Post Mortem on my three hives

[tjc1]

After my first two years with 100% survival, I've had all three of my hives die out. I'm trying to figure out what went wrong. Three different hives but with the same end:

#1 - my first hive, third winter. Was looking strong in fall; had been combined with a weaker hive.  flying whenever temps were over 42F. Stop seeing cappings last week in January. When checked post mortem, there were still plenty of stores but hardly any bees - a few clustered at top edge of two frames. Recently uncapped honey right were the cluster was. Some uncapped honey, but mostly capped.

#2 - an inherited hive, also third winter. This hive very large and robust in the fall, filling two deeps. Treated with MAQS in mid August. All hives very light in September, fed through third week October. Almost no brood in mid-October. These bees out whenever its over 50F. Stopped seeing cappings about a week before hive #1. Post mortem inspection almost identical, tiny cluster of bees and quite a few dead on the bottom. Plenty of stores, though a lot of the stores are uncapped. 

#3 - a hive I started in June with a new queen and some frames of brood from the other hives. This hive was smaller in the fall, but seemed healthy. It had a low mite count, so I did not treat with MAQS. Activity on warm days was much less than the other hives, and ceased in this hive in early January. Exact same internal picture with plenty of stores (mostly capped) and a tiny cluster of bees.

No signs of other problems (wax moths, hive beetles). The hives were all wrapped and insulated with a small top vent, but there was no sign of moisture problems. All hives had mountain camp style dry sugar on top, which was not touched in any of the hives. I could not find a  dead queen in any hive.

I plan to send samples to USDA for testing, but this looks like classic CCD to me. Anyone have any thoughts?

[Cedar Hill]

     All three hives had one thing in common, "hardly any bees".    Maybe your hives weren't able to create enough "winter bees"....   I start feeding my hives 2/1 with Fumidil B immediately after the clethra bloom, after a couple of gallons they are then given as much 2/1 syrup without FB as they will take.   All honey supers are taken off before feeding.   It seems to work in creating those "winter bees" and winter stores.   Rarely have dead hives but of course this winter's results are unknown.   OMTCW

[tjc1]

I was taken aback when on one of my last inspections in October, none of the hives had any new brood, and just a bit of capped brood to hatch out. I had not seen that before. At the time, I thought it might be related to the dry August/September and a lack of incoming nectar. I am at fault there for not hefting the hives earlier to gauge the weight - there were flowers around, and I assumed there was also nectar coming in... As a result, I was late in feeding - so maybe you've put your finger on the problem.

[biggraham610]

I had the exact same problem. With small clusters going in Mites forced 2 hives to die. I have 3 that are small clusters but still kicking. They shut it down when the hives got light, had I fed earlier, they would have continued I suppose. Wont make that mistake again. If my 3 softballs still living make it through the tail end of this winter, I will consider it a blessing, I will be feeding in August from now on when necessary. Good luck, beekeeping is an ongoing class. My lesson, never count on fall flow. G

[sc-bee]

Of course I had the same thing this year.... a few folks pointed to mites since I am treatment free. I was going to say mites but you said you treated ?

[Nico]

I have seen a report recently, Worker bees dying off younger( pesticides or other phenomena?) The nurse bees leaving the hive to forage but have not been educated by the worker bees leaving the hive with less protection etc. Thus creating a weaker hive susceptible to colony collapse etc.
You did not mention if the queen was still with the hive?
Some thoughts on your problem.
Regards,
Nico

[tjc1]

Yes, two of the three hives were treated in August. I did not locate the queen in any of the hives; I didn't do a bee-by-bee inspection, but there were so few bees left I would have thought a queen would be easy to spot, presumably at the center of the remaining bees - but I suppose that they could have fallen to the bottom, where I di not really look closely.

[biggraham610]

I found the queens quite easily on the bottom boards of both my hives that died when I cleaned them up. G