Hi Everyone. This is my 2nd year beekeeping. I just checked on my hive today (60 degrees in Kansas City!!). Much to my dismay, all the bees were dead. This is the 2nd year this has happened. The common denominator is obvious (ME!!!). We had an extremely mild winter in Kansas. The bees did not starve as far as I can tell. Many of the frames still had honey in them and the in hive feeder was still half full (I last filled it in early November). It doesn't appear as if there are any diseases present. No wax moths or anything like that.
The bottom line is, I really enjoy beekeeping but, maybe, I'm just not that good at it. I have ordered another hive and was hoping to have 2 hives this year (got 25 lbs of honey last year). My question is, do you think it safe to use the old frames. I was hoping to split them up to provide a head start for my 2 hives. My big fear is that there is some sort of disease there that will now harm both hives.
Any help/advice would be appreciated.
Thanks
Kurt
If you started with new equipment, I seriously doubt you have a dissease problem. If you are still having freezing nights, you don't need to worry about wax moths or small hive beetles either. I would gety some large lawn trash bags and double bag your boxes and frames full of honey and comb and put them where the sun don't shine and the mice can't get at them. Your new bees will have a running start with the carried over honey and comb. Keep reading and learning. If this were that hard, I couldn't do it! You would be well served to get two colonies though. That way you have resources to correct problems. Good luck and have fun.
There is lots of variables why your bees died. Are they kept in sun, are they kept in a marshy wet area, are they kept in the woods?? Did you check for mites in the middle of the summer?? Many of times if you don't check your mite load in the middle of the summer the bees get over run by the mites. The mites make holes in the bees and it opens them up for other diseases. In the winter a syrup feed is not a good thing it can cause nosema problems and diareha. Tracheal mites which don't seem to be a big problem these days but who knows these mites are inside the bee you cant see them in their trachea and will wipe out a colony. Unfortunately the days of just setting up a hive in the spring and doing nothing till fall to remove the honey isn't possible these days. Nosema seems to be a big problem with overwintering bees it affects the whole colony and a bad case will kill the whole colony. Don't get discouraged id def have 3 or 4 hives that way if you lose one or two you aren't without bees and you can do splits on the others in spring and replenish your bees without having to buy them. Chris
There are several common possibilities. Starvation is common. "Cold starving" is common where they get some brood and won't leave the brood but a cold snap keeps them from reaching stores. But the most common in recent years, assuming they didn't starve, is Varroa. But sometimes they just die even without those issues. I would look for Varroa feces (small white flecks) in the brood comb. And look for dead Varroa with the bees on the bottom. If you have thousands of them, then Varroa is probably the culprit.
Michael,
What did you do about Varroa when you first started going the all natural approach? Did you just let the ones who couldn't fight of Varroa die and continue this until you finally had a hive or two survive?
Sorry Kenglert don't mean to HJ your post. I am in the same boat as you. I did have a bad Varroa problem in one of my hives though, this was a cutout from a beetree where they were known to be there 5 yrs. So I though they could handle them.
James.
We lost several hives this year due to late supersedure. Sometime in November or December, the bees decided to start a new queen. But it was too late for the virgin to mate. The hives slowly dwindled and finally died in early February. I found the virgin queen in the pile of dead bees at the bottom of the hive.
Many times people believe they have a 5 year colony but what happens is the bees die and a new colony moves in. I dont believe that we have mite resistent bees that can live on their own. I do believe that we have more hygenic bees that can resist mites more than others but a completely mite resistent bee i have yet to see it. Its really not a bad idea to do a mite check in the middle of the summer, if the count is high good idea to intervene natural methods or acid strips also you can find out what colonies have the lowest count and raise queens from those hives :) Mike thanks for the info on the white flecks i seen these already wasnt quite sure what it was but now i do im not an expert by any means but its nice to learn thats why we are all here. Chris
I am going to guess you are a victim of bad luck. Could have been mites, poor queen, nosema, supersedure gone bad, accidentally crushed queen on last inspection, etc.
Get two packages or two nucs. Then cross your fingers and one or both should make it next winter. If your tight on funds get two, two pound packages being you already have drawn comb and stores. If your really tight you could get a three pound package and an extra queen and split it n two.
Keep at er big guy. It cant get much worse, lol.
>What did you do about Varroa when you first started going the all natural approach?
The first of regressing (at least he first year I started early enough to get it done) I used Oxalic acid to see what the mite count was. There were only a few hundred per hive and I never treated again.
>Did you just let the ones who couldn't fight of Varroa die and continue this until you finally had a hive or two survive?
No. I regressed to small cell and stopped losing them to Varroa.
http://www.bushfarms.com/beessctheories.htm (http://www.bushfarms.com/beessctheories.htm)
Thanks for the great responses. I don't think is was nosema (don't you usually see signs of this as streaking on the outside of the hive??). My fear is I lost the queen when I refilled my in-hive feeder. My plan is to start again this year using the hive body and super from my existing hive to start the 2 new hives. I have 20 frames of drawn comb and I'd hate to have it go to waste if I didn't have to. As of now, I left the hive where I keep it during the summer (urban farm here in Kansas City). I cleaned all the dead bees out and left the entrance reducer on. Should I bag them up and bring them home or will it be ok out there until early April??
Thanks again for all the advice.
Kurt
I dont think you had nosema, its just part of a list that of things that can take out a colony. Not taking syrup when there is room for it is a sign of nosema though but I dont know your situation that well.
It is possible to drown the queen when feeding or for her to crawl in it and drown. As you will hear queens love to lay eggs in burr comb built in them and you never know whether or not she was looking about for a place to lay eggs and ended up a floater.
Dont give up
Quitters are quitters, you dont want to be one.
Kenglert,
If you're purchasing your bees from packages or nuc suppliers somewhere out of state, perhaps you could improve your overwintering chances by focusing on swarms. If you're not doing this already, I would suggest that you make an effort to capture swarms to replace your bees. Feral swarms or even swarms from other beekeepers usually have the box checked next to "overwintering capability" in your area.
I am only now completing my third year in beekeeping, but I have purchased 4 packages of bees and two nucs since I began and all but one of them had a queen that was quickly superseded or they died overwintering. The swarms I've captured on the other hand, they seem to be doing much better, I don't think I've lost any of them except the two that went queenless after my inexperience allowed these colonies to swarm. Colonies originating from captured swarm bees and swarm queens in my non-scientific observation seem to be doing better as a group than purchased packages and nucs coming from out of state.
Not all dysentary is nosema. Nosema is a fungal type parasite spread by spores.And the spores are difficult to kill. Healthy bees are the best guard against the disease.
Leaving a partial filled syrup container over the winter months is probably not a good idea. If I were you I would try to have syrup feeding completed by October.Excess condensation can drip off the roof of the hive and onto the cluster if the roof is not well insulated. Bees can not maintain warmth if they are wet.
If I may;
I am familiar with your area, my stepson lives in Mission Hills, gracious I'd love to set some traps out near those old trees and million dollar plus homes, anyway;
I believe the advise to pull the feeders before winter is correct, the syrup becomes cold and the bees cannot maintain heat next to a ice cube, with the added moisture.
You are in a very residential area, but was the hive protected from that cold West wind, yet able to get some sun light, Lord'y I know it can blow up there.
Try getting two hives, just seems to work better it seems, and yes use your old frames.
So far I've kept all 7 hives this winter with out a loss !
Good Luck
Bee-Bop
Not sure but the feeder in side for the winter might have been your culprit. Might be causing too much moisture. They wont hardly take sugar syrup below 40 some degrees. Make sure they have a top box stuffed full in the fall. I have replaced bees for 4 years. I finally had some make it last year and looks promising to have all 4 make it this year. Last year I got sick (cancer) so I couldnt get to my hives to turn the inner covers over , I have a notch cut in to them to allow for ventilation. And I about killed them all. I looked the other day and they are all making noise and are dry inside. Looking good.
Thanks again for all the great responses. I had no idea I wasn't suppossed to leave the feeder in over the winter. Big time rookie mistake. It breaks my heart knowing my lack of knowledge led to the demise of these bees!! I'm definately going to have 2 hives this year. I'm looking forward to learning more.
As far as the traps being set out to catch ferral bees, how far away do I have to put them from my hives? I keep my hive on 7 acres now surrounded by a stream and acres of wooded areas. Any danger of my hive bees leaving my hive and going to the trap??
Bee-Bop, I have a pretty good location. It gets plenty of sun. It could be slightly better protected from the wind but I think it's in a pretty good location.
Speaking of Mission Hills, my friend who got me into beekeeping lives there. He currently has one of his hives in his back yard and many of his neighbors/friends want one in their yards as well!!
Beehappy-sorry to hear about your cancer diagnosis. I hope you're on the road to recovery. My wife is a oncology nurse practitioner and she says there are many more happy stories than sad. I hope yours is a happy one!! Thanks for the response.
Yes, it is a good story. Multiple myeloma. Had a year of chemo and in remission. Thanks Harold
>What did you do about Varroa when you first started going the all natural approach?
Now that I think about the question, there were no Varroa when I first started going all natural... that would have been 1975 or so...
No punt intended i wasnt born till 76 Mike :roll: Now i know why i learn so much from the experts more bee time :)