First dead out

[shawnwri]

Lost the first swarm I collected.  I had them in a 5 frame nuc but they starved.  Guess what they say is true...a swarm in July let them fly (these were actually an August 23rdish swarm and I didn't have any extra frames of honey or pollen for them).  Just couldn't put away enough.  They were flying well at the end of December but went bankrupt between then and now.  Hope it isn't an omen of things to come for the US of A.

[Brian D. Bray]

Did you have them in only 1 nuc box?
Often one nuc box isn't sufficient, I've overwintered a small cluster of Russians and Carnies in 2 medium nucs with totally drawn comb, including some burr comb and only silver dollar sized brood areas on 2 frames in late October.

Were all the frames fully drawn out and filled with stores?
Every frame should be drawn out and backfilled to the point that the bees begin building burr comb. If necessary, feed into November to insure sufficient stores.

Was the queen still producing brood into October? 
The bees that will survive, come spring, will be those bees hatched after mid-September and mostly October.  It's kind of an October bees work April flowers sort of thing. 

What was the size of the cluster and did it match the size of the hive?
A hive can lose up to 50% of its bees to old age during the winter, bees hatched prior to mid-September.  In a nuc the cluster is only going to be about the size of an Ugly fruit or large Grapefruit.  In spring it will be about the size of a baseball.  In a 2 brood box 10 frame hive the cluster will range between a basketball to soccer ball in size  going into winter and 1/2 to 2/3 that size in spring.
The cluster size to hive space is an important factor in determining whether a hive will successfully overwinter.  Too big of cluster for the size of the hive space means it will run short of stores and more needs to be added, in which case a super at a time is a good rule.

I've over hives successfully in 2 high medium nucs but all of the above considerations were checked off. 
Then too, the race of bee can make a difference.  Where Italians, Buckfast, and Minnesota Hygenics might starve of insufficient stores OWC, NWC, and Russians will do fine.  The later 3 go into winter with smaller clusters and consume less stores as well as are more apt to collect pollen during cleansing flights in mid-winter.

[shawnwri]

thanks for the input.  They were a swarm big enough to fill a 5 frame deep nuc and then gave them another deep on top that had some honey and pollen.  Not filled.  They just weren't able to fill it up.  We had a drought last year and then some warm weather in December and -10 degrees in January.  Will try again.

[my-smokepole]

Shawnwri don't feel bad  I lost both of mine and family lost all of his.
David/toledo

[Brian D. Bray]

thanks for the input.  They were a swarm big enough to fill a 5 frame deep nuc and then gave them another deep on top that had some honey and pollen.  Not filled.   They just weren't able to fill it up.  We had a drought last year and then some warm weather in December and -10 degrees in January.  Will try again.

Making sure that each  hive has enough stores is the responsibility of the beekeeper.  Regardless of what side hive or cluster that is being overwintered to go into it without optimum stores is a recipe for failure.  I force mine to back fill ithe brood chamber on nearly every frame and then when they start building burr comb I check them to make sure.  If the bees can't fill up the hive with stores then they need to be feed to make up the difference. 

I'v had bees drawing comb as late as mid-October when forcing them with feeding.  Consider that each 1/2 frame of stores is 1-2 weeks less stores to overwinter on.  It only takes a couple to doom the hive before winter has actually arrived.

Live and learn from your mistakes.  You'll be a better beekeeper in the future because of it.