Do Not Save These Bees!
As a passionate beekeeper, it pains me to say this, but sometimes the best thing you can do for a struggling bee colony is to let it die and not save the bees. In this blog post, I'm going to explain the difficult decision I've made to allow a drone-laying queen colony in my apiary to perish over the winter and why you may want to consider a similar approach in certain situations.
The Challenges of a Drone-Laying Queen
The colony I'm referring to has a classic case of a drone-laying queen. This means the queen is no longer able to lay fertile eggs that will develop into worker bees. Instead, she can only lay unfertilised eggs that will hatch into male drones. Without any new worker bees being produced, this colony is doomed to dwindle away to nothing over the coming months.
Now, you might be thinking, "But shouldn't you do everything in your power to save the colony?" And that's a completely understandable reaction. As beekeepers, our instinct is to nurture and protect our bee populations. However, in this particular case, trying to "save" the colony would actually do more harm than good as the ratio of drones to workers is far too high.
The Risks of Intervention
There are a couple of options I could pursue to try and salvage this colony, but each of them comes with significant drawbacks:
Adding a Mated Queen: Introducing a new, mated queen to the colony could theoretically get it back on track. However, I don't have any spare mated queens available at the moment. The only way I could obtain one would be to steal it from another healthy hive, which would then cause that other colony to collapse. Also, the ratio of drones to workers is so high, even a mated queen wouldn't be able to save them this late in the year (October) without adding extra brood from another colony, which is risky at this time of the year as you could squish the queen by rolling her.
Shaking Out the Bees: I could try shaking all the bees out of this colony and allowing them to join other, stronger hives nearby. But the problem is, this colony is in such poor shape that the bees would likely be rejected or even killed by the other colonies. There's also a risk that some of the bees could inadvertently bring in diseases or pests that could then spread to the healthy hives. In addition, leaving the existing frames open to robbing bees, could spread further disease within the apiary.
Given these risks, I've made the difficult decision to simply let this colony die off naturally over the winter. It's a harsh choice, but one that I believe is ultimately the best course of action, both for the health of my apiary and for the long-term sustainability of my beekeeping operation. This is what would happen in nature to a colony where the queen had failed late in the season. I am just allowing a managed demise in order to mitigate the risk of robbing and the spread of disease.
The Dangers of a Failing Colony
You might be wondering, "Why not just let the colony die on its own? What's the harm in that?" Well, I am allowing the bees die off on their own. They are free to fly at the moment but as soon as it becomes too cold to fly, I will close the entrance to isolate the bees inside the hive and they will then perish naturally (just the same way they would if the entrance was open). The problem is that a failing colony can pose a significant threat to the rest of your hives. As the colony dwindles, the remaining bees become increasingly unable to defend their home from robbing bees.
If disease exists within the hive, this can lead to the spread of diseases and pests, such as American Foulbrood and European Foulbrood, which can devastate an entire apiary if left unchecked. Additionally, the dead and decaying bees in the hive can attract pests like wax moths, which can then spread to other colonies.
By proactively managing this failing colony and allowing it to die off, I'm minimising the risk of these issues spreading to my other hives. It's a tough decision, but one that I believe is necessary to protect the overall health and productivity of my apiary. As responsible beekeepers, we must do everything in our power to prevent the potential spread of disease.
The Importance of Apiary Management
Effective apiary management is crucial for any beekeeper, whether you're running a small backyard operation or a large commercial enterprise. Part of that management involves regularly assessing the health and viability of each individual colony, and making tough decisions when necessary.
You could argue that I should have spotted this failing queen earlier in the season and if found earlier, I could have added a new mated queen and boosted the number of worker bees by sharing some capped brood from an adjacent colony. This would have likely saved the colony from entering this state. However, in it's current state, the colony is simply too far gone, and the risks of trying to "save" it outweigh any potential benefits.
By letting this colony die off, I'm freeing up resources (both in terms of time and materials) that I can then redirect towards strengthening my other, healthier hives. This will ultimately make my entire apiary more resilient and productive in the long run. In the winter, I will clean and sterilise these hives and frames before they are reused.
The Bigger Picture: Sustainable Beekeeping
Of course, the decision to let a colony die is never an easy one, and it's not one that I take lightly. As beekeepers, we have a deep emotional connection to our bees, and it can be heart breaking to watch a colony fail like this, especially if it's your only colony of bees!
However, I believe that in order to be truly sustainable and successful in the long term, we need to be willing to make tough choices like this when necessary. By prioritising the overall health and resilience of our apiaries, we can ensure that we're able to continue supporting healthy, thriving bee populations for years to come.
And that's ultimately what this is all about – not just saving individual colonies, but ensuring the long-term viability of our apiaries (and local feral bees) as a whole. By taking a proactive, strategic approach to apiary management, we can play a vital role in protecting these crucial pollinators and the ecosystems they support.
Conclusion: A Difficult but Necessary Decision
I know that my decision to let this drone-laying queen colony die may be controversial, and I respect that others may have a different perspective. But for me, it's the right call – both for the health of my apiary and for the broader cause of sustainable beekeeping.
If you're a beekeeper facing a similar situation, I encourage you to carefully assess the risks and benefits, and make the decision that you believe is best for the long-term wellbeing of your bees and your operation. It's never an easy choice, but sometimes, the kindest thing we can do is to let a colony go.
If you'd like to learn more about my approach to beekeeping, be sure to check out my YouTube channel and website. And if you're interested in supporting my work, consider joining our Discord community, purchasing queen bees or bee nucs, or becoming a channel member.
Thanks for reading, and happy beekeeping! If you enjoyed the blog, now you can watch the video below! I've also added a couple of extra videos for you to show how I deal with drone layers at different stages throughout the season
Do Not Save The Bees (not worth saving)
Save The Bees (by shaking them out)
Save The Bees (by adding a mated queen)
Save The Bees (by merging the colonies)
This is well written. I too, have made this decision with a colony in my yard. It's hard to let them go, but I know it's what is best. My other delema is a colony that a skunk kept visiting every few nights and ate a large amount of bees before I noticed. The colony is very small and I'm not sure what to do with them. I moved them into a 5 frame nuc for now. We are approaching winter here. I could let them die out, because I don't think they have enough bees to make it. Or, I could put them over a stronger hive with a double screen boardand let them share the heat. Decisions, Decisions.…