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Started with a package 4 weeks ago in a top bar hive. Everything was looking good, I fed 2 quarts of syrup at beginning. Yesterday 200 dead bees on the table and when I looked in they were piled up like cordwood on the bottom, still kind of moving some of them. Had bad weather here last week or more, cool and rainy.
Here's what I see inside:
-good comb development, lots of brood cells, 10 bars filled out so far.
-maybe a thousand(?) bees still moving around on the comb.
-quick and massive kill to the colony.
-lots of live bees in cells with their hind ends poking out (??), just staying there.
-no eggs in any cells.
-no cells filled with honey.
-found the queen, she seemed poorly attended in the chaos.
-docile colony, they seemed gentle before but now there's no zip at all.
So I am thinking:
-there's no way these guys are going to pull out of this and,
-some type of quick acting disease caused this (??) or,
-I starved them to death, should have watched their honey stores closer (??) or...
Any ideas?
Thanks, Dave
Here's what I see inside:
-good comb development, lots of brood cells, 10 bars filled out so far.
-maybe a thousand(?) bees still moving around on the comb.
-quick and massive kill to the colony.
-lots of live bees in cells with their hind ends poking out (??), just staying there.
-no eggs in any cells.
-no cells filled with honey.
-found the queen, she seemed poorly attended in the chaos.
-docile colony, they seemed gentle before but now there's no zip at all.
So I am thinking:
-there's no way these guys are going to pull out of this and,
-some type of quick acting disease caused this (??) or,
-I starved them to death, should have watched their honey stores closer (??) or...
Any ideas?
Thanks, Dave