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24 Posts
Hello all,
Brand new beekeeper here, please don't be too rough on me. So I installed a new package each into two top bar hives I built. They had screened bottom boards at the advice of a beekeeping friend of mine, I did not cover them. I will know for next time to cover them at least at first. I installed the packages 4/13 by putting the whole package in the hive, minus the queen in her candy plugged cage, hung, at the advice of my friend. I had to go in a couple days later and remove the boxes/shake the rest of the bees. Next time I'm going to just shake them in directly to avoid disturbing them too much. I provided them 1:1 syrup in a jar type feeder within the hive body. They hardly took any of the syrup but both hives seemed busy, happy, bringing in pollen, I'd see the bees on my dandelions, etc. Right after installation we got some unseasonably cold, wet weather, but after it passed, still happy seeming bees, still not taking much/any syrup but all was well. On the 19th, we went in to check the queens had been released. One had (Hive B), and we removed the queen cage. There was NO COMB even though they'd been in there 6 days. Giant cluster of bees. In the other hive (Hive A), the queen had not been released so I pulled the plug and laid the cage on the bottom for her to crawl out at her leisure. Also NO COMB in that hive, but still plenty of bees. We got other cold snaps within the next few days. On the 21st there seemed to be much less activity by the hives. On the 22nd I looked up through the bottom mesh as well as I could. In Hive A, there were only a handful of bees, maybe 50 in all, crawling on a palm-sized bit of comb. In Hive B there was a VERY small cluster of bees, about grapefruit sized. Still no comb, but they had excreted some wax on the cleats in the very beginning of comb building. Also there may have been comb that was covered by the cluster. I looked for a queen or any sign of eggs or anything unusual in Hive A. Nothing. I gifted the comb to hive B as gently as I could, without disturbing any of the bees. I was very hesitant to go poking around in Hive B for fear of disturbing them into absconding. They had taken about two or three cups of syrup since the last time I'd checked (a few days), which is more than they'd previously taken. Each hive had a handful or two of dead bees on the bottom screen. This was not necessarily new as of the sudden population decrease, but had been there since the day or so after installation.
I'm reasonably sure Hive A absconded. Maybe? Would they leave behind bees if they did? Bees were still coming and going from the entrance, but just one or two at a time. So I know the bees left behind/alive were old enough to fly. Hive B, did they freeze to death? Starve? Is there likely a queen still in there somewhere? Any chance of survival? Why aren't they taking feed? It was not that the syrup was too cold, because I'd heat it during cold snaps to keep it from getting below 50 degrees. Should I go in and slide in a bottom board on the mesh or leave it alone and not disturb bees? Help! This is so discouraging
Brand new beekeeper here, please don't be too rough on me. So I installed a new package each into two top bar hives I built. They had screened bottom boards at the advice of a beekeeping friend of mine, I did not cover them. I will know for next time to cover them at least at first. I installed the packages 4/13 by putting the whole package in the hive, minus the queen in her candy plugged cage, hung, at the advice of my friend. I had to go in a couple days later and remove the boxes/shake the rest of the bees. Next time I'm going to just shake them in directly to avoid disturbing them too much. I provided them 1:1 syrup in a jar type feeder within the hive body. They hardly took any of the syrup but both hives seemed busy, happy, bringing in pollen, I'd see the bees on my dandelions, etc. Right after installation we got some unseasonably cold, wet weather, but after it passed, still happy seeming bees, still not taking much/any syrup but all was well. On the 19th, we went in to check the queens had been released. One had (Hive B), and we removed the queen cage. There was NO COMB even though they'd been in there 6 days. Giant cluster of bees. In the other hive (Hive A), the queen had not been released so I pulled the plug and laid the cage on the bottom for her to crawl out at her leisure. Also NO COMB in that hive, but still plenty of bees. We got other cold snaps within the next few days. On the 21st there seemed to be much less activity by the hives. On the 22nd I looked up through the bottom mesh as well as I could. In Hive A, there were only a handful of bees, maybe 50 in all, crawling on a palm-sized bit of comb. In Hive B there was a VERY small cluster of bees, about grapefruit sized. Still no comb, but they had excreted some wax on the cleats in the very beginning of comb building. Also there may have been comb that was covered by the cluster. I looked for a queen or any sign of eggs or anything unusual in Hive A. Nothing. I gifted the comb to hive B as gently as I could, without disturbing any of the bees. I was very hesitant to go poking around in Hive B for fear of disturbing them into absconding. They had taken about two or three cups of syrup since the last time I'd checked (a few days), which is more than they'd previously taken. Each hive had a handful or two of dead bees on the bottom screen. This was not necessarily new as of the sudden population decrease, but had been there since the day or so after installation.
I'm reasonably sure Hive A absconded. Maybe? Would they leave behind bees if they did? Bees were still coming and going from the entrance, but just one or two at a time. So I know the bees left behind/alive were old enough to fly. Hive B, did they freeze to death? Starve? Is there likely a queen still in there somewhere? Any chance of survival? Why aren't they taking feed? It was not that the syrup was too cold, because I'd heat it during cold snaps to keep it from getting below 50 degrees. Should I go in and slide in a bottom board on the mesh or leave it alone and not disturb bees? Help! This is so discouraging