overwintering continued

[Kurt Bower]

I just ran across a study out of California which stated the following:

Beekeepers reported the following reasons for colony losses:
starvation, 32%;
weather, 29%;
fall weakness, 14%;
mites, 12%;
poor queens, 10%

I find it interesting because it parrallels with my overwintering presentation at GCBA almost perfectly. The one area I am unsure of is "weather." Why would weather be considered a colony loss reason?

Kurt

[Jacobs]

If their Spring was like ours, it may have played into the combination of mites causing weak hives going into Winter. The smaller population in the hive over Winter died out as the Winter extended into traditional Spring days and delayed pollen/nectar availability for Spring build up. Before the queen could get going, the older population diminished below the number critical to survivability. This is the pattern I think I saw in about 4 of my hives.

(These were the ones below threshold for mite treatment in August and did not get treatment. I saved 3 with brood from a strong hive and 1 that crashed too early provided a queen for a friend's queenless hive.)

Just my best guess about the role of weather.