News Item: : Just not enough bees
(Category: Our bees)
Posted by David
Monday 18 January 2010 - 18:35:38
I went over to Little Piece today following up on the varroa check 4 days ago. The plan was to do nothing to Hive 1 as the Apiguard had done its work and it is a good weight. Hive 2 we had decided to treat with oxalic acid and feed some fondant as they were light. Hive 3 was scheduled for oxalic acid and the other three colonies were due a top up of food by way of Sally's homemade fondant just in case stores were getting low.So I got together some supers to act as ekes and the fondant and oxalic acid and drove over to sort them out. It was good that I had a clear plan but...
...things do not always work out as you think. I couldn't carry everything up to the apiary at the same time so decided to take the tools, supplies and one super. This way I could do the two hives that needed oxalic acid treatment and the nuc then go back for the other two supers. When I got up to the apiary, I looked round them all and was surprised to see that Hive 4 had some activity even though the weather was getting worse and the mist turning to fog (what happened to the sun?) and it was getting late in the afternoon. I felt uneasy about the colony and changed my mind and started with this one which was just due for a feed. When I took off the cover over the feed hole I saw a couple of dead bees and looking down inside it was evident that there were more bees that were probably dead, mostly with their heads in cells. Surely they hadn't starved. We knew they were a bit light but I didn't think we were at emergency stage! There was no apparent activity but I could hear a bit of buzzing from time to time. I decided, despite the weather and time of year, to take a look inside as I was pretty sure they had died out. Sure enough the buzzing and activity was a bit of robbing. I didn't spend a long time examining the remains but it looked as if they had starved (heads in cells) despite nearby capped and uncapped stores. The colony was just not big enough to create enough heat to move to other stores, of which there were enough to keep them going for a while, I suspect, had it not been so cold.I went back to my initial plan and opened up Hive 2 and swiftly and efficiently (after I remembered to unscrew the nozzle!) dribbled oxalic acid down 9.5 seams of bees. I then put the crown board back on and added two packs of fondant totalling 4lb, added the super and put the lid back on.
This news item is from Beesmith
( http://www.beesmith.co.uk/news.php?extend.232 )
(Category: Our bees)
Posted by David
Monday 18 January 2010 - 18:35:38
I went over to Little Piece today following up on the varroa check 4 days ago. The plan was to do nothing to Hive 1 as the Apiguard had done its work and it is a good weight. Hive 2 we had decided to treat with oxalic acid and feed some fondant as they were light. Hive 3 was scheduled for oxalic acid and the other three colonies were due a top up of food by way of Sally's homemade fondant just in case stores were getting low.So I got together some supers to act as ekes and the fondant and oxalic acid and drove over to sort them out. It was good that I had a clear plan but...
...things do not always work out as you think. I couldn't carry everything up to the apiary at the same time so decided to take the tools, supplies and one super. This way I could do the two hives that needed oxalic acid treatment and the nuc then go back for the other two supers. When I got up to the apiary, I looked round them all and was surprised to see that Hive 4 had some activity even though the weather was getting worse and the mist turning to fog (what happened to the sun?) and it was getting late in the afternoon. I felt uneasy about the colony and changed my mind and started with this one which was just due for a feed. When I took off the cover over the feed hole I saw a couple of dead bees and looking down inside it was evident that there were more bees that were probably dead, mostly with their heads in cells. Surely they hadn't starved. We knew they were a bit light but I didn't think we were at emergency stage! There was no apparent activity but I could hear a bit of buzzing from time to time. I decided, despite the weather and time of year, to take a look inside as I was pretty sure they had died out. Sure enough the buzzing and activity was a bit of robbing. I didn't spend a long time examining the remains but it looked as if they had starved (heads in cells) despite nearby capped and uncapped stores. The colony was just not big enough to create enough heat to move to other stores, of which there were enough to keep them going for a while, I suspect, had it not been so cold.I went back to my initial plan and opened up Hive 2 and swiftly and efficiently (after I remembered to unscrew the nozzle!) dribbled oxalic acid down 9.5 seams of bees. I then put the crown board back on and added two packs of fondant totalling 4lb, added the super and put the lid back on.
Next to Hive 3. A quick and efficient treatment with oxalic down 6.5 seams of bees.
Then to the nuc. I could add feed to that without going back to the car, leaving just a single trip for colony 5 after. As I unstrapped the nuc I again felt uneasy. With the amount of messing about getting the strap off I should have heard something. Taking the feed hole cover off revealed no activity. I took the crownboard off and sure enough found less than a tennis ball size clump of bees. Nearly all had their heads into open cells, with honey right there, but with so few bees they probably froze in the recent -8 degrees or more of frost.After this it was therefore pleasing to find that little colony 5 was quite busy when I lifted the feed hole cover to give them some fondant. I don't know how big the cluster is but at least they have survived this far.This news item is from Beesmith
( http://www.beesmith.co.uk/news.php?extend.232 )