This thread would have some very nice pictures in it but it seems I need a higher post count to do that. Anyone interested, look up MrILoveTheAnts on Photobucket, click Bees and you should find them all.
Mod edit - added a few pictures at the end and a link to all picturesLast April I did a split on my main hive to produce a second. They started out with 3 frames of full cells and maybe 4,000 bees. These quickly died out but a new queen was produced. Wax Moths did get in at one point but I was quick to find them and rid their larva from the hive. For a while this hive wasn't doing good at all but after 4 weeks their population exploded. Over the summer they even expanded to 6 frames (of 10), I thought they were going to survive the winter easily, there certainly seemed to be enough bees. All the while they only had a Nuc to live in, no supers or any other boxes were added nor did I take any honey from them. This morning, however, I opened the hive and found all the bees huddled together and dead.
All the usual suspects were there as well but certainly not enough of them, I think, to kill the hive off. I found no honey or brood. A few cells had pollen in them but they were away from the bees. I found all of the bees huddled in a cluster that was half of what I expected them to form, and many were inside the cells. (I still can't get them out.)
Annoyed, I started cleaning up the hive and looking for the queen. The frames were covered in dead bees all hooked together. I later found the queen in pile down below, I don't think she fell there when I was examining the frames.
During my search I found the remains of a queen cell. Non of the previous queen cells from April were around anymore so I'm guessing she died sometime around December and the workers thought to replace her somehow. The rest of the hive starved or froze to death shortly after.
Does this theory sound right?
Also should I do anything with the dead bees?
I would like to attempt a split again, does anyone have any suggestions? Is there anything wrong with doing a split in late March or early April? I ask because I'm doing a video project and the class ends on the first week of May. I would like to have a new queen bee as part of the content if I could.
All Pictures ->
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v735/mrilovetheants/Bees/