Chronic Bee Paralysis Virus

[Winker]

One of my hives is slowly dyeing with CBPV. It started once I had done the second treatment of ApiGuard for varroa at the end of August. A few days ago there were so little bees left I took the middle 5 frames out of the wooden BB and put them into a poly Nuc. But when I looked at the hive today it looks as if they are all going to die, there was another load of dead bees at the front of the hive and I don't think there is enough bees in the hive now to survive.

So my question is, Do I bin every frame of food they have left and disinfect the BB, or is it safe to reuse the food stores they have left. Can CBPV be passed on from the food stores or is it a bee to bee contact virus? Anyone else had experience with this?

 

[Moggs]

I'd be extremely reluctant to risk transfer of the problem to any others. Are you confident of your ability to diagnose the problem? If not, your local Bee Inspector is probably twiddling his/ her thumbs....

 

[VEG]

Get the bee inspector in and dont move any frames to other hives.

 

[Andy Duff]

Get the bee inspector in and dont move any frames to other hives.

as soon as possible!

 

[Hivemaker.]

Could be N ceranae.

 

[Winker]

FYI the Bee inspector has been notified and is coming to have a look, even although its not a notifiable disease/virus. I wasn’t asking for advice on contacting the bee inspector I was asking about CBPV and how its spread. From what I read:

Quote:

"it’s the close contact of overcrowded bees breaks hairs from the cuticle, allowing CBPV to spread from diseased bees to healthy bees via their exposed epidermal cytoplasm. It is likely that any factors that result in decreased foraging activities and crowded conditions in the bee colonies may lead to disease outbreaks of CBPV. It has been reported that CBPV is very widespread in Britain and infects most bees and can cause mortality in bee colonies particularly during long periods of confinement."

So that’s why I was asking if anyone had expeance with this and if it was safe to reuse the comb/stores

 

[Winker]

Could be N ceranae.

according to the DEFRA pages i have a classic case:

Quote:

"CBPV mainly attacks adult bees and causes two forms of ‘‘paralysis’’ symptoms in bees. The most common one is characterized by an abnormal trembling of the body and wings, crawling on the ground due to the flight inability, bloated abdomens, and dislocated wings."

 

[Hivemaker.]

Viruses cannot live in the absence of bees for long,not like bacteria or spores,do you have lots of crawlers around, and up to ten feet or more from the hive.

 

[Suzi Q]

Hi Winker, what were the indications that confirmed cbpv? Do the bees crawl from the hive unable to fly?

 

[MuswellMetro]

Bloated abdomens and trembling bees can be indication of Nosema

 

[Winker]

Viruses cannot live in the absence of bees for long,not like bacteria or spores,do you have lots of crawlers around, and up to ten feet or more from the hive.

Most that i can see die in front of the hive, i didnt look up to 10 feet away as the grass is too long. They seam to crawl out the hive, onto the front of the hive, they hang out on the front of the hive for a while then they try flying and/or fall to the ground and crawl around. You can see the dislocated wings on the ones crawling around. when i open the hive i can see them abnormal trembling on the top of the frames

 

[Hivemaker.]

Sounds more like paralyses if you have lots of crawlers,with a heavy ceranae infection the numbers drop rapidly as the foragers fly off and die,and after just a few days of confinement there will be piles of dead bees, right outside the entrance,much more than in normal circumstances. Acarine symptoms are similar,bees crawling everywhere,clumping up on blades of grass,and more often than not abp, but not seen that for years.

 

[Winker]

Sounds more like paralyses if you have lots of crawlers,with a heavy ceranae infection the numbers drop rapidly as the foragers fly off and die,and after just a few days of confinement there will be piles of dead bees, right outside the entrance,much more than in normal circumstances. Acarine symptoms are similar,bees crawling everywhere,clumping up on blades of grass, but not seen that for years.

Either way, this colony is doomed, its now a question of what i do with whats left. Burn it or re use it.

 

[Hivemaker.]

Personally if i have a dead out i usually get rid of the combs, and sterilise the box's,athough if a virus is the problem the combs should be fine,or if nosema you can fumigate,i don't bother with that though,better to start again with clean equipment for another colony.
Some just dump more bees in there and do nothing,and often have no problem,i don't.

 

[Heather]

One of the biggest problems for bees is poor hygiene in the apiary - and swapping frames in suspect hives is a NO-NO

 

[Winker]

Personally if i have a dead out i usually get rid of the combs, and sterilise the box's,athough.

Aye, i was leaning that way myself before i was told i could reuse the comb/stores as the virus has nothing to do with the comb. But i think i may air on the side of caution and just burn the frames/comb/stores and scrub the box out

 

[Winker]

One of the biggest problems for bees is poor hygiene in the apiary - and swapping frames in suspect hives is a NO-NO

Aye Heather you right, Prudence is the best policy here

 

[Hebeegeebee]

Winker, please let us know what the bee inspector's view is.

Apart from Apiguard, did you treat with anything else - Thymol syrup or Fumidil B for example? What was the mite count during apiguard treatment?

 

[Onge]

Burn the frames and disinfect (blow torch) the hive.

If it's a dead out.

 

[itma]

Winker, please let us know what the bee inspector's view is.
...

And on how to proceed.


Isn't that virus a bit of a rarity?