Isolation Starvation

[Beedogg]

A friend of mine has a colony in my apiary that has died out through what I assess was Isolation Starvation. What remained of the cluster was all dead in one corner of an empty DN frame, including the poor queen. What surprised me (as a beginner helping him diagnose the loss) was the sheer weight of stores left in the BB. There were two or three DN frames of 90% capped stores (pollen mouldy but honey intact) and, apart from the frame on which the cluster had died, almost all of the other frames had a good arc of capped stores covering perhaps 40% of each frame. I'd say that the total wieght of the box was more than 10kg. So plenty of stores on adjacent frames. What he hadn't done was feed them any fondant and so all of the stores were on the same level, none were above the cluster. I'm guessing that the cold snap of a few weeks ago meant that the cluster was confined to just a couple of frames and that once they'd eaten those stores they couldn't get up and move to the adjacent frames.

So my question is: what can be done to minimise the risk of this happening? I'm guessing that proper winter feeding including fondant above the brood nest may be part of the answer? Anything else?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

fondant alone doesn't indicate 'proper' winter feeding and should be used as an end of winter 'emergency' top up, not just slapped on at the end of autumn just in case - if you feed them well with syrup in the autumn, they don't need it. There may well be other reasons for the colony's demise. How strong was the colony? was there a big pile of dead bees under the remains of the cluster? or had the colony just dwindled to the point that it couldn't survive?
Amongst the questions I would ask is, what varroa treatment did you use in the autumn? and when exactly did you treat? How old was the queen? was there evidence of any brood?

 

[Erichalfbee]

Isolation starvation occurs because the bees dwindle to such small numbers that they can’t keep themselves warm
The answer is to make sure the colony is strong and healthy going into winter

 

[philipm]

Happened to me when I first started,I learnt that its better to have one strong colony going into winter than two weak ones.I would now merge them if the same happened again.

 

[philipm]

I extracted the stores and we used it for cooking.Not much different than cheap honey from lidl full of sugar syrup.

 

[Parsonage Bees]

I've seen a conclusive case of isolation starvation and . . it was my fault. Left an eek (inserted to treat with Apiguard) between a brood box and a brood box of honey. We looked down the field and thought "They've got masses of stores. They're fine" and left them. They died 5cm away from a full brood box of honey. There were 5-6 frames covered in dead mouldy bees, heads in cells, and a pile of bees on the floor.

What you're describing may be isolation starvation but they also dwindled to a size where they couldn't move across.

 

[Ian123]

Very much what others have already said isolation may have finished them off, but in a lot of circumstances other factors have been at play.
Strong colonies if you are feeding fondant ensure it’s in contact with the cluster.

 

[ericbeaumont]

I'm guessing

If you supply answers to JBM's 7 questions a better understanding of the root cause will emerge. There will be other beekeepers in a similar predicament seeking answers.

 

[Beedogg]

Thanks everyone.

To answer JBM's questions:

• I'm pretty sure that he gave no varroa treatment in the autumn.
• The queen was a 2nd year queen that I'd given him in the Spring.
• His colony had built-up well from May onwards last year (despite very little attention) and he had taken off about 10 kg of honey in the autumn. I don't think he'd fed them after that, although it was urged. I think that the most polite way of describing the colony management would be 'hands off' - I'm choosing my words carefully because he's a good friend of mine.
• There was some evidence of some capped brood on the dead-out frames which looked to me like worker brood.
• There were surprisingly few dead bees on the floor (a cup-full, maybe) and a smallish cluster of dead bees on the frame including, sadly, the queen I'd given him.
• My casual observation of the volume of activity outside his hive vs mine on warmer days in the run-up to winter and over New Year was that at first his had more-or-less the same number of flying bees in evidence as mine did. As winter progressed I noticed less and less from his hive and indeed I began to suspect that at the end the bees I saw on his landing board were probably mine robbing. That said, the volume of stores remaining in his hive suggests that the level of robbing was quite limited, if at all.
• The only other oddity was that was considerable damage to the entrance that appeared to be chewing/pecking (I posted separately on this). Yet there was not evidence of anything having gained entrance and no mice living there. My own hives which are just next door to his showed no such evidence. The damage be unconnected with the demise of his colony.

So I suspect, therefore, that it may well have been that the colony went into winter fairly weak, un-treated for varroa and was simply not strong enough to survive.

I can only really compare his colony to my three (and I'm very much a beginner going into my 3rd year) and I'd say that two of mine were quite strong going into winter. The other was a little weaker. I'd put fondant on all three in January as the hive weights began to drop. They all appear to be OK thus far, fingers crossed.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

So I suspect, therefore, that it may well have been that the colony went into winter fairly weak, un-treated for varroa and was simply not strong enough to survive.

It's what I would put my money on, acute varroasis compromising the winter bees on an already weak colony combined with a possibly failing queen.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Ditto

 

[The Poot]

I think you should have a “proper chat“ with your friend, if he wants to continue sharing your apiary, or you risk your colonies as a result of his lack of care.

 

[madasafish]

I think you should have a “proper chat“ with your friend, if he wants to continue sharing your apiary, or you risk your colonies as a result of his lack of care.

I think you are being far too polite.

 

[ericbeaumont]

To answer JBM's questions

Thanks for that comprehensive answer, BD.

Dr. JBM has given the post-mortem result, but DCI Poot's warning of the risk of repeat offending is worth savouring. Your friend must either buck up and begin to learn or find another apiary, and unless he acknowledges that, you must find a way to tell him.

PS: if your colonies robbed his failing colony when it was weak but alive, the varroa will have hitched a ride back to yours. If this is so, consider a spring varroa treatment.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

if your colonies robbed his failing colony when it was weak but alive, the varroa will have hitched a ride back to yours. If this is so, consider a spring varroa treatment.