Author Topic: Winter losses so far, How's yours?? (Read 19000 times)

Barbarian · « **Reply #20 on:** January 27, 2015, 12:49:38 am »

Did an QA trickle a couple of weeks ago. All 9 still alive.

Jen · « **Reply #21 on:** January 27, 2015, 01:02:31 am »

Okay, Okay!.... I'm not going to say cause I don't want to jinx it

brooksbeefarm · « **Reply #22 on:** January 27, 2015, 09:42:36 am »

Found two more deadouts yesterday?? They had plenty of stores, no idea what caused it, one had a big cluster of dead bees piled on the bottom board the other had a small amount of dead bees on the bottom board,(20 to 30) and 2 to 5 on three frames dead like they were just resting? none with heads in the cells or signs of moisture?? Very strange, that makes 19 out of 75

. Jack

Bakersdozen · « **Reply #23 on:** January 28, 2015, 08:07:26 am »

Quote from: brooksbeefarm on January 27, 2015, 09:42:36 am

Found two more deadouts yesterday?? They had plenty of stores, no idea what caused it, one had a big cluster of dead bees piled on the bottom board the other had a small amount of dead bees on the bottom board,(20 to 30) and 2 to 5 on three frames dead like they were just resting? none with heads in the cells or signs of moisture?? Very strange, that makes 19 out of 75 . Jack

Jack, that's kind of similar to what I found after that cold snap in November. Huge pile of bees on the bottom board plus bees just sitting on top of foundation and brood, on top of the inner cover, and on top of frames.

I checked my back yard bees again and found that I have lost a second colony. It happened to sit next to the first lost hive. This hive looks like they got them selves clustered up against the front of the hive and ran out of food close enough around them. There was lots of full frames of honey still in there, but they couldn't access it in the long cold spell. That makes 2 losses out of 6. At last check, my country bees were doing fine.

LogicalBee · « **Reply #24 on:** January 28, 2015, 11:16:11 pm »

It's just been tooooo COLD to check on my bees here! I hope they're doing ok. We just never seem to get a mid winter warm spell anymore in this weather pattern.

ledifni · « **Reply #25 on:** January 29, 2015, 07:44:38 pm »

Well, considering I have exactly one hive, here's hoping my winter survival rate is a perfect 100%

So far, they're doing great. Plenty of bees, plenty of food, the hive is nice and dry inside, the queen is laying, and they're fending off the robbers nicely (in part thanks to my rock-solid robber screen).

Preacher3925 · « **Reply #26 on:** January 29, 2015, 08:57:26 pm »

I have two hives and this is our first winter. Haven't checked on them...maybe afraid to?

Perry · « **Reply #27 on:** January 30, 2015, 06:17:05 am »

Hey Preacher:
I asked a friend of mine the other day what his losses were so far (he runs about 95 colonies). He said "I haven't lost any"!
I asked what he attributed that success to and he said he won't know how many he's lost until he opens them up sometime in March, so until then he's at 100%

I see this was your first post so I'd like to welcome you to the forum.

brooksbeefarm · « **Reply #28 on:** January 30, 2015, 10:05:28 am »

Times have sure changed, when i first started with bees (1965) it was rare to loose hives in the winter? We just thought of how to keep them from swarming, but that wasn't a big deal because bees were every where and we could catch more swarms than we wanted. No mite's, shb, ect.

Jack

barry42001 · « **Reply #29 on:** January 30, 2015, 12:55:44 pm »

But Jen, if you do have a lose, you will still have ,10 or 15 replacements in spring lol

efmesch · « **Reply #30 on:** February 01, 2015, 09:33:08 am »

Welcome to the forum. Preacher

Considering your location. I think you are following the right path. If you were to open the hives, you could only do harm, breaking the propolis seals that the bees have made to restrict the loss of their self-pproduced warmth.
If you are desperately curious to know if they have adequate stores of honey, you could try the tipping method to make an estimate. But that requires a bit of experience to get the feel of it. If I recall correctly, there is some sort of a formula that can be used to make a good estimate of weight, by lifting the hive from behind, using a lifting hook attached to a scale, reading the weight and multiplying by some factor.

tbonekel · « **Reply #31 on:** February 01, 2015, 10:50:58 am »

I'm sure someone knows the weight of a full frame of honey minus the frame. Then its a simple calculation as to the percentage of honey present. Of course, then there is the weight of the bees which would have to be a guess. Knowing all the above, then using a scale as you suggest probably would give you a pretty good idea.

brooksbeefarm · « **Reply #32 on:** February 01, 2015, 01:08:03 pm »

I estimate the deep frame of honey around 8lbs. and the med. at 4lbs., when i do the lift test to check the weight,and the hive is tilted forward i lift the front of the hive if it's level i lift the back, you can feel the deference. Of course this is just my thinking.

Jack

Zulu · « **Reply #33 on:** February 02, 2015, 12:33:31 pm »

I did a heft test back at Christmas and have seen a few bees flying on warmer days but have not been home when the weather was above 50... Yesterday it was overcast but 51 deg , so went out and saw almost no activity, and listened and heard nothing , not good .. this is my last Wayne's beehive.

Heft tells me we still have some stores but the weather is still below 50 for next week. Saw but a few bees out and about.

Small Hive beetles trashed three hives this last summer, so this is my last

Perry · « **Reply #34 on:** February 02, 2015, 01:02:54 pm »

Hey Zulu, good to see you again.
Hefting is one thing, living bees is another. I have a couple dead-outs that are nice and heavy (because the bees died and didn't eat much)

A light hive with living bees is worth a lot more to me than a heavy dead one, especially in the next month or to ahead.

pistolpete · « **Reply #35 on:** February 03, 2015, 12:28:07 am »

I still have 4 out of 4 doing well. But most of the winter losses around here happen February/March, so I'm not planning any Nuc sales just yet.

jb63 · « **Reply #36 on:** February 03, 2015, 01:33:56 am »

:sad:I'm down to 7 from about 20.Looks like robbing and maybe some yellow jackets

ShepherdsWatchFarm · « **Reply #37 on:** February 04, 2015, 07:06:56 pm »

Three so far. Two were early winter starvation's and today I lost a September swarm capture that never got their act together. Heck I never even had time to verify they were queen-right. Twenty seven left and counting......

LazyBkpr · « **Reply #38 on:** February 07, 2015, 05:17:19 pm »

Got to go through the hives today.. Had to walk the mile or so to the sunflower outyard.. Found all of those hives alive and doing very well, not to mention flying.. got stung on the ear, while my wife stood WAY back and giggled..
Hives on the hill, the ones I opened up and did not have hope for? only lost one of them.. The bonus is, that one of the hives I knew was doomed from Nosema is very much alive and kicking, so i actually gained one and lost one.. here in the home yard.. three of the ten nucs are now dead.. Plenty of sugar on top, bees among that sugar, but they are dead.. the other 7 nucs are looking very lively and were out flying.. One hive that was doing well last time I checked is dead, bees clustered IN the sugar.. all the rest are out and flying today..
To be honest, I was rather startled I had not lost up to half of my hives by now. Still hanging in there!

Perry · « **Reply #39 on:** February 07, 2015, 05:23:39 pm »

Too cold to even think about checking up here. I am getting worried that they may get caught out in a section of the hive and be unable to break cluster to get to fresh stores. If they start raising any amount of brood it could only make that worse.