Hive autopsy

[Levitt53]

Hi, many may know my predicament last week. After seeing no bees in or out of my hive during the glorious weekend I assumed I was correct and that the bees were dead. To sum up. I purchased an established colony on March 13th from a beekeeper who was moving (I have no reason to think that he was anything other than completely honest with me). A few bees flew for about a week but not much and not anything after that. Anyway on Sunday afternoon I cracked open the crown board and there was indeed no life. I've looked in it today and taken some photos which you could comment on. Although I'm having trouble uploading them for some reason - bear with me. I am assuming that the move or my windier garden have killed the queen as I saw no eggs or lavae. It was messier than I expected which some comb having been built down from the outer edge of the frames. The frames were stuck together with sticky stuff, not quite what I expected propolis to be like. There was no capped honey that I could see, although they had fondant over the winter and that was still there. Lots of little bee bottoms sticking out of cells so starvation I guess. Not that many bees at all in the hive, perhaps 100. I couldn't see the queen although she was unmarked anyway. I have contacted the seller who wants me to tell him what I find. I've also asked my local apiary for help although they haven't come back to me. I have a couple of others I could ask but thought I'd ask here also.

 

[Brigsy]

How sad. I hope you get some resolution. I hope my first foray into beekeeping isn't as dramatic as yours.


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[Levitt53]

Thank you Brigsy. I hoping that's all my bad luck out of the way for a while. My local beekeepers will hopefully get me a swarm and I'll start again that way.

Still can't add any photos for some reason. There is one in an album but can't add any more to that.

 

[Cussword]

Your local association may back you up when you contact the seller. You should get a portion of your money back. I'm assuming that the hive is in good condition?

 

[Erichalfbee]

If your queen is there in the middle of the huddle and there are no other bees in the hive it's likely to be varroa. That's speculation though so should wait for pictures.
We'll help you all we can to resolve things. Chin up.

 

[MuswellMetro]

Thank you Brigsy. I hoping that's all my bad luck out of the way for a while. My local beekeepers will hopefully get me a swarm and I'll start again that way.

Still can't add any photos for some reason. There is one in an album but can't add any more to that.

photos are probalbly too big for the server, try opening them in mspaint or similar and resizing down by 50% and saving as a different name, then uploading onto the forum

 

[snelgrove]

Whatever you paid you want your money back, give him the hive back, the colony was more or less finished when you bought it.

 

[Levitt53]

Ok I've resized the photos and it's worked. It's in an album which I don't appear to be able to link to but it's here http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/album.php?albumid=744. These were the photos that were of interest. Both boxes had two empty frames of wax on both sides. I'll decide what to do once I have a better understanding of what happened but I can only think it was the death of the queen. Thanks all.

 

[Davelin]

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but it would have been a good idea to let an experienced beekeeper give the hive the once over.

It looks a mess to me, frame spacing all over the place, old dirty comb, can't work out what a couple of the pics are supposed to be of.

No pics of the dead bees on the comb, any sign of any brood on the comb?

If there was no honey then it's likely they've starved, should have been some there even if fondant was added.

Think you've had a raw deal there.

 

[Levitt53]

Everything is still there and I have asked the local apiary to help me look. There were very few bees on the frames just a few small clusters. The frames were tightly packed in.

 

[chrisb]

wow I am totally gob smacked someone sold you that.
the guy would need a jar of petroleum jelly as my return route could otherwise be very painful if not sorted out or refunded

 

[Davelin]

The frames were tightly packed in.

Not in picture 3, and the top frame in pic 6 doesn't appear to be a hoffman, so no proper spacing.

 

[Erichalfbee]

If the whole hive had starved you would find lots of bees head down.
I still think it's varroa that wiped them out. Have a look at some of those brood cells with perforated cappings. You will find bees with deformed wings.
The whole winter bee population would have succumbed leaving only last years bees to dwindle away.
I'll echo snelgrove though. A whole healthy hive full of bees would not disappear in a week. You were sold a dud right from the start.

 

[chrisb]

 

[Swarm]

Really sorry for you Levitt53, I hope you find someone who can help.

 

[linoleum bonypart]

Not nice being ripped off .... Sterilise the combs ...flane the box and buy a nuc or two

 

[Levitt53]

Not in picture 3, and the top frame in pic 6 doesn't appear to be a hoffman, so no proper spacing.

Yes they weren't all the same type of frames. Some were Hoffman and some had spacers. Pic 6 is where I had pulled it apart to show the stuff that was keeping it stuck together.

 

[JEP]

If someone has sold you that claiming it is an "established colony" then return it and ask for your money back.

It has never been an established colony. At best at the end of last summer it looks like it was perhaps 3 or 4 frames of bees, with loads of drone cells and more than likely a poor quality queen. Never really had any chance of overwintering. Frames of undrawn foundation, frames without foundation - get your money back!

 

[chrisb]

Try get your money back at least. and do it before he moves

 

[MuswellMetro]

even if it starved in a week, there should be capped and abandoned brood