# Two Hives Devastated



## gpb0216 (Apr 4, 2015)

Greetings from Athens, Alabama. 

My first beekeeping year went beautifully. Year number two, not so much. I lost one colony mid-summer to wax moths, but still harvested nearly seven gallons of honey from two healthy hives. 

Yesterday I went out to refresh the bees' water supply and noticed that there was no activity. Opening the hives I found what you see in the photos: lots of dead bees and black foundation. There was a little honey left in hive #2, but otherwise this was a scene of total devastation.

I have one healthy colony left.

What caused this rout, and how can I prevent it from spreading to my last healthy colony?

Thank you!


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## dudelt (Mar 18, 2013)

Judging by the total lack of stores (both pollen and honey) in picture 2, I would guess they starved to death.


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## gpb0216 (Apr 4, 2015)

That's pretty amazing if true. That hive's honey super was completely packed, and is in fact the hive from which we harvested the most honey. What would make them abandon the lower chambers?


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## Oldtimer (Jul 4, 2010)

The photos show no honey, and no brood. I don't know if this is typical of all the other combs in the hives but if it is then the 2 main culprits are likely starvation, or queenlessness.

You say one of the hives had a little honey in it, can you show a pic of that honey as it would possibly rule out starvation for that one. If there is any dead brood in either of the hives can you show a pic of it?

The number of bees shown in your pic are more than what would be left if the hive had died of being queenless, so for that one my best guess would be starvation. Difficult to be certain without seeing the actual hive though.


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## JRG13 (May 11, 2012)

Pictures also show a small cluster that couldn't move to stores probably. Also, it doesn't matter the super was packed, the bees need to be clustered on stores.


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## beemandan (Dec 5, 2005)

Lest we forget....hives don't fail because of wax moths. Wax moths take advantage of failing hives. Although I don't see the evidence in your photos, I'm guessing varroa.


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## Dan the bee guy (Jun 18, 2015)

A lot of things can wipe out a colony but unless we know how you managed your colonys we can't tell you why they died out. Besides nothing lives forever so beekeepers have to know how to raise replacements.


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## trishbookworm (Jun 25, 2016)

When I am looking at a deadout, to find out why they died, I do an alcohol wash on the dead bees, ideally the ones on the comb. If that number is high, like 10 mites/100 bees or higher, it's a safe bet that varroa killed my hive. If mite numbers are that high, I look at the brood comb next, the empty cells without stores. If I see little white deposits on the ROOF of the cells (I use a headlamp, flip the comb upside down) - for 1/3 or more cells - then those mites were home grown.

I've lost a hive to queenlessness - they had a queen cup in evidence. I think she didn't get mated in time for drones to be flying. 

Either way they went, protect that comb and learn from it for next year!


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## JWPalmer (May 1, 2017)

Do the inspection and alcohol wash to rule out varroa. They way they are clustered on empty comb screams starvation. After it snowed, my bees stayed clustered for a week. Looks like yours did not move up to the food. 
You asked what would make them abandon the lower chambers? Bees naturally move upwards towards the food as winter progresses. You didn't put the full honey super under the brood nest did you?


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## D's Bees (May 27, 2016)

What if you only had one deep that had the honey there. No second deep on top. I had a similar situation to this, but with just one deep. They left honey but they died. I did not do a mite test and although I treated them with Apivar in October, and found them dead in January, I suspect my problem was mites. I did not check for them after treating. Yes, I know that was not what should have been done. I am going to treat my pkgs after I install them....thinking MAQS and checking regularly with alcohol bath. I am also going to treat again in Sept, I'm thinking OA 3-5 times 7 days apart, the treating again late Dec/early Jan with ????. I am sure all this is full of holes, and yes I know(now) the most important thing is to check regularly for mites. I have had some expensive learning experiences and I would like to get to a point where I can make some progress....even if it is slow.


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## GregB (Dec 26, 2017)

gpb0216 said:


> What would make them abandon the lower chambers?


Even though you are in AL, it is still winter and likely cold.
In winter, bees hardly ever go down.
The cluster almost always goes up and up and up (until they can not go higher anymore; they simply follow the direction of warm air and go where it is the warmest).
So you want to be sure that all the stores in the fall are either above the cluster (best) or to the side (at least).
You never want the stores to be below the bees - such stores are pretty worthless in winter.

+1 to those who said - starvation.
Look - there nothing there left to eat. 
Dry sugar slab on the top would have kept them alive.


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## Ravenseye (Apr 2, 2006)

beemandan said:


> Lest we forget....hives don't fail because of wax moths. Wax moths take advantage of failing hives. Although I don't see the evidence in your photos, I'm guessing varroa.


Worth repeating this post. Wax moths do not cause a colony to fail. They take advantage of a weaker colony in order to get to the brood comb. When you open a deadout and see a wax moth mess, that colony dwindled from something else.


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