Spring dwindling

[Eyeman]

An all to familiar sight this time of year. A queen with a handful of bees and no brood or a few eggs.
Those finding hives empty of bees and brood will have witnessed the end result of dwindling ie. dwindled to nothing.
What I did with this colony was:
1. Put the queen in a queen cage and then into my shirt pocket to keep warm.
2. Get my mini nuc (always have a couple ready to go with starter strips and fondant in a plastic bag) and go to healthily hive and shake the recommended amount of Nurse Bees into the nuc (see instruction for your model).
3. Take mini nuc and Queen in cage home and approx 2hrs later add Q to the mini nuc
4. Keep in shed overnight then put the mini nuc in garden and open entrance. I leave the Q excluder over the entrance for a few days to stop queenie flying off.
5. Check 2-3 weeks later and if combs being drawn and queen laying and worker brood cappings then the queen can be introduced into a nuc or full sized colony.

It's important to only use young bees to make up the nuc otherwise the Q may be killed.
It's the queen that is worth saving from the dwindling colony as the bees and or comb may be diseased.

 

[snelgrove]

good idea rather than disposing of the queen, she looks a nice one by the picture.

 

[oliver90owner]

A fair idea - as long as the queen is not nosemic. That coud be why the colony dwindled? No harm in saving her if she is/was a good queen.

 

[Finman]

.
Bad thing is that you must steal quite much bees from bigger hives that the colony really starts. In this cold spring every hive needs its own young bees.

But you do not succeed if you do not try. This spring I have enough dwindled colonies. I keep only bought queens from them.

One big reason to dwindling is mites.

 

[Eyeman]

Bad thing is that you must steal quite much bees from bigger hives that the colony really starts. In this cold spring every hive needs its own young bees.

I use an Apidea so big colony donates 300 nurse bees.

 

[Eyeman]

oliver90owner

A fair idea - as long as the queen is not nosemic. That coud be why the colony dwindled? No harm in saving her if she is/was a good queen.

All 8 hives on this site had productive queens and were strong going into winter.
I can't predict which colonies are going to come through strong. Every year I get a surprise with one or two not making it.
If you are left with a handful of bees and a queen then with minimal investment (300 nurse bees) the queen can usually be saved. I would use the same method with larger but weak colonies with only small amounts of brood as it avoids chucking good brood at dwindling / weak colonies. Save that brood to set up a small nuc to put the queen in once she has recovered in the mini nuc.

 

[Finman]

I use an Apidea so big colony donates 300 nurse bees.

So it is a spare queen.

Sure. But the real colony needs 20 000 bees, that the invest can help in harvesting year's crop.

But your method to save the queen is good.

I have different systems. Electrict heating and emerging brood frames. 2/3 out of queens I have succeeded to save. 1/3 has been nosemic or somethng else.

A week ago I noticed that one dwindled queen had lost its front leg.

.

 

[Finman]

In Spring I avoid joining weak hives. If the weaknes derives from nosema, the boath may be soon sick. It is safer to add emerging brood.

 

[Cussword]

All 8 hives on this site had productive queens and were strong going into winter.
I can't predict which colonies are going to come through strong. Every year I get a surprise with one or two not making it.
If you are left with a handful of bees and a queen then with minimal investment (300 nurse bees) the queen can usually be saved. I would use the same method with larger but weak colonies with only small amounts of brood as it avoids chucking good brood at dwindling / weak colonies. Save that brood to set up a small nuc to put the queen in once she has recovered in the mini nuc.

Nice job.

 

[misterbee82]

She seems to be a beautiful specimen for a queen

 

[beeno]

Yes, looks a nice queen. Let us know how she gets on.

 

[Eyeman]

Well the queen from the dwindling colony has done well in the Apidea
Laying worker brood




and they seem to have brought the colour back into her!

 

[beeno]

The camera never lies! Now she needs a larger entourage and pad. Well, she is the queen after all.