🐝💗Our Backyard Beekeeping Journey!💗🐝

[5Australorpasaures]

Not a good day. We lost a hive.

A few days ago, I was looking at the hives. The Charlatans were busy, but there were a few yellow jackets landing. I suited up and went out there with a hive tool and squished as many as I could. I had put on/filled feeders with syrup 11 days ago.

I went out more than once to squish yellow jackets, and probably killed 80 or more over 3 days. The Charlatans were busy every time; the New Bees had a couple of comers/goers, but no yellow jackets.

We had our first frost last night. We'll have more frosty nights now, so I figured it was time to remove the feeders and we'd be wrapping the hives soon.

We did the New Bees first. Lots of coming and going. We took off the feeder (2 frame feeders in a deep box that had very little drawn comb) and looked down into the top (of two) deep boxes for brood. They had had GREAT brood patterns every time we looked, with a nice arch of honey on top. Now the top box has 7 frames of capped honey, and the 8th is about 3/4 filled. You GO! girls! We closed it up, gonna leave it all for them for the winter.

We took the cover off the Charlatans and then the feeder box. Uh oh... very quiet in the hive... and totally empty. The nice arches of honey that had been there... chewed open and gone. We saw 3 bees. A few yellow jackets. A few dead bees down in the bottom, but not many.

I had seen a lot of traffic 2-3 days ago. Where did they go? Do they ever swarm this time of year, or did they abscond?

I would lean towards absconding since you were completely empty with a few dead bees. I doubt robbing as there would be more than a few dead bees. They will take all the honey they can carry. Bad time of year for them to start anew unless they found abandoned comb somewhere.

 

[5Australorpasaures]

Well, the little wenches ain't done yet. Mixing up another 3 gallons. Nighttime temps bumping the freezing mark, with the 2" insulation no worry about syrup freezing. Mid-day temps still high 50s low 60sF and the activity is high. The longer they can get out the better I feel about winter survival.

 

[R2elk]

Well, the little wenches ain't done yet. Mixing up another 3 gallons. Nighttime temps bumping the freezing mark, with the 2" insulation no worry about syrup freezing. Mid-day temps still high 50s low 60sF and the activity is high. The longer they can get out the better I feel about winter survival.

Syrup does not freeze at the same temperature that water freezes at. Water is the only substance that expands as it freezes. Syrup does not expand as it freezes.

I don't know the values for 2:1 syrup but the 1:1 does not set up for me until it is in the low 20°s F.

 

[Apis mellifera]

2:1 sugar syrup wont freeze until below zero temps.