Dead bees

[stuart]

In January I built a shed between the 2 hives I have occupied. On the warmer days bees appeared occasionally prob on toilet duty. Today 23/2/12 nice warm day (14C) opened both of the hives with no life in either. Took photos of a cluster of bees that appear to be coated in white dust. Any idea cause of their deaths
posted some photos on phototbucket

http://photobucket.com/stuartholmes

 

[BeeNice]

On the first picture is that a QE above the brood box, by the way the bees have there heads in the comb looks they have starved. If you had left the QE on the bees may have not wanted to leave the queen to go up to the super. I think you will have to tell more about your set up and feeding routine.
Sorry about the lost, steven

 

[biglongdarren]

sorry for your loss stuart,looks to me just like a mould growing on the dead bees,were you feeding them?how many frames of dead bees was there,they maybe just died of starvation but the big bosses will be along soon,they'll know more than me.
Darren

 

[stuart]

as one of the photos show there is sealed honey on the broad frame
Also no QE but crown board giving access to a feeder with syrup

 

[MandF]

Syrup? When was that put on?

One of my hives starved this winter and I reckon there was probably 30lb of stores left on the hive. I am 99% sure my cluster isolated itself from the rest of the food, and during the cold spell didnt want to leave the queen and small batch of brood. I dont think there is much you can do about that to be honest.

 

[stuart]

Thanks

 

[beesleybees]

I too have lost a nuc, the frames look exactly like yours do!!!

The white stuff is mold. By the way the frames look, I wouldnt say they had starved, looks more like an inability to keep themselves warm due to lack of numbers which is the reason mine didnt survive.

mine was a late swarm (beginning of october) i fed them loads of syrup and give them loads of seal ed honey with pollen but the numbers just didnt increase sufficently enough for when the cold weather set in.

lesson learned and next time will add them to another colony

 

[JamezF]

I have been wondering whether the extended flying season has meant more flying bees have died off than would usually be the case over the winter, leaving the remaining ones unable to cope with the sudden drop in temperature this month. There do seem to be a number reports of colonies that have plenty of stores dying out with relatively small numbers of bees left in the hive when they were to all appearances fine going into the winter.

James

 

[Luminos]

sorry for your loss stuart,looks to me just like a mould growing on the dead bees,were you feeding them?how many frames of dead bees was there,they maybe just died of starvation but the big bosses will be along soon,they'll know more than me.
Darren

Mould. Sorry to hear about your bees, stuart

 

[*ZhG*StGeorge]

I went to check on mine today. They were flying before the snow, about two weeks ago, but today they were dead.

Must admit, I feel like a failure. There are plenty of stores and still some fondant that I gave them before closing them up.

What do I do now?

 

[biglongdarren]

I went to check on mine today. They were flying before the snow, about two weeks ago, but today they were dead.

Must admit, I feel like a failure. There are plenty of stores and still some fondant that I gave them before closing them up.

What do I do now?

clean the dead bees out and maybe set the hive out as a bait hive come swarming season?
sorry to hear this Darren

 

[biglongdarren]

Mould. Sorry to hear about your bees, stuart

and surley the mould would mean the bees have been dead in the hive a while ??the bees you seen flying in and out before could have been robbers??
Darren

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Scorch the hive, sterilise the frames etc, dust yourself down, mark it down to experience and start again. If they didn't survive the winter, maybe they weren't meant to.

 

[biglongdarren]

Scorch the hive, sterilise the frames etc, dust yourself down, mark it down to experience and start again. If they didn't survive the winter, maybe they weren't meant to.

if it was just maybe them starving and not enough bees to keep the whole thing going would you need to scorch and sterilise everything??
Darren.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Better safe than sorry - Nosema?

 

[Hombre]

Scorch the hive, and clean out the frames, but don't waste them. drawn comb is all you really have left, so don't waste it.

My guess is that they either starved or lost the queen and the will to go on, but probably the former.

You can either get yourself a new nuc or take your chances of attracting a swarm. You will have made a few contacts by now, so may be able to purchase a nuc at a favourable price.

The advice regarding the treating for varroa mites and the autumn feeding regime should all be making a lot of sense to you by now. Cutting corners is akin to cutting your own throat at times. Take from the experience what you can and move swiftly on.

Sorry to hear of your loss.

 

[Peter Cox]

"Scorch the hive, and clean out the frames, but don't waste them. drawn comb is all you really have left, so don't waste it. "

Why do you see some sign of disease?

All I see is a bunch of bees that starved and then mould grew on them.
Brush the loose ones off. Pick the ones that are head down with tweezers, if you're so inclined, then use the the comb with stores available for a new package. If they don't like the pollen they'll toss it but meanwhile any that has honey in it is a starting bonus.

I have a couple in our backyard that look roughly the same, however they have 60 or 70 lbs of honey still there. some of the supers I've already moved to viable hives and the rest I'll just drop new packages under in early April.

 

[oliver90owner]

Why

Think about it this way - would you want a 'second hand' medical dressing used on you? Even though it looked clean? "It's OK mate we don't know what diseases the other bloke had, before he died but the dressing wasn't on for long so he didn't get full use of it. Can't see any pathogens on it so it should be all right to use again" Or "You can use my needle Junkie. I rinsed it under the tap".

Great. The bees deserve better than giving them potentially disease-ridden comb - especially when it is so easy and cheap too fumigate it.

That's why.

 

[mbc]

Why

Think about it this way - would you want a 'second hand' medical dressing used on you? Even though it looked clean? "It's OK mate we don't know what diseases the other bloke had, before he died but the dressing wasn't on for long so he didn't get full use of it. Can't see any pathogens on it so it should be all right to use again" Or "You can use my needle Junkie. I rinsed it under the tap".

Great. The bees deserve better than giving them potentially disease-ridden comb - especially when it is so easy and cheap too fumigate it.

That's why.

If you're going to use anthropomorphism's then it should be :
Think about it this way - would you want a 'second hand' house even if it looks clean ? " The previous occupants died, we'd better start a new one and build from scratch !"
If you let the bees tell you, then almost invariably they would prefer a box of combs from a deadout to a box of sterilised and freshly foundationed frames.
The perspective on this should be what risks are involved ? Its obviously evolutionarily more successful for swarms to inhabit an old nest than to start afresh, despite the risks of lingering disease in old combs, however beekeepers should apply some common sense and asses if they have ever had disease in their equipment or if there has been any disease in the locality, recently and historically, before deciding whether combs should be reused. I tend to reuse most decent brood combs from my deadouts, but then I know I've never had disease and that there has been none in the locality for many a year. Obviously I'm talking about foulbrood here, nosema is another question, but if you regard nosema as endemic then there's not much point wasting perfectly good combs because of the risk of a bit of nosema spore contamination as the combs can be made safe of nosema spores by fumigating with acetic acid or even spraying with bleach.

 

[biglongdarren]

spraying with bleach?? just a watered down solution and spray and let it dry? is that all i have to do??
how much do i need to water down the bleach or does it matter?
thanks Darren