cold bees?

[boris]

hi, started the winter with 5 strong hives, all with plenty of food stores, and fed them until they stopped taking it. wrapped them up well with polystyrene and bags, left entrances open, so they could get out if they wanted to. opened them up to check all ok this week, it was very warm and sunny, but only got one hive alive. they all still have plenty of food stored, and in the brood as well, bees just found huddled together, dead. its my first winter, and expected to possibly lose some, but not nearly all. was it just too cold this year? how has everyone else faired? any advice?

 

[Firegazer]

Sorry to hear that, Boris - it must have been a horrible shock and I feel for you.

Were the dead colonies separated from their stores? Although you say there were stores left in the hives, when it's really cold they won't move about looking for them: if it's not where they are, it's no good to them. It may be that they had followed the stores across to one side, then found themselves with nothing left next to them and starved.

You'll need to do some careful examination of the hive contents, and look for signs of disease (lots of yellow spotting within the hive?). What did you do for Varroa control, before the Winter?

FG

 

[bobandbec]

Sorry to hear of your losses.
The cold is not normally a problem with a well populated colony going through Winter. Did each colony go into Winter with sufficient bees?
By far the bigger threat is dampness and too much condensation. For myself I have never insulated for Winter and leave floors open with full entrances as well. Is wrapping in plastic a good idea?
What were your varroa treatments? Did you treat early enough to allow the bees to produce a good number of "Winter" bees?
Did you feed? If so was it early enough for bees to take down and convert?
Can you see any indication of nosema? Bee poo on the surface of the frames?
Just a few questions to ask.
I'm sure other more experienced beeks will add to the list.
All the best
Peter

 

[Finman]

.
Tracheal mite use to kill colonies over the food. Find out if they have those creatures.

 

[oliver90owner]

Before we guess any more, lets have some details.

Previous history, origin of queens, last year treatments, hive configuration, your understanding of 'strong', etc, etc.

RAB

 

[boris]

Before we guess any more, lets have some details.

Previous history, origin of queens, last year treatments, hive configuration, your understanding of 'strong', etc, etc.

RAB

think i got the first queen in 2009, in a nuc, she then swarmed numerous times early in the year, so all the other queens were young from her in 2010. some were small later swarms, but the first were well established by end of summer. all had good food stores throughout the hive, and the bees were found amongst the food stores, so don't think it was lack of food. they were treated with apiguard in spring and autumn, and regularly checked for varroa, didn't have much, but the swarms went into new hives with new frames. they were all national, except one, which was a ware hive. they were on the roof of a single storey building, its a metal roof, but with higher foofs on two sides. think it could of been condensation, its not actually plastic they were wrapped in, but roofers breathable membrane. there was mould over the bees and frames,but only where the bees were. we'd left the honey in the hives, and fed the sugar solution until they stopped feeding, as i was told to.

 

[oliver90owner]

Solid floors? Ventilation? Entrance size?

So all cast swarms? Which colony has thus far survived?

Were all the frames in the box filled with stores (apart from those used)?

What were they fed with? When did they stop? Were all the stores capped?

Still not going to guess. Could be several reasons for their demise.

AFAIK all mine are still going. Seen all flying recently, except one. Certainly was not going to interfere with it. Not been fed in autumn, nor, as yet, in the winter. Stillno guarantee they will all be there in the spring, though; only a bit more than half way through yet awhile.

Regards, RAB

 

[alaskaheavenlyhoney]

We winter our bees in temps as low as -55+ F here in Alaska. Cold has never killed the bees. We have average 4.5 % winter loss. Moisture, wind, and starvation biggest killers. This is assuming all internal and external pests under control. We run hundreds of hives at these temps for years; same results. Right now we have about three feet of snow over the hives. We run 15 pound roofing paper wraps, candy boards with additives in candy, good ventilation for moisture. Type of bee is important - we run a Caucasian type bee.

 

[drstitson]

i get the impression from the post that you had the bees on brood and a half over winter? were the majority of stores in the supers? had you left QEs on?

 

[Hombre]

. . . we run a Caucasian type bee.

Is this a Carniolan type from Slovenia (the Caucuses)?

 

[Hivemaker.]

Caucasian,i believe there original homeland could be Georgia.