Winter loses

[Mike a]

On Sunday I went to check on my 6.5 colonies.
4 Nationals
1 TBH
1 Poly Lang
1 Nuc

After a brief inspection from above to check colony size, stores and brood I'm happy to say all the colonies in the National hives are building up nicely although a little light on capped stores.

The TBH I didn't bother to open to inspect as it will take awhile to detach the combs from the side walls, definitely a job for a warmer day.

Nuc - Handful of bees, no eggs or brood, no sign of the queen and very few flyers.

Poly - This is the colony I was really hoping would do well and would be building up nicely by now. Sadly there was two large patches of dead bees covered in mould which must of separated from the cluster, the mesh floor was completely covered in dead bees several deep, a small fist sized patch of open brood which must of been abandoned, a few chalk brood and 2.5 medium frames full of capped stores then 3 more medium frames with a small coconut sized cluster of bees and of course plenty more out collecting pollen (see picture below). The queen had laid a small patch of eggs recently but no signs of larvae or sealed brood.

Yesterday I decided to transfer them into a nuc.
I took the two best medium frames of capped stores and bruised a patch of the cappings on one side of the frame, put in three new deep frames and filled the remaining space with a frame feeder.

This may be seen as a little brutal for this time of year but they were struggling in the full size chamber plus they were surrounded by disease and mould and very unlikely to recover if I'd done nothing. I'll give them a couple of weeks now to see how they go.

 

[oliver90owner]

Mike,

When you say 'put in three new deep frames', are you meaning foundation?

I would say not good if they have to draw foundation; better to have some drawn comb to be going on with. Seems like a frame of hatching brood transplanted would not go amiss if her maj is worth saving, and getting up to speed with her spring build-up.

I may be wrong (but a small coconut, to me, is not so much bigger than a cricket ball) and they are stronger than I am thinking.

Regards, RAB

 

[Midland Beek]

Transferring to a nuc was not a bad idea, and this is especially the case seen as it contains a frame feeder. A small amonut of strong syrup would be advisable.

But as RAB points out: bad idea if this nuc now contains foundation. And seen as this colony needs every flying bee at its disposal, we are assuming you located on the original site so not to lose any.

 

[Mike a]

When you say 'put in three new deep frames', are you meaning foundation?
No, the only drawn frames are two lang mediums with 60-70% capped stores in. So there is plenty of cells around the stores she can lay in and I bruised the cappings on one side of one of the frames so they have instant access to the stores and will in time hopefully use it to draw out the new frames.

Seems like a frame of hatching brood transplanted would not go amiss if her maj is worth saving, and getting up to speed with her spring build-up.
That is next on the list as and when the weather improves. I want to see if the queen is worth saving first, no point throwing away a good frame of sealed brood if the queen is a drone layer. If she is good and starts to lay I will give them frame of young bees and sealed brood. If the queen is duff then she will be removed and 24 hours later a frame of eggs and brood and any attached bees.

As for the colony size they are bigger than a cricket ball

 

[chipper]

Hi ! I have tried to overwinter 10 colonies in the same poly nuc boxes.
1 is exactly the same as yours but the other 9 look fine (if alittle light)
Comparitively I tried 10 in wooden nuc boxes. 2 died out. The other 8 appear alive and well and MUCH heavier. Not looked at them in any detail. Same queen source for all 20..... A Polish beekeeper who I met last week says Poly nucs need more feeding than wooden ones because they rear brood earlier....
Think Nosema likely cause of death/weakness.In my case at least