# Heat, Drought makes for doom and gloom.



## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

The drought and heat did a big culling number on our bees this year. Our new queens I raised didnât do well at all. Maybe one of the 18 that hatched didnât do anything at all really. Our Christmas tree yard was the worst, mid-May, 18 strong colonies were in the back when we added honey supers. There were lots of drones in the hives plenty of honey in the top box with lots of brood in different stages. When we went back on the first part of June all the honey in just about every hives top box was gone. There were very few drones in any of the hives and some had none. Most of the hives also had queens that were not laying which I believe made for weak hives. We removed all the honey supers all dry, started feeding syrup as quick as we could buy the sugar and mix it up that came in the July 4th time range. Feeding them syrup seemed to be too late there as the queens still didnât start lying again. By the first of August there were only 4 colonies in the back and 5 in the front out of the 6 there in the spring. By the end of August we had one super strong colony in the back and 4 average colonies in the front. 
Our Julian yard was a total loss. Two of the colonies there kept trying to make a new queen because the ones there were not lying but a couple of eggs a day it seemed. Syrup didnât help there either. I think a wild colony from a tree in the woods finally did in the queens and workers. When we went there to pick up the empty hives there were a lot of bees about but nothing in the hives that looked like they belonged.
Julian said he watched them fly around the area the rest of the day. When evening came he went out there and followed them back in the woods a ways.
All told as it stands today I figure we lost 38% of our colonies, Been feeding since the first part of July.
Right now the star thistle is 99% gone and the bees didnât get much from it any way as it was just to dry. Golden rod is about 70% now but the bees are not working it, it is also dry I believe. Northern Bed Straw is about 85% and some bees can be seen on it since last Fridayâs rain. Some of the Asters about 5% are in bloom; again not much good it is still so dry. The chicory was the only bright spot. A record bloom here it seemed, deep rooted plant so was able to draw moisture pluse we got a couple of rains while it was at peek.

 Al


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## AverageJo (Sep 24, 2010)

We had a bee meeting a few weeks ago. I wasn't able to attend but others said there's a new strain of fungus(?) or something out there. They recommended spraying the hives with a week bleach solution to sort of sterilize them. It also makes the bees clean themselves and the rest of the hive. Some of the beekeepers tried this and were successful. Some have resorted to spraying the hives instead of using smoke. Spraying hive bodies and honey supers down good every couple of weeks, basically every time they check on them. Others are adding a bit of bleach to their sugar syrup that they're feeding them. Obviously any honey they do produce will have some bleach in it?? So they're not using any but leaving this in the hives for winter.

Could this be why your bees aren't doing very well?? I know my hives aren't doing the best and am going to get a bleach solution going and spray them. Wish I had been at the meeting as I would have started this a lot sooner. I'm going to harvest any honey they might have and then spray them every couple of weeks until winter and feed them the bleach sugar syrup as well.


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

Mostly our bees started starving cause flower blooms didn't have any nectar to speak of. Some things didn't bloom at all we count on like the bass wood trees. Milk weed blooms were spotty maybe 1 in every 10 plants bloomed. The queens took their royal time laying again when we started feeding so the hives got really weakened and robbed out.

 Al


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## Queen Bee (Apr 7, 2004)

My county's beekeepers are struggling as well. Our inspector stated @ our BK meeting, that we haven't had any real amounts of blooms for 3months... Lost one hive... There was no food, no bees, no brood, nothing... BUT on the 'bright side', I caught it before the beetles and wax moths started. 

I decided to feed them all.. Added Honey B Healthy..


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## Paquebot (May 10, 2002)

Talked to a vendor at the farmers market today and he claimed that his bees have had no problems all summer. He's new this year and not local. His regular honey is just a little too light for what the previous local vendor had and he's got a lot of buckwheat. He claimed that both are from his own bees. He is from the county north of here where the drought hasn't been so bad but the only ones we know who are growing buckwheat up there are the Amish and they have their own bees. Previous vendor bought his buckwheat honey from them since that was the only source. 

Also, somewhat surprised to see both hives quite active where they were placed to pollinate about a half-acre of seed cucumbers for Harris-Moran. They were constantly working my squash early on but those and watermelons were the only things that drew them to my garden. They were still finding white clover yesterday and I noted a huge goldenrod meadow a mile or so the other way. But, no clue as to what's going on inside the hive and I suspect that the owner isn't overly concerned since any honey is a bonus over what he is paid to place them there. I thought about sneaking a peek several days ago but both are big swarms and they don't know me!

Martin


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