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Not looking good

We are now well into December, with Christmas just around the corner, and already things are looking grim for my apiary for the 2017 season. Unfortunately, I have lost two of my four colonies. At first glance, it would appear that in both cases, the colonies absconded, perhaps due to the rather stressful onslaught of wasps toward the end of summer and deep into the fall.

The first colony that I lost, was about four weeks ago. I was just peaking under the hive cover to see if the bees had already begun to huddle closely together. Naturally, I was shocked to discover that my strongest colony at the peak of summer was gone. There were several hundred dead bees at the bottom of the hive floor and no traces of living bees on the frames whatsoever, the first total loss. A few days later, I ran into my beek mentor. He told me that he was also observing colony losses and he wasn't sure to what strength his apiary would be come early spring. Not good to hear, at all!

This past weekend, I wanted to treat the bees with oxalic acid to get rid of any varroa mites still hanging on the bees. To do this, I needed to once again lift up the covers and apply the acid directly on the bees. That is when I discovered that the first nucleus colony that I had created last year in April had also vacated the hive. There was a significant amount of food left in the hive, so I know that starvation was not an issue. Nonetheless, this latest discovery has me especially worried for next season. I know that most beekeepers expect up to a 30% loss after each winter, but I am currently at 50% loss. This means that I will have to try to buy at least two nucs (if not complete colonies) next spring if I have any chance of sustaining my apiary. Dear Santa, all I want for Christmas is for my bees to survive winter...make it happen!

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