Problem in the Beeyard

[beesnweeds]

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]

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.

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

"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]

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]

"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.

"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.

"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]

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]

Thank you for the good report Beeboy01