Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum
BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => GENERAL BEEKEEPING - MAIN POSTING FORUM. => Topic started by: Ollie on March 10, 2011, 11:37:49 pm
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I thought that it would be interesting to see how we are all making out after this winter.
A short description of what you have in the spring as the season gets going.
Maybe see what state get's the best/worse survival rates..
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S.East Connecticut.
3 out of 6 survived.
all 6 came from survivor stock from previous year (splits)
Screened bottoms, open on all hives.
Top entrance 1/2 hole at top.
1" foam insulation above inner cover.
No wrapping around the hives
2 hives starved, they were light going into winter. Beek error!
One had a too small population going into winter, left honey but there was only a hand full of bees on two frames and a handful in the bottom. Again, Beek horror!
50% survival
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Nacogdoches tx (east texas) lost 4 of 11 2 starved (my bad rookie mistake) 2 the queens died so just dwindled and i just shook out what was left (no brood ) but 7 left are doing real good we have blooms now
Dave
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2 out of 3 survived. Haven't gotten in yet to see what happened to the dead one although I am feeling a bit sad cause this hive was my original hive from 2006. They were a great hive. Sorry to see them gone.
One of the survivors is from a cut out of a very old oak tree that fell down. They are rocking and rolling. They are so, so strong. My first feral hive and I am loving every minute with them.
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I thought that it would be interesting to see how we are all making out after this winter.
A short description of what you have in the spring as the season gets going.
Maybe see what state get's the best/worse survival rates..
Winter isn't over yet. :'(
We are getting a lot of warm rain that is melting the two feet of snow we got last Sunday. Between the winds and the rain I can't pop the lid to see if they are alive. Due to what I am hearing, I don't have a good feeling on survivability this year. It doesn't look good when experienced beeks are having huge losses. It is perfectly understandable if I loose mine.
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Agreed; Winter is hardly over, especially for us Northern Beeks. That said, we had a glorious viewing of the NORTHERN LIGHTS last night (gotta love it man) and the show was spectacular. Yep, you southerners can keep the early warm ups as long as I can still catch the Northern Lights ;).
My only survivor (lost 4 of 5 colonies, most ever for me) was flying yesterday at 37F and sunny. They seem quite strong, but its still too cold to take a look deep inside. The only positive right now is that they've found the frames of honey and the sugar I left them in December. We've still got over a month to go before the dandelions start up and can get snow through middle of May, in fact as I was reading last years notes, we had 19 F on May 9, 2010, a hard frost which also killed our chances for any apples last year. We hived two packages on April 29th when it was just 36F and raining.
This survivor colony (five years w/ just one queen replacement) was wintered in 4 mediums (foundationless) with two mediums full of honey. I use both top and bottom entrances (on my Langs) and use 2 inch insulation on top. I didn't wrap any hives this winter but don't feel that it was a factor in my loses. November 2010 was VERY warm with NOTHING for bees to feed on except their own stores and the sugar syrup I gave them and I believe this was what caused their demise.
Good thread, thanks for the post.
thomas
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Darn I looked for the northern lights last night and didn't see them.
The absolute worst winter for me. Lost all eight hives. Two were single deeps, that in hind sight I probably should have combined. Thought I would test wintering single deeps. The rest were double deeps with a super of honey too boot. I pulled only two thirds of my supers last fall because the hives were so strong. All had screened bottom boards with the insert in. All had slatted racks. All had the all season inner cover with the insulation installed. The two hives that made it to late February I added outside insulation on the east, north and west sides. Most of the hives were a combination of natural comb (foundation-less), small cell (4.9) and regular cell (5.4).
Only one appears to have eaten most of it's stores and they were the darkest bees I had. Go figure, eh. The rest didn't move the one inch to get stores. None had moved to the top of the hive.
Last year I had a 80% survival rate (4 of 5) and the previous year 50%, 1 of 2.
I also lost 3 hives in October, when they superseded in September and failed to raise good queens. Queens were observed, but not laying.
I am bummed about the swarm hive and all of it's splits and swarms dying. It would fly at 40F, build fast, and the parent hive had survived the previous year with flying colors.
As far as I can recall, 6 of the 8 hives were Italian queens from northern California. One was a late feral swarm, and the black queen was unknown (maybe a dark Italian based on how they ate their stores). I have a couple of Georgia packages coming in late April and Ohio NWC queens ordered for late June to split the packages with. I also have a Russian package coming as well. I think it is time for me to get away from Italians. (Unless of course Finski is selling his line. :-D )
Thanks to a tip from MB, I dissected some of the late survivors and looked at their intestines. They were clear, so nosema or other intestinal conditions were not an issue. Other than prolonged cold and a few blizzards that were very windy and cold, I can't see any other reasons for their demise.
I am looking at maybe building a wintering shed and possibly more insulation.
Jay
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My hive died must happened in last couple of days. I'm not too surprised I had to requeen late last year,.....
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1/2 way between Cedar Rapids and Waterloo IA. 4/6 survived. the 2 I lost were Late swarms from last year, in single deeps, just too many things against them.
The 4 that survived look to be in pretty good shape.
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Not doing so well here in central MA. Lost 4 out of 5 colonies. All starved out. This is despite me feeding and feeding and feeding as much as I could last fall. I don't have the equipment to weigh my hives, so if I did I may have known that they were light going into winter. I fed about 40 pounds of sugar to them, split between all 5 hives. Guess it wasn't enough. :?
I partly blame the weather. All of the nectar flows were early last year... very early. By the time early autumn came around, there was nothing left blooming.
The only hive that has survived thus far is the one that was fully regressed to natural comb. I'm not saying this is a factor in their survival, but it is kind of interesting. I had some leftover honey that I fed back to them in February, and now that temps are warming back up at least a little, I'm feeding them 1:1 sugar syrup again and a pollen patty. I hope this is the right thing to do. I'm committed to continuing to feed both sugar and pollen patties at least until the first major flow is well underway. I'm hoping these gals can rebuild enough so that I can make a couple of splits this year. I've sworn off packages. I'll make splits and/or try to catch feral swarms to get back to 4 or 5 colonies.
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My two hives I started with packages last spring are still alive and seem to be doing good.Each have two deep hive bodies that were really heavy last fall.I didn't wrap just stretched a tarp on the north side for a wind break.Two weeks ago I checked the weight and they seemed lots lighter and the bees were in the top hive body. I put dry sugar over news paper over the frames and they are taking it.Yesterday it was in the 40's and bees were flying like crazy.My bees are Italians from Georgia two pound packages.
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Chippewa County, Wisconsin
Lost 8/20 (40%) so far and its not over yet. I have my fingers crossed. I lost three of my best five or six. I think I over feed and they did not have room to cluster. Lost two right off the bat with first nasty cold snap then all was looking well till we had one last hard cold snap. I could see they took a good hit after that and the ones that lost a large number of bees died eventually. I think they got stuck on brood. Last cold snap took out the weakest colonies too. If weather stays decent and they can get some foraging flights in soon I think/hope the rest will pull through.
Will try to do some things different next season. 5 of 6 of my 8 frame singles seem in good shape so apparently you can winter single deeps up here. Thats good news for fall/winter increase.
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South Eastern Connecticut. Closed SBB, medium opening on the reducer, wrapped with Bee Cozys and extra large shims on top for better ventilation. Only lost 1 out of 7. I loaded them all up with fondant this winter and it's a good thing. They would have all starved without the emergency food. The one that I lost had fondant, but an autopsy of the hive showed that the large cluster moved to an empty frame and it was so cold that fondant was just too far away. Still very cold at night, but I'm watching them.
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My wife took a peek today and says they are all right. She wanted to prop up the cover for ventilation but I told her not to over the phone. I hope I told her the right thing to do. It has been raining like crazy but the top cover was dry underneath.
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Western Pa. area - First winter as a beek
100% alive so far
3 langs- 1 a package (georgia bees) started 1st june, 2 from 5 frame nucs purchased from Bjorn 7/28/10
All 3 langs were 2 deep 10 frame boxes and had SBB left open all winter, bottom entrance, Homasote
placed over IC with popsicle stick spacer between IC and Homasote, 5/8" foam insulation board on top
of tele. cover. no wrap
1 KTBH purchased from Davesbees in August, full of bees and basically ready for winter at that time.
this hive had bottom entrance, SBB left open all winter and 5/8" insul board on top
All four hives went into winter loaded with stores and bees. NO medications at any time were used at all
I took about 10 pounds of honey out of the hives for myself and all in all feel pretty lucky :-D
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northeast pa here went into winter with 4 hives one weak hive only one survived so far. I feed all last spring till fall they had plenty of stores seemed they died due to not being able to move on stores due to the cold. Starting with 15 hives this year some carnolians and russians we will see how they do this year. chris
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Central Oklahoma, lost one of four, apparently went queenless in late Oct. The other 3 are doing well, checked store in Feb and they were fine (caught them all robbing the dead hive) they were bringing in fresh pollen at that time. It was 80 here today so I intend to check on them tomorrow. All Langs, all open SBB, two deeps + one super each.
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we had a glorious viewing of the NORTHERN LIGHTS last night (gotta love it man) and the show was spectacular.
Mother nature is awesome , a few years back I sat and watched for about 3 hrs 85% of the sky was covered , shifted from orange and green , amazing.
Lost 3 hives so far of 40
Reason , stupid lazy beekeeper who didn't use a strap to hold the roof on.
Still learning , :-x very expensively :-x
mvh edward :-P
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I went into winter with 42 nucs and hives. 15 hives were headed by 2010 Wilbanks Italian queens. The remaining nucs and hives were local stock.
I have lost 11 out of 15 Wilbanks hives.
I have had 6 nucs of local stock die. (3 were weak to begin with going into winter.) The remaining local stock is alive and doing well.
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I think it would also be interesting to note the age of the hives lost. I had always heard the second year winter was the killer...and it was for me as well.
North Idaho (near Canadian Border) - I survived 5 of 5 last winter (from 2 first year packages). I multiplied them to 9 hives this past summer and they produced tons of honey, plus I left each with lots of honey (double deeps). I lost 7 of 9 this winter because the clusters dwindled down to a size where they froze in a small cluster and left lost of honey. I blame it partly on Varroa and partly on not monitoring my queens performance well enough. The only positive thing is that my one hive that still appears super strong is one of my two original packages that has produced about 10 splits and lots of honey. It has always been my strongest hive so I am hoping to perpetuate those queen genetics.
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Lost both of my hives again this year. My second year and I went into winter feeling more confident that the previous.
My first two hives were Italian nucs that I hived in Sept 2009. Late start, lack of experience and perhaps the wrong race for my area? Ultimately they starved out. They stovepiped straight up through two deeps and died in January 2010.
Last year I started packages of russian/carniolian in the two dead outs in April 2010. They built up real good, filling the two deeps. One filled a medium super and the other filled two. They died in February. One of the hives the queen flew off during an inspection and the other the cluster was just too small to raise brood. Eventually they got robbed out and killed by some other bees. I will try again with the russian/carniolians again this year. I will try to get the bee population built up going into winter somehow.
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I think it would also be interesting to note the age of the hives lost.
The 11/15 that died - first year hives using drawn comb to start out with.
6/27 local stock that died - first year nucs.
21/27 local stock still alive - everything from swarms to 3 years old.
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Louisville, KY.
We are new (this will be our second year) and quite frankly we are very grateful for all of ya'lls help.
Hive is still kicking on warm days. We went in last week and the queen is laying. Unfortunately there was comb on the middle top bars of the lower deep and that was where we found it.
Upper deep is still full of honey. We went to our supplier to pick up a second hive. The lady at the front was surprised that ours made it. She said lots of folks lost theirs this last winter.
We have a very nice windbreak between houses...I'm guessing that made all of the difference.
First warm day that broke though...I almost had a heart attack to see how many dead bees were outside of the hive.
Still colder than snot for me though on a bad day like today.
Geese...bring on Spring!
Hope all is well with everyone.
Best,
Sarita
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So far have all 4 hives alive but we had a mild winter here in the Banana Belt of Montana. Only had 5 nights below zero. I wintered my three package hives in 2 deeps and a shallow, covered with 2 inch rigid foam insulsation. Fourth hive was a first year trapout wintered in 2 deep with a SBB set on the ground with two 7watt lights underneath to provide some warmth when single digits were expected.
Lost 2/2 swarm hives last year due to my inexperience.
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Located northwest of Denver about 40 miles.
2 of 2 survived - yay!
Second winter for one hive - a cut out from summer of 2009.
First winter for the second hive - swarm capture from last year.
No winter wrap.
Both are a deep and a medium.
Both hives had good stores heading into winter.
I've been feeding on and off the last three weeks (between the snows) and the bees have been slurping up the sugar water.
Both hives were pretty light by mid February.
Have only peeked in. No inspection yet. Tried to yesterday but toooo windy! Maybe tomorrow.
First two seasons I lost my package colonies in the fall - both times the queen went missing!? So very happy to have both survive thus far!
John
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In my area near Chicago, the hive age and beekeeper experience doesn't seem to matter much for the losses.
Small and large beekeepers alike are reporting 50-75% losses in general.
That lines up a little high on the losses side for most my yards (survival of 35/50 on average).
We just did not experience the typical mid-winter thaw that would have allowed for the bees to eat and re-energize.
I also can't recall mutiple warmer days, and the one or two were follwed by a 20-25 degree temperature drop the next day.
Again another serious hardship on bees.
Many deadouts are full clusters, mid-box, starvation/freeze admist good honey stores above and next to the cluster.
More honey, or honey in other placements would not have improved survival.
There are no significant signs of nosema, dampness, or other ailment.
Younger queens did fair better, which may attribute some of the loss, not most, to mite induced stresses.
It just appears that 'Nature' was extra selective this winter.
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I think it would also be interesting to note the age of the hives lost.
Two second year hives. One strong and one weak. One a nuc from the previous season and the other an overwintered hive(weak one).
Two spring nucs that ended very strong.
Three swarms. Two very strong (May swarms), and one weak (early August swarm)
One spring (May) split. A strong single deep.
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We have hives in So.Maine [2] and two locations in SE MA. [8]. All mediums,open SBB, Wilbanks packages. Lost three hives out of ten and all three of them had extensive mouse damage because some knuckle head put the mouse guards on too late. Remaining hive in Maine is still alive and just finishing it's third winter. Remaining hive the next town over is just finishing it's second winter and is very strong. The five out of six remaining in our backyard are somewhat strong with the exception of one hive that might not make it.
The mouse damage to my drawn out comb in the brood chamber was very disappointing because of the amount I'll have to replace. No wonder those three hives didn't make it. Dumb mistake on my part.
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New beek. Summer 8, One original full hive bought in late March (Italians, I think?), split from same hive, rest swarms and cut outs. Early fall, one absconded due to ants, combined 4 down to 2. Late fall, entrance reducer smallest hole, solid bottom boards. Fed in fall, also put large fondant topper (wood frame that didn't cover whole top of frames with medium around it, fondant poured in to fill before going on hive.) on each hive. Regular inner cover and telescoping lid. No wrap. Lost all 5 hives. Not enough ventilation, too small of colonies on some. I think. Just made a bunch of SBBs. Going to wrap and add top entrances next year.
JC
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because some knuckle head put the mouse guards on too late.
Who me LOL
BEE HAPPY Jim 134 :)
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because some knuckle head put the mouse guards on too late.
Who me LOL
BEE HAPPY Jim 134 :)
It's against forum rules for me to mention the gentleman who made the dumb mistake. :-D
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I had 5 of 5 survive the winter so far. They are out and foraging anytime weather permits, ie party sunny, not strong winds, no rain, and temps 35F+.
I must admit that I've keep improving my hive survivabilty rate, from to solid bottom boards and telescopic tops; to solid bottoms and migratory tops; to vented tops; to solid bottoms and slatted racks and vented tops; to screen bottom boards, slatted racks, and vented tops; to bottomless hives, slatted racks, and vented tops. survivability went up with each change, not that there weren't losses, because there were, but over all each change made for less losses. Oh, did I mention I also use 8 frame mediums.
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I went into winter with 26 field colonies and 32 nucs in 5 frame boxes. The field colonies are in a mix of deep and medium 10 frame boxes and most of the nucs are in two boxes, all have screened bottom boards. 2 nucs and 1 field colony have gone queenless and have been taken out of service. They will be remade in April. All the others are in good condition. The bees are Minnesota Hygenics and Russians. The bees are in full sun and have reasonable protection from the wind, no upper ventilation is used. Entrances on hives and nucs are 3/8 in. high by 2 in. long. Hive stands have legs 12 inches high and the grass is short so I have not had mouse problems.
Our winters are mild compared to the northern states. We seldom go longer than 2 or 3 weeks without a day that the bees can fly to take a dump and our temps seldom go below the teens. This year we did see some days with below 0 for the night time temps.
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I had 2 hives going into the winter.
1 was a 1st-year colony from a package. (Actually 2 packages, since one had lost a queen and I combined.) It was a bit light, and I considered combining again before winter. Wish I had; it was dead early in January.
The other was a strong 2nd-year colony with lots of stores. Still looked strong on New Year's day: the last time it was warm enough for a peak. By the end of January it was gone. Adequate stores still left, but they froze in a cluster a few inches away. Bummer.
Starting again this year. Switching from Italians to Italian/Carny mix. Planning more insulation around hives and more pre-winter feeding.
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entered winter with 7 hives 6 of these hives are cut outs 1 is a swarm. 2 of the cut outs were done early to mid sept. due to downed trees from storms. 1 of the cut outs is entering its 3rd year for me.didnt have a lot of hope for the late cutouts but i did get a lot of honey from them when cutting out that was fed back to them. on 3-12-11 i did a full inspection on these hives im still 7 for 7 all 7 have some brood started. pollen is being brought in on good flying days. overall stores are good to very good considering the winter we have had i will be putting supers on soon if not sooner. did notice that the darker colured bees have less population and more stores than the light colured bees all of these bees are on there cutout combs or foundation starter strips. no treatment at all on these hives. :)
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to bottomless hives,
Brian, could you please explain a bottomless hive? Thx.
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Did my first inspections this year. Lost two hives out of twelve. 1 due to starvation, 1 due to a failed queen. This queen was from 2009, she still seemed to be a decent enough performer last summer, but didn't survive. I thought I should have replaced her, but I had three other queenless hives in the fall and I allowed myself to get completely distracted on those. I got them all queen right, and hoped that the old queen would hang in there. Alas, it was not to be. That's the last time I make that mistake. New queens in the fall, every hive. Of the two that I lost, one was a screened bottom board (failed queen) and the other was a solid bottom board. I don't wrap my hives.
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to bottomless hives,
Brian, could you please explain a bottomless hive? Thx.
X X
Picture 2 4X4s cut to 20 inches spaced the width of the hive apart (14 inches for 8 frame, 16 3/4 for 10 frame) thusly : X X with the brood box place directly on the 4X4s, no bottom, although I do use a slatted rack of my own design. The bees can enter from eith the front or back of the hive and cleaning the dead bees out after a long winter is as simple as pushing a shovel or broom through the open space to level or push away the pile of bees. I also recommend using a veneer or light plywood on the bottom of the 4X4s to prevent grass and weed and even small brush from growing up into the hive.
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Well this is quite a lot of responses to sift through.
Top entrances seem to make a huge difference, open bottom or screened or solid do not seem to be much of a factor in the bee's survival.
Light hives going into winter die off easily.
BTW all my hives were at least two years old, one was a split from a three year old, both the original and the split made it.
Thank you to all who posted.
O
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Central NC, 2 for 2.
Both are first-year hives split from the same package.
One is in a Lang, single 10-frame deep, screened BB open with telescoping top. This hive was weaker going into the winter, and is slower to build up. They replaced their queen at least once last fall, and got some very interesting genetics. The workers have longer-than-average abdomens, and are darker, some almost black. They also have very dense fuzz around the eyes, making their eyes look smaller. Clearly there were a couple of feral drones in the mix. That may be the reason why they have been slow to start rearing brood. We'll see how they do once the flow really kicks in.
The other was split off the first colony in late June last year. In a long hive (takes 33 deep lang frames, migratory tops, 3 1" entrance holes, bottom screened with 1/8" mesh), bottom left open except for a couple of nights during a windstorm at 17 degrees, when I put our homemade "mite board" in to reduce wind blowing up into hive. This colony went into winter with less than 20 frames bees and honey together, with a follower board used to insulate the used from the empty section of the hive. They have the original Italian queen from the package (although right before cluster I spotted two mated queens in this hive, so I don't know whether I now have the mother, daughter or both). This hive is BOOMING, incredibly healthy. Went from 2 frames of brood to 8 in a month, and now they draw a new foundationless frame every 3 days. We are just trying to keep ahead of them and getting ready to split next month.
I've heard that long hives are swarm-prone, and we are definitely going to find out.
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1 loss so far, with 5 possibles in the works, out of a starting total of 18. I had 15 in my back field apiary, 3 in my front yard.
In the back field: Lost 1 in January. Cluster dwindled and they got too cold to move to the food. Am currently losing a 2nd to bad bout of nosema. Am currently losing a 3rd to a combination of nosema and lack of food (I've replenished their stores and am treating so we'll see). I have a 4th back there where the queen is not laying, the verdict is out. These hives are all part of the icky nucs purchased last year.
In the front yard I am losing one to stavation so have replenished their honey frames. That hive has the only remaining queen of the 8 I purchased last year. The reason the others didn't make it and this one is dwindling is their lack of ability to forage.
Also in the front yard, I also may have a queenless hive. That hive is three years old so if the queen really is there and just hasn't started yet, then I hope she starts soon. I've been really happy those bees so far!
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i have 3 full colonies and 1 nuc left out of 10 colonies and 1 nuc that went in the winter. :( Still one apiary to check... i am afraid to go so i postpone, which is not a good idea i know if i need to do an emergency action.
As another MA beekeeper noted up here, the late summer and fall drought was a disaster for the bees who ate their early season stores. i harvested nothing, fed like mad, put candy on top as well, but that was not enough. For me 2 bad seasons in a row (though last year i lost only 1 out of 5)
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Hi,
This is my second year with bees. First year I started with 2 hives and now I have 5. Both first year hives survived last winter with two deeps and a medium. I figured if that worked last year why mess with success. This winter all five hives were two deep and a medium (I have to say this winter has been brutal here in upstate NY, near Syracuse. We've had close to 175" of snow so far and many very cold nights, much worse than last year). Here's my setup..... all hives with reduced bottom entrance and a top entrance, solid wood bottom, ten frame lang hives, wrapped with bubble wrap insulation and tar paper over that, inside hive I put absorbent material "chux" between the telescoping top cover and inner cover to help with condensation. I also made some candy that I put into the hives last fall to serve as emergency rations if needed. I placed this on top of the uppermost deep box so that as time went by they would work their way up to the candy later in the winter. The candy is a sugar mixture that supposedly does NOT stimulate laying by the queen. Well, as winter went on I saw very little activity from the hives and I was worried they all died. They are in the back of our property (almost 8 acres) so I can get to them regularly to clear the bottom entrance of snow. We had a day near 60 degrees last week and I busted home after work to check the hives. I knew they would be active if still alive. I was pleasantly surprised to see all 5 hives with activity. One hive is not as active as the other 4 but it still had bees coming and going. The other 4 were quite busy. I think they all made it but I agree with an earlier post that we still have some more winter to get through. I am a little concerned for the weak hive but still thrilled they are all alive. :-D I should also say that last year we harvested about 50# of honey per hive via crush and strain. The honey was lightly colored with outstanding flavor. I creamed some of it using the Dyse method and my wife makes lip balm with the wax. We gave most of it away and are having a lot of fun. I think about getting more hives going but 5 is about all I can handle as one of my hobbies. I have to say my success is due greatly to my mentor (local beek) and also to this website. I've gained so much knowledge from many on here! THANKS :)
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New beek. Lost my one hive from an Italian package this past May. It looked like they starved, poor girls though I fed them in the fall and put some sugar for them on top of the frames on the one warm day we had in february. Sounds like it was a tough winter for bees in this area. I am very sad to have lost the hive...I had a great summer and fall watching them. I need to learn a lot more from them and you all, it sounds like!
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;) So far all 3 surviving and flying on warm day. Better than last year, lost 6 of 6 before winter started.Very much ready for spring here iin SE Wisconsin. Go Badgers!!
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Three of my loses were first year caught swarms. My Long Hive was in its 2nd winter and if it swarmed we didn't know about it.,
Winter is still very much with us in Northwest Wisconsin. Got up to 39 F today but rainy and windy. My lone survivor, a package started 5, no its six years ago come April, with one queen replacement, by me anyway ;) was bubbling out both top and bottom entrances friday and yesterday. They've aparantly found the feed I left them as even the P-willows are slow coming around, good thing too, with these temps. I swear its a super colony :). Its a strong colony with plenty to eat.
thomas
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Not a good winter for my girls.
We went into the winter with six 10-frame Langs and a TBH at one apiary and two 10-frame Langs and three 8-frame Langs at a second.
Four of six Langs have survived at the first apiary; the central Langs on each 3-hive stand died. Will reduce hives to two per stand this year. The TBH starved with the cluster unable to move to stores.
One out of five Langs survived at the second apiary and the surviving colony is weak. All four dead-outs starved. One with about 80 pounds of honey left in the top box. Moved 3 frames from there to the weak colony to help them along. Scratched the surfaces of two to draw the bees to them.
Overall losses - 58%.
All hives had top entrances and appeared dry (no condensation issues). I did not wrap them and suspect that may have been a mistake.
Now building wind proof hive stands and Warre inspired duvet tops in the hope of keeping the hives warmer. Considering options for improving the insulation of the hive walls (suggestions welcome :)).
SH
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Central Indiana. Only have one hive and it survived, but looks ( to my first year eye) to be weak ( low population..
Has several frames of capped stores on the sides, but only 1 frame of brood so far.
Got the candy board back on in preparation for a return of cold ( 20 degree) weather and some snow this week.
Now we wait and see if they make it.
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Cheney Kansas,
All four hives survived. All modified after the D.E hive. Two deeps each. All have modified slatted bottom boards, and the entrances were left open. All painted Pony Tail. It's not dark and its not light in color. Camouflaged after dead grass. This year I,m making candy boards for them kind of as an insurance policy.
JD
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Vancouver, British Columbia
1 out of 3 hive survived. Last hive has less than a frame of bees. Queen just started laying yesterday. Too late for comfort.
1 died from starvation in January-Old queen going into 2nd winter should have combined or requeened. No winter wrap and open screen bottom. Single hive box. Only stored 3 gallons of 2:1 syrup. Rest of the hive stored 10 gallons.
2nd died from Nosema in early February. Winter wrapped and open screen bottom. 2 deep hives
3rd hive surviving- winter wrapped and open screen bottom. 2 deep hives. Still have lots of storage from fall. Been feeding pollen patties and 1:1 sugar syrup to keep them going. Closed the screen bottom with the board. Just reduced to one deep super.
Should have closed screen bottom all winter. Last year's winter had many 50 deg F flunctuations. This year it was cold for long periods and when it was warm it rained. Hardly any flying days.
Only treat my hives with sugar dusting for varroa. Fed Fumagilin for Nosema.
Hardly any blooms in my area. 1st reliable bloom were from purple crocus. Cherry blossoms are really blooming at glacial speed coz of the cold temperatures at night. Usually can expect lots of blooms by now like cherry, onion chives.
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South central Kansas. 2 of 2 survived the coldest winter we've had in years. Both are top bar hives and are doing very well this spring. I lost a top bar in late fall when it was blown over by a bad wind storm and I didn't find it in time.
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I had some leftover honey that I fed back to them in February, and now that temps are warming back up at least a little, I'm feeding them 1:1 sugar syrup again and a pollen patty. I hope this is the right thing to do.
The best thing to do.. I lost my only 2 hives because I thought the buggers would move.. but an odd warm week sent the queen a laying and did she ever. They stayed on the brood till a snap came then lost the lot but not before the brood were cannabalized. Keep em fed till first flow.
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Ottawa, Ontario. A little early to say final numbers. Six hives went into winter. One starved. Two look weak but are hanging in there with small clusters. Three strong hives.
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