Hive Post Mortem

**HoneyintheRox** · 09-09-2012, 07:35 PM

So my hive is officially mostly dismantled and completely empty. The guy I bought my bees from told me the fact that it took them three months to build out one box should have been an indication for me to requeen but that by early August (when I called him) I'd missed my window. I hadn't had time to really go out and deal with things until today, though. In the box I'd never meant to be a box, I saw a bunch of things that look like queen cups to my newbie eye:

I'm still wondering what happened, but I think my best guess is that they had a bum queen, tried to supercede and that failed? Or they swarmed and the new queen didn't survive? Either way, I'll start over next year with two hives so that I have more of a basis for comparison.

**Bush_84** · 09-09-2012, 08:05 PM

Hard to know without more info. I do see some queen cups. I had a warre that was a bit far from home. I didn't get to them enough and they swarmed. They then never got a laying queen. Slowly withered away.

There's a fair chance that's what happened with you. They probably quickly filled out that first box and didn't move down, which caused them to swarm. They then didn't get a laying queen. I supered a box with two combs and nadired an empty. They moved up but not down and were lost to the trees. I now plan to seed all of my warre boxes with comb whether they are supered or nadired.

**chaindrivecharlie** · 09-09-2012, 08:05 PM

If you have a dry basement, cover that box with wood over and under. Store it with the comb for next year. Put the other emptys on top for weight to hold it down tight. I put mine in the darkest corner of my basement, never had a problem yet. Then when your new packages arrive, 1 will have a head start. And don't worry the bees will clean it out and polish it up and the queen will start laying. Glad to see that You are not letting it get you down.
God Bless!

**HoneyintheRox** · 09-09-2012, 10:35 PM

My bee guy said to freeze the box for a week to kill any potential issues before storing it. I was thinking of just leaving it in my chest freezer all wrapped up until Spring. Does that sound like overkill? Will it degrade the comb?

**Keth Comollo** · 09-10-2012, 05:42 AM

However you store it make sure you don't remove the comb from those boxes. That will give the bees you get next year a huge head start! Sorry to hear of your loss.

**Bush_84** · 09-10-2012, 08:40 PM

The comb in my garage will be frozen all winter.

**chaindrivecharlie** · 09-11-2012, 09:07 PM

Yes freezing will work great, I could leave mine in the garage all winter too.

But I have had good service keeping them in the basement too. We use to keep them in a honey house in Florida without problems. And yes You want it for a quick startup for your bees next year.
Keep a log book or journal of your adventure in beekeeping. It will be a great help down the road!
God Bless.