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Author Topic: One Hive Failing  (Read 11136 times)

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Offline tbonekel

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Re: One Hive Failing
« Reply #20 on: April 07, 2014, 07:08:02 pm »
Wait a minute. Don't rush it. I mean the 90's would feel pretty good right now, but come July, I'm probably going to be begging for 90s.
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Offline tbonekel

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Re: One Hive Failing
« Reply #21 on: April 08, 2014, 06:29:05 pm »
Checked again today. Still capped. I first saw it this time last Friday, so tomorrow should be day 5. There were a couple of workers on top of the QC. It looked like they might have been picking at it but I don't know. I'm going to check tomorrow and she if she is out. Is there a known length of time it takes for her to take her mating flight?
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Offline iddee

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Re: One Hive Failing
« Reply #22 on: April 08, 2014, 06:43:06 pm »
From 5 days to 3 weeks.
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Offline tbonekel

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Re: One Hive Failing
« Reply #23 on: April 09, 2014, 05:31:43 pm »
Next day and the capped cell is still capped. In, fact, I'm a little concerned. The cell appears to have collapsed a little bit. You can kind of see it in the picture below. Sorry for the blurriness.



I'm debating on dumping these bees out and letting them find a home. The colony is too small to requeen with a purchased queen. And I'm not comfortable in giving them some eggs and brood from another hive at this time.
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Offline LazyBkpr

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Re: One Hive Failing
« Reply #24 on: April 09, 2014, 05:57:55 pm »
If it comes to that Combine them rather than dumping them out. Save the dumping for laying workers.
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Offline Woody Roberts

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Re: One Hive Failing
« Reply #25 on: April 09, 2014, 06:30:55 pm »
There was a time back when I first started that I would work with a hive until it finally died out.

Not any more. At the first sign of something wrong I combine them with another hive. Later in the summer I'll start a strong nuc from a strong hive or multiple hives to put in their equipment. I can count on these to do good.

It seems to me that some hives decide their not going to make it and I can't prove them wrong.
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Offline LazyBkpr

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Re: One Hive Failing
« Reply #26 on: April 09, 2014, 08:33:22 pm »
 :agree:
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Offline tbonekel

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Re: One Hive Failing
« Reply #27 on: April 09, 2014, 10:48:09 pm »
That sounds like a pretty good option. The only question now is when to pull the plug on this one. I want to let them try to fix it themselves, but if I don't see any improvement pretty soon, that's what I'm going to do.
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Offline riverbee

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Re: One Hive Failing
« Reply #28 on: April 10, 2014, 12:42:46 am »
"The only question now is when to pull the plug on this one."

now, and combine as the guys said.
a queenless hive cannot fix themselves t bone, so now is the time to combine what's left of the bees with another hive.  the cell that appears to have 'collapsed'......it may have been dinged when manipulating/removing frames, and because of the cell's appearance, and other reasons, i wouldn't wait for any improvement, it's not going to happen.   
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Offline tbonekel

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Re: One Hive Failing
« Reply #29 on: April 11, 2014, 08:41:14 pm »
Well, this could be an exciting update 1 week later. It looks like she has hatched.



I looked everywhere hoping to find what looked like a queen but didn't see her. Maybe she was out courting.  ;D Anyway, I would like to direct your attention to the upper left side of the image.



Ummm, I give up. That sucker is black as night. I have no clue.

But, I don't think I'm going to hold off on combining at this point.  Maybe this hive can come back. Of course if that is the "black bee of death", then maybe this hive's luck has run out.
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Offline LazyBkpr

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Re: One Hive Failing
« Reply #30 on: April 11, 2014, 08:47:15 pm »
I have dealt with hives that were completely composed of bees like that before. I hope to one day find one that is not so mean I have to destroy it.
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Offline tbonekel

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Re: One Hive Failing
« Reply #31 on: April 11, 2014, 08:58:14 pm »
Okay Lazy, that doesn't sound to encouraging. I did see another bee that was larger and not quite so black. I could still see faint stripes on it.

Another thing that may or may not be of interest is that there are a bunch of cells that have what appears to be a mixture of pollen and nectar. You can kind of see it in those pictures.

And I do know that there is a flow on right now because there is a lot of nectar in this hive and the feeder I have on it has hardly been touched.
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Offline Slowmodem

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Re: One Hive Failing
« Reply #32 on: April 11, 2014, 08:59:47 pm »
Quote from: tbonekel on April 11, 2014, 08:41:14 pm
Ummm, I give up. That sucker is black as night. I have no clue.

But, I don't think I'm going to hold off on combining at this point.  Maybe this hive can come back. Of course if that is the "black bee of death", then maybe this hive's luck has run out.

I don't see a scythe.  Maybe it's just the black sheep of the bunch.
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Greg Whitehead
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Beekeeping at 26.4 kbs
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