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  • Overwintering losses

  • General Q&A, Bee chat and only Bee chat please
General Q&A, Bee chat and only Bee chat please
 #5766  by Chrisbarlow
 23 Feb 2020, 11:38
I know it's to early for us but this was a post by Richard Noel on his YouTube channel.

It's a very honest and heartfelt post about his overwintering losses and the reasons he believes they're so high.

https://youtu.be/Ot5cmQO-tdY
 #5770  by Patrick
 23 Feb 2020, 14:48
Yes I thought that was a very characteristically honest video too.

Not sure as hobbyists we are always as good as we can be at diagnosing the cause of losses. This is the ideal place to post pictures of combs if anyone wants help trying to determine reasons for losses. There is no shame in having losses, but being doomed to repeat them is sometimes avoidable. I am always surprised how little attribution to varroa the BBKA losses survey suggests and how often starvation is credited. Sticking my neck out here but in my neck of the woods I think isolation starvation is a more theoretical than actual risk. In other words, if they starve it’s because they just run out rather than can’t find it.
 #5773  by Chrisbarlow
 23 Feb 2020, 16:28
I think the same happens round here. I do believe more starve than people admit to.

If they do die of isolation starvation I suspect varroa will have played a big part in making the colony to small.
 #5774  by NigelP
 23 Feb 2020, 17:00
Patrick wrote:
23 Feb 2020, 14:48
Sticking my neck out here but in my neck of the woods I think isolation starvation is a more theoretical than actual risk. In other words, if they starve it’s because they just run out rather than can’t find it.
It does happen. I lost some several years ago in wooden hives, We had a mild Feb and frames were stuffed with larvae and sealed brood and loads of stores, but the cold March that followed that year they wouldn't move the few inches from the brood to the food.
Nowadays in poly hives it is much less of an issue....In fact the opposite I usually end up removing unused stores in spring to give queen room to lay.
That is not to say I don't get an occasional dead colony, or one where lots of bees die...It happens. I often wonder if coming back Mid Sept from the moors takes it's toll and the winter bees never get get laid in these hives or not in sufficient numbers....
Most puzzling was a hive that was filled with bees in Dec, but by late Feb not a bee was to be found...lots of stores, no brood .no dead bees, nothing under entrance a real Marie Celeste of a hive.
 #5776  by Chrisbarlow
 23 Feb 2020, 19:01
Spike wrote:
23 Feb 2020, 17:52
Where are his apiaries located? Asian hornets?
He's in France
 #5777  by Chrisbarlow
 23 Feb 2020, 19:03
NigelP wrote:
23 Feb 2020, 17:00
. I often wonder if coming back Mid Sept from the moors takes it's toll and the winter bees never get get laid in these hives or not in sufficient numbers....
I can't remember where I've read it but I seem to be under the impression that if bees overwinter on dark honey , it does them no good. This includes Heather. However I cannot back that remark up with any evidence.
 #5778  by Patrick
 23 Feb 2020, 19:46
Spike wrote:
23 Feb 2020, 17:52
Where are his apiaries located? Asian hornets?
Brittany, to be precise. And yes they have Asian Hornets although he reports many fewer last year.
 #5779  by AndrewLD
 23 Feb 2020, 21:56
I must confess that I gave up after 14 minutes because it was getting repetitive but just picking up on the Asian Hornet theme. He had lots of bees and stores so that puts a question mark over it being the AH.
Whilst it is true that the AH nest numbers were down >50% in Brittany this year they were still reporting 2000 - 3000 nests in each department (real figure will be more) and you can still have a very bad time with that level.
One thing he said that caught my attention was that he is using the green entrance guards (Nicot 5.5mm guard) but he doesn't appear to be using any other measures. That is a definite mistake because all the guard does is stop the AH getting into the hive, it doesn't stop the foraging paralysis that puts the queen off-lay and then you get no winter bees on top of a shortage of stores and a general decline in bee numbers. If the AH was a real problem I think he would have known. He is probably right - no pollen and then no chance to get it from the ivy - that's a shame.
 #5780  by AdamD
 24 Feb 2020, 11:12
I recall reading that 'hawking' by asian hornets stops bees from foraging which would tie in with the fact that the nucs which were fed protien and carbohydrates have done OK and the full-sized colonies which were only fed carbs did not do so well as they ran out of pollen.

So, the way to keep bees when the asian hornet arrives in the UK could be to feed them pollen substitute and syrup in autumn?