Lost hive

[terry jones]

I feared the worst a week ago when I checked both my hives. The one had very few bees and were not taking any feed. I checked again yesterday and they were dead. I feel it was my fault to some extent not reducing the hive with a dummy board but they so much by the way of stores (5 frames) I felt it best to leave them access to it. With no activity yesterday I opened up the hive and there are still 3 x full frames of stores left. Cleary they have staved because there was a number of bees with there heads in the cells of the empty frames. Hoping my other hive servives.

Q. Is it OK to feed the frames of stores to my other hive(score a few of the cells open first)

 

[Luminos]

Very sorry to hear about your bees, TJ

 

[terry jones]

Thanks luminos. I was oviously lucky last year, should have taken more notice after they stopped taking in feed.
hopefully learn from the experience. Feel gutted at the moment

 

[Silly Bee]

It happens, they stave even when food is available, sometimes they don't move onto the full frames if it gets to cold.

 

[drstitson]

were they in a nuc or a full hive?

5 frames of stores plus bees = a nuc

should have either been in a poly nuc or as you say dummied down with plenty of insulation.

 

[Heather]

So sorry, but I bet the first of many such reports this Spring..

I would not use those frames for the other hives just in case there was any disease that exacerbated their demise. Block up the entrance of the dead hive for now to prevent robbing too.

 

[Chris B]

The last few bees may have starved but the fact is they either dwindled or failed to build, so the real problem is something else. Queen problem, varroa or nosema would be the chief suspects. Can you post a picture of a frame from the brood nest? Was there a brood nest even?
A dummy board wouldn't have made any difference. Healthy bees are hardy enough to survive if they have stores, and unhealthy ones will dwindle anyway. Don't beat yourself up about it. A dummy board would only have provided better insulation and therefore slowed consumption of stores.

 

[Fahey]

I lost one last week, just the same as you Terry, small cluster with loads of stores, thought about transferring them into a nuc when I was treating with oxalic. Should have done so when I think back, probably the cluster was too small to keep the temp up and so they died of the cold. Next time I see a small cluster (in winter), I will transfer them to a poly nuc regardless of the outside temp. Should have put them in the shed even, it really froze up here(Cumbria) the week before last. Another steep learning curve.

 

[itma]

... I feel it was my fault to some extent not reducing the hive with a dummy board but they so much by the way of stores (5 frames) I felt it best to leave them access to it. ...

I don't understand why you would think that "dummying down", (ideally with an insulated divider rather than a true dummy board), would deny the bees access to their stores.
Could you perhaps explain?

 

[itma]

I would not use those frames for the other hives just in case there was any disease that exacerbated their demise. Block up the entrance of the dead hive for now to prevent robbing too.

The last few bees may have starved but the fact is they either dwindled or failed to build, so the real problem is something else. Queen problem, varroa or nosema would be the chief suspects.

Was there an already-known reason why this was a small/weak colony?

If it was a late swarm (or split) or for some other reason you *knew* why they were understrength, then that confidence might lead you to sharing their stores around.
However, if it was a poorly colony going in to winter, I'd preserve the evidence and call in help to diagnose just what had happened, before thinking of spreading anything around.
And I'd be looking for help from a 'thinking' beekeeper, rather than someone with a laissez-faire attitude based on "letting the bees get on with it" for the last twenty years ... to learn from the experience, you have to understand what happened and why.

 

[terry jones]

In my defence -
The dummy board referred to reducing the empty space and insulating better.
The hive was a full national
The hive was a result of a June artificial swarm that never really built up past 5 frames

Terry

 

[VEG]

Dont beat yourself up about it. It happens, just learn from it and move on. I would say that most beekeepers have had this happen at some time or another. You can give them feed but cant make them eat it.
You say it was from an artificial swarm was this the part with the old queen in?

 

[terry jones]

The original queen went into the lost hive (but she was a 2011 good layer)

 

[VEG]

the last few years haven't been good for getting queens mated.

 

[terry jones]

I had better just add that -
yes they were treated with apiguard for 4 weeks
Yes they were treated with oxylic in December.(very low drop on both hives)

 

[VEG]

I would take a sample and send them off just incase.

 

[drstitson]

"The hive was a result of a June artificial swarm that never really built up past 5 frames"

probably could've done with being dummied down/insulated from the outset.

 

[richardbees]

"The original queen went into the lost hive "

OK, she just ran out of eggs and better that hive than the other with the new Q!
imo you could put the frames of stores in the other hive but be cautious - we're coming up to the time when the Q needs copious empty comb for the Spring build-up.
(You're right and should have closed up the colony with a dummy board before going into the winter)

 

[MJBee]

IMHO a lesson to hoist aboard is:-

The queen right half of an artificial swarm should romp away and be a full hive in a matter of weeks. If it doesn't try and find out why - old/poor queen, nosema, varroa load. If they still do not build up then regicide and unite with the other half of the AS.