In message <000d01c55504$2746aae0$23bc59d8@BusyBeeAcres>, Bob Harrison
<[log in to unmask]> writes
>Also having met Gerald on several occassions I doubt his bees starved but I
>have seen as Murray said bees go outside to die in spring when a hive runs
>out of stores but NEVER in my hives this time of year in Missouri as I am
>working , feeding, requeening, evaluating and spliting. Also some Black
>Locust supers go on this week.

Sorry if it seemed patronising Bob and Gerald, but it was not meant to
be. The symptoms as described just jumped out at me and said
'starvation' above all other causes. I agree it would be an unusual
situation, but here we were talking about a swarm without the residual
reserves or ongoing feeding that would be the case in normally operated
overwintered colonies.

In his very fair reply Gerald actually said he had not considered
starvation a possibility, and had not thought about feeding. Among your
list of current tasks Bob, as written above, is feeding.

So we have a vulnerable colony (more so after hearing it hung around for
a few days in bad weather) going into a box with relatively few stores.
It could already have been on a knife edge for survival. I there was a
flow on it should have been able to fend for itself, and the half frame
of stores would have probably seen it through 48 hours or so to allow it
to get fresh supplies in. So, was there indeed a flow on, or is it still
to come (Bob would, I suspect, be unlikely to be a week or two late in
supering). But there is also the chance it was already getting into a
pretty low state before it was hived.

Of course, the pesticide theory is still also valid.

However, the most likely cause of a colony death at all times remains
the most obvious one in whatever circumstances prevail.

>My days are 12 -14 hours right now. Help is on 8 hours. Hardly seems fair!
>
Tell me about it Bob!

Same here, but fortunately I have some E.European staff again this year,
and they are difficult to keep in work. They do SO much in the time they
have it amazes me, and telling them to knock off for the night is like
an insult to them. One of them, the chargehand and a really good bee
handler from Lithuania, thinks it a very lean week if he does not get 80
hours. The local guys don't want to know about long hours and 3 am
starts, and absenteeism is a big issue, usually instigated by laziness
or demands from wife/girlfriend. They just don't turn up and you are
left with half a squad. You can sack them, but you cant get replacements
because unemployment round here is only about 3%, and most of those are
the ones no-one wants anyway. So tapping into the pool of available
beekeepers and summer students from Poland, Lithuania, and Ukraine has
been  a tremendous bonus. Would like to man 100% with those in the not
too distant future.
--
Murray McGregor

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