Mike Rossander wrote:
> I am a hobbyist with one hive in the backyard.  Yesterday was the first
> warm weekend in northeast Ohio (65 F) so I decided to check on the hive.
> Dead, unfortunately.  A double handful of dead bees at the top center
> (right around the hole in the inner cover).  More bees dead with their
> heads in the empty comb.  From listening on this list, I know that is a
> sign that they starved.  My confusion is that most of the frames are still
> heavy with honey.  Less than a third of the available honey appears to have
> been consumed.
>
> The complication is that I think most of the honey crystallized in the
> comb.

What caused the colony death may be more than just starvation, but I am
only going to address the problem of crystallized honey. I suffered
colony losses in the past because of fall honey. In Maine, it
crystallizes quickly. It is dark honey and has more stuff in it for bees
to void. Another problem was honeydew coming in during the fall which
also kills bees. Bees can re-liquefy crystallized honey, but honey does
not liquefy all at once. There is a progression and you can get
fermentation of the partially liquefied honey which also kills bees.

I follow George Imire's advice and extract at the end of the main summer
flow (clover), super over the inner cover so the bees take down summer
honey into the overwintering brood boxes and fill the supers with fall
honey. I then pull the supers in the fall so my bees have little or no
fall honey. I seldom lost colonies after that. George's system works.
Plus it gives you exceptionally strong colonies in the spring and I get
consistently (about 4 to 5 times) more honey than the State average
which is what I got before shifting to George's way of beekeeping. It
does require two honey harvests, but is worth it. In fact. I sell or
give away most of the summer honey and keep the fall to myself, since it
is the best.

Another option is to feed sugar syrup in the fall, but I found that my
bees were fine and did not need it. Now the only feeding I ever do is
candy in the late winter/early spring (candy is going on today).

Bill Truesdell
Bath, Maine

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