Maine Losses

[Brown's Organic Farm]

Wondering what other people are finding in Maine with their hives. Opened mine the other day and all are dead. Lost 7 of 7. Spoke to my local beekeeper. he is hearing other locals have lost many or most. He is coming over to look, after the rain stops. He thinks the honey flow in late August may have caused the bees to fill every space they had, causing the brood space to be significantly smaller than it should be to maintain a healthy colony. My hives have plenty of honey. I did take one apart and it did appear that the brood area was smaller than I would have expected. Anybody else in Maine experiencing large losses?

[hummingberd]

Sorry to hear of your losses. To lose any colony feels awful, but 100% is tragic. :(

Did you have any problems going into winter? Did you treat the bees for varroa? What is your IPM? I haven't experienced any losses YET. I opened the hive up toward the middle of march, and things looked good in there. The cluster was a bit small though. I have not had the chance to really look in and see whats going on because of cold temps or rain/snow, but I have peeked through the cover a few times and I see bees in the top deep, and hear bees when I scratch at the bottom deep. I'm hoping the girls will make it through this casty weather and flourish when we see the sun. Have you contacted Tony Jadcyzk? Perhaps he can help you. Take pictures and get yourself a good sample. You can send it in to have it tested.

Please keep us posted...

-K-

[Brown's Organic Farm]

Bob Egan is coming over to take a look this weekend. I did treat last fall. I'm interested to see if the small brood space is true for all. Bob caught it last fall and made adjustments after talking with Tony. I suspect it is my newness to beekeeping that may have contributed.

What part of Maine are you located? Are you associated with Humble Abodes?

[BeekeeperBill]

Sorry to hear about the 7 hives :eek:

I had 2 hives i started from nucs late last spring. They had 2 deeps full going into the winter, and still seem to be doing ok. I have only peeked through the inner cover a few times due to the weather also. They have gone through alot of stores over the last couple of months. I'm assuming the qeen has started to lay and they are using the stores to keep the brood warm. I've got 1 gallon cans as feeders on top. One hive has taken almost all of it, the other has barely touched it. Hope the weather changes soon :mad:

Bill-E. Baldwin, ME

[hummingberd]

I'm located in Southern Maine, York county. I'm not associated with humble abodes, but I hear they're a great company :) Bob Egan, that sounds familiar...is he a big name in the maine beekeeping industry? Who am I kidding, everyone's a big name in the maine beekeeping industry! Hah! We're so little and cute here :D

Again, keep us posted. I'd be interested in hearing what the story is behind your losses.

Thanks!

[Luke]

I still have two out of three hives left. They both are still looking good and bringing in pollen on the days that it is not snowing. I started feeding back in February when I lost my other colony. They are not consuming the syrup very fast though probably due to the cold.

[BeekeeperBill]

I didn't see it earlier, but since you asked. I got my 2 nucs last spring from humble abodes. When I got my hives (which I bought from them also) they didn't have any nucs left for purchase. A few weeks later, Melony emailed me saying she did end up having a few left if i was still interested. I shot up there the next day and grabbed them. They seem like great girlz (the bees). Melony is a pure pleasure to deal with as well. And to top it off, they are located right near Georgie Furgeson..soon to be on the board next year :)~

Bill

[Andrew Dewey]

Bob is about as good as they get. I'm a very happy customer of his. Even if he did decline to teach at bee school this year...

[Ann]

We went to Buckfield this past Saturday to drop off equipment for our three nucs. Tony told us he went into winter with 680 hives and lost 25 last time he checked - that's pretty good odds! I hope these bees do as well for us in Lebanon.

[Maine_Beekeeper]

Hello Brown's -
I'm very sorry to hear of your losses. That's tough.
Of thirteen, I'm down to twelve (though one of my hives was so weak we reduced to a nuc on Sat) - This weather is a real spring killer. Time to feed in a big way.
George F. has offered on another thread to host a gathering and I'd like to second that. As MP said last year, the key to small northern beeks is getting together and helping eachother out as much as possible. We can make it through by building from eachother's survivor stock.
I've got two of Bob's overwintered nucs coming in May. He is a great person to be working with. I am also on the list for both Kirk Webster and Michael Palmer queens this summer. And of course my new SC nuc from Dixie Bee.
I hope to have some queens and drones that will help us get through winter 2007.
Don't get discouraged yet, we can make it if we work together.
-E.

[George Fergusson]

Howdy- Finally caught up with this thread- my power kept blinking off yesterday, I finally gave up trying to keep my computer going. That storm was harsh!

I didn't lose any of my hives from last summer- 12 doubles and 2 singles- though I have one on life support and it may not make it. I did lose 2 hives that were given to me late last fall, light with honey and heavy with mites and not well built up. I did what I could but I didn't expect them to make it. They didn't, they died off in late February with classic PMS symptoms. I also lose 3 of 4 nucs but it was my first time overwintering nucs and I'm thrilled I got any through the winter.

I lost 80% of my hives the previous winter so I consider this past winter's losses totally acceptable :)

Sorry to hear about your losses BF, that's rough. I'd expect there to be some explanation. Keep us posted. I've never met Bob Egan, but I've heard nothing but good things about him and his bees. I know of some folks that lost hives due to varroa and one person lost a couple to tracheal mites. One of my hives, the one on life support, had tracheal mites pretty badly last summer- I requeened it and hoped for the best. Last time I checked, it had dwindled down to a queen and about 2 tablespoons of bees in a shallow super. I put them on top of an excluder over the inner cover of a strong hive about 2 weeks ago in the hopes that the bees from below would move up to support the dud, but I haven't had a chance since to look in on them since them. Don't know if they've made it or not.

And Yeah, a Summertime Beekeeper's Picnic sounds like a great idea! I'm thinking sometime in August as the rest of the summer is already looking insanely busy, for me at least. By August things should be settling down. Stay tuned!

Let us know what you find out about your hives.

[tecumseh]

when did they begin to call you georgie george?

a summer party huh to cure your collective ills? sounds like a great idea? you wouldn't by chance think about offering up an invitation to any of us lowly southern bee keepers? I have always wanted to see a bit more of maine.

[George Fergusson]

when did they begin to call you georgie george?

They're calling me georgie george? Oh I gotta put a stop to that, no telling where it'll lead... probably to that pudding and pie thing, forcing me to kill again. We don't want that.


a summer party huh to cure your collective ills? sounds like a great idea? you wouldn't by chance think about offering up an invitation to any of us lowly southern bee keepers? I have always wanted to see a bit more of maine.

Oh you know it tecumseh. As the saying goes around here, "no invitation necessary" and of course, August is a perfect time of year to tour Maine- you suthen folks would feel right at home with daytime temps getting up in the 80's :)

Stay tuned!

[George Fergusson]

I've had a chance to peek in some hives. My winter losses may have been minor, but I'd describe about half my hives as weak. They all seem to be a good month or more behind in building up this spring. I wonder what kind of season we're going to have in the Northeast this year?

[tecumseh]

august is good huh? no dear flies, no 100 degrees plus in the shade.... but, but are the lobsters ready yet?

george sezs:
My winter losses may have been minor, but I'd describe about half my hives as weak.

tecumseh replies:
if you were to profile you queens george just what kind of queen (bees) do you most typically have in a box?

have you ever fed pollen patties?

[George Fergusson]

august is good huh? no dear flies, no 100 degrees plus in the shade.... but, but are the lobsters ready yet?

Oh they trap lobsters all year round. The only question is what do they cost? I saw them in the super market the other day for $15 a pound... I've never seen them that high. Dunno what they're going for down on the docks and dunno what they'll be selling for this summer....

Nancy and I traditionally get some lobsters long about mid-August. Last year I think I paid $6 a pound for hardshells.


george sezs:
My winter losses may have been minor, but I'd describe about half my hives as weak.

tecumseh replies:
if you were to profile you queens george just what kind of queen (bees) do you most typically have in a box?

have you ever fed pollen patties?

Mostly all Carniolan queens, once upon a time. I've got a couple that look suspiciously Italian, and one Buckfast. The ones I looked in were Carniolan.

And no, I've never fed pollen patties.

[Keith Benson]

They're calling me georgie george? Oh I gotta put a stop to that, no telling where it'll lead... probably to that pudding and pie thing, forcing me to kill again. We don't want that.



No that's Georgie Porgie. Georgie George is someone altogether different. http://rrsg.uct.ac.za/members/georgie/

Keith

[hummingberd]

They're calling me georgie george? Oh I gotta put a stop to that, no telling where it'll lead... probably to that pudding and pie thing, forcing me to kill again. We don't want that.

LMAO!!!


Oh you know it tecumseh. As the saying goes around here, "no invitation necessary"

bump...

and of course, August is a perfect time of year to tour Maine- you suthen folks would feel right at home with daytime temps getting up in the 80's :)

Stay tuned!

Sure do hope this get together pans out! I'd love to do somemore schmoozing with beekeepers!!!

[tecumseh]

when yall maine folk get a date together drop me a line (no gold embossed invite expected)... like I said previously I have always desired to see a bit more of maine. I will promise to try and leave my coup (koo) stick at home.

[pegwillen]

I only have two hives....went in last w/e for the first time, found one appearing to be queenless (I couldn't find her, nor was there any brood) but pollen was coming in; the other had a small amount of brood. Have two queens coming from Strachan soon for splits so I hope the one queen starts laying up a storm. Anyone nearby and would like to join forces? I'd like to learn how to extract honey this year for the first time.

[George Fergusson]

when yall maine folk get a date together drop me a line (no gold embossed invite expected)... like I said previously I have always desired to see a bit more of maine. I will promise to try and leave my coup (koo) stick at home.

You bet tecumseh. What's a coup (koo) stick?


I only have two hives....went in last w/e for the first time, found one appearing to be queenless (I couldn't find her, nor was there any brood) but pollen was coming in; the other had a small amount of brood. Have two queens coming from Strachan soon for splits so I hope the one queen starts laying up a storm. Anyone nearby and would like to join forces? I'd like to learn how to extract honey this year for the first time.

Broodless hives this spring in Maine are apparently not uncommon. It may be that your broodless hive has a queen alright but she's slimmed down, and harder to spot.

As for extracting honey.... I've about given up hope of making honey this year. I might be surprised but it takes a lot of bees to make honey and my hives are much weaker this year than there were last year and I didn't make any honey last year either. Of course it was not a great year by most accounts.

This spring, many of my hives have little more than 3-4 frames of bees right now. Some are stronger, but none of them have a lot a brood. Yet. Our main flow starts up in about a month in a "normal" year though it may be a little late due to the weather. Between now and then we've got May, which in Maine is typically cold, wet, and cloudy. Today is cold, about 40°, wet, and cloudy. It's predicted to be cold, wet, and cloudy for most of the next week. Our bees build up and swarm on Dandelions and they haven't even begun growing around here, let alone blooming. Last year Dandelion bloomed in late April. I saw a dandelion blooming up against a foundation on the south side of a building in Augusta a week ago, so I know it's coming. I suppose if the weather turns around and the bees get a break, there might be a honey crop late this summer but I just don't see it happening. I am prepared to be surprised :)

I don't mean to rain on your honey parade Peg, just trying to be realistic. Let's be optimistic shall we? I'm about 45 minutes south of Fairfield. I know there are some beekeepers up your way. Perhaps we can get together sometime. You should plan on coming to our beekeeper's barbeque this summer :)

[pegwillen]

well, no honey is O.k....this is my 6th year with bees, and the first where I even thought of maybe getting into extracting....what little they have made in the past I just gave back to them....I personally don't like honey, but thought I would give it away....I just put in all new plastic frames on their top box, so they will likely be unhappy, with all the work ahead of them!

[Andrew Dewey]

Hello all you Maniacs. I got into three hives I've got in Washington County today for the first time, and they are surviving. While there wasn't tons of brood, there was fresh and plenty of stored pollen and some freshly capped nectar. Plenty of left over honey - at least 4 deep frames in each hive. Queens are laying. One hive had capped drone cells - not a huge amount. No queen cells seen. I unwrapped these hives last weekend. I reversed hive bodies, cleaned the bottom boards, and had a go at checkerboarding. Entrance reducers are set to the smallest opening. The solar energizer on the bear fence is putting out about 5,000 volts. Life is good.

[hummingberd]

Broodless hives this spring in Maine are apparently not uncommon.


As for extracting honey.... I've about given up hope of making honey this year. I might be surprised but it takes a lot of bees to make honey and my hives are much weaker this year than there were last year and I didn't make any honey last year either. Of course it was not a great year by most accounts.


George, have you thought about combining? Why not. Better to have a few strong hives than a bunch of weak ones right?

Andrew, glad to hear your bees are well...:)

[George Fergusson]

George, have you thought about combining? Why not. Better to have a few strong hives than a bunch of weak ones right?

Well, it depends. It occurs to me that the bees may be "weak" from my point of view but from their point of view they're doing just fine. Clusters are generally small but healthy and brood rearing is underway at a pace more or less appropriate for the circumstances. Spring has been slow in coming and the bees, likewise, have been slow to build up. This makes perfect sense. Had spring sprung earlier, the bees would have built up earlier, and faster. Fresh pollen really didn't start coming in any quantity until mid-April and the weather didn't provide many opportunities for the bees to go out and collect it. We got more snow in April than we got all the rest of the winter.

So my complaint really isn't with the bees, it's with the weather and we all know what good complaining about the weather does :) My bees are actually doing what I want them to do- living in tune with the local conditions. It doesn't really help having booming hives when there is nothing for them to do. I don't have any pollination contracts I need to worry about filling so really, there's nothing lost- yet. Some people's hives died out mid-winter because they'd begun rearing brood in December and early January when the temperatures were abnormally high. That wasn't very smart. The bees that survived were the ones that didn't get tricked into rearing more brood than they could handle. Again, being in tune with local conditions made the difference between surviving the winter and not.

I guess it's a question of management style and my style is to in general let my bees do what they think is right even if it isn't necessarily what I think is right. Taking ones' losses in the fall makes perfect management sense to me. Combining hives in the spring to artificially create larger colonies when the dandelions aren't even close to blooming yet.. I can see no really good reason to do that. I know there are people that see things differently- they start feeding their bees pollen substitute and syrup mid-winter. Had I done that, I wouldn't be complaining about weak hives now, I'd be complaining about the weather not cooperating by giving my bees lots of early forage, necessitating my feeding regimen continue longer than anticipated. Maybe then I'd be complaining later on about all the honey I had to deal with. Who knows :)

Maybe in a month or so when the season is more or less back on track I might consider combining some of my weaker hives. Maybe in a month or so my hives will no longer be weak- Carniolans can build up explosively fast when conditions permit it.

Will I make any honey this year? I don't know. Hope so. I went up to look at the hives yesterday afternoon- as cloudy as it was, it was dry and not too cold and the girls were busy, all things considered. A lot can happen in the next month- if the weather cooperates :)

[tecumseh]

a koo stick george was a device for reaching out and just tapping your opponent. unless there was some kind of real tribal grudge going on the idea was to get just close enough to give him a tap and not really injure your foe. it seems to me that most civilization quite typically figure out some way to minimize the loss of blood and human life.

in regards to combining george perhaps a better strategy would be to simply run double queen hives over the honey collection season (old studies suggested a double queen system should increase surplus) and then split and seclect (culling) again after the main crop is done. for certain your bee keeping style will have to fit local conditions. when in rome....

[George Fergusson]

a koo stick george was a device for reaching out and just tapping your opponent. unless there was some kind of real tribal grudge going on the idea was to get just close enough to give him a tap and not really injure your foe. it seems to me that most civilization quite typically figure out some way to minimize the loss of blood and human life.

I have heard of this practice. Silly savages... how did they plan to get rid of their excess population if not through senseless mutual annihilation?


in regards to combining george perhaps a better strategy would be to simply run double queen hives over the honey collection season (old studies suggested a double queen system should increase surplus) and then split and seclect (culling) again after the main crop is done. for certain your bee keeping style will have to fit local conditions. when in rome....

I have read about this. I guess it will depend on when the flow comes on and what my bees look like a month or so from now. This year I'm also moving 3/4 of my hives to out yards.

Time to bake the donuts.....

[tecumseh]

my other brother george sezs:
I have heard of this practice. Silly savages... how did they plan to get rid of their excess population if not through senseless mutual annihilation?


tecumseh replies:
they just set around the camp fire waiting for some homeless and hungry white man to show up beg for food and shelter.... who then infected them with small poxs and a long list of other diseases. I guess your right geoge... silly savages...

hope the season treats you kindly...