# 4 Failed Hives!?



## Agnes Repplier (Sep 19, 2014)

Within the past three weeks, I have lost four hives. In two of them I found moth infestation, but in the others, I found no indications of a problem. When I checked the hives two weeks ago, they were queen-right and seemed to be strong. Does anyone have suggestions for possible causes of failure, and some pointers for diagnosing the failures.
Also, in another hive I have seen little tan/brown insects, about 4mm long. They do not have hard exoskeletons, like beatles. Does anyone know what these might be?


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## burns375 (Jul 15, 2013)

moths typically quickly take over a high once vacant. How much honey, stores, brood were in the hives? Are there piles of dead bees? How many boxes, frames of comb? How old were the hives?


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## Mike Gillmore (Feb 25, 2006)

Have you been doing any monitoring of Varroa Mites?


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## smokin_trout (May 27, 2014)

There is an Ann Arbor Backyard Beekeepers meeting on Tuesday if you still need help. Meetings are held at the U of M botanical gardens. They have a Q&A 30 minutes before the meeting starts


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## Honey-4-All (Dec 19, 2008)

Am I the only one befuddled by the "fact" that these hives went from "queen right" to moth infested in two weeks? I would personally like to shake the hand of anyone who would certify this as happening in the real world. Certainly a possibility but in my book this one does NOT pass the smell test. My guess is that the inspections were lacking or something else is up. Bees do not go from Smoking to worm castings in two weeks. ???? NOT!!!!!


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## Mr.Beeman (May 19, 2012)

Also, in another hive I have seen little tan/brown insects, about 4mm long. They do not have hard exoskeletons, like beatles. Does anyone know what these might be? *Small hive beetles*

"Lost" as in all dead or no bees?


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## stan.vick (Dec 19, 2010)

Agnes, I think we need more info to diagnose your problem. Try to get someone local to look at it, the bee club mentioned may know of someone close to you, and for honey-4-all's befuddlement, there is one thing that will kill a strong colony in two weeks ( starvation ) I've had it happen to me.


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## Honey-4-All (Dec 19, 2008)

stan.vick said:


> Agnes, I think we need more info to diagnose your problem. Try to get someone local to look at it, the bee club mentioned may know of someone close to you, and for honey-4-all's befuddlement, there is one thing that will kill a strong colony in two weeks ( starvation ) I've had it happen to me.



Ok you got me there. I sit humbly... Corrected as to one possibility although I am still wondering about this "From queen right to moths in two weeks"? 

Would never happen here at the home place nor in all the other place I have kept bees. Even in the case of starvation. Two weeks at 100 degrees maybe.


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## stan.vick (Dec 19, 2010)

Honey-4-all, I agree with you in general, just wanted to add something you may have missed, I really get tired of the one-upmanship attitude of some, and I certainly don't want you to put me in that category. You know what they say two heads are better than one, in the case of Beesource a few hundred heads are better than one. I apologize if I came across as a bee expert, as we know there is no such thing.


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## Honey-4-All (Dec 19, 2008)

No offense taken. I really hadn't considered starvation as an option as it rarely occurs in our bees. If it does its almost always going to happen when the moths are not going to show up. At least not in 2 weeks time in the dead of winter or at the tail end of our rainy season.


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## burns375 (Jul 15, 2013)

Honey-4-All said:


> No offense taken. I really hadn't considered starvation as an option as it rarely occurs in our bees. If it does its almost always going to happen when the moths are not going to show up. At least not in 2 weeks time in the dead of winter or at the tail end of our rainy season.



Starvation is always an option, that includes the warm season months too.....i think new beekeepers commonly overlook this, harvest too much honey, make splits without enough resources, etc.


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## gone2seed (Sep 18, 2011)

There is another thing that will take a strong hive down quickly and that is poison. If your hives did not have a lot of dead bees present then they may have been poisoned away from the hive.The fact that it happened to four hives in the same time period would make me consider that.


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## Agnes Repplier (Sep 19, 2014)

My hives at present consist of ten frame supers, one medium and two deeps, all with drawn comb.
On September 27th, the four which I eventually "lost" had between 20 and 25 pounds of honey in the medium and some in the deeps, and at least two deep frames of pollen. 
As far as brood goes, I had checked only to see if there was fresh brood in the hives, so I can only say that I saw one deep frame of brood per hive. The hives did have a good number of bees and I saw the queen in each. Also, when I was checking the hives, there were an excessive number of bees robbing.
When I looked into the hives again on October 7th, there were virtually no bees in the "lost" hives, and very few dead bees on the bottom board. The amount of dead bees in front of the hives was not noticeably more than in front of any of my active hives.
Two of the hives were two years old, the others were in their first year.
I am grateful for everyone's comments up to date. I don't know if this is still insufficient information for diagnosing my problem.


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## Agnes Repplier (Sep 19, 2014)

I haven't been monitoring for Varroa Mites. I had asked a local beekeeper's advice on this matter, and he had told me that if I hadn't noticed a problem, not to worry about them. I understand from your question that I should be monitoring for them. Is there a method which you recommend?


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## Agnes Repplier (Sep 19, 2014)

Thank you for replying about the insects. I looked at pictures of small hive beetles, and they don't look like the insects which I had found. The insects which I saw seem to be about as long as the hive beetles, but I would think they are only half as wide, and are almost a fawn color. Do you have any other ideas as to what they could be? 
_"Lost" as in all dead or no bees?_ By "lost" I mean no bees. I found very few dead bees when I went into the hives.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

A hive can be robbed and attacked and go from quite strong to devastated and starving in a lot less than two weeks...


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## dsegrest (May 15, 2014)

Agnes Repplier said:


> I had asked a local beekeeper's advice on this matter, and he had told me that if I hadn't noticed a problem, not to worry about them.


By the time you notice a problem it may be too late to monitor.


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## dsegrest (May 15, 2014)

Agnes Repplier said:


> Thank you for replying about the insects. I looked at pictures of small hive beetles, and they don't look like the insects which I had found. The insects which I saw seem to be about as long as the hive beetles, but I would think they are only half as wide, and are almost a fawn color. Do you have any other ideas as to what they could be?
> _"Lost" as in all dead or no bees?_ By "lost" I mean no bees. I found very few dead bees when I went into the hives.


Could that be a lesser wax moth?


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## 37 V8 (Nov 11, 2011)

Agnes Repplier said:


> The insects which I saw seem to be about as long as the hive beetles, but I would think they are only half as wide, and are almost a fawn color.


They're young small hive beetles. I've seen them recently in my hives also. They're really quick too. Also, you might get in contact with SEMBA - South East Michigan Beekeeper's Association -they have members who are close to you and might offer to help.


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## Agnes Repplier (Sep 19, 2014)

Thank you very much.


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