Odd that you should mention this. I lost my only colony of British Black Bees to the cold and several members of my natural beekeeping group have lost as much as 60% of their colonies. However one bee supplier up in Scotland has reported one of his customers who had over 730 hives was left with 12.
My bees didn't die from varroa mite either. They died because of food shortage caused not by me exploiting them as I never removed any honey from them. They died because there was a false dawn of spring which prompted a sudden brood building phase which meant they used the last of their reserves. This was sadly followed by a returning very cold snap. Unwilling to risk chilling my solitary colony I didn't open the hive and subsequently I missed the indications of a shortage of food for them. When I did open the hive to feed them on the recommendation of the NBU (National Bee Unit) it was already too late.
I am hopeful that when June arrives I will have 4 replacement colonies but already it is looking very doubtful as to whether e supplier will have sufficient to fulfill the order.
Kev C
James Pavitt <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>Perhaps I'm feeling climate-sensitive at the moment. Last week we discovered that five out of our six bee-hives have died. There is no evidence of varoa, we don't live anywhere near farms using neo-nicotinoids and we don't use any pesticides ourselves.
>
>The bees died because of the weather.
>
>Our bee-keeper expert of 40 years experience has never seen anything like it - out of 140 hives he has less than 50 left, and they are in a very poor condition.
>
>
>On 8 Apr 2013, at 08:38, James Pavitt <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>> Yes.
>>
>> Or this
>>
>> http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/apr/07/science-behind-britain-coldest-easter
>>
>> Or this
>>
>> http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/04/07/uk-angola-floods-idUKBRE9360D020130407
>>
>> Or this
>>
>> http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-22049998
>>
>> Or this
>>
>> http://www.livescience.com/28489-sandy-after-six-months.html
>>
>> Perhaps Delingbole's little hissy-fit smacks of desperation.
>>
>> Best wishes,
>>
>> James
>>
>>
>>
>> On 8 Apr 2013, at 07:58, Kevin Coleman <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>
>>> I wonder how delingbore and his friends will explain this little problem?
>>>
>>> http://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/312-16/16844-why-1600-years-of-ice-melting-in-25-years-is-a-bad-omen
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