[BTG]

I am not quite sure where to put this so I will put it here. On April 25th I brought home 2 packages and put them in top bar hives. I took a peek at them a week later and one of them was looking pretty good and the other wasn't doing much. A few days later I opened both hives and really did an inspection. The first was drawing out lots of comb and had all sorts of activity. The other that wasn't doing well was a pile of dead bees in the bottom of the box. There was no drawn out comb, and the sugar solution I had given them was not eaten. When I originally put the bees in the hives they all looked pretty healthy. Any idea why one would just die without building any comb or anything while the other is thriving? When I first brought them home it was a nice day but then it was cold and rainy for about a week. There was plenty to forage if they could get out of the hive. My new plan is to manage my existing hive as a nuc and try the Michael Palmer method to build up nucs for the winter.

 

[Silverbackotter]

The dead one abscond?

 

[BTG]

No... They just died. I have a nice pile of dead bees in a box.

 

[Delta Bay]

Cold wet weather and not taking feed is likely why they died. It is important to make sure the bees have found and are taking the syrup under those conditions. The syrup should be changed out for very warm syrup regularly so that they will take it freely. Once the feed is cold they may not be too interested in taking it.