All 6 hives absconding at same time, neighbours doing same and wild hives appear to have left after decade long hive too.
Hi guys,
I am a hobbyist with 6 hives on my hobby farm in Bungwahl, just south of Forster NSW Australia.
Yesterday I went to inspect/maintain and all 6 hives were completely abandoned.
There was little to no evidence of mass bee deaths, it was like they all packed up and left at the same time.
two of my neighbours suffered the same absconding and a large native/wild hive that has been in a dead tree for decades appears to be empty now too.
Could this be Veroa? DPI tested several times with no evidence as well as a few alcohol washes in recent past.
Pests were evident in the brood but I wonder if they have prospered since the bees left or were the cause.
I note hive beetle larvae and what looks to my untrained eye what could be found brood (but it didn’t seem to have a horrible odour).
A devastating blow, curious to know what people think.
Hive beetles, as well as wax moth will take advantage (as nature intended) of an abandoned bee hive, as evidenced by your photos.
Taking varroa out of the equation, how long has it been since the previous inspection? I think we should look into our hives at least once a fortnight, except during winter, even if it’s just to left the roof. A local bloke had the same thing happen earlier this year. He picked up a new colony from me yesterday. In thinking back, we had a lot of rain earlier this year. I don’t know if that was a contributing factor, however he did ask me how often I checked my hives. “Once a fortnight”, was my reply.
I checked one of my nucs today to see if it had a successfully mated new queen. As it turned out, it didn’t, so I immediately put a strategy in place for them to create a new one.
I even told my wife that I could have hoped for the best and not inspect, however that would have finished up with no bees in the box, with hive beetles & wax moths taking over the remaining hive.
I found a second colony in the same boat this afternoon, however that was after identifying at least 15 straight queen-rite new colonies over the last few days…
Thanks Jeff, insightful comments.
Candidly, I think the frequency of inspection/maintenance may have been a factor as the bees are at a holiday hobby farm.
What piqued my interest was ALL the surrounding hives on neighbouring properties seemed to be abandoned at the same time (within weeks possibly)
You’re welcome Lex, maybe Varroa is a contributing factor, with so many empty hives at the same time. I haven’t had to deal with it yet, however it’s not far away. Therefore I’ll enjoy my beekeeping for as long as I can without it.
Hey Lex,
It’s possible that something else caused that many colonies to abscond, but my bet is varroa.
Colonies are absconding in varroa country as infestation levels increase unchecked. It doesn’t take long for levels to go from zero to 10s to 100s.
You didn’t say how long ago the last wash was done. Anything more than four weeks is too long. Varroa gets established in an area long before the first detection. Half a cup of bees is such a tiny sample, it’s near useless for detection. It’s meant for determining the level of infestation, not detecting the first mites.
Mike
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Thanks Mike,
I tend to agree with all your comments and candidly, too long since a wash and full inspection.
Interesting on the sampling too, thanks!