Winter Colony Collapse. North Texas, close to Denton, Texas, USA

Good luck with that baseball size colony @Gerald_Nickel - hope they make it! Amazing that a hive that size could be reduced to the size of a baseball that quickly.

Tim,

For some reason in August it escaped death with moderate ( 5 mites per 100) count of mites in a sugar roll but made it thru the MAGs treatment in fairly good shape. I lost two by mid Srptember that had much higher ratio ā€¦ I took the full frames of honey n added to fatten up the healthy other three hives for winter.

In Early to mid December I was advised to recheck mite count ( too cold for traditional sugar roll ). Just slid a fresh white sheet of typing paper for 24 hours ( piles of mites/ over 18 found next day) ā€¦ So two days before Christmas ( just a few degrees above the recommended LOW temp ) on got out the artery ( oxide iron ) n nailed my three remaining hives. Birch Hive again had the highest numbers of mites but stil seemed healthy as a long number of guards came out to greet me when I poked that metal iron in. Long story short (maybe it was weaker n smaller than I judged ) next few days of lots of dead bees on the door sill which I swept out with a slender dowell stick ! Did that on all three ( sweeping ) but others seemed to have less deed each day. Anyway ., weā€™ll see if the survive n make it. Still a good month until any foraging at best. Been a colder winter (more like normal for our January)ā€¦ Indian plum (our first small flow) hits/blooms about mid-February ( about Valintines Day.

Guess we take what we can after the winter is over n done in Febrary ! I have four new Nucs ordered but delivery is usually not til mid-April ā€¦

Cheers bro,
Gerald

Sorry to hear about your girls. Between the hornets and mites two of my four didnā€™t make it thru our colder than normal winter. When I did a quick check on their winter patties and sugar the other day when the Temps went back up I didnā€™t see anymore activity in the hive that was struggling but there was a ton of activity in the other two. Both of these two hives have lots of girls going out on cleansing flights when the Temps get in the mid 40s. Hopefully these two will make it to spring. Iā€™m learning right along with the rest of the gang.

Mash mellows and hot chocolate look mighty good today. I had a nice hot cup of apple cider a few days ago and that hit the spot too.

Thats a horrid death toll, Sorry for you Gerald.
Itā€™s always useful to measure your mite load two to three weeks after you have finished your summer treatment as
a) your treatment could have been less effective than it should have been
b) re infestation by bees robbing out weak colonies is not uncommon.
I have in the past had to treat colonies in September after having done so in August
The problem with knocking down mites in December and discovering a heavy drop is that these are all your winter bees that are compromised and they are responsible for getting the colony moving in the Spring.

Dee,

10/4 in that late season treatment but being my first season ā€¦ And beekeeping has domaticly changed ( not for the best ) Iā€™m afraid.

What you mentioned makes sense n I will use a schedule more like yours next time around my friend. I had done a recheck couple weeks after first treatment. Very few mites seen or found with a second sugar roll but did do a powder sugar shake which I found a few more mites on the SBB but number didnā€™t alarm n maybe it should have. Itā€™s a huge learning curve this new beekeeping thingy. Iā€™m playing catch up. Iā€™m
appreciating all the help n comments too. Very useful n helpful Ta boot !

Being late seSon ( December ) n high mite count I divided to retreat or probably loss them all. Iā€™m just checking my methods, counting my losses n making notes n new plans to hopeful reduce next seSons lossesā€¦

Thankz a lot,

Gerald.

Sorry for your loss @Gerald_Nickel . This is my first winter with bees so I too am hoping to get at least 2 of my 4 hives through. So far, all 4 are alive but I will be adding candy boards to all 4 once they arrive. @Martydallas has offered to share a recipe so I can refill if necessary.

I treated for mites twice this Fall. Fingers crossed that I knocked them down enough to make it to Spring. I might order some VSH queens to better my odds next year.

I have 1 packages off bees ordered for April incase I lose some. If, I start to lose hives I will order some more.

Suppose to get up to 61F tomorrow so I might take a peak to see how we are fairing.

Hey Pluto !

I just peeked in at 35 dgs yesterday (not really recommended) but found my bees just might be alive for a bit longer !

At close to 61 dgs. Thatā€™s like summer time up here. Yip ! Pop that hive lid a bit and see whatā€™s happening. We dropped to 28 dgs today so itā€™s ear to the side n listen real careful for awhile ā€¦ Hope I donā€™t freeze my ear to that super ! :wink:.

Iā€™ve got four nucs ordered. Three to replace my loss n one extra to build a tall quad deep Nuc ! Last season I was able to use some of the frame resources of my one extra Nuc to help build up my others. Love backup around. After I built up last seasons Nuc I was able to use its 15 frames of brood, mixed brood, nectar brood n so on directly into my mid-summer arrived Flow-Hive. That colony is still healthy ā€¦ So hoping Spring 2017 it will be off n running/flying to the nectar n pollen fields around us a month before my four new Nucs even arrive.

I just have to get a better handle on this varroa mite control. We have some great experienced beekeeper on here. And I learning n getting ideas from these folks. Well forward n onward !

Cheers,
Gerald.

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Gerald, I wish you luckā€¦you are a caring and thoughtful chap and you deserve to succeed

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Here goes another sad post-mortem:


Looks like Iā€™m right there with you Tim & Gerald.
Had my suspicions a couple of weeks ago & was about to borrow my neighborā€™s stethoscope, but saw that today was forecast to be in the low 60s (F). Took everything apart & found such a tiny amount of bees and no queen among themā€¦

I did treat with a round of three oxalic vapes in September. Clearly this was too little, too late, or should have been repeated later on. The queenlessness, whenever that happened, makes a monkey out of that.

By the way, I picked up some more interesting info about oxalic treatment from @Logan - tagging you here in hopes that youā€™ll repost what you told me about your bee club in partnership with UMD & doing regular treatments from July on. I had been under the impression that the one round of three at end of summer was the general protocol. As has been said in this thread, it really depends on the specific colonyā€™s needs & through this experience Iā€™ve learned how to make better observations thereof.

Hereā€™s to spring 2017 :sleepy::sweat_smile::wink::rainbow::honeybee:

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So sorry @Eva. :cry: I really appreciate you sharing this, though. You took some great photos too, and although you treated, it looks like varroa is the likely culprit. Your last photo looks like there are some very suspicious crystals in the empty brood cells. They had plenty of food, so they didnā€™t starve.

I think the advice to treat in September is perhaps a bit late for most climates. Winter bees are being made even in late summer, so maybe August would be good for a first series of treatments, and then again a single vaporization in November when the bees have clustered. Because you have shared, we can all think about it and learn, so thank you.

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So sorry Evaā€¦
I agree with Dawn. Varroa faeces in the cells, perforated brood cell cappings and I see the odd half emerged bee with its proboscis outā€¦Typical varroa.

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Sorry Eva - didnā€™t want to see anyone else join the club. These bees are complicated little animals - lose 'em sometimes when they are treated! I did have a silver lining (photo attached, I hope). Got to get some experience crushing & straining with the 4 full frames. Canā€™t wait to use the Flow frames someday - gotta be much simpler! Sweet consolation!

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Thanks everyone :heart:

Nice work Tim!! That looks more like a golden lining to me :slight_smile:ļø

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Iā€™m probably down from 50 hives to 40 by now. If only 10 more would perish I can reach my goal of 30 hives lol.

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Sorry for your loss @Eva.

I can post some good newsā€¦it was 62F here in south PA (a few days ago the high was 20F) so i did a partial inspection and put candy boards on all 4 hives. All 4 hives have a lot of bees in them! I was glad I suited up because the one hive was pretty defensive and was trying to sting me. I was very pleased to find so many bees in all hives. My expectations are that 2 of the 4 survive. All 4 would be awesome but trying to be realistic.

I did mite away strips (formic acid) twice. Once in September and once the end of October or early November. I still see some mites on the pull out board but they seem healthy.

Is it me or do winter bees look more shiny or glossy than summer bees?

I was shocked to see bees coming back to the hive with some sort of white pollen. No idea what could possibly have pollen this time of year.

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Are those beettles in the comb in the 4th picture?

Joe

Yup, plus a fair few inside the trap:

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Want to sell me a couple nucs this spring?

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Iā€™ll see what survives. I have 5 spoken for at the moment. Iā€™m fine going down to 20 hives because I know I can turn that into 60 by mid summer.

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Here in NC, I lost one hive in Jan. frames full of honey small amount of dead bees and I found queen cells. Apparently, the queen died. No sign of varroa mites or hive beetles. When I last checked in October hive was in excellent shape.