First winter failure

[DaveS]

I thought I would check on the fondant position of what I knew was a weak hive and as there was absolutely no evidence of any bees opened it up. Only a layer of dead bees and wasps - sad.

My other hive was quite active today but there still seem to be a lot of wasps about - not had this problem so late before but they were a lot worse this year and think they significantly contributed to the above failure (I completely closed up many times as they were coming and going unchallenged despite single bed space). I've reduced entrance to 1 bee space. Is anyone else still having problems with wasps?

I've not had a failure before - whilst most of the bees were on the mesh floor there were a couple of frames with dead bees on them with their heads in the comb - I associate this with isolation starvation; is this normal if they die out from lack of numbers?

 

[Curly green fingers]

I thought I would check on the fondant position of what I knew was a weak hive and as there was absolutely no evidence of any bees opened it up. Only a layer of dead bees and wasps - sad.

My other hive was quite active today but there still seem to be a lot of wasps about - not had this problem so late before but they were a lot worse this year and think they significantly contributed to the above failure (I completely closed up many times as they were coming and going unchallenged despite single bed space). I've reduced entrance to 1 bee space. Is anyone else still having problems with wasps?

I've not had a failure before - whilst most of the bees were on the mesh floor there were a couple of frames with dead bees on them with their heads in the comb - I associate this with isolation starvation; is this normal if they die out from lack of numbers?

Sorry to hear of your loss, no probs with wasps here on the Shropshire hills, a question when the colony went into winter how many seams of bee's it could be s combination of things isolation, wasps ,varroa, or just not enough bees all though saying that I've a very small nuc in a 6 frame nuc and there only covering 3 frames but are very active in the nuc today.

 

[Amari]

I thought I would check on the fondant position of what I knew was a weak hive and as there was absolutely no evidence of any bees opened it up. Only a layer of dead bees and wasps - sad.

My other hive was quite active today but there still seem to be a lot of wasps about - not had this problem so late before but they were a lot worse this year and think they significantly contributed to the above failure (I completely closed up many times as they were coming and going unchallenged despite single bed space). I've reduced entrance to 1 bee space. Is anyone else still having problems with wasps?

I've not had a failure before - whilst most of the bees were on the mesh floor there were a couple of frames with dead bees on them with their heads in the comb - I associate this with isolation starvation; is this normal if they die out from lack of numbers?

I wonder why the wasps were dead? It was a weak hive so the wasps got in but I would expect the wasps to then leave and return to their nest. Any possibility of some poison in the hive?
BTW, no wasps around here for a few weeks. Lots of hornets this summer - I've never seen so many.

 

[Beefriendly]

You will probably find they were cohabiting with your bees, using their warmth to stay alive. When the bees died so did they.

 

[For want of a better word]

You will probably find they were cohabiting with your bees, using their warmth to stay alive. When the bees died so did they.

Thanks... that answered the question why mice would want in to nest in a colony of stingers!

 

[ShinySideUp]

I had a queen wasp flying around about a week ago -- it was her last flight.

 

[Karol]

Sadly this is not unusual. Bees will starve if they are robbed out by wasps. There's no telling how long the dead wasps have been in the hive. May have been a last hurrah within the hive between your bees and the wasps during recent warmer days but I suspect the dead wasps in your hive have died simply from wear and tear at this time of year (if there was still fondant in the hive) or starvation if there was a lack of fondant.

I thought I would check on the fondant position of what I knew was a weak hive and as there was absolutely no evidence of any bees opened it up. Only a layer of dead bees and wasps - sad.

My other hive was quite active today but there still seem to be a lot of wasps about - not had this problem so late before but they were a lot worse this year and think they significantly contributed to the above failure (I completely closed up many times as they were coming and going unchallenged despite single bed space). I've reduced entrance to 1 bee space. Is anyone else still having problems with wasps?

I've not had a failure before - whilst most of the bees were on the mesh floor there were a couple of frames with dead bees on them with their heads in the comb - I associate this with isolation starvation; is this normal if they die out from lack of numbers?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

there were a couple of frames with dead bees on them with their heads in the comb - I associate this with isolation starvation; is this normal if they die out from lack of numbers?

when a colony dwindles to almost nothing with not enough bees to cluster for warmth the last remaining bees will enter the cells to try and keep warm

 

[DaveS]

Thanks everyone - the hive still had stores and they hadn't touched the fondant.

Unfortunately still a lot of wasps around here - I was several hovering around the active hive yesterday.

Thanks again