4 year old hive no treatment

[bwallace23350]

What does this mean about this hive and is this normal?

[iddee]

Not enough info. Was it cared for for 4 years? If it was abandoned for 4 years, it may have died and a swarm moved in. If it is known to have been alive the full time, it is worth marking and following. If it makes it 2 more years, I would use it for breeding.

[bwallace23350]

For 3 years it was in one spot. It threw a swarm that I lost but tried to keep. Then the original hive died but the swarm is still going. From my understanding they took the original queen when they swarmed.

[Michael Bush]

>What does this mean about this hive and is this normal?

None of my hives have been treated since 2003.

[blackforest beekeeper]

>What does this mean about this hive and is this normal?

None of my hives have been treated since 2003.

how high are your annual losses?

[Michael Bush]

>how high are your annual losses?

Always at or below the average for Nebraska.  It varies by how harsh the winter is.  Some years as low as 10%.  Some years as high as 50%.  If we get two weeks of -25 F (-32 C) it will be higher.  If we only get a day or two of -10 F (-23 C) it will be much lower.

[Ben Framed]

@ TheHoneyPump
From reading your post you are obviously located  at one of the more extremely cold locations. What kind of losses do you seem to average through the winter months? Thanks

[Acebird]

If natural hives died at the rate claimed from those that treat there would be no feral's left.  Anyone who understands just a little bit of biology knows that untouched hives are why bees have lasted millions of years, not the other way around.

[TheHoneyPump]

@ TheHoneyPump
From reading your post you are obviously located  at one of the more extremely cold locations. What kind of losses do you seem to average through the winter months? Thanks

My results are much the same as others. Some years are good some are bad. There are many variables. To know what the winter losses this year are going to be is really easy.  Roll three 10 sided gaming dice or all 5 of the standard 6 sided dice if you have a Yahtzee set. Roll the dice and add all the numbers together. That os the losses, in percent.  Single digits are gleeful. Happens when the fall work is all done at the right time and the fall weather cooperated. I plan by wintering 30% extra colonies and tend to come out ahead far more often than behind. When losses are high it is from something exceptional.

Long way of saying less than 10% happens when all the stars align. 10%-20% is the normal without much concern. 30% or more can happen, is of great concern when it does, and is almost always caused by something definitive.

..

[Sputnik]

I have not treated in 5 years. Last year I lost 2 hives. They were both small swarms that I adopted. Guess they needed more help than I gave them. I started into winter with 10 hives as of yesterday I still had 10. I use screened bottoms and oil trays and feed when needed. Winter is almost gone, a nasty cold snap is on the way. I'm hoping my good fortune will continue.

[Ben Framed]

"I plan by wintering 30% extra colonies and tend to come out ahead far more often than behind. When losses are high it is from something exceptional."

Wise plan Mr Claude. I am glad I ask you the question and I appreciate your answer.
Thanks, Phillip

[Ben Framed]

I have not treated in 5 years. Last year I lost 2 hives. They were both small swarms that I adopted. Guess they needed more help than I gave them. I started into winter with 10 hives as of yesterday I still had 10. I use screened bottoms and oil trays and feed when needed. Winter is almost gone, a nasty cold snap is on the way. I'm hoping my good fortune will continue.

Impressive Sputnik, with the 10 of 10 survival. I have questions, when you say you use screened bottoms do you mean screened bottoms as used with an oil tray Or prehaps a screened bottom wirh some type of added solid bottom insert for for winter? Or simply, screened bottoms leaving hive  bottoms open inorder to allow unrestricted air flow throughout the entire winter? I really would appreciate your answer. I am in North Mississippi, I'm not sure if our weather will be similar, but this is very interesting to me.
Thanks, Phillip

[paus]

I have left the screen bottom or rather DSBB with an insulation board and have I left them open.  Most of the club members leave them open all winter, in NE Texas.  I left the oil pans in all winter and am using a screened top board which we placed a cloth with wood sawdust or shavings about 1 1/2" deep on top of cloth.  No mildew last year or this year so far, when we work the hives in the spring the shavings make excellent smoker fuel or just discard.  I did slide an insulating board under the oil pan in a couple of weak colonies.  You are probably a little North of me but not very much.

[Ben Framed]

Thanks Paus, looking at the map, you are west of Jackson. If that is correct, I am 230 miles north of Jackson. Your advice has always been spot on! The advice that you and Jim gave about the oil pans was the murderizer for Small Hive Beetles! Thanks for these tips also.

[10framer]

a hive left on it's own for 4 years with enough room and enough forage could survive here but it wouldn't thrive.  when they throw swarms in the spring then supersede in the fall they create brood breaks at kind of crucial times.  my experience has been that even if you add another break in around july by making late splits they still slowly go downhill.  you spend a lot of resources, time and labor maintaining hives that produce bees but little honey.

[Acebird]

you spend a lot of resources, time and labor maintaining hives that produce bees but little honey.

Say that again.  How do you spend time and labor if you leave it on its own.  The only time and labor expended is for robbing honey.
Naturally if a hive is left on its own it will tend to get smaller because it will swarm.  If the area that you live in can support more bee hives then the overall amount of honey produced will increase.  If it can't support more hives then it will decrease.