No bees

[IBeeZac]

Hello wonderful experts.

I’ve just completed my first hive inspection to find a significant amount on honey (2x full supers) but only a handful of clearly dead mouldy bees. On one of the supers.

The brood box had a handful of leaves and was missing big chunks of comb. Wasp/mouse guards left in over winter and mesh floor seems intact.

Last year this seemed to be a very strong hive with a very strong honey crop.

Two questions:
What do you think has killed them?
What should I do or how should I prepare the hive to take the new bees?

Thanks. Even my wife who hates all things bee feels sad and is looking forward to getting them back again.

 

[pargyle]

Possibly a shrew has caused the damage. Your mouseguards - where were they sited ? Shrews are capable of getting through a smaller hole than a mouse -if's definitely been the winter quarters of a rodent of some sort. You have a WBC - could there already have been a mouse in residence ?

I suspect the colony was weak otherwise they would have evicted or killed a rodent - although leaving two supers in place you have created a massive space for them to maintain and defend. What did you do about varroa pre-winter ? There are reported high losses over winter this year and there are lots of reasons for colony failure.

Without more information you may never know what really happened but it did. Clean it up and move on - I would either burn the frames and thoroughly clean and scorch the boxes or clear out the wax and boil the frames in washing soda to re-use them. You really don't want the possibility of rodent faeces and urine left in there.

With only one colony your options are limited - buy a nuc, find someone who is selling a complete colony to buy, build a swarm trap and hope for the best ...

**** happens, put it behind you and move on.

 

[drex]

Like Pargyle says, a small colony in a big big space. You have definitely had a rodent nesting in there ( hence the leaves). It is way too early to be opening colonies as well. In the heat wave last week it was very tempting but, sure enough, this week is going to be cold again.

I would chuck the brood frames, scorch the box. If no evidence of rodent activity the supers will help feed your next colony.

Get reading and a good mentor. Colony loss is sad but happens to us all. Hope it has not put you off

 

[Martin S]

Is that the edge of a queen excluder in the second picture?

 

[IBeeZac]

@pargyle
Thanks. Mouse guards were at the wbc entrance, I didn’t notice any rodent activity when I did my final pre-winter check in October.

Didn’t realise too much space was a bad thing - I thought I was being good leaving loads of honey to keep them going. Lesson learned. Just a brood box next year? I was running them as a brood and a half all season as the hive was so full.

Varoa strips went in after last honey harvest and came out in last inspection. They were in for about 6 weeks.

I think this is a good excuse to get another colony and create a split next year!

@drex
I will replace brood frames with new nuc and some spares I have. Trusty blowtorch on the inside of the brood box? I guess not burning it completely though?!? Better to get a new brood box?

I only opened because I hefted and couldn’t hear any activity gave it a good jiggle and still nothing. Gives me time to sort things out before gettting a new nuc in.

Some super frames have spots of mould on them I assume this is because it’s been damp in there. What is the done thing with these?

A good mentor is hard to find. Neither local BKAs have responded to my enquiries so I’m doing my best with what I can and the wonderful people of this forum!

@Martin S
Yes it is - good spot! I stored it on top of the top super, under the crown board for safe keeping over winter.


Thanks again all for reading this and helping out!

 

[pargyle]

If you had the mouseguards on the WBC entrance I suspect that either a rodent was already in there when you put the guards on or they found a way in through the lifts ... I'd have a good look to see if there are any small gaps in the lifts - anywhere - right up to the roof level mice and shrews are very good climbers and can get through a gap the height of a pencil. You don't need to burn the boxes - I'd give them a good wash with a bleach solution and then when they are dry ... take your blowtorch to them, You don't need to get to the point where the wood is charred - just run the flame over the insides. If you have one of those fitrments that go on the end of the blowtorch for stripping paint that turn the flame into a fan rather than a point they are ideal.

If you treated properly for varroa and they were strong going into winter and there were only a few bees left - then you may have had a faiing queen .... there's a lot of that about - and the colony dwindled. The rodent could well have had a few meals of dead bees ... were there any bee bits left on the floor ?.