[tdfster]

I came out of winter with two hives, then one collapsed. I suspect robbing from the stronger hive. I did a walk away split a week ago by placing whole boxes of brood on a bottom board then placing an empty deep from the collapsed hive on top.

I just walked out to check on them BC I am thinking about swapping positions later today of the strongest hive with the weakest to help with drift and I noticed what must be bee excrement on the side of the hive. Is that what that is and should I be worried?

Here are some pics of the collapsed hive when I opened it. I noticed the wax along one side, which seemed to indicate probable robbing? I am coming out of my first winter with bees (got packages last spring) - so I'm quite new at this.

Thanks!

 

[fieldsofnaturalhoney]

It looks like excrement to me, I wouldn't worry. The wax, could have been bees of that hive uncapping honey when they were alive, or robbers uncapping. It appears to me (from the bottom board), there may have been a moisture issue. Did any of the frame tops, or any of the hive body sides look like the bottom board?

 

[tdfster]

No, the dead bees were mostly on the screen bottom board. The hive had a med super full of capped syrup/honey and a deep about half full of capped syrup/honey. How do I prevent excess moisture?

I will not worry about the excrement on the outside. Thanks!

 

[tommysnare]

How do I prevent excess moisture?

our overwintering technique which we love.known commonly as mountain capping.

remove lid/inner cover
lay newspaper on top of top bars/frames
add one five pound bag of dry sugar
put on a 3-4" spacer/venitlation box which has 3, 1/2" holls drilled in it with screen over them.
add lid.

ventilation is just as if not MORE important than making sure they stay warm. they will cluster and shivver to stay warm which creates moisture on the inside of the lid or inner cover. it will drip down on the clusster and kill them lickity split.
the ventilation box allows the moisture to escape.the dry sugar will also absorb the moisture. making the dry sugar more palatable and easier for the bees to digest.
when spring hits, use the leftover dry sugar for ur first run of syrup feeding.

 

[Barry Digman]

our overwintering technique which we love.known commonly as mountain capping.

Just to clarify, it's actually the Mountain Camp Method, named after the member MountainCamp who described it.

 

[psfred]

I get some bee poo on the hive on the first warm days when the brood that has been emerging all winter gets a chance to get out. Still a bit cool for flying, as a rule, so they can't get far enough away and deposit on the hive. I don't consider this a problem, only happens (at least in my experience) for a short while in the early spring. If the weather has been more typical than this year, the bees get out more and aren't quite so loaded up and I see very little.

Peter

 

[tdfster]

Thanks for the feedback and the overwintering tips. I will definitely look into that method.

I had a 3 inch spacer on top of the inner cover so I could top feed syrup.