February 8: Russians Dead: An Expensive Hobby

A few weekends ago, when it warmed up a bit, I checked the Italians and was relieved they were alive, but concerned that they were clustered at the top of the hive box. Bees work upward over the winter, eating along the way. I'm considering emergency feeding.

JANUARY 28: SNOW DAY (no work) SNOW, ICE AND WIND!!!
(20 inches of snow for January)

Let's check for damage:
On Feb. 1 (40s), I opened up the Italians to check them again. Still clustered at top so proceeded with emergency feeding. I put a shallow box on top (from the crappy plastic top feeder). Then placed a piece of newspaper on the top bars and poured about a cup of dry white sugar on it. The bees were quite angry to be disturbed and I got a few stings. The inside cover is still upside down and propped up with shims. Russians were not out and I couldn't hear any buzzing but I wasn't too concerned. It wasn't that warm out.

Today it was very spring-like, in the low 50s. The Italians were flying about. I opened them up and put in some more sugar. Then I realized the Russians were not out. That was odd, considering the temperature. They should be taking some cleansing flights.

I opened up the Russian and discovered that they were all dead!! How disappointing! They were so strong all summer long. I am very sad. My bees are like pets to me. Sometimes, I wonder why I've picked this hobby. I must be doing something wrong.

Autopsy:
I examined the dead bees and there were many with their entire bodies stuck down into the cells with there little butts sticking out. It almost looked like the cluster had broken up to feed and then been struck dead all at the same time. There was plenty of honey so I don't think they could have starved to death.

What next? I decided to rob the dead and feed the poor.

I moved the top super of 10 frames of honey to the Italians (hoping that the Russians didn't die from a disease) . I wrapped up the next 10 frames and stuck them in the freezer. I gathered up a lot of bees off of those frames. There were tons of dead bees in that hive. There are still 2 boxes outside. Not enough room in my freezer for more frames.