Picture this: your bees are kicking ass! They are growing their numbers like crazy and foraging, making and storing honey & pollen like there's no tomorrow! So much so, that you end up adding 2 or more honey supers on! What a dream come true! You inspect regularly and all seems to be well! That is, until your area hits its "nectar dearth" and your bees, along with thousands of wild honeybees and wasps are all scrounging around trying to find something, anything to eat. Nectar dearth simply means the time of year when all the flowers and grasses begin to die back and the trees are far past blooming, which means there is very little food to forage.

 

Luckily for your bees, they are just scrounging for extra nectar and pollen as they are full to the brim! Then tragedy strikes, all that honey & pollen your bees have been working so hard to collect throughout the spring and early summer is now being stolen right from under them and they have no way of stopping it!! Very quickly, sometimes in just the matter of a weeks span, every last drop of honey, every last spec of pollen and every last larva is eaten out of the hive.

 

Now if your poor queen hasn't been eaten by a wasp or starved to death, she more than likely has taken whichever bees are left that are strong enough and has left the hive. Now all that you are left with is empty, chewed up, wax moth worm infested frames and without a healthy bee or drop of honey in sight! So, what went wrong? How could we have prevented or stopped this from happening? And that you've heard a little bit about our story, let me explain to you a little better about exactly what was happening, what factors can lead to it and how to prevent it in the future!