ALL Dead

[whoosling]

After reading all the replies I decided to go and put more fondant on my bees and got stung in the process - at least they seem to be fine - at the last peek hadn't touched much fondant but this morning it had all gone, my fondant is above the crown board so even though it was cold it was a quick job to take off the empty container and put on a new one full of fondant, hopefully they didn't get chilled, just been up and could hear buzzing through hive wall.

 

[youngyoungs]

Like Whoosling, and after readon replies on this forum, I looked at mine on Thursday. Both colonies seemed to be ok, and both had access to fondant with one taking more than the other.

I've been checking the weight of the hives and they continue to decrease, I just hope that they are well enough to keep going till the warmer weather comes.

 

[enrico]

At this point in the year ANY weight is a miracle. If there are still stores in there you should be ok. It will break soon and the sun will come out. To give some hope :- these long cold winters are better than ones like last year where they build up brood and young bees and THEN it snows. I hope we will all be pleasantly surprised at how many hives DO survive.
I hope all that sounds more up beat than I feel!
E

 

[Drew]

At this point in the year ANY weight is a miracle. If there are still stores in there you should be ok. It will break soon and the sun will come out. To give some hope :- these long cold winters are better than ones like last year where they build up brood and young bees and THEN it snows. I hope we will all be pleasantly surprised at how many hives DO survive.
I hope all that sounds more up beat than I feel!
E

Makes me feel a bit better - Thanks.

 

[steve1958]

I checked all my Hives last week.
My winter preparations were similar for all Hives bar one.
Apart from one Hive that had a super of capped Honey on it all the others were fed with sugar syrup late summer and Fondant placed on the Hives after treating them with oxalic in December.

Sadly when checking them last week I found the Bees with the super of capped Honey had died.
I believe the cause to be starvation, even though there was food there for them, they didnt move up to it.
Maybe the cold weather prevented them moving?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I checked all my Hives last week.
My winter preparations were similar for all Hives bar one.
Apart from one Hive that had a super of capped Honey on it all the others were fed with sugar syrup late summer and Fondant placed on the Hives after treating them with oxalic in December.

Sadly when checking them last week I found the Bees with the super of capped Honey had died.
I believe the cause to be starvation, even though there was food there for them, they didnt move up to it.
Maybe the cold weather prevented them moving?

Did you take the queen excluder out?

 

[itma]

...
Apart from one Hive that had a super of capped Honey on it all the others were fed with sugar syrup late summer and Fondant placed on the Hives after treating them with oxalic in December.

Sadly when checking them last week I found the Bees with the super of capped Honey had died.
I believe the cause to be starvation, even though there was food there for them, they didnt move up to it.
Maybe the cold weather prevented them moving?

It wouldn't have been a QX that prevented them 'going up', would it?

 

[itma]

Snap !

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Snap !

great minds..............
(or was it fools seldom...........)

 

[Chris Luck]

A QX would prevent the cluster with the queen from gaining access during cold period.

Chris

 

[Tom Bick]

I checked all my Hives last week.
My winter preparations were similar for all Hives bar one.
Apart from one Hive that had a super of capped Honey on it all the others were fed with sugar syrup late summer and Fondant placed on the Hives after treating them with oxalic in December.

Sadly when checking them last week I found the Bees with the super of capped Honey had died.
I believe the cause to be starvation, even though there was food there for them, they didnt move up to it.
Maybe the cold weather prevented them moving?

Yes probably and the size of the cluster would have come into play

 

[simoncav]

Unfortunately the delayed spring means that last years winter bees are naturally reaching the end of their lives before many of them can be replaced by the first of this years generation which should have been active for several weeks now in a "normal" year.

I'm seeing this happen as a quick peek when replacing fondant seems to indicate the cluster sizes to be way smaller than earlier in the year when I treated for Varroa wth Oxalic acid....

Come on spring!

 

[madasafish]

The good news is when spring comes next week, it'll come with a bang. Lost of growth delayed suddenly bursts out.

(Says I hopefully)

 

[Chris B]

Yes it's a bit of a Catch 22 for the bees.

Those that have reared plenty of brood will be bigger but at risk of burning up all their stores and starving.

Those that haven't reared much will be small and more vulnerable to the cold and isolation starvation.

Those somewhere in the middle are probably fine. Sounds like this middle band is a bit narrower this year. Just another couple of weeks and we'll all know where we stand.

 

[user 6228]

Unfortunately the delayed spring means that last years winter bees are naturally reaching the end of their lives before many of them can be replaced by the first of this years generation which should have been active for several weeks now in a "normal" year.

I'm seeing this happen as a quick peek when replacing fondant seems to indicate the cluster sizes to be way smaller than earlier in the year when I treated for Varroa wth Oxalic acid....

Come on spring!

Here on the North Hampshire heath
In at least 3 of the 4 hives more bees are visible thru the perspex . Food intake is increasing in all 4. The crucial issue is whether there will be enough bright days for flying for pollen, seen pollen coming at these temperatures a week or so ago.
Doubling Fondant production for this week will probably be needed. ITLDs sugar bill must be mind blowing

 

[user 6228]

The good news is when spring comes next week, it'll come with a bang. Lost of growth delayed suddenly bursts out.

(Says I hopefully)

not according to BBC weather... looks like cold for another 2 weeks.

 

[madasafish]

Well the last forecast I looked at said spring 1 st April.

Just looked again and all change...

Oh well, what bees are left will be : hardy and very valuable..

 

[rink123]

Thanks all for the replies , although its very sad I feel a bit better that other people are experiencing the same problem and its not so much something that I have /haven't done . Lots of the bees were head down in the frames so I guess it was starvation

 

[susbees]

Thanks all for the replies , although its very sad I feel a bit better that other people are experiencing the same problem and its not so much something that I have /haven't done . Lots of the bees were head down in the frames so I guess it was starvation

Small consolation R but heads down in cells in the brood nest where the cluster would have been does not necessarily mean starvation as much as cluster got too small to maintain heat even if it could reach food. Many forget that the comb forms part of the cluster so for maximum heat you need a body per cell in the cluster core. As the bees between the cells fall away those will be left.

 

[rink123]

thx Trish ,today I went to my other hive further afield and the same thing all dead