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.

[Eric McArthur]

So stick to cutting out two alternating frames of drone brood then!

Hi Calum
This snow is a bit of a bind - but leaves one to browse rather than do much outdoors, after the obligatory walk with the dog! Read your resignation at the prospect of only having the cutting procedure for drone sacrifice. Any comments on the piece pasted below?

Eric McArthur
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Sacrificial Drone Brood Re-visited
The present accepted wisdom of reducing Varroa infestation levels in honey bee colonies by drone brood sacrifice is extremely wasteful.
At present beekeepers are advised that the bees be encouraged to rear drone brood, which should then be removed by cutting it out at a particular point in time after sealing but before the adult drones emerge, using two or three cycles of drone brood rearing in spring /early summer. This biological method will not, on its own, maintain Varroa populations below the damage threshold in the medium to long term but nonetheless it is an important component of an Integrated Pest Management System (IPMS). The wasteful aspect of the current practice is actually threefold;
1 The bees have to rebuild the brood comb after each cycle of cutting; according to research between 3 – 4 kilograms of honey are required to produce 1 kilogram of wax.
2 The bees have to invest a very large quantity of their precious stores and body tissue to rear this drone brood.
3 Apart from the ‘immediate’ benefit from the removal of numbers of potential bloodsucking parasites, there is no potential, medium to long term, gain for the beekeeper /bee breeder with this crude cutting procedure.
Consider:
1 Over time, a saving in energy and effort by the bees by not requiring to produce more wax could be quite considerable.
2 The reduced loss of precious stores might just be a critical component in colony survival in border line conditions.
3 The potential medium to long term breeding advantages from another equally effective but less wasteful drone sacrifice procedure could be considerable
The object of the drone sacrifice procedure is to remove the mites with the drones, which then die in the comb, thus denying the breeding mites and their offspring their food source.
By combining a couple of already established factors; like bees will cannibalise brood and any residual brood food in the cells in a dire emergency and also the “needle test” used in the study and assessment of hygienic behaviour in a bee colony.
1 Thus instead of cutting the sealed drone comb out - use the ‘needle test’ procedure to kill the drone larvae, However not with a single needle, instead use something with a cluster of ‘needles’; like a hair brush with stiff plastic or wire ‘bristles’, or even a DIY ‘pin’ board.
Shake the bee off the comb to be treated lay it on a flat board – made for the purpose; press the bristles/needles in a coordinated manner deep into the brood cells on each side of the comb, killing the drone brood as in the ‘needle test’.
2 If this procedure is carried out around the 12/15th day after the eggs are laid, at the nymph stage the bees in cannibalising the brood will gain back a proportion of the sterols, such as 24 –methylene cholesterol and others which are necessary for brood development and which the brood receives at the expense of the worker bees body tissue; which can’t be bad.

3 By employing the needle test method the bees are encouraged to remove the dead brood from the comb but on a larger scale than the 100 larvae killed in the traditional needle test for hygienic behaviour.
Thus by simple observation and good management the beekeeper will have increased the security and prosperity of his colonies and moved some way to being able to establish, virtually by default, which colonies possess the highest level of hygienic behaviour. Breeding from such colonies with due consideration for inbreeding can also only be a positive.

[Calum]

Hallo Eric,
you make some interesting points I have to admit. I do not disagree with you altogether...but..

1 Over time, a saving in energy and effort by the bees by not requiring to produce more wax could be quite considerable.
True, but this assumes that the wax is not collected. I view drone brood wax as the best source of clean chemical free wax for foundation. I remove the old (black) brood frames and use that wax for making candles. Drone brood supplies the replacement wax - so this helps me out rather than causing waste.
2 The reduced loss of precious stores might just be a critical component in colony survival in border line conditions.
Yes this could be the case in some areas. If the honey flow stops the drone production stops with it in my little experience. The bees are canny at managing their own recourses. If they were that light I hope I'd notice and feed honey in time.
3 The potential medium to long term breeding advantages from another equally effective but less wasteful drone sacrifice procedure could be considerable
The object of the drone sacrifice procedure is to remove the mites with the drones, which then die in the comb, thus denying the breeding mites and their offspring their food source.
I would prefer not to kill the drones at all, but as far as I have read the varroa mother leaves the drone cell with her daughters when the cell is open. So your proposed method would stop varroa multiplication in drone cells, but would give the caught varroa a second chance. I'd worry about incouraging other diseases like nosema through your method of pearcing that much brood. The idea that it would greatly improve hygenic behavious is very interesting indeed though.

Do you work by this method? Sorry for mistakes - I have a killer hangover.

[Eric McArthur]

Hi Calum
Not yet! The idea came while luxuriating in a hot bath! Not nursing a hangover but I reckon that would be worth a try! Good to have your comments – re the borderline situation mentioned - I was thinking of our unpredictable Scottish weather - late May/early June can be the pits!
I intend to give the ploy a whirl next season – if the bees survive this present mini ice age – getting iffy! I reckon some of the weaker colonies especially those on single brood boxes will have already succumbed.

Regards
Eric

[Calum]

Hi Eric,
sorry to hear you think you may have losses.
I have heard the losses here in November were already extreme in some cases (from 20 hives no survivors). Certainly due to poor vorroa treatments.

In Russia they store the hives in (cold) barns during the winter - but that is -35°C.
Here mine seem quite happy with the -20°C we have been having. They will go at the stores a little quicker, but they have on average +15kg so no worries till March/April.
ttfn
Calum

[Eric McArthur]

Hi Calum

ANY REASON GIVEN FOR SUCH EARLY WINTER LOSSES - PESTICIDES??

ERIC

[Jon]

Hi Calum

ANY REASON GIVEN FOR SUCH EARLY WINTER LOSSES - PESTICIDES??

ERIC

(from 20 hives no survivors). Certainly due to poor vorroa treatments.

Eric. If you tripped in the snow you would blame it on pesticides!!!

[Trog]

Ha ha, Jon!

I'm pleased to report that our (inbred) bees are all still buzzing, despite freezing temperatures to which no Mull bee could reasonably be acclimatised!

[gavin]

Serious question Trog, given that drones can fly many miles, how many colonies do you think make up the local population for your bees, and for how long has that been the approximate number?

G.

[Eric McArthur]

Hi Calum

Interested to know if the colony losses were specific to the Lindau region or Germany wide! Weather here (-)15. I reckon! Hopefully Professor Bienefeld knows about your hardy bees!

Eric