Hi, im fairly new to bee keeping and purchased some already up and running flow hives 8 months ago. I just did my fortnightly inspection and there is an alarming amount of dead bees around my hives and very little activity inside the hive. Supers look fairly full of honey stores, minimal egg cells/larvae in supers, have not harvested flow frames for 8 weeks or so and all are about 75% full.
Located SE Qld. I am worried…what do I need to check next.
Thanks
Hi Craig, that doesn’t sound good. I think the first thing to do is rescue what honey you can before hive beetles slime it. Can you get a closeup photo of the bees. I’m only new to varroa, however I’m guessing to look for deformed wings which apparently is a symptom of DWV which comes from varroa mites.
The other thing to look for is proboscis’s sticking out which apparently is a symptom of poisoning.
Hello Craig
Sorry to hear about your bees. If you are in SE Qld your bees are at extreme risk from varroa. I had 2 strong hives and one nuc that were thriving and despite regular alcohol wash tests and then treatment with bayvrol strips my colonies died over a period of 4 weeks. The mite infestation was severe and the first sign of problems was a procession of crawling bees across our back yard. Many had mites attached. I don’t know if deformed wing virus is in Qld but I think the paralytic virus is. All the bees were walking randomly and unable to fly. Every day ther grass was littered with dead bees. Then came the hive beetle slime out. I was able to get most of the honey stores out beforehand but I left the bees some in case they survived. This story is the same for 4 of our friends who are in Brisbane also. All have lost their hives. I have also been watching a feral colony in toowong cemetery. This hive also died with fermented honey draining onto the ground out of the hive entrance. I have not seen any bees on the flowers in our neighborhood (auchenflower). Get your honey out while you can and prepare for a cleanup. The situation is pretty grim.
Sorry about your loss. Follow the advice already given.
What was your last mite count? Have you treated at all?
Mite loads accelerate exponentially, so on detection you must treat or lose your bees. During the infestation stage, forget the threshold levels suggested by the authorities. They’re based on the stable conditions elsewhere. As soon as you find mites in your wash, start treating. AluenCAP CAP is a great 42day treatment. With resistance here, the synthetic chemicals are all but off the table.
Fortunately, we don’t have deformed wing virus yet. It is notifiable. In NSW, we found drones with deformed wings in summer. Tested negative, so DWV is not the only cause. Notify anyway.
Mike
