Kitty Hive RIP
Alas, the fear I had this past fall has been realized, the Kitty Hive has failed. The above photo is the last one I have of the hive alive. On January 1, I could hear some activity in the hive, but I have put my ear up to Kitty twice in the last two weeks and both times the hive has been silent. I had hoped it was just that they were tucked deep inside, but today we got confirmation. Mr. Neil checked the hives this afternoon and with the warm weather, the Olga hive was dumping out dead bees and pooping. The snow around her hive was completely melted. Kitty was silent with no visible activity and the snow was not melted around the hive. He opened the roof, looked in and found all bees inside to be dead (on the upside, that's not Colony Collapse Disorder).I think it all started with my mistake of preventing the swarm, that led to a late requeening and having too few bees to keep the hive warm for the winter. Sigh.
We expected complete failure our first year, and were pleased as punch that we got as far as we did this fall, including harvesting a wee bit of honey from Olga. But, I still feel bad and will miss our girls. After all, they were the ones who I installed after my initial panic and unlike Olga, none of us have ever been stung by a Kitty bee.
I also got some of my best photos from the Kitty Hive. I loved the above shot of all the Kitty workers coming to lap up a river of honey that surged down a frame when I accidentally opened some cells. Kitty, you taught me lots. I'm sorry we couldn't keep you through the winter.Labels: beekeeping, bees
posted by birdchick at 5:47 PM
24 Comments:
I'm very sad that the hive named after me, and your friend, has died. We can't wait to hear about new bee adventures next year.
Oh. I feel as if we have lost a friend. However we have even more to look forward to come spring.
And you have a great attitude about it all. You rock!
It is sad to hear about the Kitty Hive, I knew absolutely nothing about bee keeping until your blog. I've learned a lot! You did the best you could and the future will bring you better luck!
Well, that sucks out loud. I'm sorry, Sharon.
I've learned so much about bees from you and your trials. It's too bad the learning curve sometimes involves a total hive die-off.
I'm sure that Hallmark doesn't have a card for this. But they should.
I agree - you have a great attitude about it, especially since you didn't know if either would work. It was fun reading about too. I've learned so much since my friend "stumbled upon" your blog a few years ago! And I concur with SGN - hallmark should have a card for this!
I'm very sorry to hear about Kitty. I learned so much just reading about your adventures with them. I, like the others, wish that there was a card for this.
My condolences
I'm sorry that the hive failed. This is the exact reason you started two hives, right? Still it's a major bummer.
Are you going to re-stock the hive? I hope so! Bring on Kitty II!!
p.s. Reading your blog and the bee entries helped me to WIN a local quiz night. Everybody LOOKED at me so weird (and with admiration) when I knew that the answer to one of the questions was propolis.
"How did you know THAT?"
I'm so sorry that the Kitty hive bees didn't make it through the winter. I'm glad the Olga hive bees are doing well.
That is so sad!
My sympathy to you on the loss of the Kitty Hive. May Olga continue to thrive!
I'm so sorry Sharon. Even though you thought that the hives might not make it through the winter, it must be such a disappointment for you now to find out Kitty has failed. Spring will bring new hope for you and your hives.
Oh, it's always so sad to lose a hive, even though you tell yourself that these things happen.
I can never hear my bees inside their hives in the winter, so there could be a small chance that Kitty is still alive. Bees are pretty amazing creatures - my hives got knocked over by malicious humans twice this winter, and both hives survived days of exposure to below-freezing temperatures. I'm not sure if both hives will live through to spring, but at least one had activity a couple weeks ago. (Yay!)
When one of my hives dies, I simply split the other in two by moving one of its hive bodies onto the base of the other hive, then putting the two empty hive bodies from the dead hive on top of the two live hive bodies. Just check the frames to make sure each hive has at least one queen cell that could be turned into a queen. (I keep Russians, so they make queen cells all the time. I don't know if Italians are as good about this.)
My bees have been good about raising up a new baby queen in the hive that doesn't have one. I've done this twice with good success both times.
Of course, you can always buy and install a new package if you prefer. :)
If you got honey from Olga in her first year, that means you've got a very strong queen in your surviving hive. That's great news!
Condolences from SoCal.
BTW, I'm kinda embarrassed to mention this, but I still have the honeycomb that you gave me in October. It's still edible, right? Was it from Kitty?
I am so sorry to hear about the Kitty Hive- I have looked forward to every update about your hives since I first followed the link from Mr. Neil's.
I'm so sad to hear that the Kitty hive has failed. I was entranced by your bee stories all summer and the Kitty hive was always my favorite.
aw, man, Sharon... Well, at least Olga's still rockin' it. GOod luck with the upcoming year's hives!
Thank you to everyone! I really appreciate the words of encouragement and condolences--10 times better than any card that Hallmark could come up with.
Amy - LOL! Don't worry about not eating the honey--it's still good! Once it's capped, it can last for years.
Oh! And the honey is from the Olga hive.
I'm not sure what we're gonna do with the honey that's in Kitty. Even though I'm sure the Kitty bees died of too few bees to keep the hive warm, there's a small amount that something else went on and don't want to risk giving it to Olga. Perhaps more honey for us?
We've made the decision to just start with a whole another colony and do a Kitty II.
Ahh sorry to hear that. About Kitty, hopefully the swarm that left made, and the line at least continued.
:-(
I can't believe I was so heartbroken to read about the sad fate of Kitty's hive. Well, at least Olga's pulled through! Poor Neil, he must be heartbroken! Give him a hug for us!
This is most suckful news.
After 40+ years I still mourn hives that fail, whether that be(e) winter or summer. You need to spread your emotional commitment across more hives. The key is having twice as many colonies as you think you should and about 20% more than you can handle or have equipment for. One colony is fun but laying on the ground in front of 15 on a hot summer day is a high only beekeepers can appreciate.
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