Dead colony

[deemann1]

It's sad to say it but I lost one of my two colonies.
There was only a cluster of I'd say a hundred bees dead between the frames of brood box such a small number.
How it dwindled to such a small cluster I don't know..
There was a full super of honey and a half brood box of honey so it wasn't starvation..
Now what to do with all the ivy honey ??

 

[nightshade]

Freeze it for new colony?

 

[Quevy]

It's sad to say it but I lost one of my two colonies.
There was only a cluster of I'd say a hundred bees dead between the frames of brood box such a small number.
How it dwindled to such a small cluster I don't know..
There was a full super of honey and a half brood box of honey so it wasn't starvation..
Now what to do with all the ivy honey ??

What did they die from ?

 

[deemann1]

What did they die from ?

I didn't see any sign of disease but hey I'm only starting my second year so I'm guessing it was an old queen I was sold in original nuke .....

 

[Anduril]

I didn't see any sign of disease but hey I'm only starting my second year so I'm guessing it was an old queen I was sold in original nuke .....

It could be nosema ceranae causing your bees to dwindle and die. You could get them tested or mash them up and look under a microscope.

 

[Hebeegeebee]

Did you treat for varroa and when?
Sealed ivy honey will keep and can be given to bees when they need it.

 

[deemann1]

Would the two hives not be dead if it was disease since i split the original colony last summer ?

 

[madasafish]

Would the two hives not be dead if it was disease since i split the original colony last summer ?

No.
Your original colony presumably has a new vigorous (?) queen. Your colony formed from a split had an older queen plus some frames of brood?

So your original colony may be stronger as the queen lays more than the split with the older queen or.. or.. or..

Without doing a detailed autopsy or taking pictures of the dead colony's frames complete with bees and posting them, no-one at a distance can tell. We would need a detailed colony history, treatments, feed etc plus pictures to assess even if the Queen was to blame . As for disease, microscope and slides..

 

[deemann1]

No.
Your original colony presumably has a new vigorous (?) queen. Your colony formed from a split had an older queen plus some frames of brood?

So your original colony may be stronger as the queen lays more than the split with the older queen

YES but there was no sign of brood while cleaning it out this afternoon...

 

[madasafish]

YES but there was no sign of brood while cleaning it out this afternoon...

So queen dead then? Did you find her body?

 

[peteinwilts]

I would not be suprised if 2017-2018 is going to be a winter of heavy losses.
Wet and windy is not good overwintering conditions.

Not sure about where you are, but we had balmy temperatures right into November with a huge amount of stores coming in. Swarming conditions.

A swarm so late can be devistating from both halves of the split. The swarm has a lack of stores, and the remnants a lack of bees and viable queen.

I have lost a couple of stonkingly large colonys in one of my apiarys, with the evidence suggesting very late swarming (relatively few bees, clustered). They were fine in late October.

additional evidence having a large amount of comb hanging on the open mesh floor under a (already populated) hive 40 metres away suggests it stayed for a few days before moving on.

 

[deemann1]

So your original colony may be stronger as the queen lays more than the split with the older queen or.. or.. or..

Without doing a detailed autopsy or taking pictures of the dead colony's frames complete with bees and posting them, no-one at a distance can tell. We would need a detailed colony history, treatments, feed etc plus pictures to assess even if the Queen was to blame . As for disease, microscope and slides..

So queen dead then? Did you find her body?

No couldn't find her
Ty for replys

 

[madasafish]

No couldn't find her
Ty for replys

No queen = colony death...Simple..

 

[peteinwilts]

No queen = colony death...Simple..

From my experience, I recognise a queenless dead hive overwinter as having a broken cluster, or a number of clustered groups of bees.

I may be wrong though...