Well...this isn't good. We had a really warm day two weeks ago and I was surprised the bees weren't flying. I noticed some bees about on a warm January day, so I became concerned. Sure enough, the bees froze out--too much moisture evidenced by mold--and apparently they couldn't get to the honey stores either because many bees were stuck head first in the cells. There was still a lot of honey in the upper hive body. Next year I'll need to make sure the hives are properly ventilated.
The good news is that the new hive is ready for paint, and I found replacement bees for both hives. I ordered Buckfast bees from the R. Weaver Apiary in Texas, and when I discovered the dead bees I ordered Italians from Gardner Apiary in Georgia. R. Weaver had sold out of Buckfast by then.
I'll post pics from the hiving process when I introduce the new bees in May.
4 comments:
Hi,
I just came in from the yard to find that the hive (that had tons of happy bees in early Jan) had only a few live bees in it. I think it was winter kill due to too much moisture - I had unnecessarily worried about them needing food so I put a feeder in and probably did them in. There was some mold and plenty of honey. :(
I wonder how did things go for you when you put new bees in? Did you leave the combs as is?
Thanks!!
Amy (Portland, OR)
Hi,
I just came in from the yard to find that the hive (that had tons of happy bees in early Jan) had only a few live bees in it. I think it was winter kill due to too much moisture - I had unnecessarily worried about them needing food so I put a feeder in and probably did them in. There was some mold and plenty of honey. :(
I wonder how did things go for you when you put new bees in? Did you leave the combs as is?
Thanks!!
Amy (Portland, OR)
Yes, Amy, I bought a package of Buckfast bees. They built up super fast--in fact, they swarmed on July 4--and filled two supers with surplus honey. Not bad.
Oh yeah, I just scraped out the mold and dead bees and the new bees cleaned up the rest.
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