Yesterday afternoon I spent some time researching the bees problem. Trying to work out how my two hives died over this winter. I checked all the links you sent me (thank you) and these links took me to other links, I made notes and collated information and a miserable picture has appeared. After playing colour by numbers for a few hours I came to this preliminary conclusion. It was my fault. And it seems I am not alone this year.
I think it went like this. A long hot very dry summer caused a shortage of flowers, even the clover in the fields gave up early on. By September the hives had two full supers of honey each and strength in numbers, big numbers but no flowers at all by then.
The beautiful warm autumn was also long, but food was scarce so the bees began to eat their own honey much earlier than usual. 
I fed sugar water for a while but I really try not to. (I don’t believe refined sugar is good for their overall health.) So once it became cold I stopped. Mistake number one.
Anyway winter came after a while and we plummeted and rose and plummeted and rose and then rose some more then plummeted to ungodly cold then rose again until very warm and then plummeted again .. and still I did not feed them. Mistake number Two. Well you get the picture. 
I did not check to make sure they were close to their own honey. Sometimes for no reason they will die of starvation only inches from a full super. So the bees will have joined into their ball to get warm, pulled apart when the weather warmed up, huddled together to get warm again, then pulled apart again. And every time it got cold it was so fast that bees who had pulled away got lost and froze to death. 
Thousands of them. Why they did not move up to the honey is a mystery. But they died in the first half of the winter. If their Queen died early on often this would have exacerbated their problems.
And in both hives I have found the majority of dead bees clustered over empty frames. 
Human error. I should have checked them in each of those warm spells and considered feeding more, I usually only start feeding again in February/ March. I was too late this year. 
So far this is where my research is pointing me. I stumbled and they fell. But I have learned an important lesson and if I am able to buy two more colonies I will be more liberal with supplement feeding especially in any winter that has such frequent warm spells and such terrible cold on its heels.
There is no sign of disease or intruders. Everything smells sweet. Mites could have been a problem but my tests did not show any during the summer. So most all the signs point to human error compounded by bad bee weather.
My job now is to take the hives apart, scrape them and clean them, saving the honey. I shall dry them in the sun and cold. When I am sure they are spotless I shall reassemble the hives and introduce two new colonies in May. I have some work ahead of me. Ah well.
One thing I know for sure is that failures are the best learning experiences as long as we can look our failures in the eye and say: my fault. If I do not own the problem I cannot fix it. The misery is that two colonies of bees died to teach me to be more vigilant in the winter.
Of course, I am always grateful for any help and advice. There is a wealth of experience and knowledge within the farmy readership. So do speak up if you think I am missing something.
Soon it will be dawn and off to work I will go trying to grow our own food and trying to live a self sufficient life in a sustainable manner using organic methods. It is a challenge.
I hope you all have a lovely day. Do you think my new header is too bright? I am getting desperate for colour. I bet most of you are too.
celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
84 responses to “Human Error Kills Bees”
I am glad that you figured it out. Human error is correctable. I am so sorry that you lost them, but I’m glad you’re continuing on. I lost my first snake due to human error. It still makes me sad, but I have never, ever made that mistake again.
Though the story is so sad, your photos are phenomenal.
The peacock feathers are an endless source of fascination for the camera.. c
it’s called Nature. We humans simply cannot control everything.
Hard to give in to that idea isn’t it! c
I wondered if that was the case. I know nothing about keeping bees, but the beekeeper, up the road, hates winters where the temps are up and down like this. Always says it is bad for the bees!
He is right, and i have discovered many bee keepers with the same problem this year.. there must be a way.. c
Your header looks great.. and bad luck with the bees.. but as you say if one can learn from ones own mistakes… you are better off next time… know nothing about bees except they sting me every now and then, but apart from that nothing…
C, what a hard lesson – so pleased you are taking the lesson learnt and not beating yourself up about it.
GORGEOUS shots today, thank you.
🙂 Mandy xo
it is also good to know that the sprays from the surrounding fields did not do it! at least now you know you have another shot at healthy hives! please show photos of how you clean and restore the hives?
I will .. the pesticides do build up in the comb so it is important to replace your comb every few years.. most GM crops do not need to be sprayed for regular insect pests, it is all built into the plant so it is GM that is more likely to kill them.. esp in the spring when they are planting.. c
Love the header Cecelia! We all need some color and brightness right now!!
we certainly do.. good morning!! c
Hi C! I’m sorry about your bees. I hope that now that you know what the problem was, the next hives will live a long and productive life. I know nothing about bees, but isn’t it better to give them honey instead of sugar water?
Have a fantastic day! 🙂
It is a good question. Some people say never do it, others say it is fine, i will do more research.. c
Sorry about your bees. Your header and your photos look amazing!
Thank you!! c
Dearest Celie, you are a brave girl to confront your loss, your failings, and the work ahead to renew the bee population. I know little about bees, and even less about your extreme climate, but I wondered if there were any flowering plants which you could plant, maybe in movable pots that you could take under cover during the worst frosts. There are things in my garden which produce flowers at most times of the year – eg viburnum, roses (!) winter jasmine, some heathers. The planting would serve two purposes – emergency source of bee food and joy for your winter eyes!
I went on the hunt and found these http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/gallery/2012/jan/16/winter-flowering-plants#/?picture=384360878&index=9
Have you solved your cold hands problem yet? I found some fleece gloves which I could adapt, if you still have a need. And I’m making some quilted handwarmers for pockets, which will be filled with wheat and lavender, to be heated for 2 minutes in a microwave just before you need them. Would you like some? Not for this season, as I have no lavender left, but next autumn?
🙂
One idea and you’re off!
I love the idea of hand warmers, I could pop them in my pocket.. that would be great for next winter.. my hands are, as usual, cracked and ripped up but better this year because I put the udder cream on them every night.. I have an enormous flower garden and fields of clover, then the wild flowers down at the creek, but last year we had to choose between watering the flowers and watering the veges, and the drought stopped the wild flowers in their tracks, bad year all round really.. maybe this season will be better, i might get some of your rain this summer! Now I shall pop over and read this site, it looks interesting.. thank you viv.. c
I am glad you got some answers about the bees.
As for the header image, I noticed the change immediately and I like it. You had a little fun in photo editing, didn’t you?
i thought i would go for the artsy tapestry look.. glad you like it! c
On the one hand, it’s a bitter blow to realise you may have been able to prevent the loss of your bees but on the other, thank goodness it wasn’t some killer disease or parasite that would have prevented you keeping more bees. We live and learn.
I cannot completely rule out a parasite or disease, but all the dead bodies are whole, there is no sign of illness in the comb, except they over built at one point and I had to tear comb apart to divide the frames, however it is good to have a problem I can fix .. c
Never give up! It is a bad year for bees. I have a feeling our bees may encounter the same fate this winter. Nothing to do but install new packages and try again. I love the new header. Too bright? Absolutely not. If you got it, flaunt it!
I like Vivin’s idea. Maybe some more flowering plants to help. I love a good reason to plant more flowers.
It is sad that the bees have gone, but it will make you an even better keeper next time.
The header is wonderful.
Is the background black in memory of the bees?
When you’re feeling better about it all, I look forward to a tiled background with the peacock colours repeated again and again. (I have just added the catkins to mine in this way)
xx