Defromed Wing Virus

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Oct 1, 2009
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Location
London N10
Hive Type
14x12
just inspected a Newbies hive today and attach pictures

the centre of the brood is not capped brood but is is dead pupa cells on this frame ( darker than outer new brood onthe frame)...rest of the brood is good but with patches of 30 or so dead pupa in clusters

I thought at first it was EFB, but it is not, see second pitcure, it is Deformed Wing Virus pupa. i have never seen it so bad

The hive was treated with Apiguard in august/september but not oxalic, it has a Varroa count 10 per day...so quite high

suggested try Apistan but she is "organic"

any veiws of what to do?
 
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Throw in a super frame, let the bees build drone comb below the frame, should hopefully "move" some of the Varroa problem into the drone comb which you can remove.

I dont think this is a proper solution though, but hopefully a start at controlling the Varroa - organically...
 
Are there lots of baby bee's actually walking around with deformed wings,inside and out in front of the hive on the ground.
 
Throw in a super frame, let the bees build drone comb below the frame, should hopefully "move" some of the Varroa problem into the drone comb which you can remove.

I dont think this is a proper solution though, but hopefully a start at controlling the Varroa - organically...

its a14x12...on starter strip...lots of floppy unwired frames of 14x12 and a few standard frames from last years Nuc..i stripped out all the drone i could find under the standard.s and in brace comb..not a single varroa....but i could see varroa mites running along the frame top bar, dark mother mites and light young mites

i'll try further drone cull in 7 days
 
Had the same problem with one of my hives 3 weeks ago. I used Hive Clean lots of times and they have perked up a lot and the wingless bees have almost disappeared.

Thanks
Tim
 
A good bit of Mentorship you are doing there Metro,well done! :cheers2:
 
Had the same problem with one of my hives 3 weeks ago. I used Hive Clean lots of times and they have perked up a lot and the wingless bees have almost disappeared.

Thanks
Tim

thanks, i will get them to try hive clean, never used it myself, but a friend also recommends it
 
This is a varroa transmitted virus and the only solution is to remove the varroa. Hit them with everything you can - remove any supers and Apiguard if warm enough, icing sugar, drone culling and hive clean.

I had the same problem last year and despite massive mite drop the colony did not survive. Might be a good idea to prepare her for the worst.
 
In fact shook swarm and ApiGuard is also a possibility too if you want to knock the mites off the nurse/flying bees......
 
Shook swarm + oxalic? Forget the brood that is there...

In some respects ifeel i am hit my head against a brick wall :banghead: as i told her to do oxalic in December, but she did not do it becuase she did not like the smell and the bees would not like it

she has also used starter strips in unwired 14x12 frames...a shook swarm and she would end up with a box of wax
 
*sigh*......don't you love some of these 'knit your own yoghurt' types :beatdeadhorse5:
 
If it is deformed wing virus,you can get rid of every last varroa mite and the colony may not survive, dwv can carry on quite nicely without varroa.
 
You could do a shook swarm using a bee brush if the frames are too weak to shake.
 

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