Well I am losing about 67 to 75% of my bees in 2013, and in 2014.
And the only hive I lost in winter, the queen swarmed off, a freeze occurred and drones were thrown out during the freeze, and the virgin took off, eventually to return unmated and appear on the screen of another hive (I had merged her bees.)
I lost 3 hives to EFB last year, out of 5, got that cleared up, acquired my neighbor's hot bees when split and requeened his hot hive (miserably hot but they were bees), that got me to 3 hives, did a small split with a new queen, so 3 plus a nuc. Had to send the nuc away they were getting robbed out, kept them at a friend's. My big double deep EFB survivor VSH queen swarmed off and her virgin failed to mate, 2 plus a nuc.
Requeened the hot bees 5/16/14, they are now my only surviving hive. Queen swarmed from one hive, virgin failed to return from mating, newly installed queen died leaving 4 or 5 queen cells, and i sold off the hive the nuc developed into
Drought, drought and drought. No fodder except a 3 month flow... I am almost glad to be down to one hive... Will buy a couple of queens and split it in August or September. Meantime it has enough bees to defend the honey and I got about 3.5 gallons of honey.
And the only hive I lost in winter, the queen swarmed off, a freeze occurred and drones were thrown out during the freeze, and the virgin took off, eventually to return unmated and appear on the screen of another hive (I had merged her bees.)
I lost 3 hives to EFB last year, out of 5, got that cleared up, acquired my neighbor's hot bees when split and requeened his hot hive (miserably hot but they were bees), that got me to 3 hives, did a small split with a new queen, so 3 plus a nuc. Had to send the nuc away they were getting robbed out, kept them at a friend's. My big double deep EFB survivor VSH queen swarmed off and her virgin failed to mate, 2 plus a nuc.
Requeened the hot bees 5/16/14, they are now my only surviving hive. Queen swarmed from one hive, virgin failed to return from mating, newly installed queen died leaving 4 or 5 queen cells, and i sold off the hive the nuc developed into
Drought, drought and drought. No fodder except a 3 month flow... I am almost glad to be down to one hive... Will buy a couple of queens and split it in August or September. Meantime it has enough bees to defend the honey and I got about 3.5 gallons of honey.