Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum
BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => GENERAL BEEKEEPING - MAIN POSTING FORUM. => Topic started by: Draginol on May 21, 2008, 10:17:25 pm
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Last night I picked up 3 new nucs. I got home late and it was rather cool last night so I kept them in the truck.
This morning, I took the bees to the apriary and began transferring them to hives. The last, and best, of the 3, the one that was fullest of brood, was dead. All dead. They looked like they were soaking wet, dark brown. I think they overheated but I'm not sure how. I found the poor dead queen. There were 3 full (both sides) frames of brood in this nuc too which I assume are all dead too.
I'm so sad. :(
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That really stinks. Are you sure they were alive when you picked them up?
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If it was cool last night the condensation falling on them may have killed them. Not sure if that is what happened or not but sorry for your loss.
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If you have brood in the frames take the frames out and put them in the hives that lived. You might be able to salvage some of the brood. The other hives will do what they can with them. Good Luck.
Dennis
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That really stinks. Are you sure they were alive when you picked them up?
Definitely. I was there when we packed up the frames. They were doing great.
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First of all, I am sorry for your loss. When you say that you left them in the truck, was that in the cab, in the garage, in the bed, in the garage? In other words, what temps. did they encounter? Just curious.
Dave
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First of all, I am sorry for your loss. When you say that you left them in the truck, was that in the cab, in the garage, in the bed, in the garage? In other words, what temps. did they encounter? Just curious.
Dave
It was in a BMW X5 so it was inside. But it was pretty cool last night, shouldn't have gotten very warm.
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that doesn't seem right. even if they got a little wet, you shouldn't have found the entire hive dead. it wasn't cold enough to freeze? water would have to soak the whole cluster to kill them all i'd think.
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Sorry for your loss. Shame that. :'(
Now, define "cool". Was it after sunset and what was the temp right when you left them? If you had them inside the SUV (BMW truck?? ;)) I'm assuming it was 100% sealed so that they could not escape. Bees do generate a lot of heat & some moisture. If that was the strongest nuc = most bees = most heat. I know the migratory beeks use screens, not tarps over their semi-trailer loads of stacked 4-way clip pallets. Tarps would cook the bees in all but quite cold temps (guessing above ~50°F), so I've been told. Was there any ventilation holes/screens in the nuc?
My guess is they got the slow rice-cooker treatment. Steamed bees. :-P
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Yes, we've been cool here in MI, at least one night with frost, but nothing that a 3-5 frame nuc couldn't handle outside.
I agree with Dane....that the nucs were shut up to keep them from escaping into the vehicle. You don't ever want to leave a hive closed up for more than a short period of time without ventilation regardless of the ambient temperature. There is a reason that packages come fully screened, and if beekeepers ever move a lot of hives or packages on an enclosed truck then they have to use a refrigerated truck.
In the meantime...it really stinks to deal with. You can 'fess up to the person you got them from and beg for mercy....
Rick
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Draginol, that is a real bummer and I feel for you, loss of bees makes us feel terrible. I would be curious how these bees were closed up for transit. They need ventilation, no doubt. What was used to close them up? I think that they got too wet from condensation, not overheating or chilling. Do as another suggested, give the brood to another colony, this brood may still be OK.
When I made my nucs when they were getting ready for transport this is what I did. Was something similar done to your nucs (for ventiliation purposes).
I got a piece of hardware cloth and pushed it into the opening at the bottom front, allows for lots of air movement into the colony and the slot on the inner cover had a tiny piece of the hardware cloth put in it too. This provides fresh air to move in the bottom and the release of any moisture from the bees to be released out the top. Define how your nucs were closed up. Hoping you are feeling a little bit better today, it is a hard thing of these losses, I know. Have the best of a great day, Cindi
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Well, it sure wasn't the cold. A decent swarm could have hung on a limb overnight and survived. I would say they asphyxiated. Probably packed too tight and sealed to well. The moisture was likely honey they regurgitated. Transport boxes generally need a lot of screened space if the bees aren't free to fly.
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sorry to hear about your loss....
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First of all, I am sorry for your loss. When you say that you left them in the truck, was that in the cab, in the garage, in the bed, in the garage? In other words, what temps. did they encounter? Just curious.
Dave
They were in the cab, outside, it was about 40 degrees that night. I would never have thought they would overheat. The nuc was a stryofoam one.
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Draginol, that is a real bummer and I feel for you, loss of bees makes us feel terrible. I would be curious how these bees were closed up for transit. They need ventilation, no doubt. What was used to close them up? I think that they got too wet from condensation, not overheating or chilling. Do as another suggested, give the brood to another colony, this brood may still be OK.
When I made my nucs when they were getting ready for transport this is what I did. Was something similar done to your nucs (for ventiliation purposes).
I got a piece of hardware cloth and pushed it into the opening at the bottom front, allows for lots of air movement into the colony and the slot on the inner cover had a tiny piece of the hardware cloth put in it too. This provides fresh air to move in the bottom and the release of any moisture from the bees to be released out the top. Define how your nucs were closed up. Hoping you are feeling a little bit better today, it is a hard thing of these losses, I know. Have the best of a great day, Cindi
Yea, the nuc had ventilation in the form of screen holes and such. The other two nucs (one wooden and the other styrofoam) were fine. But this one was the one with the most brood. They were in my X5 (it's an SUV) in the back. That night was pretty cool (around 40 degrees). I left them in there since I had gotten back from the farm pretty late and took them to my bee yard first thing next morning.
When I looked in on them, they looked like they were soaked and were virtually all dead (even found the dead queen). Very upsetting (especially since I'm pretty much in this to take care of bees, I don't really care about the honey or such, I just like the beekeeping aspect).