Hello all - and a quick question....

[barrister]

Hi All

This is just a quick not to say "hello" to everyone on this forum - looks great.

I am in my second year as a beekeeper and am struggling with a Nuc that I purchased. I have had it a few weeks but it is just not thriving. The key symptoms are:

(1) Bees seem lethargic as compared to my existing hive.

(2) Yesterday, I inspected and there were about 50 - 60 dead bees under the hive - under the OMF, and a number of bees walking around listlessly.

(3) A sprinkling of mummies were present under the beehive - looking like chalkbrood mummies.

(4) The hive has a few streaks of yellow - guessing dihorrea.

(5) Reasonable stores and brood, but the colony does not seem to be thriving.

My mentor is unfortunately abroad for the next month - would appreciate anyones thoughts / input.

Thanks
Barrister

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

1 and 2 sounded like the bees were starving, being a beginner I'm not sure as to the rest, have a look on the West Glamorgan BKA website, there's a new article on there from our local Bee inspector on starving bees

 

[thurrock bees]

i would check to see if they have enough food, it wont hurt giving them a pint or two of feed, 1:1 sugar syrup. As to the streaks, it maybe caused by not having the energy to fly and doing it outside the hive.

Give them some feed and see what happens, i would not worry about the chalkbrood too much if theres only a few. the bees will soon clean it up. If you are worried about it wont hurt to ask for a experianced beek to have a look or even the bee inspector ( i know the inspector would rather be called out than let a colony die out).

 

[BKF Admin]

We have a member (Bcrazy) on the forum who could do a quick check for Nosema if you send him a couple of bees to sample.
If you dont get a reply from him then you can send them to me and I will check it for you.

 

[nonstandard]

We have a member (Bcrazy) on the forum who could do a quick check for Nosema if you send him a couple of bees to sample.
If you dont get a reply from him then you can send them to me and I will check it for you.

According to the talk we had from the NBU it's a minimum of 30 older bees to get an effective sample.


Sent from my HTC Desire using Tapatalk

 

[psafloyd]

Hi All

This is just a quick not to say "hello" to everyone on this forum - looks great.

I am in my second year as a beekeeper and am struggling with a Nuc that I purchased. I have had it a few weeks but it is just not thriving. The key symptoms are:

(1) Bees seem lethargic as compared to my existing hive.

(2) Yesterday, I inspected and there were about 50 - 60 dead bees under the hive - under the OMF, and a number of bees walking around listlessly.

(3) A sprinkling of mummies were present under the beehive - looking like chalkbrood mummies.

(4) The hive has a few streaks of yellow - guessing dihorrea.

(5) Reasonable stores and brood, but the colony does not seem to be thriving.

My mentor is unfortunately abroad for the next month - would appreciate anyones thoughts / input.

Thanks
Barrister

Diarrhoea.

 

[Flatters]

Hi Barrister

Welcome to the forum. I have found the forum useful and have had offers of help and good advice from many and I see you have already had offers, which is just shows the value of the forum. Some of the advice may seem contradictory between posters and you need to take a judgement call as to which advice to follow. It is often difficult to get the full story across to get the right information to the experts. You will also get unhelpful pedants, but it’s best to ignore their comments.

Best of luck with your colony.