Winter Losses outside the UK

[Stromnessbees]

...Gavin, I'm opening a new thread here as I need to refer to some of the posts in Winter Losses

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.


photo0079.jpg
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.

[Jon]

Hi Doris. I have seen a similar result with both nosema and varroa - ie a small cluster with a queen beside stores.
I saw one exactly like this in our association apiary about a month ago.
I once had a double brood box colony dwindle to a couple of frames of bees over a period of three weeks.
It had got to the point of starvation in August and I think the stress triggered the nosema.
The longevity of the bees is compromised and the colony dwindles to a point where the first cold spell just finishes it off.
If a colony has a bad nosema infection, Oxalic acid treatment will hasten its demise.
Nosema Ceranae does not show the characteristic streaking which you see with Nosema apis.
Did your friend send a sample to the lab?

[Trog]

I would test the corpses for acarine. I've a colony that's made it through the winter but is now just a handful of bees; not many crawlers outside the hive as they dwindled, and no corpses inside, suggesting that they died in the field. I went to clear it up last week and discovered they're hanging on, with fresh stores, a small patch of brood and fanning like mad for their queen. They're now in a nuc box and I'll see if they make it. I sent of samples of dead bees from the crown board (so not from another hive) and it was negative for nosema, positive for acarine. As we all know, there's no varroa here, and none found on the dead bees at the lab. No pesticides to blame either as no agribusiness. If I didn't know better, I'd assume that the tiny patch of survivors was CCD.

[Calum]

According to the German Bieneninstituts (bee institute) Mayen the winter losses were not at all dramatic.
Only 4500 beekeepers have responded so far, but they will be starting to collate data soon.

[Jon]

Well I am hoping beyond hope that this thread is not just another pretext of a thread based on the premise that if some colonies have died somewhere in the world, Germany for example, then it must be Neonicotinoid pesticides to blame. Interested to hear that Calum, as up to now it has been presented as a very bad winter in Germany.

Doris, what was your friend's routine for varroa and nosema treatments with timings if you know them. If you leave varroa treatment too late, ie October rather than August, you will have big problems.

[Trog]

I missed the comment about the purebred native queen. I have a not-at-all-scientific feeling that AMM are a bit susceptible to acarine ...

[Calum]

If it was AMM the local carnica would probably have had a good go at robbing them - it was fierce for robbing last autumn.
Jon the winter was fine, nice and cold, just too short.
Autumn went on for too long, most people did their formic teratments in August, bees were still flying and in brood into October multiplying and speading varroa. I wont repost my mite fall photos from the oxalic acid treatment again, the cold weather didn't breed those varmints. + there was a great wood honey crop with a fair amount of melizitrose well into Sept - that crystalised in frames (the bees cannot eat that in the winter). Saw some colonies that starved of frames full of chrystalised food. But that was in my wee corner next to the austrian border. Voralberg next to us have some issues with foulbrood. So all in all not unlike any other year, just like every other year different challanges for the bees. The report from Mayen will be interesting.

As ever the biggest challange the bees have after varroa is probably their beekeeper

[Calum]

Talked to the Fachberater (agriculture ministrys beekeeping advisor) for Bayern yesterday evening. His opinion was the losses last winter were much lower overall, although some heavy losses were experienced by some beekeepers these did not show any kind of grouping (not localized) so far.

[chris]

Calum, just to plug a gap in my enormous ignorance, is there a lot of foraging from trees, and particularly firs in the region?

[Calum]

Yes in my area the is plenty of mixed woods (as is common throughout S.Germany), so in the right conditions they collect alot of aphid excretions /'woodland honey'.
The most expensive honey in Germany is 'wood' honey (Exluding imported stuff like Manuka).