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Loss of hive...opinions?

5K views 12 replies 11 participants last post by  flyfishing 
#1 ·
Well I guess if you do it long enough its bound to happen. I have been at it for 2 years now and have never experienced the loss of a hive. I have 3 hives all wintered with 2 deeps and a shallow, and a candy board on top of that. I winterized this year just after halloween and haven't checked on them too much since. We had an unusual 60 degree day here last week and I noticed one of the hives didn't have the activity that the other two had. Checked it out and all bees were dead, don't really know how long they had been this way. Little to no brood. The bottom box was pretty empty. They still had frames of honey in the top box and hadn't even touched the shallow. I took some pix in hopes to get some thoughts from you folks. I guess the goal here is to learn from what has happened. There are quite a few butts up and heads down but I would think it is way too early in the winter to have them starve. My other thought was weak from mites and I did see what I think is the mite droppings (although picture kinda stinks). Any input would be appreciated.

First opened up....
Bee Insect Membrane-winged insect Honeybee Beehive

Bee Honeybee Membrane-winged insect Metal Insect


Lotta butts showing....
Pattern Bee Honeycomb Design Beehive


Not sure how well this shows up, the frame is upside down so the white "flakes" would be on top of the cells.....
Pattern Beehive Honeycomb Design Bee


The aftermath....:cry:
Bee Honeybee Insect Beehive Apiary
 
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#4 ·
Hard to tell from the pics alone. Do you run open SBD all winter?
I had the same thing (sorta) happen here. 400-500 bees dead (tha'ts all there was in the hive after robbing made the bulk leave), some butts up. Plenty of stores... I know they froze out though. I am wondering if the bees will bury themselves in comb to keep warmer? This may look like the were looking for food.
 
#6 ·
Bees will enter empty cells as part of the cluster.
Bees are very hesitant about leaving brood as shown in the 3rd photo with bees clustered around unhatched cells.
The frames above the cluster in the first two photos are empty, the outside frame seems to be mostly undrawn foundation. The cluster needs to always be in contact with stores or they will starve, which is what I see here.
As for mites can't tell from pics but you can do an alcohol wash with the dead cluster and get an idea if mites were involved.
 
#7 ·
>>Not sure how well this shows up, the frame is upside down so the white "flakes" would be on top of the cells.....

the white flakes in the cells are left behind by the mites, mite frass I call it. When a colony crashes, all housekeeping stops, so as the cluster pulls contracts, those "flakes" will be left un touched in the cells
 
#8 ·
I think the op and Ian pretty well nailed it. Most likely a hive whose population was decimated by a mite crash. The bees head first in the cells is a sign of starvation that would have occurred when the resulting tiny cluster of bees was unable to generate enough heat to move to an area in the hive where there was honey.
 
#9 ·
Those white spots he showed in the picture are small bits of crystalized honey. They are way too big to be mite fecal deposits. Im not seeing honey in that hive. That cluster is plenty big to move around. Its not even that cold yet. They straight up starved. Just my 2 Cents.
 
#11 ·
Sounded to me like all the stores were up high and all the brood down low. It wouldnt take much cold for a smaller cluster to starve in that scenario.
 
#13 ·
Hi BeeManiac, Question what would you recomend to do to keep that hive from starving, Seems like there was plenty of food ,But why did the bees not go up, I am new at this and I don't quite understand what kept them from feeding . I had the samething happen to me. Not as many dead bees but all of them left I think. Did find a queen cell last week, Not sure what is going on.
John
 
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