Lost colony - and kicking myself

[Ginger19]

Zero activity - been cold for a while here and feared the worst - only have myself to blame and learned a big lesson.
This was a swarm I caught in my first year 2013, and was amazingly well behaved and very productive. Same last season brought in a bucket full of honey. I had noticed, the size of the brood nest was much smaller leaving August and entering September compared to my other colonies - but I chose to ignore it. This was my favourite and most productive honey producer, so not a big concern at the time.
So my hope was the bees would know best and if there was a problem they would supercedure and I decided against dealing with the queen easing off.
Left them in a single brood box, well fed and top insulated. Applied O A just after new year and they were on 4 frames, the drop was not startling, just 50 or so mites.
But after a period of zero activity, had a look in the top and no sign of life through the glass covers over the feed hole - I opened up and found a tiny cluster of dead bees. The hive is mid weight and still has stores.
So I guess they went into winter without enough youngsters and the prolonged cold snap proved too much. Isolation starvation I guess would be the coroners verdict? So I let my emotions get in the way here and failed to act when I had the opportunity. Lesson learned and definitely still a novice!

 

[pargyle]

Sad, but it happens ... sounds like you did everything right ...could be a variety of reasons for them dying out ....

 

[enrico]

Starvation would be signified by dead bees with their heads in the cells usually. Could just have been too small a colony to keep the heat up. Sorry to hear you lost them.
E

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Maybe they did try and supersede and the queen didn't mate properly thus dwindled away,lot of poor matings around last year - especially towards the end of the season I hear. As Pargyle says, could be a variety of reasons, you don't seem to have done anything wrong - don't beat yourself up, it's part and parcel of beekeeping.

 

[beeno]

Hi Ginger,
Sorry to hear that you lost the genetics there. Such a sudden drop in bees at that time of last year suggests IMHO missed swarm? What does your hive records say?

 

[BrianO]

Pity.. Sounds like you were well clued in to what you were doing, ( my novices opinion ) cold snap too much and could not generate enough heat given the small cluster.

Best of luck with the coming year !

 

[Ginger19]

Yeah I think the lack of numbers got them in the end. Thinking back they came through last winter by the skin of their teeth. I had to dummy them down and they eventually got going in a smaller box with Candipolline gold on top - they never really got huge but filled one super which I extracted, and they filled it again quite happily. There wasn't a sudden drop in numbers and positive they hadn't swarmed. The numbers dropped through winter due to the lack of young bees. I was aware of the situation but didn't act, uniting at the back end should have happened. Lesson learned and on we go!

 

[Cazza]

I was aware of the situation but didn't act, uniting at the back end should have happened. Lesson learned and on we go!

That's the sensible conclusion. Who said "Take your Spring losses in the Autumn?" Wise words.
Cazza

 

[REDWOOD]

Part of beekeeping

 

[richardbees]

I guess they went into winter without enough youngsters

Ginger, yes you're probably right. Win a few lose a few, there's nothing more you could have done.

 

[Ginger19]

Did the postmortem! Loads of buried heads. Bees only on 2 frames. Plenty of stores but none on the frames they occupied. Was a little patch of sealed brood which surprised me. Cold snap would have been the beginning of the end.

 

[pargyle]

Did the postmortem! Loads of buried heads. Bees only on 2 frames. Plenty of stores but none on the frames they occupied. Was a little patch of sealed brood which surprised me. Cold snap would have been the beginning of the end.

One of the reasons for feeding fondant as a slab right across the hive immediately on top of the frames is so that they can always access some stores .. bees with heads in cells tells you they were short of food but clearly could not cross to it. It sounds as though they were a colony that might not have made it anyway .. any beekeeper who tells you they are not still learning something every year isn't keeping any bees !

 

[mbc]

Did the postmortem! Loads of buried heads. Bees only on 2 frames. Plenty of stores but none on the frames they occupied. Was a little patch of sealed brood which surprised me. Cold snap would have been the beginning of the end.

Pick out some of the sealed brood to have a look, I've lost a few in similar circumstances and on post mortem a lot of the almost emerged brood were stunted by dwv

 

[Ginger19]

I had a pack Candipolline gold over the feed hole and they had direct access to it and it has been nibbled at. I think the numbers just weren't there.
MBC I see what you mean, but the brood and comb is now a damp mess and I had trouble pulling anything out intact!

 

[Finman]

Pick out some of the sealed brood to have a look, I've lost a few in similar circumstances and on post mortem a lot of the almost emerged brood were stunted by dwv

Signs of varroa. New brood are killed by varroa and old bees have wilted away.

Note that those bees, which feed larvae, are not able to live over winter.

 

[pargyle]

I had a pack Candipolline gold over the feed hole and they had direct access to it and it has been nibbled at. I think the numbers just weren't there.
MBC I see what you mean, but the brood and comb is now a damp mess and I had trouble pulling anything out intact!

They may had had access to it but up through the feed hole means that they have to get to the feed hole and go through it and in bee terms that small gap between the top of the frames and the feed hole can mean 'another place'. A larger colony spread across a few frames will not worry too much about moving to get food elsewhere in the hive but isolation starvation occurs when the colony is reluctant to move .. if they had a small patch of brood their priority would be to cluster round the brood to keep that warm and they may have been reluctant to leave the cluster or move as a whole. With the fondant directly above them on top of the frames they have a better chance of accessing it.

It may have been a weak colony and/or varroa heavy as Finman says and there is little more that you could have done .. I have a small colony overwintering in a 14 x 12 Paynes poly but they have been dummied down to just five frames with the rest of the hive filled with kingspan and a super with 100mm Kingspan in it on the top. I've not fed them yet but I'm keeping a close eye on them (Benefit of a clear crownboard), like you ... I should have squished the queen and combined them with one of the others but I'm a big softie and she was a lovely, if not very productive, queen - I just hope they make it through and she gets into her stride this year but I'm not confident. But isn't that what beekeeping is all about ... a series of challenges and mishaps interspersed with confusion and despair ? Certainly is for me !!