G&H Honey Bees - Loss of two colonies

[@dcsblessedbees]

Ya I'll bet they were Wet, Hyperthermia is Super Hard on bees. My understanding it's not the mold that is the issue to them unless real bad, but it sure doesn't help them. Yes I'll bet you are right wet bees that is what did it, they were damp and you got cold. All the NW rain was why I built a roof over my benches, dry bees are happy bees.😁I think you just ran into the same issues I did my 1st Winter. Thanks for sharing Gary.👍Blessed Days, Spring is on it's way...

[@berrrygr]

Thanks DC. I am considering a roof of some kind. Predicting what the weather is going to be like in the future is going to be really hard. It seems to be really different from year to year now. Yeah the mold is just a sign of conditions inside the boxes and not so much a factor in the bees dying.

[@Highland_Honey]

Disheartening to see. Glad to hear your others under cover are doing well and hope the little nuc makes it.

[@berrrygr]

Yeah it's a kick in the butt. It's really difficult to figure out how to configure colonies with winter protection now. I didn't do anything different than what I have done in the past but it's been so wet this year that if I had known it was going to be like this I could have put better covers on the boxes. It's pouring rain again this morning. Only time will tell if the nuc is going to make it through. Fingers crossed.

[@Onthedge308]

Hate to see you lose your bee's. This is my first year keeping bee's, lost one hive back in October, still have two left hoping they make it through winter.

[@berrrygr]

Thank you for your kind words. I also hope your bees make it through the rest of winter. It seems to be getting more difficult to foresee how things are going to turn out. I have never lost all my colonies that are out in the open before. Just seems that the weather is so unpredictable now to figure out how to configure colonies with winter protection.

[@cheryleesbees]

Sorry for your loss. Looks to me like they had too much space to keep warm and dry, perhaps one less super for that amount of bees.

[@berrrygr]

Thank you for yourkind words. Late last Oct. both colonies were busting at the seams with bees. That’s why I added the third box with honey stores in it. Over the period of Nov and Dec we received an unusually large amount of rain. And seeing mould and dead wet bees lead me to the conclusion that they were just to wet as I didn’t put outter covers on the boxes. Cold and wet will kill bees really quickly.

[@cheryleesbees]

@@berrrygr yes I realise wet and cold will kill bees, my point being is that the more space they have the more likely they will be exposed as the space is too much for them to control the temperature, humidity, condensation etc. I doubt the heavy rain itself is what caused your bees to die unless of course the rain was dripping directly on top of your colony which watching your video I did not see any evidence of a damaged leaking roof or hive, some mould yes but that is not uncommon for any hive going through a winter or wet period.