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Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology

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Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology <[log in to unmask]>
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Tue, 22 Jan 2008 02:48:48 GMT
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I've been advising a local nature center on what they need to do to overwinter their single colony.  All was going along well until I got a frantic call this morning that the worker bee population was suddenly down to about 200 insects.  When interviewed, my contact said the syrup - the colony went into the fall very light on stores - on the colony was over a week old [I had advised swapping the syrup bottles every couple of days since the hive is in a heated room] and the bees stopped taking it about 3 days ago when the population started crashing...

No, I don't think it's ccd but possibly excessive HMF in the warm syrup.

Losing 200 worker bees is not the worst thing in the world (although I hate losing any bees!) but the queen is from Purvis Brothers and I was hoping to evaluate her ability to deal with varroa etc. in a small colony...! 

So how do I save this queen at this time of year?

The 200 bees are sitting tight on a small clutch of larvae and eggs but I doubt they will recover their numbers even if I place a light bulb next to the ob hive glass as an additional heat source.  Anybody try it with success?

My best move would be to order a couple of pounds of bees but does anyone know anyone willing to sell and ship 2 lbs of bees to NY now?

My 3rd option is to go into my strongest hive and pull a deep frame with the covering bees and insert it into the ob hive following basic queen protection measures.  The problem is our currently frigid weather.

Which of the 3 options seems to have the highest chances of success in your opinion? [Failure is not an option!]

Waldemar

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