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Subject: Orange County, NC Beekeepers

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  • From: Randall Austin <ra41717 AT gmail.com>
  • To: Jane Flannelly <soggydollarbar AT hotmail.com>
  • Cc: "Orange County, NC Beekeepers" <ocba AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [ocba] Hive in bad shape
  • Date: Sun, 07 Mar 2010 19:58:05 -0500

Just a few thoughts regarding your questions, Jane:

There isn't really any point in thoroughly checking during the winter to see if the queen is there, because you cannot do anything about it one way or the other anyway. You can't requeen during winter (there isn't any way to get a new queen) and it would be foolish to combine hives at that time.
 
Whether to feed during the winter depends on how much honey is stored in the hive. You can check that easily and unobtrusively by lifting the back of the hive (tip it up just an inch or so). "Heavy" means lots of stores, don't interfere! "Light" means you'd better put on an appropriate feeder such as a top feeder.

If the now-empty comb is new (white wax) you shouldn't have to worry too much about moths and hive beetles. But if it has had brood reared in it (brown wax, not white) then you will need to make sure it doesn't get moths or small hive beetles in it before you get a chance to put bees back on it. Either store them in the freezer or set the boxes with the frames in such a way so that the frames get sunlight.

At the NCSBA Spring Meeting this weekend, quite a few beekeepers were complaining about high, unexplainable winter losses. Nobody had a good answer. So you are in good company. Don't worry about it, just keep at it. It's the "bad" experiences that teach us the most.

Randall Austin

Jane Flannelly wrote:
BAY119-W456E17E34B7D02B8182757C3360 AT phx.gbl" type="cite"> I peeked in my quiet hive too, no one has been flying during the last warm spell, and the bees that were left inside, about 200, were all dead, seem to be newly deceased as they were as fluffy whole, not deteriorated at all...I too had lots of honey and pollen in the upper hive body, not a single sign of any brood.... the neighboring hive is doing well, flying today so I gave them sugar water, but it is only a single hive body. The other one was two hive bodies that had had two supers on top in the summer due to bearding and seemingly very crowded, until I added the supers and then seemed just fine....I took the supers off in the late fall thinking it was too much for them to keep warm, there was nothing really up there, they really had barely started to draw out the comb.  I too am anxious for reply's, what could have happened?  My queen was there and lots of brood at the late fall check. I have brought the hive body with the honey into the garage to keep bugs out.  No sign of those moths, it just looks deserted, like a bee ghost town. 
Things I am thinking, should I have had an inside feeder for winter, should I have opened up the hive during the winter to see if the queen was still there, seemed too cold for that...so many questions....
Jane Flannelly
Hillsborough,North Carolina
 
soggydollarbar AT hotmail.com




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Date: Sun, 7 Mar 2010 09:37:53 -0800
From: verrildd AT yahoo.com
Subject: Hive in bad shape
To: soggydollarbar AT hotmail.com; lewis AT hivebody.com; ocba AT lists.ibiblio.org; david_langham AT hotmail.com

I took a look today - doesn't look good.  There are only about 100-200 bees in the hive, no queen, no brood.  There is plenty of honey in there, and I don't see very many dead bees.
 
So, where do I go from here?  Order a new package?  How do I insert the package into the hive with the few existing bees?  Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
 
Very disappointing day.
 
Thanks,
 
Donovan


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