Sac brood

[jettabee]

Had the bee inspector in today as we are in an efb zone and I have new bees ( 5weeks). - my first ever. She found sacbrood in moderately large quantity in one of the 2 hives. She has suggested shook swarm technique But I have also read about requeening. What are peoples experiences and advice ?

 

[Ian123]

Had the bee inspector in today as we are in an efb zone and I have new bees ( 5weeks). - my first ever. She found sacbrood in moderately large quantity in one of the 2 hives. She has suggested shook swarm technique But I have also read about requeening. What are peoples experiences and advice ?

You appear to be better informed than your be inspector
Shook swarm all you like the colony headed by that queen will likely still be susceptible.
Re queen with one from the suppliers above or raise from your other colonies if un related to the problem hive.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

You appear to be better informed than your be inspector

But don't you know - Shook swarm is the new penicillin, cures everything!

Shook swarm all you like the colony headed by that queen will likely still be susceptible.

Yet more evidence of the steady indoctrination of the BBKA mantra into the NBU

 

[jettabee]

You appear to be better informed than your be inspector
Shook swarm all you like the colony headed by that queen will likely still be susceptible.
Re queen with one from the suppliers above or raise from your other colonies if in related to the problem hive.

If I requeen I take it that I still need to dispose of all the infected brood comb? Wouldn’t I still have to do a shaking manoeuvre anyway to get the bees off the infected brood comb? Sorry about ignorance here- I really want to do it right.

 

[jettabee]

But don't you know - Shook swarm is the new penicillin, cures everything!

Yet more evidence of the steady indoctrination of the BBKA mantra into the NBU

Interesting. All this politics is new to me. There isn’t much about what to do about sacbrood in my little text books and I found it difficult to get info online too. I’m having to learn quickly

 

[blackcloud]

Its the queens poor genetics that are the root cause of most minor ailments
A new decent queen will flush the comb though with new healthy brood and normal service will be resumed within a couple of months.
Shook swarming is a drastic procedure

Politics is unfortunately hard to steer clear of and there will always be someone hurling their teddy bear from the cot.
I read this recently

"Shook swarming is often supported by people who sell wax foundation but often not by people who sell queens."

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Shook swarming is a drastic barbaric procedure

There, fixed it for you

 

[Rory Fields]

But don't you know - Shook swarm is the new penicillin, cures everything!

Yet more evidence of the steady indoctrination of the BBKA mantra into the NBU

I really don't get their whole dogma tbh, they're so proscriptive- then you get some wally suggesting we all open feed syrup in the spring. Had one of their zealots tell me that he shook swarms all his hives every year and it saves him loads of money from pathogen removal etc. Sounds utterly illogical, and he still treats for varroa so he's not using it as some biotechnical panacea either

 

[jettabee]

Its the queens poor genetics that are the root cause of most minor ailments
A new decent queen will flush the comb though with new healthy brood and normal service will be resumed within a couple of months.
Shook swarming is a drastic procedure

Politics is unfortunately hard to steer clear of and there will always be someone hurling their teddy bear from the cot.
I read this recently

"Shook swarming is often supported by people who sell wax foundation but often not by people who sell queens."

I’ve dispatched the Queen. I had some advice suggesting I do a brood break in case varroa implicated and only then introduce new Queen. So this is what I’m embarking on. I’ve given the queenless hive some feed and will inspect and remove qcs at day 7 and introduce a new mated Q day 14

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I’ve dispatched the Queen. I had some advice suggesting I do a brood break in case varroa implicated and only then introduce new Queen.

poor advice IMHO, queen introduction is much easier if there is no more than a few minutes between taking the old one out and putting the new one in, but, too late now.

 

[Ian123]

I’ve dispatched the Queen. I had some advice suggesting I do a brood break in case varroa implicated and only then introduce new Queen. So this is what I’m embarking on. I’ve given the queenless hive some feed and will inspect and remove qcs at day 7 and introduce a new mated Q day 14

Unless there was actually signs of DWV or a large dro on the tray I really wouldn’t worry at this point in the season.

 

[jettabee]

Unless there was actually signs of DWV or a large dro on the tray I really wouldn’t worry at this point in the season.

Actually sbi did see some of the bees with dwv. But varroa counts are minimal if any. So I am day zero of no queen. Should I do the full 14 day brood break or should I requeen sooner. I’ve actually only had bees for just over a month and my head is in a spin. I can barely think about anything else today!!!

poor advice IMHO, queen introduction is much easier if there is no more than a few minutes between taking the old one out and putting the new one in, but, too late now.

oh no!

 

[Hebeegeebee]

I would be inclined to get a queen in for a few days time and check thoroughly that there are no queencells remaining before putting her in.
I have had a little sac brood on occasions but I'm not too bothered about it. It can be disconcerting to find it as a new beekeeper and you were right to call the bee inspector in.

(You can get EFB test-kits and I used to keep a spare one as a 'just in case' although they don't stay in date for too long. I gave my last out-of-date one to someone who was doing an exam so he could actually use one in case he had to answer a question on how to use it).

Sac brood as with chalk brood - I have not retired frames after it's appearance - once the queen has been changed, then the brood issue goes away. And if you move a chalk-brood queen, you find that the chalk brood moves with her - I did this as an experiment some years ago for my own peace of mind. (A shook swarm would have no effect and at this point in the season, you don't want to lose all your brood, you want the colony to build up).

 

[Kaz]

I've been following a post in a facebook group for women beekeepers, is this the same poster? The photo on Facebook showed evidence of lots of bald brood but minimal sac brood, suggesting a varroa problem rather than a Q problem. Either way the SBI advice seems questionable?

 

[user 6228]

Had colonies were they cleared it up themselves. The bees stopped the queen laying for quite a time then they restarted. These were in PIR hives with tunnel entrances, so apart from they had the ability to build up fast after stopping, I dont know if it had any relevance. It was the same queen through out.

 

[Hedgerow Honey]

I've been following a post in a facebook group for women beekeepers, is this the same poster? The photo on Facebook showed evidence of lots of bald brood but minimal sac brood, suggesting a varroa problem rather than a Q problem. Either way the SBI advice seems questionable?

Bald brood could/would more likely be an indication of wax moth issues.
Original nuc could have been a swarm caught on old comb etc etc.

 

[Kaz]

Bald brood could/would more likely be an indication of wax moth issues.
Original nuc could have been a swarm caught on old comb etc etc.

I agree if there were small amounts in a linear pattern, but this was peppered across the comb. The only time I have seen that before it was a varroa problem and hygienic bees uncapping the brood?