Reply To: Agitated bees buzzing around on ground in front of hive

[Vincent Fazzi]

Thanks for the reply. No, I’m not sure what I’d be inspecting for at this point. I moved the bees Tuesday evening from a swarm trap that was up in a tree. The next morning there were 10-15 bees on the ground buzzing loudly and wandering around apparently unable to fly. It was suggested on another beekeeping site to give them some sugar water as I moved them into their new home. I did that with a homemade top feeder jar thingy, but removed it yesterday after I saw the bees in distress. I was afraid I’d done it wrong. It hadn’t emptied and drowned them or anything. It was still full of nice clear 1:1 sugar water I’d made.

So when I inspect what might I look for that would cause bees wandering around buzzing loudly and unable to fly? Should I not worry about it? I saw some today as well but fewer and pretty normal coming and going activity around the door. Perhaps I shouldn’t worry…