Posted: 1/22/2017 10:37:02 PM EDT
| I got into beekeeping this past spring with two hives and everything was going well until this fall. Its possible that mites hurt my bee numbers. My strong hive became my weak hive and my weak hive stayed steady. Both hives were made up of packages of Italian bees and I didn't requeen either hive. I recently heard from other local beekeepers that it is a good idea to requeen some time during the first summer when you start a new hive. The other day I went to check on my hives after being away for a week and I found that both hives are completely dead. I have already put my name on a list for two Russian queens that I was planning on using to requeen my hive with. I'm now thinking of purchasing two more packages of Italian bees (I can't find any Russian packages from anyone willing to ship or still in stock locally), let them populate the hive and when the Russian queens get here, requeening with them. Anyone have any thoughts or other ideas for what I should do? |
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Quoted:
I got into beekeeping this past spring with two hives and everything was going well until this fall. Its possible that mites hurt my bee numbers. My strong hive became my weak hive and my weak hive stayed steady. Both hives were made up of packages of Italian bees and I didn't requeen either hive. I recently heard from other local beekeepers that it is a good idea to requeen some time during the first summer when you start a new hive. The other day I went to check on my hives after being away for a week and I found that both hives are completely dead. I have already put my name on a list for two Russian queens that I was planning on using to requeen my hive with. I'm now thinking of purchasing two more packages of Italian bees (I can't find any Russian packages from anyone willing to ship or still in stock locally), let them populate the hive and when the Russian queens get here, requeening with them. Anyone have any thoughts or other ideas for what I should do? Sorry to hear that you lost both hives. We do have a long beekeeping thread on the top of this page with a lot of knowledgable Beekeepers that add a lot valuable information. I have a few questions if you don't mind: 1. What treatments/ timing if any did you use for Varroa? 2. Did you Feed them enough during the season? 3. Why are you being told to re-queen first year colonies? 4. Why Russian Queens? |
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My first year too, with two dead hives.
Both came from crappy NUCS that arrived late. Both had a slow start. One queen died within a month and the other flaked 2 weeks after the first. One new queen did great but the other disappeared after 45 days. I didn't replace that queen, since it was already October and there were very few bees. The other queen did well and the hive was growing fast. They put in 12-14 frames of honey and grew the colony in a short period of time. I treated for mites in September, even though the count was low. I wrapped, insulated, and used a moisture board. I fed from the day I got them until November. They still died. I don't think they got the population up high enough to make it through the winter. Better luck to you next year. |
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Quoted:
Sorry to hear that you lost both hives. We do have a long beekeeping thread on the top of this page with a lot of knowledgable Beekeepers that add a lot valuable information. I have a few questions if you don't mind: 1. What treatments/ timing if any did you use for Varroa? 2. Did you Feed them enough during the season? 3. Why are you being told to re-queen first year colonies? 4. Why Russian Queens? 1. I didn't use any 2. I fed them through July and then fed them again in October and November (The hives are currently full of honey/sugar water) 3. The local beekeepers association members say they have seen a higher survival rate when beekeepers requeen new packages 4. Word is that Russian bee species are suppose to be more resistant to mites. |
| I had one hive this year. 15000 maybe...doing great in Summer....slowed down in Fall...concerned. Visited 25 Dec, outside hive looked like Bee warzone...carcasses everywhere. Inside maybe 50 bees and queen. Was told be my bee mentor, it was raided? Gonna start again in Feb |
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Quoted:
1. I didn't use any 2. I fed them through July and then fed them again in October and November (The hives are currently full of honey/sugar water) 3. The local beekeepers association members say they have seen a higher survival rate when beekeepers requeen new packages 4. Word is that Russian bee species are suppose to be more resistant to mites. Quoted:
Quoted:
Sorry to hear that you lost both hives. We do have a long beekeeping thread on the top of this page with a lot of knowledgable Beekeepers that add a lot valuable information. I have a few questions if you don't mind: 1. What treatments/ timing if any did you use for Varroa? 2. Did you Feed them enough during the season? 3. Why are you being told to re-queen first year colonies? 4. Why Russian Queens? 1. I didn't use any 2. I fed them through July and then fed them again in October and November (The hives are currently full of honey/sugar water) 3. The local beekeepers association members say they have seen a higher survival rate when beekeepers requeen new packages 4. Word is that Russian bee species are suppose to be more resistant to mites. In my opinion without seeing the bees or having further information, not treating is probably the underlying cause of their demise. Colonies that have high mite loads are likely to fail as the infected bees usually have other viruses. Requeening packages can make a huge difference depending on your location. Local queens will give you the best chances at overwintering as well as honey production. Russian queens unless they are bred for VSH are not going to handle the mites any different than an Italian or Carniolans. I would also worry about Temperment with Russian queens. Besides, if you have other Beekeepers around you or feral colonies without Russian genetics and your queens are superceeded or they swarm and a new queen is made, it is very likely that the new queen will mate with bees of another race and her brood heritage will then be of a mixed race. |
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First, I would narrow down your concerns. Did you see evidence of veroa mites? Any other pests, like hive beetles or wax worms? Was the sugar water kept fresh? Did you also provide pollen patties for them?
We lost bees three years in a row. Here are my suspicions for my own: First year was the "polar vortex" where it went from 50 to -10 every day. Bees didn't know what to do and died early. Second year, they seemed to do alright until about half-way through winter. I think the boxes were too drafty and they ended up freezing. Third year I poured concrete pads to keep the hives nice and square, with just enough tilt to let water run off hive and away. They did great until February or so. It was getting warm enough for them to start eating and trying to forage, but no pollen and we didn't do a good job of keeping fresh sugar and pollen in the hive. Last year we didn't buy new bees because my relative wanted to try splitting his hive. It didn't take, and then we tried catching some small swarms, which also didn't take. When we order bees, we order a queen too. It's not like the new bees come with their own queen, ready to go. The only reason I see to re-queen is if the current queen isn't laying well, or producing an imbalance of drones to workers. Nothing worse than an unorganized hive. I would just get new bees and queen, make sure the hive is tight (frames pushed together, boxes joining properly) and has good ventilation (small gap in inner cover, also needed in the sugar board for winter). Good luck with next attempt! |