I think this black/grey stuff is chalkbrood. Is this correct? Should I be worried? Your thoughts and advice on the best practises to deal with this would be appreciated. (Photos attached)
It has been evident on every inspection since this new Nuc was introduced at the end of January.
I last cleaned this tray on Monday, today we’re Saturday and there seems to be a lot more debris generally on this inspection.
The colony has grown strongly. Plenty of capped workers, honey and nectar. All frames have been waxed and filling up as of last Monday. Foragers coming in with plenty of pollen on legs.
I spotted the Queen too.
Thanks in advance for your thoughts on what I’m seeing.
Hi Sam, that’s definitely chalk brood. It gets bad during wet weather. The best thing to do is close off any added ventilation, & reduce the entrance. If bees have trouble removing humidity, chalk brood will become a problem. If rain gets into the tray & sits there, that will add to humidity.
If the roof is letting water in, and it’s not drying out, that will also add to humidity.
I recently closed off the middle of the entrance with some dense sponge-like material as per your last advice, the girls like to enter and leave from the two edges. May be some thin wood or corflute be a better option?
The ventilation panel at the back has always been closed off. Roof is all good too.
I will keep changing up the tray often, keep any rain that comes in at bay.
There’s lots of drizzly rain incoming, up here on the hill for the next few days I reckon. How are you going Cyclone wise in Buderim?
You’re welcome Sam, thin wood or coreflute might be a better option long term, because the bees can chew the sponge out.
We’re surprisingly good here cyclone wise. I only lost my favorite leptospermum tree. It blew over, and it broke at the ground when I tried to stand it up. No rain to speak of yet. How about you?
Cyclone wise, it’s been windy at times, a few small branches down on the gums and myrtle flowers falling off. Mostly dry, the odd minute or two of rain. Today it’s low cloud, drizzle, very warm and humid. I just checked on the bees and they’re congregating on the landing board. Probably wondering, like me, when the sun is going to come back out
Hey Sam,
I agree with Jeff’s assessment. Chalkbrood is a fungal disease that contaminates every surface, so it can be a bugga to fix. I had a hive in which chalkbrood lingered for years. I finally cleared it up by doing a shook swarm into new equipment and replacing the queen. Once I decontaminated the equipment and disposed of the brood, it never again reared its ugly head in the new tenants. Spring is the best time to do it. A good flow, sunny and available queens.
I know commercial beekeepers that don’t have the time to deal with chalkbrood. They destroy the colony, decontaminate the equipment and install new bees.
Mike
Hi Sam, once we get past this humid weather, we’ll get an idea as to whether the colony has overcome the problem or not, if not I can replace the colony. The good thing is that the bees are removing the mummies. Problem bees are slow at removing the mummies, which is why we need to replace the queen with better genes. I had to do that on 2 occasions over the past decade.
Okay @JeffH thank you, sounds like a good plan. Oh, and… the sun’s out!!!
I had a look inside the brood box today, teeming with bees, they’ve filled the frames out, honey stores on the outside frames, and they’re making comb on the roof. So, I put the super on. Feels like a major milestone.
The tray did have some chalkbrood, it didn’t seem quite so much as the last check. Time will tell.
