0 for 2: Another Deadout

Well, this winter hasn't been any better than last for the bees.  I lost the first hive in December and the other hive to that cold snap at the beginning of January. 

I'm so bummed.

I did a post mortem to find out what the problem was.    There was almost a gallon of sugar and honeyballs on the tops of the frames when I opened it up, so that wasn't the problem.   I took all the sugar off and am saving it for this summer in the freezer. 

When I looked at the cluster in the frames, this is what I saw.  [top pic].    That is the cluster.    The entire cluster.  Fist sized.  There just weren't enough bees to keep the cluster warm at sub zero temps. 

In November I went to a bee conference and attended a Q&A where I described my colonies and asked the advice of the state bee experts on whether I should combine the hives or winter them separately.   I had already decided that I needed to combine.   The experts said that they'd winter them separately, as nucs.  I figured they knew way more than I did, so I didn't combine.   That is the last time I follow the advice from the state experts instead of following my gut.   I lost both hives.     The only fix for small colonies in the fall is to combine them.   If they get huge in the spring, you can always split them.  

I took the bottom boards out to see what was what.   You can see on this board right where the cluster was.  Those three gold streaks are where the bees were hanging out and getting into their stores.

I looked carefully at the debris to see if anything popped out at me. 

This is a section of the debris.  I found a lot more varroa mites than I expected. 

I did a 24 hour mite board check in the fall and both hives had mite counts well below problem levels.   I'm not sure where all these mites came from - though this is 3 months worth of mites.

I've noted where some of the varroa are. There are many more varroa in the pic that I didn't indicate.  Can you see them?  If you blow the pic up, you can see many more.

Here's a larger section.   Blow it up and look for those little regular ovals.    There are a lot them here.


Conclusions -
Cause of loss:   Small colony size aggravated by mite load.
Lessons learned:

• Combine small hives in fall.  Period. 
• Don't believe everything the 'experts' tell you.

Since I want to treat as little as possible, I don't want to treat for mites every year, so the jury is still out on how I handle mites next year.

I have two 3# packages coming in April from Kelley Bee in Kentucky.  I got their Russians.   I've heard they do well here.  In addition, I met a guy who is going to have nucs this year.   He said I could get one.   If I go into winter 2015-16 with 4 hives, maybe I can get some to make it until spring.   

Goals for 2015.   Get the blasted bees through the winter!   Get a decent honey harvest.

Hidden Opportunities

We lost one of our hives early in December and since there's really nothing to do with it until things get warmer, I just covered the entrances and let it be.  But when my sister and her family came last week, I realized that a winter deadout is a fantastic hidden opportunity to teach people, especially kids, about bees.

First off, I knew for a fact the middle hive was a deadout because Lily and I had already opened it to make sure a few weeks ago.  We thought the nuc was a deadout too and had opened it only to find that not only was it alive, but defensive.   On this day, we left the nuc completely alone and opened only the hive I knew was already dead.

The day was cloudy and in the lower 50s.  We did see a couple of bees from the big hive come out for exercise.  I had the boys put their ears to the back of big live hive and then I knocked so they could hear the hum.  

Then we opened the deadout.  We showed them propolis and how the bees had sealed up all the cracks. 

We talked about how winter bees are all girl bees and how they kick the drones out when it gets cold but the queen lays more when it starts getting warmer.   We talked about how drones don't have stingers. 

The boys got to hold dead bees.   They thought that was really cool.  I showed them how fuzzy they are and where the stingers were and that an insect has three parts:  a head, thorax and abdomen.   

We showed them how the cluster was arranged like a ball in the hive and then we pulled out a frame with bees on it and show how they were arranged in the cells and over the cells to make the cluster.   We looked for the queen but couldn't find her.   We did see dead brood and showed them the capped brood under the bees.

Eric explained how when bees are born they start out as nurse bees, then progress to foragers and finally water carriers.  

I pulled out a frame of honey and cut some off so everyone could taste it.   The wax was crispy from the cold, but the honey was gooood.

We showed them the pollen stores and some unfinished nectar and the capped honey and a couple of places where the caps were shredded and honey must have been robbed out.  We talked about how bees make honey from nectar.

They wanted to know what killed the bees, so we talked about varroa and Eric pulled the bottom board so we could show them a few.   We talked about how a varroa on a bee is like a tick the size of your fist on you, passing on diseases like Deformed Wing Virus and that those things will weaken a hive so it won't make it through the winter.  

We talked about where the hive entrances are and how you stay in the back of the hive when you check things.   They asked tons of questions and it was one of those times when you can see learning happening.     I think from now on, whenever I have a deadout I'm going to make a point of inviting people over to look it over.   It's a great way to teach people about bees.

Winter Hives

Just before the big snow, I checked the hives.  The center one is dead already.   The other two [on either end of the row] are doing fine.   I seized the moment during the warm weather we had before the big snow to make some more bee candy and put it on the tops of the frames in each hive.  I figured it would be extra insulation when the temps dropped way down after the storm.  [The shortest darker blue box is just an empty super.  No bees in there.]

I'm thinking that the cause of the deadout was bees weakened by varroa.   I noticed some bees with deformed wings in the summer and fall.  The deformed wings are caused by Deformed Wing Virus [DWV], one of the many ills that varroa mites bring to a hive.   I didn't treat for mites in an effort to be chemical free and the hive was too weak to last very long at all.   Gone by the beginning of December. 

I hate losing a hive this way but I have very mixed feelings about treating with chemicals.   Maybe I should have done more sugar shakes. 

At any rate, the other two hives seemed good and active [and defensive] and now they have plenty of candy for the next two months.   On warm days I'll see if there's any action up there. 

We left the snow on the hives as extra insulation for the deep freeze that followed the storm. The lower entrances are covered with snow but the bees have a top entrance under the lip of the telescoping lids so they can get out if they really want to.  I doubt they do.  

Bee - Deformed Wings

Take a good look at the bee on the right.   See how the wings are just not right?   I found this bee in the center hive.   I looked for more, but she was the only one.   Whew.

Deformed wings are a sign of a virus called, appropriately enough, Deformed Wing Virus.

The virus occurs just like head colds and the flu in humans.   It is passed around in many ways, most notably via varroa mites.

So, the first thing I did was put a board under the hive for 24 hours to catch debris.   As bees groom and eat, things fall to the bottom.   In 24 hours, you pull the board and count the number of mites.   That'll give you an idea of the mite load the hive has.   If you count more than 60 mites in 24 hr period, then you need to treat the hive quickly.  Those mites are spreading more than DWV.

After 24 hours I pulled the board and looked for mites.   With my glasses on.  With a magnifying glass.   No mites.

That doesn't mean they don't have any; it just means that the mite load is small.  

So,  one case of DWV is not good, but it doesn't look like it's going to be catastrophically epidemic.