Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum
BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => COLONY COLLAPSE DISORDER - TALKS & REPORTS => Topic started by: JRS on March 01, 2007, 10:19:21 pm
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I recently checked on a colony that was in a house wall in November.There was a total of 4 colonies in this old house and 2 of them I have successfully cutout and transfered.This colony was in the back of the house in a wall and occupied a space of 2 feet wide by 7 feet tall(a very established and strong hive).I checed on them today and nothing,no bees,no honey,no brood,eggs,nothing.The comb was all there but it was very briddle like potato chips.It was wierd that there was nothing there,not even dead bees.Any thoughts?
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Sounds like they packed up and left. Then they or other bees robbed it out. Not the same sounding set up for CCD.
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National Bee Loss Survey
Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) is the latest problem facing bee keepers today. Symtoms of CCD are:
1) In collapsed colonies
The complete absence of adult bees in colonies, with no or little build up of dead bees in the colonies or in front of those colonies.
The presence of capped brood in colonies.
The presence of food stores, both honey and bee bread
i. which is not immediately robbed by other bees
ii. when attacked by hive pests such as wax moth and small hive beetle, the attack is noticeably delayed.
2) In cases where the colony appear to be actively collapsing
An insufficient workforce to maintain the brood that is present
The workforce seems to be made up of young adult bees
The queen is present
The cluster is reluctant to consume provided feed, such as sugar syrup and protein supplement
Hope this helps.
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Sounds like the bees absconded.
The brittle comb is due the age of the comb (my guess). I have had to deal with some recently that was brittle also. It is very interesting comb.
Sincerely,
Brendhan