Opened them up and...bad news!

SystemShark · March 18, 2012, 04:34:27 PM

Down to my last hive in the fall last year and they seemed to be doing well; last check before winter and not too much honey so i let them have everything. Weather has been amazing these last couple of weeks in Pittsburgh so I opened them up this afternoon.

I'm no math-a-magician but I'm pretty sure about 90% loss.There were dead bees in the cracks that hold up the frames and almost total coverage on the mesh of the vented base board. There were maybe 5 frames that were heavy with honey out of 30.

The rest were either half drawn with built comb, green/fuzzy mold around the edges, and what must have been larva at some point looked like little white gritty balls in a couple of the frames.

The few frames I saw that looked to have capped brood were not very tightly formed. Not a complete shotgun but pretty close.

The bees that were still there didn't seem to mind me poking around every since frame; I got all the way to the base board and took it out to shake all those dead bees loose. Less than 100 bees left and no queen to be found.

I don't know what happened, the winter was amazingly mild this year (didn't have to start the snow blower once!) and it was shorter than it normally is too. other than the larva looking grainy, mold, and dead bee bodies I didn't see any real sign of problems. No mites on the bodies or on the bees that were still there.

My best guess is it was a fallen hive and the bees I saw (all workers no drones and definitely no queen) were probably from another hive (a wild one) and they were just there robbing. They were really great in the fall - I had another box on top a month or so left before winter and put a queen excluder in to hopefully let them build up honey stores.

Any ideas of what went wrong? Tips/tricks? Going to be as active as I can this year looking for swarms to rebuild but I think its safe to assume - 0 hives to start 2012. Got enough stuff to setup 5 strong hives at least; but no bees!!

buzzbee · March 18, 2012, 04:42:28 PM

Hopefully you removed the queen excluder before winter. If the bees moved to the top for warmth,they may have left the queen behind to her demise. And then with no brood at all over winter,the old bees were constantly dieing off without replacements.
With the milder winter the bees heer used more stores,needing sugar above the inner cover at the middle of February to enhance their feed.
Better luck this year!

Jim134 · March 18, 2012, 05:50:34 PM

Quote from: buzzbee on March 18, 2012, 04:42:28 PM
Hopefully you removed the queen excluder before winter If the bees moved to the top for warmth,they may have left the queen behind to her demise. And then with no brood at all over winter,the old bees were constantly dieing off without replacements.
With the milder winter the bees heer used more stores,needing sugar above the inner cover at the middle of February to enhance their feed.
Better luck this year!

Ditto

BEE HAPPY Jim 134 :)

SerenityApiaries · March 23, 2012, 03:32:16 AM

Too bad there isn't a way to build a "warmer" winter box that allows for less of a die of during winter months. Makes me want to move to a climate where its more like spring time all year round. Not that my wife would let that happen. lol

hardwood · March 23, 2012, 08:55:12 AM

Florida is full anyway Serenity! :-D

Scott

buzzbee · March 23, 2012, 07:05:17 PM

Quote from: SerenityApiaries on March 23, 2012, 03:32:16 AM
Too bad there isn't a way to build a "warmer" winter box that allows for less of a die of during winter months. Makes me want to move to a climate where its more like spring time all year round. Not that my wife would let that happen. lol

There is,
http://www.betterbee.com/Products/BeeMax-Hive-Components/BeeMax-Hive-Body

Michael Bush · March 24, 2012, 02:40:57 AM

>Too bad there isn't a way to build a "warmer" winter box that allows for less of a die of during winter months.

Bee don't generally die off in winter from cold, they die off from old age. All the old bees that go into winter die off. The young bees are the only ones that make it to spring.

SerenityApiaries · March 24, 2012, 03:06:07 AM

No worries about Florida Scott. My wife and i are happy in good ol Oregon.
Thanks for the link Buzzbee.
Michael - I am aware that some beekeepers wrap their hives through winter and that in doing so can cause the queen to still lay and thus have a prosperous colony come spring. I'm also aware that in doing so the bees eat more and deplete their supplies and have to be fed a substitute. The life span of a worker bee is about 6 to 8 weeks right? What i had actually meant was directed at a warmer climate to do beekeeping all year round. That way I don't have to wait till spring to get my bee fix. And the warmer boxes because I have heard of some keepers that have lost colonies due to severe cold and I'm sure a warmer box could have prevented it. Just a newbees perspective though. I hope to have about 2000 colonies within 5 years.

Michael Bush · March 24, 2012, 05:17:43 AM

>I am aware that some beekeepers wrap their hives through winter and that in doing so can cause the queen to still lay and thus have a prosperous colony come spring.

I don't know many who expect wrapping to cause more and earlier brood rearing and I would consider that a bad thing in my climate, in fact the thing most likely to cause the demise of a colony as they get stuck on brood in a cold snap and "cold starve".

> I'm also aware that in doing so the bees eat more and deplete their supplies and have to be fed a substitute.

IF you succeeded rearing brood burns up a lot of honey and stored pollen, yes, but if they have enough you won't need to feed. If you mean pollen substitute, most are feeding it to stimulate brood rearing early. By the time mine show much interest there is real pollen and no need for substitute.

>The life span of a worker bee is about 6 to 8 weeks right?

In the summer, yes. Winter bees, however, live MUCH longer. Six months would be more typical of a winter bee.

> What i had actually meant was directed at a warmer climate to do beekeeping all year round. That way I don't have to wait till spring to get my bee fix. And the warmer boxes because I have heard of some keepers that have lost colonies due to severe cold and I'm sure a warmer box could have prevented it.

I think you'll find winter losses in the South as well as the North. I'm not sure the ratio is any different... although it might be. I've never had bees in the South. I'm just going by what it sounds like talking to beekeepers.

SerenityApiaries · March 24, 2012, 05:29:23 AM

I plan to keep my colonies as natural as possible, will pretty much let them do their thing and take the opportunity to observe them every chance I get. I was talking to someone that thought it a great idea to build bottom boxes out of thicker material like brick and then place wood supers on top of that, they thought it a great idea until I pointed out the obvious weight issue. They changed their mind quick after that. Lol