Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum
BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => DISEASE & PEST CONTROL => Topic started by: FloridaGardener on May 27, 2019, 02:06:06 pm
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Would love opinions. My hopeful diagnosis is SHB combined with 100 degree temps and not enough bees to cover the brood. Hopefully NOT afb or fungal issue.
New colony in a 10 frame med with 7 partial frames of white wax. Was split on May 3, 2019, then put in an outfield to stop driftback.
So...low on brood, high on field bees, laying queen, we've been in a flow all the time. (Privet > mimosa > palmetto > popcorn). When I checked last week, I saw edge of broodnest, but it did not look dark & sick. It was looking honeybound, so I planned to harvest today and put in empty comb. (May 27, 2019). So I brought the hive back to my yard.
Now: very few bees, which is natural if the broodnest was so small and older bees died off. Tiny ants getting in. Queen is ok, I pulled and caged her. Saw an egg in this pic up close.
Brood nest has pierced cappings, moldy inside empty cells, darkened cells, but capped cells not contaning "ropy slime" when pulled with match head. There's tiny SHB larvae wiggling in the darkened cells. Only a few cappings are sunken, these contained larvae, so contents might've been eaten away. No bad smell yet, but it doesn't smell sweet and beesy either.
We had super high temps last few days. With not enough bees to fan, did this brood cook? Or do I have a serious fungal infection here and need to call the apiary inspector?
- Thanks for your input
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Another frame
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Now: very few bees,
What is very few bees exactly? 100? 300? 1000?
The only way a small hive can survive is in a small space with resources added.
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If it's not ropy, then it's not AFB. It died after it was capped so it's not EFB. Maybe chilled brood? Parafoulbrood? Not a fungal infection. What did the larvae look like under the caps?
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Do they come out whole it looks like sac brood sbv
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Number of bees:
2 weeks ago: 1000
Last week: 500
Final day: 50
This rapid decline could be due to bees' age, being low on brood from the beginning, plus backfilled nectar and pollen, and no room to lay. Or... some awful disease. Glad it doesn't appear fungal.
Pupae are either like blobs or sludge. But not gooey or ropey. And no stink.
Scary to see pierced & sunken cappings.
Did not get cold. It has been 90-100 degrees here daytime and 75 to 80 at night.
Queen did not survive with a few nurse bees last night.
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One more thought: Could it be a deadout from pesticide drift?
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My guess is badly mated queen.
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If it was a poorly mated queen, half of the brood would bee fine. You would see it as very spotty brood pattern. Half of the eggs, the ones that only have the queens genes, are removed from the cells by the bees. The other half, the ones that have half of the queens genes and calf of her fathers genes, are perfectly viable and will reach full development.
Jim Altmiller
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You might enjoy this link
https://www.ars.usda.gov/is/np/honeybeediseases/honeybeediseases.pdf