Brood removed by bees when Apiguard applied

[Norton Caff]

Sprry this is so long
I have just the one hive. The queen arrived at the beginning of July and a friend gave me a couple of frames of brood and young workers. Since then Queen Agnes has been laying well and having supplied the colony with 1:1 syrup all the frames are now drawn out in the national brood box. I was worried that there was no room for stores as Agnes had so much brood! The hive has an OMF and an Th****s entrance block.

So on Friday I put in the Apiguard. I was advised that I take the Apiguard from the tray and put it on cardboard by my mentor. I put in the OMF tray greased a little with petroleum jelly to catch any mites and, on the advice of my friend and mentor closed down the entrance with foam to about 1.5".

Next morning I found some dead adult bees on the ground below the entrance. Difficult to say how may as the wasps, although they do not seem to be interested in getting in the hive, are doing an excellent job removing the corpses. There were about 30 or so I'd say. Some others were staggering about and dying. I pulled out the foam to give them the ordinary opening in the entrance block.

I pulled the tray of the OMF and had a shock. Lots of larvae appendages. A quick look in the hive showed that quite a lot of the sealed brood had been opened and the larvae was being removed. A quick check on Tuesday revealed that a approximately 1.5 frames of sealed brood was missing, this might be a conservative estimate. Other sealed brood was still there, there were eggs, probably more than a day old and Q Agnes was wondering around too. The stripped frames might have been the older frames from my friend. I shut the hive up quickly. Chucked away the empty cardboard and removed a couple of lumps of the Apiguard.
I have left them with the OMF tray out and a couple of pints of 2:1 syrup.

You can tell I only have one hive. I counted 102 mites, that I could pick out, (yes I might have missed tiny ones)

Has anyone else had this problem? It seems so catastrophic and such a strong reaction. The manufacturer's web-page mentions such episodes but I have not found much Googling. I am concerned what might happen when I put the second dose on.

Cath

 

[plumberman]

It does happen, but probably not the disaster you think. I had this recently on a 6 frame nuclei where I used half a tray of apiguard. Within 48 hours it would seem that half the bees were outside and there were larvae being removed.

They are fine now - the apiguard is fairly rapidly removed by the bees and they seem to get used to the small after a while.

 

[Skyhook]

It would help to know what type of hive you have and where you are- perhaps you could update your info.

If I've understood correctly, the apiguard has only been on for a few days- in which case I think you need to start again. The point of it is that the vapour is fairly constant for 4 weeks, so killing the mites as each bee emerges.

I'm not sure why your friend said to empty the trays. I suspect this has led to the vapour being released more suddenly than it should. I would start again with another tray, and leave it in the tray. Reduce the entrance again. If you're nervous, you could open the lid half way at first-ease them into it- the open it fully after a couple of days.

 

[Arfermo]

I'm not sure why your friend said to empty the trays. I suspect this has led to the vapour being released more suddenly than it should. QUOTE]

There is no need to empty the trays providing you have 1 inch deep ekes in which to place it. Simple really. I made all mine out redundant 2" x 1". Beauty is that they are handy for other beeking purposes from time to time.

 

[drstitson]

just to be pedantic - larvae don't have appendages - they only appear via metamorphosis during the pupal stage whilst capped.

 

[oliver90owner]

Try this link. It does happen and possibly worse than your findings.

http://beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=7022&highlight=apiguard+problem

Regards, RAB

 

[Norton Caff]

Thanks to you all for your replies. I shall adopt your approach Skyhook, it seems logical. RAB, re your link, now I have seen it I remember reading that posting at the time and my problem I'm sure isn't as bad. It just feels like it as I only have the one colony.

Should I have left the tray in under the OMF? Is it worth putting it in now or not worth it? The hive still stinks of thymol.

Oh and I was wrong in my description, the appendages belonged to pupae not larvae. I didn't see larvae but the huge stack of body parts made identifying items rather difficult without a microscope.

Thanks
Cath
PS Will update my profile

 

[Cazza]

Hi Cath
I had this happen to me last year with one hive, it looked terrible at the time but all recovered and the hive overwintered well.

I think you need to try again with an eke. With that count you should persist. Pop the OMF back and give it another go.

Cazza

 

[WaxManSmokerBoy]

Apiguard comes in two forms, the 10 dose box of trays and the 60 (?) dose bucket which comes with a spatula and cards.

Whether the release agent is slightly different for the two variants or not I do not know, but the advisor may have more experience with the bulk bucket than with the individual trays, which may have had some bearing on why that bit of advice was given as it was. Always read the instructions on the pack.

 

[Black Comb]

In an apiary of 5 full colonies this has happened to 2 of them. Cleaned out everything; eggs, open brood and sealed brood. None at all left. Worryingly I didn't see the marked queen in either hive.

I have a tub and carefully followed the instructions. All hives were given the same dose and the tub was stirred before use (as per instructions).

The 2 hives concerned had both "consumed" all the apiguard on the tray after 7 days whereas in the other 3 there was still a reasonable residue. When I opened up these 2 hives the smell of thymol was noticeable but not in the other 3.
The other 3 had more or less gone off lay but had not killed brood and the queens were easily seen.

Of the 2 hives concerned one had a large drop and the other hardly any varroa.

So, do I put the 2nd treatment on these 2?