>I want to hear your opinions concerning the symptoms.
>>3* No robbing, even though there has been a few warm days lately.

I inspected, and rearranged to a small extent, some of my hives a couple of weeks ago and ended up with a few extra frames that were partly filled with [capped and uncapped] honey.

I put 5 of these frames in a nuc in a sunny location not far from the other hives hoping that they would rob the honey out.  Our highs have been in the 50's at best and the bees have been flying and coming back with good pollen but only a few bees ventured into the nuc. 

My theory is that hives still well provisioned from last fall are less desparate to rob and they may want/need pollen more than honey.  Also, despite the somewhat warm daytime weather, the beeless frames are cold from the cold nights and emit less smell than in the summer time.  It takes time to warm up these heatsinks.

I believe these frames will be robbed out within a day once we get a nice, sunny day and temps in the 60-70 F range.

I did not lose colonies this winter again although a couple of old queens in spare nucs I was using for genetics diversity did not make it.

The bee and brood numbers are very good for this time of the year but I do find a few live bees on the ground in the late, cold afternoons.  I suspect tracheal mites - a friend with a microscope will try to open up some trachea and have a look.

Any thoughts on this or how to better make a positive determination as to the cause?  

>>Mice will naturally choose the hives having bees in them, for a 
proper diet.  A mouse would not want to be without a fresh diet of bees.

Could the live hives also provide slightly more heat for the mice?

Waldemar

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