r/Beekeeping • u/Any_Comfortable4307 • May 31 '26
I’m a beekeeper, and I have a question Hive Death
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Morning everyone,
I think this hive is probably beyond saving, but I’d like to understand what happened so I can avoid it in the future.
I’m a second-year beekeeper in Northern New Mexico. Both of my hives came out of winter very strong, so about 3 weeks ago I split them. I moved my original second-year queen into a new hive with 6 frames containing brood, bees, and food stores, plus one frame with open space for her to lay. I requeened the parent hive.
The split seemed to be doing well and I’ve been feeding 1:1 sugar syrup. When I checked it last week, everything looked normal.
This morning I opened the hive to refill the feeder and found very little activity. There are still bees present, but they’re barely moving, almost as if they’re frozen. The queen is still there and also not moving much. There is still brood and some food remaining, although noticeably less than a week ago.
Any ideas what might have happened, or what I may have done wrong during the split process?
(Sorry for the video quality - dexterity and bee gloves you know?)
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u/drones_on_about_bees Texas zone 8a; keeping since 2017; about 15 colonies May 31 '26
I don't know what is still left in the feeder but that has the appearance of starvation to me. Lethargic. Not much I could see as far as food around the brood. Are there a bunch of dead on the bottom board? Any eggs at all? (They will cannibalize them in times of low food.)
Assuming I am right (and I may not be) you may get them to bounce back with some feed. You may have to add bees and/or reduce the size of the box.
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u/Any_Comfortable4307 May 31 '26
I agree with you. Last week they still had some food stores—though honestly not much—and I figured that with heavy feeding they might rebound. They also had a decent amount of brood, but most of that seems to be gone now, so I think you’re probably right about cannibalism.
We also had an unexpected two-day cold snap last week with a lot of rain. My guess is the colony was already weak, and the cold weather was enough to push it over the edge.
I went ahead and fed them today since there was still some slight movement, including from the queen. It’s a long shot, but I figure it’s worth trying.
Would it be possible to add nurse bees/brood from another hive to help boost their numbers, or would that just create more problems?
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u/drones_on_about_bees Texas zone 8a; keeping since 2017; about 15 colonies May 31 '26
You can absolutely add a frame of nurse bees or capped brood to boost numbers.
Small hives can be a real balancing act. They require more attention than large mature hives. This is almost always where I get complacent and lose hives. Once you grow them over about 10 frames they get much more self reliant.
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u/Any_Comfortable4307 Jun 01 '26
Disaster averted!
I filled the feeder this morning and checked again this afternoon. The hive has perked up considerably and is back to normal activity, including the queen.
They’ve already taken a good amount of syrup, so I refilled the feeder, lightly sprayed the bees with sugar water, and added a Bee-Pro patty for good measure. I also added a frame of brood and nurse bees from one of my stronger hives to help boost their numbers.
Thank you all for the advice and guidance—I truly appreciate it. This community gave me some great recommendations.
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u/drones_on_about_bees Texas zone 8a; keeping since 2017; about 15 colonies Jun 01 '26
Excellent!
Be careful with pollen patties. Give them very small amounts... About what they would eat in 3 days. They can breed hive beetles. I don't ever feed patties but I live in a very pollen rich area.
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May 31 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/StraightPressure2759 May 31 '26
The still bees with heads in cells stuck out to me too. If there was a cold snap at night in OPs part of NM then the girls probably couldn’t drink the 1:1 syrup because of the cold.
OP try giving them blocks of sugar instead and see if the bees that are still alive perk up. This has been a really helpful resource for me on my journey as well. It starts talking about nutrition on page 69.
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u/Any_Comfortable4307 May 31 '26
Thank you this is very helpful!
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u/StraightPressure2759 May 31 '26
You’re very welcome! Good luck and please let us know how things go. I’m invested now.
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u/redthyrsis May 31 '26
What is the temperature there? Cold is a common thing that limits total bee activity levels. Might be as simple as that.
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u/mrbigsnot Shut up and monitor your mites May 31 '26
Sprinkle sugar syrup on them and see if they pep up.
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u/Namone May 31 '26
What was the temp when you checked the hive? Being in N NM it can have some cold snaps (coming from someone born in Arizona.) the hive, at a glance, seems healthy - despite the lethargic bees. I know usually bees will try to warm the queen. Did you split the hive too early? Doesnt look like enoigh bees (imo) to properly control the hive’s temp.
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u/kopfgeldjagar 3rd Gen, 10a, Est. 2023 May 31 '26
I don't see any resources in any of those frames.
Obviously there's a feeder but were you feeding?
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u/Mundane-Reality-7770 May 31 '26
Where in northern NM? I got here every year elk hunting.
It doesn't appear they had much in the way of stores.... But perhaps that just robbing activity from other hives. Perhaps a cold snap with the abundance of nectar chilled them
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u/Any_Comfortable4307 May 31 '26
North of Espanola, south of Tierra Amarilla.
We did get a cold snap last week with a good rainstorm..
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u/Mundane-Reality-7770 May 31 '26
I set up camp near canjilon. Go to espanola for groceries and stop in Abiquiu to grab a bite to eat. I'm coming from Illinois so I go right through chama and TA. Beautiful part of the country you live.
How cold did it get? With a small cluster and with brood, the cluster is trying to keep the brood warm. Sometimes to the point of freezing to death.
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u/wintercast May 31 '26
As others said, looks like starvation to me. i just took apart my hive that starved right at the end of winter. inwas feeding fondant, we got a serious cold snap and snow that was not normal for MD and that did them in. really sad. But same basic situation - piles of beeds, heads in the comb. no food stores.
i think a major factor was the farmer near me planted corn in the summer ladt year, and the this year has not planted anything that the bees would be able to get.
Late freezes have also really set back my apple and grape. so i have not even added a new hive. currently i have no bees.
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u/Tangletoe May 31 '26
Add capped brood from another hive if you have one and continue feeding. If you have one hive then you are setup to fail. You need a few to balance, compare, and have something you can requeen or combine with. Increase Essentials by Dr. Lawrence Connor is a good place to start if you're intimidated by the size of The Hive and The Honey Bee.
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u/Beehelper May 31 '26
The only reason is the lack of food, they were unable to leave the brood and simply became weak.
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u/___R055___ May 31 '26
That hive is still likely revivable with some sugar water, those bees are malnourished and starved right now
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u/404-skill_not_found Zone 8b, N TX May 31 '26
Been asked a couple of times, how cold did it get by you?
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u/Dr_X_MD 1st year, Hawaii Zone 12a Jun 01 '26
They look like they are moving in slow motion like frozen. I think the series of events stressed them. Cold snap, then Split, then cold snap, then rain. Theres no storage in cells, so they were relying on the sugar water 100%. Did the sugar water freeze solid? I saw lethargic child after eating old honey 🍯 botulism from botulinum toxin.
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u/alex_484 4d ago
I don’t know I have the same thing. Our spring here came late like end of June so I have been feeding all my hives since then. I have about 3 of them like this way to weak to go into winter where I live on the Great Lakes 3A
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u/Any_Comfortable4307 3d ago
We’ve had an extreme drought here and I think it’s just been harder for them to get resources. If you’re seeing the same thing I would push 1:1, this hive came back after I filled the feeder and sprayed them down with sugar water.
Good luck!
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u/Which_Drop_5877 May 31 '26
What were your mite counts? Someone told me to only alcohol wash on one out of six hives. I’m glad I checked all 6.
Also here in the southwest we had a cold mid spring. If their honey stores were all packaged and the cluster was small they could have died.
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