# No bees left moving forward



## tumbelweed (Mar 2, 2015)

Hi everyone 
Went out to check my hive yesterday and all the bees are dead I think between the hornets downsizing them and the cold temps it was to much for them. I had checked them before but it was too cold to open it up. So my question is some of the honey is dripping in the hive and I’ve cracked some moving bars around. I’m going to try another season with bees; I have more bees coming toward the end of April. My questions are there are several bars with capped honey but some it is dripping or maybe it’s where I had cut it away from the sides of the hive, also there is comb with pollen. The comb is in smaller pieces I had to cut them down to fit in zip lock bags which are now in my freezer. Can I feed these back to the new bees, if so what would the best way to do that just put the smaller pieces on a little dish or something inside the hive? Also this hive had some cross comb the hive is a mess with honey and wax on the side where the comb was attached. What’s the best way to clean it just take everything out scrub it up then let it dry and air out? Why would the honey would be dripping from capped comb is it because there are no bees to eat it or to much moisture in the hive ? The brood comb looks to be in good shape should I put it in the freezer to kill off anything that shouldn't be there? 

Thanks for your input
Doris


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## Bee Arthur (Mar 21, 2015)

Hi, Doris, sorry to hear you lost your bees. It may be a good idea to figure out why you lost them so history doesn't repeat itself. What was your mite count going into the winter? Were you treating for mites? If you were testing and treating and you can rule out the mites, you may want to send your dead bees to a lab for a diagnosis.


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## fieldsofnaturalhoney (Feb 29, 2012)

Bee Arthur said:


> Hi, Doris, sorry to hear you lost your bees. It may be a good idea to figure out why you lost them so history doesn't repeat itself. What was your mite count going into the winter? Were you treating for mites? If you were testing and treating and you can rule out the mites, you may want to send your dead bees to a lab for a diagnosis.


I love this and you should try to figure out what brought them to their demise. Now let's answer some of her questions. Yes you can use the comb you cut to feed back to the bees by rubber banding it into a frame and reusing it or open feeding (which I wouldn't recommend). Why did you cut them out of the frame originally?, or where these the pieces connected to the box? The honey may be dripping because it was uncapped while moving frames around. It will begin to attract robbers and will be gone if you just leave it in the hive without sealing up the whole hive (mesh screen prevents any bees in or out). Either put everything, or what you can, in the freezer & seal the rest of the hive up until your bees arrive. If you seal the hive up, periodically check for wax moths, or use something to prevent them. Best way to clean the hive? Should not require scrubbing anything, maybe just removing any comb attached to the sides of the box:scratch:


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## tumbelweed (Mar 2, 2015)

I have the hive closed up I hope to clean it this weekend depending on the weather. Most of the comb was attached to the sides I broke some of the comb trying to move it. It was cracked along the top close to the bar so I wasn’t sure what to do with it because the honey was dripping from it. I was going to keep it for myself then the light clicked on, feed it back to the bees if possible. I believe they froze to death we had some below zero nights it was a very small amount of bees going into winter. Some of the brood comb still had bees attached to it like small cluster but maybe 5 or 6 bees, some bees on the floor of the hive maybe 20 tops. I’m rethinking my setup for next winter thanks for the input.


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## bjamesvw (Apr 17, 2014)

I don't think they froze unless the cluster was very, very small. Last year I had a top bar hive survive a Chicago winter (which was a brutal February) only covering the very top of three bars. Bees usually don't freeze. If the bees were stuck to the frames, were they all at the top with no honey above them? Even if they were on the floor, was there any honey on the frames above the bees? My problem with bees in top bar hives in Chicago is they cluster in the front by the brood nest area where there is only honey on the top of the comb. If I don't move bars with comb that is full of honey then they starve.


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## Dpinmt (May 14, 2015)

I'm very sorry to hear that you lost your bees. I just experienced the exact thing. Very sad and disappointed at the loss of my bees. I am as well moving forward with two packs coming at the end of April. I would love to know what the best way to set up the hive before winter to have this not happen again. Should there be honeycomb staggered between the brood comb?


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## bjamesvw (Apr 17, 2014)

My plan next year is to make every other comb in the clustered area a comb filled with honey.


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## tumbelweed (Mar 2, 2015)

bjamesvw said:


> I don't think they froze unless the cluster was very, very small. Last year I had a top bar hive survive a Chicago winter (which was a brutal February) only covering the very top of three bars. Bees usually don't freeze. If the bees were stuck to the frames, were they all at the top with no honey above them? Even if they were on the floor, was there any honey on the frames above the bees? My problem with bees in top bar hives in Chicago is they cluster in the front by the brood nest area where there is only honey on the top of the comb. If I don't move bars with comb that is full of honey then they starve.


Yes it was a very small cluster, but I think your right about starving, so your saying to move honey right next to the cluster? Thanks


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## bjamesvw (Apr 17, 2014)

tumbelweed said:


> Yes it was a very small cluster, but I think your right about starving, so your saying to move honey right next to the cluster? Thanks


The bees don't eat a lot of honey through the coldest part of the winter, so I wouldn't try and move honey combs to cover the entire cluster, but I am going to do every other comb full of honey. The last two years I've had to move a honey comb to the cluster in the middle of the winter because I didn't move any honey in the fall and the bees would have starved. Moving one comb seemed to solve the problem both years. For the one hive that I didn't move any honey comb, they starved (bees at the top of the bars with no honey on those bars). My bees do not move sideways to find honey when they are clustered.


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