Consensus on dealing with colonies with CBPV?

[jeff33]

Hi all, I have 3 colonies down with CBPV in the same apiary. 2 seem to have gone through the worst of it and the other one starting to get bad.

Other than the usual good hygiene anything else I need to do? Also, what would be the consensus with supers and frames which will be removed at the end of the flow, burn the lot?

Any point in requeening these colonies?

Thanks

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Get them on stands (not pallets or whatever) remove the floors, put am emptied shallow on the stand and put the brood box on that, leave them to it, inspect as normal - hopefully they'll recover.
I never destroyed any of the kit they were on. The last colony that had it (last year) requeened themselves late summer and this year is a powerful colony currently on five supers after taking the spring crop off

 

[jeff33]

Get them on stands (not pallets or whatever) remove the floors, put am emptied shallow on the stand and put the brood box on that, leave them to it, inspect as normal - hopefully they'll recover.
I never destroyed any of the kit they were on. The last colony that had it (last year) requeened themselves late summer and this year is a powerful colony currently on five supers after taking the spring crop off

Thanks Emyr, will do that tomorrow.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

you just want plenty of fresh air between the bottom of the frames and the ground so that the bees don't consider it to be part of the hive and leave the dead just fall off the comb, hit the ground and not be tidied up by house bees

 

[jeff33]

you just want plenty of fresh air between the bottom of the frames and the ground so that the bees don't consider it to be part of the hive and leave the dead just fall off the comb, hit the ground and not be tidied up by house bees

That will work, all my hives are about 2ft of the ground on 3x3, there will be plenty of space!

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

of course, there are some nutters - even in the NBU who will tell you to shook swarm the fe things

 

[jeff33]

of course, there are some nutters - even in the NBU who will tell you to shook swarm the fe things

Funnily enough the new bee inspector rang me last week to arrange a visit of my apiaries after the flow. Will see what his mantra is on this point and his visit will be short lived if he suggests that

 

[Nick Lang]

Can I ask....is it obvious when you have a hive suffering with CBPV....I've read up on the symptoms....and I know what they are in theory....but have not had any first hand experience of it....I was wondering if it was a disease that kinda "know it when you see it" sorta thing?

 

[madasafish]

Can I ask....is it obvious when you have a hive suffering with CBPV....I've read up on the symptoms....and I know what they are in theory....but have not had any first hand experience of it....I was wondering if it was a disease that kinda "know it when you see it" sorta thing?

Dead ,dying bees crawling around on ground, some look black (hairless), inertia, slow moving .. in hundreds.
Horrible sight, seen it on three occasions. Most distinctly abnormal.

 

[blackcloud]

Check the entrances / landing boards or lift the broodbox off the floor and you will see infected bees there first

 

[jeff33]

Yes, as described. I have 100s dead outside and on the hive floor as the house bees can't keep up. You can also see small clusters at the entrance with bees trying to clean others or motionless. Crawling on the ground as well. What strikes me is the rotten smell of dead bees

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Funnily enough the new bee inspector rang me last week to arrange a visit of my apiaries after the flow. Will see what his mantra is on this point and his visit will be short lived if he suggests that

Is that Paul? He's not too bad - I remember when he started, Frank (his boss then) asked me if I minded taking him around a few of my apiaries so he could get a good grounding and a few inspections under his belt in short time.

 

[jeff33]

Is that Paul? He's not too bad - I remember when he started, Frank (his boss then) asked me if I minded taking him around a few of my apiaries so he could get a good grounding and a few inspections under his belt in short time.

No, it's George covering this corner. I think he is based your way though.

 

[user 819]

Can I ask....is it obvious when you have a hive suffering with CBPV....I've read up on the symptoms....and I know what they are in theory....but have not had any first hand experience of it....I was wondering if it was a disease that kinda "know it when you see it" sorta thing?

Yes often sudden piles of dead or crawling corpses in front of the hive ( not just the usual old bee die off syndome but more like 1000's if severe), from one week to another the amount is sudden esp if you only visit weekly.
Also any floor will likely be piled deep with corpses if the case is severe.

Secondly to confirm CBPV one will notice things aren't right as soon as the BB is uncovered, instinct tells you straight away something is amiss, the way the bees react and their general demeanour on the top bars.
Shivering/shaking bees and reluctance to move down when smoked, if one catches them early then one might only see a very few shivering bees with little in the way of corpses out side. Don't dismiss just a few bees on the top bars acting strangely , ACT asap and get them raiseded up and pull the floor out.

 

[Newbeeneil]

My CBPV hive seems to have recovered, I inspected them today and I could only see one shiny bee and no shaking ones.
Unfortunately they have been Q- for a while so have LW’s
So it seems the funnel floor worked!

 

[jeff33]

How long should you leave the hives floorless for?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

How long should you leave the hives floorless for?

as long as you can really, had mine out for over a month last season

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Just checked my notes - CBPV detected at the end of May 2022, marked as recovered early July, but I think I left the floor off until mid August

 

[Jules59]

My CBPV hive seems to have recovered, I inspected them today and I could only see one shiny bee and no shaking ones.
Unfortunately they have been Q- for a while so have LW’s
So it seems the funnel floor worked!

I had a colony with CBPV this year which went queenless and then developed LW. I wasnt prepared to shake them out and have infected bees trying to gain access to the other hives so they were euthanised.

 

[Erichalfbee]

I had a colony with CBPV this year which went queenless and then developed LW. I wasnt prepared to shake them out and have infected bees trying to gain access to the other hives so they were euthanised.

Yes. That’s the solution I'm afraid. Sad but has to be done.