[wipeoutxl21]

New beekepper here in his first year. Lost 1 of two hives but treated the second hive with OAV twice in the last 7 days. Today (3 days since last OAV) I went out check the hive on a 50 degree day. I did not open the top, but could see through the small hive entrance there were dead bees piled up. I opened it and scrapped the bees out of the hive onto the ground then picking some up and putting them into a plastic tub to take inside to manually check a couple hundred bees for mites to get a count.

As I was inspecting them I would say around 25% of the still non moving bees slowly began to come back to life when they were all not moving at all when I picked them up after scrapping them out of the hive onto the ground. Why would bees be in suspended animation inside the hive?

I have no idea if this hive will end up surviving. I treated for mites far too late and without opening the hive I cant check for a bee ball. They were strong going into fall. So my two questions:

1) Whats up with the frankenstein bees inside the hive?
2) Im in virginia, would it be wise to begin to feed the hive now in hopes the queen will start reading brood early and possibly save the hive? They do have plenty of capped honey.

Thanks

 

[Tigger19687]

LOL I had that happen the other week, but I had them in a zipped ziplock baggie for 3 hours !
I scrambled to bring them back outside... course I know they died but it was funny.

 

[John Davis]

They're not dead bees until they're warm dead bees.
I am also in VA, (Powhatan) if they have stores I would not add liquid feed, solid feed as emergency would not hurt if food is short above the cluster.

 

[Gray Goose]

Hi Wipeout,

First dead bees do not come back to life so they were in A torpor state, knit picking I know.

have a read part 1 and 2

Old Bees/ Cold Bees/ No Bees? Part 1 - Scientific Beekeeping

The Disease that Disappears. 1 The Disappearing Act 2 Colony Population Dynamics and Collapse. 3 Dwindling—What a difference a few days make! 5 Foragers have a short warranty. 7 Protein levels. 9 General infections. 9 Parasites. 10 Viruses. 10 Hot-Blooded Ladies. 12 The Bottom Line. 15...

scientificbeekeeping.com

Possibly the bees have "issues" keeping warm,, could be
SBV
Starvation cannot get to stores if they exist.
too small cluster
about to die of old age
really cold out like -10 at the really cold point the outside shell of bees drop off the cluster in the torpor state if they cannot feed for several days.

keep on eye on the hive, hopefully it is just bees about to die of old age.
I would do the wash and check the mite count. Once down like they were, the bee is of little value. It is in the "About to die" column.

hate to beat the same ole drum but sounds like Virus vectored by Varroa, is taking some toll from your hive.

GG

 

[JWPalmer]

Wow, if the bees are chilling to the point of paralysis even inside the hive, I do not hold out much hope for them. We have not yet gotten to the coldest part of winter. Do you have a garage or some area where you can keep them at a relatively constant 40 degrees? if so, you MIGHT be able to get them through until new brood is reared. The winter bees you have now in your hives appear to be very weak. That is what varroa will do to them, even when no viruses are present.

 

[joebeewhisperer]

I once went out on a Sunday morning to a pile (probably 2lbs) of lifeless bees on a screened bottom board and a few heads poked in cells. I drizzled a very thin bit of honey across them many times. Came back from church to clean them out. Dumped them out in a pile and about 25% of them started moving. The queen crawled out and I put them back in. She laid like crazy the following summer.

 

[Michael Bush]

I've made the same mistake. Now I don't assume they are dead until they are warm.

 

[wipeoutxl21]

UPDATE:

The OA treatment seems to have helped. Many less dead bees outside now. We had a nice day and the hive had a ton of bees out front. I have also done some listening on the hive and it sounds like there are alot of bees inside. I treated twice about three weeks ago, will probably wait to treat ago until February unless I see signs of many bees dying. Im also assuming in zone 7 Virginia that the queen is probably back to laying to replace the losses. I will update once im able to do an actual inspection.

I am also making some screened bottom boards to use in the warm months so I can better track mite counts.

 

[JWPalmer]

Where in VA are you. Winchester , Bristol, and Hampton Roads are all different climates

 

[wipeoutxl21]

Where in VA are you. Winchester , Bristol, and Hampton Roads are all different climates

South of winchester in the valley