[oxnatbees] Re: Notes on another dead hive
- From: "Paul Honigmann" <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> (Redacted sender "paul.honigmann" for DMARC)
- To: "oxnatbees@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <oxnatbees@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 15 Mar 2018 17:13:28 -0400
You mentioned that there was a super full of stores above the brood nest.
Were some of the cells in the super uncapped?
I took a couple of photos. No. The honey in the supers was dry, ie no moisture
on thesurface of otherwise pristine honey cells, and thecells are either
completely full or empty - nothing looks uncapped.
I had another thought, maybe dead bees blocked the entrance and the remainder
suffocated. I didn't look at floor level but I could see dead bees in the
entrance from the outside.
‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ Original Message ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐
On 15 March 2018 7:47 PM, Will H <whanrott@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Hi Paul,
Is it normal to leave a super and a Queen Excluder on a National over winter?
Speaking for myself, I tried 'Brood and a half' (National brood + National
super) early on. Then I tried without an excluder but got more problems.
Later I changed to the much deeper commercial brood body so that I wouldn't
have to make that choice.
I just consulted Ted Hooper's "Guide to Bees and Honey" which is a popular
book for intensive bee-keepers. He says:
My recommendation is to aim at 40-45lbs (18.1 - 20.4kg) of stores for a
colony in which the queen does not need more than a Nationl Brood chamber in
summer, and 50-60lbs (22.7 - 27.2kg) for bees whose queen fils a National
brood chamber and super or one of the larger brood chambers"
I take that to mean -- it depends on the colony.
pools of condensation
I saw the liquid on the frame tops in your picture. It looked to me as though
it had the surface tension of a dilute sugar syrup. I suppose that
condensation is greater in an unoccupied hive because the internal
temperature is unregulated by the bees and varies more. The honey is also
hygroscopic and will absorb moisture from the air. You mentioned that there
was a super full of stores above the brood nest. Were some of the cells in
the super uncapped?
very mouldy bees
Nasty. Perhaps they died last year and have been mouldering since.
Will
On 15/03/18 18:56, Paul Honigmann (Redacted sender paul.honigmann for DMARC)
wrote:
Next to my 2 Top Bar Hives on the allotments is a National belonging to
another beekeeper. It was populated by a swarm I gave them, i.e. same bees,
same place, diferent hive types. The National colony is a couple of years
old. It's died while the TBH colonies carry on. (Yes Anne the bees you gave
me are really vigorous.)
I was fully suited up, trying to badger-proof my TBHs with power tools. (In
case you are not aware: bees hate the vibration from e.g. drills, and if the
tools are coloured black & yellow like a hornet you can be sure of a
particularly warm welcome.)
I looked in the National to see if I could find out why they died. First
thing I noticed was pools of condensation on the top bar of frames. Second
thing was lots of honey in the supers on top. Further down I found a queen
excluder and at the bottom of the hive, in the brood box, were the bulk of
the bees.
[Question for National users: is it normal to leave the QE in over winter?
Surely this means the bees cannot get to the stores and warmth at the top of
the hive because they do not want to leave their queen?]
The bees were dead, and mouldy, the mouldiest bees I've ever seen, implying
they'd been dead in damp conditions for some time. They were spread in
clumps over several combs.
Perhaps there was a ventilation problem leading to too much damp, thus
uncontrollable mould. I attach some poor pictures. There was nice honey
above the supers but in the brood box the honey cells' surfaces were slick
with condensate. The hive wasn't leaky, its walls and roof were sound.
Interesting how one hive had this problem while the two next to it, of
different topology yet essentially the same bees, were OK. The two TBHs had
their bases closed for winter though one is bent with age and probably
allowed a reasonable amount of ventilation. The other TBH colony is always a
small cluster over winter and presumably didn't generate as much
condensation from their breath... I suppose ventilation is more a problem
for large colonies.
Paul
Other related posts:
