Here is a post from Mark Huerta in response to a colony suddenly shrinking . As he says, it is really hard to diagnose a collapse without looking at it. But this man does a darn good job. You can glean loads of bee knowledge by reading between the lines. And paying attention to a few simple rules.
I just lost one of my colonies. It was good sized swarm I caught a month ago who definitely had a queen. I checked them last Sunday and found that they had grown very small. Maybe 100 bees? I was not able to locate the queen but I saw eggs. Then today I noticed they had no traffic. I looked and found abandoned brood that had hatched and was struggling to emerge, some had already died and some eggs. No pollen or nectar and maybe 2 adult bees. There was some wax moth larvae on the bottom board and a tiny bit of webbing starting. Anyone know what this could have been?
Mark A. Huerta Sr.
Posted 10/18/12 8:35 AM
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user 10880980
El Cajon, CA
Post #: 167
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El Cajon, CA
Post #: 167
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Hello Barbara,
Sorry to read that your hive is in trouble.
It does sound like your bees ran into some poison. Anytime you have a quick die off, that’s usually the culprit. The ants are taking advantage of the weakened hive. That they still had some honey left rules out starvation though robbing from other hives can wipe out weaker hives and you will sometimes find lots of dead bees from the hive trying to fight off the robbers.
It does sound like your bees ran into some poison. Anytime you have a quick die off, that’s usually the culprit. The ants are taking advantage of the weakened hive. That they still had some honey left rules out starvation though robbing from other hives can wipe out weaker hives and you will sometimes find lots of dead bees from the hive trying to fight off the robbers.
You didn’t mention how large the hive had grown? How many complete top bar combs (the comb is built all the way across the top bar from the sides and all the way down to close to the bottom board) they had built and how many are left with bees still covering them? If you have the equivalent of 2 full combs covered with bees you may still be able to save them. If there are less than that then they will probably not be able to make it through the winter.
If you do have that many bees left then you need to double check to make sure you did lose your queen before you order one. The queens will often stop laying when the hive is under stress.
There is a list of queen breeders under “Helpful Beekeeping Websites Links” folder. They are all good producers that members have used in the past though they may be out of queens this late in the season.
I would put the hive up on a stand if it isn’t already and apply some Vaseline around the legs. You want to keep the ants out or they will finish the job of killing the hive. Clean out all the dead bees and reduce the entrance to allow only 1 or 2 bees at a time to enter. You will have to feed them to help them build up (you can use 50% sugar water mix) and you will have to keep a very close eye on them.
There is a list of queen breeders under “Helpful Beekeeping Websites Links” folder. They are all good producers that members have used in the past though they may be out of queens this late in the season.
I would put the hive up on a stand if it isn’t already and apply some Vaseline around the legs. You want to keep the ants out or they will finish the job of killing the hive. Clean out all the dead bees and reduce the entrance to allow only 1 or 2 bees at a time to enter. You will have to feed them to help them build up (you can use 50% sugar water mix) and you will have to keep a very close eye on them.
Good Luck,
Mark Huerta Sr.