Zante
Field Bee
- Joined
- Feb 22, 2016
- Messages
- 683
- Reaction score
- 0
- Location
- Near Florence, Italy
- Hive Type
- Dadant
- Number of Hives
- 2
One of my two colonies I just found dead. They were still alive in mid December when I hefted the hive, I could hear them buzzing.
The one right next to them was just fine with the fondant untouched. Since it's a fairly warm day today I decided to open up very quickly and check.
The live colony is active and seems to be going well, at least from what I could see from the bees crawling on the top bars. I closed up and was happy with that.
The dead one was still clustered. They were right next to stores both on the same frames and the next ones, so it wasn't starvation. The cluster did seem a bit small though, maybe the size of a tennis ball.
Where should I look to see what might have killed them?
Shall I split the live colony into that hive when the time comes, or melt the wax and sterilise the wood and start over?
The one right next to them was just fine with the fondant untouched. Since it's a fairly warm day today I decided to open up very quickly and check.
The live colony is active and seems to be going well, at least from what I could see from the bees crawling on the top bars. I closed up and was happy with that.
The dead one was still clustered. They were right next to stores both on the same frames and the next ones, so it wasn't starvation. The cluster did seem a bit small though, maybe the size of a tennis ball.
Where should I look to see what might have killed them?
Shall I split the live colony into that hive when the time comes, or melt the wax and sterilise the wood and start over?