Emse. The only hope for a colony like this is a small insulated box. If it covers just two frames, put them in a 5 frame nuc with the other 3 taken up by an insulated dummy board. It could be a poor queen like you say or also nosema. Spring dwindle is very much associated with nosema.
It is always puzzling to see the yo-yoing at this time of year. Many develop in the pattern you'd expect from early spring strength, some don't. Could be Nosema, could be a poor queen, could be a virus, maybe other possibilities too. If you want a Nosema check (a sample of bees or faeces spots scraped into a folded piece of paper) and don't have a microscope to hand, let me know.
Is it a winter loss? Well, it isn't dead yet! When I helped with an official SBA survey we set the cut-off date at 1 May. I know that people were asked too early this year about their losses in an SBA-associated survey. But a loss is a loss. This year a lot of our losses in the E will come from poor queens from the awful weather right through the mating season last year, and the poor state of many colonies going into the winter.
Hi Jon, there is less than a cup ful of bees in the hive now and that is being optimistic on the basis that some may have been out forraging. There were no eggs in the colony, Im hoping that by removing the frame with the brood may encourage the queen to begin laying (but am not optimistic about it.)
We've had a few colony losses this spring here in the West due to poorly mated queens too due to the constant rain in may and june.
One of my objectives this year is to carry out a sample check for Nosema and learn how to check for acharine too (not that we have an issue locally with it) I know the theory, but learning to do it in practise is different. I'll let you know how I get on. I am just waiting to be questioned about what it is that im puttin in the freezer
If it is a cupful of bees, shake them into an apidea. Only chance you have of saving the queen.
contaminated maize and winter bee rearing
I had a lengthy discussion this mornig with some German beekeepers. We were wondering if the difference lies in the different flowering times of maize and oilseed rape:Originally Posted by gavin
At the time oilsseed rape is in flower there are in general plenty of other pollen sources available which are not contaminated by the systemic pesticides. The bees reared at this time are summer bees which are not expected to live very long, the turnover in the colonies is high.
At the time when maize is flowering there are usually very few alternative pollen sources available and the bees are forced to rear the brood on the contaminated maize pollen. The bees reared now are the winter bees which are meant to be very long lived and they need extra fat reserves in their body.
The consequences:
These compromised winter bees will suffer a shortened lifespan and decreased immunity. Also, as the systemic pesticides are neurotoxins, the bees' ability to detect varroa could be diminished, in which case fewer mites will be removed, allowing a massive build-up in the colony as we have seen in so many cases.
Those colonies that manage to shake off varroa can make it through to spring, but succumb to nosema due to suppressed immune system or their bee numbers dwindle away due to the shortened lifespan. (Marie Celeste syndrome)
The reason why some colonies are less affected than others could lie in their foraging preferences: some might fly out of their way to collect uncontaminated pollen.
Or it could be due to timing: some colonies might produce their winter bees earlier or later than the maize flowering time and so avoid the heaviest pesticide loads.
Last edited by Stromnessbees; 30-04-2012 at 02:56 PM.
Some of my colonies have taken mostly OSR pollen and very little else for weeks, and yet thrived on it. A couple are now focussing mainly on it, despite the distance they have to fly this year. They seem to like the stuff, maybe because it is quite high in protein.
It has been said (a French researcher?) that pollen may be more dangerous. One reason could be that foragers are repelled by high levels of neonicotinoids in nectar but perhaps not in pollen, and another might be that they may metabolise the insecticides in nectar. Certainly detections in honey are very rare but are less rare in pollen and bee bread samples.
Yes, they are neurotoxins just as most insecticides are. But they are well tested and don't affect bees at the levels they are exposed to normally, and the bees can and do metabolise it they so any effects are short-lived.
I'm surprised to hear that colonies raise their winter bees on maize pollen. Isn't that reason enough for poor winter survival? Maize is simply poor food for young bees, there is no need to invoke pesticides as a cause. My apiary has little useful forage in August onwards. Colonies that had the trip to the hills always winter much better presumably because they raised a generation of well-fed winter bees and possibly because of the protein in the honey itself.
No, maize pollen per se is fine:
I remember my Austrian bees taking in lots of it every season as there was a field of it right next to our garden.
That was 20 years ago, pre neonics, and I never had winter losses despite having varroa already.
- That is except for one small colony that I lost due to stupidity.
So please don't blame it on low quality.
It is better than none at all but it is low quality at around 15% protein. Some pollens are over 50% protein.No, maize pollen per se is fine:
Winter bees are not raised on maize pollen. Maize produces pollen late July or early august and there is an abundance of other pollens available at those times.
Bees which have a single source of pollen do not do as well as bees which can forage on multiple forage sources and that is nothing to do with pesticides.
Doris you are determined to blame pesticides for bee problems at asll costs irrespective of easily available evidence. Bad science. Wooly thinking.
Would be interested in just the tiniest shred of evidence for that statement.Also, as the systemic pesticides are neurotoxins, the bees' ability to detect varroa could be diminished, in which case fewer mites will be removed
Putting whole this pesticide, herbicide discussion aside.
I remember when I was little eating tomatoes straight from vine full of taste, smell. I remember my mother getting rid of weeds by hand from strawberries and me and my brother picking up them and eating without washing.
I have no allergies, no stomach upsets etc. I have few grey cells left in my brain too.
Do You honestly think that all this Wholesale/Monoculture/Pesticide controlled food is better or at least equal to chemistry free grown food? Even if it has the same protein level, the same "nutritional" values - nobody will convince me about taste values. Or maybe I love food too much
And if I like it better I bet my bees will like it better too.
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Ah, yes! Many of my tomatoes (greenhouse grown - they can't take the lively breezes here!) never make it as far as the kitchen. There's the morning watering, then the evening watering and the daytime hoeing or hand-weeding, both of which seem to require a tomato or two to keep me going ... and maybe the odd strawberry or pea straight from the pod ...
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