Just a lonely queen

[Milan-Slovakia]

http://vir.sgmjournals.org/cgi/conte...tract/90/2/463

[trustchild]

I opened up the hive to take another look. The "live" queen and her few attending workers were all completely still. I took some photos of them, and then put them back in the hive. They sure looked dead, but they were still clinging to the comb. Maybe just dormant in the cool weather.

Have a look:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/98487159@N00/4064995071/

I also took some shots of the carnage on the bottom of the hive. There are small red dots, looks like dead varroa mites (?):

http://www.flickr.com/photos/98487159@N00/4064975313/

The wings didn't seem deformed, so I'm thinking that they didn't have DWV.

My best theory for the death of this hive is that they were weakened by varroa mites and attacked by yellow jackets. There are queen cells, so maybe a new queen left with most of the stressed out colony? But in October?

Does this sound plausible?

[Cacklewack]

Bees with deformed wings tend to leave the hive to die alone, so you may not see them. Judging by the number of mites on the floor of the hive I'm just guessing that they got decimated by Varroa. This happened to one of my hives just the other day. I'd been steadily watching them decline, and two days ago I looked in and there were only a few hundred bees left. I quickly got in and took out 16 bars of honey and left the bees to die.

The hive right next to them was started with a package from the same source on the same day, yet it is absolutely brimming with bees.

Matt

[trustchild]

Thanks for your replay, Matt.

Should I save the empty bars that have comb on them for another swarm next spring, or should I clean out the hive and harvest the wax and start fresh? Any danger of the Varroa reinfesting another swarm in the same hive? Where does Varroa come from anyway? Can the Varroa survive the winter? How do they winter over?

[dcross]

Varroa cannot live without the bees, the combs should be fine for next year.

[Maine_Beekeeper]

trust -

Please don't take offense but I recommend you attend bee school this winter.
Clearly you need some help with the basics, and Bee School is the best place to get that covered.
Sorry to hear about your lost colony,
-Erin

[trustchild]

I would love to attend bee school, Erin.

Thanks for the tip.

Until then, I'm in the bee school of learning as I go.

Which is why I'm here.

Where most people are quite helpful.