Dead Hive - Now What?

[HighlandWozza]

I discovered on Saturday that one of my hives has died. It had a bad varroa infestation at the end of the summer and then wing deformity problems....

So, now what? I have a brood box full of stores but its pretty ropey looking. I think a mouse may have been into it. Do I just cut out the stores and throw it away? Will my hens eat it? Is there anything else I can do with it?

Thanks for your help.

 

[bee crazy]

if you have had bad v i would disscard the wax

 

[Poly Hive]

Personally I would throw the combs in to the bin in a black bag to avoid other robbing issues down the line.

Scorch your hive, invest in new frames and foundation, and set it out as a bait hive in Spring.

You might want to ask yourself how did a mouse get in? Faulty mouse guard or no mouse guard?

You also need to have a think about your varroa control as something was awry there too.

Its always painful to lose one but to lose one that might have been prevented is more so.

Better luck this year, and some thinking is needed.

PH

 

[sahtlinurk]

burn the bees, melt the wax, clean the frames ( or discard), give boodbox a good flame treatment and ready it is for the next colony.

Lauri

 

[oliver90owner]

As PH.

If a mouse has been in the frames will not be very palatable to bees anyway, so I am told.

If you are saying it was acually infested late summer, that is one thing, but if it built up into a bad infestation, that is entirely another. Simple observations and appropriate actions should keep the varroa in check at non-lethal levels. Unhealthy bees going into the winter is a sure recipe for trouble and autumn is the most important time to be on top of the mites (at other times things may be recoverable, but not through the winter).

There are so many different ways of attacking the mites (see Defra 'Managing Varroa' for a whole range of possibilities). All will help although some are not appropriate at certain times.

Wing deformity problems (there may be an 'odd' one now and then) but when it is 'a problem' things have progressed much further than they should have. It is a late indicator when very urgent action is required to save the colony.

Burning would be a good alternative to binning

RAB

 

[HighlandWozza]

Thanks for your various replies. There is no doubt that the varroa got beyond what it should have done. I knew it was bad but had honey supers on and so treated with Apistan as soon as the supers came off - but too late I feel.

I probably should have tried something else - like icing sugar perhaps? However, this was my first year and so I put this down to experience. Lesson learned.

 

[drstitson]

if the infestation level was high in summer perhaps it would have been better in hindsight to treat and sacrifice the honey harvest.

 

[bee crazy]

i think the best way to learn is by your mistakes.

i dont care who you are we have all been in your prerdicament once in our beek lives.

if you take the advice from all these posts and your experince from your first year next year you wont make the same mistakes

good luck

 

[Silly Bee]

if the infestation level was high in summer perhaps it would have been better in hindsight to treat and sacrifice the honey harvest.

I agree. I think sometimes to much emphasis is put on honey harvesting and not enough on the welfare of the producers.

That said, better luck this year. Steralise the BB and Supers and personally, I'd burn the rest.

 

[Skyhook]

Thanks for your various replies. There is no doubt that the varroa got beyond what it should have done. I knew it was bad but had honey supers on and so treated with Apistan as soon as the supers came off - but too late I feel.

I probably should have tried something else - like icing sugar perhaps? However, this was my first year and so I put this down to experience. Lesson learned.

You have my sympathy- I had a narrow escape from the same thing. My bees were on a solid floor, I wasn't monitoring as effectively as I thought I was, and it came as a huge shock when I got them on an OMF how heavily infested they were- but I was in the nick of time.

You've got a couple of months to top up your reading, then once you've got the hive cleaned up and re-inhabited, don't be afraid to post on here with your concerns- you'll be amazed how many peiople will know exactly where you're coming from!

 

[Heather]

Thanks for your various replies. There is no doubt that the varroa got beyond what it should have done. I knew it was bad but had honey supers on and so treated with Apistan as soon as the supers came off - but too late I feel.

I probably should have tried something else - like icing sugar perhaps? However, this was my first year and so I put this down to experience. Lesson learned.

Is Apistan still being advised. We have moved on to Apistan /Apilife Var as more effective. Icing sugar is very mild for bad infestation.
Don't you have a mentor?? I would have been stuck without a bee keeper to advise and demo in my first year.

 

[oliver90owner]

i think the best way to learn is by your mistakes.

Not sure about that

Better to recognise where one is erring and learn why - and how not to get into that postion again.

When a lot of us started there were few if (m)any fora to help out before getting in a mess (or as soon as). Now there is so much on the net that everyone should be able to sift through to find the relevant information, or to simply shout for help. In those oldie days one tended to learn quite a bit, and know what you were letting yourself in for, before committing oneself.


For instance we have here apistan being used. That may be OK at that location, but some had to learn the hard way about the fluvalinate resistance developed by the mites.

The rest of us were warned. No excuses now - unless in a region where resistance is not a problem (even doubtful in most of Scotland now, what with imported bees).

Learning by your mistakes can now easily cost you a hundred and fifty quid.

Like I say, not so sure about that.

Regards, RAB

 

[Onge]

Is Apistan still being advised. We have moved on to Apistan /Apilife Var as more effective. Icing sugar is very mild for bad infestation.
Don't you have a mentor?? I would have been stuck without a bee keeper to advise and demo in my first year.

As for icing sugar only for mild infestation? Take a look at this, seems quite convincing to me.

http://www.countryrubes.com/instructions/usingpowderedsugar.html

Going to give it a try on a few of my hives this year.

 

[Heather]

Well, I wouldn't rely on it as my only varroa treatment.
I would have liked to see records of the drop for the next 2 weeks. She spoke of 40- I have seen 1000's from Apiguard.

 

[oliver90owner]

Sugar dusting (or rolling) is a much better option for a broodless colony, I reckon. Followed by brood trapping (removal of first capped brood patches). Apart from that I wouldn't want to be troubled with sugar dusting for a bad infestation.

Regards, RAB

 

[Heather]

Re brood trapping. I always put one super frame in my brood box in the Spring. It encourages extra drone production and I can also sacrifice 1/4 to examine to estimate varroa problems.

 

[MuswellMetro]

at that level of two cups of icing sugar per hive,i think it will kill any open brood, same as flour dusting does, the icing sugar will set hard in the royal jelly and also stop the bee feeding newly hatched eggs in iced cells,

so my opinion is that you will loss 6 days brood (3 egg+3 larva) and the queen will stop laying until free cells are re polished, i suspect with the limited kill and that you have lost 6 days brood that the the ratio of mites to bees will back to the same after two week when all the capped brood hatches than if you had done nothing

 

[savoyard]

In the days before varroa they used to say "If a colony dies, FIND OUT WHY".

Take a sample of dead bees (about a matchbox full) and try to get them analysed. Many local associations have microscopists who could help. The organisation which is now CSL used to take samples for analysis, perhaps they still do.

Perhaps someone else on the forum has more up-to-date information than me.

I have lost a colony too in the last couple of weeks. It didn't thrive too well last year and was on the gloomiest, dampest stand in the apiary....

Regards

Savoyard

 

[gavin]

In the days before varroa they used to say "If a colony dies, FIND OUT WHY".

Take a sample of dead bees (about a matchbox full) and try to get them analysed. Many local associations have microscopists who could help. The organisation which is now CSL used to take samples for analysis, perhaps they still do.
......

Not in Scotland, we're different. So you could try SASA or the SBA's diseases guy (that's me! - for now anyway) but you have already diagnosed your problem I think.

Sugar dusting? Nah! It is too inefficient. You need some proper Varroa control until you really know how to check for rising mite levels and know what to do about it. Your other colonies will now be at risk, especially as many Varroa will have hopped next door with absconding bees. I'd use oxalic, now, then keep a close eye on things when the weather warms up.

If you live in the Highlands and you got your bees locally, then Apistan may still work. Resistance is spreading though, so I treat with a thymol method (usually Apiguard) in warm weather and Oxalic acid in December. If you bought your bees on the internet you may have taken resistant Varroa into your area.

cheers

Gavin