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  • Article - The destructor mites the greatest threat to US honeybees, and why things could get worse.

  • Honeybee pests and diseases.
Honeybee pests and diseases.
 #5733  by Patrick
 17 Feb 2020, 12:31
Chrisbarlow wrote:
28 Jan 2020, 17:11
MickBBKA wrote:
28 Jan 2020, 15:44
. Some colonies were having brood breaks in April and I didn't have the experience to understand why. Then it dawned on me there was no pollen in the combs in most of the colonies.

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I can relate to that comment Mick. I also had very little pollen in the colonies in Autumn and it was not until I started reading books, websites and watching videos that I realised the problem.

Another issue is that most people see supplimentary feeding outside of Autumn and above and beyond syrup as pointless but just see it as normal high winter losses because that's what they're used to.
Interesting reminder of this conversation from Richard Noel’s YouTube recent video on significant winter losses he has experienced, he thinks, from pollen dearth in Autumn caused by poor flying weather leading into winter. When we ask “do they have enough stores” we are usually just referring to carbohydrate and leave it at that - well I have anyway.

As I have mentioned before, my worst apiary losses was not in winter but during and following from endless summer Westcountry rain in 2012/ 13. As our weather patterns change, we may need to be thinking about flying weather
more as well as availability maybe.