First inspection and some questons

[Tyro]

Ok, so I did the first inspection of my remaining hive on Sunday.  The good news:
1.  Saw the queen
2.  Maybe 4-6 frames of bees spread out through two double deeps
3.  Some honey and pollen remaining in the hive

No eggs or brood yet.

I reversed the hive bodies, cleaned the bottom board, fed a pollen patty and 1:1 syrup.

Next weekend, I plan to consolidate honey/pollen frames in the bottom box, cull old frames and add more syrup if needed.

Three questions (and maybe potential problems):

1.  On one frame I found a supercedure cell.  It was capped, but there were no bees on the frame.  I did not destroy it.  I suspect it is a cell from last season - does this sound right?

2.  On a few of the frames there was abandoned, dead capped brood.  When I checked this by scraping them with my hive tool - they turned into a dark gray mass that oozed a lot of thick, gray liquid.  Is this normal, or a sign of disease? 

3.  In a number of the abandoned parts of the cells, the cells contained grains of something that looked like sawdust.  This same material was present on the bodies of the dead bees on the bottom board (it looked like the dead bees had been sprinkled with sawdust).  Again, is this a sign of disease, or something else?

Thanks for all the help

Mike

[asprince]

With only 4-6 frames of bees in two deeps, I think I would remove one of the deeps until they get stronger. Sounds like they have to much space. I would place the brood in the center and honey/pollen on the outside in one deep. If there is no a flow going on, I would feed them. When the hive numbers increase, add the second deep of drawn comb.

Steve 

[Kathyp]

i agree.  one box and feed.  box reversing is pointless in all be a few exceptional circumstances.  as for what you are seeing, if you can take some pics one of the moderators may be able to post them for you and we can see what you are looking at.

[JoelinGA]

I've gone with the 7/10 rule to know when to add on boxes to new hives (assuming you're using a 10 frame box :) ).

Start with the one, and when the bees have drawn out 7 out of the 10 frames in it, I put the next one on. When they draw 7 / 10 of that, go with next.

Hope it helps!

[Brian D. Bray]

Three questions (and maybe potential problems):

1.  On one frame I found a supercedure cell.  It was capped, but there were no bees on the frame.  I did not destroy it.  I suspect it is a cell from last season - does this sound right?

That's one possibility.

2.  On a few of the frames there was abandoned, dead capped brood.  When I checked this by scraping them with my hive tool - they turned into a dark gray mass that oozed a lot of thick, gray liquid.  Is this normal, or a sign of disease? 

Rotten brood.  Most likely, There was not enough bees to cover the brood during a cold spell and the brood got chilled, die, and was not cleaned up.  It can quickly become a source of disease.  It sounds like the bees might also have been caught out of cluster and a portion of the hive population died too.

3.  In a number of the abandoned parts of the cells, the cells contained grains of something that looked like sawdust.  This same material was present on the bodies of the dead bees on the bottom board (it looked like the dead bees had been sprinkled with sawdust).  Again, is this a sign of disease, or something else?

That sawdust like granuals could be real sawdust but could also be a lethal chemical applied to the hive or brought back to the hive.  Some times bees will pick up sawdust in place of pollen, if they get into the treated stuff it can have an adverse affect.

At this point I'd say you're bees got poisoned, lost a lot of the nurse bees and a good portion of the brood was lost because there wasn't enough bees to cover them.   The fact that you had ony 4-6 frames of bees spread out in a double deep indicates that the bees on non-contaminated frames are the ones still alive and they are remaining on those frames.  I would 86 any combs the bees are not on, sterilized the hive body, bottom, and top by going over it with a butane torch and replacing all the frames over time and reduce the colonly down to a single box until they begin to recover and you have 7-8 or more frames of bees covering new frames of comb. 

Like you said, the good news is, you saw the queen.

[buzzbee]

Is some of the "Sawdust" 0on the bottom cappings from the bees opening capped honey over the winter?