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Winter Losses outside the UK
...Gavin, I'm opening a new thread here as I need to refer to some of the posts in Winter Losses
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Stromnessbees
The question I replied to was whether German beekeepers had big losses over the winter.
The answer, taken directly from the beekeepers' mouth, is that there are some massive losses, with beginners as well as with very experienced people.
They treat for varroa, they know how to feed bees for the winter, but they can't keep them alive anymore.
Many are at their wits end and consider giving up.
A friend of mine in Austria lost all his 10 colonies, it happened in late autumn, I inspected the beehouse with him at Christmas. :(
I just downloaded all my pictures from my mobile and there's one half decent one that I took of the bees that died in my friend's beehouse.
I also have pictues of the beehouse, but on my old computer, will dig them up sometime.
Attachment 985
I took this picture on the 5th of January.
The dead queen is at the top of the little cluster, she's got a white plastic marker with a number on it as it was a purebred native queen.
The bees were obviously close to their stores, but there were hardly any bees left, this was the sad remnant of a thriving colony.
They had died around October, but the beekeeper had not cleared them out as he wanted to investigate the reason.
It looks more or less like CCD, not many dead bees were in or outside the hive, and plenty of stores left.