YJs

I lost a hive- or really, the hive lost its queen, and the worker bees got listless, and so I combined it with another. It's aggravating- I don't see cause and effect here- and its a mystery to know if there is something i could do different to have caught this sooner.

The clue I had- as its cold and I am not opening the hives to have noticed the massive drop in population that happened (and there were no dead bees)- was Yellow Jackets. Last year, one day about this time, I noticed a ton of legs and wings on the mite boards, and realized the hives were getting invaded- and I hadn't noticed. And I lost a hive then- but this year- I could see the YJs getting pushed out- and I reduced the hive entry for each, and had not problem. Except this hive.

I think the way this works is that a hive gets weak- some drop in its critical mass- and the YJs move in- they are always probing. One gets in, and then another.  Then the hive spirals down. I see them in a hive walking pretty much where they want, and assume, taking what they want.

A Yellow Jacket, unlike a bee- has no social language, though it is a social insect. So- once it finds a food source, it doesn't go back and tell its hive where it is.  It might go back and try- but apparently other YJs don't understand it- I think we all understand that frustration. They are social- but individualists- they are out on their own- and you can see this in their frenetic searching. They also like more stuff then bees- they like sugar- and meat. Like us. Or most of us. Which means, when invading a hive, they have to decide which they prefer- the head or the stomach of a bee ( I read this in a book,  I know it sounds shocking). 

In any case, in this hive, I noticed it was less active in the sunshine when it got cold- and that was after a long summer of it being a very strong hive- one of my best. So i pulled the mite board- and saw legs. And sure enough, the hive was on a downward spiral, and I hadn't noticed. 

What I wonder is if that once a YJ gets into a hive, if the Queen isn't like a delicacy- like extra protein and stuff, and not too able to defend herself- so they take her out. Then the hive really spirals down. It fits a little- as this hive was definitely queenless, without good reason. 

The other alternative is that the queen died sooner and for other reasons ( and I am pretty sure this was a hive I requeened with a stout new queen this year)- but in going through this hive, I saw it had worms (larvae I mean), thought no eggs, so she couldn't have been gone more than a week or so, and the population was half what I expected it to be- without any indication that I had noticed that it was crashing. 

But really-  I have no idea what happened. But as I am trying to be a more responsible beekeeper- and more ahead, rather than behind, the 8 ball, it makes me wonder. How can this happen? How might I notice it sooner? Is it worth worrying about?