No bees in hive...?

Optimism of April 11 gone…as are bees from the TBH. On Saturday I noticed many bees coming and going, which was as it should be since it was an amazingly nice day for Oregon. However, bees were fighting at the entrance but not vigorously, and strange bees entering and not being ejected--thought robbing was happening, but that didn't seem the case, really, since bees were not aggressive when I was around—if there was robbing, they should have been attacking all strangers. Also, noticed no pollen being returned. Nothing to do about it…

Sunday afternoon I went in to remove 2 more bars of honey, B10 & B11. There were no guard bees as in the past and the other bees didn't seem to care about the disruption, so decided to continue through to the beginning of the hive to see what was up. Not many bees, maybe 200, and those were taking honey, and very little brood on the combs. On the brood combs, I saw several dead bees that didn't make it all the way out of their cells, a few cells of pollen and some cells with uncapped nectar.  Most importantly, no queen. Did they swarm or did the robbers kill the queen—no dead body—so I’m leaning toward swarming…for reasons I do not know at this time nor did I hear the swarming buzzing which if often referenced in articles about swarming.

B4, right, with few brood and nectar cells

B5, again little brood, but notice full shape of combs

B6, small honey section with a few nectar and pollen cells

Bees had been flying last week during the warm days, seemingly making orientation flights (although I may have misread that) and some returning with pollen. Alarmingly, on one day I smelled a heavy scent of herbicide in the air which had me concerned for bees out that day returning with pollen. I think that was not the cause of this hive failaure, because there were not many dead bodies on the bottom board.

Left side of hive after bar removal; few bees on bottom board.

So, what happened? I don’t know. Now I wish I had checked the brood area during the nice days of February so we would have had an idea of the hive conditions then. Disappointed, of course, but not discouraged…glad I am not in it for my livelihood—can relate to the commercial operations just a bit now. I'll concentrate on the new Warre hive first and decide later about rehiving the TBH. Jacqueline in Battle Ground, WA who has been beekeeping for 8 years has moved to Warre hives from top bars after comparing the two systems. I'm checking into getting a nuc from Eugene beekeepers and have been in touch with someone on the local swam list who will take me along on his next call. Ken almost has the hybrid Warre hive done and we anticipate setting it up soon. Will make it a bait hive using some of the used bars from which we removed comb/honey and pheromone.

Removed all combs from the TBH and added back eight bars in the following order: two new 1.25” brood bars, two used bars from honey extraction with wax remnants, 4 new bars. Maybe one of the robber bees will convince her hive to move here!

Yes, there was still honey left…we extracted about 14 cups of honey from five bars removed yesterday, using the same process described in April 9 notes. Plan to render the wax from all the combs, including the brood combs, which will make very dark wax candles.  

The dreaded cross combed B10 and B11 were no big deal—heavy when removed together. They actually had three combs on the two bars. That was the only cross combing in the hive.  Most of the combs holding honey had brace combing on the sides, which is normal to support the weight; see interior picture above.

It's a beautiful day here in Oregon's Willamette Valley, unseasonably warm with temperatures in the low 80's...I'm off for a bike ride...after a quick look at the abandoned hive!

April 16 notes...before all the above happened...

Only a few bees flying yesterday afternoon, high 60's and partly sunny. Saw two drones coming back to the hive. What's up? They should be out gathering pollen and nectar for the brood.

This morning I installed the new feeder system Ken developed; instead of using the ziplock bag, I used the Boardman jar feeder with a pint jar which sits a little high--need to find a shorter jar. The feeder itself is about 1/8" too high so I'll shave off the bottom a bit for a better fit when I remove it. Marked  level of 1:1 syrup with tape to be able to assess amount used.

In order to fit the feeder inside the hive, I removed B14 which had been left in when B12 & B13 removed for honey harvest and moved the left follower all the way to the end.

While the top was open I could hear a very quiet even buzz so assume all is well, even with no flying yesterday. Later, during the afternoon, there were more bees flying--yesterday was too windy perhaps and bees are staying in to keep brood warm and new bees are in their first 21 days before flying out???