Howard Kogan describes a hive with a very small cluster and asks what is
going on.

I find several of these every year (out of approximately 200 hives).  I
always place the blame on trachael mites.  Starvation is out of the question
as there are plenty of stores, including those near the cluster.  If  the
hive were dead I'd blame Varroa, but it is not dead.  The hive was strong in
the fall (lot's of stores), dwindled rapidly, and is not building up.

I think trachael mites are at work here.  During the summer and fall the
queen could out produce the mites.  Not so, from late fall through the
winter.  She is probably infected, so can't gear up her laying to match the
incoming pollen.

As Grant suggested, I give them a frame of emerging brood plus shaking 2-3
frames of nurse bees, kill the old queen, and add a new queen.  AFAIK that
has always 'solved the problem'.

Lloyd

-- 
Lloyd Spear
Owner Ross Rounds, Inc.
Manufacture of equipment for round comb honey sections,
Sundance Pollen Traps, and producer of Sundance custom labels.
Contact your dealer or www.RossRounds.com

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