Hi Farbee, not the one that had the holiday in Kent, it is doing very well (or appears to be) Hope yours are all well and you had a good year.
MM have already binned them or would have taken you up on the offer, if I can get to them on Tuesday I may send a sample of what remains, I plan to make a mating hive up and try to save the queen....but seriously don't think there is much hope with only a small handful...shame to waste a queen.
They had all been tested going into Autumn and were fine but I understand when getting stressed nosema can kick in quite quickly.
It was just the fact they were split away on empty frames and had full ones next to them yet nothing on them.
My others seem fine, even a nuc that I was expecting to be struggling surprised me with the volume of bees across top of frames and quite active.
Small colonies can survive over the winter but the key to it is to make sure your emergency mini hive is very well insulated ... but ...
Was there any sign of Nosema Apis in the hive (defecation on the frames,landing board etc ?) ... if so then it's Apis.
If not then it could be Nosema Ceranae ... there is evidence that colonies that have contracted Ceranae are more susceptible to the effect of pesticides and sudden collapse is often the only visible symptom. It often is a slow build up and a slower hive (poor foragers, lower brood levels) is an early warning but not always noticeable.
One of the downsides of Ceranae is that it is less affected by heat and is more affected by cold (as you would expect when you consider where it comes from !).
So ... if it is Ceranae ... and MM's offer to do the microscopy should be taken up ASAP ... then you may be fighting a losing battle - small colonies ideally need warmth over winter ... but a colder environment will help reduce the viable spores of Ceranae ... Indeed, recent studies have shown that Ceranae spores can actually be killed by freezing (unlike Apis) but ... as the spores are in the bees gut it really won't help. The queen in a colony with Ceranae tends to be only become infected in the terminal stages of the collapse so ... earlier in the year ...introducing her to a starter colony would have been an option but it's a bit late for messing about.
There is little that can be done at this stage as there are no realistic remedies at this time of the year... Fumagillin B has been found to assist but it is fed in syrup like HM's thymol treatment but you would be lucky to get them to take down syrup now ?
Perhaps someone else will be able to advise once you know if there is Nosema there - but, it's not a good prognosis if they have it.
Lastly, there is still a lot to find out about Ceranae ... it's a lot rarer in the UK than it's cousin Apis and we don't have a full understanding of a lot of things about it ... we are not even sure how it gets transferred from bee to bee ... and it's obviously less likely to infect your other colonies as it does tend to be less easily transferred.
