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ocba - [ocba] low bee count-- now what to do?

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Subject: Orange County, NC Beekeepers

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  • From: chloe palenchar <cpalenchar AT hotmail.com>
  • To: <ocba AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [ocba] low bee count-- now what to do?
  • Date: Sat, 12 Jan 2013 22:55:12 +0000

I joined the crowd and inspected my hives this weekend. They were both brand new from packages last spring, and I thought both went into the winter reasonably strong. However, when I opened hive number 1, I found maybe 100 bees, and after looking more closely I saw they were all with their queen. I saw some capped brood, maybe 20-30 cells, but no other larva activity. There was close to a full box of honey still in the hive (probably with so few bees, they don't eat much). In the bottom box I found no bees, and some of the cells had a substance in them that I didn't recognize-- it looked sort of jelly like; was it small hive beetle larvas? There were many adult hive beetles running around the hive, but I didn't see any goo outside of the cells.

Opening hive number 2, I found tons and tons of bees. I looked through the top box, and they have a lot of honey left too. I started to try to go into the bottom box, but the sun was going down and so was the bees' disposition, so I closed everything up for the night.

What should I do management wise? If I get into the bottom box of hive number 2, I was thinking I might find some brood that I could borrow. Should I even bother? Could taking brood set back hive number 2 too much? It seems likely that something is up with hive number 1, though I don't know what. If it is hive beetle larva in the frames of hive number 1, what do I do? Sunlight? Freezer? I guess I should also take the second box away from hive number 1, but I do need a refresher on how you're supposed to store woodenware/frames.

Any other suggestions greatly appreciated.

thanks,

chloe



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