Colony keeps shrinking...

[luvin honey]

Well, if it is any consolation, we've all had knuckles in our heads at one time or another... :-D

Experience teaches us most vividly.

How true. I learned not to expand my topbar in mid-March in WI. Duh.

[podius]

I had a colony just like the one you had, booming in the fall. As of a week ago they had enough bees to cover one quarter of one side of a frame. The only feed my bees get is honey. So a few days ago I check on them and everything is dead. I pick up the queen and look at her, and she starts moving. So being the frugal guy I am, I caged her, stole a few brood frames from a booming hive, some honey frames, and some bees and made a new home for her. The temps aren't really ideal for this right now, but better to try something than nothing at all.

[luvin honey]

Awesome!

If only I had gotten my package in early April, I could have tried something like this. Unfortunately, it STILL has not arrived and I fear my own hive will be gone shortly.

How tiny can they decrease to before tipping the balance to being unsustainable? Mine look like they don't have enough nurse bees to care for the eggs/brood the queen is still laying.