CCD in upstate NY

[Propaniac]

We have a hive in upstate NY and when we went to check on the hive a few weeks ago before vacation it was gone. Nothing left but a few dead bees and all their honey in the upper hive body. I'm assuming this is the Colony Collapse Disorder we have all heard about... but i haven't heard to much about it hitting hobby beekeepers... any thoughts.. thanks

[sqkcrk]

Don't tracheal mites make this happen?

[Propaniac]

i should have explained that the dead bees were some crushed from handling... the hive was basicall empty and when i had mites in the past i found dead bees and the mites in the tray... this was totally different.

[Kieck]

You won't find tracheal mites in the tray. You would find them in the tracheae (the "breathing" tubes) of the honey bees.

[Propaniac]

They were also treated for mites in the fall... i am by no means an expert at this and have only been doing it a couple years. but wouldn't you find dead bees in the hive with tracheal mites also?

[Kieck]

Treated for Varroa mites, or treated for tracheal mites?

[Propaniac]

i used miteaway 2 ... which is supposed to help with both.

[MountainCamp]

Where was your hive in NY?
What was your late summer and fall weather and flow like?

Here we had a good early summer, but the later summer and fall were poor for flows.

When I went through my hives in mid October, the queens had already shutdown and there was no sign of recent brood. The queens were all there, they had just shutdown.

This put the workers at a few weeks old at a minimum in mid October. Now let’s move to November, December and even into early January with hives that are far more active than normal. During the summer a worker lives about 7 weeks.

Since most bees die outside of the hive and since the workers were active well into early winter, and house cleaning was still taking place, the hive is left with far less than normal number of bees. This also left the hive with very few dead bees.

Just a thought.

[sqkcrk]

Bees disappearing from hives happened before CCD was ever thought of. Let's not put all losses in the CCD camp.

Make sure your Apiary Ispector knows about your loss so it can be kept track of.

[buckbee]

We have a hive in upstate NY and when we went to check on the hive a few weeks ago before vacation it was gone. Nothing left but a few dead bees and all their honey in the upper hive body. I'm assuming this is the Colony Collapse Disorder we have all heard about... but i haven't heard to much about it hitting hobby beekeepers... any thoughts.. thanks

Can I ask - did you feed your bees down in the fall? If so, what did you use - just straight syrup, or did you add anything? Do you use antibiotics (e.g. Fumidil B)?

Not trying to prove anything either way - just wondering.

[Joel]

I think it is extremely important we not automatically attribute losses to CCD and increase the hysteria with with the state thing now.

It is more likely you lost this hive to trachael mites. You say you treated for mites in the fall. Are you saying you treated with menthol for Trachaels,, which is not effective in cool temps or are you saying you treated for Varroa.

The flip side of the coin is if you really think this is the case now is the time to get ahold of your local beekeeping group and see if someone can do an inspection, of the trachael tubes, very easily done, or observe the hive with an eye of experiance and give you and idea of what really happened here.

I hope you'll do this, set your mind at ease and let us know what you find.

Then order a package or a nuc and have a great beekeeping year, free of CCD and better prepared to prevent loss next year.

[bbbbeeman]

propaniac; when was the last time you look at your bees before the d-out it may have been a lost queen in the fall, and you didnt have the number of bees needed for keeping the hive warm.good luck ROCK.

[Mike Gillmore]

When did you last see the colony active? Just curious if you can pin down the time of year this may have happened.

[bleta12]

This is classic example why you should keep more the one hive, at least Two, for comparison.
One hive tells you nothing, even if the bees have CCD written on their back.

We will be fine here, if only we had some April weather.

Good luck.

[Jeffzhear]

For what it's worth, I had a friend call me the other day regarding a hive he lost in the Oxford NY area. He said, "they're just gone, all of them...not a bee in the hive, but lots of honey." Well folks are used to winter loss around here, but not used to NO bees dead or alive in a hive...it's an oddity. So, whether it's CCD or something else, who knows.