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Saturday 10 April 2010

Disaster! A dead colony

My best colony has starved to death. I am bereft and very cross with myself.


It was fine a couple of weeks ago, and the hive next to it is fine.  I guess it just didn't have the same amount of stores.

And the hive that survived had fewer bees going into the winter.

I will be much more careful in future and feed syrup even when it doesn't look as though they need it.

3 comments:

  1. Oh I'm so sorry to hear this! This has got to be one of the hardest things for a beekeeper to take! One day they are fine and a few days later they've died out. Exactly the same thing happened to my dad this year, the strongest dies but the weaker 2 are still hanging on. He went into winter with 5 hives, now only 2 left. Don't be too hard on your self...it happens to even the most experienced in our bee association.

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  2. Thanks, Joan, for your kind comments. My commiserations to your Dad, who has had a worse time than me. I'm determined not to let it happen again!

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  3. That's a shame....
    I would be afraid to tell you how many hives of mine have died as part of my learning curve (and I'm still learning). March is always the worst month here. Trachea mites and starvation my two worst enemies!

    One year I lost 9 out of 10!

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