The warm Saturday (40°F/5°C) should have seen cleansing flights but there were none. Out we went to thump the hives with rubber mallet in hopes of rousting a guard bee or two or, at least, raising a buzz audible through our stethoscope. No joy at all. Removing the roof from Beatrix exposed some mouse nesting material atop the eke, which itself was intact. Lifting the eke and opening the hive we found combs of plentiful honey and, as expected, dead bees, most on the floor and a lesser number in cluster. There was also a snugly nested live mouse, which we evicted. At least there was no sign of damp. Disheartened and learning nothing useful from our comb-by-comb inspection we gave Clarissa and Dorcas the most cursory of examinations merely to establish that they were mouse-free and turned to Dr. Meghan Milbrath for professional help in conducting the post mortem on the other two hives. While she rightly warned us that it could be difficult to come to a specific conclusion for the reasons for a deadout, we were rightly certain that she could point out things we had missed and their significance. The following Tuesday we opened Clarissa and Dr. Milbrath worked her way through the hive from the follower board towards the brood nest. The combs began with a good number full of honey. Then a few less full and with some uncured honey. Finally in the brood nest, a small cluster around the original marked queen at the top of the comb. And eggs! Also a small bit of bee feces. But her most critical observation was how many of the odd flecks of detritus on the floor were dead varroa. Dorcas showed a similar pattern with an even larger brood chamber. We had certainly been lulled into false security by the lore that says first-year colonies need not worry about varroa. While often true any colony with a lot of brood is vulnerable, even a first-year if it grows to strength quickly. The scenario proposed by Dr. Milbrath as likely is that the varroa weakened and killed many of the winter bees, those produced at the end of summer. That alone could have doomed our colonies but the warm spell we had made things worse by prompting the queen to lay eggs. When the temperature again dropped the diminished colony could not re-enter cluster as it fecklessly tried to keep the new brood warm and was further diminished. In addition the uncured honey may have fermented and sickened any consumers. Finally the tendency to climb rather than move to another comb for food would work against such a small colony even if it were not stuck trying to protect brood. To prevent a recurrence with the nucs we have ordered for this year our plan is:
Some of these are leading us away from our inclination to let the bees manage on their own as they see fit but that has not been working out well for them. |
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2015 January 23
Beginning Another Year Beeless
Posted by theprospectofbees under Uncategorized | Tags: beekeeping, deadout, Dr. Meghan Milbrath, mouse, varroa |[16] Comments
2015 January 23 at 14:32
Poor Beatrix, Clarissa and Dorcas, really sad to hear this. I think the advice from the Dr is spot on, you have a good mentor there.
I think the trouble with letting the bees manage on their own is that we have given them an environment which is already unhealthy and unnatural for them. We have moved varroa mites across continents at a speed which has left them no time to evolve with the mites and develop ways of combating them. Additionally their natural nesting place would be high up in trees, probably away from mice. If we’re going to keep them low to the ground we need to help them out with mouse protection.
It’s not easy at all but you will learn from this and be in a better position to care for your next bees. Hope you carry on with the beekeeping and can get some more bees soon.
2015 January 23 at 15:55
We are definitely big fans of Dr. Milbrath and will be getting more bees from her later this year. We managed to overwinter a colony once and are determined to do so rather more often. Thanks for the encouragement.
2015 January 23 at 17:02
Oh, I’m so sorry! I know I can only imagine the grief that this brings, but imagination is bad enough. 😦
2015 January 23 at 17:13
Do not forget the guilt. 8( The deaths are only part bad luck and the rest is bad husbandry. At least we can improve the latter.
2015 January 23 at 22:40
I simply couldn’t put a ‘like’ on it because of the sad news. After reading about it to my wife and thinking about it all afternoon, I’m guessing those bees were started as package bees because of the marked queen.
Have you ever thought about catching a swarm? My bee club doesn’t think much of swarms and I’ve heard other beekeepers talk disparagingly of them, but that’s all I’ve ever used. The queen of a prime swarm has survived the winter and has proven herself. You could build some swarm bait boxes like I did in 2012 and try to entice a swarm. Just for an experiment, the swarm-hive could be kept treatment-free separate from the package bee hives to see which ones survive better. I wish I lived close…I’d love to give you a swarm or two from my treatment-free hives. I’m expecting too many swarms this year. (last year I had 10+ swarms from three hives) this year I’ve got 8 hives…and I’m worried about where to place a possible 24 swarms.
2015 January 24 at 14:17
Social media definitely needs a more nuanced ‘like’ button.
The bees came as nucs with marked queens. They can be traced back to caught swarms and monitored for three years with minimal but not ‘no’ mite treatment. We were hoping that at least one would survive and then we could split away like real Bond beekeepers. Would you believe Maxwell Smart beekeepers? How about a couple of badly stung secret squirrels?
We know what you mean about swarms. The attitude reminds us of the one we ran into keeping recued dogs. An unreasonable fear of the worst case. If we get Annabelle back in shape soonish then we could try populating her with a swarm but swarm catching seems an uncertain way for us to get all of our bees.
Thanks for the sympathy and the kind impulse of wishing to gift us a swarm. We are genuinely touched. (Not just in the head.)
2015 January 24 at 08:06
Like Pat, I hesitate before ‘liking’ but then wanted to show support for your posting this story. I’m ever so sorry to hear about your hives but how fortunate that you have Dr Milbrath to help you get back on the road again. Every beekeeper loses a hive over the years – whether by a colony dying out or having to combine hives because one has failed – the longer you keep bees the more likely it is. There are beekeepers at our apiary who have kept bees for decades and who are still learning lessons. That’s the wonderful thing about beekeeping is that we never stop learning. I’m sure some good will come of this, that you’ll have healthier, stronger hives in future from all that is learned.
2015 January 24 at 14:24
Thank you kindly. The support is very much appreciated. Our failures at this time outnumber our one success but we are determined to improve that record.
2015 January 24 at 08:40
I am sad to hear about your losses. I know how it feels. I also lost a hive because of robbing and have some other hives weakened and possibly not coming out in the spring. It is good you got professional advice and learned many things on preventing such situations in the future. Another advice I would give you is use the vertical hives instead of the horizontal design. Look at Warre’s People’s Hive. The benefit is that the bees will start low and gradually move upwards on the combs and will be able to reach the food stored above them instead moving over the frames to reach the food next to them. As an emergency or safety measure, I always place a candy board on top of the hive, just in case the bees get there and they can’t break the cluster to move over to the side where there still is food left.
I am sure I also have Varroa problems, as I am trying to get to a treatment free apiary, so last time I have treated was in the spring. Some of the hives are well, some showed signs of viruses (deformed wing virus for example) late in the fall, so I expect these will fail wintering. My goal is to raise queens from the hives that had a good past year and low counts of mites in the spring. I will also buy small cell frames to regress the bees to the natural size that you are getting with the TBH. Then, consistently removing the drone comb to reduce the mite numbers, along with a brood break and a sugar roll will help keeping the bees healthy without any strong chemicals.
Even though you have a small number of hives, you should try to raise your own queens and have a few nucs. That will be necessary in the second year in you get a package, because in the first year the bees are in the developing or establishing mode. While swarming is their natural way of multiplying, we try to avoid it because it weakens the hive, it lowers a lot the level of surplus honey, an uncaught swarm will be a nuisance for the neighbors or even to you, as they can come back and rob your hives in the fall. Besides, having a nuc or split for each hive will allow you to either increase the hive numbers or to unite them in the fall to winter strong hives and keep the younger queen.
Good luck moving forward and don’t get discouraged!
2015 January 24 at 14:35
The trouble with vertical hives is the heavy lifting. Warre, with its regular nadiring, seems to make this worse unless one invests in some sort of crane or other lifting mechanism. While we are both freakishly strong yet, we are getting even older and the ergonomics of a honey cow are hard to beat.
We definitely intend to ‘make increase’ from surviving overwintered colonies but we must have at least one first. 8( We would then likely try a book split as the method requiring the least expertise. Queen rearing in large numbers is further off.
Thanks for the advice and encouragement.
2015 January 25 at 10:27
Yeas, heavy lifting is my reason to use only medium frames in 8 frame boxes, just like Michael Bush. More expensive to start up, but after regressing to natural cell size, both the bees and me have a good compromise. I have built a hive lifter, just in case I need it, and so far I used it in the spring to clean the bottom boards. I will also build a motorized lifter, kind of like a forklift, but with electric motors. I need to be able to load the hives in the truck or trailer to move them to different locations as needed, without breaking my back or hiring a helper.
A couple of years ago I came out of the winter with 2 hives, one extremely poor, which died later. I bought 10 nucs and I split them all in the summer. I wintered 20 plus 2 nucs on top of another hive and I got 15 hives in the spring. I split again and now I’m wintering 41. Not all will make it to the spring, but I hope I will not have too many losses. I want to split again, to reach the 100 hives mark. We’ll see how that will work. Basically, a wintered colony you can split in 4 and then is just like you bought 4 nucs. In a good year you might even have some honey to harvest. I will split all of my hives in 2, then get a few frames from each to make the remaining numbers and then help those further with frames of brood from the established hives. This way I can still count on some honey harvest from the overwintered hives and reduce or even avoid swarming. I found a way of keeping a cell builder all summer long and I intend to collect some royal jelly besides the needed queen cells. I feel there is way too much work to keep hunderds of hives for pollination and honey, so I am trying to focus on providing mated queens and nucs to the commercial beekeepers. I am also focusing on pollen, propolis and royal jelly sales. There are too many beekeepers that sell honey in my area, so that will be of a lower priority for me, kind of like a byproduct. Probably same with the wax, not sure about that yet.
So, depending on your goals, there are many ways to reach them. Just don’t get discouraged and find the way that works best for you and your bees. Cheers!
2015 January 27 at 08:54
So sorry to hear this. Still, if you follow your resolutions, you stand a good chance of having better luck.
2015 January 27 at 17:27
Each year we try to load the dice a little bit more.
2015 February 17 at 00:16
Sorry to hear this! We too are beeless. After limping out of winter last year, we again had a strong season, but the bees declined and finally all died in January. I know part of the reason for us was poor management – none in Year 1. We did condense the hive mid-winter this year and provide supplementary food, but it was probably too late already by then. Any suggestions for getting a hive ready for new bees? This will be our first time installing a new set of bees into a used hive. I’m thinking we should just scrape everything out. Give me a chance to level the hive as well so combs can be built straighter.
2015 February 17 at 14:07
If there is no reason to suspect disease then there is not much to do. As you intend we scrape things out to remove wax and floor detritus while leaving the propolis as a welcoming feature.
The comb from the top bars gets processed for honey and wax. Just be careful to extract honey only from capped cells. The contents of uncapped cells will likely be too wet and adversely affect the shelf life of the honey if included.
It may be interesting to examine the composition of the floor detritus. Ours had more varroa corpses than we were expecting.
So, yeah, scrape things clean but do not try to get down to bare wood again.
Good luck.
2015 February 18 at 17:11
Thank you. I look forward to inspecting the floor debris under my little microscope!