Winter losses 2011/2012

[Monsieur Abeille]

I did one of these last year, results here
http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=9654

As before, those of you that don't mind sharing, it would be interesting to have an overview of what losses we experienced last winter. Divided very simplistically into those with more or less than 5 hives.

Appreciate that not everyone has delved in the hives yet so will leave the poll open for a month

 

[Pete D]

Out of my 12, so far I have suffered just the one Drone Layer. Rest OK, so voted my 8% loss appropiately above.

 

[For want of a better word]

5 + no losses

Apiguard in Autumn ( late Oct / Sept)

Fed with HM recipe thymolated 2:1 syrup

Well insulated even those old WBC's

Wassailed

Vaporised with OA mid winter

Feeding now with fondant ( Forum recipe with glucose)

Will not open as yet
No icing sugar rolling
No matchsticks
No sticky trickling

And of course strong colonies of bees fit for local environmental and climatic conditions.

Listened to the Lady Beekeeper now in charge of Buckfast Abbey bees and to an old beekeeper who has never bought or paid for " one of those foreign bees bred over the seas nowadays wot do not do well here abouts"

I wonder how much the newbee winter losses ( sad as they are) are due to the the thinking of the flog 'em a package brigade selling bees that are not genetically suited for out varied and changeable maritime temperate climate.

 

[susbees]

Out of my 12, so far I have suffered just the one Drone Layer. Rest OK, so voted my 8% loss appropiately above.

I wouldn't regard a DLQ hive as a winter loss.

 

[Pete D]

Well I havent rescued it yet and if I unite then technically its one less than when I went into winter, I guess you could also say though that it didnt die out due to one of the 'normal' winter losses reasons.
Perhaps I should have my result ammended ! ?

 

[Teemore]

I lost one Nuc due to isolation starvation. They died off before Christmas and as other beekeepers on the forum experienced, they died within inches of good stores....

 

[Monsieur Abeille]

I wouldn't regard a DLQ hive as a winter loss.

I guess it depends on if you think you will be able to recover it quickly, if not personally I'd mark it down as a loss

 

[milkermel]

Lost two hives this winter and unfortunately it was down to my neglect, Treatments done all ok and stores not bad, but October was a bad month as my mum suddenly died and feed got forgotten, by the time i remebered in December 2 hives had starved. they were small colonies and I think that they possibly were too active long after the nectar stopped. luckily have three survived may be fortuatous in a way as I am hoping to move house (moving three hives definately easier than five!)

 

[FreeFall]

Managed to bring my single colony through winter OK. Apilife Var in August - no syrup or fondant so far but left them a full super of honey (which is now down to two frames). Oxalic beginning of January.

Looking for increase this year

Nick

 

[victor meldrew]

My 5 are A ok!
No OA No Autumn feed . 1Kg fondant each Dec.
HMs oasis treatment September! !
All bursting with stores , all Queens laying classic brood pattern including the green Queen !
No need to have fed the fondant ,which they took of course (bees waste nothing)
VM

 

[Birnambeekeeper]

9 colonies all there - wooden hives all ahead of the poly hives by a long way

I use

Formic acid flash mid summer when supers off

Api life var autumn

Usual sugar syrup

OA January

 

[mbc]

I would think that statistically the results of polls like this are a bit skewed as you're far more likely to post your results if you've had a successful winter.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

all three are ok - plenty of brood and stores in both full hives, nuc is a little slower but coming on nicely

 

[Nellie]

I would think that statistically the results of polls like this are a bit skewed as you're far more likely to post your results if you've had a successful winter.

Id agree, I did something similar last year across all the uk beekeeping forums.

While the results in the end broadly matched the BBKA's figures what I noticed was that the more colonies someone had, the more likely they were to pipe up that they'd lost x%. Single or two colony Beekeepers were far less likely to report losses than they were to report that the colonies had survived.

All the forums bar one had a thread or multiple discussions on winter losses.

I debated whether to include DLQs as a "winter loss" but in the end categorised them separately. Early spring "dwindlers" I did include.

I got somewhere in the region of 500 active or passive first hand responses but excluded "my mate..." reports.

 

[Cazza]

No losses on 8 hives.
Apiguard in Autumn.
OA'd 3 in Jan.
Used Hiveclean in Spring on some hives.
Thymolated syrup

Cazza

 

[Erichalfbee]

No losses on three
Thymolated syrup
Apilife Var
OA
Fondant on the small colony now in a nuc box....they're not out of the woods yet but I've put them down as a no loss...........so listen,you little bees

 

[Haughton Honey]

Just voted in the poll myself.

Cedar Commercial hives and a smattering of double brood National hives.

Apiguard applied late summer.

No OA.

I feed fondant from October onwards with a 2" eke above a framed QX throughout Winter and no syrup whatsoever (I find that they take it when they need it and that the Q has plenty of room to lay in the brood box come the Spring).

No extra insulation above the fondant 'void' and nothing wrapped around the fondant.

Open mesh floors. No matchsticks.

Buckfast or Buckfast X queens.

--------------------------------

I haven't included the poly double brood Nationals that I've just advertised for sale on here in my figures.

 

[susbees]

All bursting with stores , all Queens laying classic brood pattern including the green Queen !

VM

What do you regard as a classic brood pattern? Native or wall-to-wall ?

 

[Into the lions den]

I wouldn't regard a DLQ hive as a winter loss.

We always include DLs and queenless ones as losses, pretty well regardless of size or salvageability. Its requiring serious work to become productive and its genetic line, at least via the queen, is at an end.

 

[dpearce4]

not going to vote yet.

i have 2 on critical list, working with the queens in there, and mentor to see what can be done for them. if its good news then it will be just the 1, 11%, which would be the one i have already lost, if its bad then it will be 3 and that will be 33%