Dysentery and / or Nosema

[Pastasauce]

May 23, 2018 1:59 AM
Hi again everyone,

On a warm day in March, I realised my hive was in deep trouble. Huge amounts of humidity, dysentery in the hive and huge loss (dead bees everywhere). At the earliest opportunity, I took huge steps to get the humidity out of the hive - cleared away dead bees, tried to better insulate the hive etc.

Long story short, the hive is alive, the queen is laying, but the frames are stained with dysentery. I just read that I should test for nosema… which I will. But in the meantime, what do I do about the hive? Early on there was one symptom of nosema- bees crawling on the floor. The hive isn’t reproducing as fast as I’d like but it may be because there are only a few bees left. I don’t see K wing anywhere but some of the frames are black from dysentery. What do I do???

Many thanks,

Marissa!

[Peter48]

If your hive lid has vents in it make sure they are no blocked with bees wax, it it is then take the lid away from the hive and pour boiling water into the vent to melt the wax away, don’t do it in the kitchen as it will block the drain.
Raise the lid at one end to increase air flow through the hive with something, anything, that will hold it open enough that smoke from your smoker comes out but not a bee, if the dysentery stops then replace a couple of frames from the outside with new frames and foundation and place them next to the blood, when those frames are built out checker board them into the brood area and work your way through all the frames. Remove and built up wax comb in the hive.
You might find the increase in ventilation does the trick.
Let us know.