Feral colonies Survival 2012/2013

[Luminos]

This means a bee in a brick cavity of an unoccupied section of a house or building.. e.g. disused chiminey is thermally worse off than even in a thin wooden hive.

I used to pass by a feral colony in a derelict stone barn, they went in via a hole in the mortar (mortar??).
But after the bitter winter of 2010/11, I did not see them again.

 

[user 6228]

I had none die off at all, few drone layers, but none dead, and they are all in wooden hives with solid floors, the nucs are 9mm ply.

I was using the experience given by ITLD over thousands of colonies in comparable conditions

 

[Hivemaker.]

I was using the experience given by ITLD over thousands of colonies in comparable conditions

I was only comparing a few hundred in comparable conditions, and comparable hives....i think other winter practices need to be taken into account as well.

 

[Finman]

.
As I calculated last winter, if all escaped swarms stay alive over winter, they should be millions in nature.

a colony makes 2 swarms (200% growth)
If you have first 100 colonies, they will be 6 million after 10 years.

 

[REDWOOD]

I only know of one colony in a tree but I have not checked it this year but what I have noticed is I haven't seen a honey bee in my garden since April, quite spooky really as it's the first time in 30 years

 

[flemage]

I have never seen wild colony ............ I had never seen a swarm until I became a beek now I have seen two, one I got, the other flew over my house taunting me to follow..... crashed through a few hedges scared a few sheep but gave up in the end.

I have lived in the country all my life but never seen wild bees, sad really when you think about it.

 

[london_flower_guy]

I know of 3 feral colonies, 2 of which are known to have died, the other unsure about as haven't passed it recently. I tested the 2 that died for nosema last year by waving a plastic bag infronn t of the nest to catch a sample and was able to see some of the brood nest on one of them (in a tree cavity at head height) both had high levels of nosema and the one which i was able to see brood in had allot of DWV. The nest was black from years of reuse.

 

[user 6228]

I was only comparing a few hundred in comparable conditions, and comparable hives....i think other winter practices need to be taken into account as well.

in to account with/to what? bee keeping practices are irrelevent to feral bee colony winter survival. ITLD's experience shows that bees kept under the same conditions have a higher survival margin if they are in an insulated nest and that this year tested those survival margins. Because ITLD had large samples of both insulated and uninsulated nests kept with same practices so that the influence of practice can eliminated, it can be used as general statement.
This difference between insulated and uninsulated nest is also backed up by the results of other academic research.

 

[For want of a better word]

Now all is clear Luminos... them sheeps is not sheeps at all they are Woolly Bee Colonies (WBCs)

High insulation properties of wool and being disguised as sheeps are unlikely to get stolen
Is there an OMF and do the bees go in and out through the nostrils or other end?

 

[Luminos]

Now all is clear Luminos... them sheeps is not sheeps at all they are Woolly Bee Colonies (WBCs)

High insulation properties of wool and being disguised as sheeps are unlikely to get stolen
Is there an OMF and do the bees go in and out through the nostrils or other end?

 

[sansai]

The 4 feral colonies in this neighbourhood (east of Oxford) that I'm aware of, and have gone through the winter apparently well. One colony that's been in the wall of an old barn for several years threw a large swarm earlier this week.
There are those around that declare that there are "no more real feral colonies" due to verroa, but obviously these colonies have prospered.

 

[mbc]

I was using the experience given by ITLD over thousands of colonies in comparable conditions

He admitted there were other factors in the makeup of the wood and poly apiaries which were relevant to their respective survival.

 

[YorkshireBees]

I have, just last week, become aware of a coloney living in a tree. The have been there 18 months according to a local and threw a smallish swarm that I got called to.
I will now keep an eye on them.

 

[BILL.HEARD]

I had none die off at all, few drone layers, but none dead, and they are all in wooden hives with solid floors, the nucs are 9mm ply.