>The word locally (central NY) is that supersedure was remarkably common
>this year, for some strange reason.  I had a few colonies which were doing
>great, building up with first-season queens (some reared, some bought),
>only to find the queen GONE after filling the hive with a beautiful brood
>pattern.  Supersedure/emergency queen cells would be scattered through nice
>solid patches of sealed brood.  However, no eggs or young larvae. No
>swarming involved, either.
>I mentioned this to a friend running abt 200 colonies up north of here and
>he mentioned that he and others had been seeing much the same thing.  Could
>this be more than coincidence?  Possibly related to the Apistan...?  Hmm.
>
>
I know it is very possibly a coincidence, I treated with apistan strips from
June 23 through August 3 this year (between spring and fall honey flows) and
with in three weeks, four out of ten hives had no queen or eggs.  I caught
all but one before the moths got there.  Of the new queens I ordered to
place in these hives, two took and one killed the queen.  I put the queens
in the hives and 72 hours released the ones that the bees had not already
released.
 
 Of the queens I lost this year, counting early losses for a total of 6, all
either obsconded after laying 2-3 frames of brood or were killed by the
bees.  Five were new queens this year and one was a swarm I caught about 1
and one half mile from my bee yard.  One of the interesting points is I had
no queen cells in the hives.  It is like they became queenless some where
past the point of taking eggs and making a new queen themselves.
 
I am begining to wonder if there is a new chemical on the pesticide market
that the bees more readily bring into the hive.  When I open a hive and find
only capped brood and no other phases ( ie. no eggs or young brood) I wonder
if the pesticide only kills where vapor can get on the young larvae and
adults and if the hive stays looking busy as the brood hatches then falls
off real quick.
 
Where I lost 2 out of the 4 recent losses, I lost the bees flying south and
the bees flying north are OK.  I know the bees will go where they want but
on most days that is the direction I saw them flying.
 
Richard Barnes
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