big problems...

[mocko]

Hi all,

I agreed to look at a certain organisations apiary after not being inspected due to various excuses but mainly because they have installed 3 colonies without any prior knowledge of beekeeping - stupid I know! and that is not the point for discussion either. So I require some of your expert advice...

Colony one - is on single brood with super on top. The brood box has 3 frames of stores and 6 1/2 above the super with Q+ (this year) and currently brood over 3 frames.

Colony two - is on single brood with super on top. The super is full and the brood box has 6 frames of capped stores with 4 frames of brood. Q+ and no current problems

Colony three - is also on single brood with super on top. The super is full but the brood box has NO stores. The queen is present (this year) but there is only drone cells centrally in the 3 middle brood frames with a 50:50 population of workers and drones. This population is quite reduced. In addition there are dead drone larva (caps not present - like bald brood) with some perforated cappings. I suspect a drone laying queen however I wanted your advice about the potential disease that could exist in this hive.

I was going to feed thick syrup for colonies 1 and 3 and put on apiguard treatment asap (I know that is late too).

My questions are:

A. what do you think of each hive and action plan to get them through winter.

B. Can you use the apiguard and feed at the same time, putting the super above the crownboard on top of the ashforth feeder. aka trying not to taint the honey?

Sorry for the long post!

Many thanks

 

[Dewin Dwl]

A: Don't panic!
No.2 looks most likely to get through winter.
No.1 sounds like it has a fighting chance if it gets its stores sorted.
No.3 looks a bit knackered. It sounds like the Q is a duff one (it was a strange spring so she may not have mated all that well) but not disease. Either box it up, feed & fingers crossed OR decide its doomed, swap its super with that on No.1 so that No.1 gets a full box to go at and then.......let nature deal with what's left.

B: Yes you can. I'd feed all three in case they make it (my money is not on No.3!!) If you plan to go brood & half, or have been brood & a half, just leave the super above the brood box then an eke for the apiguard then the feeder (crownboard above that or home). In other words, don't worry about tainting the honey if you don't plan it to be used for extraction.

Best of luck. If you can get one through you'll have the basis for re-populating the others, should you need to, come spring. My focus would be on getting No.1 & 2 full of stocks and give No.3 some feed but not much hope.

 

[user 6228]

put lots of insulation on 1 and 3

 

[nonstandard]

Also ensure that any queen excluders, if fitted, are removed.

 

[wightbees]

Why not requeen the 3rd hive ?

 

[Arfermo]

Hi all,

I agreed to look at a certain organisations apiary after not being inspected due to various excuses but mainly because they have installed 3 colonies without any prior knowledge of beekeeping - stupid I know! and that is not the point for discussion either. So I require some of your expert advice...

Colony one - is on single brood with super on top. The brood box has 3 frames of stores and 6 1/2 above the super with Q+ (this year) and currently brood over 3 frames.

Colony two - is on single brood with super on top. The super is full and the brood box has 6 frames of capped stores with 4 frames of brood. Q+ and no current problems

Colony three - is also on single brood with super on top. The super is full but the brood box has NO stores. The queen is present (this year) but there is only drone cells centrally in the 3 middle brood frames with a 50:50 population of workers and drones. This population is quite reduced. In addition there are dead drone larva (caps not present - like bald brood) with some perforated cappings. I suspect a drone laying queen however I wanted your advice about the potential disease that could exist in this hive.

I was going to feed thick syrup for colonies 1 and 3 and put on apiguard treatment asap (I know that is late too).

My questions are:

A. what do you think of each hive and action plan to get them through winter.

B. Can you use the apiguard and feed at the same time, putting the super above the crownboard on top of the ashforth feeder. aka trying not to taint the honey?

Sorry for the long post!

Many thanks

GENERAL.
1. Bit late for Apiguard/ApiLifevar. Try Varroa Gard if drop is significant as it is supposed to be effective all-year-round (not tried it myself but that is what is claimed); otherwise leave until Xmas and treat with Oxalic.
2. Remove all QEs.
3. Feed in moderation making sure they take it.
4. The owners of these hives may not be members of a BKA? They should be.

Colony 1 - suggest you put the super below the BB after scratching the cappings. Bees will move it up.
Colony 2 - make into brood and half but put super under so the bees will take up what they want to store and probably use the rest.
Colony 3 - as with 2 - but if you think there might be disease lurking, you really ought call in bee inspector for your area. He will advise on all 3 colnies anyway.

 

[Mickby]

GENERAL.
1. Bit late for Apiguard/ApiLifevar. Try Varroa Gard if drop is significant as it is supposed to be effective all-year-round (not tried it myself but that is what is claimed); otherwise leave until Xmas and treat with Oxalic.

Has anyone used varroa gard in winter to good effect? How was it applied?

 

[the naked beekeeper]

Sounds like 3 is a DLQ.

Find her, kill her, then unite if you can with no.1

If not, then just unite it with no.2 if that's closest.

Doesn't sound like there's any disease in 3. More like a tiny colony dwindling rapidly with no nurse bees to look after the drone brood and no foragers either.

Yes you can treat and put the super above the crownboard whilst feeding.
So long as they get it back for winter no problem.

Good luck with it and well done for potentially saving some of your apiary's colonies.
You should be proud that you are willing to step in and take action.

Not such big problems.
It's all part of beekeeping.

Remember, whatever mistakes have been made, you can be guaranteed that a lot of other beeks have done the same thing.

We're not all perfect on here and even the most competent and able of beeks will admit to still learning all the time.
Enjoy it and again well done.

 

[Finman]

.
How big wintering space you are going to arrange to the hives?

First you must restrict the area and you must know how many frames you give to each hive.

Have any idea how much?

 

[itma]

...
Colony three - is also on single brood with super on top. The super is full but the brood box has NO stores. The queen is present (this year) but there is only drone cells centrally in the 3 middle brood frames with a 50:50 population of workers and drones. This population is quite reduced. In addition there are dead drone larva (caps not present - like bald brood) with some perforated cappings. I suspect a drone laying queen however I wanted your advice about the potential disease that could exist in this hive.

I was going to feed thick syrup for colonies 1 and 3 and put on apiguard treatment asap ...

Certainly sounds like a duff queen, needing replacement.
Small colony, and only half are workers, so not many.
Dead brood, perforated cappings, sounds iffy enough that a call to your bee inspector would be a good idea -- certainly before combining the last few workers into another colony, and having their stores for another hive (or yourselves), which would be the easier way to go than trying to get them through on their own.

I have a suspicion that No 3 (in particular) might be seriously lousy with varroa, whatever else may be going on.
Did you leave them with cleaned inspection boards, so you can see (and tell the inspector) something factual about that situation?

If you had access to a spare mated laying queen (perhaps from someone combing nucs before winter?), you might be thinking about trying to get No 3 into a poly nuc for overwintering... But given their deep-frame stores void, it would need rather a lot of stores rearrangement and frame-swapping.
Wouldn't it be much easier (and less stress for all concerned) to think of re-establishing No 3 next season, and (if the bees are healthy enough) making whatever possible use of its assets for the benefit of the others? (And maybe even having a handful of shallow frames as a small harvest?)



About No 2. Is there any forage still coming in up there in Manchester? Is there any spare store-room in No 2? If there's still stuff coming in, and not much space in there, you could maybe swap a No 2 full stores frame for an emptyish one from No 1, quickly moving towards equalising stores.


With all those full super frames, and thinking of overwintering just two colonies, it doesn't sound to me as though there's any need to be feeding.
Is there spare equipment? If not, going down to two colonies would permit winter maintenance of the worst roof, floor, etc ...