When To Give Up on a Struggling Hive

You've worked hard, spent money, and maybe made a bit of honey, but now your hive looks terrible. There aren't many bees, the wax moths are starting to move in, and robber bees are stealing what honey is left. When is it time to give up on a hive instead of trying to save it?

The graph above is designed to help you with that decision. Whether a hive is worth saving or not depends a bit on the time of year and the history of the hive. As you can see on the chart, a hive with 3 frames of bees going into winter has virtually no chance of survival. However, a hive with 3 frames of bees in early spring has a decent shot at survival.

Any time of year, there are some critical elements to consider when deciding whether a hive is worth saving.

1. Is the queen healthy, young, and laying well? If your queen is a year old or more, has a poor brood pattern, and isn't laying much when seasonally she should be, it's going to be tough to save the hive as it’s already weak.

2. How long has your hive been weak? What's the history of the hive? If you split two weeks ago, then give them some time to grow. But if they've been at two or three frames of bees for months, something is clearly wrong and it's time to combine them.

3. Are mite levels low? If mites are high, then hives will struggle to grow.

You've determined your hive isn't worth saving. Now what?

You essentially have two options.

1. Combine your weak hive with a stronger hive. Read How to Combine Beehives

2. Dispose of the hive and save the comb. If your hive has very little to no brood and only a few frames of bees as winter is approaching, or if your hive has a high mite load, it is better to dispose of the hive and store the comb than combine it with a stronger hive and risk spreading mites and disease.

To dispose of the hive without spreading disease, put the deep box in a trash bag and place it in a freezer for one day. This will kill the bees and any wax moth or small hive beetle eggs or larvae. Then shake the dead bees out of the comb and store the comb in Para-Moth or Certan.

Note: Alternatively, you can simply shake the bees off and they will migrate to another colony—but only if you trust that they will not spread disease.

You can reuse the comb to start a new hive next year. Preserving the comb is critical, as it is one of the most valuable aspects of the hive. Starting over next year will be much easier and faster with drawn comb!

It is always disappointing and frustrating to lose bees, but you are not alone—the national average loss rate is nearly 50%, even for commercial beekeepers. Learn from mistakes and try again!