Any Beekeepers out there? I've got a problem.

[Jerry H]

Lost about 60 hives. If you look most of those hives that are in that first pic are nucs and there were a few package bees mixed in so they don't stay there long and drift isn't a big problem in those. Most of my hives are on 4 way pallets

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Thanks. Interesting story.
Yes, they look like nucs but I'm not familiar with beekeeping in warmer climates. I had seen a video of a beeyard where they rarely had more than one deep in any colony.

 

[Fairview01]

What doesn't add up is the lack of dead bees on the bottom board. I had colonies when I lived in PA. One of the first spring chores is cleaning off the bottom board of the accumulated dead bees from over winter. There are always dead bees on the bottom board, so many at times the hive entrance is effectively blocked.

Unless they absconded in late fall what you are claiming is impossible.

I will call TROLL on this.

 

[Jerry H]

I take it you run mostly double deeps? We have people that run both depending on what they are doing with the bees make splits or make honey. It also depends on how often and how hives are moved if moving them often and by hand most people run a single deep. I usually end up with some of both depending on what bee yard they are in

 

[D-tiny-chicans]

Here's pics of some of my hives

I died a little on the inside after seeing that. Good Luck.

 

[Jerry H]

What doesn't add up is the lack of dead bees on the bottom board. I had colonies when I lived in PA. One of the first spring chores is cleaning off the bottom board of the accumulated dead bees from over winter. There are always dead bees on the bottom board, so many at times the hive entrance is effectively blocked.

Unless they absconded in late fall what you are claiming is impossible.

I will call TROLL on this.

I won't I've seen to many weird things happen with hives. About 3 or 4 years ago a friend and I went through hives did some mite checks and things looked pretty good. A day or two later I decided I was going to go ahead and do a mite treatment to be ready for the next flow. I didn't have enough strips so had to order some. It was about ten days or two weeks later when I went back into the hives to put the strips in that's when I discovered 15-20 hives empty. No idea why these hives were empty no dead bees on the bottom board no dead bees in front of the hive. The hives still had some brood but the honey that I knew was there when I checked earlier was robbed out. Since I couldn't figure it out I called one of the state bee inspectors who happened to be in the area and he came out and couldn't figure out what happened either. He decided to send some of the bees from the other hives to the lab to see if they could find anything. Long story short they couldn't figure it out and over the next few months other people reported the same thing bees just gone for no reason.
Oh and my bees were not near any ag so not pesticides

 

[Jerry H]

I died a little on the inside after seeing that. Good Luck.

Thanks it was a kick in the butt however others were hit a lot harder. The pics were after we had put lids on and righted some of them. Took us a little bit to think to take pictures.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

I won't I've seen to many weird things happen with hives. About 3 or 4 years ago a friend and I went through hives did some mite checks and things looked pretty good. A day or two later I decided I was going to go ahead and do a mite treatment to be ready for the next flow. I didn't have enough strips so had to order some. It was about ten days or two weeks later when I went back into the hives to put the strips in that's when I discovered 15-20 hives empty. No idea why these hives were empty no dead bees on the bottom board no dead bees in front of the hive. The hives still had some brood but the honey that I knew was there when I checked earlier was robbed out. Since I couldn't figure it out I called one of the state bee inspectors who happened to be in the area and he came out and couldn't figure out what happened either. He decided to send some of the bees from the other hives to the lab to see if they could find anything. Long story short they couldn't figure it out and over the next few months other people reported the same thing bees just gone for no reason.
Oh and my bees were not near any ag so not pesticides

Heat, plain and simple. I'd put money on they did not have enough ventilation, were in direct sun and you had a heat wave. Even as far North as Vermont when growing out nucs in the heat of summer if you don't put a second box on they overheat. Can't raise brood when it's that hot so abscond. Take all the honey they can and leave for better hive location.