I would guess a wind breakThe property down the road has about 6 hives. The owner had a solar electric fence around them last year because of the bears. It must of not worked because now he has all 6 hives on a trailer with a thick metal cage(looks like a giant dog kenel) surrounding them. I also saw over the winter he burried his hives with all kinds of branches. Is this to keep them warm or just hid them from preadators?
I will take pictures when get a chance to open the hive up and post them here. I started with a fresh nuc last year from a local beekeeper but they had 2 1/2 boxes out of 4 full of honey from the previous bees work when I put them in their new home. I didn't harvest any honey last year because I didn't want the new bees to start with empty frames so if I were to guess I would say they had plenty of honey going into winter and from their activity they seemed to be doing fine. I probably should have put some hardware cloth on the entrance and get rid of the wooden stopper so the hives are mouse proof year round if that is something that can be done without adverse effects on the bees?What do the hive body and frames look like?
The damage you describe may have occurred post mortem
Did you go into the winter with adequate honey stores? Was there honey present when you opened the hive?
how did you monitor/treat for mites?
Seems too early for moths/beetles ,etc
Doesnt sound like skunk,coon,bears,etc
Maybe post a pic or two
As in habitat work, we learn most by examining our failures by tree,hive necropsy
bill
So are you taking a brood break or a brew break?Our bees didn’t make it through the winter and we are taking this year off from bee keeping. But I did see someone else’s or wild bees working my apple trees yesterday. It’s fun to watch them work. I’ll miss sitting drinking a beer just watching them come and go from the hive.
Just curious why you dont filter straight from the extractorGot the fall harvest spun out today. Approximately 250lbs out of 6 hives that were all swarms from this season. I’ll get a final weight after straining and cleaning out the capping tank in the next couple of daysView attachment 46380