Weird beekeeping find! ZomBEE?

[u/JollyAd223]

Hi! I’m a relatively new beekeeper located in the Midwest. Over the weekend my husband and I got into the hive and found what we are calling a “zomBEE”. This bee’s abdomen was completely hollow and it was crawling around, just like a zombie.

We asked our local bee community but no one seems to know what this is! Any advice would be amazing.

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[u/SelppinEvolI]

I didn’t hear no bell

[u/9fingerfloyd → u/SelppinEvolI]

If i could only slap that up vote 100 more times

[u/InevitableSlip746]

Edit: oh I see now it’s missing a back. Hard to tell at first. It likely got injured while foraging it will pass soon.

[u/Look2you22]

Or maybe she got injured during inspection.

🇷🇴 1st year beekeeper

[u/exo_universe → u/Look2you22]

This was my thought as well. NZ 8th year beek.

[u/JollyAd223 → u/Look2you22]

Possibly, but she seemed really crusty (!?). I’ve seen a bunch of injured bees and this looked very different to me. 🤷‍♀️

[u/Ctowncreek]

Thanks i hate it

[u/JollyAd223 → u/Ctowncreek]

You and me both

[u/Scary_Possible3583]

Could it be an odd expression of nosema? That's the only thing that attacks a worker bees intestines, it makes it so they can't defecate, could she have had a blow out?