I'm a noveice beekeeper. We need bees at my work for the orchard.
We had 4 hives looking healthy going into the winter. They were still healthy at the end of March. Now three are dead!
One has been raided by a field mouse (caught and dispatched today) which chewed its way around our mouse guards, so we know what happened there.
The other two that died, were well fed, treated for Varroa, had no sign of any nasty diseases such as foul Brood and were near good sources of pollen and nectar. But still they have died.
Keith, who keeps hives on our farm, has lost all 5 of his hives and he is an accomplished beekeeper.
I thought the problems of the lat few years were over but apparently things are just as bad, has anyone else had similar issues?
On the upside the orchard is hoaching with bumble bees, mason bees and the like.
We had 4 hives looking healthy going into the winter. They were still healthy at the end of March. Now three are dead!
One has been raided by a field mouse (caught and dispatched today) which chewed its way around our mouse guards, so we know what happened there.
The other two that died, were well fed, treated for Varroa, had no sign of any nasty diseases such as foul Brood and were near good sources of pollen and nectar. But still they have died.
Keith, who keeps hives on our farm, has lost all 5 of his hives and he is an accomplished beekeeper.
I thought the problems of the lat few years were over but apparently things are just as bad, has anyone else had similar issues?
On the upside the orchard is hoaching with bumble bees, mason bees and the like.