We had a cold snap where the temperature went down to -7. After that there was only silence in the hive. I think the cluster was too small to sustain enough warmth.
I had checked the hive a couple of weeks before to make sure that it had enough food, and it looked as if they had enough stores.
It's really discouraging to see boxes full of honey, but no bees left because of viruses.
I will do a post-mortem today. Perfect spring weather.
I
got a robbing screen for Christmas, and I'll make sure to use it when
doing the mite treatments. I think that's part of the reason for the
small cluster. I'm going to use it as a template for making another one.
I have placed orders for a couple of packages so I can try again this spring. Hopefully I have learned enough to help them fight off the mites and viruses this year.
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