(Hi all. I haven't been around for a few months - life got unexpectedly crazy and busy.)
Well, it has been cold here recently - by which I mean really, unusually cold, with a lot of snow. I haven't been able to check the hives for about a month. I was disappointed today to find that what had been my strongest hive all year is dead.
I can't seem to make sense of the post-mortem though.
Same wintering configuration as all of my strong hives - two deeps and a medium on top. (It is not standard, but I like to leave the bees with an extra medium of honey when possible, since the period of time with high temperatures below 60 degrees can stretch to six months here.)
So, all the bees were dead - piled up on the bottom board. They had been clustered in the top deep. Both deeps had about four full frames of honey each. In addition, all frames in the medium were still full.
No signs of brood diseases, no signs of nosema, no obvious hive parasites.
I found the queen and her last nurse bees clustered and dead. Around them, bees were head-in to empty comb. Immediately behind them was full honey comb.
It has the look of starvation, but honey could not have been any closer.
All I can think of is Varroa. The counts were low before winter, but maybe there was some kind of a population spike. I sampled dead bees and found some Varroa amongst them, but not what I would consider to be a lot.
All my other hives are doing fine - even three that are single mediums feeding on dry sugar - so it is a puzzler to lose the strong hive.
What might I be missing?
It does show some signs of starvation but that would apply in this case only if the bees were unable to break from cluster to retrieve and move stores for a couple of weeks. We've had some unusually severe temps here in Western Washington this winter, but even then I've noted the bees moving about and even flying in 33-35 degree days with wind and snow and ample movement within the hive.
My guess would be more of a poisoning. If your bees cluster over a honey supply that was of unusually high toxic nectar sources or from plants that had been recently sprayed at the time the nectar was harvested then the honey would be more concentrated and the fate of the bees would have been the same regardless. I assume, as most coastal areas, you have a lot of wild rhodies in your area and a dearth of other plants could have resulted in the bees foraging on that. But the most likely explanation of poisoning would be of a chemical application by a farmer or government agency treating noxious weeds.
That is something I hadn't thought of, Brian. The bees do hit Rhododendrons, but it hasn't been a problem in the past. If it is pesticide, that sucks. Now I will be wondering all winter and spring when my other hives are going to suddenly open up a cell of toxic honey and kick the bucket.
So, another matter... Apparently, bees, like people, should not be declared dead until they are warm and dead. I brought the remains of the cluster in to look at under the microscope and when I got back to them, a few of the bees were moving, including the queen.
I don't have any queenless hives or enough living bees to care for her in a nuc and, given the current temperature, I don't want to mess around with pulling bees out of my other hives to start up a new nuc. Is there anything else I can do with this queen other than drop her in my queen tincture jar?
if you had an observation hive, you could try saving her with those who have survived, but if the numbers are so low even that would probably not work. the fact that she is still alive along with a few, says starvation to me. or...they got wet and froze.
Quote from: kathyp on January 15, 2009, 09:13:54 PM
if you had an observation hive, you could try saving her with those who have survived, but if the numbers are so low even that would probably not work. the fact that she is still alive along with a few, says starvation to me. or...they got wet and froze.
The other option would be to set a up nuc indoors with a pvc pipe running outside. That way the bees can come and go and you can nurse them daily if they need it. In this case a medium nuc would work better than a deep.
Good to see you back Bill W Sorry to hear about your loss.