[Saltybee]

Well my plummet to earth begun last August is complete. Had hoped to come out with 4 after a bad August and September. Knew I lost some to condensation in a blowing fog hours after 17 below. Had 2 struggling 3 weeks ago, now officially dead. Back to zip.

Brothers 3 going strong. What a difference in a quarter mile.

 

[Robbin]

I sure am sorry, and that's very depressing... I thought raising bees was going to be easy.....

 

[Riskybizz]

Set out the swarm traps Salty you've got the comb. That's half the battle.

 

[MrHappy]

A few things I can think of are

Wind Blocks (one near fence or something, another in the middle of yard)
high ground, low ground (if yours are in a low spot in the field, then the cold could accumulate under it)
direction of hive (if one is facing more towards the wind, it will blow right in)

most important to me, pesticides. (your bees are going to a farm or house that uses pesticides and your brothers are going the other direction so they don't collect it.)

Just some ideas.

 

[Saltybee]

A few things I can think of are


most important to me, pesticides.

Just some ideas.

Spot is protected from the North, did get SE wind which is the least protected. But my bees brought home honey that had been sprayed. Dark honey on top of light syrup in combs. Stacks of dead bees inside and dying adult wax moths with them. Lost hives in three day time span, lost queens into Sept. Was expecting a tough spring anyway.

 

[Moon]

I feel for you Salty. I went from 50 to 8. Was a humbling winter. Have no one to blame but myself though so that makes it easier, kind of

Start of a new year with new opportunities though.

 

[D Semple]

I feel for you Salty. I went from 50 to 8. Was a humbling winter. Have no one to blame but myself though so that makes it easier, kind of

Start of a new year with new opportunities though.

OUch, sorry to here that.

Salty, 1/4 mile does often make a huge difference the cold and damp wind will get them. Made the mistake two years ago of trying to winter 17 colonies down in a valley bottom next to a large creek and lost 16 out of 17 at that yard.

Hang in there, you give very good advice in your posts.


Don

 

[MrHappy]

One thing I'm going to try, to combat the pesticide collection, is to try to take out all the honey in the entire hive about a month before it gets cold (Aug or Sept here) and start feeding sugar. Have them store all the sugar they can for the winter so I know it's clean. I think this might help, but just guessing here.
I had 18 hives and went down to 1. The one that was left was a cutout that had been in a wall for 4-5 years so maybe they learned how to deal with the pesticides.
Another thing I heard is that the queens that we get here is packages don't seem to last, so a bunch of the people here are requeening in Jul-Aug so that it is a new queen that is going into the winter so she is stronger. Just some ideas.

 

[Saltybee]

I knew they had not been exposed for very long because of how many were dead 3 days after all was fine. There was very little stored and I was feeding syrup already so I shook out everything I could. Really felt in a hard spot between getting rid of contamination and getting them ready with winter stores . May not have been a right answer at that point anyway, but I obviously did not find one.

 

[laketrout]

Moon , sorry to hear of your loss , that's some cold windy country up near Gillette I bet . What do you feel you could do different to help get them through with the weather you have .