A few observations

[Rob55]

I have had my bees for about 1 year now and managed to see them through the winter so far, albeit in a poly nuc due to a late swarm lost last year. Just been making a few small observations and thought I would see what you lot think

1. My bees are bringing in plenty of pollen, the hive entrance hole is nicely stained in amber. Is this generally a sign there is brood or will they bring pollen in anyway?

2. There seem to be good numbers of hairy fluffy bees, might sound silly but is this a decent sign that there are plenty of new bees being reared?

3. Outside the hive there is a bit of a mass grave, with lots of dead bees appearing as the weeks go on. I have also noticed quite a few bees which are clinging to stalks of grass and seem to be dead. I assume these are mainly just winter bees dying out at the end of their lives?

4. Today I checked the fondant I applied about 10 days ago and roughly half of it has been eaten, with loads of bees chomping away furiously on it today while I watched. I hefted the hive and it seemed very light to me. Am I safe enough just to keep the fondant on or should I be looking to replace it with syrup when the temp gets up a bit?

That's all for now I think

 

[Oscarmonster]

I would suggest getting the fondant off and syrup on. My bees seemed to be struggling to take the fondant down as it had gone a bit hard. Stores in the hives almost completely gone.

 

[Barbarian]

When the weather improved, there were quite a few dead bees on the ground in front of my hives. I take it as a good sign. It means there are live bees in the hive doing housekeeping and throwing out the casualties of the spell of cold weather.

Pollen going in, I also take as a good sign. The hive has purpose and is probably raising brood (Q present).

A danger is that with plenty of brood, if we have another cold snap, there is a risk of running out of stores and starvation.

Feeding might be indicated with a light hive. Feeding might have to be a balancing act. Too much feed could stimulate more brood production. A slow contact feeder could be an answer.

 

[oliver90owner]

If they are short of stores and brooding, feed 1:1.

 

[beeno]

Hi Rob55,
1, 2, seems good and 4 has beeen answered. The combination of a 'mass grave' and bees dead clinging to blades of grass could be CPBV (Chronic Paralysis Bee Virus) which is latent in nearly all bees, according to our regional bee inspector, and comes out when they are under stress. There is nothing to be done about it and hopefully they will recover now the weather and pollen situation will improve if they have got it. These bees tend to be very black and shiny too. Fingers crossed!

 

[Arfermo]

Are you sure that the staining round the hive entrance is not nosema? Somebody in your BKA would probably test for you if you ask nicely before its too late.

 

[richardbees]

100% agree with oliver,

i just ispected and found my strongest hive totally bereft of sealed stores - just snacking off the fondant