Bye Bye Bees

steeldetailer · June 10, 2008, 11:21:43 AM

4 weeks ago I started to notice that one of my 4 year old hives was looking weak. So
I went into it and I notice that the hive had no queen, because I there were no eggs or
caped cells. So I ordered a new queen. 2 weeks ago I received my new queen so I put
her in. There where plenty of bees in this hive when I went into it 4 weeks ago and then when I put the new queen in.
So I go to see what the queen has been doing yesterday and there was not one bee in that hive not
only was there not one bee in the hive but not an ounce of honey or pollen and the wax moths had started. Has anybody ever
seen anything like this? Does this sound like CCD. I have 5 other hives that are 4
to 5 years old should I be scared that this might happen to them?

Moonshae · June 10, 2008, 12:00:36 PM

Sounds like they starved or absconded. CCD generally presents as a hive with brood but too few nurse bees to take care of the hive. As far as I remember, there is also usually a queen.

KONASDAD · June 10, 2008, 12:27:22 PM

also hives w/ CCD often dont have other persts such as moths invade for weeks after collapse. Absconding in all likelihod..

Ross · June 10, 2008, 12:49:15 PM

Sounds like mites or SHB pushed them out.

HAB · June 10, 2008, 02:16:36 PM

Will keep an eye out for them. 8-)
What did you say the Queens name was?

Scadsobees · June 10, 2008, 02:23:07 PM

Starvation can trigger absconding, and since there wasn't any honey or pollen, I support that opinion as well.

One other far-flung thought...is it possible that they died earlier and all of the bees you saw earlier in there were robbers? They wouldn't care about the queen and would not come back once the honey was gone?

doak · June 10, 2008, 02:35:10 PM

Wax moths and robber bees and other bandits will not go immediatly to a CCD colony.
I lost 4 to it year before last along with two of natural causes.
You see the difference right quick.
doak

steeldetailer · June 10, 2008, 06:52:28 PM

Thanks for all the good info. When I took this hive back to my house to open it up
to see what might have happened, I did see a lot of SHB in it. If this is the case that
the SHB pushed them out and what I was seeing 2 and 4 weeks ago was the other bees robbing would I see a lot of dead bees on the ground around the entrance? What I still don't understand is how a 4 year old strong hive could let these SHB get to be so bad that it would run them off.

tillie · June 11, 2008, 12:06:31 AM

It's not usually the SHB that drives the bees off but rather something else weakened the hive....the queen that you added didn't make it and then the hive was unable to grow. They used up all of their stores, etc. As they weakened, it made more room for SHB - a strong hive seems to keep SHB under control, so the problems that you saw at the end - SHB and wax moths are the consequence of a weak hive - not the other way around.

Linda T in Atlanta

JP · June 11, 2008, 12:17:39 AM

Quote from: tillie on June 11, 2008, 12:06:31 AM
It's not usually the SHB that drives the bees off but rather something else weakened the hive....the queen that you added didn't make it and then the hive was unable to grow. They used up all of their stores, etc. As they weakened, it made more room for SHB - a strong hive seems to keep SHB under control, so the problems that you saw at the end - SHB and wax moths are the consequence of a weak hive - not the other way around.

Linda T in Atlanta

I agree, weak hives are the window for shb to take off.

On topic off topic, I love watching bees try to sting shbs, its rather comical actually, they look like they get frustrated cause they really can't sting through the shb armour.

...JP

indypartridge · June 11, 2008, 09:29:52 AM

Quote from: steeldetailer on June 10, 2008, 11:21:43 AM
4 weeks ago I started to notice that one of my 4 year old hives was looking weak. So
I went into it and I notice that the hive had no queen, because I there were no eggs or
caped cells. So I ordered a new queen. 2 weeks ago I received my new queen so I put
her in. There where plenty of bees in this hive when I went into it 4 weeks ago and then when I put the new queen in.

Remember, it takes about 21 days from eggs to emerging worker bees. So, 4 weeks ago, when you saw no capped brood; you had already been queenless for AT LEAST 3 weeks. It was 2 more weeks until you got a queen, and it would normally take another week before she's laying really good. That's roughly 6 weeks of no new bees during the summer when a worker's lifespan is only about 6 weeks. So you had a seriously weakened colony, unable to defend against SHB and wax moth. Sorry to say, but it sounds like the new queen was too late.