It is time for feeding the honey bees. The very cold days are now over, although it is still too cold for the bees, we can now check the bee nests one by one. Great news is that the one layered bee nest which we thought would die has survived the harsh winter and is now ready to rock. The bees have started flying out the other day due to a warmer weather than the other day and we expect them to fly out soon to look for food. But before that, we need to give the live nests food supply so when the queen bee senses that there is enough food supply, she can start laying eggs. We gave pollen and honey from previous collection as food for the bees.
Today our bees get the second round of food. The sad news is that 1 of the nests died. It was the one which we weren’t sure if there was a queen or not when we checked it just before closing them for winter. But I must say that this year is better than last year when 2 nests died, so I am basically thankful that the weak colony has survived the long cold winter time.
The paper the covered the nest helped the bees to keep warm, however it might also cause your bees to die depending on several factors as follows:
- Cold Temperature: Extreme cold can kill bees if they cannot maintain enough heat in the cluster.
- Lack of Food: Bees may run out of stored honey before winter ends.
- Moisture Build-up: Condensation inside the hive can drip onto bees, causing them to freeze.
- Poor Ventilation: Inadequate airflow leads to damp conditions, harming the colony.
- Weak Colony: Small or weak colonies may struggle to generate enough heat.
- Queen Failure: If the queen dies or weakens, the colony may collapse.
- Pests and Diseases: Varroa mites, nosema, or other illnesses can weaken the hive.
- Disturbances: Frequent disturbances during winter can stress and kill bees.
- Insufficient Insulation: Poorly insulated hives may lose too much heat.
- Improper Hive Positioning: Hives placed in windy or shaded areas may get too cold.
With the nest that died, we assumed from what we saw that poor ventilation and moisture build has caused a disease that eventually kill the nest.