Deformed wing virus

[Thetis]

Hi everyone, my partner and I literally picked up our 1st nuc this morning ( we have both been on a bee course via our local beekeepers association (bought our bees from a member of the association) . How annoyed should I be to find deformed wing on 4/5 bees on the ground?? I recognized it from the talk by the bee inspector . We haven't opened the hive yet- Was going to do that tomorrow to transfer into a national. Ive ordered some apilife, I've read somewhere about powder sugar dusting..should I do that while waiting for apilife to arrive ?

 

[JWF]

You should expect the nuc to be in good health, if it isn't you should let the supplier know. If it was a free by it would have been nice to have been made aware of issues.

I wouldn't bother with the sugar dusting. Personally I only use oxalic acid treatment using a sublimated - you might be able to borrow one from a fellow beekeeper? Are you in an association?

 

[JWF]

And welcome to the forum, btw!

 

[Thetis]

I'll let the supplier know and see what they reply with. not yet a full member of the local association, was sending the paperwork off in tomorrows post. Currently just listed as a friend of the association.

Thanks for the welcome. ��

 

[Millet]

Where about roughly are you's in Yorkshire, if you have a open mesh floor and i pass you on the way to Leyburn from up North i will drop in and Vape them for you, it will need doing 3/4 times every 5 days so you can't be too far out of my way.

 

[For want of a better word]

Hi everyone, my partner and I literally picked up our 1st nuc this morning ( we have both been on a bee course via our local beekeepers association (bought our bees from a member of the association) . How annoyed should I be to find deformed wing on 4/5 bees on the ground?? I recognized it from the talk by the bee inspector . We haven't opened the hive yet- Was going to do that tomorrow to transfer into a national. Ive ordered some apilife, I've read somewhere about powder sugar dusting..should I do that while waiting for apilife to arrive ?

Have you looked on the combs yet..... suggest you contact a beekeeper with some experience who would recognise DFW or other bee health problems.
If you are in any way not happy with the bees , contact the seller.
Once in the National hive, feed and let alone to settle down for a week,,,,, there is no necessity to find the queen and inspect every day out of curiosity!

Enjoy your bees

Yeghes da

 

[Thetis]

Millet - I'm east coast . Near hull, so miles away . Thank you for the offer tho
Icanhopit- looking at them this afternoon. The ones I spotted on the floor had the plastic heated up look and a few k wings . Will have a proper look at the combs and report back to y'all .

 

[Gilberdyke John]

Millet - I'm east coast . Near hull, so miles away . Thank you for the offer tho
Icanhopit- looking at them this afternoon. The ones I spotted on the floor had the plastic heated up look and a few k wings . Will have a proper look at the combs and report back to y'all .

There's a few of us not far from Hull. If you are on the West side send me a private message.

 

[Beefriendly]

The ones I spotted on the floor had the plastic heated up look and a few k wings .

I'm a little puzzled by how you saw bees with deformed wings on the ground when you hadn't opened the nuc up (1st post) and now describe them as having k wings, which DWV doesn't look like (short shriveled and stumpy).
My suspicion is you are worrying over nothing as they are your first bees.

 

[Thetis]

I'm a little puzzled by how you saw bees with deformed wings on the ground when you hadn't opened the nuc up (1st post) and now describe them as having k wings, which DWV doesn't look like (short shriveled and stumpy).
My suspicion is you are worrying over nothing as they are your first bees.

We Didn't open up to look yesterday, opened the door for them to fly. They were on the ground crawling around. We managed to move them today, other half spotted a few more shrivelled wings on the frames, didn't see any other problems, but was focus on moving them. If I can figure out to post a picture I'll find one of the bodies .

 

[Beefriendly]

I see. You can easily get a few casualties during a move that are ejected. Not sure I'd be to concerned until I did a full inspection plus varroa count.

 

[Etton]

Im not far from Hull, pm me if you wish

 

[Thetis]

Spotted one this morning on the floor. (Hopefully I've managed to attach pictures )

 

[Millet]

I have seen the odd one like that in my angry hive but i do not have a varroa problem as i keep on top of them, i'm sure it must be normal to get a small proportion of bees that do not develope properly when going through the pupal stage.

 

[Hebeegeebee]

First colony. Hooray!
The nuc may have been made up from a variety of colonies - I would suggest to use the apilife (var?) and monitor the varroa drop - unless you know that the colony has been treated already. Give them enough syrup feed to help them draw comb too, so by autumn, you should have the colony on over 50% new comb and plenty of stores for winter - and a low varroa count.

 

[Thetis]

Thanks everyone for the help, I'll let you know how they do after treatment
Hebee- thanks, ive got them on a in frame feeder at the moment, the open outside feeder just seems to be feeding the bumblebees ( never thought I'd get annoyed at bumblebees)

On a side note sat watching the hive activity with a cuppa...just seen an epic battle -spider vrs bee . Spider won in the end.

 

[Millet]

Thanks everyone for the help, I'll let you know how they do after treatment
Hebee- thanks, ive got them on a in frame feeder at the moment, the open outside feeder just seems to be feeding the bumblebees ( never thought I'd get annoyed at bumblebees)

On a side note sat watching the hive activity with a cuppa...just seen an epic battle -spider vrs bee . Spider won in the end.

Do not feed outside in the open as you are asking for trouble from wasps and bumbles, but the main worry about open feeding is drawing honey bees in from diseased colonies which in turn will infect your colony, it is not good practice.