Now I know how it feels

[Geordie1964]

Well I've just returned from my bees and for the first time I've lost two hives to the winter. They had plenty of food in the frames and the precautionary Ambrosia fondant on the top (belt & braces). Insulated with Celotex and with a moisture quilt above them yet still they didn't make it through. They were not a large colonoy but I thought large enough to make it and with no obvious signs of disease. I'll just have to go through with more care in case I've missed any signs....

 

[maddydog]

Unlucky.

Was there a queen in there? How did the varroa treatments pan out? That's what I'd be asking.

 

[Geordie1964]

Queen found dead in both hives this morning and treated in August with MAQS after taking the honey off, so as I said no obvious signs. So maybe just bad luck in that they got isolated from there stores during the last cold snap and for what ever reason they had lost bees and the colony was no longer large enough to supply enough heat.....

 

[Kenson]

Aw. Sympathy. You obviously did all you could to give them every chance. They are a "Natural creature" and no one can explain why some dogs live to 10 and a sibling live to 20.

It did get very cold, then warm, then very cold, I noticed in the middle (the warm bit) mine went active came up and took some syrup (they had all the solid first) and took it down, the noise from the hive while they were drying it out was very noticeable. Maybe that cold-hot-cold caught yours out.

One other thing occurred to me, did those entrances face east?

 

[user 15607]

Queen found dead in both hives this morning and treated in August with MAQS after taking the honey off, so as I said no obvious signs. So maybe just bad luck in that they got isolated from there stores during the last cold snap and for what ever reason they had lost bees and the colony was no longer large enough to supply enough heat.....

No winter varroa treatment?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Geordie1964]

No I don't treat during the winter unless I need too and there were no signs in the autumn to say they had a heavy mite problem. When I put the fondant on in February they were more than happy, a nice warm day and they were out flying and bringing back pollen from the local snowdrops. Just have to learn from it and move on, already contacted a friend with a few Nucs on Langstroth frames.

 

[Popparand]

Yep. I lost a new nuc, so not a large colony but should have been enough to survive. No signs of varroa and plenty of stores plus fondant. I think the yoyo temperature could have been an issue for us. Hive block in place to make entrance smaller and facing south, celotex under hive roof. Floor is open mesh but I left the yellow thrones varroa inspection board in place - maybe not enough protection from underneath? Are beekies going back to solid floors?

Is this a common experience this winter? I ask because one of our divisional apiaries has reported 2 colonies lost out of 4, and I am assuming that they were properly prepared and looked after.

I'm not forking out another £120 for a replacement nuc, so swarm traps and hives will be going out with attractant lure end of April. Maybe better luck with the fishing!

 

[madasafish]

Yep. I lost a new nuc, so not a large colony but should have been enough to survive. No signs of varroa and plenty of stores plus fondant. I think the yoyo temperature could have been an issue for us. Hive block in place to make entrance smaller and facing south, celotex under hive roof. Floor is open mesh but I left the yellow thrones varroa inspection board in place - maybe not enough protection from underneath? Are beekies going back to solid floors?

Is this a common experience this winter? I ask because one of our divisional apiaries has reported 2 colonies lost out of 4, and I am assuming that they were properly prepared and looked after.

I'm not forking out another £120 for a replacement nuc, so swarm traps and hives will be going out with attractant lure end of April. Maybe better luck with the fishing!

Murray McGregor - who posts as Into The Lions Den reported high demand for nucs.. so probably widespread.

‏

@calluna4u
Mar 24
More
Glorious day here in Perthshire. But...stuck in the office doing various things, including collating info for the next leaflet...... Demand for packages is going silly as people open their hives........240 orders in last 3 days. Now availability is the crunch matter.
http://tinyurl.com/yb9ds622


Heard of someone who lost three out of three...

I lost no main hives - all went into winter strong and treated. But lost two out of four 5 frame nucs (both weakish) and one mini nuc out of four.

 

[mazzamazda]

Yep. I lost a new nuc, so not a large colony but should have been enough to survive. No signs of varroa and plenty of stores plus fondant. I think the yoyo temperature could have been an issue for us. Hive block in place to make entrance smaller and facing south, celotex under hive roof. Floor is open mesh but I left the yellow thrones varroa inspection board in place - maybe not enough protection from underneath? Are beekies going back to solid floors?

Is this a common experience this winter? I ask because one of our divisional apiaries has reported 2 colonies lost out of 4, and I am assuming that they were properly prepared and looked after.

I'm not forking out another £120 for a replacement nuc, so swarm traps and hives will be going out with attractant lure end of April. Maybe better luck with the fishing!

I heard the UK was reporting huge losses a few weeks ago so dont beat yourself up about it. It is always good to know why though, I'd nearly go with varroa if not starved.

 

[philipm]

Yes I've lost one .They decided to requeen late in the year thought they might make it through ,they had plenty of stores but when I looked they had become isolated away from the stores.Whether that was why they died out or it was because there were not enough young bees going into winter I'm not sure . My other hives are very strong so will make up the loss this year.

 

[Eyeman]

Yep. I lost a new nuc, so not a large colony but should have been enough to survive. No signs of varroa and plenty of stores plus fondant. I think the yoyo temperature could have been an issue for us. Hive block in place to make entrance smaller and facing south, celotex under hive roof. Floor is open mesh but I left the yellow thrones varroa inspection board in place - maybe not enough protection from underneath? Are beekies going back to solid floors?

Is this a common experience this winter? I ask because one of our divisional apiaries has reported 2 colonies lost out of 4, and I am assuming that they were properly prepared and looked after.

I'm not forking out another £120 for a replacement nuc, so swarm traps and hives will be going out with attractant lure end of April. Maybe better luck with the fishing!

My prediction was that we were going to see higher than average losses this spring due to the cold snaps. The last few mild springs mean't even struggling colonies made it through. Who knows what effect this had on our gene pool!
When I posted this Murray said "He hadn't seen any increase demand for packages so far this year".

 

[mazzamazda]

My prediction was that we were going to see higher than average losses this spring due to the cold snaps. The last few mild springs mean't even struggling colonies made it through. Who knows what effect this had on our gene pool!
When I posted this Murray said "He hadn't seen any increase demand for packages so far this year".

Apparently some of the big suppliers have already closed their books for this year

 

[Amari]

Queen found dead in both hives this morning and treated in August with MAQS after taking the honey off, so as I said no obvious signs. So maybe just bad luck in that they got isolated from there stores during the last cold snap and for what ever reason they had lost bees and the colony was no longer large enough to supply enough heat.....

Some folk suspect that MAQs may kill the queen (sorry, I can't find a link after a brief try). It happened to me so I ditched the rest of the strips.

 

[Into the lions den]

Some folk suspect that MAQs may kill the queen (sorry, I can't find a link after a brief try). It happened to me so I ditched the rest of the strips.

One queen rearer I know, in the UK, says MAQS are his biggest ally in securing sales for his late season queens. More MAQS = more queen orders.

 

[peteinwilts]

Last year, I treated 2 apiarys with MAQs in June. Every hive in both apiarys either lost their queen, or swarmed without first producing a queen cell.

none of the hives had a full dose, and had no other queen or swarm issues in any other apiary.


Regarding the winter, a crap August resulting in poor matings, a warm 'swarmy' October and November (Too late to produce a viable queen), a wet and wild winter (akin to record losses of 2010) and the long cold spring will do no hive many favours.

 

[Into the lions den]

My prediction was that we were going to see higher than average losses this spring due to the cold snaps. The last few mild springs mean't even struggling colonies made it through. Who knows what effect this had on our gene pool!
When I posted this Murray said "He hadn't seen any increase demand for packages so far this year".

Yes indeed I did. People were cancelling, and our own observations in our own bees was that this was going to be one of the years with the lowest losses for many years..........and in the poly unit in particular that remains the case. For our own needs I have more nucs ready for use than I have dead or dud looking colonies but others are not so lucky, and another spell of cold on its way will only make it worse as more little ones keel over. I seem to recall some claims of 'first swarm' in the next few days date wise in recent years.

It all went nuts after the last severe cold snap, and its fair to say the situation is reversed from the normal. Its the guys furthest to the south and east that are asking for bees most. I don't think its a bee race thing at all, as the story I am getting from N. Europe is not pretty. There is little climatic difference between SE England and the lands nearby across the channel so if they have problems there it is reasonable to expect them to extend across.

 

[sean-a]

I have lost one out of six. Two others look a little weak.
Lots of stores and fondant on the one that has died out.
I have put pollen substitute on, but they were cramming in the real thing on Sunday.
Masses of yellow and white pollen.

)

 

[manek]

I lost none (out of two) and I'd put their health and low varroa count down to the application of sublimated oxalic acid in December. But what do I know?