5 days later

SweeetTaste I would like 1 package of Carnolians. Where and when would pick up be?
Thanks! Sheryl

      Sheryl Hi Sheryl, You are on for 1 Carniolan package. Pickup is scheduled for April 12th and will either be at the Barn or at my apiary depending on the time.

        19 days later

        Oh yikes-we are out of town 11-14th. Do you have any flexibility on your end for a different day?

          Sheryl Hi Sheryl, they will be waiting for you when your return. Let me know when you get back.
          Dave

            We will be back Monday the 14th. Would love to come get them then. Do you have a way of feeding them and keeping them warm until then? Thanks, Dave.
            And will we pick them up at your place or at Rod's barn? What is the total cost? Thanks so much. We are so excited for our second hive.
            Sheryl

              6 days later

              Hi Dave-can I get your phone number? We leave Friday and will Be back Monday. Want to make sure we can connect with you to pick up the bees on Monday. We will be traveling from McMinnville Oregon to Pullman that day so I want to have a way to be in touch with you about pick up time. We leave McMinnville at 7:00am usually so hope to be back early-mid afternoon. Would you like a check or Venmo? What is the dollar amount. Sheryl My phone is 509-432-6850

              Hi everyone. I'm devestated. We just took down the straw bales from around our hive and have been constructing a small wood protective wood fence. My husband noticed the bees were lethargic this evening and not much flying (it was beautiful outside). The bee's seemed happy a week or two ago. We have a water jar, and they have had sugar and fondant and we had plenty of honey stores. We treated them with oxalic acid in mid-late February.

              This evening after he noticed no activity we opened the hive to find the queen and very few other bee's barely alive. Dead bee's along the bottom screen. The fondant was rock hard and waxy. Plenty of pollen patty left untouched. A few capped brood, dead. Probably about 4 frames that had remaining honey had a heavy wax build up over it-weird.
              There was a little sugar untouched.

              I'm stumped and don't understand the wax build up over the honey? Probably 8 frames empty of honey and brood and had a few bee's bums-up and dead sticking out of a cell.

              Dave, can I bring the frames and show you when I come to pick up the bee package on Monday? Also, would it be too late to get another bee package?

              I feel like shit over this.

              Sheryl

                • rhfire

                • Post #15
                • Edited

                Hi Sheryl, Sorry about your bees, it's a tough loss this time of year. In the spring, the two most likely scenarios are starvation or queen failure, or mites because of what I say below.

                First, did you notice any excess moisture inside the hive? That can chill the bees, especially during cold nights. The dead bees on the screened bottom board and lethargic behavior on a warm day suggest the colony was weakening gradually over time—NOT something that happened suddenly. This brings me to mite levels. Were there mites visible on the bottom board? If so, that could have been a major contributing factor.

                Regarding the oxalic acid treatment in February—if the bees were in a tight cluster, the vapor or drizzle likely didn’t reach them well. By then, any viral or mite damage may have already taken its toll. I’d recommend considering a mite treatment earlier, like in December, when the weather allows for it. Additional, there would have been capped brood in February and in early December it would be doubtful if any at all.

                If the queen failed or stopped laying late in winter, the colony would have dwindled without new bees to replace the old ones. Was there any brood at all? Only a few capped cells and no signs of spring buildup could point to queen failure or stress. Did you replace the queen last fall? How old was she?

                Here’s my biggest question: was there any new brood? By now, you should have seen at least a full frame of capped brood and more uncapped. If not, how many bees were still alive, and how many frames were covered with bees? It could be that they just dwindle away

                Lastly, I’m curious about the "heavy wax capping" over the honey. If you can post a photo, so everyone can see. Just make sure it’s under 4000KB to upload easily. Also, I’ve found that fondant tends to be too dry and hard for bees to pick up when it’s cold. Depending on their needs, they might not be able to consume much of it. If it was rock-hard, that likely wasn’t helping them much.

                Hi Rod-thanks for your insight. I have pondered alot since last night and I do think I may have had a queen failure. She was slighly still alive when we opened the hive last night. I had next to zero brood-like maybe 20 capped brood. So I feel like I just didn't have enough bee's to keep the hive warm-too much attrition and not enough brood/new bees. My husband dumped the bottom board before I could look for mites. We did do a late Fall Formic Acid treatment and February Oxalic acid treatment. I'm leaning toward queen failure.
                We got our queen in July-ish from Jerry. He was having some queen issues with his supplier so it makes me wonder???

                I will post pictures as soon as I can figure out how? Also we leave for a long weekend away tomorrow so if I can get enough done, I'll post. I saved the frames to show Dave (and you?) at package pick-up on Monday.

                Happy installation this weekend y'all!

                  Sheryl
                  This is on my phone so if I screw it up a little bit bear with me. https://combconnection.com/d/22-how-do-i-post-pictures
                  There's also a video on videos by admin on why did my bees die.
                  Yes indeed it does sound like the queen wasn't doing her job, that's interesting that Jerry was having problems with his Queens. An overwintering hive this time of the year should have had three frames of bees and like I said before, a good frame of capped brood maybe even two.

                    Sheryl Of course. Show and tell is always good for learning. If you have time, you could post a photo also.