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Offline van from Arkansas

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Dwarf Wing Virus
« on: February 01, 2020, 05:29:08 pm »
I watching bees carry out dead bees showing clear signs of dwarf wings, just with one particular hive: one out of sixteen hives in my apiary.  The ground in front of this single hive is full of dead bees.   Tomorrow is to be warm enough for a quick inspection: 76 high, 54F low.

Not sure what to do at this point until I see what is going on inside the hive.
Van

Addition:  I dislike the Virus: they are just weird, not a living organism.  Virus have no digestion tract, no respiratory tract, no reproduction tract, they have no energy requirements, a chemical simply stated.  Just pieces of DNA or RNA encapsulated with a protein envelope.  Just a strange chemical that wrecks havoc on all of us: mammals, birds, insects, fish, fungus, molds, bacteria: virus causes havoc on all living organisms.
« Last Edit: February 01, 2020, 06:51:32 pm by van from Arkansas »
I have been around bees a long time, since birth.  I am a hobbyist so my answers often reflect this fact.  I concentrate on genetics, raise my own queens by wet graft, nicot, with natural or II breeding.  I do not sell queens, I will give queens  for free but no shipping.

Offline Nock

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Re: Dwarf Wing Virus
« Reply #1 on: February 02, 2020, 01:00:52 am »
Let us know what you see/find.

Offline Troutdog

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Re: Dwarf Wing Virus
« Reply #2 on: February 02, 2020, 10:44:59 am »
So how does a virus invade a cell?
What causes immunity or lack of it that allows a virus to land on the mitochondria and take over the cell?

So 2 things I think
Since every virus and bacteria are already in your hive one needs to focus on robust health.
If that's the case then our best friend is nutrition.
I also think that since malnutrition can come from both or either,  a lack of quality forage and or a compromised digestive track. So when I see Deformed wing virus or other shiz showing up I first clear the mite load and nosema. Then I feed lots of high quality food.
Treating nosema ....Clorox or nosevit in sugar syrup
High quality protein... global patties or AP23.
SUPER DFM probiotics weekly for a month.
They will eat themselves out of it.
There are 16 signatures of Dwv.
There is one that has no physical symptoms. That's super deadly as we don't see it.

Other thing to inspect is number of unfilled cells in brood areas and amount of royal jelly in cells.
I would bet your at 20% shotgun and mid-low jelly levels.

You will know treatment worked when you see full brood fields and increased RJ.
That's all I know about that.

Note.... do a mite check first, as the problem could be there without mites, and you have low mite numbers from fall treatments.
Beltsville will confirm the nosema theory and mites.



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Offline van from Arkansas

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Re: Dwarf Wing Virus
« Reply #3 on: February 02, 2020, 03:20:08 pm »
Looking very good, surprisingly.  I was expecting the worst after seeing the deformed wing virus on two dead bees being carried out of the hive.

I inspected this hive, very warm day, 75F with warm night 55F to follow.  All is well.  Beautiful Cordovan queen has larva all stages: eggs to capped brood.  adequate stores kinda on the low side, maybe 4 dead bees on bottom board, 4 frames of bees in a double 5 frame nuc.  I Can not explain all the dead bees in front of this one of 16 hives as the hive appears well within.  The past month of January was very cold, seldom did the temp hover above cluster temp.

All hives treated with Oxalic acid vapor, July, August, September, and December broodless stage.  I was fearing a bottom board full of dead bees which as already explained was not the case.

I checked 4 other hives: one surprise a dead out, starved and my only carniolan hive, the remainder of hives loaded with honey, all stages of brood, looking good, lots of bees.  Some hives with only a single frame of brood, others with multiple frames of brood.  Quick inspections due to temp of 75F, so I did not open majority of my hives.

I did pop the top in my alpha hive, lots of bees and honey.  The status of my four year old alpha queen will have to wait for warmer weather.

Health to your bees.

Van
I have been around bees a long time, since birth.  I am a hobbyist so my answers often reflect this fact.  I concentrate on genetics, raise my own queens by wet graft, nicot, with natural or II breeding.  I do not sell queens, I will give queens  for free but no shipping.

Offline Ben Framed

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Re: Dwarf Wing Virus
« Reply #4 on: February 02, 2020, 03:48:53 pm »
Looking very good, surprisingly.  I was expecting the worst after seeing the deformed wing virus on two dead bees being carried out of the hive.

I inspected this hive, very warm day, 75F with warm night 55F to follow.  All is well.  Beautiful Cordovan queen has larva all stages: eggs to capped brood.  adequate stores kinda on the low side, maybe 4 dead bees on bottom board, 4 frames of bees in a double 5 frame nuc.  I Can not explain all the dead bees in front of this one of 16 hives as the hive appears well within.  The past month of January was very cold, seldom did the temp hover above cluster temp.

All hives treated with Oxalic acid vapor, July, August, September, and December broodless stage.  I was fearing a bottom board full of dead bees which as already explained was not the case.

I checked 4 other hives: one surprise a dead out, starved and my only carniolan hive, the remainder of hives loaded with honey, all stages of brood, looking good, lots of bees.  Some hives with only a single frame of brood, others with multiple frames of brood.  Quick inspections due to temp of 75F, so I did not open majority of my hives.

I did pop the top in my alpha hive, lots of bees and honey.  The status of my four year old alpha queen will have to wait for warmer weather.

Health to your bees.

Van

Van I was kind of hoping to hear about your alpa queen. Being its 75f there in Arkansas I would have felt sure that your curiosity and love for her, along with today's beautiful weather and temperature, you would have given us the good report on alpha?  What is a safe temperature to inspect your queen?



.
« Last Edit: February 02, 2020, 04:08:34 pm by Ben Framed »
2 Chronicles 7:14
14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

Offline jtcmedic

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Re: Dwarf Wing Virus
« Reply #5 on: February 02, 2020, 04:08:43 pm »
That?s some good news.

Offline van from Arkansas

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Re: Dwarf Wing Virus
« Reply #6 on: February 02, 2020, 04:58:17 pm »
BenFramed:  What is a safe temperature to inspect your queen?

Phil. Good question.  I don?t have a specific answer for that question.  Brood temp is 90-92F so I felt a bit uncomfortable going thur Alpha hive frame by frame to look for my #1 breed queen.  75F day is nice with nights 55f, for maybe 2 days in Arkansas  however this is well below brood temp and I was not comfortable with looking for Alpha even with the current warm spell.  Yes Sir, Phil, I am anxious about Alpha well being, but also cautious.  This time, caution prevails as a 4 year old breeder queen like Alpha don?t come along very often.

Health to your bees.

Van
I have been around bees a long time, since birth.  I am a hobbyist so my answers often reflect this fact.  I concentrate on genetics, raise my own queens by wet graft, nicot, with natural or II breeding.  I do not sell queens, I will give queens  for free but no shipping.

Offline Ben Framed

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Re: Dwarf Wing Virus
« Reply #7 on: February 02, 2020, 05:08:47 pm »
Good reasoning Van. From that point of view I think you made the right decision. I realize you did this today on four of your other  hives because of concern of dwarf wing virus and it happened to be 75
But let me ask, for a normal, non pedigreed hive, when is it safe (temperature wise) to do a complete (quick) inspection?
Phillip
« Last Edit: February 02, 2020, 05:27:57 pm by Ben Framed »
2 Chronicles 7:14
14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

Offline van from Arkansas

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Re: Dwarf Wing Virus
« Reply #8 on: February 02, 2020, 06:15:10 pm »
Phil, look at two time frames: both day and night.  I don?t open a hive if the night temp is below cluster temp, about 43-46F.  Night temps to me need to be a low of about 55F.  I like to see the day above 65F, the warmer the better.  With the temps posted, 55F night and 65F day equates to a quick look and not a full inspection removing frames.  The cold night temps are the brood killers, remember brood is 90-92F.  The number of bees is also a factor.  Even with the temps posted, a tiny cluster might not be able to handle the chill of removing the top whereas a huge cluster can overcome.  A lot of variables to consider.

I could not argue if another beek disagreed and desired warmer temps.  I opened a few hives today with the knowledge of the current chinook that last for 3 days in my area of of 75F/55F.

Health to your bees.
I have been around bees a long time, since birth.  I am a hobbyist so my answers often reflect this fact.  I concentrate on genetics, raise my own queens by wet graft, nicot, with natural or II breeding.  I do not sell queens, I will give queens  for free but no shipping.