Thanks to all that responded, on and off the list, to my post
about my colony. Among the responses were two very kind offers to come
look at the hive, one from Don Rahman in Toledo and one from Ted Fischer
in Dexter, MI. I took up Mr. Fischer's offer since he is relatively
speaking just down the road. Here's the diagnosis.
        My worry about too much space left on the hive for the bees to
warm was, as seen from many posts, unfounded. Bees warm their cluster and
do not warm the rest of the hive.
        What I was, in my inexperience and ignorance, worried was some
kind of decaying brood was in fact crystallized honey (I had never seen
crystallized honey so white - now I know better).
        The entrance reducer on the bottom had a small opening, not big
enough for a mouse but big enough for ventilation. The top super had a
hole (about 3/4 inch) drilled in the front (the bees always use that as an
alternate entrance). The inner cover had the usual semicircle cut out on
one side (which the bees also use as an entrance from time to time). I had
thought that would be adequate ventilation, but I suppose not.
        Here is the real story. When Mr. Fischer and I opened up the hive
on Saturday, we found more activity, more population, than I had seen a
few days earlier. Not a lot of bees mind you, but some. He noticed a
queen, young, small, and as I looked at her, I noticed she was not marked.
My original queen had been. There was a small cluster of brand new eggs
nicely laid in an area in the lower of the two supers.
        Here is the theory. The original queen was superceded very, very
late last season. Not late enough to prevent her from mating however.
Since it was too late for her to start laying, the population dwindled
faster than it might have otherwise. I also think it must have been very
late, because during my last fall visit to the hive, I noticed no signs of
supercedure in the form of cells.
        Anyways, now, coming out of the worst of the winter, the bees are
starting up, the queen has started laying. There was no brood, there were
only a few eggs, and clearly on a couple of days old.
        Since there is a queen who has started laying, and since there
seem to be just enough bees to start a colony (almost as if I had just
bought a package), we decided to remove one of the two deep brood boxes I
had (will save for my new hive since it has lots of pollen and honey),
dump all the bees into the one remaining deep, put on an excluder and then
put the two supers with capped honey on top of that. I will probably lose
the few eggs in the super comb, but it is a very small loss compared to
the benefit of getting the queen laying back in the brood area where all
the pollen is. Another thing done was to shim up the back of the bottom
board to help tilt the hive forward and drain moisture.
        So. All is not as dire as I had thought. The hive is weak but not
diseased. Small new queen, but laying. seems well. The cause of my
problems were likely not disease, but just mediocre ventilation and a
strange bit of timing, where the queen was superceded very late in the
season.
 
        So, several lessons learned here for all you other
hobbyist/beginners. Tilt your hive forward, ventilate better than you
think you should, and whenever possible, get the on-location advice of an
experienced beekeeper, especially one like Mr. Fischer.
        Thanks again.
 
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Alan Pagliere
Ann Arbor, MI 48104-1205
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