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Like we have discussed before, dead-outs are not necessarily a bad
thing. You can use the resources available (comb, honey, pollen, etc) to
assist other hives that may need an extra boost for winter or
springtime.
However, it is always good to know what a beehive has died from. Was it
from mites? Starvation? Queenless? Here are some easy diagnosis tips
while going through your hive.
1. Mites: There are a few different tell tale
signs that mites have overtaken a colony. If you observe your bees
closely, they will look sickly. They might have deformed wing virus
(wings will be larger/smaller than others, wings crinkled up). You might
even see red specks (mites) still on your bees, or mites on your bottom
board. You can also observe the cleanliness inside/outside the hive. If
it has a lot of yellow/orange discoloration, there might some nosema
involved (can get from mites).
2. Starvation: Starvation occurs when the colony
runs out of food for the winter. This can happen when a beekeeper
doesn't provide proper nourishment before winter hits, or , some
colonies have to genes to consume their stores very quickly. If you do
not have extra honey frames to put in those hives, the colonies probably
won't make it. When you observe a hive that has died from starvation,
the bees will still be in their cluster on the frames, usually with the
queen at the center. If you brush some of the bees away, you will also
see bees with their bottoms hanging out from the cells. They died in the
cell while looking for food. The frames around the colony will be
completely out of honey. Sometimes there will be honey on other surround
frames, or even inches away from the colony cluster. The bees are so
tightly clustered together that sometimes, unfortunately they can die
inches away from their food because they move the cluster in the wrong
direction.
3. Queen-less: As I was inspecting my hives a
few weeks ago, I opened the lid to do a quick check. All of my hives but
one were tightly clustered and few were flying. They seemed mellow and I
could hear their gentle hum. However, when I opened to lid to my last
hive to inspect, I noticed that they were all sporadic and unsettled.
This was not normal or consistent with my other hives, so I knew
something was wrong. I could see they still had honey on the outer
frames, so I knew it wasn't starvation. This leads me to believe that
they were queen-less. Unfortunately, there is not much you can do in the
wintertime if your colony goes queen-less. Sometimes they will survive
winter, but when they are all sporadic they are confused. The colony
circulates its worker bees around the queen during the winter to form
that tight cluster in order to keep the queen warm. Without a queen to
keep warm, they do not have a core center to keep warm. The cluster will
break up and they will die from being cold. If you are observing a
dead-out that still has a lot of honey, the bees will not be dead in a
cluster, but most likely be on the bottom board.
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