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Chronological Thread  
  • From: Randall Austin <ra41717 AT gmail.com>
  • To: Cheryl Kozel <cherylkozel1641 AT att.net>
  • Cc: "ocba AT lists.ibiblio.org" <ocba AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [ocba] Empty hive
  • Date: Mon, 15 Aug 2016 19:01:50 -0400

Cheryl,

What you've described are classic symptoms of summertime collapse due to varroa mite infestation. It is the big, strong hives that crash in mid/late summer because those are the ones with lots of bees, which means lots of brood, which means lots of varroa mites. They can go from busting out to going bust in a startlingly short amount of time.

I saw high mite loads in my hives this past spring and have seen extremely high loads in friends' hives this summer, even in brand new hives. This has been a bumper crop year for mites. Left unmanaged or ineffectually managed, colonies invariably will die. The empty hive is then robbed out by neighboring bees, and wax moths move in to finish everything off.

The article <here> discusses this topic.

Randall Austin



On 8/15/2016 6:24 PM, Cheryl Kozel wrote:
1704076256.2880904.1471299847367 AT mail.yahoo.com" type="cite">
I recently went on vacation and when I left Ihad a thriving hive. There was brood and a  ton of bees.I even had a honey super
which had honey, but the harvest got delayed because the queen had laid on several frames, and a couple of other scheduling issues.  When I got home the hive was empty. The bees left (all of them) and took everything with them.There is no brood, no food and no honey!  I found a few dead bees in the bottom of the hive.

All that is left is a mess created by the squatters that have moved. Any insight would be appreciated.

Cheryl Kozel


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  • [ocba] Empty hive, Cheryl Kozel, 08/15/2016
    • Re: [ocba] Empty hive, Randall Austin, 08/15/2016

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