1st Hive Done ....

[Chrisd4421]

Hi all,
    Its with sadness that I report that my first hive did not survive the winter.  After a 32" snow storm, I went to clear the entrance the next day and noticed a clogged entrance.  That day was about 45 so I quickly cleared the dead bees and noticed heavy casualties.  Against my gut, I cracked the top to see no movement, nothing alive.  I quickly pulled a sample and sent them out for analysis (still waiting results).  The hive still have 50% of the honey left (about 6 medium frames capped), very little capped brood (expected) and lots of pollen stored.  I extracted 1/2 of the honey and stored everything else in black plastic bags unitl the spring.

I have already ordered 2 NUCs for the spring and I am not going to go away quietly.  I just hope that with time, I can figure out what went wrong. 

/Chris in NJ

[AllenF]

I know they had something to do with your hive.   :-D

How many frames did you have with dead bees stuck in between?  Numbers may have been too low to keep warm and get to the honey and starved. 

[Brian D. Bray]

In heavy snows suffication is a ready cause of hive loss.  One of the reasons a top vent is helpful, with the top vent they will usually get enough air to stay alive until the entrance can be cleared. But at 32 inches even the top vent might have been plugged.
Sorry for the loss--2 nucs should be a good restart in the spring.

[T Beek]

If you are in an area gets that kind of accumulation I'd "consider" top entrances.  I use both.  How big was the colony when Fall ended?  Small clusters don't move around as well or keep the internal temps or feed as well as big ones. 

When using bottom entrances in winter weather we must be more regular with our inspections. :)

Besides checking about every other day with my stethascope, I'll check and clean "bottom" entrances once a week or so during winter (learned the hard way).  Its just good insurance.

thomas 

[applebwoi]

How long had it been since you knew they were alive?  I've lost a few hives over the years but never had to deal with so much snow at one and would never have thought about suffocation.

[leechmann]

Chris, sorry about your bees. I am curious where you sent te dead bee to be analized?

[T Beek]

I'm not so certain this hive died due to suffocation.  I've gotton lots of snow before, covered the hives right up, but if they died it wasn't due to that.  I've posted it somewhere, relating how my bees have actually "made a hole in the snow" for cleansing flights.  I simply dont believe snow (unless its six feet and over the tops of hives) up the sides of hives would cause death from suffocation.

thomas

[Chrisd4421]

Chris, sorry about your bees. I am curious where you sent te dead bee to be analized?

In Maryland...  http://www.ars.usda.gov/Services/Services.htm?modecode=12-75-05-00  It is a free service....  

I just got the results back....Varroa Mites....I had a strong hive going into the winter....there were mites but in very small numbers (or so I thought).  

Question...I know EO have been talked about all over this board.  I ran across the below....has anyone tried this technique and recipes?  I think I need to re-think my methods as dusting with powdered sugar seems to not work as well as I would have hoped.  http://www.wvu.edu/~agexten/varroa/varroa2.htm#Revised  

Thanks all
Chris

[Chrisd4421]

How long had it been since you knew they were alive?  I've lost a few hives over the years but never had to deal with so much snow at one and would never have thought about suffocation.

They were flying about 2 weeks earlier....I do not necessarily beleive the suffocation cause.....the snow was cleared within 4 hours of snow ending.  If suffocation was the culprit, I would assume many northern bks would be discussing this much, much more with wacky inventitive solutions such as radiant floor patches in front of their hives...

Thanks!
/Chris in NJ

[T Beek]

see reply #6 :)

[Chrisd4421]

see reply #6 :)

yup....just my akward way of agreeing with your post...    :-D

/C

[VolunteerK9]

).  

Question...I know EO have been talked about all over this board.  I ran across the below....has anyone tried this technique and recipes?  I think I need to re-think my methods as dusting with powdered sugar seems to not work as well as I would have hoped.  http://www.wvu.edu/~agexten/varroa/varroa2.htm#Revised  

Thanks all
Chris

Essential oils are a highly disputed topic here--ranks up there with SBB's and Small cell. Some people swear by EO's, other people swear at them. The ones most commonly used are, Thyme, Wintergreen or Spearmint, and Lemongrass. the only one that I have personally used in the Lemongrass for swarm traps. I do plan on using the home brewed Honey-B-Healthy this spring to see if I can tell any difference.