Bees Not doing Good.

[CraigW]

I bought these bees in a package, my first about 2 years ago. They have never done good, by this I mean I have never got a drop of honey from them. I have been checking them out but I have been trying to stay out of the bottom most hive. I do this because Walt had mentioned this in one of his publications.

Last summer, after leaving the bees alone all summer I finally checked on them and they were on the verge of death. I started to feed them and they bounced back, although what they bounced back to wasn't that good.

Today I went all the way in, I mean I checked the bottom hive, I did this because as I was checking the upper bodies things did not look good and got worse as I got further in. I had a total of 3 hive bodies.
This is what I saw.

1. Inside upper cover about 6 beatles, maybe hive, a little smaller then a lady bug, dark brown in color. I was able to kill them all with my thumb. What were they do you suppose?

2.Upper most hive body never entered to build comb.

3. Middle hive body all were filled with honey. Some of the comb had clean holes eaten through it. No cob webs.Some of the comb kinda wavy.

4. Bottom hive body, in the winter this was the middle hive body, so I reversed hives this early spring. 2 comb with some brood and pollen most empty though. All comb was badly deformed, some had holes eaten through it like above, and most of the cob was very dark in color. Some of the upper bars were warped, they were curved.

The bees were very hot, never been like this ever before. I could not see the queen but there were no queen cells either.

I have been feeding all year. I add Honey Bee Healthy to each feeding.

Any more info. you need to help me out? I would appreciate any and all suggestions.

4. Bottom hive

[Ross]

Sounds like you gave them too much space and they couldn't patrol it all.  Then you got wax moths and SHB coming in.  This is what SHB look like.
http://www.myoldtools.com/Bees/shb2.jpg
Take them back down to a 5 frame nuc and feed.  Of course you need to make sure you have a queen.  Prop the top up to give some ventilation.  You may also want to drill a 1-2" hole in the bottom and screen it for more ventilation.  Bees need to be a little bit crowded to do well.  Especially in areas with wax moth and SHB, they need to pretty well cover the area they have to keep the critters out.  When they are packed in the 5 frame, take them up to 10 and keep feeding.  They should winter fine in a 10 frame box in your area.  You may have to feed during the winter as well as they won't have a lot of stores.  Doing that, you should have a strong hive to start spring with next year.

[CraigW]

Ross thanks for your help. It is true, I gave them to much room. I was trying what Walt talked about in his publication about 9 frames in a 10 frame hive. I was not able to put them in a 5 frame nuc, I don't have one, but what I did was this. Please let me know if this is OK.

1. I looked for the queen and could not see her but I did find some freshly layed eggs, also I had about 2 frames of capped brood.

2. One hive of 9 frames was all honey. I left it as it was after I added another frame to make 10.

3. I put an empty hive on the bottom, 10 frames, all are 10 frames now.

4. On top of that I put the hive with all the brood and pollen with a frame of honey as the last frames on either side.

5. I put the hive with all the honey on top of that.

I had so much comb that was built on top of other comb, so I broke it off, most broke off by itself and laid it all on top of the last hive for the bees to clean up. Most of this comb was honey. I also left some comb outside next to the hive for the bees to clean.

I figured I would give them a few days and go back and see if they cleaned all the comb up if they did, I should be able to remove 1 more hive body from them.

Was putting the empty hive on the bottom the wrong or right thing to do, I was like trying to do a reversal of hive one does in the early spring. I kept out all the wavy comb for the bees to clean and replaced them with starter strips, I don't have any other comb yet.

I saw only one beetle, they sure don't look like the picture you sent me. These beetles have a solid round single shell, no antennas and no deviation between body and head. Also I have the tree gew that keep bugs from climbing up from the ground. These beetles are also a dark grayish color.
Thanks,
Craig

[Ross]

I would take them down to one 10 frame hive body.  Put the brood and eggs in the middle with honey and pollen to the outside.  Shake all the bees into that one hive body.  Feed.  Take the other frames of honey and freeze them for later use.  Leave it that way until you have every frame covered in bees, then add a super with the frames you previously froze.  Again, leave it that way until all frames are covered in bees before you add another super. 

[Bill W.]

Sounds like you might want to look in on them more often as well.  I don't let a week go by without a full inspection, unless the weather doesn't allow for it.  It is a lot easier to stop a problem in the early stages than wait until you have to fix a big mess.

[CraigW]

Thank you both. I have been leaving them alone to long and I did give them to much space. I also didn't have a strong package of bees or I mean a bad queen. I would not recommend the bee dealer in Texas well know around the country. They have high prices and way to much I have heard people having problems like me from bees they have gotten from these people.

Just my opinion, I wanted to share.