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[Casimir]

I went to quickly check on my hives today and one of the two that I have population has decreased to that they are only a small ball at the bottom deep. There are probably only a couple thousand alive and there are several bees dead in the front and on some of the frames. They still have tons of honey but it looks like it is honeydew honey which I have heard is too complex for them too handle. I am going to feed them if that is the case, but I was wondering if it could be anything else.

[kathyp]

i just came back from meadow vista.  it's been really cold there at night and it didn't warm up all that much during the day.  it could be that the bees are not moving around enough to go to the food.  you can make sure that you have honey frames next to the bees and you can put dry sugar moistened with a bit of water on the inner cover.  looks like you'll be around 50 degrees tomorrow.  you can probably make changes then if you don't spend to much time at it.  also, are your bees where they get the sun during the day?  it would be tempting with the hot summers to put them in the shade, but in the winter, they need that sun on the hive to warm up enough to break cluster and eat, etc.

[rdy-b]

More info needed-did you treat for mites? what is the history of the hive?- whats going on with the other hive?- are the dead bees you speak of inside the hive or on the landing board?-if they are inside -are they head first in the comb or is somthing else going on? RDY-B

[Casimir]

I did not treat for mites as I have not seen any yet. This is the hives first year and was doing better than my other hive going into the winter, now my other hive is doing better. There are dead bees on the landing board and there are bees that are just standing on frames of honey, but are away from the cluster. The days are just warm enough that the bees are flying, could it bee that they are away from the cluster when the temperature drops during the night.