why did this happen, they wouldn't take any feed at all. I try dripping through the hole in the feeder but they wouldn't come up for it. They were surounded by HB and dozens of trees with ivy growing up them. They were bringing pollen in but wouldn't take extra food to biuld up there stores. anyone know why. Mistery to me and a friend who as kept bees for 40yrs other than they were Q/less.
Not taking syrup when all other circumstances favour it....weather....available space.......colony strength.....is an early indicator of trouble. In an apiary of hives , with the others happily taking their syrup and one or more are lagging behind despite the aforementioned factors being OK means you need to find out why.
Queenlessness is a major possibility. The fact they were bringing pollen TENDS to be evidence against that conclusion, although the enthusiasm for the task and the amount being carried relative to other colonies in the group should be taken into account, and no such evidence is offered to lead to a reliable conclusion of queenlessness.
Drone layers can also be slow to take syrup. As with the above it is rather a morale based lack of interest.
As described it does not seem to be a varroa linked collapse, so we are left with two other significant factors that can cause the issue. Nosema has already been suggested and is a good answer, but also paralysis virus usually found in tandem with acarine mites. The latter remains a frequent cause of bad syrup taking and poor foraging and generally goes undiagnosed in the colonies of the less experienced.
The origin of the bees you have could give a clue as certain strains are more susceptible to specific complaints than others (they all have their achilles heels so this is not a pro or con any one strain remark).
On the rather dangerous assumption that the pollen carrying was relatively normal, giving rise to the probability the colony was queenright, then I would give nosema poll position as suggested by admin, followed by acarine/paralysis. Drone layers do not often take the syrup so very badly to have starved before Christmas.
Another poster asked why not overwinter and requeen in spring. The normal queenless, yet requeenable, colony in spring is one which has normally run to queenlessness some time during winter (even then it is better united to a neighbour and a split taken once the double colony has built up). If THIS colony was queenless so early as not to take its syrup then the bees involved will be already very old, and in spring the die off will be rapid if indeed there is anything left at all. Queenless bees are an unsettled lot and are too disturbed in winter even when not able to fly to defecate and can mess up the inside of the hive and die off quickly (in this case the dysentry is not necessarily in any way nosema related). Hanging on to them is just a waste of time and feeding for a stock which has a very low likelihood of amounting to anything in spring. Better to take the loss on the chin and start the colony afresh during good conditions next year.
