What happened to our hive?

9 years ago

We are new beekeepers, starting two hives from two colonies we purchased this spring. We have a bit of a murder mystery on our hands and wondering if anyone here can solve it.

Both hives did well up until about mid-summer, when we started to notice one hive weaker than the other. In September we started noticing dead bees around the base of one hive (but not the other). Beekeepers in the area told us it was related to a cold snap and perfectly normal, that the worker bees were kicking out the drones for the winter.

But then we did a thorough inspection in late September and it was obvious the whole hive was dying. There was no brood in the bottom chamber, which can only mean the queen was gone. The other hive continues to be very active, however.

My question is 1) was there anything we could have done to prevent this loss? and 2) I thought bees were supposed to raise up new queens on their own if they lose her. Whats the deal with that?

We're feeling a bit demoralize here, so thanks for any insights you can offer!

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Comments (5)

Konrad___far_north
9 years ago
How full was the hive at the inspection?
Some dead bees in front is normal,..hive might have swarmed and you didn't know,..when you inspected it with no brood that can me normal also when it swarmed because the new queen needs some time for mating flight etc. before she can lay again, around 2 or 3 weeks. IF..this happened, then you should have a new laying queen, see if bees are hauling in pollen, if so, this is a good sign that you have a laying queen.
It can happen that all fails for them to make a new queen, you as bee keeper can correct this by giving them a frame of newly laid eggs from the other hive,..they'll will make new queen cells from these, but I'm afraid its too late in the season.

Inspected it again and see,..If still no brood but lots of bees you could buy a mated queen, otherwise they would die out over winter without new bees coming, or you can introduce the left over to the other hive with newspaper, or just shake them out.
Konrad___far_north
9 years ago
At the inspection,..see if you had some disease,..American foul brood I'm thinking of, Varroa mites another possibility but should be in a first year summer, you might have to check for mite load.
grovestead
Original Author
9 years ago
The one hive has always been weaker. Even a weaker colony (fewer bees) when we bought it. If it was swarm, it wasn't due to overcrowding. Is it possible to damage "momentum" of hive buildup by adding too much space? We added a third deep about midway through the summer to both hives. That seems to about the time we started to notice a divergence between the hives (one continued to grow stronger, the other slowed down).

There wasn't any evidence of foulbrood when we checked. Just no new eggs. Could have been mites, but don't really know how to determine that.

Thanks for your input.
Konrad___far_north
9 years ago
There are many way's to count mite load, I do it with sticky board.
Go to http://www.beesource.com, lots of info. and help.

Yes, too much room will slow them down, 3 deeps are never used for build up, some only go with one deep but most go with two. You might want to push the weak down to one deep,..have you checked for brood lately? Take a warm day when flying for
a check.
jean001a
9 years ago
New bee keepers are wise to locate a nearby person to serve as a mentor.

Check the phone book to locate a bee supply service and contact the to ask if they know of a local bee keepers association.
If so, attend the meetings to learn and make friends and obtain local bee keeping advice.