One is better than none. I went into the winter with three hives. I knew two were dead. Thought that all three were dead. Today was near 60 degrees and I decided to clean the bee area of my yard. Two hives dead. One starved to death on a huge patch of brood with a full deep worth of honey above them. One with layers of dead bees (in various stages of decomp) at the bottom. Sigh.
The last, however, proved to be a suprise. This was a swarm I started two years ago with a jet black queen (her daughters are brown and yellow). They did absolutely nothing. Wintered in a single deep, never made a drop of honey in the super above them. I stacked a second super on them in the fall (a full one from a hive that was five deeps high). They are still in the bottom deep - about three frames worth of bees.
In the late afternoon when the sun had been full on the hive for a few hours, they finally came out, taking orientation flights, cleansing on my nice clean white fence (very few undigested pollen exines!) and generally doing bee-ish things.
No idea why they weren't out sooner (all of my hives last year would fly even in the cold) but I suspect they are raising brood and were staying in to keep the home fires burning.
It's sad to lose 2/3 of your colonies. It's nice to still have one, even if it's just for now.
The last, however, proved to be a suprise. This was a swarm I started two years ago with a jet black queen (her daughters are brown and yellow). They did absolutely nothing. Wintered in a single deep, never made a drop of honey in the super above them. I stacked a second super on them in the fall (a full one from a hive that was five deeps high). They are still in the bottom deep - about three frames worth of bees.
In the late afternoon when the sun had been full on the hive for a few hours, they finally came out, taking orientation flights, cleansing on my nice clean white fence (very few undigested pollen exines!) and generally doing bee-ish things.
No idea why they weren't out sooner (all of my hives last year would fly even in the cold) but I suspect they are raising brood and were staying in to keep the home fires burning.
It's sad to lose 2/3 of your colonies. It's nice to still have one, even if it's just for now.