Is this dysentery?

[BugsInABox]

I'm hoping you'll tell me normal at this time of year after/during a cold snap - only noticed it this week. They had some thymolised syrup in the Autumn.
I've gone inside to give them some fondant. Inside I suspect they are close to the end :-(. Prety small clsuter over 3 combs. There are some stores but away from them. I new they were ligth and have had some fondnat on them since November, but after coming up for it initially they stopped a month ago - and the hole up to it today is quite a way from the cluster remnant. Today I've gone in and suspended a container of fondant from a bar as close to the clustrer as I can get it but I'm not hopeful - especially if this is dissentry. Given them some extra insulation too.
I've posted another pic of a frame with some remining stores on: below the capped stuff is the stuff below fermented nectar. There is a single dead bee, head into a cell, at the top of this comb, didnt get it in the picture. :-(

Anythign I can do for dysentery, if that it is, at this time of year?
Neil
BIAB

 

[drex]

I would not worry about that amount of poo, especially since it is outside the hive. What you are calling fermented nectar I think is pollen with a layer of honey on top.
I cannot understand what you have said about the container of fondant and its position. Personally I would just put a rolled out slab straight on top of the top bars in a thin eke. I would not be moving frames about ( to suspend your fondant container?) at this time of year, especially with a small colony.

 

[BugsInABox]

I would not worry about that amount of poo, especially since it is outside the hive. What you are calling fermented nectar I think is pollen with a layer of honey on top.
I cannot understand what you have said about the container of fondant and its position. Personally I would just put a rolled out slab straight on top of the top bars in a thin eke. I would not be moving frames about ( to suspend your fondant container?) at this time of year, especially with a small colony.

Thanks reassuring. It's a tbh so no access above the bars.

 

[pargyle]

Thanks reassuring. It's a tbh so no access above the bars.

That's one of the disadvantages of a TBH. Do you have a feeder ? The best sort in a TBH is a frame feeder ... This is a quick and effective one you can make if you don't have one ... fill it with fondant and if they are short of stores put it in close to the cluster. Should not take more than a few seonds.

https://hollamoor.wordpress.com/2011/08/06/top-bar-hive-feeder/

Firstly, I would check whether they have stores. If you remove the roof and start lifting (just gently) the top bars from the end of the TBH opposite the entrance you should be able to tell by the weight if they are heavy with stores. If a comb is light, check the next one - you don't need to lift them right out .. slide the first top bar along a bit to give you some space, free the top bar at either side and lift it. You will know when a comb is full of stores.

The other serious risk with TBH is isolation starvation. Did you adjust the frames of stores in autumn to make sure they were all in front of the brood nest and not either side of it ? Bees in a TBH or long hive will move along the combs of stores in one direction and may get stuck at one end of the hive when there are plenty of stores at the other but they are reluctant to move to (or not aware of) the stores in the other end.

 

[BugsInABox]

Thanks Pargyle. Lifted the frames as you describe yesterday and all empty or similar to the one photographed - all the way up to the cluster edge, when I stopped lifting. I did sort the frames in the Autumn as you describe but I new they were light after I started autumn syrup late. I've had fondant in them since.
I've bodged a frame type feeder now - just tacked a fast food container to a bar.
but the cluster seems very small.

 

[pargyle]

Thanks Pargyle. Lifted the frames as you describe yesterday and all empty or similar to the one photographed - all the way up to the cluster edge, when I stopped lifting. I did sort the frames in the Autumn as you describe but I new they were light after I started autumn syrup late. I've had fondant in them since.
I've bodged a frame type feeder now - just tacked a fast food container to a bar.
but the cluster seems very small.

It's in the lap of the Gods then ... You have done the best you can ... it's surprising how small clusters can survive - if they can get to the fondant and the cluster is big enough to keep the colony at a liveable temperature they have a chance.

Some TBH beekeepers strap insulation to the outside of the hive for winter as they do tend to be a bit on the cold side as hives go. Similarly, a slab of insulation above the top bars does no harm - even if you need to make a deeper roof to accommodate this.

 

[plain_hunt]

I think what you are calling fermented stores is pollen. That frame looks ok to me as far as I can tell from a photo. Like others say, I wouldn't worry about that at the moment. But I would try and get some fondant as close as possible to the cluster to give them some food they can reach. The weather has taken a turn for the warmer here, so the bees may break their cluster making it easier to get food next to them.

 

[Brewer24]

I have a couple of TBH’s. I cut away an entrance/exit in a couple of topbars. Place a feeder over this in this autumn and let the bee’s find it. Now it has a slab of fondant over the hole with a home made cover in wood (mouse proof) which I check and top up without lifting any frames. This I found to be successful for quite a few years now and haven’t lost a colony from starvation or cold.
The other ideas on feeders placed inside the hive have always given problems of drowning or not be used or taken during the winter.
I have found that it is trial and error and TBH’s give limitations due to the shallow roofs.

 

[BugsInABox]

I have a couple of TBH’s. I cut away an entrance/exit in a couple of topbars. Place a feeder over this in this autumn and let the bee’s find it. Now it has a slab of fondant over the hole with a home made cover in wood (mouse proof) which I check and top up without lifting any frames. This I found to be successful for quite a few years now and haven’t lost a colony from starvation or cold.
The other ideas on feeders placed inside the hive have always given problems of drowning or not be used or taken during the winter.
I have found that it is trial and error and TBH’s give limitations due to the shallow roofs.

Thankyou brewer- what you describe is the set up I had going since the autumn - but after initially coming up to the fondant they stopped about a month ago. When I looked inside it could be because the cluster had moved away from the hole I cut - I'm reluctant to cut another - Hopefully they'll find their way to the sandwich box with the lid half cut away that's hanging next to them now. Fingers crossed.

 

[Brewer24]

Thankyou brewer- what you describe is the set up I had going since the autumn - but after initially coming up to the fondant they stopped about a month ago. When I looked inside it could be because the cluster had moved away from the hole I cut - I'm reluctant to cut another - Hopefully they'll find their way to the sandwich box with the lid half cut away that's hanging next to them now. Fingers crossed.

Got me worried now. There is some mild temperatures coming so I will check to see if they are feeding and still taking the fondant. I should have mentioned that I got hold of some sheep wool (free) and lay this along the top of the bars as well and appears to keep them warm, as well as the odd mouse! I have given them more feed this year than previous so same as you fingers crossed.

 

[pargyle]

I have a couple of TBH’s. I cut away an entrance/exit in a couple of topbars. Place a feeder over this in this autumn and let the bee’s find it. Now it has a slab of fondant over the hole with a home made cover in wood (mouse proof) which I check and top up without lifting any frames. This I found to be successful for quite a few years now and haven’t lost a colony from starvation or cold.
The other ideas on feeders placed inside the hive have always given problems of drowning or not be used or taken during the winter.
I have found that it is trial and error and TBH’s give limitations due to the shallow roofs.

If you use a frame feeder with syrup it does need something for the bees to walk on .. some strips of timber floating in the syrup will do the job or I think JBM suggested some crumpled up pea netting .. anything that allows the bees to climb out of the syrup if they fall in. Roughing up the interior of the frame feeder interior will help - if you paint the inside, add a bit of sand to the paint so they have plenty to hang on to. Fondant feeding in a frame feeder is not a problem, I've never had a bee die in fondant except from overeating !