Several hives absconded

[USCBeeMan]

In the last 8 weeks I have had at least 3 hive abscond. Two of them in the last 2 weeks.

One of them was a hive that I thought was a sure thing to make it through the winter. It was a log of bees with a hive on top of it. There were plenty of bees coming in/out of the log into the hive to forage. They were also building some comb on the frames and I was feeding them.

Why would they leave when they had their original home plus the hive on top? :scratch:

[JOHNYOGA2]

Ken,
I think we've all been seeing very odd bee behavior this year. I'm pretty much at the point where I think "why ask why?". It's almost as if the bees instincts were stuck in the Spring we never had.

[Skinner Apiaries]

when they left was there brood? I mean thats the only thing that seperates ccd and absconding is if they have brood right?

[Josh Carmack]

Well, CCD is just a label slapped onto absconding hives under certain conditions. I have had five total abscond this year. SHB had been to town and back on the comb. There was a 6 day period from when I hived them till I checked on them. They had each drawn about one new frame of wax not including the cutout comb I tied in. They all left brood. They were all severely infested with SHB. I can't say for sure rather the SHB ran them off or the SHB did their damage after the colony left.

[Skinner Apiaries]

Do you prefer traps or ground drench? Or luck? lol. I know one fella smears vicks on those blue sop towels and swears by it for trach mites and beetles

[Josh Carmack]

Manual removal, strong colonies and ground drench. These I'm speaking about happened so fast it was over when it started. They were cutouts, which I am sure had a lot to do with it. They were all cutout the same weekend and moved at the same time. i went back a week later to check on them, and found a big ugly rotten mess with a few emerging bees hanging out not knowing what to do.

The only other time I found SHB in a colony I cut the affected comb out, swapped BB to get rid of the mess hygenically and condensed them slightly. It worked for the SHB, but now they have PMS, waiting on my other medications to get here.

[USCBeeMan]

I say abscond. The two hives that "absconded", there was nothing left in the hives. Just comb. No honey/pollen/brood. But the honey could have been robbed.

I haven't opened the log. If I have time, I will do that today.

Again, all of these hives appeared to be strong.

I have had several others that I consider die outs. For some reason the queen was gone but there were bees with no honey/brood/pollen. The other die outs were infested to SHB larva, one was a cutout that didn't have a single SHB in the colony.....until I put it in my yard.

These SHB are really getting to be a pain in the butt and destroying hives.

[Skinner Apiaries]

I lost two like that this year, wierd. I kinda chalked it up to poor queens and or nosema. Then did the cheap and moronic thing. I threw a few frames of brood and a pkg into both with 4 gallon miller feeders on them. Case closed... until next time. lol. It's good to know Im not the only person oldschool enough to run gums.

[fish_stix]

Those of you in SHB areas who don't have an active SHB control plan are planning for failure! When these things first arrived in FL, I went from 215+\- hives to 75 in a matter of a few weeks. My brother had 1000+ hives and ended up with less than 250. I'll say it once more; the bees do not control SHB, no matter how strong the hive is and no matter what your mentor, or Joe Blow the 50 year beekeeper down the road, tells you! If you have SHB running loose in your hive that is a dead hive waiting to happen. It doesn't take very many of them to reproduce enough to fill your frames with the nastiest larva in the world.

[USCBeeMan]

Do you have an active SHB plan you can share? I sure am interested.

[Skinner Apiaries]

Drench, trap, trap, drench. Eliminate corners. Cut the wood cleaner. Pray to deity of choice. Here theyre a nusiance. Never lost a hive to them... I've got all winter to learn that lesson!

[USCBeeMan]

How do you eliminate corners????

[fish_stix]

USCBeeman; My SHB control program is very simple. Keep fresh traps in the hives all the time! We use the treatment that all the other commercial beekeepers in FL and S. GA are using; the fipronil traps (MaxForce Gel). I don't like putting chemicals in my hives any more than anyone else but I also have a big investment to protect and having been wiped out by this little booger once before I'm not taking any chances again. The Maxforce will kill your bees if they get to the gel so make your traps beeproof. We use the corrugated signboard traps about 2 1/4 "widex6" long and wrap them with 2 layers of duct tape. Split the signboard down the middle, break it like a hinge, and run a bead of the Maxforce down the split. Then fold the trap back to its original shape (close it) and tape it all the way around with 2 layers of duct tape. This places the Maxforce down the middle of the trap with the open corrugations on each side for the beetles to enter (and die!). The Maxforce has a bait in it which attracts the beetles; it was originally developed to kill roaches and is approved for use in food processing areas in roach traps. Wear latex gloves when handling. The Maxforce is contained in a plastic syringe which makes it easy to apply to the traps. We place one on the back of the bottom board about 1/2" off the back of the box and one on top of the frames, same location. If your hives allow rain to get in and it washes through the traps you will have a dead hive so use accordingly. We are using telescoping tops, which we build, and SBBs and have had no problems with water getting to them. We change them out every 2 months. Don't know if you have the same level of SHB problem that we have in FL, but if we leave a hive without protection for just a couple of days it will have SHB. Good luck!

[Skinner Apiaries]

where can I get that gel? - know I can just google, but asking someone like you might have the benefit of knowing where its cheapest. And I was kidding about corners. We try to minimize using wierd cuts and just scrap stuff with gouges (beetle nests). They can make nice planters!

[fish_stix]

Skinner; we buy it online; just pick the cheapest vendor. The stuff is fairly expensive, $17.00/syringe, but that amount makes a bunch of traps. You can also try Combat Quick Kill, same formulation, works the same, little cheaper and it's available at Ace Hardware and Lowe's/Home Depot. Just make sure you get the syringe because it comes in several different applicators. The syringe is about 5-6" long and 3/4" in diameter. They also market this stuff in little plastic roach traps which some beeks have also used. I haven't used them and before buying them I would definitely open the package and make sure the openings will not allow a bee to enter. Until someone comes up with something as effective and easy to use we're sticking with this stuff as it has had no harmful effects on the bees and we find NO beetles in our hives.