I have written much already on Feeding Bees but I just wanted to let you know that Vita (blog sponsor) have launched two new bee feeds onto the market (and is now available in retailers in the UK and other countries):
VitaFeed Patty: Pollen-rich feed that is best used in autumn to create strong winter bees
VitaFeed Power: A liquid nutritional supplement packed with essential amino acids and best used in spring to promote colony growth and when producing splits, packages and nucs
These feeds complement their existing feeds:
VitaFeed Nutri: Protein-rich feed that can be used at any time of the year to create strong winter bees
VitaFeed Gold: Best for colonies that have been weakened by dysentery or related conditions.
Vita state that rigorous trials in different countries have shown the positive effects of using VitaFeed Patty and VitaFeed Power. Studies show that bees increase their pollen consumption by 50% when the percentage of protein in the pollen drops from 30% to 20%. When protein content drops, bees turn to their own body reserves. This in turn reduces their lifespan, their brood-rearing capability and therefore the development of the colony. VitaFeed compensates for protein deficiencies. Studies have shown that use of VitaFeed in spring results in an average of two additional frames of brood per colony, compared with control colonies fed only with sugar.
More Information
Images below click through to the Vita site and provide a full image:
Post-mortem: An examination of a corpse in order to determine cause of death.
I need your help with the determination. There are comments and photos below and a video at the end.
Me Inspecting Dead Bees
Was It A Weak Colony Going Into Winter?
No. This hive had 11 frames of bees in September and there were live bees in the hive over Christmas. That said, there only appeared to be about 500 dead bees in the hive (see photo above). Had the others absconded or died over the winter and been removed from hive by the live bees?
Was It Starvation?
I don’t think so. The frames were heavy with stores and I don’t think the bees could have been isolated. A few bees had died head first in the comb – but very few.
14×12 Frame Of StoresSugar Stored In CombPollen In Frame. Is that white pollen on the left or sugar stores?
Was It Disease?
I don’t think so. There is mould in the frames (see photo below) but no chalk dummies. There was no foul smell.
Mouldy Frame – But Not Chalk DummiesFrame With Pollen (& Sugar Stores?) On Left; Mouldy In Centre
Was It Varroa?
Maybe. Despite a (low/middle) varroa count of 130 in mid-July (I counted 30 mites over 9 days in July and put this into the NBU calculator which estimated I had 130 mites), followed by Apiguard in August and Oxalic acid in December, there did appear to be lots of varroa on the frames and on the bees. See photo below – I count over 20 mites in a small area. Did this contribute to some sort of colony collapse?
Varroa Mites On Frame
Did the Queen Stop Laying?
Maybe though I saw capped brood and dead bees about to emerge out of cells (see photo below). Cappings are a bit ragged which I think might mean varroa.
Dead bees emerging from cellsDead bees emerging from cells (2)
Did They Get Too Cold?
Maybe. The location is quite exposed. I have not put insulation under the roof of this hive. The entrance points into a prevailing wind (but it has narrow entrance plus mouseguard).
Was It The Move?
I moved them 100m over Christmas. Perhaps some of the bees returned to their old hive location?
Conclusion
A lot of maybes and no certainties. Frustrating. Such is the life of a beekeeper.
On a positive note, I feel like I have done as much as I could for this colony. It seemed to be strong (and aggressive). Hence, I’m not as upset as when I feel like it has been my fault. Overall, I’m sorry for the bees that have gone through this experience and disappointed as it means less bees and honey this summer.
Video Of The Inspection
Hmmmm. Not sure if I should expose myself as such a novice? I struggle to just get the frames out. And I seem to be wearing a bee suit when there are no bees. Apologies for the out of focus shots of the comb.
And if you want more information, I have my notes for the last 12 months on this hive: Hive Five Record Card.
Over To You
Grateful for your thoughts on why this colony died?
What should I do with the frames that are mouldy in the hive? Leave them and let next bees clean it up? Or cut out the mould?
On some of the photos above, is it white pollen or sugar stores?
Bee Hygiene (how-to guide to help reduce colony losses)
Post-Script
Based on comments to-date and my experience of this colony, I am minded to think that the main issue was the high varroa count and that insulation and the move whilst not helpful were not the prime causes.
Lessons learnt: I’ll apply Apiguard correctly next time. I didn’t seal the hives as per the instructions to get the best efficacy.
Next steps:
Freeze and reuse the frames (getting rid of the dark comb frames)
Apply MAQS strips to the other hives when it gets to 10C and 6 frames of bees (I’m worried about the other colonies now)
Insulate the roofs and get solid crown boards to reduce drafts in winter
Perhaps insulate the walls further for the hives that are more exposed
Greedy bees. I take an early harvest (4 August), I leave them all their uncapped stores and let them clean up the cappings to see them though the winter and it turns out they’ve gobbled the lot by early September!
Perhaps there’s not much forage around, maybe the colonies are still getting established or maybe they are just like their keeper – greedy!
Time for me to get on my apron and get in the kitchen. The last time I fed the bees my sugar syrup using 2L bottles and an English feeder, I had to make many trips and had bees flying everywhere and getting into my mixture (bottles take a while to pour and English feeders are small). It was like the great British Shake Off and it took me hours.
This time I was determined to deliver a more efficient and civilised culinary delight.
Step 1: Mix sugar and water in 30lb honey buckets
Honey Buckets With Sugar Syrup
I used warmed water to speed up dissolving – but I’m sure cold water would do the job. I’m mixing 5Kg of sugar with 3L of water to avoid overloading. Read Feeding Bees for more information on this process.
Step 2: Use Jumbo Rapid Feeders
… and transport this and syrup in garden cart. Place these feeders above the brood box with a queen excluder below the feeder. Crown boards should be removed.
Jumbo Feeder
Jumbo feeders are great:
Less than £25 – relatively cheaper than similarly sized alternatives
Covers whole surface of hive – so bees can’t fly at you or get into the syrup
Holds 16L (3.5 gallons) – so you could probably feed the bees in one go
And that’s it. “Proper Pukka”!
The bees have taken at least 10Kg of sugar in the last few days.
Read More
Last year’s experience of not feeding bees early enough: Starving Bees
Yes, for people like my wife, grieving for bees may seem a little overdramatic and when I’m forced to watch another episode of ‘One Born Every Minute’ by the missus, I can appreciate that it is. Still logic doesn’t account for emotions, and my marital comeback is that ‘it’s my hive and I can cry if I want to.’
The death of a hive is not even a subject I can expect much matey compassion for down the pub (well not before five pints when even the chip shop being closed can seem slightly heartbreaking). Nobody seems to understand that I have been going through a grieving process but let me explain…
Hopson B & Adams J (1976) Transition – Understanding and managing personal change
Please refer to the dotted (b) line on the graph above as the (a) line is for positive events which this most certainly wasn’t.
My Grief Cycle
Day 1. 6pm.Distress – Gut wrenching moment when I realised there was no bee activity. Compounded when I opened the hive and found dead bees. Thousands and thousands of dead bees burrowing into their comb looking for food that wasn’t there and starving to death. It turns out a mass insect grave is pretty horrific to look at. (See: Starving Bees)
I went back home, barely mentioned my heartbreaking discovery and went on as usual. Perhaps opening that bottle of Sloe Gin barely five minutes after taking off my bee suit might have been a hint something was up.
Day 1. 6.30pm. Disbelief – I couldn’t believe it. I thought the bees were tougher than this. I proceeded to do a good Victor Meldrew impression – i.e. “I don’t believe it”.
Day 1. 6.45pm. Denial – I needed to feel that the colony could live on. I made up some sugar syrup and went back out to feed their dying bodies. It was like armageddon in there but I didn’t feel at all like Ben Affleck.
Day 1. 7.00pm. Guilt – I was responsible for these bees and I obviously couldn’t be trusted. This was the worst feeling to handle especially as I couldn’t share it with anyone – least of all my wife who was wanting me to look after our daughter the next morning. I still had to maintain that illusion of competent carer…
Day 1. 7.05pm. Loss of confidence – My improving self-image / esteem as a beekeeper was at an all time low. Just as I had started to think that yes, one day, I too will be mingling confidently with those bearded old pros at the associations, it was now clear that would never happen. I would have to give back my ‘Brilliant Bee Keeper’ badge which I say my wife made me (but I so obviously helped with).
Day 1. 7.10pm. Anger – I was angry with myself. I had no one else to blame but myself. This was worse than when I rolled my parents car two weeks after passing my test and was consequently car-less for the rest of my teenage years. (Though I do have to admit, the loss of a hive probably doesn’t stunt my middle-aged sex appeal quite as much as the loss of wheels did).
Day 2. Bargaining – Just as I was about to take the hive apart, I found the Queen alive. I felt I could do something. I fed them again. Maybe I could be Ben Affleck after all…
Days 1-5. Chaos – Yes I had about as much success as Tony Blair being the Middle East Peace Envoy. After I fed them they were robbed, fights broke out, wasps had a go, there was carnage. I then decided to block the hive up. I then unblocked it a few days later. I did everything I could think of.
Days 3-5. Resignation – I began to accept the probability of this colony not surviving.
Day 6. Depression – There was nothing else to be done, this colony was not going to survive.
Day 9. Acceptance – I took the hive apart. I was now a beekeeper with just one hive. It is unlikely I will be making 50 jars of honey next year. My local monopoly on all things honey-related will have to wait.
Day 10+ Partical recovery so far, rather than a new confidence. I am now able to write about it at least.
I am starting to think about lessons learnt. Ironically, one may be that despite my aim to be as natural a beekeeper as possible, in this case more human intervention was needed. Those bees needed to be fed earlier.
Beekeepers Anonymous
I feel like there is a need for a beekeepers support group which can help us deal with our grief and help us on the beekeeping journey. I have created a page called Beekeepers Anonymous for this purpose. I’m happy to be the first to stand and say ‘Hello, I am Roger and I miss my bees’. Let me know how you guys have handled any loss of your own (and make me feel a bit more sure that I’m not alone!).
Day Three of finding starving and dead bees and I am still gutted.
In my angst, I poured too much sugar syrup over the starving bees in Hive One and the result yesterday was a frenzy of other honey bees (perhaps mine) robbing this hive. It made me feel even worse.
I set out yesterday evening with the plan to dismantle the hive and throw any live bees in the grass so that they might enter Hive Two, but as I was doing a final check, I saw the marked Queen … and she was alive. There is less than a cupful of bees to look after her, so 99% this colony is doomed, but in a last ditch attempt to save her and the remaining bees I decided to try and create a “nuc”.
I started trying to pull out all the dead bees out of the comb with tweezers but it was taking too long. So I shuffled the frames to give the bees there best chance. I also moved the one dummy board to help keep them warm.
I fed them this evening and blocked up the entrance for the next 24 hours to prevent any further robbing.
The weather forecast for next week looks good but I will be surprised if this colony lasts long.
Has anyone else nursed such a small nuc of bees with no eggs or larvae, so late in the year, through the Autumn and Winter? I would love to hear from you.
23/09/31 update: There were no bees in the feeder last night. Today the hive was being robbed again. The feeder was full of robber bees this evening. I have blocked them all in for three days to prevent robbing and perhaps the robber bees will make it home?
Further Reading
Starving Bees – Where I find that Hive One has been starving
We use cookies on our website. You are free to manage this via your browser setting at any time.AcceptRejectRead More
Site Policy
Privacy Overview
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
