What is attached to my bees? Brisbane QLD AUSTRALIA

Pests and Diseases
1

![image|375x500](upload://uwjWvyhXCVogy7dF7CvIFNaUaU.jpeg
I recently lost my hive and I’m not 100% sure why.
I harvested quite a lot of honey from the flow give and replaced the diatomaceous earth I sprinkle on the forgotten slider. 3 days later I notice a huge amount of ants coming in and out of the hive. When I inspected about half of the bee colony was dead and the remainder ewre being attached by ants. I got rid of as many as I could and placed trays of oil under the legs of the hive stand to stop the trail of ants. Did the trick but still lost my hive as the hive beetle then took hold. Cleaning the hivebout today and noticed a very small amount of bees left and sone have black little ball like things attached to their legs or antennae. I thought these might be the heads if ants that had been pulled off, but surely these would drop off eventually.
Any suggestions?
Looking for a nucleus now :weary:

2

@cathiemac should be able to help you out with a nuc. your photo didn’t upload so it can’t be identified.
If your hive has a flow super that you extracted it sounds like you had internal flooding of honey in the hive which started the chain reaction and disaster. The flooding is preventable with the correct tilt back of the hive and by not opening the whole of a frame but by doing it in stages.
Welcome to the forum with lots of help and advise available for the asking.
Cheers

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3

I agree with Peter in relation to the slime-out. You need to understand what caused it so you can avoid it happening again. The ants will be attracted by a honey spill. You can spray the underside of your hive with cooking spray. I found out that works in keeping ants away.

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