Hi All
I use a correx sheet to monitor varroa drop, usually leaving it 2-3 days when it's fine weather. I grease it lightly to ensure dropped litter sticks and I can observe it easily. However, today I removed it having realised I'd left it on in the rain (just a few hours) and found lots of dead bees on it. Around 50. Never happened before but I did notice prior to putting it on that there were loads more bees walking around on top of the mesh floor (I could see their legs poking through) so not sure if there's a clue in that. All I can think is that after my last inspection on Sunday, when I returned some extracted super frames, honey has maybe dripped down to the lower floor and attracted bees to go beneath the hive then get stuck on the sheet (though it really was only lightly greased). This is all I can think. There aren't dead bees outside the hive and they can't have dropped down through the mesh floor from inside.....Anyone else ever had issues with bees sticking to the correx sheet? Should I just leave the grease off? Anything else that may have caused this? (No signs of obvious disease on the dead bees and not a single varroa mite in site as it happens!).
I use a correx sheet to monitor varroa drop, usually leaving it 2-3 days when it's fine weather. I grease it lightly to ensure dropped litter sticks and I can observe it easily. However, today I removed it having realised I'd left it on in the rain (just a few hours) and found lots of dead bees on it. Around 50. Never happened before but I did notice prior to putting it on that there were loads more bees walking around on top of the mesh floor (I could see their legs poking through) so not sure if there's a clue in that. All I can think is that after my last inspection on Sunday, when I returned some extracted super frames, honey has maybe dripped down to the lower floor and attracted bees to go beneath the hive then get stuck on the sheet (though it really was only lightly greased). This is all I can think. There aren't dead bees outside the hive and they can't have dropped down through the mesh floor from inside.....Anyone else ever had issues with bees sticking to the correx sheet? Should I just leave the grease off? Anything else that may have caused this? (No signs of obvious disease on the dead bees and not a single varroa mite in site as it happens!).