You don’t destroy brood with a Bailey change. It’s a prolonged process anyway and not many people do it more than once.
Once they discover how it goes they never want to do it again.
As you say change the queen
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We run the world ; -)
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I agree…once you do a Bailey change…never again. A lot of work for the bees. Better to change the queen.
I had never heard of the Bailey change before today. You learn something new every day. But isn’t there a lot more going on in the Bailey change then would be achieved in just changing the queen. I don’t really even see the correlation between the two events or how they would be similar.
The idea is that it is the queens genetics that make the colony susceptible to chalk brood vs simple environment and fungal infection. So. Change the queen vs change the comb.
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Adam Changing the comb allows the bees to have fresh comb free of spores - no colony are completely free of spores - whose to say the Queen is to blame of the forages didn’t pick it up from flowers where other bees have left it?
I think it is important to listen to experienced beekeepers who have dealt with this problem before. Putting your bees through a Bailey change at this point in their development may not be the best course. Certainly, wait to see the next round of brood and make decisions based on that and the advice from experienced beekeepers who you have confidence in.
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Yes my apiary group do this on hives to circulate out the old combs - They have experience - it is a bit condescending to say I need more experience with this when my group use this method regularly - I could say the same to you HHH
Firstly - you or anyone cannot prove it is the queen who is the carrier - the foragers may have brought it back.
Secondly - it has been proved a good strong Queen will regardless if she is infected or no, will not necessarily pass the fungus to her Brood - The nurse bees spread the fungus on food, and store it in wax
Thirdly - you will never eradicate the fungus it’s spores are in the air - you may as well say don’t breathe
fourthly - it may well be in the pollen and honey stores - a very good reason for doing a bailey comb change.
Lastly and most importantly - if you don’t give the spores the right conditions - damp, cold lack of correct humidity in the Hive - the spores will sprout - spores are primitive seeds - when the conditions are right, they will grow even thrive - this is not the Queens fault!! it is down to a decent Hive box, ventilation and condensation and keeping inspections short and tools and cloths clean - None of which the Queen is to blame for -
Changing Queens is a sad waste and poor Bee keepers’ excuse for bad husbandry
I think you have overstepped yourself there Valli. I’m not the one handing out dramatic advice indiscriminately. There is a difference between circulating old frames out of the brood of a mature colony and doing a Bailey change on what is hardly more than a nuc. You have to take into account ALL of the circumstances of the colony in question. There may be more information yet to hear. I understand the OP has just started in beekeeping…and you tell them to do a Bailey change…such a lot of work for a colony going into winter. There is also a possibility that the chalk brood happened because some brood got chilled at some point or the colony was stressed and this could right itself in the next brood rounds. If the problem persisted doing a queen change is a much quicker and easier answer.
I’m not about to argue with you.
The comment was a general one not necessarily aimed at you.
There is a world of difference between knowledge and experience.
I think it is likely that I shall leave this forum at some point as your style of Moderating is rude, disrespectful, over bearing and over controlling. You throw copied excerpts from the Internet at other posters as ‘proof’ of your superior knowledge. Some of the posters on this forum are very experienced in beekeeping…which you most definitely, are not.
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I was defending Bailey Comb Change - it is not a bad practice - I certainly would not be reQueening with a new untried queen going in to Autumn either.
It is too simple for bee keepers to blame the Queens for the problems that are quite often outside her control. What I’m saying is one way around the problem of Spores taking hold of a hive is not just as simple as changing Queens.
No body is suggesting re queening with an untried queen either. When you buy a laying queen she is just that; laying and tried. Queens are available well into Autumn in the uk, time enough to sort problems out to get those winter bees. An excellent way to get new comb without stressing the bees with Bailey changes is to re combine after an as split.
Hi Dawn, After an inspection this afternoon of my hives around the side of my house & tracing my movements of the past week during rather moist conditions, it’s fairly apparent that chilled brood coupled with a lot of moist air could be, or almost certainly is the main contributor. Thank you for raising the issue of chilled brood.
Hives that I didn’t disturb the brood during that period were fine, however hives that I weakened AS WELL as disturbed the brood were affected. So that was a lesson well learned. Thanks again, bye for now:)
PS, I do see a lot of drone brood over the years with chalk brood where the worker brood is fine. Plus I have noticed over the years that brood on foundationless frames is more affected. I always wondered why, maybe it’s because brood on foundation frames is better insulated. Who knows? Anyway it’s all a bit clearer now.
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Well I for one would prefer that you didn’t, I need people like you to present arguments for, and against, for such cases that us newbees can examine the facts and make logical, informed judgements ourselves.
I appreciate everyone’s input for better or for worse, right or wrong. Beeks are a curious mob, so many differing opinions.
The world is not flat.
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So kind of you to say. Thank you.
I enjoy reading about beekeeping in other countries. It is interesting how the colonies differ in the way they manage their colonies depending on locality, availability of forage, diseases and so on…and how beekeepers vary in their methods. We can all learn on a continuous basis…life long learning. I don’t enjoy seeing the forum change into a venue for only one view. There are many ways to care for bees…sometimes it depends on where you are in the world and what you have learnt.
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