Smell of mouldy cheese/dirty socks

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Salamagundy

House Bee
Joined
Jul 7, 2011
Messages
159
Reaction score
2
Location
Carmarthenshire
Hive Type
National
Number of Hives
10
At the last inspection there was an overwhelming stink of smelly cheese and dirty socks (or maybe jocks...) when we lifted the crownboard on one hive. Didn't notice any other abnormalities. The hive seems to be expanding very well. The smell was restricted to this one hive. First time I've experienced this, but I'm a relative newbee (third season.)

Any comments? Thanks.
 
Just a guess, but check this and this.
EFB is odourless, the smelly one is AFB - test with a matchstick in a cell with sunken down remnants of larva or order AFB test kit from Th***s.

In case of doubt and even if you are only suspecting that it could be AFB/EFB - you are expected to inform the bee inspector... (notifiable diseases!)

Regards
Reiner

Sorry, checked it too late - EFB is not 'odourless' - I found this in the link: An unpleasant sour odour..., that's why they call it 'Sauerbrut' in Germany where it is not notifiable.
The smell of AFB is much stronger and was described to us as clearly 'athlete's foot'...
 
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get the bee inspector in and dont waste any time
 
EFB is odourless, the smelly one is AFB - test with a matchstick in a cell with sunken down remnants of larva or order AFB test kit from Th***s.

In case of doubt and even if you are only suspecting that it could be AFB/EFB - you are expected to inform the bee inspector... (notifiable diseases!)

Regards
Reiner

Sorry, checked it too late - EFB is not 'odourless' - I found this in the link: An unpleasant sour odour..., that's why they call it 'Sauerbrut' in Germany where it is not notifiable.
The smell of AFB is much stronger and was described to us as clearly 'athlete's foot'...

Danke Rainer - eher Käse als sauer hätt' ich gesagt aber auf jeden Fall ganz unangenehm....
 
not sure you looked at the brood or not but all the foulbrood cases i delt with they had to be pretty advanced to smell.
smell is not a great method of detection,
EFB can smell in advanced cases but this is from a secondary invader PB alvei
but this is only associated with EFB
any way i am finding colonies smelling of
A) Dead bees on floor, entrance, in combs that the bees are not strong enough to clear out.
B) Dysentry on combs, entrance, crown board
C) mice nests/damage can stink
D) dead brood with maggots and it has got damp, where the cluster moved and left brood behind.

there are other smells such as fermenting stores.
all that aside call in the bee inspector to set your mind at rest.
 
Dandelion nectar has a strong smell.
You need to check the brood.
 
get the bee inspector in and dont waste any time
:iagree:

Use this page https://secure.fera.defra.gov.uk/beebase/public/Contacts/contacts.cfm enter your postcode into the box just below the NBU office numbers and give your local inspector a call today. They would prefer to be called out and find nothing than let a suspected outbreak go unconfirmed.

If it is one of the foulbroods it's nothing to be ashamed of, but needs to be identified as quickly as possible.
 
Dandelion nectar has a strong smell.
You need to check the brood.

Yep, and it DOES smell of old socks. If in doubt get the inspector in, but the description of this odour does sound like dandelions. The honey has a socky cheesy note to it as well. ( I REALLY don't like it.)

EFB, or rather the alveii that is the secondary, has a smell you will never forget. It can only be described as smelling like EFB. Strong, and if you get a tiny tiny speck of it on your veil you smell it until you wash the veil (which should be at the first opportunity).

The little AFB I have ever had the misfortune to smell had an odour more reminiscent of marmite or Bovril, yet more foul. ( Which, like dandelion honey, I am not fond of!)
 
The foul brood diseases are aptly named.
VM


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
The inspector very kindly offered to come today (a Sunday) so that I could be there when he inspected, telling me not to jump to any conclusions in advance. The weather wasn't great but we managed to get everything done before the drizzle set in for the day.

He inspected the other four hives first, gave them a clean bill of health and also gave me some helpful advice on what I could consider doing with a couple of them.

We then came to the smelly hive. Embarrassingly the cheesy smell had gone.... He painstakingly inspected both boxes, opening and checking individually all the cells with perforated cappings. Nothing untoward found - a good strong colony.

He dismissed my apologies for calling him out, as BJ said he would, saying he was happier to report a foulbrood-negative result than a positive one. When I asked him what he thought had caused the smell he didn't mention dandelion but suggested it must have come from what they were foraging on. Sure enough, the field next to the apiary has been covered in them. (Hats off to BC, ITLD and CB!)

He was very happy to answer all my questions and I found the hour spent watching and chatting to somebody who knows what they're doing invaluable.

The whole visit was a very positive experience, I thought the inspector was excellent, and I'm delighted to settle for cheesy-tasting honey rather than the loss of my bees!

Other things I now think I should have considered:

The hive is strong (see op - today it had 19 seams of bees and 10 frames of brood) and was unlikely to be in the terminal stages of foulbrood, when the stink is likely to become evident (as pointed out by RB.)

When inspecting I should check frames more carefully, opening individual suspect cells rather than just relying on a general impression.

The reason that only that one hive smelled was because it is so much stronger than any of the others and had brought in much more nectar.

There isn't much foulbrood in our area apparently and as I haven't brought in either equipment or new bees from anywhere else recently and as far as I know there aren't any other beekeepers close-by, there wasn't an obvious vector for infection.

Other lessons to add?

Thanks to all for your input.
 
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Excellent news!
It is scary when you get the whiff first, got the same smell myself a few weeks ago on a quck 30 second check of the hives. Went back in later - no smell, brood etc. o..k. Then I realised what it was!!
Which SBI inspected you BTW?
 
For brood inspections, yes, shake the frame completely free of bees, and then poke around in any suspect cells.

Impressed with the sheath that the SBI used to protect his tweezers (and himself from his tweezers) -- turned out that he uses an offcut of Correx as his tweezer's sheath!

Oh, and I'm told that the famous AFB 'rope' only attaches to wood -- not metal. So there *is* a valid beekeeping use for matchsticks!
 
We then came to the smelly hive. Embarrassingly the cheesy smell had gone.... He painstakingly inspected both boxes, opening and checking individually all the cells with perforated cappings. Nothing untoward found - a good strong colony.

He dismissed my apologies for calling him out, as BJ said he would, saying he was happier to report a foulbrood-negative result than a positive one.

Excellent news - you can stop worrying now.

Isn't it a pain when they wash their smelly little feet in between inspections. The bees I mean, not the inspectors ;)
 

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