Well, wintering looks to have been good here -- loss is running 10.5% --
our best ever, in spite of our having received a positive on an acarine
test taken on the bees from our honey house window last fall, and no
treatment having been ever used here.
 
However, we did have _one yard_ where we lost 15 out of 24 hives.  This
particular yard produced very well last year and plugged up badly a couple
of times, including once in September when they had only one super (above
the double broods and excluder) during a very intense late flow.
 
The boys report that the upper broods were still plugged on the dead
hives and there is no dead cluster.  The rest of the yard seems pretty
normal.
 
Now I realise that whenever these symptoms appear, everyone says 'mites'
as a reflex, but we have no reason to suspect varroa (we'll be checking
tho')  What I'm wondering is if the queens could have been shut down
enough to prevent raising winter bees and that the colonies might have
died of old age.  I have never seen it before.
 
What I am wondering is specifically this:
 
A few years back, The Peace was hit with a late flow  in September and it
plugged the hives right out, because no one had thought to have any
supers on at that late date.
 
A subsequent poor wintering was blamed on that fact (lack of winter bees),
but I had personally sort of pooh-poohed the idea because September is a
little late for much brood rearing in Alberta .
 
On the other hand, I *have* always claimed that even good hives can be too
heavy for good wintering and that there is an ideal weight range.  I have
had trouble recruiting believers to that latter position however -- with
most commercials saying "Give 'em all they'll take".
 
So now I'm wondering.  Assuming that this isn't a mite thing, what say ye
all?
 
Allen
 
 
W. Allen Dick, Beekeeper                        VE6CFK
Rural Route One   Swalwell   Alberta   Canada  T0M 1Y0
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Virtual Art Gallery: http://www.cuug.ab.ca:8001/~dicka
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