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”
At least you know what went wrong and will be able to do things differently next time…a hard lesson.
Is it not possible to feed diluted honey instead of the sugar water? Better luck next ime, but your extreme weather conditions must make it more difficult! Laura
It’s a huge responsibility holding all those wee lives in your hands, but you’re right of course, all we can do is learn by our mistakes. Man has been learning by his mistakes for thousands of years.
As far as your header goes – WONDERFUL! We all need some colour at this time of year (Well, in the northern hemisphere at least!)
Christine
Don’t be so hard om yourself Celi. Lessons learned….. You’re wiser now and the Farmy will benefit from it.
Wow! Love the header, c. Great photos today, too. Looking forward to May when the new bees arrive. Onward and upward.
I just ordered 2 x 3 pound bees plus their queens and they can be picked up in april! even better! i hope we have a lovely warm spring.. c
Excellent! I feel like a grandmother waiting for new babies to arrive! And yes, please, warm weather. Soon.
Soon – soon..
Such a shame, but as you say this is how we learn. And we never stop learning (please god). Love the header, it’s stunning!
I love the new header. And it is great to be able to look a mistake in the face and learn from it. I have to say, we’ve made some real howlers and it smarts, but we haven’t made the same mistakes twice — we’re pretty good at finding all new ones! Thanks for sharing this so fearlessly with us.
I think if you can say I made this mistake and I will own it then it is almost impossible to make that mistake again, all things being equal, but if we blame other people or other circumstances then we give away our control of the given situation then we are bound to make the mistake over and over.. lets hope I keep ahead of it next time.. c
I’m so glad you know what happened to the bees. I’m sure the next hives will thrive under your protective knowledge. Love the new header Celi! And of course I absolutely love the pictures of the animals. Warms my heart!
The animals were in a posing mood.. i love the one of daisy with her eyes closed, having a standing nap! morning karista..c
So sorry about the bees. Yes, I do like your new header, a lot. Good luck with the new hives.
I understand your feelings about your bees…..I too learn from your mistakes as would any bee keeper! So glad you won’t be giving up on keeping bees. Do you know how to capture a swarm or remove a hive from an unwanted location? If you can do either of those you can get FREE bees to start your new hives. If I lived closer I’d help you with this – it’s how I’ve gotten all of my bees. I’ve never paid for a hive or a queen. Lucky me…I’ve been watching and listening to see if mine have survived. Of course the true test is opening the hive on a warm day later this month or early in March. I did feed quite a long time into the winter even though our winters aren’t nearly as cold as yours we do have the drought problem and warm weather into October and November which I sometimes think confuses my girls. Good luck with the next go round – you’ll be a step ahead having learned from your mistake. Nature….gotta embrace it.
i definitely did not feed for long enough, and yes i can capture a swarm but have only ever had to capture my own! I have never heard of any around here.. that would be a great way to get some.. c
If you know how to capture a swarm you should give your number to the sheriff’s dept.,police or extension agent and let them give it the people who call them wanting to know what to do with a swarm. then you can just set up a hive body and put them in…they’ll do the rest! It’s a very satisfying way to start your own hives.
The peacock’s color is so bright and cheery it will make the bees look for pollen in those feathers.You know, I have heard that the pioneer women that first settled the prairies brought canaries with them–not for the song but for the color in drab winter.
canaries do have beautiful bright colours too. One day I think I would like a real parrot, one of the brightly coloured ones, that would be awesome, it could ride around on my shoulder and swear at the dogs!.. c
Here am I denying ownership of more mistakes than you can imagine. If only I’d realised a few “mea culpa”‘s would have helped sort it. Glad you’ve worked out how to fix the hives. Sounds as though it’s going to be a long haul. Kupa pictures look wonderful.
Yes, a bit of work ahead of me.. ah well .. At least it is doable.. c
((hugs)) I am very, very good at this particular method of learning. Mostly because I’m very, very good at making mistakes. Often. The older I get, the less it chafes when it happens, though. (Thank goodness.) Here’s to a better bee winter, next year!
farming is like that, we often say, Ah well, maybe next year.. eternal optimists! c
I love your header! That effect is very painterly. So sorry about your bees, but next year will be better.
Love the color! Kupa has the right idea…we need beauty and color in our lives and looking at his feathers is a great help!
Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com
http://deltacountyhistoricalsociety.wordpress.com