On Tue, 8 Apr 2008 14:29:08 -0400, Dave Thompson <[log in to unmask]> wrote:


>The two that threw 100 bees at -12C are deadouts, ~5 cups corpses
>Tests june24(11 hives), jan20, mar15 (snow angels)
>The Mar15 test cost $8, saves having to buy expensive fumidil
>
>Yet another 'embarrassing' symptom
>The feces of ccd bees are extremely stinky
>No wonder the chickadees don't eat the abdomen


a healthy cluster capable of wintering in the north should be able to shed a couple of 1000 bees 
before spring.  100 bees and five cups of dead bees (600 per cuo) was a small cluster (3100 bees) 
to start with if you're planning to over winter in the north. I'd recommend combing 3 hives that 
size in late Oct into one stack for wintering.

we had 4 months of real hard winter this year in central Mn, with 30 nights or more below zero. all 
of my wrappings smell of bee waste. 

80% of my hives made it through with another roughly 10% of dinks that lost bees as usual but 
stlll have a queen. been that way as long as I can recall going back 17 years now.  

one of the most common ways to lose a big chunk of the cluster is when they get a patch of brood 
going in early march and the weather turns real cold. the cluster does not want to leave the brood 
and they become less mobile as a cluster. many starve out until a big break in the temps. not 
much a beek can do about those other then get a northern strain of bee thats used to that kind of 
climate.

IMO snow angels that end in death has more to do with the strain of bee, kind of winter feed and 
the location of the bee yard relative to sun. i find that the Russians lose less for winter cleansing 
flights .  But intense cold snaps that last 2 weeks or more are hard on the bees and they head for 
the door once it warms up especially in the later half of winter.  sometimes all of the bees leaving 
on cleansing fights die due to the circumstances.

i have a yard at home here that faces south on a hillside and warms up fast in feb and march. 
problem is a north breeze comes over the hill top and pushes the bees down onto the snow. 50 
feet away in a lower spot that faces south too i don't get the wind- kill cause of the lay of the 
land.

you need extra bees to get a cluster through the winter. death is part of the cycle of life in 
keeping bees upnorth and some of the workers are expendable.

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