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Author Topic: Hive Absconded - Need advice  (Read 1774 times)

Offline mulesii

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Hive Absconded - Need advice
« on: November 18, 2012, 02:33:33 pm »
One of my hives absconded recently.  This was a hive I started in April from an Italian package from Georgia.  I opened it a month ago and it had sealed brood, lots of bees, and 10 frames full of honey and about two frames of mixed pollen/honey.  They seemed healthy and still had the original queen.  Yesterday I noticed there was not much activity around the hive, while the other three hives in my yard had lots of activity.  Today I opened the hive for a quick check and there are only about 100 bee remaining, but still over 10 frames of honey.  I have two hives, the other one is Carniolan from a nuc in April. This was the only one of my hives I did not treat for Nosema in the late summer and did not feed 2:1 syrup as they had lots of stores.  I wanted to see if I could go all natural on one hive - that certainly didn't work out well, however I am not sure that is the cause of the hive's demise.  I had also done a sugar shake and screened bottom board check for Varroa mites and each time the checks were well below the threshold to treat (fewer mites than my other hive).  Both of my hives are first year hives.  This hive was the only one that had enough honey to give me a harvest (11 pounds).  I didn't tear the hive apart, but I didn't see anything that would indicate any problems with diseases.  There was no capped brood and no queen.  My question is can I save the capped honey and use it in the spring in my other hive if they get low on stores?  If so, what is the best way to store the capped frames of honey until I need them?

Thanks in advance for the advice

Offline GLOCK

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Re: Hive Absconded - Need advice
« Reply #1 on: November 18, 2012, 02:56:47 pm »
I put all the frames im not useing in a frezzer till i need them honey all so.
Say hello to the bad guy.
35hives  {T} OAV

Offline mulesii

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Re: Hive Absconded - Need advice
« Reply #2 on: November 18, 2012, 03:58:21 pm »
Thanks Glock.  I will do that.

Offline Maryland Beekeeper

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Re: Hive Absconded - Need advice
« Reply #3 on: November 18, 2012, 05:15:41 pm »
Sorry to hear it  :( So you have 4 hives or 2 ? Same color/style ? close together ? facing same direction ? Just curious.
Cheers,
Drew

Offline AllenF

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Re: Hive Absconded - Need advice
« Reply #4 on: November 18, 2012, 07:26:25 pm »
What mite treatment did you use this fall?   And freeze all the frames for use in the spring.

Offline mulesii

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Re: Hive Absconded - Need advice
« Reply #5 on: November 18, 2012, 08:26:13 pm »
I have 2 hives, different colors.

I didn't use a mite treatment as I had very low counts on both sugar shake and sticky board.