package bees dead in 10 days. Question on what might have happened

[Jim134]

One thing remember when you gravitational feed in the springtime you put a few holes in the feeder cover then if it is fall.  I have put thousands a packages in the beginning of April over the years.. Never drowned a hive gravitational feeder. But of course I'm Not Dead Yet neither I keepbees bees for over 50 years in the coldest part of Massachusetts east of the Connecticut River. Before I move my bees to Vermont.


                    BEE HAPPY Jim 134 :)

[Acebird]

I always thought that cold wont kill them, just if they get cold and wet.
David

David,
Cold does not kill bees but starvation does.  If you had dumped the bees in a box with two frames of honey it would be a whole different story.  They can cluster on the honey, keep it warm and have plenty of food to rear brood and prevent the colony from freezing.  No feeder can do that.  There is an outside chance that if you had an empty drawn frame and you filled it with syrup they could have clustered on that but it won't last long because syrup is not concentrated like honey is.

It is important that you realize that they did not freeze they starved first and then froze.

[KPF]

How long can bees go without food before they die?

[Michael Bush]

>How long can bees go without food before they die?

Swarms tank up on honey and can last quite a while.  Bees that are just being fed and there is nothing to eat all of a sudden don't last as long as the swarm.  They can starve in a couple of days without stores.

[KeyLargoBees]

and with the cold...bees on naked foundation with poor insulation....no stores adjacent and the feeder on the outside away from the cluster.....I think the answer is pretty obvious.

[Oblio13]

... Northern raised queens do better in the north. Why? If not cold tolerance? ...

I think how they time egg-laying has a lot to do with it. When they shut down in the autumn, and when they fire up in the spring.

[Diogenes]

Package bees also suffer significant transportation stress that swarms do not.

Last packages I installed were transported in an open trailer from Georgia to Ohio. Bees were in great shape (very few casualties), yet the day after install they spotted the hive tops like they'd been cooped-up for a month. Syrup cans were half empty for bees that were caged 30-36 hours before I took delivery. So, they worked hard to keep warm for the trip. Thus, they need one or three good "purge" flights after holding it for the trip.

Bad luck of the draw on weather this year.

[OldMech]

Good advice for the most part here. You mentioned you had drawn frames to install them on..   By simply spraying those frames heavily with syrup the bees can warm and access/use the syrup.
   i have started a lot of packages in COLD weather, and using the drawn frames beats about any other way tp "feed" them when its cold out.. the baggie feeder is my second choice. As someone else mentioned, a jar over their cluster could kill them from dripping as the temps fluctuate between night and day, Even going from 35 degrees to 40 degrees will cause the syrup to drip as it warms up. The jar cant expand, but the baggie can.. having said that, the bees need to be able to break cluster to MOVE to get to the top of the baggie, or a frame feeder etc... 30 degree temps dont allow that.  Having the syrup IN the cells of drawn comb allows them to warm and eat it as if they were eating their own honey..
    As much as I do not like package bees, I admit, I have had pretty decent luck with the bees from Wilbanks Apiaries in Georgia, though mid summer I do try to re queen them with local or northern queens for better wintering. the original queens I put in nucs and manage them...   I lost four of ten nucs with their queens, so not as bad as the average I have had from the other southern package suppliers I have tried.