a damaged hive

16 years ago

I have noticed a wild bee hive in an old tree in my adjoining field over the past 10 years or more.

Today I see that it has fallen down into the hollow trunk and the bees are crawling over it.

Is there any hope for them (it is below zero now) ?

Is it possible that not all of the hive has collapsed and that they will be able to soldier on in what remains?

Is it out of the question for them to construct new living quarters at such short notice and in the conditions at present?

If they just die will there be any honey in what has fallen to the bottom of the tree? (actually maybe I will give that a miss seeing as they are situated in the middle of a wild rhododendron grove which I understand gives poisonous honey....)

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Comments (3)

Konrad___far_north
16 years ago
Well...guess nobody could help you, it was too late in the season
to do anything very helpful, now with longer day light and warmer
weather you probably can see if something has survived.

Konrad
lucyfretwell
Original Author
16 years ago
About 2 or 3 weeks ago I no longer noticed the bees coming out in the warm weather and feeding (?) on the damaged fallen part of the hive.
At the same time I saw that the fallen hive was broken up by something (the surviving bees?, another animal?)
I suspect that the part of the hive that had not fallen down either did so or that the bees decided to move on and ate the hive when they left.
If so I hope they may have found somewhere not too far away to start a new colony....
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Konrad___far_north
16 years ago
It's hard to say what really happened, a broken up hive end of December
in your climate is most likely to be succumbed to the elements, some bee activity still remain in
warm whether for several weeks until all honey is robbed by other bees or animals.
I don't think the hive [with the queen] could find another home this late
in the season, it's possible that some bees found home in other hives.

Konrad