The death of a TBH.

[BjornBee]

I checked my topbar hive. Its dead. Although by no fault besides my own. I had started it too late in the season last year, being mid-July. Thinking it would build on its own, and not wanting to effect its "natural" comb building and other factors, I left it to fend for itself. But a late summer drought, and bad fall conditions, sealed its fate.

On the bright side, I have about 8 or 9 bars of drawn comb. I can't wait to stock it full of bees again.

[ February 26, 2007, 06:49 AM: Message edited by: BjornBee ]

[MGBee]

Bjorn:

I lost 2 of 4 this winter. 1 went queenless. the other, I have no idea. It was 22 bars deep and full of bees in Nov./Dec. Plenty of stores.

3 weeks ago, there were NO bees in the hive-- not even a dead bee. Honey, pollen, comb are still there, but no bees.

I've been following the CCD discussion here on Beesource and wonder if this might be what happened to this hive. However, the other 4 TBH have made it fine and the 4 Langs that I also have are doing OK as well.

Wonder what could have happened?

Regards,
Miles

[stangardener]

if once you don't succeed try, try, again.

[Keith Benson]

"if once you don't succeed try, try, again."

Unless we're talking sky diving. . . .

Keith

[Albert]

You still got a reserve...

Luckily I never had to use it.

Albert

[Aram]

Bjorn Bee, sorry to hear the bad news.
Here are some good news from a happy customer:
I was sure my two top bar hives were doomed also. I bough my first two nucs in late May from you. Come fall they had little stores. Being a beginner, I didn't know enough to feed them. (Late in the summer I was told most beekeepers in my area had to feed through the summer in '06 year. Not a good year.) :(
On top of it all one of the hives swarmed in July. :( :(
Then we had a really warm winter well into January... (not good again when the stores are low to begin with.) :( :( :(
All these small disasters and my inexperience combined did not manage to kill your bees. smile.gif Last week the temps were in the fortys again and both hives were alive and well. The fact they survived so far is a miracle to me and a proof you must be doing something right. I'm really happy with them and looking to order more this coming May.


Bee well,
Thank you,
Aram

[ February 28, 2007, 03:10 PM: Message edited by: Aram ]

[bbbbeeman]

??????; how do you extract honey from the top bar hives or do you cut cone or do you squeeze the honey out ? good luck ROCK.

[BjornBee]

Thank you for the kind words Aram.

bbbbeeman, I have never taken honey yet. But from what I read, thats what most do. Crush and strain. I read about a spinner for TBH comb, but will be cutting mine out.

[D. Murrell]

Hi Guys,

I've experienced my first tbh loss, this spring, due to a late summer/early winter queen failure. Bee flight was good. But no young bees to replace the old ones.

So it is with all bee things.

Regards
Dennis

[oldgreyone]

I lost 3 out of 7 hives. All 3 were Italian packages I installed last year. My 3 that are in Kenyons are doing great. I checked them this last weekend and they are loaded with brood. The observation hive is small but it seems to be building. I will see how the queen does and if she doesn't pick up I will replace her.

[BerkeyDavid]

I lost 6 of 12 of my Langs but fortunately my surviving TBH is still a survivor.

Of the surviving Langs 3 had queens that were splits or grafts from my TBH survivor. The other survivors were a Russian hybrid and 2 carni queens from Tim Tarheit. All my TBH daughters survived.

I have split this TBH the past 2 years and did one successful graft. The bees are from a package I bought 4 years ago, my first year of beekeeping. Italian package from the south.

Of course by now the genes are somewhat modified...

But I still can't believe they made it through the winter with no insulation or windbreak.