What caused my colonies to fail?

[Do224]

Am sorry for your losses.

Unfortunately I do not have the expertise for a photo autopsy, but what the others say about mites seems like a strong possibility.

Do you still have some more bees for next year? Should you be short on bees and fancy a drive down south, I can give you a hive to help you get up an running for next season.

That’s very kind, thank you. I’ve still got one colony so fingers crossed I’ll still have some bees in the spring and can do some splits to re-populate my empty hives...

 

[Do224]

A part from these frames what were the other frames like ?
Plenty of stores or any bees head first in to cells ?

Much the same...barely any bees on the frames. Two hives had a small cluster of maybe 15 dead bees around the queen

 

[Boston Bees]

Many thanks for all your thoughts on what’s happened.

The consensus seems to be that it’s varroa. These three colonies started as small cast swarms...I think I caught them in about mid/late June. Soon after I caught them I placed three abelo OA strips on each colony (although perhaps not soon enough...there was already brood present).

The surviving colony was also a swarm but it was a larger prime swarm and caught early June. Ironically this colony has had no treatment, not even strips as I had a super on by the time I was putting the strips on the other colonies. The other beekeeper who has a couple of hives in the apiary (he’s also lot two of his four hives) has said he will be vaping when the weather is ‘right’ and has offered to help me vape my one remaining colony too.

I’ve obviously been far too complacent about varroa...there’s been a lot to learn in my first year as a beekeeper, especially after ending up with so many colonies when I only initially intended to have one. I’ll put it down to experience and learn from it. Sad the colonies died though.

Incidentally, two of the failed hives had loads of dead bees on the floor as per the picture. The third failed hive had barely any dead bees in it though...almost empty

Don't worry, we've all been there at some time. I certainly have. Onwards and upwards.

 

[ericbeaumont]

The third failed hive had barely any dead bees in it though...almost empty

gradual winter loss of older summer bees,

In those cases the hive floor is empty.
"Disappered colony" . Bees fly outside to die.

Queen mated poorly and failed before winter bees were laid.

 

[Finman]

Queen mated poorly and failed before winter bees were laid.

Only quessing. But they are all 3 dead. That we know.

 

[Patrick1]

I wouldn’t say it was just one thing, although the signs of varroa would be a contributory factor, I have seen hives with much higher loads survive, I can only see one bee with a varroa mite attached, normally in high loads you would see them on the wings or thorax. other contributors could be a failing queen, bee numbers don’t dwindle with a well mated queen, I would be looking at the queen first, the uniformity of the egg laying would cause me concerns as an early indicator of the failing queen, a scattered pattern with so few eggs. Drones in the area available at the time of mating ,was the queens laying pattern ever good? Did it build or just maintain its size?

Chemical spraying, lots of dead bees on the floor suggest more than just one issue, they were so weak they could not clean the floor off, these bees died in the hive as opposed to on the wing, something catastrophic hit this hive, a combination of issues is most likely. Sometimes you have to go back to the start to understand what went wrong.

 

[madasafish]

Many thanks for all your thoughts on what’s happened.

The consensus seems to be that it’s varroa. These three colonies started as small cast swarms...I think I caught them in about mid/late June. Soon after I caught them I placed three abelo OA strips on each colony (although perhaps not soon enough...there was already brood present).

The surviving colony was also a swarm but it was a larger prime swarm and caught early June.

Round here : early June was good weather. Late June was wet/cloudy. If you were the same - likely only 100 -150miles North - then queens in later swarm would struggle to be mated properly.

I had those difficulties on late June matings and lost 3 nucs as a result - (October to November losses)

 

[drex]

That’s very kind, thank you. I’ve still got one colony so fingers crossed I’ll still have some bees in the spring and can do some splits to re-populate my empty hives...

Perhaps another lesson is that strong hives survive winter better than weak ones. I usually combine the weak ones in autumn. Whether I make splits next season is dependent on circumstances. As long as I have more than one colony, numbers of hives is not important

 

[Erichalfbee]

Yes combining colonies is something we should always consider. Unite a weak one to a strong one. No point in combining weak ones together.

 

[Do224]

I wouldn’t say it was just one thing, although the signs of varroa would be a contributory factor, I have seen hives with much higher loads survive, I can only see one bee with a varroa mite attached, normally in high loads you would see them on the wings or thorax. other contributors could be a failing queen, bee numbers don’t dwindle with a well mated queen, I would be looking at the queen first, the uniformity of the egg laying would cause me concerns as an early indicator of the failing queen, a scattered pattern with so few eggs. Drones in the area available at the time of mating ,was the queens laying pattern ever good? Did it build or just maintain its size?

Chemical spraying, lots of dead bees on the floor suggest more than just one issue, they were so weak they could not clean the floor off, these bees died in the hive as opposed to on the wing, something catastrophic hit this hive, a combination of issues is most likely. Sometimes you have to go back to the start to understand what went wrong.

I think the bees had too much to do from day one. The swarms arrived on consecutive days which really took me by surprise. I could only offer them starter strips rather than full frames of foundation and despite feeding they took a long time to draw the frames.

I was away during autumn but had somebody feeding them syrup for me during October. I wonder if they could have taken too much syrup, reducing the laying space for winter bees?

 

[drex]

Yes combining colonies is something we should always consider. Unite a weak one to a strong one. No point in combining weak ones together.

I would question this long held view. Surely, as you probably agree,it depends on why they are weak. Worker bees are worker bees after all, and making a bigger workforce must be beneficial? Forage etc dependent . I may requeen two weak combined colonies.
All my combines have benefited.

 

[Sanntos]

I think the bees had too much to do from day one. The swarms arrived on consecutive days which really took me by surprise. I could only offer them starter strips rather than full frames of foundation and despite feeding they took a long time to draw the frames.

I was away during autumn but had somebody feeding them syrup for me during October. I wonder if they could have taken too much syrup, reducing the laying space for winter bees?

I would put it another way, a low level varroa colony in august can handle all sorts of problems

 

[Erichalfbee]

I would question this long held view. Surely, as you probably agree,it depends on why they are weak. Worker bees are worker bees after all, and making a bigger workforce must be beneficial? Forage etc dependent . I may requeen two weak combined colonies.
All my combines have benefited.

Yes I should have added that if the colonies are weak because they are short of bees only then giving them drawn comb, even if it’s a super and combining them gives them a chance.

 

[Do224]

I would put it another way, a low level varroa colony in august can handle all sorts of problems

Not sure what you mean, sorry

 

[Amari]

Nobody's mentioned chronic bee paralysis virus - although the pics don't show any black shiny corpses - that's what I think of if I find piles of dead bees.

 

[mbc]

Pretty obvious these bees have got depressed and given up hope, varroa will have been the biggest irritation, the perforated capping needs a poke with a stick.

 

[Curly green finger's]

Nobody's mentioned chronic bee paralysis virus - although the pics don't show any black shiny corpses - that's what I think of if I find piles of dead bees.

Cbpv doesn't always present with the symptoms you suggest, to the point you might only see small amounts of bee's that are shiney and hairless.
My thoughts were a combination of Varroa and possibly queen failure.
in some of the cells you can also see more than one egg.

 

[Sanntos]

Not sure what you mean, sorry

Ok, varroa is the main problem for the beginner. Nothing else is even close. So if the beginning beekeeper manages varroa, his or hers colonies will most often survive and even thrive. Problem is the problem can't be seen, at least not until it's too late, so therefore it's most often overseen. The colony looks good the whole year, but dies in november- december. So if the beekeeper keeps the varroa level at 0-5 the colony most often will solve any problem by itself, changing failing queens for example.

 

[madasafish]

Ok, varroa is the main problem for the beginner. Nothing else is even close. So if the beginning beekeeper manages varroa, his or hers colonies will most often survive and even thrive. Problem is the problem can't be seen, at least not until it's too late, so therefore it's most often overseen. The colony looks good the whole year, but dies in november- december. So if the beekeeper keeps the varroa level at 0-5 the colony most often will solve any problem by itself, changing failing queens for example.

If a q does not mate properly in June and starts failing in October, chances of the bees replacing her and getting mated is close to zero

 

[Sanntos]

If a q does not mate properly in June and starts failing in October, chances of the bees replacing her and getting mated is close to zero

Yes, but my point is that compared to the varroa problem that sort of event is unlikely. It can of course happen, but varroa is sure to happen.