Colony losses

[lindsay s]

First of all most of what I know about beekeeping was taught to me by Hugh Clyde many years ago and since then I’ve plodded along by myself. I have some bee books and also subscribe to a few beekeeping magazines but I must admit the theory and science behind beekeeping are not my strong points. So the following is from my own personnel experience.
My apiary is located on low lying farmland and my hives are semi sheltered from the westerly winds. Fresh water ponds are only 200 metres away. With my apiary so close to Kirkwall my bees benefit from the nearby gardens for most of the year.
Despite Orkney’s northerly location we don’t suffer from prolonged periods of below freezing temperatures in winter because of our maritime climate. The biggest problems facing my bees are damp weather, severe wind chill and the late spring.
All of my hives have black bees but they’re not A.M.M. Until varroa reared its ugly head bees were imported to Orkney from all over the UK. Even as recently as 2002-2003, 80 hives of bees came here from Inverness-shire so I think most of Orkney’s bees are mongrels all though Doris might know otherwise.
In my early years of beekeeping I often lost colonies over the winter for the following reasons, lack of autumn/spring feeding resulting in starvation, not fitting mouseguards or entrance blocks, weak autumn colonies and my laziness and inexperience. I’ve since improved my beekeeping and now have very few winter losses. This year all of my 7 colonies made it through the winter but one had a drone-laying queen so I united it with another hive.
I remove all the honey from my hives at the end of August and start feeding strong sugar syrup until the bees stop taking it. This autumn I’ve used 80 kilos of sugar between 8 hives. Sometimes the bees get a block of candy in January and I’ll start feeding weak syrup at the end of March if the weather is warm enough. I don’t scrimp on the feeding.
I’m happy to over winter 3-year-old queens and the following spring I unite any weak colonies.
I have Smith hives sitting on raised concrete slabs, starting with a shallow hive stand, floor with an entrance block, single brood chamber, crown board with mesh over the feeding holes, empty super and a roof with a few stones on top. There is no insulation above the crown board or inside the brood chamber. This will be my first winter trying out open mesh floors and I hope I don’t wipe out the bees. (See my other posts)
I know of a few let alone beekeepers that don’t bother with much autumn/spring feeding and their bees still survive the winters. (I think their bees survive just to spite them) Maybe our hardy Orcadian bees have life a little bit easier than their varroa infested southern cousins.