feeling deflated!

[irishguy]

Went into winter with 2 x 3/4 full colonies(if i remeber correctly), 1 nuc and experimented with over wintering with 1 frame. Turns out my 2 strongest hives crooked it and am now down to 1 small nuc and the one i experimented with 1 frame. of all the hives that over wintered, i was expecting the one with 1 frame to die. Reason being, it was in a full brood box with a mixture of filled frames(not dummied down which i thought i did last autum) sitting on top of a super that the bees where cleaning from me extracting honey from. This hive had a 2 tier bonnet of 4 inch xtratherm insulation.

Of the other 2 that i lost, sealed brood and plenty of stores. All hives where also covered in insulation. Closed the hives up, closed the entrances and left them where they are. Will move soon.

Now my plan is to build these up in time for winter and might buy another 2 full colonies to compensate my losses because as of now, im feeling very deflated with losing these and now down to a nuc and a very small amount of bees with a queen.

nuc1 plan - Its only on 1 and half frame of bees so dummyed it down in its brrod box to a few frames of stores but thinking of reducing it even more untill the queen fills her brood frames.

nuc2 plan - move into an insulated nuc box and dummy down. marked the queen on sunday but couldnt cut awing so leftit back in.will cut wing on next inspection.

So there it is, couldnt wait for 2016 inspection to come and now its arrived, im already busting to go back in

 

[chrisb]

Argh, thats bad news.
i rely do hope all turns out well. I know this strange weather is not helping much if at all

 

[Obee1]

Oh dear. That's not good news. Sorry to hear that. It's very sad when a colony dies. I would buy a couple of new colonies asap.

Good luck

 

[irishguy]

Argh, thats bad news.
i rely do hope all turns out well. I know this strange weather is not helping much if at all

Oh dear. That's not good news. Sorry to hear that. It's very sad when a colony dies. I would buy a couple of new colonies asap.

Good luck

Irish beeks have reported huge losses up and down the country so im not alone in these losses.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Turns out my 2 strongest hives crooked it .............

Of the other 2 that i lost, sealed brood and plenty of stores.

This is what you posted earlier when we were discussing sublimating Oxalic.

I was all set for it over xmass time seeing as I didn't treat in autumn. Because of the mild weather and possible brood in the hives, I've been asking a few in our club and anyone I've chatted to about it, all didn't recommend it.

Now I'm torn between will I or won't i. Would hate to get to spring and mites to have fcuked my hives or if I do treat this way, I'd hate to kill new brood and mess the hive up. TBH, I always thought that vapping the hives didn't kill brood but the other beeks in our club say the opposite!

Now I've a major head f**k again not knowing what to do!

What did you do in the end?

Do your deadouts look like this?
https://beeinformed.org/2016/03/08/why-did-my-honey-bees-die/19

 

[mjt68]

Went into winter with 2 x 3/4 full colonies(if i remeber correctly), 1 nuc and experimented with over wintering with 1 frame. Turns out my 2 strongest hives crooked it and am now down to 1 small nuc and the one i experimented with 1 frame. of all the hives that over wintered, i was expecting the one with 1 frame to die. Reason being, it was in a full brood box with a mixture of filled frames(not dummied down which i thought i did last autum) sitting on top of a super that the bees where cleaning from me extracting honey from. This hive had a 2 tier bonnet of 4 inch xtratherm insulation.

Of the other 2 that i lost, sealed brood and plenty of stores. All hives where also covered in insulation. Closed the hives up, closed the entrances and left them where they are. Will move soon.

Now my plan is to build these up in time for winter and might buy another 2 full colonies to compensate my losses because as of now, im feeling very deflated with losing these and now down to a nuc and a very small amount of bees with a queen.

nuc1 plan - Its only on 1 and half frame of bees so dummyed it down in its brrod box to a few frames of stores but thinking of reducing it even more untill the queen fills her brood frames.

nuc2 plan - move into an insulated nuc box and dummy down. marked the queen on sunday but couldnt cut awing so leftit back in.will cut wing on next inspection.

So there it is, couldnt wait for 2016 inspection to come and now its arrived, im already busting to go back in

Sucks, lots of reports of quite a bad winter despite or because of the mild, wet weather. Get some bait hives out, get on swarm lists and keep your eyes peeled for feral colonies (lots of swarms to be had). With a bit of luck your hives will be full soon! If you're desperate and have free time you can put flyers and business cards on village notice boards saying that you collect swarms - you might get loads of free bees or you might get called to loads of bumbles and wasps.

 

[Erichalfbee]

I forgot to add....I lost colonies and know how you feel.
Try to get to the bottom of why and work on what you've got. You'll be up and running soon.

 

[kazmcc]

I'm sorry. Horrible feeling.

 

[misterbee82]

I sympathize with you, my parents picked up my cousins project hive when she abandoned it to leave to California. They did not really know everything that needed to be done to prepare it for winter at the time, and despite having 80 to 90 pounds of rabbit brush honey produced to feed on, they didn't make it through the winter. We recently got further educated on the bees and what needs to be done. We have bought and introduced a 5 frame nuc with about 10,000 bees to the hive. They are now feeding on the remaining 50 pounds of honey that was not robbed by the colony on the other side of our house, and they are actively gathering pollen. Good luck you will be able to get a jump start and make an better attempt at making it through next winter.

 

[beeno]

Hi irishguy,
Sorry to hear you lost your hives. Sadly high probability that hives will die if you don't treat for varroa.

 

[Gilberdyke John]

Hi irishguy,
Sorry to hear you lost your hives. Sadly high probability that hives will die if you don't treat for varroa.

Cue the usual argument

 

[chrisb]

Cue the usual argument

 

[pargyle]

Sad news Irishguy ... you need to stop listening to the people over there who mislead you and follow the great advice you were given on here - but, dead outs happen to even the best beekeepers so don't beat yourself too hard ... just enough to remember the mistakes you made.

It's not always varroa that are the culprits ... I see Beeno is trotting out the usual tripe ... but if there are mites affecting your colonies then sublimation with OA is the answer.

 

[dn170221]

Really bad news, I know I feel gutted just losing a swarm!!
If you only have two queens make sure that you are extremely proficient at clipping queens or you could end up worse off!!

 

[Cussword]

Always sad to hear of people losing hives. Hope it doesn't put you off and you get back on your feet soon.

 

[irishguy]

Sad news Irishguy ... you need to stop listening to the people over there who mislead you and follow the great advice you were given on here - but, dead outs happen to even the best beekeepers so don't beat yourself too hard ... just enough to remember the mistakes you made.

It's not always varroa that are the culprits ... I see Beeno is trotting out the usual tripe ... but if there are mites affecting your colonies then sublimation with OA is the answer.

To be fair P, this was my own doing. IMO our club is well run and cant really be blamed for my mess ups to be honest. From what i see in our club, theres a big push on to educate all us thick ones into being better bee keepers.

Anyway, bees looking good from what i can see. Ive wrote down whats in the hives but im thinking they might need a bit of tinkering with yet. So back to getting babysitted again for another year with me bees skipper! So brace yourselves for another season for plenty of this for anyone reading my threads but as of now, im heading for some of this because feeling like this after finishing up a semi-dry sand stone wall ive been building for 26 days on my own!

Heres whats in the hives.

Hive 1(in full bb)
Frame 8. Full stores
Frame 7.3/4 stores and rest empty cells.
Large thick piece of insulation, think its 4 inch.
Frame 6. Half store
Frame 5. Empty comb with some pollen. Would say about 3/4 finished comb.
Frame 4. Full of eggs on 1 side, other side BIAS.
Frame 3. BIAS
Frame 2. BIAS
Frame1. Pollen, Stores and eggs on both sides.

Dont know if this was the right thing to do but done it anyway. Seeing as the queen was laying on frame beside bb wall, i moved frame 7 to where frame 1 was and slide all frames back abit.

Hive2. Was moved into insulated 6 frame nuc(forget name of nuc)
Think this one defo needs tinkering with but wont do it untill next week! This was theover wintered frame

Frame6- Pollen and store
Frame5- Empty Comb
Frame4- BiAs and small piece of chalk brood
Frame3. BIAS one one side, eggs other side
Frame2.Stores, pollen
Frame1, Stores

Im thinking maybe this needs a dummy board or insulation dummy board with maybe a hole in it to reach stores untill nuc builds up more. They probably wont need hole in dummy to get the other stores but wouldnt harm to have it anyway.



Both queens still have their wings. Finding it difficult to accept that cliiping the queens wing doesnt harm it in a negative way. Im thinking people who do cut and think its ok have the same mind set as the nutjobs years ago who thought dogs and other animals couldnt feel pain like humans. Im thinking how can something very important be clipped of and expect to be normal. Yes she still might look ok to the naked eye but something inside me feels its wrong. Sometime down the line in the not to distant future, itll be found that anyone clipping wings off was actually off their head for thinking it was ok. Maybe im wrong, i dont know! but its something that doesnt sit well with me. Here we are supposed to be looking out for the bees best interests and then go wacking parts of the main bee. Madness!

 

[chrisb]

I just know im going to get hung drawn and quartered, but I agree with you over wing clipping. a damaged queen is a good excuse for supercedure.
Sorry for asking but why in hive 1 have you a board between brood and stores

 

[irishguy]

I just know im going to get hung drawn and quartered, but I agree with you over wing clipping. a damaged queen is a good excuse for supercedure.
Sorry for asking but why in hive 1 have you a board between brood and stores

Was using the insulation to dummy down this BB to a nuc. Instead of taking the other 2 frames away and leaving an empty space, i thought best to leave it there. Maybe theres a reason why i shouldnt leave them and if their is, this thicko sure doesnt know it yet. No more room in freezer for them so its either leave them there of in my house somewhere.

 

[chrisb]

I see your logic, nothing wrong with that.
if I said what I would be tempted to do you would hear the screams and the sky would light up with the eruptions from those who would say it goes against the rule book. lol

 

[Rio]

I'm hearing reports from across Ireland of substantial losses, despite hives being well fed and treated. I'm in the north, Ard Mhacha, and went from 12 hives at the same time last year down to 4 now. Of those 4, 3 were very poor but are improving slowly now. No obvious signs of disease, but bee samples sent for testing. Sin e Sinead!