Category Archives: Q & A

Breakdowns by hive type

Posted on May 11, 2016 | Leave a comment

Over the winter or 2015-2016 I lost all of my top bar hives but lost none of the Langstroth hives. All hives were treated in a similar manner as far as care and varroa control. I would like to see breakdowns by hive type. It may not be worth the time and effort but thought I would ask.

RESPONSE: See the report from last year. Top Bar hives from 2014-2015 respondents died at twice the rate as colonies in Langstroth hives. This does not mean they are a worst hive – it just means we need to do more to educate how better to overwinter the Top Bar hive.

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No starvation loss

Posted on May 11, 2016 | Leave a comment

I left the colonies with plenty of honey stores this year, did not lose any to starvation in late winter. Last year’s strongest hive and queen right in fall had the queen fail overwinter.

RESPONSE: Sounds like a good overwinter. Last year 48% had NO overwinter losses – you will be counted in this group this year. Well Done.

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Survey suggestion

Posted on May 11, 2016 | Leave a comment

Perhaps a “What do you plan to do differently”, i.e.: I plan to use an alcohol wash test before treating colonies in the future. Also a suggestion – Google forms surveys tend to be buggy. Survey Monkey has a free option and is much more user friendly in my opinion 🙂

RESPONSE: I like your suggestion. We do have the comment section at the end to cover this open-ended question “what do you plan…” issue. Not sure how asking that question on this survey would provide us the answers we are seeking. We assessed Survey Monkey the first year of this survey. That program will only allow a free member (keeping costs as low as possible) to ask a limited amount of questions and, as you have experienced, this survey would easily surpass it. Alternate survey tools, or pro-bono programmers, are continuously sought for survey customization….might this be you? Keep the suggestions coming & thanks for your comments!

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Survey confusion

Posted on May 11, 2016 | Leave a comment

I’m not sure the survey allowed me to really state what I did. I bought to CA packages, split them, left the two original queens in two hives and gave the other two hives hygienic queens. The bees were put in hives with comb and honey from the previous year. I think moisture killed the colonies but I can’t be 100% sure.

RESPONSE: I think the survey had some places you could have included these comments. We ask why you feel colonies died and under other you could have added you moisture comment. The detail we were seeking was 2 new splits and 2 packages with 0 survivals. I am not prepared to ask about queen sources – but it could be added at some future date. Too few beekeepers know their queen sources to allow for many respondents.

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DWV – deformed wings

Posted on May 11, 2016 | Leave a comment

I did not have visual confirmation of mites, but did find a few deformed wings on dead bees in October.

RESPONSE: We do not believe seeing mites on bees or deformed wing bees are useful for predicting mite infestation. We know our bees have mites. When we see a mite on an adult bee and see bees with Deformed wings –we are seeing the “tip” of the iceberg – that colony has mites at a high enough level to be at extreme risk of NOT surviving winter.

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Feeding

Posted on May 11, 2016 | Leave a comment

Feeding: I fed fondant during winter (it is soft and can be immediately consumed by bees) in the weight of honey, I included 10 shallow frames of comb honey. I gave away or sold swarms and splits which were not included in the count of my hives.

RESPONSE: Fondant is a good, but more expensive, source of sugar for bees. You had good results with it. On our survey giving away or selling hives (nucs) is not included. We are looking for reports on activity during the overwintering period.

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“over spraying” of pesticides

Posted on May 11, 2016 | Leave a comment

Who do you contact for reporting over spraying of chemicals?

RESPONSE:  There is no reporting system for reporting “over spraying” of pesticides. If you have a concern, contact your state Department of Agriculture, pesticide division. They can investigate misuse of pesticides.

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Mold vs. drawn comb

Posted on May 11, 2016 | Leave a comment

Hives were very damp and moldy when I opened the dead hives. They were strong earlier with plenty of food packed away.

RESPONSE: When colonies die the combs do get moldy and honey (if any) will ferment and by the time we discover the loss the comb looks terrible. BUT give it to bees to clean up and you will be amazed how they will recover that comb. Drawn comb is our most valuable resource- don’t cut it out, nor throw it away.

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Questions are difficult to answer

Posted on May 11, 2016 | Leave a comment

With multiple hives and various types of hives these questions are difficult to answer in some cases

RESPONSE: We recognize that some questions are hard to answer and with more colonies and more apiaries it becomes very very difficult. The average beekeeper responding has 2 to 3 colonies in one site and they have an easier time responding. We are open to verbiage suggestions, feel free to email them to us & thank you for the comment.

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Early spring swarming altering counts?

Posted on May 11, 2016 | Leave a comment

On section 11: I wanted to reply 3-4 colonies, based on my current hives swarming. Went from 2-3 hives due to a swarm from one of my hives this April 2016. Questions about packages of bees vs. swarms of bees might be of use in terms of overwintering, Queen health and survival. With regard to varroa control, allowing for natural swarming to break the mite cycle might be an informative category. In terms of learning beekeeping, my best source has been the online Warre listserv. Might want to include such a category (yahoo groups) in your questions. Thanks so much for doing this! I look forward to seeing the results.

RESPONSE: That you for your comments although we do get at many of them within survey questions.  Allowing annual swarming might be a good response option to split out. I think online sources should be an option – will see about adding it & we do have category other which is where you would state this. We will transfer it from here this year.

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