Hive deaths

[Erichalfbee]

They sound fun. Are they unmanaged in the shed?

No. I don’t have the nerve to leave them alone.
I’ve moved them to the apiary with the rest of the bees as making Stan go up and down the ladder is a bit mean

 

[oxnatbees]

I don't treat against varroa at all. Instead I breed for self-sufficient and hardy bees. Around 20 nucs (that is, all of them), some quite small, were flying in my sunless valley yesterday. This valley has a large cold-air catchment area and is generally around 2-3 degrees colder than the surrounding area. So my thought is perhaps you need to locate some hardier bees.

Of course there is plenty of time yet for me to discover I need to eat my words.

Well I'm entering year 11 of totally TF, have yet to lose a colony to varroa, unlike the Buckfasts I began with in my treating days. So I do know what they are like.

Just saying, intersting correlation between vaping and losing 3/5 hives, and no one else seems to be offering an explanation except mites , but OP says levels were OK.

 

[Erichalfbee]

but OP says levels were OK.

He didn’t say how he was measuring though unless he counted natural drop which is inaccurate.
I’ve had negligible natural drop followed by 100s after a vape.
Ask @pargyle who is TF how he measures infestation properly.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Well I'm entering year 11 of totally TF, have yet to lose a colony to varroa

what about all those that die 'naturally' every few years?

 

[deemann1]

What hive format are you using standard brood ?
Probably not enough bees in there to keep the hive temperature correct . Were they late splits by any chance

 

[pargyle]

He didn’t say how he was measuring though unless he counted natural drop which is inaccurate.
I’ve had negligible natural drop followed by 100s after a vape.
Ask @pargyle who is TF how he measures infestation properly.

I think JBM is on the money ... you really have to be on top of varroa coming in to autumn ...if there's a significant infestation (properly measured with sugar rolls) the risk is the colony will be weakened and they will dwindle (very quickly if there are not enough winter bees being produced as well). The drop on the varroa board is one step above useless as an indicator of mite levels.

There is no significant risk from vaping with OA. It's the one treatment that bees seem to take totally in their stride - I've never seen any signs of stress when I've vaped colonies (not mine - my colonies are TF). It's not fumes .. it's a sublimate - a very fine powder. It's largely inert - it does not work as a chemical poison as such ... here is the best explanation of how it works that I've come across:

https://oxavap.com/pictures/

 

[madasafish]

My experience of people losing bees in full size hives is poor varroa management accounts for almost all cases, with a few running out of stores. And treating later than August /early September means winter bees will be weakened by varroa.
I have vaped since 2015 and have failed to kill any colonies that way.. I have tried hard but failed.. far safer than thymol based treatments where overdosing kills.


I know several TF beekeepers: they just don't quote honey yields so I assume they are poor. If good I would expect to hear about it.

 

[pargyle]

I know several TF beekeepers: they just don't quote honey yields so I assume they are poor. If good I would expect to hear about it.

330 lbs this year from 7 production hives ... all have always been treatment free. Plus I left them with enough honey in the brood box to have only very small top ups with Invertbee needed. 14 x 12 hives ...in an urban environment. Above average within my association.

 

[Beesnaturally]

My experience of people losing bees in full size hives is poor varroa management accounts for almost all cases, with a few running out of stores. And treating later than August /early September means winter bees will be weakened by varroa.
I have vaped since 2015 and have failed to kill any colonies that way.. I have tried hard but failed.. far safer than thymol based treatments where overdosing kills.


I know several TF beekeepers: they just don't quote honey yields so I assume they are poor. If good I would expect to hear about it.

My back of envelope study indicates a (TF) per-production hive average of around 130lb last season. I'd guess +/- 10 or 15% would capture the true figure.

It was a great sunny year, and I got a good early crop and a good late crop. Things to bear in mind:

I encouraged them to build with early fondant, made sure the queen had room to lay in, and gave new frames in the middle of the brood nest (starter strip) once they were under way. I mostly managed swarming.

On the other side I replaced quite a lot of comb in lifts, and made them fetch the energy to build it all out (on foundation).

There was no crop chasing.

A yield competition needs to take many things into account.

 

[pargyle]

A yield competition needs to take many things into account.

As the learned Finnish member would say .... it's all about the forage. You can have the best bees in the world but a crop will only be as good as what they have available to forage on.

Mine deliver to me what they deliver, I don't go out of my way to make them build up earlier than they want to, I don't move them to take advantage of any crops such as rape or borage in the area. They are a hobby which, to some great extent these days, pays for itself and what will be will be ...

 

[madasafish]

Thanks for the yield replies.
I treat and average c 55lb per hive.
That appears to be upper range round here but in Cheshire - 10 miles away and 100 meters lower down 150 lbs appears achievable.
Summer usually ceases here first week July when the rain starts

 

[Curly green finger's]

I would have taken the varroa boards out. The one time I left one in on a poly hive there was water in the hive, can't remember the details, but it was enough to make mental note not to do that again.

The key is to put it under the floor , leaving the runners out works .

 

[SWEET]

3 of my 5 hives have died during the recent cold spell, as I discovered today. 2 are poly, the other wood all with plenty of insulation above the crown boards. There were no signs of life at the entrances so looked in at the transparent crown boards to find them dead.

Plenty of stores on the frames near to the centres, but apparently they died of cold and/or starvation. No signs of disease.

How old were the queens? - I've seen stocks re-queen late in the year and the lack of winter bees ends in doom.

I've an apidea (with 2nd brood box) doing just fine sat in the garden with zero insulation, it was -12 here a few weeks back. Healthy bees are hard as nails.

 

[SWEET]

That little Apidea is flying today !

 

[pargyle]

I've seen stocks re-queen late in the year and the lack of winter bees ends in doom.

Yes ... I've come across that - I've had one colony that was a very late swarm that I missed and the queen left behind never really got going until very late in the season and the resultant small colony was insufficient to build up the winter bee numbers ... they eventually disappeared altogether and I suspect whatever was left begged their way into another colony. There have been numerous reports of early queen failures .., Roger Patterson has been banging this drum for a few years now and I think it's more common than we know ... we tend to blame every failure on either starvation or varroa but I think there's more to some colony failures ....

In my case, I should have combined them or put them into a dummied down Nuc. HIndsight is such a wonderful science isn't it ?