Bee on Guard Throughout the Fall for Healthy Hives

Reader Contribution by Tia Douglass
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Well, I lost another hive! It comes as no surprise since I’ve been watching it with some trepidation. But let’s start at the beginning.

I was in the hive on August 18 and although it was a small colony, it was doing well — no worrisome signs of disease or pests (varroa and SHB well under control), good humor, a queen, eggs, larva, capped brood and — although less than I would like —ample foodstores. I removed one box so the girls could better defend their home, leaving them with one deep and one medium.

In the days after, I noticed uneven activity at the entrance: One day there would be only one or two foragers a minute; the next the entire front of the hive was bearded! I was flummoxed, but never seemed to find the time or have good enough weather to check them again. . .until yesterday (Labor Day).

The colony was gone and the hive was decimated by wax moths! Nothing was left in that hive — no brood, no food, and no dead bees! Twenty-twenty hindsight made me realize that due to the worsening conditions in the hive, the girls had probably absconded. And that the off-and-on activity at the entrance was most likely due to the colony trying to convince the queen that it was time to go!

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