Hi, I’m new and having had a terrific harvest at the end of spring, went away for two weeks to find the majority of my bees had taken off. After an inspection, there are still a few bees in the brood box, and there’s a queen. I’m not sure what to do - is this all looking pretty normal?
Thanks
Hi Andrew, sadly it’s not looking normal. That brood doesn’t look healthy. I see dead brood, which could be chalk brood, or even a fowl brood disease, or a combination of both.
I’m not an expert on varroa yet, however I can’t help but wonder if varroa is a contributing factor to your colony’s demise. Mainly because you still have a queen, & you didn’t say that you saw any queen cells. I think I see some young bees with deformed wings, which apparently is a symptom of varroa mites.
Thanks Jeff,
There’s clearly something going on - and none of it is good. I appreciate your thoughts and will do another test and see how we go. Ugh. It was all going so well…
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Given your location, Andrew, mites are the problem. What was your mite count and how long ago? Did you check again after treatment?
Sydney is in the middle of high reinfestation levels as feral and unmanaged colonies collapse within six months even without deformed wing virus. Those collapsing colonies are mite bombs causing rapid reinfestation to nearby managed colonies. Mite counts return to high levels soon after treatment is removed, so back to back treatments will be the norm for the foreseeable future. Rotate chemical class to delay mites becoming resistant.
So far, I’ve kept my mite loads down by removing 2-4 frames of capped worker brood every couple of weeks. 80% of mites are under the caps, so I’m potentially taking out 7,000 foundresses plus their offspring with each frame. It only works while I have a high nectar flow though.
Mike
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