed in previous years that these bees love to use the convenient little holes in my Ivar shelves to lay their eggs, but when this happened the holes had been closed and remnants of the “sealant” were still visible after they had left. I have Ivar shelves in my bedroom, but I couldn’t find anything like that in my bedroom.
I’d also like to know your thoughts on what caused their death and if there is something I can do to avoid this.
Very odd. Are those bees active all year round where you live (where I live they are only active in the summer)? Secondly is there an agricultural area nearby where they may have been exposed to insecticide? How long were you away from the rooms (a week, a day)? It’s very strange that they would enter a window only to die. Insects like bees tend to go up and towards light - if they flew in by error, they would likely be congregating at the top of the window. My guess is that they encountered something toxic and died, but I really don’t know.
The bees are active in spring and early summer.
We live smack in the middle of agricultural land, mostly orchards with olives, avocado, and mango. It’s very likely insecticides are used but I can’t imagine they are different this year from previous years.
Both times I found them late afternoon. There was nothing there in the morning when I got up.
ask around among local beekeepers or gardeners.
A few years ago Constantia wine farmers had an ant problem. The insecticide they chose to use devastated bees!
May be the bees are dying due to drastic temperature changes or may be the blooming flowers on the trees did not have much nectar and the bees starved to death. It may be because the wings could not support them anymore.
As for a bee to survive they cannot survive without proper wings