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Subject: Orange County, NC Beekeepers

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Chronological Thread  
  • From: Lewis Cauble <lewis AT hivebody.com>
  • To: ocba AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [ocba] Bees Disappeared
  • Date: Wed, 24 Oct 2012 09:51:55 -0400 (EDT)

David,

It is hard to say for sure but in my opinion you had a problem from the get go.  In a healthy hive with a reasonable queen the population should have exploded in May.  The fact that they couldn't get past 4 frames indicates that there was an issue somewhere.  If your hive is not busting at the seams with bees in May/early June you likely have a problem and that is the time to diagnose/correct.

 

As long as the problem was not American foulbrood, you can simply reload next year and go again.  Your goal for the winter should be to connect with a mentor that you can work with next spring.  Good mentors are invaluable to new beekeepers and can help you identify problems and help correct them.  Also connect with a bee buddy (someone with similar knowledge/experience) and learn as a team.

 

The OCBA google map may be found here.  It's a good way to see who might be near you and able to help.  For directions on how to enter your information watch this video.  If you have problems let me know and I should be able to help.

 

Lewis

 


On October 21, 2012 at 8:55 PM David Whitman <whitmand AT me.com> wrote:

New at bee keeping this year and I wanted to see if anyone had any ideas what might make a colony of bees leave.
 
Below is a brief outline:
Three weeks ago they looked fine but have not expanded much past four frames since the end of April.
Today, the hive was empty except some capped larvae. All of the honey and pollen that was collected in the comb was completely gone.
The bees had plenty of sugar water and there were some bees still collecting the sugar water today.
 
Please send any ideas why the bees might have left.
 
Thanks.
 
David Whitman

 



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