daily mortality??

[mark s]

hi all
merry christmas
im getting a little concerned about the amount of dead bees that are appearing out side the hive everyday,when i check during the day there are usually about 5-10 dead bees on the ground or landing board,is this usual or is there an under lying problem,ive hefted the hive and its heavy,but being a newbie ive nothing to measure it against so cant rely on that.
they are in a single national brood and the last time i looked they were across about 3 to 4 frames and seemed happy,did a mite count and there was only 1 mite drop over a 3 day period.
should i just feed them some syrup or fondant just incase??

mark s

 

[Heather]

Chill out - as are the bees. Fondant if really worried, they wont take syrup - too late in winter

Some die - they chuck out - dont open.- OR MORE WILL DIE AS YOU REPLACE COVER BOARD.
Just have a mulled wine and be glad of the spare time- you will be busy enough in April

 

[hedgerow pete]

the other thing is as heather pointed out by opening the hive you will cause evan more problems for the bees than you will solve, you will also let all there heat out, at the end of the day either come to terms with the idea that we only have a small part to play in thier over wintering state ther rest is up to them, or build a bee shed and then like me you can torment the ladies every single day of the year if you want

 

[BKF Admin]

Agree with all the above,everything sounds fine Mark.
The temp is up to double figures here and I expect the island is the same,as the temps rise the cluster starts to expand and a few bees will go into housekeeping mode by removing the dead bees and taking short flights to empty their tummy's.

The bee's are fine but I think you may have bee fever...

 

[mark s]

thanx all
i feel a lot better now

 

[East Yorks New Bee]

Thanx all this thread has put my mind at rest too.

 

[hedgerow pete]

just incase anyone else reads this thread, it is perfectly normal for a bee keeper to be almost pariniod about whats going one inside the hive , but most beeks will close up the hives from the last feeding syrup around late oct novemeber time depending on the weather and will try to fore go the little peek till at least late march time, that in therory is the best way but it rarely happens so most will have peeked by nid march and others can play inside there sheds all winter long ( me )
the trick is to not open the hive unles the temp is warmer than there nest temp in that way they dont get chilled which will do more harm than good for them,

may i suggest you stick your nose into a good book/bottle till the spring, mayby evan plan the first few months beekeeping , bees love a great plan, honestly!!!
me personaly i have already got the dates for my breeding of queens organised when that date will start will depend on the weather but i have already brought the ingreadiants for my pollen patties and i also have a bag of sugar (several 25kg bags)
ready to make a week spring fed syrup for them.

heres a few other things to do wash and clean your kit and equipment, repaint hives/ stands clear the weeds from the bases, there is lots of other bee things to do rather than lifting lids off

 

[Loubee]

Hi, Happy New Year.
I've been knee deep in snow for 11 days here now, with the temperature at -2 today, (we have had -6), and never getting above about +2 over the whole Christmas period. I have seen q a few dead bods on the omf, the girls aren't throwing them out - I haven't seen them taking any cleansing flights either. It is too cold to go lifting lids or anything like that - would it be wise to put some fondant just inside the entrance where I can reach - I left quite a bit on the queen excluder in November. Winters are rather hard round here.

 

[Finman]

.
If the hive has nosema, quiten many bees will come out to die daily.
If everything is OK, hive is in tight cluster.

But you cannot do anything Just wait for spring.

It is normal that things are not 100% or even 80% well.

Just wait.

 

[Heather]

Loubee - why have you a queen excluder in place. Should be out. If a metal QEthe bees will stay away from it as it will be b..... cold!

 

[thurrock bees]

i dont open hives, i heft them, put my ear to the side and listen for a huming sound if i dont hear it i will tap the side 9/10 you will get a buzzing sound. i look in to the entrance to see if it is clear and then leave

 

[Finman]

. Winters are rather hard round here.

How hard?

I had on my hive area last night -27C. It is cold even to us.
I live in capital city and here inside our flat temp is +23C.

http://www.fmi.fi/saa/paikalli.html?Keywords=&station=2830&param=4&map=1&place=Kouvola.

My hives are in the south east corner of country.


Traffic camera tells just no that it is -31C near my hives

http://alk.tiehallinto.fi/alk/frames/kelikamerat-frame.html

.
.

 

[tonybloke]

can us brits have access to our city traffic cameras??
if so, how / where?

 

[oliver90owner]

Tonybloke,

Probably not, but why not just select 'weather' on the net and enter your post code for the local details. That is all I need to do.

I very much doubt that Finman does either. Only the data collected from them!

Regards, RAB

 

[Heather]

Seems a shame we cannot- after all, we have more than any other country per person!! George Orwell would have been amazed- and probably horrified

 

[Black Comb]

Jamcams are useful but may not be near your hives (I hope not)

 

[tonybloke]

well, the weather on the net says -2, ,there is snow on the ground, but I've got some bees flying from one of my hives!!
(will figure out how to post photo's in a bit)

 

[tonybloke]

see if this works

 

[Heather]

It works! - mouseguard? Or did you take off so they could get their best side for the camera

 

[tonybloke]

I haven't put on any mouse guards, I figure that another lump of cold metal for the bees across the entrance is not the best thing in the world for them. We also live in an area that has an abnormally high cat population!