newbie question

[Sonya Huebner]

We are new to bee keeping but what we are seeing today seems rather unusual. We took the top super of honey from the hive on Labor Day weekend and at that time everything appeared good in the hive and they still had one super full of honey. Today when we inspected the hive we noticed mites for the first time on the adult bees and most of the frames in the brood box were empty of any new or capped brood cells. We also inserted fall syrup into the bottom brood box. This afternoon there are bees everywhere where they normally aren't in regards to being by the house. In addition, they are covering about 1/3 of the front of the hive but moving around a lot and not just idly sitting there.

Suggestions as we are fearing the queen may have been lost and they are staging to leave. Thanks for any advice.

[Joseph Bessetti]

If there's no brood in the hive, then you've been queenless for 3 weeks or more. 

Your syrup feeding may also have started a robbing frenzy.  A queenless hive isn't likely to defend against robbers.  

A broodless hive this time of year doesn't have much chance of making it through winter.  If it's also queenless, there's a small chance they could have raised a queen.  If so, it might get mated and lay up some brood yet before winter.   However, unless the hive is really strong it probably doesn't have much chance of making it.  

The most important thing you need to do right now is stop the robbing, as I assume that's what's happening.  First think in the morning I'd screen the entrances to your hive so that no bees can get in or out.  If you see bees pile up at the entrance trying to get in you know you have a robbing problem.

If you can get the robbing to stop you can check for brood in a week or two.  If no brood, I'd salvage any honey that remains in the hive and either extract it or save it to start a package next spring.  

Joe 

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From: mad...@googlegroups.com <mad...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Sonya Huebner <sonya....@gmail.com>
Sent: Sunday, September 25, 2016 6:12 PM
To: madbees
Subject: [madbees] newbie question

 

We are new to bee keeping but what we are seeing today seems rather unusual. We took the top super of honey from the hive on Labor Day weekend and at that time everything appeared good in the hive and they still had one super full of honey. Today when we inspected the hive we noticed mites for the first time on the adult bees and most of the frames in the brood box were empty of any new or capped brood cells. We also inserted fall syrup into the bottom brood box. This afternoon there are bees everywhere where they normally aren't in regards to being by the house. In addition, they are covering about 1/3 of the front of the hive but moving around a lot and not just idly sitting there.

Suggestions as we are fearing the queen may have been lost and they are staging to leave. Thanks for any advice.

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[Sonya Huebner]

Thank you for your reply. I went out right now to block all of the entrances (easier to do at night when the bees are all tucked inside). We will watch to see what occurs tomorrow and then check the brood in a week or two. Again, thank you for your assistance.

[Paul Zelenski]

Joes advice is likely the case, but there is a possibility of a less dire analysis. It could be that your queen shut down due to dearth and/or high mites. Feeding and a mite treatment might get her laying again ... maybe.

Also, was there fighting on your hive? Dead bees? Robbing is pretty easy to spot once you've seen it, but before you have, it is easy to mistake other activity as robbing. I know I panicked unnecessarily in my early years. If your hive is queenless and being fed, it is likely to start robbing. But, feeding a hive while it is still warm like this can also often cause quite a lot of activity at the entrances. I think the bees sense there is a "flow" on and the foragers get all excited and fly out of the hive. I've even seen bees fly out the lower entrances to enter their own hives through the top entrances to go to the feeder. The bees cannot waggle dance to indicate very close locations and a "flow" within the hive can sometimes confuse them and cause activity that is not worrisome in any way. Keeping the entrances closed with screen until morning should help clear it up. If there are a bunch of bees trying to get in, it is robbing. If there aren't bees outside the hive, it is likely innocent activity. 

[Walt]

 You said you inserted fall syrup into the bottom brood box. Was that the brood box directly above the bottom board? What kind of syrup feeder did you use?