Well, lost some hives this winter, one yard that had 4 hives in it all of them died out. Nothing unrecoverable, or even unexpected, but still a bummer. poor little guys. a few things I think may of been a issue, in this case, these were at a relatives house who claimed they were going to take care of them, and I didn't get out there. When I did, it was freezing weather, and they left the honey supers on. it was two deep brood each hive and a medium on top for honey, and they left it on. also each hive had a bottom entrance only, and was only about a foot off the ground, lending to being covered in snow banks and thus low air flow and probably moisture problems too. cold is one thing...cold and wet is altogether different. Anyways sharing because it happens every winter almost surely, and figure its good to let others know.
I lost the one in my backyard. It had a deep and 3 supers and there was still honey left in the hive. I think it must have been the sub zero weather we had for about 4 weeks this winter.
ahickman, were there dead bees in the hive? If so, where were they?
I began keeping bees last spring with two hives here in NorthCentral Indiana. Felt successful with getting about 8 gal. of honey and a shallow for each colony to feed on in the winter. I was really pleased to see activity on both hives last week. This afternoon it was sunny and 60 so I decided it was time to see what's going on inside. The shallow still had lots of capped honey, but the deeps had lots of of dead bees, both on the comb surface and head in the cells. Guess it as just too cold. No eggs or larvae that I saw. Second hive, almost no dead bees and and some larvae. I was thinking about making a split next week but after what I saw today, I'll wait. Plan to build and put out some traps to expand my operation. Guess I'm hooked.
Best Regards, Dan Brown
I am here in West Kentucky and lost some hives myself. The first large storm that came through our region around valentines day (and I think yours) brought nearly a foot of snow and 15 below zero temps. All my hives survived and even did a cleanings flight when it warmed up. Sadly the second storm that hit at the end of February brought below zero temperatures and another foot of snow. Lucky it warmed up several days later but when I checked my hives when it hit 70 last week I had lost 2/3's of my hives. Each hive still had honey and pollen. The bees were in a ball but were dead. I figure the dramatic changes in temp killed them. Sounds like what you posted. Lucky for me I ordered packages and will use there drawn comb when they come in. Good luck this season.
Should be trying to get local bee's and think about VARROA management.
Cold don't kill bee's for the most case's.