Just curious on losses for 2011-12 winter

[1of6]

How have everyone's losses been for the 2011-12 winter been?

[c10250]

No losses for me . . . 2 for 2.  They are bringing in pollen by the boat load now.

[FRAMEshift]

Lost 25%.  An interesting thing is that they all seem to have died from late supersedure (no drones around in December) and they were all from the same queen line (which has won the Darwin Award and become extinct).  

Some of these hives were among our best in May and June.  No sign of varroa problems, or any other disease that we can see.  The bees did not abscond... they just withered slowly and froze in February.  Found queen cells with exit hole in the bottom and a dead virgin queen in the pile of dead bees.

[splitrock]

So far lost only 2 over the winter out of 33, and they were weak going in........... Lost more last summer and fall than over the winter.

Joel

[AllenF]

I lost one sometime in the winter, lost 5 of 6 going into winter/late fall.

[Joe D]

Newbee, got my 3 hives in dec. and they are all still doing fine,so far.  Their previous beek past in feb. 2011, they were in probate until I got them. 

Joe

[BlueBee]

I lost 10%, but that was probably more due to bee keeper error than anything else.  Beeks around me in Michigan seem to have very low losses this year, under 10%.  My bees are really coming into spring strong.   

With the mild winter in the Midwest and Northeast, I wonder what will happen to the package business this spring.  I wonder if there will be a massive over supply of bees?  Will the price of bees DEFLATE too  :-D

[FRAMEshift]

With the mild winter in the Midwest and Northeast, I wonder what will happen to the package business this spring.  I wonder if there will be a massive over supply of bees?  Will the price of bees DEFLATE too  :-D

Doesn't look like it.  We have been paying $80 for a package for the last several years.  This year it has jumped to $100.  And the demand is so high in NC that our supplier has added an additional late-April delivery.   

[Beaver Dam]

Bad  for me. lots of empty hives. 12 of 15 gone. Bad year last for us here. No flowers. I mean Russian MH, sunkist Buckweat, Italian, and six other differant Queens gone.

[bulldog]

just looked this weekend, 3 out of 4 dead. my one full strength mutt hive made it with flying colors. of the three nuc sized hives the one mutt hive starved. i think this crazy winter weather did them in. of the two italians i had one abscond and another starved on brood with 20 pounds of honey left. oh well, honey for me. now to get replacements i guess.

[jmblakeney]

Had to going into winter.  100% loss.  Better luck this yr i hope.

[vmmartin]

Lost 10 out of 15.  But Spring has sprung in SE Texas and I already went and rescued my first ones of the year last week. So now back up to 6. :-D

[luvin honey]

I have 3 out of 3 alive!! So excited, as this is my first overwintering so far. They've already been taking syrup and sugar this spring, so I have high hopes that I can say they pulled through.

It was a very mild winter here in WI, so I was worried about them as they appeared to have enormous colonies and very light stores going into winter. <shrug>

[phill]

No losses. I'm 3 for 3, too, and all 3 look strong after our mild winter.

Quite a contrast from last year, when I was wiped out by the bitter cold.

[gardeningfireman]

Winter of 2010-2011 lost all. This winter lost one out of seven. The remaining six are doing great.

[S.M.N.Bee]

Lost one out of three. A package from last year that I couldn't keep a queen in. They just never built up and died in January.

On a positive note bees are bringing in pollen today. Nothing blooming in sight.

John

[backyard warrior]

Have 30 for 30 havent lost a hive :)  Chris

[jldoll]

No losses.  2 for 2 after this mild winter
They are bringing in pollen by the boat loads.

[skatesailor]

Only lost 2 out of 9. One was a very late cutout I did as a favor and the other was a nuc I experimented with. Lost all last winter so I bought some locally bred nucs. Did some splits on them and did some cutouts. Figured the cutouts might make good survivor stock. That coupled with a great winter might be the reason for these results.

[salvo]

Hi Folks,

Newbee here. I got two nucs on May 21, 2011. I went "foundationless". They stopped making comb in mid August. I used Apiguard in September, 2011. I've had dry sugar on them all winter. It was a "non-winter" sort of winter here in southeast Massachusetts. They constantly chewed away at the sugar. I was worried. I still worry.

Both hives made it! Battin' 1,000. This week is warm here. I put sugar syrup in the hives yesterday.

Now what do I do?

Salvo