Winter losses 2011/2012

[REDWOOD]

No losses 3 all OK, the one that gobbled all the fondant from January on came out the strongest. only used Varroa Guard last autumn as a hive sanitation.

 

[Monsieur Abeille]

I would think that statistically the results of polls like this are a bit skewed as you're far more likely to post your results if you've had a successful winter.

Granted - if you've lost your only hive and are heartily sick of the hobby then you are hardly likely to spend time filling in polls on beekeeping forums. On the other hand its still a reasonable indicator to how things have progressed, and may be interesting to compare against last year's results after it closes

 

[madasafish]

Lost 2 out of 9 colonies:
One before Christmas: always sickly (nosema?)

One March: starvation - my fault as I had started to fondant feed too late.

Others fine..

 

[alanf]

Granted - if you've lost your only hive and are heartily sick of the hobby then you are hardly likely to spend time filling in polls on beekeeping forums. On the other hand its still a reasonable indicator to how things have progressed, and may be interesting to compare against last year's results after it closes

Agree the most interest is probably if there are several years results to compare. Also be interesting to see if any change is comparable to the University of Sussex/BBKA published survey. Search for coloss_poster_2011_1314733047.pdf for last years summary of English regions.

Their "loss" numbers are more tightly defined in that it's the difference between productive colonies (>5 frames) 1st October to 1st April other than splits/buying/selling although clearly not anticipating swarms in March and October. As for many surveys, the consistency over time is more important than detail such as whether a nuc of 6 frames is productive or where percentage boundaries are placed.

Currently about half the responses that last year produced already. Lower high percentage losses being reported; 1 against 11 51%+ losses last year. Although that could be individuals waiting to find out the final numbers.

 

[thisgardener]

no losses all 35 hive doing well

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

The word from the Wales RBI that on the whole bees have overwintered very well with few losses reported

 

[Vergilius]

My 3rd winter of no losses.


Ben P

 

[oliver90owner]

My 3rd winter of no losses.

Wow! Well done Ben - and without recourse to oxalic acid treatment, yet again!

 

[Hebeegeebee]

1 2011 queen replaced by drone layer. United with another hive.
1 old queen gone (not surprised by that one as I was keeping her just to see if she would make it). United with mini-nuc.
1 2011 queen replaced and replacement not laying. United with mini-nuc.

My Mini-nucs all survived

 

[oliver90owner]

I debated whether to include DLQs as a "winter loss" but in the end categorised them separately.

I agree with Nellie. DLQs are generally either late supercedure (not mated), or a poorly mated queen (earlier in the season), or an old queen (run out of semen). Nothing really to do with winter colony loss as down to poor queens prior to winter, or possibly poor beekeeping (only those that just don't bother to ensure young queens - not, per eg, those that try to keep a good gene line going for another season).

A rapid action to unite, and use the bees, is not really much different than uniting 'low in number' colonies. After all, a colony that 'just survives' is not really anything special for the spring (or summer?) unless seriously helped along by the beekeeper.

 

[BeeJayBee]

My 3rd winter of no losses.

My 3rd winter of no losses.

Wow! Well done Ben - and without recourse to oxalic acid treatment, yet again!

Ben - if you've got time, can you share what do you do

 

[Into the lions den]

Ben - if you've got time, can you share what do you do

Be wary of statistical artifacts from reporters with small numbers of hives. Not in any way to demean them as no losses is very good, however, taking fairly normal losses into the equation, a 3 hive reporter (profile number given) should experience one colony death every 3 to 5 years, so there will be a significant number of beekeepers all over the land using a variety of methods who will be able to put their hand up and say the same.

Of considerably greater significance statistically is the reporter on this thread who states that all 35 of their colonies are alive and doing well. Seriously impressive. To have no deaths and no duds in that number is better than anything I can achieve. I DO have apiaries (a few) with zero losses (so far) this year, but to say all were doing well would be untrue, as there are some colonies in every group I would not describe that way, and we still have the queenlesses and DLs to find.

So, what THAT reporter did to get such a result is actually of great interest.

 

[Vergilius]

Be wary of statistical artifacts from reporters with small numbers of hives. Not in any way to demean them as no losses is very good, however, taking fairly normal losses into the equation, a 3 hive reporter (profile number given) should experience one colony death every 3 to 5 years, so there will be a significant number of beekeepers all over the land using a variety of methods who will be able to put their hand up and say the same.

Of considerably greater significance statistically is the reporter on this thread who states that all 35 of their colonies are alive and doing well. Seriously impressive. To have no deaths and no duds in that number is better than anything I can achieve. I DO have apiaries (a few) with zero losses (so far) this year, but to say all were doing well would be untrue, as there are some colonies in every group I would not describe that way, and we still have the queenlesses and DLs to find.

So, what THAT reporter did to get such a result is actually of great interest.

 

[Vergilius]

Ben - if you've got time, can you share what do you do

Not much!!!

 

[Firefly]

Granted - if you've lost your only hive and are heartily sick of the hobby then you are hardly likely to spend time filling in polls on beekeeping forums. On the other hand its still a reasonable indicator to how things have progressed, and may be interesting to compare against last year's results after it closes

Hmm. I've had a pretty disastrous spring, but certainly not giving up yet.

One colony that went into the winter full of bees and with eggs and larvae visible into the autumn came out with nothing but drone brood - and that spattered all over the hive, which makes me think drone-laying workers rather than drone-laying queen

One weak colony that I half-expected to lose, but got through the winter only to find no brood at all on inspection. Have begged a frame of eggs from a neighbour and it looks as if they might be trying to rear an emergency queen. Fingers crossed

I've also been offered a small colony to replace the drone-layers, so here we go again, optimism renewed. I felt like an axe murderer dealing with the old colony though

 

[Dusty Rhodes]

Any chance of getting the grammar of this poll corrected?

It should, of course, say, "5 hives or fewer".

And before anyone says it incorrectly, 'pedant' is spoken with a short 'e', not a long one.

D

 

[Monsieur Abeille]

Any chance of getting the grammar of this poll corrected?

It should, of course, say, "5 hives or fewer".

And before anyone says it incorrectly, 'pedant' is spoken with a short 'e', not a long one.

D

A page for you Dusty
http://www.douglasadams.com/dna/pedants.html

I will bear your request in mind for next year, but sadly its too late to edit this poll, and the moderators have more pressing matters such as checking to see what is on tonight's tele.

 

[Black Comb]

You'll soon have some bees Dusty and such things will be irrelevant.

 

[justme]

9 in total, 3 from 2010, others all late collected swarms and a late A/S. 2 in nucs. 1 nuc a bit slow getting way but eggs and worker brood, others all steaming ahead. HM oasis recipe late Aug/ Sept. Left them plenty of honey and topped up with ambrosia. O/A'd 6 in Jan. (Others O/A'd after collecting). & no doubt, lots of luck

 

[peteinwilts]

2009-2010 - started winter with 3 hives. lost one very small hive. (due to my inexperience )

2010-2011 - combined down to 9 hives. no losses.

2011-2012 - combined down to 20 hives. no losses.

... although for this year the fat lady isn't singing yet!

2nd week september > thymol treatment
October Hivemakers thymol mix feeding to the brim
January 1st Oxalic
no fondent required.