chalkbrood in overwintered super

[Levitt53]

Hi, I have a colony which was overwintered with a super on top. It was the lightest of my colonies all winter and eventually I fed it fondant, although in hindsight I don't think I needed to. When first inspected this year there was brood and stores in the super and nothing in the brood box. I was unsure what to do as I don't like the thought of running on brood and a half and know I can't extract this honey as it has fondant in it. In the end I left them to see what would happen. I have looked at them today and there is some chalkbrood in the super. But the super is on 10 castellations so the cells are large and some of the larvae were at a funny angle but this might have just been the cells. I decided to get the queen back into the BB if I could. I haven't seen her since the late summer as her mark was coming off and couldn't see her today. I have shaken all the bees off from the super frames with brood in them into the BB and added a QE. I am hoping that when I next inspect she will have started to lay in the BB and will be fairly easy to spot and mark. I think I might nadir this super next time I inspect them to get all those stores into the BB before I add a super above. My question is though, will I be able to use this super again for honey, because of the chalkbrood? My inclination is no although I suspect this might happen often with supers overwintered above.

 

[enrico]

I wouldn't have thought there was a problem but don't use it until someone else confirms that!
E

 

[Anduril]

You are fine to re-use the super. You could extract the honey and scrape the fondant away if it has solidified. The only problem would be winter storage and wax moth.

 

[pargyle]

You are fine to re-use the super. You could extract the honey and scrape the fondant away if it has solidified. The only problem would be winter storage and wax moth.

I wouldn't ... chalkbrood is s fungus and it gets transferred by bees in food .. a queen can be infected and will spread the fungus to new brood ...there are a few causes - chilled brood is one of them and with a small colony going into winter with brood and s half they may have had too much space.

However ... are you sure it's chalk brood- have you pulled out a mummy and made certain ? Crystallised fondant in the cells has been mistaken for it ... secondly how much chalk brood is evident - a few cells and it's not really a problem as a bit of sunshine and it will clear up ...a lot of chalkbrood and you should think about replacing the queen if the problem persists once she's laying in the brood box .. cut your losses with the super frame - burn the frame and render the wax down.

Just my opinion of course ...

 

[Anduril]

I wouldn't ... chalkbrood is s fungus and it gets transferred by bees in food .. a queen can be infected and will spread the fungus to new brood ...there are a few causes - chilled brood is one of them and with a small colony going into winter with brood and s half they may have had too much space.

However ... are you sure it's chalk brood- have you pulled out a mummy and made certain ? Crystallised fondant in the cells has been mistaken for it ... secondly how much chalk brood is evident - a few cells and it's not really a problem as a bit of sunshine and it will clear up ...a lot of chalkbrood and you should think about replacing the queen if the problem persists once she's laying in the brood box .. cut your losses with the super frame - burn the frame and render the wax down.

Just my opinion of course ...

My first colony 39 years ago had chalkbrood, it came from an observation hive and grew to be very strong, I don't see it as a problem, it usually clears up in the warmer weather. I've only requeened a few times when I've collected swarms that produced an abundance of chalkbrood.
I do know of one beekeeper who tests his queens on brood frames that had chalkbrood in them.