My bees are not strong. I have 2 hives, very weak and limping through the fall.

I am concerned that they will not winter at all. I have been feeding 2:1 sugar and have begun the winterizing, shime for feeding through the winter and wraps and foam insulation on the inner cover.

One hive is only in one medium super. The other is in 2 mediums.

I requeened in early summer and they did not thrive as I had hoped.

Do you have any advice for wintering these struggling hives?

My first question is, what was your varroa count and when did you test and treat last. That is almost always the culprit for hives not thriving. What did the brood pattern look like? Did you see spotty brood and maybe deformed wings on bees? I would definitely test/treat them now if the varroa count is above 3 per 100.

Feeding helps if food is the problem. If the problem is something else, it doesn’t matter how much food you throw at them. The smaller hive is hard put to have enough bees to cluster and keep warm. Single mediums have overwintered if they are nice and healthy. But, my fear is they are small because they are not healthy.

I think you should consider combining the two hives also. But, if the smaller one has a high varroa count, that could cause the combined hive to fail entirely, so it comes back to varroa.

Please let me know what you see as far as varroa symptoms. –Grace

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