Disapearing Bees

[Taylan]

two weeks ago went round topping up the feeders in one of my apiaries one hive not flying opened up not one bee dead or alive no brood no stores only pollen this hive had over the weeks been strong and had taken over two gallons of feed? Today been round again in another apiary one empty hive in my third apiary three more empty hives no bees alive or dead no stores no brood only pollen gallon feeders were empty . Two weeks ago strong and flying well bringing in pollen. Where have the bees gone why no brood or dead bees if they had been robbed there would be dead bees if they starved there would be bees with thier heads in the cells plus dead brood anyone got any thoughts.

 

[Hivemaker.]

They joined the robbers.

 

[Arfermo]

Minute woodpecker or hungry wasps?

 

[mazzamazda]

Ccd?

 

[drstitson]

what have you been doing varroa wise?

 

[Lorenz]

You must be gutted. I'm sorry.

I think the answer lies above probably wasps, or robbers. Possibly a colony already weakened by varroa. Varroa is a a sly killer. It doesn't look like you have much of a problem. You might see the odd deformed wing virus, then the colony gets overcome with a virus in the larvae and the pupae and you get lots of dead bees and sometimes the rest of them just leave.

I didn't know bees can join the robbers, or is that a joke?

 

[Taylan]

Hi they were very light on Varroa but used Hivemakers recipe as I have done for the last two seasons with good results.Woodpeckers would have a hell of alot of bees to eat and where is the brood surely there would be some , The one apiary is in a wood where the three dissapeared but i have not noticed any woodpeckers. wasps very light this year only seen a couple in first apiary.

 

[Taylan]

Hi they were very light on Varroa but used Hivemakers recipe as I have done for the last two seasons with good results.Woodpeckers would have a hell of alot of bees to eat and where is the brood surely there would be some , The one apiary is in a wood where the three dissapeared but i have not noticed any woodpeckers. wasps very light this year only seen a couple in first apiary.

An old boy in Gloucester told me he has had them in his words Bugger off when he has used thymol especially if the queen has not mated .

 

[enrico]

This happened to me just as ccd came on the scene and I attributed it to that. I have been assured since by forum members that that is not the case. I have never had it before or since. I can actually point my finger at the day it happened. One day there, the next gone. No dead bees.....nothing, however mine did leave stores. Unless it has happened to you it is the creepiest thing in the world and difficult to believe or understand. This doesn't help you as I still have no idea why or what happened. All I can say is that it does!
E

 

[Taylan]

Hi Enrico I have kept bees for over fifty years we used to keep about thirty hives I sold up for ten years when my wife died encouraged to start again three years ago Varroa was not about when i kept them before. we are now back up to thirty hives ,I have never had this happen before just like the boat marie salest a mystery

 

[Erichalfbee]

I had a hive robbed out last year and they all upped and went.
I think bees can be overwhelmed quite quickly so there aren't the thousands of dead guards at the door you might expect.
The others just join up with other hives.
I agree with Hivemaker

 

[PBee]

two weeks ago went round topping up the feeders in one of my apiaries one hive not flying opened up not one bee dead or alive no brood no stores only pollen this hive had over the weeks been strong and had taken over two gallons of feed? Today been round again in another apiary one empty hive in my third apiary three more empty hives no bees alive or dead no stores no brood only pollen gallon feeders were empty . Two weeks ago strong and flying well bringing in pollen. Where have the bees gone why no brood or dead bees if they had been robbed there would be dead bees if they starved there would be bees with thier heads in the cells plus dead brood anyone got any thoughts.

Strong hives are usually well able to defend against robbing. Sounds to me like the robbing was subsequent to the hives being weakened by some other factor.

 

[itma]

Taylan, how small were the entrances while you were feeding?

You said "Hivemakers recipe" against varroa. Thymol pad or Thymolated syrup? And how long ago was this started and finished?

Varroa counts. How much? And when? How did the counts compare before and during treatment?

Brood. When did you last see uncapped brood? And sealed worker brood? (Any Queen sightings?)



Its a bit of a mystery, but the fog might clear a little with some more information - particularly relating the timings of inspection results, treatments and feeding.
My suspicion would be that they went Q- maybe a month ago (perhaps thought to be a thymol-brood-break), got robbed out (maybe inspired by the feeding), and the survivors dispersed to other hives ...

 

[Taylan]

Hi itma last inspection 21st Aug when we put on the thymol pads there was brood and eggs so no need to look for queen if there had been no eggs we would have looked further I can't remember the individual counts of varroa but the highest was only about ten haven't done a count since ,Like the old boy said if the the queen did bugger off because of the thymol and the weather being like it has been it could be an answer.
Now my memory is coming back I did have my last swarm at the place where I have my first apiary on 27th Aug bank holiday pouring with rain it was well away from my bees I did not think it was mine and I had inspected on the 21st and no sign of queen cells then, We have not been aware of swarms at the other apiaries But the old boy could be right it would be one answer

 

[Hivemaker.]

But the old boy could be right it would be one answer

Is the old boy Mike Roberts by any chance.

 

[Taylan]

Hivemaker, You must be clairvoyant how did you guess there must be more than one old boy in Gloucester!!

 

[Stromnessbees]

Hi Enrico I have kept bees for over fifty years we used to keep about thirty hives I sold up for ten years when my wife died encouraged to start again three years ago Varroa was not about when i kept them before. we are now back up to thirty hives ,I have never had this happen before just like the boat marie salest a mystery

Marie Celeste syndrome is just another term for CCD.

The typical picture of a CCD hive caused by earlier neonicotinoid exposure would be the queen plus handful of bees still in the hive as well as stores, but all the rest of the bees gone.

Seems you have a slight variation of the above scenario, but I would not exclude neonic poisoning as a reason for the disappearance of your bees.

 

[Poly Hive]

Ah bless any chance to ring that bell eh? Wings clipped elsewhere so trying your hand here?

Rubbish.

Two things are most likely to my mind.

One is you were robbed out whilst queenless.

Two is your varroa situation was a lot worse than you thought and they abandoned due to the varrroa load. A known event on the continent.

PH

 

[Taylan]

Hi Poly Hive 4 of these hives produced honey this year from the rape and were well up to strength I would have thought if it was Varroa it would have taken hold sooner when the brood was more, the apiary in the wood which is the largest is right by 20acres of rape one bright sunny day at 12pm a contractor came in and sprayed I don't know what with I did not see it myself I was told but it did not have any visable affect on the bees
I had quite a fair crop, they have now ploughed the field so I don't think they would have sprayed again.

 

[drstitson]

"Two is your varroa situation was a lot worse than you thought and they abandoned due to the varrroa load. A known event on the continent."



Loads of empty hives in europe last autumn/early winter. Attributed to high varroa load plus nosema.

I'd imagine that a judicious spray of pesticides on a back of that situation and bees would have every reason to take flight.

"I would have thought if it was Varroa it would have taken hold sooner when the brood was more"

NO. the effect of varroa is cumulative - the more unbroken brood cycles the more mites reproduce and the more viral transmission and replication occurs. UK RBIs reported repeated comments this spring that reported deadouts were the beeks "best hive" in the preceeding season. No swarming, Lots of bees, lots of brood cycles = massive varroa load. The warm autumn was a significant contributory factor as it allowed a couple of mite cycles before winter.