my hive that wasnt taking down syrup..

[biglongdarren]

i had a hive that wasnt taking down any syrup at all,the weather wasnt great any time i was up to look inside,but there always seemed to be bees flying,i tried both rapid and contact feeders and still nothing.
Different people said they could be queenless so on wednesday past there i opened them up,there was only around 3-4 frames of bees in the whole hive with very little stores,i seen eggs brood and the queen so i shut up and went home and made up a nuc.
Yesterday i went up and placed the few frames with the eggs and brood and queen in the new nuc along with maybe a frame and a half of stores they had,and placed on a new contact feeder with new slighty warm fresh syrup on top, am hoping now that with them in there new smaller cosy home they might start feeding,if not i'll take a few frames of stores from my other hives and give to them or maybe just stick on some fondant now with them????.
is there anything more i can do for them? or is it a lost cause?
Darren

 

[Vergilius]

Try fondant slapped right on top of the frames...

Ben P

 

[biglongdarren]

just back from looking there now and they havent touched the new syrup either,what would the reason be for this??if its nosema or something like that how would i treat if i cant get it into them?
i'll try the fondant on in the next few days.
Darren

 

[itma]

i had a hive that wasnt taking down any syrup at all...
Different people said they could be queenless so on wednesday past there i opened them up,there was only around 3-4 frames of bees in the whole hive with very little stores,i seen eggs brood and the queen so i shut up and went home and made up a nuc.
... am hoping now that with them in there new smaller cosy home they might start feeding,if not i'll take a few frames of stores from my other hives and give to them or maybe just stick on some fondant now with them????.
is there anything more i can do for them? or is it a lost cause?
Darren

What's the history of this colony? Any clues how it could have got to be like this?

Have you considered disease, and had some bees examined?
Treating any disease found would be one way forward.
And, I may be wrong, but I'd be in no hurry to re-use that hive (and its spare comb) until the question of disease was eliminated.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

 

[Swarm]

It could be a number of things besides disease too. Why do so many on this forum dive straight in with doom and gloom replies?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Not doom and gloom just agreeing that all possibilities should be investigated it's getting late in the year so not much time left to sort them out and i think it's better safe than sorry

 

[itma]

What's the history of this colony? Any clues how it could have got to be like this?

Have you considered disease, and had some bees examined?
Treating any disease found would be one way forward.
And, I may be wrong, but I'd be in no hurry to re-use that hive (and its spare comb) until the question of disease was eliminated.

It could be a number of things besides disease too. Why do so many on this forum dive straight in with doom and gloom replies?

If that is a "doom and gloom reply", what does a request for more information look like?
Why do so many on this forum dive straight in with unhelpful comments?

 

[Swarm]

Because some come here insisting they are novice keepers and then proceed to post endless advice, maybe?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Hmm - I thought the idea of a forum was that everyone could share knowledge/ideas/concerns/observations regardless of their level of competency with the hope that someone else could benefit.
Better shut me mouth from now on then

 

[Hebeegeebee]

Have you done any tests for disease by any chance?
Bad Nosema might cause such a symptom I understand but I haven't seen it myself. Hivemakers Thymol feed or Fumidil B in the feed would be effective - once they started to take it. (Use a contact feeder).
However it is now nearly November so they may well have to take their chances. I guess thymol in fondant is possible?

 

[itma]

It could be a number of things besides disease too.

Well that's not really terribly helpful advice to anyone.
What do you believe would be the most likely cause of a queenright colony, weak in numbers, seemingly dwindling and without stores, not taking feed? (Its specific to this colony, so its not the weather, or the local environment.)
If you have suggestions as to what Darren should be doing or checking, why aren't you making them?

Why do so many on this forum dive straight in with doom and gloom replies?

Why do so many on this forum dive straight in with unhelpful comments?

Because some come here insisting they are novice keepers and then proceed to post endless advice, maybe?

RIGHT !!
So you ARE 'playing the man rather than the ball'.


I am fearfully keen to learn the real-life practicalities of beekeeping, as quickly as I possibly can, now that the stars have aligned so that I am able to have bees, after about 30 years or so of unstructured accumulation of odd scraps of bee-lore, because "one day..."
I want to build and test my knowledge, and doing both on this forum fits with my current lifestyle of lots of small fragments of time. And its a much faster way of getting up to speed (and less potentially damaging) than my trying something on my bees, and seeing what happens in a year or three.
If you want a personal apology for the number of my posts, I have to inform you that you won't get one.
If you should happen to think that I have posted anything that I should apologise to the forum for, though I'd be astonished, please point it out on the relevant thread, and I will readily acknowledge any error of my ways.

But if you ever think I've got something wrong in my understanding of bees and beekeeping, I (and I'm sure the rest of the forum) would be absolutely delighted to learn your different opinion and weigh that against whatever else I (and we) have picked up from wherever.
I'm here to learn - and that includes learning what I've got wrong, and in particular learning what I didn't know that I didn't know!
I will ask questions. (As on this thread)
And if I think I can help others, and I have the time, I'd like to try and help them - but if I've got something wrong, we'll both learn from the correction.
I can't see that requiring any apology.

However, I'm not going to waste my time feeding would-be trolls making misguided personal attacks.



So, to return to the question at hand, what do you think, on the basis of the evidence provided, might be more likely than that this colony is diseased?
I think that sounds like something that needs to be considered and investigated (and then hopefully eliminated) - do you disagree? If so, why?
I really would like to know.

Why would you think it a bad idea to quarantine (if not flame sterilise) the now-vacant hive and frames, at least until the question of disease is resolved?
Again, I really would like to know.

 

[Swarm]

Sorry got bored after the first sentence.....

 

[itma]

And I now have an 'Ignore' list.

 

[biglongdarren]

hey all,the colony was a new queen that was mated in july,the colony seemed to be okay before i stopped doing full inspections maybe a few months ago now.
all i have done was treated for varroa with apiguard,i had fumidil b in there feed but sure they didnt take it.
all my other hives seem fine,should i just slap some fondant on and leave them till it and see what happens??
Darren

 

[Chris B]

I think the most likely scenario is a dud queen. Darren, are there any drones in the colony? If yes then 99% sure the bees know she's a dud too. If no drones then maybe it is nosema bringing them down. Vita Gold (and no doubt other concoctions produced and home-made) can be dribbled on the frames (see instructions for dosage) where the bees will take it. It's "Red Bull for bees". I have heard it's also effective against nosema but can't personally vouch for that claim, but I know good beekeepers who use it for that reason.

 

[biglongdarren]

no the queen is laying away,no drones. there is eggs and brood all okay..i'll look into this vital gold stuff..thanks Darren

 

[Swarm]

Right I dragged myself back to read the rest ....

Would be troll? Revisit your hurtful attacking posts regarding Bees4u for one.......You do not have the right to start calling a forum member names ... again and again. That is an example of trolling.
Regarding Huntsman666 and more from your box of sniping remarks. Perhaps you should not comment unless you are aware of stuff that went on before your membership began.

After your thirty years of reading perhaps you've gained an inordinate amount of knowledge, I've no idea but you've certainly misunderstood my post haven't you?

You are now asking me what is wrong with a hive of bees I've never seen. My answer .. I don't know ... How would I? I've not seen them nor heard any detailed info about them and I think it would be far more sensible to find out these details before jumping to conclusions. One thing I would not do is alarm somebody who is already obviously worried, with talk of disease.

"RIGHT!!'
You ARE playing the man rather than the ball"
Was that your attempt at intimidation? .... Got to say that had me quaking in my boots LOL

 

[Swarm]

hey all,the colony was a new queen that was mated in july,the colony seemed to be okay before i stopped doing full inspections maybe a few months ago now.
all i have done was treated for varroa with apiguard,i had fumidil b in there feed but sure they didnt take it.
all my other hives seem fine,should i just slap some fondant on and leave them till it and see what happens??
Darren

She was laying in July or mating flight in July?
How many covered frames of brood before the new queen?
You stopped doing inspections a few months ago? When? It's only just over two months ago.

I'm not one to think disease before ruling out other things. I had a weak nuc and the symptoms you describe are similar (except mine was a 5 frame nuc). I was concerned they were building up too slowly and was going to give them a frame of brood but they'd decided to supersede in the meantime, making them even weaker and I had no idea if the new queen was viable.

I'd put them into the nuc and give them a frame or two of capped stores if you have any spare.

 

[MuswellMetro]

hey all,the colony was a new queen that was mated in july,the colony seemed to be okay before i stopped doing full inspections maybe a few months ago now.
all i have done was treated for varroa with apiguard,i had fumidil b in there feed but sure they didnt take it.
all my other hives seem fine,should i just slap some fondant on and leave them till it and see what happens??
Darren

one of my colonys refused to take fumadil b in syrup earlier this year, tried dilute, strong, thymol, lemon grass.....not a lot taken down

repsorted to 5~% honey mixed with the syrup......they wolfed it down and then took straight fumidil B on the next feed without a problem

i think they just dont like the taste of fumidil B and it is a quite common problem