Author Topic: How are your bees doing? (Read 45624 times)

Jen · « **Reply #20 on:** February 10, 2014, 06:55:55 pm »

Update: Two hours later today. I went out to sit with my very busy bees, observe. I counted 8 out of 10 bees coming in with fat legs of pollen.

I Feel Like The Octomom!

tecumseh · « **Reply #21 on:** February 12, 2014, 05:39:31 am »

mine seem to be doing the fine the last time I looked. the real down side here is that the weather has been both wet and cold for about the last month so nothing has really gotten fed and I suspect when the weather does clear that some of the weaker stuff will have perished.

on the up side I now have 30 new nucs in the barn and another 20 queens in a queen bank and the weather folks tell me that the next few day we should be on a warming trend < at which time I will set the 30 out on their new stands and then will make up nucs for the 20 in the queen bank and then hopefully still have time to get another around of feed out.

ps.... at about this time of year I do begin checking for drones so that I can begin to consider when would be a good time to begin queen rearing.

rodmaker · « **Reply #22 on:** February 12, 2014, 03:28:18 pm »

opened a hive today bees are gone. I opened this hive in the first week of january all was fine while walking past today no activity so i opened the hive about fifty dead bees the rest are gone they just absconded don't know why . Any ideas?

LazyBkpr · « **Reply #23 on:** February 12, 2014, 03:39:20 pm »

A that sucks Rodmaker..
without seeing or knowing the details its hard to tell.. Mite buildup, disease, pesticide build up in the wax, lack of reserves, even some or all of those things combined.
A sexy drone lured the queen, who was feeling lonely and unappreciated by her subjects away and the rest followed to try to find her and bring her home.. The conspiracy theorists and UFO aficionados think it was aliens that beamed them to their spaceship.. WITH the approval of our government...
sorry, not intending to make fun of your loss. Dont know the climate there, is it warm enough they could have absconded and survived?

riverbee · « **Reply #24 on:** February 12, 2014, 04:27:20 pm »

sexy drones? conspiracy theorists? aliens? government? WUT? ........

lazy i swear your in deep brain freeze with iowa cabin fever....

rodmaker, like lazy said, well sort of, LOL, could be anything. describe your hive in detail when you checked on them in january, like cluster size, how many frames of honey did they have, your set up, did you treat for mites or not, did you have fondant on, etc.....know you have been in a terrible dearth there. what were the 50 bees doing, and was there any honey stores left?

GLOCK · « **Reply #25 on:** February 12, 2014, 04:56:02 pm »

As of yesterday I still have 23 humming .I have only lost 2 hives this year one DBL. deep and one nuc 5+5+5.
Both where freeze outs with strong clusters and queens and honey or sugar just inches away it was to cold to long.
I had one I thought was dead a week ago and yesterday it was alive and humming go figure .
Been a long cold winter soon spring will be here and I'm going to have bees every where.

-16 this morning so cool

rodmaker · « **Reply #26 on:** February 12, 2014, 05:06:41 pm »

Riverbee I saw only a couple of mites all of the bees were laying on the bottom board there was about eighty pounds of honey left. I have not treated for mites only used tea tree oil as mite control the most mites i have seen was a count of twelve on that hive in the past . Cluster size was four frames of bees last i checked. My other six hives are very strong checked slide out under screened bottom boards only minor mites <less than ten under remaining hives. Looking back this was my weakest hive but don't know why they would just leave maybe CCD?

tecumseh · « **Reply #27 on:** February 12, 2014, 07:28:08 pm »

if you have not disassembled the hive yet?

when you do decide to take the hive apart take along one of those hand held magnifying glass and closely examine any litter on the bottom board (or sticky board insert if you use a screen bottom board). look closely at any cells in the central brood area for any debris still existing in the cells. tell us what you see.

rodmaker · « **Reply #28 on:** February 13, 2014, 10:31:38 am »

Okay went out and got three frames from the brood area of the hive and brought them in the house. I found bees of all stages from eggs all the way to bees hatching. In one area i found eight mites in the cells on one frame did not see mites on the other two frames . I was surprised by the amount of eggs and one day old larva i don't think it was a mite problem that caused the queen to leave. I am at a loss to explain this but i have only been working with bees for three years so any advise would be greatly appreciated . Thinking about treating one of my other hives with OA to see if the mite load is worse than i think. I have never used OA before and after hearing about it here i purchased the material just in case will watch a video and treat one this afternoon and see what happens.

riverbee · « **Reply #29 on:** February 13, 2014, 11:26:04 am »

rodmaker, i think you had more of mite problem than you think, do what tecumseh is asking; to look for the debris in cells.
apis posted a great video on this in pests and diseases, go to post #1:

Mite and Bee Life Cycles

nice pix glock!

Yankee11 · « **Reply #30 on:** February 13, 2014, 01:15:11 pm »

Just checked all hives here at the house and they are all alive. WooHoo

Its been a long cold month and I just figured I lost a least a couple of the weakest. But the're good and all hives are still heavy.

Middle to upper 50's rest of week. Weekend and start of next week middle to upper 60's. Maybe 70 on Monday. Now that's more like it.
I put out some syrup and pollen sub today. They have already found it.

I hope everybodys hives come through OK.

rodmaker · « **Reply #31 on:** February 13, 2014, 02:46:27 pm »

Okay i watched video and it was probably mites this was a cut out hive that i got last year and the old comb was covered in white specks but the new comb was clean there was three frames of cut out comb and two of new and the new was pretty clean but one frame about fifty percent had the white specks that the video said was mite waste . Thank you riverbee for the help i am in the process of treating my remaining hives with OA just to be on the safe side. I have another cut out hive that i will start removing the old comb and replace as needed. Thank you riverbee and Tecumseh would not have learned without your advise.

rrog13 · « **Reply #32 on:** February 13, 2014, 09:16:18 pm »

It's hard to believe it was 65 degrees last Sunday. This is what the bee yard looked like earlier today. What a crazy winter we're having.....burrrrr!

lazy shooter · « **Reply #33 on:** February 13, 2014, 09:51:22 pm »

It was in the low 70's F here today, and my bees were flying in droves. In a normal winter, we should have our worst weather behind us, but this has been an unusually cold winter, so there may be a bit more.

Jen · « **Reply #34 on:** February 14, 2014, 03:17:33 pm »

Hey Rod! Love the pic of the lovely meadow, wish I had such a lovely place for my bees.

Regarding mites, if you still have the chance, check your dead bees for deformed wings. Last fall I was alerted to the possility of a mite over load in my hive. I also started looking for the deformed wings, and low and behold some of my bees had it. I went into panic overdrive and used Formic Acid Quick Strips and it worked very well. But now I use Oxalic Acid. Love It!

Jen · « **Reply #35 on:** February 14, 2014, 04:03:04 pm »

UH OH! I just checked my sticky board and it's full of mold. EW! This has only happened within the last week.

Now, see the pic where I have a towel stuffed into the under side of the bottom board? that is because I have a screened bottom board, and this help keep the wind out. Could this terry rag be absorbing moisture and tainting this inside of the hive with mold?

I have since removed the towel and not blocked the bottom at all to get some air circulation, and I lifted the front edge of the lid for the day to let ventilation out thru the inner cover opening....

Is there anything else I should do?

riverbee · « **Reply #36 on:** February 14, 2014, 04:15:07 pm »

jen, mold is caused by too much moisture in the hive, and not enough ventilation, so probably having the towel stuffed under the screen bottom board didn't help.

oops i hit post instead of preview......removing the towel will help. know lots of beeks in colder climates than yours that use sbb's year round with no ill effects to the bees.

nice picture rrog!
and you are welcome rodmaker!

Jen · « **Reply #37 on:** February 14, 2014, 04:43:48 pm »

Thanks Riv

barry42001 · « **Reply #38 on:** February 14, 2014, 10:56:58 pm »

I have gotten in tirely away from screened bottom boards, down here in Florida for every bug in the world lives, screen bottom boards are nothing more than an open invitation for invasion. we have a wide variety of ants that are more than willing and a colony of honeybees if they can get away with it. only a really strong colony prevents that, couple by restricting the number of access ways they had into the hive. your issue was ventilation cold will never kill bees wet will. that you had mold on the I PM board is a clear indication how can I become probably a condensation and wicking moisture from the outside with the towel. insulation for a colony of honeybees is not really required a windblock in front of them helps. proper ventilation can be achieved even with the reduced entrance.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk

Jen · « **Reply #39 on:** February 15, 2014, 12:53:05 am »

Hey Barry

I haven't ever had trouble with my sbb. We are sooo dry here. It's only been the last week of rain that I caught the mold. I check it most every week or two. I was on this forum and read how wind can hurt the bees and blocking the entrance of the sbb is a good idea. Now not so sure. Or we may get some foam or a block of wood instead of the cloth. Or not.