Well as a new bee keeper I figured there would be some loss, but I also expected to find out about it next spring. We purposely started with two hives in case of a loss and good thing we did. I had been noticing on the warmer days there was some activity at only one of the hives. I gave it a while thinking it was just not warm enough. Well it finally got back into the 70’s (go figure in early November) so I popped the top off the hive to find nothing, well almost nothing. The was not a single bee alive or dead, but what there was turned into a full out invasive of hive beetles. They were in every nook and cranny!
While I knew I had hive beetles in both hives, I believed to have them under control. I was fogging the hives every 10 days until the cold started and I had beetle traps in the top boxes. Not really sure if the beetles caused the evacuation or if they just took over after the bees left, the result is the same. After disassembling the hive further I found honey stores in the top box and nothing but empty comb in the bottom box. If anyone has any insight besides the beetle infestation please share in the comments.
So now we baby the remaining hive and hope they are still here in the spring. Specifically we will be adding a candy board in early December to make sure they have enough food and adding a pollen patty in mid to late February to get them though to first bloom.
Feel free to share though s on what happened or your own stories of hive losses.
What a disappointment. Being in the same beginner boat as you, I am clueless about the beetle problem. I worry constantly over our colony and was thrilled one day the other week when the temperatures topped 70 and there was a flurry of active bees coming and going from the hive. Here’s hoping next year is a productive bee year for us both.
I am sad to report that I have now lost the second and only hive. I saw some bees just last week when I placed an extra box of honey from the first hive for more winter feed. But when I checked yesterday, as the weather was warm, there was no activity. There were several dead bees in the bottom of this hive, but based on the numbers not enough to keep warm in our recent cold snap. Not that there is good news, but at least I now know I need to purchase more bees while they are available and for sale. If I hadn’t found out until spring it might be harder to get replacements. I hope your bees are doing well.
I’m sorry to hear that. It’s tough to lose anything, and bees are no exception.
My hive is still doing well. When it’s cold and there’s no activity, I worry. But yesterday was warm and sunny and a lot of bees were out and bringing in dandelion pollen.