Weak NorCal hive - what to do?

**bison** · 12-24-2012, 03:02 PM

I have three hives in my backyard in the SF area. Today is a beautiful 60 degree plus day so I took a look inside. Two are booming - lots of bees and plenty of stores. The third is very weak, with a small number of bees on just two frames (maybe a fist sized ball at best). I saw the queen, and there was a small amount of caped brood on one frame (maybe 20 cells). Hive is a double-deep. I noticed a bit of spiderweb at the top of one frame, maybe moth?

What if anything should I do to help save it?

I'm considering:

1) Do nothing, see what happens.
2) Put the bees into a 5 frame nuc so they have less space to keep warm. Freeze the frames with honey.
3) Put some bees from one of the other hives into the weak one

My thought is to do #2 as #3 might weaken my strongest hives. Sound right?

thanks and merry xmas!

**ralittlefield** · 12-24-2012, 03:33 PM

First you need to decide if you want to save them. Is this queen performing as she should? Do you have any idea why they declined?

Perhaps this colony is a better candidate for a nuc than a production hive?

If you do want to save them, I suggest adding a couple of frames of capped brood w/attached bees.

**Beregondo** · 12-24-2012, 04:53 PM

Having lived in both the Bay area and upstate NY, let me first observe that most of the concerns we talk about concerning winter just don't exist in the Bay area.
What you call winter, we'd see in early spring or mid autumn.

I'd put a couple frames of brood in as well, and consider requeening late January when the temps are in the 60's and the lows outdoors are in the 40,s and then keep patties on til the flow starts.

I've had excellent results with russell Sunkist and Hybrid 410 Queens.
If you ahve a steady flow, I'd get a Sunkist; if there is one big one 9or two) the 410's ought to do well.
I've watched both strains very aggressively groom returning foragers for mites...have never had mite issues despite using no treatments.

There are now independent sub producers making Russell bees available to hobbyists.
If your state's guy ( http://russellapiariescca.webs.com/apps/webstore/ ) can't get you queens early, try Joseph Clemmons, he's producing them in Arizona.
Joseph is a member of this forum, and his website is at http://russellapiariescca.webs.com/apps/webstore/.

Regards,
Craig

**franktrujillo** · 12-24-2012, 05:32 PM

you need to find out if it wax moths attacking the hive if so you must remove the wax moth larva and place in a nuc...to save them and have that entrance reduced

**BeeGhost** · 12-24-2012, 07:04 PM

It may be a goner, but to try and save it I would take them out of that double deep and put them in a single story nuc. I did this with three of my hives going into winter and it seemed to help them protect the smaller space from wax moths and intruders. If they make it, keep a close eye on them in the spring and transfer back into the regular hive, because they may build up quick and swarm on ya!