margob99
House Bee
- Joined
- Nov 15, 2009
- Messages
- 400
- Reaction score
- 1
- Location
- Amersham
- Hive Type
- National
- Number of Hives
- 2
I went down to feed the bees and found a whole lot dead inside the hive. By "a whole lot" I mean at least a hundred on top of the crownboard, near the Apiguard. I'll admit this is a third treatment, as they had a particularly heavy varroa fall in September. The Apiguard has been on a week.
Hive configuration is
- super at the bottom (filled with stores for winter)
- crownboard (which I placed on at the advice of another beekeeper - long story.) But perhaps it's blocking free passage down through to the entrance and contributing to possible suffocation? I read this interesting thread http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=1400&highlight=apiguard+poison However I still see bees flying in and out of the entrance - not as many as my other hive, but certainly still lots of activity. I will go check that anyway tomorrow in the daylight.
- brood box
- another crownboard
- eke - for apiguard treatment
Varroa sticky board has been in place.
I removed the apiguard and varroa sticky board (only one mite noted) once I'd seen all the dead bees. And scooped out most of the dead bees on the uppermost crownboard. And took a video*, which shows the action of one of the bees dying. Thought it might offer some clues.
Have saved the dead bees for possible further investigation.
Based on what I've mentioned here, and the video, has anyone got any advice or input? Can anyone offer an idea of what the reason might be?
*This video is a bit distressing - sorry.
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1dSxsgO8DI[/ame]
Hive configuration is
- super at the bottom (filled with stores for winter)
- crownboard (which I placed on at the advice of another beekeeper - long story.) But perhaps it's blocking free passage down through to the entrance and contributing to possible suffocation? I read this interesting thread http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=1400&highlight=apiguard+poison However I still see bees flying in and out of the entrance - not as many as my other hive, but certainly still lots of activity. I will go check that anyway tomorrow in the daylight.
- brood box
- another crownboard
- eke - for apiguard treatment
Varroa sticky board has been in place.
I removed the apiguard and varroa sticky board (only one mite noted) once I'd seen all the dead bees. And scooped out most of the dead bees on the uppermost crownboard. And took a video*, which shows the action of one of the bees dying. Thought it might offer some clues.
Have saved the dead bees for possible further investigation.
Based on what I've mentioned here, and the video, has anyone got any advice or input? Can anyone offer an idea of what the reason might be?
*This video is a bit distressing - sorry.
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1dSxsgO8DI[/ame]