Sping installed package -- All bees died --

[shubing]

On April 12th we installed 2 packges of bees with a Carni queens. The weather in Wisconsin has been exceptionally cold and wet. The TBHs have a top enterance (Michael Bush design) and we limied the TBH to 12 1 1/4th bars with a follower board/feeder Both packages installed good. The feeder was a quart jar directly behing the follower board with access to it through the bottom of the follower board. Bees clustered up on the top bars but little feed was taken. After about 12 days all the bees in one of the hives were no longer clustered on the top bars but were in the bottom of the hive. There was little movement and most of the bees were dead. Our supplier (very helpful folks) figured that the bees starved to death because the feeder was not close enough to the cluster. The bees would have had to craw down about 4 - 8 inches and into the feeder to get feed.

The other hive seemed to be doing okay. They were flying on days when the sun was out (which was rare) but in the 12 days they had only taken about 1/2 quart of feed and there was a significant amount of dead bees on the floor. We added another feeder on the top of the hive and close to the cluster and also added two bars of old comb which had some honey in it. Even though there is a bunch of dead bees on the floor of the hive there is also a large cluster of bees on the bars with comb and honey. I think these bees will make it.

Now to my question. What could we have done differently that would have helped the bees make it through the cold wet weather?

Is there a better feeder design that could be placed in closer proximity to the cluster of bees so they didn't have to break cluster to get to it?

Our suppliers are gracious enough to set us up with another package and we don't want a repeat of what happened to the first package.

Any help would be much apprecieated.

Thanks

Steve & Jeannie

[Beeheck]

Sorry to hear about your bees. I had the very same arrangement on my TBH however, my entrance is on one of the sides. My bees had no problem walking through the follower board to get to the feeder and have feed eagerly. If I were you and this is definitely Monday morning quarterbacking, I might have brought the feeder over to the side where they were clustered. They would still have had to walk or drop down to get the feed but they might have gotten to it easier. I also increased the size of the holes on my feeder so more liquid came out. My bees drank a lot more than my friends who was in a nearby TBH hive on my property. She left the holes small.

[bluegrass]

Many packages are installed without any feeders at all, the bees are fed in the package so I doubt starvation was your issue. April 12th is too early for your region, I would not install a package before the first week of May in that area.

My guess is that the queen died and then the bees broke cluster and that is what did them in.

[BoBn]

I built a feeder out of:
- a plastic 3 liter cranberry juice bottle
-A piece of coroplast cut to the shape of the follower board (Masonite or wood would also work)
-a small strip of screen
-a hot glue gun
-hole saw

I cut a piece of corrugated plastic the same shape as a follower board. I stood this up against the plastic bottle and glued the 2 together with hot glue..

I then drilled a 1" hole through the plastic follower board and into the neck of the plastic bottle.

I stuck 3/4" a strip of screen that goes from from the bottom of the bottle and out the bottom of the hole for a ladder. I also put some wood chips in the bottle.

I started with about 7 bars.

The feeder that I built had an upper entrance. I don't know if my setup is any better.

I has been cold here too with nighttime freezing temps up until this week. This week is mostly cool, grey and showers.

I installed bees April 9 with daytime temps mostly in the mid 50s and in the 20s and 30s at night. They are doing well working on 10 bars with brood in all stages. Feed consumption is starting to slow down.

I have read of similar problems where the bees are inches away from food. Maybe you need to leave a "trail of breadcrumbs".

The feed should not be cold when put in the hive. When I prep syrup or honey to feed in the spring, I keep it in glass jugs near the woodstove until needed.

Bob

[gjd]

Novice guessing. I installed a package in a TBH in MA on Apr 6th, after waiting 2 rainy days to install, spraying boxed bees with syrup regularly in addition to feeder in box. I used a similar feeding chamber, with a 1" hole drilled in the separating follower. I assume you had a solid bottom like me. Temp maxed in the low 50s F that day, and I believe it was below 40 half of the time for several subsequent days, but sunny. I put a heater (light bulb) on the other side of the syrup feeder chamber for a day until I was sure they were ok, which didn't do much, partly due to low wattage. Had lots of insulation under the outer cover. I had one low entrance 1" round. If it had been colder I would have put the jar in the brood chamber and the light bulb on the other side of the follower. If they hadn't started taking the syrup (checked with observation window) the next day I was going to put some sugar candy in a suet cage hung next to the cluster. No clue if that works. Ask me next March.

My recollection is having read they want about 50F to break cluster, which mine had for maybe half the day. With my cover insulation and restricted low entrance, the chamber temperature was consistently 15-20F above outside. The feeder chamber temp was less, but still well above outside. Having a window and temperature sensors was very handy, and very entertaining.

Again, I'm a novice groping in the dark. Greg

[beez2010]

I agree with Bluegrass. It is up to all of us (package purchasers) to have good communication with our suppliers and delay the shipments of bees when the weather is poor. April 12 was too early to schedule them, anyway. I always schedule for first week of May (Michigan). Sometimes they call and ask if I want them early, sometimes I call them and ask them to wait a couple more weeks.

Also, remember that it doesn't matter if the feeder is close to the cluster if the feed is cold. Bees won't take syrup that is less than about 50 degrees F. In our Warre hives, the hivetop feeder is directly above the cluster and the insulating quilt goes over that, so the feed tends to stay warm enough unless it is really cold outside. The bees can also break cluster to go get the food because the hive is insulated....not highly ventilated. How you accomplish that kind of arrangement with a KTBH I am not sure.

Chris Harvey--Teakwood Organics

www.thewarrestore.com

[Adrian Quiney WI]

You have just had awful bad weather luck. Last year was so warm things would have been different.....

[beez2010]

Last year's weather was not typical. Temps were mostly way above average. This year's weather has been somewhat colder than average, but much more "normal" than last year. Your right, last year things would have been different, but a beekeeper should plan for the worst weather, not the best, unless he or she wants to struggle.