I have been following Judy's discussion of her losses of bee colonies.  I
would add the following remarks to her recent discussion:
 
1.  On 11/21 Judy talks about sending bee samples to Beltsville for
examination.  The results came back negative probably because so many of the
bees that may have had HBTM are now dead and the remaining bees may in fact
be clean.  However, the colony cluster size is so small that it can't
possibly exist on its own.  And after the loss of so many bees, the colony
is now demoralized and not likely to survive.  I have noted over the years
that a colony of six combs of bees or less will not winter unless placed
over a large colony.  Eight frames of bees is the absolute minimum that
might make it through the winter in warm climates.  Even with an excellent
queen and a high level of vitality, it will shrink to about four combs of
bees in the spring.  But there are so many factors which influence wintering
success that my seemingly clear 6 and 8 frames statement seems rather
simplistic.
 
We can't say at this point whether HBTM had any impact on your colony
losses.
 
I am presuming that your Apistan treatment in the spring and fall was
adequate to control Varroa, unless, the mites were tolerant of the
fluvalinate.
 
The robbing episode took place because the colony was weak, for one or more
reasons, at the time it happened.
 
I don't recall now how much you may have said about the amount of pollen and
honey stores in the hives since you started them.  When giving this data, I
recommend beekeepers give it in terms of the number of deep Langstroth or
western combs full of either pollen or honey.  This allows us to visualize
what your saw in the hives.  If your area experienced a dry summer and
nectar dearth, the colonies will deteriorate over time.  Not knowing your
experience level, I'm cautious about presuming that all colonies had
adequate nutrition.
 
You stated that the colonies did not appear to have any disease during the
summer.  This indicates to me that you did not observe "disease-like"
symptoms.  So you wouldn't have seen something like European Foulbrood.  Nor
would you have seen its look-alike, recently described as mite syndrome.
 
I wonder about the "weird queen behavior" you observed.  Can you describe
what you observed for the benefit of the members of this list?
 
2.  11/22:  Storing honey supers.  If you put the supers in the freezer for
a week you have probably killed all wax moth life stages.  Yes you can use
Paramoth crystals and still use the brood nests next spring.  Just put them
in a place where they can air out for 24-48 hours before you put bees in
them.  The bees will use the honey without any observable negative impact.
 
If you are storing the supers in a dry cool basement or garage, you may not
need paramoth.  If your basement is warm I'd probably suggest using
paramoth, or moth cakes, because they are pretty cheap and I haven't had any
experience with freezing supers.
 
3.  11/22  You say the small cluster "was away from any brood rearing area."
The brood rearing area is the greater part of the lower two brood chambers.
Your descriptions suggest that the colony had no honey and no queen.  The
following questions arise:  a)  how long had the queens been dead?   b)  how
long had they been out of honey and maybe pollen?   c)  did yellow jackets
or other bees rob out the hives?   The symptoms you describe suggest that
the colonies have not been viable for four to eight weeks or maybe more.
With the current reports of high losses in package bees for the last six
years, and your "weird queen" comment, I suspect one or more of the
following occurred.
 
a)  The original queens in the package disappeared between introduction and
fall,
b)  One or more of the original queens may have been superceded, with more
or less success and quality of offspring,
c)  Sufficient pollen and honey stores may not have been present at any
time,
d)  If you started with foundation in the frames, you may have not fed the
bees for the proper length of time for them to become properly established
as viable colonies,
e)  Pending your description of the "weird queen behavior," I think it
highly likely that the queen stock was inferior.  But it must be said that
if you put a good queen into a poor colony with poor nutrition, she can't
perform as she may have been bred to do.
 
It will not serve any purpose to have the remaining clusters tested.
 
I am awaiting your kind response.
 
James C. Bach
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