Hive survival over winter

[ericbeaumont]

admit a colony starved

I'll hold my hand up: stronger than I estimated, produced a lot of honey and two splits last summer and ate all stores before Christmas. Two more: queen failures, one of which has a virgin mooching about. Total losses 3 out of 71 (so far). Some are putting on weight.

 

[oxnatbees]

I went to Oxford University.

I learnt whilst I was there (only a few hours), that it is a very wealthy place. I think the answers are all in the link you provided. Lots of ivy in the autumn (nice valley to grow it) with the workers packing out the areas in the nest where the queen could lay. ....then not enough bees and winter bees. Perhaps being wealthy, the local beeks were more likely to spend money on sugar syrup and feed to make sure the bees didn't starve, but didn't take into account the bumper ivy flow?
https://theoxfordmagazine.com/news/...-in-pwcs-annual-good-growth-for-cities-index/

On the contrary - pretty much no one in our group feeds.

As far as I know, the local BKA doesn't do any such analysis, which is a shame as it would give an interesting contrasting dataset to compare the results of the approaches.

 

[Antipodes]

pretty much no one in our group feeds.

Is that a Warre hive group or a treatment free group? The losses are in line with others?
I wonder if anyone can make sense of a graph to see if one can tell where the ivy grows more abundantly ...is it particularly prolific in that area? A hive packed with stores but fewer bees is more likely to succumb to cooler valley weather? Mind you, I don't remember it being in what I'd call a valley, but I guess it's relative.
https://plantatlas2020.org/atlas/2cd4p9h.95p1tn

 

[Paulypaul]

We have seen over the last week or two those who are too eager to jump in already and even some have done so, it is far too early to fiddle . Demeree and Bailey change /feeding all ready been mentioned and itching to fiddle.
The only fiddling to be done is to fiddle exteranlly by watching and fiddling with your thumbs . Hefting is the most fiddling I do and every fortnight now we are in to brood rearing. The ramping up of bees emerging, as it is now onwards that stores will deminish and the colonies become lighter.

I'm one of those over eager itchy fiddlers. Thankfully, I've held back and only added more fondant to colonies that heft light.
So far, all 7 of my colonies are alive. They've been bringing in plenty of pollen since mid-Jan, so I'm hoping for plenty of brood when nectar starts flowing.

 

[user 11159]

you get over it .[eager itchy fiddlers]i fed fondant to a last years swarm that was light .do as you see fit .

 

[Swarm]

There is probably a fair amount of brood already What you don't want to do is leave it late because 'it's a bit too cold' and find a bunch of swarm cells on first inspection.

 

[madasafish]

Now lost 1 out of 17.
Best result for a decade

Some losses on nearby moors around 50%

 

[Curly green finger's]

There is probably a fair amount of brood already What you don't want to do is leave it late because 'it's a bit too cold' and find a bunch of swarm cells on first inspection.

There is, some of my mini nucs have gone from a small patch of brood to laying up frames.

 

[BeeBelle]

Thanks so much for all your honest replies, super reassuring!

 

[Newbeeneil]

Thanks so much for all your honest replies, super reassuring!

No point in being dishonest about losses. I would only be lying to myself and showing my honesty about my losses hopefully prompts others to be honest about theirs.

 

[Nik]

Lost two so far. One was a failing queen in autumn that I should have combined, the other I haven't looked into in detail yet but looks like a failed queen, it was a swarm from last year that I didn't re-queen. Fondant going on lots of them at the moment.

 

[masterBK]

Not lost a colony from starvation in decades (don't tend to see isolation starvation if wintering on double BCs as bees can get to all the combs via the bee space between the boxes) but I do get up to 4 losses most years (from 23 to 30 wintered colonies) due to late supersedures that don't get mated resulting in dwindling colonies with drone layers when first inspected in spring.

 

[Nannysbees]

At the moment all five colonies out and about when the sun briefly shines!!!! Had four hives all flying going into spring last year, we were delighted until the first inspection, two of those were drone laying, never know what's going on until inspection.

 

[user 819]

Simply having drones is no indication of anything untowards happenng.

 

[Wingy]

There is probably a fair amount of brood already What you don't want to do is leave it late because 'it's a bit too cold' and find a bunch of swarm cells on first inspection.

That exact scenario caught a few on the back foot last year. I’m monitoring the debris under the hives at present finding more and more brood capings and still munching through stores.

I’ve lost 4 out of 30 (full colonies) so far all 5 Nuc’s doing ok

 

[Swarm]

I can remember inspecting mid March in the not too distant past, in 2010 we had a very warm and sunny February, T shirt weather. Last year and the year before, there were ample drones in the hives and swarm cells by the end of a cold April.

 

[Curly green finger's]

I can remember inspecting mid March in the not too distant past, in 2010 we had a very warm and sunny February, T shirt weather. Last year and the year before, there were ample drones in the hives and swarm cells by the end of a cold April.

First swarm April 20 th last year