Author Topic: Problem in the Beeyard (Read 3837 times)

Beeboy01 · « **on:** April 02, 2022, 12:23:42 pm »

Just got back from a three week road trip out to New Orleans and checked my little yard this morning. I was a little surprised to find thousands of dead bees out in front of the hives. Most looked like they had been there for about a week or longer but there were maybe a hundred or so live bees stumbling around on top of the dead ones. A quick check in the hives showed plenty of brood and bees along with one hive that had some queen cells. I couldn't see any signs of dwarf wing virus or "K" wings on the live bees out front so a virus kill isn't suspected.
I'm positive that the die off wasn't caused by a robbing event. I use screened bottom boards with trays under them and every time robbing occurs I find dead bees on the trays which wasn't the case this time. Same with a superseding event.
I'm a little puzzled about what caused the die off and am thinking that the bees got into a poison which wiped out most of the field bees which eliminated the generation of field bees who were active. It must of occurred right after I left on the road trip since the hives seem to be recovering and from my quick inspection appear to have plenty of brood and a good population of bees in the hives although they weren't as aggressive as they sometimes are during inspection. The lower aggression could also be due to younger bees in the hive who haven't gotten defensive yet.
Didn't want to waste the queen cells so did a quick split using a shallow from #1 and moved a few resources around to even things out. Beside that it looks like the season is upon me.
Any thoughts about the die off would be appreciated, not sure how I could of prevented it and I'm hoping it doesn't have any long term effect on my yard.
Thanks, Ed

The15thMember · « **Reply #1 on:** April 02, 2022, 07:59:46 pm »

I've never experienced it firsthand, thankfully, but that definitely sounds like an insecticide kill to me. How were the live bees on the dead pile acting?

TheHoneyPump · « **Reply #2 on:** April 02, 2022, 10:28:13 pm »

Agreed. As described it sure looks like someone sprayed forage nearby or perhaps even deliberately poisoned your bees while you were away.

Beeboy01 · « **Reply #3 on:** April 02, 2022, 11:59:22 pm »

HP, I'm not sure if anybody could get close enough to my hives to deliberately poison them. They are behind the workshop protected by a heavy brush and a fence. I'm thinking it was something that was sprayed in the area which the girls got into.

15thM, the few bees that were outside the hive on the dead ones acted drunk and would fall over, stumble around and couldn't fly. The brood patterns in the hives looked good and I'm hoping the hives will survive.

The15thMember · « **Reply #4 on:** April 03, 2022, 12:10:40 am »

Quote from: Beeboy01 on April 02, 2022, 11:59:22 pm

15thM, the few bees that were outside the hive on the dead ones acted drunk and would fall over, stumble around and couldn't fly.

Oh yeah, definitely a pesticide kill.

Ben Framed · « **Reply #5 on:** April 03, 2022, 01:13:52 am »

Quote from: The15thMember on April 03, 2022, 12:10:40 am

Quote from: Beeboy01 on April 02, 2022, 11:59:22 pm
15thM, the few bees that were outside the hive on the dead ones acted drunk and would fall over, stumble around and couldn't fly.
Oh yeah, definitely a pesticide kill.

Yes I think so too. This is the time of year when many plants may begin being sprayed. Maybe this happened by accident. I suspect that HP and 15th is right some type of pesticide or insecticide.

See the Topic:
"What does anyone know about...."
Started by: .30WCF July 07, 2021.
Last post by Michael Bush July 21 2021....Very interesting conversation about this sort of thing....

From another Topic:
"Dead bees".
Started by: Fishing-Nut May 08, 2020
Last post by 2Sox May 11, 2020

Quote from: van from Arkansas on May 08, 2020, 12:17:08 pm

Your hive is very likely poisoned. I had a hive, 1 out of 15 that found a particular garden and the bees died by the hundreds. Just one hive in the whole apiary. The bees acted like they were covered with hot sauce, shaking, quivering then death, there were hundreds of dead bees in front of the hive. After a few weeks, I presume the gardener quit spraying or the bloom finished as the bees stoped dying.

Quote from: iddee on May 08, 2020, 01:45:49 pm

Ditto what van said. Poison..... Cold would affect both hives. Poison, only the hive that found it.

JurassicApiary · « **Reply #6 on:** April 03, 2022, 02:18:37 am »

I have to agree--unfortunately, it sounds like someone sprayed something within foraging range. If you have any suspicions of which property, it may pay dividends to go and introduce yourself and see if they have the flexibility to spray before or after blooms, or if they must spray when blooms are present (such as they do with apples etc.), to at least give you a heads up of when they plan to and you can plan for it.

beesnweeds · « **Reply #7 on:** April 03, 2022, 09:50:56 am »

Ive been to many apiary inspectors presentations and Im surprised at how many times thousands of dead and crawling bees around a hive always turned out to be caused by a virus. The rare times it was poisoning it was by vandalism or an idiot neighbor caught on a trail cam. I would never rule out viruses until you have the bees sent to a lab. Beeboy could have a Florida inspector take a sample or contact the university of Florida, they have an excellent apiary program there.

Ben Framed · « **Reply #8 on:** April 03, 2022, 11:12:49 am »

Quote from: beesnweeds on April 03, 2022, 09:50:56 am

Ive been to many apiary inspectors presentations and Im surprised at how many times thousands of dead and crawling bees around a hive always turned out to be caused by a virus. The rare times it was poisoning it was by vandalism or an idiot neighbor caught on a trail cam. I would never rule out viruses until you have the bees sent to a lab. Beeboy could have a Florida inspector take a sample or contact the university of Florida, they have an excellent apiary program there.

Beesnweeds as usual, you make good points. What ever the problem is I hope Beeboy01 does narrow it down to the direct problem. It would be beneficial not only to him, but to us all as I feel confident he would share the revelation with us here.

Phillip

TheHoneyPump · « **Reply #9 on:** April 03, 2022, 06:41:54 pm »

A virus looks like CCD, a collapse of the colony. There may be a queen and a handful of bees left with large abandoned patches of brood. Dead bees may be a carpet out front or not seen at all, just disappeared.
A poisoning by insecticide affects the adult bees mainly. It looks like as described. Mainly the foraging force writhing out front; but a good cluster of young bees and nice healthy brood within. Mass of dead outside, thriving community inside.
A poisoning by herbicide affects the brood mainly. The poison is in the pollen being fed to delicate larvae. The adults are not much affected. It presents as a chronic condition. Stagnant growth, dwindling colony, patchy brood, and bees that just look and behave awkwardly. Strong recovery is seen by shaking the colony into a box onto new combs. Melt down the contaminated combs.

The15thMember · « **Reply #10 on:** April 03, 2022, 06:56:34 pm »

Quote from: TheHoneyPump on April 03, 2022, 06:41:54 pm

A virus looks like CCD, a collapse of the colony. There may be a queen and a handful of bees left with large abandoned patches of brood. Dead bees may be a carpet out front or not seen at all, just disappeared.
A poisoning by insecticide affects the adult bees mainly. It looks like as described. Mainly the foraging force writhing out front; but a good cluster of young bees and nice healthy brood within. Mass of dead outside, thriving community inside.
A poisoning by herbicide affects the brood mainly. The poison is in the pollen being fed to delicate larvae. The adults are not much affected. It presents as a chronic condition. Stagnant growth, dwindling colony, patchy brood, and bees that just look and behave awkwardly. Strong recovery is seen by shaking the colony into a box onto new combs. Melt down the contaminated combs.

Great information as always, HP.

Beeboy01 · « **Reply #11 on:** April 03, 2022, 08:03:28 pm »

I spent some time observing the hives today, not opening them, just watching the flight patterns and listening to them. I can smell honey being cured and there was some orientation flights in the afternoon so I'm a little more optimistic about their survival. I'm leaning to a poisoning of the field bees but need to research if the county sprayed for mosquitoes while I was gone. It's a long shot and the last time I talked to them a few years ago they said the poison that's used dissipates quickly and shouldn't be harmful to bees.
A virus could of caused the kill but the mite load in the hives should be minimal. I hit the hives with six OAV treatments over 20 days in February and had almost no mite drop during the treatment time. When I get a chance I'll do a mite count on a couple of the hives.
I'll try to get into the hives this week for a full inspection and check for queen cells.
Thanks everybody for the help and input. I'll update if find anything out of sorts or if they are looking better.

Beeboy01 · « **Reply #12 on:** April 04, 2022, 03:57:22 pm »

Here's a follow up, I picked up about a dozen freshly dead bees from out in front of the hives and inspected them with a magnifying glass. They all had their proboscis sticking out and one bee was still twitching. It's weird, I crush bees when doing an inspection with no regrets but felt sorry for that one bee. Anyways it's defiantly a poisoning of the field bees, no mites were seen on the dead ones and there was only one or two mite dropped on the trays under the screened bottom boards after 24 hours. I usually see a daily drop of around three to five mites with my hives so it's within my operating parameters.
I checked the local Volusia county mosquito control web site and the spraying map showed no spraying has occurred over the last month so that's not where the problem came from. There is a large commercial plant nursery about 1 1/2 miles from my yard along with a few small orchards in the area so I can't pinpoint where it came from. I'm loosing about twenty bees out front each day so whatever caused the major die off earlier on has dissipated.
My next move is to sweep up or wash away whatever dead bees still remain out in front of the hives in case there is a residual poison present in their bodies.
Thanks again all.

TheHoneyPump · « **Reply #13 on:** April 06, 2022, 03:44:42 pm »

Sounds like you got it figured

Have a great summer!

Beeboy01 · « **Reply #14 on:** April 06, 2022, 04:09:17 pm »

I just finished a complete inspection of the hives and most of them are a write off with no brood or queen signs. Only one hive had queen cells so it looks like the hives are pretty much a total loss. Need to report this to the bee inspector and track down some bees.
Bummer !!!

The15thMember · « **Reply #15 on:** April 06, 2022, 04:39:14 pm »

Quote from: Beeboy01 on April 06, 2022, 04:09:17 pm

I just finished a complete inspection of the hives and most of them are a write off with no brood or queen signs. Only one hive had queen cells so it looks like the hives are pretty much a total loss. Need to report this to the bee inspector and track down some bees.
Bummer !!!

Oh what a shame! Sorry to hear that.

Hopefully the bee inspector can help you figure out what happened.

Beeboy01 · « **Reply #16 on:** April 06, 2022, 05:57:20 pm »

It's water under the bridge now. Going to recoup, weed out some older equipment, get some nucs and fire the yard back up. No use looking back it's already happened and we can't turn back time. Still sitting on plenty of honey from last year so my sweet tooth is covered. In the meantime I plan to get some boating and fishing in. Back before Christmas I hauled my 21 foot CC boat out of storage, put new tires on the trailer, fired her up and cleaned about 3 years of dirt and grime off of her. Thanks to Covid and a bum knee I let her sit for a good 3 years. Now I'm am ready for some boating and fishing. She's a flat bottomed Maine Down Easter lobster work boat I've had for about 25 years and is a good friend.
Waiting for a call back from the bee inspector, maybe she would have a clue as to where the poison came from but that's a long shot.

Beeboy01 · « **Reply #17 on:** April 10, 2022, 12:29:19 pm »

Well here's a update. After a long talk with the bee inspector we were able to determine that my hives have Israeli Acute Paralysis Virus. I spent some time researching IAPV and it looks like it's highly contagious between hives because of drifting and when it is this advanced there isn't any real hope for the yard to recover. Since I still have active hives that are contagious it doesn't make sense to bring fresh hives into my bee yard and risk the almost certain infection and loss of the new hives. Both my gut and logic is telling me to shut down my yard till the virus runs it's course. It's a hard decision but I'm not replacing the lost hives this year even though I'm expecting to loose all the hives in the yard. Right now I'm not even sure if the boxes and frames are salvageable for next year.

Ben Framed · « **Reply #18 on:** April 10, 2022, 12:35:53 pm »

Beeboy I am not disputing your inspector. They see and hear many problems with bees. But still, it might not be a bad idea if she where to send samples in for testing before a hard conclusion is made? Just food for thought.

Quote

Now I'm am ready for some boating and fishing. She's a flat bottomed Maine Down Easter lobster work boat I've had for about 25 years and is a good friend.

I like that idea Beeboy01, to bad I live so far from you!

That sounds like 'live action' in the works! Have a great time and take plenty of pictures and share your experiences with us in the "OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES FORUM"! Looking forward to it!

Phillip

van from Arkansas · « **Reply #19 on:** April 10, 2022, 02:50:19 pm »

I hear/see the word "virus" frequently as to genesis of a given bee issue. This stands to reason as there are many different virus species that mimic common negative bees issues. So like I said, the word "virus" appears a lot.

The Israeli virus is serious. I am surprised the inspector was not on site with instructions and samples taken. Nor was guidance given by the inspector, at least not in the above post to identify by easy means, testing to rule out poison as a factor. Test such as exposing healthy bees to dead or dying bees in a confined area, such as a vented jar, to determine if an external poison (sevin dust) toxin, is transferable. This is easily determined by quick paralysis to healthy bees after dead bees are in confined contact. This test is dependent on time due to degradation of a toxin over time as toxins decrease in activity from; hours (pyrethrin) days (sevin) to weeks (bifenthrin) to years (DDT.)

So, from the above post, i cannot accurately determine a cause, rather several possibilities. Some not discussed.

Finally so sorry for the loss of bees. May your drag sing on your fishing reel and your plate be full with filet.

beesnweeds · « **Reply #20 on:** April 10, 2022, 04:51:45 pm »

Quote from: van from Arkansas on April 10, 2022, 02:50:19 pm

The Israeli virus is serious. I am surprised the inspector was not on site with instructions and samples taken.

I'm not surprised. Inspectors across the country see this often with the same results when samples are tested. IAPV is usually the cause to what Beeboy described and is why you hear/see the word "virus" frequently as to genesis of a given bee issue. We have been programmed to think all mass bee deaths are caused by pesticides.

The15thMember · « **Reply #21 on:** April 10, 2022, 05:12:09 pm »

Quote from: van from Arkansas on April 10, 2022, 02:50:19 pm

I hear/see the word "virus" frequently as to genesis of a given bee issue. This stands to reason as there are many different virus species that mimic common negative bees issues. So like I said, the word "virus" appears a lot.

The Israeli virus is serious. I am surprised the inspector was not on site with instructions and samples taken. Nor was guidance given by the inspector, at least not in the above post to identify by easy means, testing to rule out poison as a factor. Test such as exposing healthy bees to dead or dying bees in a confined area, such as a vented jar, to determine if an external poison (sevin dust) toxin, is transferable. This is easily determined by quick paralysis to healthy bees after dead bees are in confined contact. This test is dependent on time due to degradation of a toxin over time as toxins decrease in activity from; hours (pyrethrin) days (sevin) to weeks (bifenthrin) to years (DDT.)

So, from the above post, i cannot accurately determine a cause, rather several possibilities. Some not discussed.

Finally so sorry for the loss of bees. May your drag sing on your fishing reel and your plate be full with filet.

Mr. Van! It's good to see you posting again!

Your expertise in this area is always valuable.

Quote from: Beeboy01 on April 10, 2022, 12:29:19 pm

Well here's a update. After a long talk with the bee inspector we were able to determine that my hives have Israeli Acute Paralysis Virus. I spent some time researching IAPV and it looks like it's highly contagious between hives because of drifting and when it is this advanced there isn't any real hope for the yard to recover. Since I still have active hives that are contagious it doesn't make sense to bring fresh hives into my bee yard and risk the almost certain infection and loss of the new hives. Both my gut and logic is telling me to shut down my yard till the virus runs it's course. It's a hard decision but I'm not replacing the lost hives this year even though I'm expecting to loose all the hives in the yard. Right now I'm not even sure if the boxes and frames are salvageable for next year.

Beeboy, I'm curious about how to tell the difference between a virus and pesticide kill, since they can appear similar. How did the bee inspector determine the cause was viral and not a pesticide?

Beeboy01 · « **Reply #22 on:** April 10, 2022, 05:38:54 pm »

IAPV was identified at a low to moderate levels in my hives last year when I participated in a study so there is a smoking gun. Since I had never had to deal with it before I thought it was an acceptable low level and didn't realize how rapidly it could get out of hand. I'm putting the blame for this die off on my shoulders because I cut short two sets of OAV treatments in the late fall and early spring without performing any followup mite counts and I really should of known better.
According to the inspector to check for a poison is extremely expensive and with the short life of some of them not very accurate. Apparently a sample that was sent out for testing a few years ago cost the department a bit over five grand so they aren't performing any poison checks anymore. No matter what happens I'm not going down without a fight. I was lucky enough to have one hive with seven or eight queen cells so over the last few days I have been grafting unhatched QCs over to the queenless hives. So far it looks like the queen cells have hatched and I have started feeding the hives. Not sure if it will help because of the low number of bees in the hives but I just couldn't let the queen cells go to waste.
15th, according to the inspector a poisoning will leave dead bees piled up on the bottom boards inside the hives while IAPV has the bees leave the hive before dieing. A poisoning is also quicker and covers just a week or two with IAPV lasting as in my case almost a full month so far.

beesnweeds · « **Reply #23 on:** April 10, 2022, 06:16:45 pm »

Quote from: Beeboy01 on April 10, 2022, 05:38:54 pm

I was lucky enough to have one hive with seven or eight queen cells so over the last few days I have been grafting unhatched QCs over to the queenless hives. So far it looks like the queen cells have hatched and I have started feeding the hives. Not sure if it will help because of the low number of bees in the hives but I just couldn't let the queen cells go to waste.

And who knows? It's a long shot, but maybe those surviving bees/QCs have been exposed to the virus and will show some resistance. I would do exactly what you are doing, hang tough and work with what I have.

The15thMember · « **Reply #24 on:** April 10, 2022, 06:44:04 pm »

Quote from: Beeboy01 on April 10, 2022, 05:38:54 pm

IAPV was identified at a low to moderate levels in my hives last year when I participated in a study so there is a smoking gun. Since I had never had to deal with it before I thought it was an acceptable low level and didn't realize how rapidly it could get out of hand. I'm putting the blame for this die off on my shoulders because I cut short two sets of OAV treatments in the late fall and early spring without performing any followup mite counts and I really should of known better.
According to the inspector to check for a poison is extremely expensive and with the short life of some of them not very accurate. Apparently a sample that was sent out for testing a few years ago cost the department a bit over five grand so they aren't performing any poison checks anymore. No matter what happens I'm not going down without a fight. I was lucky enough to have one hive with seven or eight queen cells so over the last few days I have been grafting unhatched QCs over to the queenless hives. So far it looks like the queen cells have hatched and I have started feeding the hives. Not sure if it will help because of the low number of bees in the hives but I just couldn't let the queen cells go to waste.
15th, according to the inspector a poisoning will leave dead bees piled up on the bottom boards inside the hives while IAPV has the bees leave the hive before dieing. A poisoning is also quicker and covers just a week or two with IAPV lasting as in my case almost a full month so far.

Thanks for passing along that info.

van from Arkansas · « **Reply #25 on:** April 10, 2022, 07:08:14 pm »

Good luck with the queen cells as beesnweeds says,

15th, according to the inspector a poisoning will leave dead bees piled up on the bottom boards inside the hives while IAPV has the bees leave the hive before dieing. A poisoning is also quicker and covers just a week or two with IAPV lasting as in my case almost a full month so far.

I believe you BeeBoy, however the inspector did not accurately inform you. My intent is to inform you accurately to benefit your future joy of healthy bees: Poisons, toxins, act by many different modes of action and vary by considerable time frames. Some toxins, lung inhibition, works in seconds. Just imagine holding your breath. Does not take long. Contrary to toxins that inhibit digestion may take days to starve the subject. Central nervous type insecticides will work almost immediately, wasp spray is a good example whereas pyrethrin, garden spray, takes hours. So claiming dead bees on bottom board or in front of hive is not a very good single point indicator. I wished there was such an easy silver bullet.

Your inspector should have current knowledge of local beee situations such as disease by whatever. That current and local info would give a high degree of confidence to diagnosis. Are there any other local apiaries with Israeli virus loads? If the answer is no then I would keep searching for answers.

However, A previous lab test, 2021 demonstrated Israeli virus particles in the hives of concern. If APHIS was the testing agency then count as authentic results and consider problem known.

Ben Framed · « **Reply #26 on:** April 10, 2022, 07:46:22 pm »

Quote

15th, according to the inspector a poisoning will leave dead bees piled up on the bottom boards inside the hives while IAPV has the bees leave the hive before dieing. A poisoning is also quicker and covers just a week or two with IAPV lasting as in my case almost a full month so far.

There have been some good post made here by several trusted beekeepers before and after the revelation of IAPV virus in the bee yard in 2021. Including the good post by Mr Van. If this is IAPV and not poisoning, will it kill EVERY hive in the apiary? Will the virus remain in the empty confines of the dead hives? If so how long will the virus be active in these dead hive boxes and equipment even after bees are gone? Will it be in the honey? The pollen? Can the equipment be used again, if so when? If so, what is the procedure for reusing said equipment? As you can see by this post I know very little about this virus. Can survival colonies, if there are survival colonies, build immunity? What can generally be expected if this was proven to be IAPV?

van from Arkansas · « **Reply #27 on:** April 10, 2022, 10:22:57 pm »

Wow, some good questions, Phil. As usual I might add.

A virus is not a living organism, a particle, so killing is not possible. The DNA or RNA of the virion (singular) can be destroyed by a number of means, described below.... But destroying every single particle is daunting as demonstrated by the best attempts to control covid. With the most aseptic means possible, medical personal became infected.

To sterilize a hive body and parts thereof, gloves, tools, etc, included is just not feasible. One would have to fumigate with formalin, which is a deadly gas or heat combined with pressure or soak in ether, or pure ammonia, again, very deadly.

Beeboy01 · « **Reply #28 on:** April 10, 2022, 10:54:20 pm »

"If this is IAPV and not poisoning, will it kill EVERY hive in the apiary? Will the virus remain in the empty confines of the dead hives? If so how long will the virus be active in these dead hive boxes and equipment even after bees are gone? Will it be in the honey? The pollen? Can the equipment be used again, if so when? If so, what is the procedure for reusing said equipment? As you can see by this post I know very little about this virus. Can survival colonies, if there are survival colonies, build immunity? What can generally be expected if this was proven to be IAPV?"

Ben, these are the questions I also have and the reason I'm not restocking my yard this year. The IAPV diagnosis came from Allison Malay who was working on her doctorate last year from UCF and I have no reason to think there was a mistake.

From my conversation with the inspector the mortality rate in a yard can be 90% loss with the majority of yards being wiped out. This is the first time I have had to deal with IAPV and know very little about it. I can't answer your questions about hive immunity post infection or how long the virus will stay active in the dead hives but I will share my thoughts.

I've dealt with Dwarf Wing Virus and IAPV seems to be more contagious. The general consensus is that even though it's main vector is through mites once it gets established in a hive there is direct bee to bee transfer of the virus. I've noticed that the bees which have been infected by IAPV appear to be smaller than a normal worker and am starting to think that the virus also affects the growth rate of the brood with the bees hatching infected.

As with most of the other viruses we are dealing with total eradication is not possible but control should be by keeping the hives strong. Once again the main vector is mites so proper mite control becomes even more important.

Bleach water sprayed on the drawn frames was recommended for cleaning the equipment but total immersion with a soak would seem prudent to me. A quick inventory of my equipment is about 14 deeps with drawn comb and about the same number of shallows used for honey production so it would be a big job to disinfect them all. I would set up a plastic 55 gallon drum filled with 0.5% bleach water and give the frames a 10 minute soak then air dry in the sun.

Replacing the equipment would be too much of a financial hit for me and if it was necessary I would have to quit bee keeping.

I'm trying to share my ongoing experience and thoughts concerning IAPV to help further everybody's knowledge base here on the board but sometimes I don't have answers, just questions.

Thanks again for the input

Ben Framed · « **Reply #29 on:** April 10, 2022, 11:01:46 pm »

Wow, thank you for your good answers Mr Van. This is defiantly something to keep an eye on with concern.. Since its name; "Israeli Acute Paralysis Virus", I will 'assume' researchers in Israel must be the ones who pinpointed this disease? (which is just a guess and may be a wrong assumption). It is my understanding research in Israel along with world wide partners are making advancements in a number of areas..

Adding Mr Van it sure is nice having you here, bringing your experience in matters that you clearly understand. SO appreciated!

Phillip

Ben Framed · « **Reply #30 on:** April 10, 2022, 11:17:38 pm »

Quote

"Ben, these are the questions I also have and the reason I'm not restocking my yard this year. The IAPV diagnosis came from Allison Malay who was working on her doctorate last year from UCF and I have no reason to think there was a mistake."

I understand Beeboy01. Yes she has no reason to fudge. I can see why you have put faith and trust in her. Some of these researchers in attempt to receive their doctorate are diligent in their work. (DR Samuel Ramsey comes to mind). I am sorry you have had this run of bad luck Beeboy.

Quote

"I'm trying to share my ongoing experience and thoughts concerning IAPV to help further everybody's knowledge base here on the board but sometimes I don't have answers, just questions.

Thanks again for the input"

You have always been very helpful here at beemaster in coming to the aid of others including myself. Hang in there the best you can. And thank you very much for sharing this information with us all... No doubt everyone who reads this topic will feel the same gratitude toward you.

Quote

"Once again the main vector is mites so proper mite control becomes even more important."

Every thing you posted is very important in my opinion, 'especially mite control', now more than ever ...

Thanks again,

Phillip

Beeboy01 · « **Reply #31 on:** May 03, 2022, 04:27:50 pm »

I guess you can call this a weekly follow up on the condition of my yard. Instead of adding two nucs back to the yard I decided to leave everything well enough alone till things ran its course. I was planning on re-queening #6 and had already purchased a queen but when I pulled the hive down to shake it out I found two or three small patches of brood. Because of that I split the hive and shook all the bees into the new hive with the fresh brood while keeping a box with some honey frames at the original location which then got the new queen after sitting for 24 hours. Followed up yesterday and found that the split did not take but #6 has accepted the queen and is bringing in pollen.

Spent most of the morning sorting equipment along with power washing honey and pollen out of a bunch of frames. First time I've tried to power wash a frame and found that keeping the frame in the super while washing one side then the flipping it over works best. After washing the frames got shook out and then sprayed down with bleach water. I'm letting them air dry before putting them in storage. It was a real messy job but finally got it done.

Going to use this as a opportunity to rebuild and switch over to plastic foundation for all my frames. I started the switchover last year and might as well knock out the remaining wax foundation replacing it with plastic. Not planning on any large rebuilding in the yard this year if I can get up to three hives by late summer I will be happy. Budgeting for a nuc in about a month for a little more depth in the yard unless a swarm comes by.

Ben Framed · « **Reply #32 on:** May 04, 2022, 03:27:13 am »

Thank you for the good report Beeboy01