C.C.D or loss of bees

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johnfly

House Bee
Joined
Apr 23, 2009
Messages
127
Reaction score
2
Location
presteigne, powys, wales
Hive Type
National
Number of Hives
30
How do you interpret ccd, or loss of hives of bees
Is it when most of the bees in your hives disappear for no reason?
Or an odd one or two hives of bees just vacate the hive leaving just a few that cannot support themselves?
Or some other reason?
Have you found a hive of yours empty of bees for no reason? No dead ones to give an answer.
Or nearly empty, say about a quarter of bees in the hive that you went into winter with?
But very few dead bees about the hive
I have seen the program about the loss of hives in America.
john
 
If it was the Martha Kearney one, it very clearly documented the signs of CCD.

Ther ear a multititude of reasons for loss of bees. The CCD is fairly clear to all.

I am baffled by your post count. Here it says 4 , on your profile it says 3. Maybe it takes time to update.....

There are no confirmed cases of CCD in Britain, as yet. Some might think otherwise.

Yes, I have found a hive empty before now - they absconded. Happens quite often with freshly arived swarms.

With 20 colonies I would have thought you would not need an answer on a subject such as this.

RAB
 
I am baffled by your post count. Here it says 4 , on your profile it says 3. Maybe it takes time to update.....

RAB

Ita all to do with "Cache" Rab,It saves forum bandwith and serves the pages faster when loading.
 
RAB
The reason i asked this question (i should of put it in the last post) is that last winter i went out of the house about three one sunday afternoon when it was below freezing point and found the bees of one hive coming out as if they were swarming at which point i put mesh across the opening to stop them (20 hives in garden over winter), after about ten minutes the hive went back to normal, no bees returned, two of the other hives done the same or tried to.
to stop this i put wire mesh across opening of all hives until it became warmer and all were ok in spring bar the two that appeared to be swarming which i combined.
i was just seeing if anybody else had this happen in winter.
absconding i understand
 
That seems to me to be more likely strong sunshine and OMFs, or even strong (at that time of the year) simply shining directly in the entrance. Possibly snow on the ground as well? Who knows, but you, because the information is a bit sparse. Cleansing flights at an unfortunate time is the most likely explanation and nothing to do with CCD.

Perhaps a question about an actual event is far better than an obscure question referring to CCD? More like scare-mongering among new beeks than proper beekeeping.

RAB
 
i never said that it was ccd, i was asking the question, How do you interpret ccd or loss of bees from hive?,
Cleansing flights, yes, you see the odd bee dotted around in the snow, normal, sunshine on the hives reflecting off the snow , yes could be, but that happens to all hives.
omf, the hives that had omf on came through winter a lot better than solid floor hives and built up quicker but they stand on empty brood or super box.
as i said, i came out of house, weather was overcast, temp around 30, bees boiling out of hive, put mesh over entrance, ten minutes back to normal, no bees returned. other 5 hives in that row not a bee to be seen. i have never seen it before. you know how long it takes for a swarm to roll out, not long, i just happen to go out when it was going on.
one thing for sure i am not scare-mongering, just asking the question.
i thought that's what this site was for, but if you think i am scare-mongering then i will shut up and just read the site.
 
one thing for sure i am not scare-mongering, just asking the question.
i thought that's what this site was for, but if you think i am scare-mongering then i will shut up and just read the site.


Well i don't think your scare mongering John......you just keep on posting.
 
Hi Jon...almost neighbours :). Assume it's not possible something had disturbed the hive? Badgers would be a guess. Beekeeper in Churchstoke lost hives last year and the one before...he put it down to fodder maize spraying: as you say out and not back. But that wasn't winter. But he was calling it CCD and had kept bees many years in some considerable numbers.

Whilst things are very different here from the US we still have a love of labels to "file" things. So I'm for ASS...Absconding Swarm Syndrome :D.
 
Hi susbees,
yes there is a lot of questions that we can give no answers, nothing spooked them as i know of, i live in the middle of town so no large wildlife around in daylight hours and i would of seen any tracks in snow if there was. this ASS as you say could be, but once i stopped them coming out and they settled down, they were ok for rest of winter, did not have to feed them had plenty of stores, bit slow on build up in spring because they were depleted by about a third and they never swarmed,
ASS, in the swarming season i can understand sometimes bees abscond, i must be lucky never had any do this in the season, but winter time, i would not of believed it if i had not seen it happen and stopped it.
i have been thinking about this since it happed and talking to other beekeepers that is why i asked the question on here. Has anybody seen their hives emptying of bees in the winter?
i know that we have not got ccd here or have we on a lot smaller scale than usa nobody knows what the cause of it is just the bees go, we are calling it ass or are we?
 
.
In many countries there are researches going, what are their losses and what are the resons. In estern Europe and in China there are no calculations, how many hives they have. So they do not know how much die.

CCD has been indentifyed only in USA.
Do I need opinion? - NO! What i do with that? It has not been in canada.
 
.
Some have found CCD in Britain
BUT! how do you explain that: in 2 years 40% beekeepers more and 78% hives more. - propaganda to get money for researhc!
 
RAB
The reason i asked this question (i should of put it in the last post) is that last winter i went out of the house about three one sunday afternoon when it was below freezing point and found the bees of one hive coming out as if they were swarming at which point i put mesh across the opening to stop them (20 hives in garden over winter), after about ten minutes the hive went back to normal, no bees returned, two of the other hives done the same or tried to.
to stop this i put wire mesh across opening of all hives until it became warmer and all were ok in spring bar the two that appeared to be swarming which i combined.
i was just seeing if anybody else had this happen in winter.
absconding i understand
An experienced beek of my aquaintance has had a swarm in November before now. Could they have got a misguided urge to swarm?
 

An experienced beek of my aquaintance has had a swarm in November before now. Could they have got a misguided urge to swarm?

But for a "standard" swarm you need...lots of sealed brood, full stores, a sealed QC etc...planning in advance. Surely swarming from a cluster is something else? More like an absconding swarm, only without all the build up?
 
.
Some have found CCD in Britain
BUT! how do you explain that: in 2 years 40% beekeepers more and 78% hives more. - propaganda to get money for researhc!

Shhhhhhhhh . . . don't say a word . . .You might be very right though

Wolf, wolf, wolf.
 
This is a forlorn hope. A phrase with a very sad meaning by the way.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forlorn_hope

Can we not refer to CCD please? it confuses vet students with the highest "A+" levels.

Not to mention many others............ not so highly qualified...lol

PH
 
.
Some have found CCD in Britain
BUT! how do you explain that: in 2 years 40% beekeepers more and 78% hives more. - propaganda to get money for researhc!

ditto, agree

JD
 

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