Colleen
can you give us some more info on the colonies that didn't make it?
Estimated bees and stores going into winter and on how many bars? How much open space did they have? Did you feed? How much?
I'm just trying to get a better idea of your setup
I looked at my notes and the three nucs that were together in the one hive body were:
1) 11 bars, 5 brood 5 honey one candy. Mite count 1.7%. Fed syrup and pollen sub in the fall. Deadout in February from dysentery. Found some fermenting honey in their combs (frothing). I did see the occasional hive beetle so I think that was the cause of the honey issue that took them out.
2) 10 bars, 4.5 brood 4.5 honey one candy. Mite count 3.5%. Fed syrup and pollen sub in the fall. Deadout in late February from cluster loss. I tried to save the queen but messed up and lost her.
3) 9 bars, 3 brood 4 honey 2 empty. Mite count 9.8%. Fed syrup and pollen sub in the fall. Deadout in late January from cluster
loss but really mites.
I should also note I brought this combined hive into the garage before the temperatures went below 0°F and the garage generally stayed around 25 to 40. On the few warmer days I dragged the hive out so they could do cleansing flights.
The two nucs that overwintered but were in their own accommodations:
MNH Mutts) 10 bar nuc, 9 drawn 1 partial. 5 brood, 4.5 honey, a little candy in the back where the partial comb was. Mite count ~1%. Fed a little syrup and pollen sub but most was their own honey. Came out of winter with around 3 1/2 bars of bees but would have starved if I hadn't given them deadout honey comb in the spring. This nuc was light weight so I moved it into the garage only for the coldest weather then put it back outside. I also put wool as insulation over the bars. In February this nuc got moved into my new hybrid KTBH/Lang/Warre nuc body with quilts on it. The bees killed the queen when I marked her so I now have three new daughter queens that will hopefully get mated when the nice weather hits this weekend. This new hybrid nuc is now divided into two five bar nucs that I can super with Langstroth 5 frame nuc boxes. It is full of bees despite pulling another split off it with the third queen last weekend. That split went into the nuc this colony started off in.
Buckfast) full size hive body (4'), 10 combs to beespace follower. 5 brood, 5 honey but extra bees covering a few of the honey bars from a nuc that lost it's queen and got combined with this one. Mite count 11%. Fed a little syrup and pollen sub but most was their own honey. Came out of winter with around 5 1/2 bars of bees and used a fraction of their honey. I did not do any extra measures (besides putting wool for insulation over the bars) on this one because I thought it was a goner after I saw the mite numbers. The spring mite count was around 9+%. This one is building but slower than the other. The brood nest is starting onto the 8th bar (would have been 9th but I needed a bar of brood for the split). They look like they will be at the right size for a good honey crop when the main flow starts. I'm worried about their mite count but am watching closely.