In my apiary I lost a hive this winter. It still has plenty of honey. I am unsure of why the hive did not make it. My question, however, is it looks like the other hives in the apiary are going to the hive that perished and I guess taking the honey.
Is this OK or are they going to be fighting with other bees taking the honey as well? I have a few hives in my apiary, so those hives fighting for the dead bee's honey is what I am wondering about.
Jeremy
they are robbing out the dead hive. at this time of the year, i wouldn't worry about it to much. i have mine cleaning out an old hive also. it's always a good idea to move the hive that you are allowing to be robbed, away from the other hives. it helps keep the robbing from spreading. just move it to another location and the bees will still find it and clean it out, or pull the honey frames and put them in the other hives.
eventually, the abandoned honey will draw other bees, wasps, etc. here it is not a problem yet.
Good to know. I've got a nuc that perished in a queen castle. I closed that side up to avoid the damage from robbers. When I've had a hive die I've put the deeps on other hives so they can use the honey and keep the comb in good shape and not ripped up from robbing. I was a trying to figure how to do this with the queen castle but now know how. The other nuc in there is doing fine. I'm probably going to remove the dividing board and let them rob/move into the other half when they are so inclined.
they'll probably rip it up some, but when the frames are left together it's not the mess it can be when you just set a frame out.
I've found if the drawn comb is new with no pupa casings it's much more prone to robbing damage. Once it's been laid in and has some casings, frass, and propolis it's tough enough that damage doesn't seem to occur. Fresh comb though seems to get chewed to the foundation.
I also have this question. My concern is - what caused the other hive to perish? Is it transferable to my remaining hives via the stored comb?. I've blocked up the lost hive for the time being but it has two boxes of sealed honey - can/should it be used?
i use mine. my thinking is that if they have disease, my other bees have probably already been exposed. that said, it's always a good idea to take a close look and see if there are signs of disease. for instance, i would not use the frames from a hive that has chalkbrood. made that mistake once. if there is any brood left and the cells don't look right, skip it. other things like mold, rotting bee bodies, etc. are normal after a hive dies.
You can use that honey comb on existing hives no problem. I just let them rob it out, that way they all get a little bit of it and it gives them something to do on those nice spring days when there are no flowers blooming.
Rick
Quote from: kathyp on March 11, 2010, 08:19:37 PM
i use mine. my thinking is that if they have disease, my other bees have probably already been exposed. that said, it's always a good idea to take a close look and see if there are signs of disease. for instance, i would not use the frames from a hive that has chalkbrood. made that mistake once. if there is any brood left and the cells don't look right, skip it. other things like mold, rotting bee bodies, etc. are normal after a hive dies.
Thanks for this level of detail. It is very helpful for we newbies who have dead hives for the first time! Now I know what to do with the comb from my 2 that got robbed out last fall, then starved...