the queen is usually the last to go, it may affect her future performance when they recover, but that's a bridge to cross later. Leave the supers on for now until you know exactly what's happening
Another small complication - this is a wbc hive. With this stand experiment I'm going to have to leave them without the lifts over the boxes. They'll be access proof against robbing/wasps and weather warm enough to be ok is my thinking. Should be ok right?
I think you may have to jury rig something, this weather though you should be OK for a while
But it's now widely accepted that shaking them out is definitely not the solution - in fact, quite the opposite, so It's something I would never contemplate
Was up late jury-rigging a national stand as an open floor stand and just been out to re-assemble. I've attached images of what it looks like, but as I said they are wbc boxes which I hope will be ok through most weather. Also took a shot of the screen floor immediately after removing BBox which I didnt think was bad as far as dead-fall is concerned. Rearranged supers so empty one directly above BBox and QX. Went through the BBox - eggs and queen seen (no abnormal behaviour noticed) though none of the usual retinue surrounding her. As mentioned, supers heavy and some frames partly capped. Cleared up dead bees around hive (into compost heap).
That's a charming response to my post. You should be commended for your balanced, non-judgemental attitude. I'm sure you are the very apotheosis of a beekeeper and I hope everybody who reads your posts learns a great deal from every nugget of wisdom that issues forth from your venerable
Shaking out is what was done in ignorant desperation. Times move on. DON’T shake out.
Why would anybody say that when it’s been made quite clear earlier in the thread that you don’t do that?
I was recently inspected by the SBI and one of my colonies had a mild case of CBPV. He recommended exactly this. Remove the floor so the brood box is directly on the stand. Infected bees fall straight down onto the ground and don't have to be dragged over the floor and out by worker bees. The theory is that by removing the contact between undertaker bees and infected bees the infection is not passed on so easily. Leave like that for 10 days then put a clean floor back. I did this and it cleared up completely as far as I can tell and hasn't come back.
bad advice is bad advice, and needs to be highlighted regardless of whether you sprinkle it with sugar or drape a bit of tinsel over it
My point was that correct treatment has been signposted already and in that were instructions to NOT shake out.
That’s brilliant. I think if you keep your eye on the ball and catch it early you stand a very good chance of helping the colony over it
John,
I did read the thread before posting and I am perfectly well aware of how serious an issue it is. I like to know the methodology before proceeding, especially when it comes to taking advice from random people on beekeeping forums. Your DO NOT SHAKE order was rammed home, but without any explanation as to why. I simply reported my experience, and if the anecdotal evidence of the resulting heathy colonies doesn't fit in with your angry diktat then my bees clearly haven't read the memo.
Which is obviously what you did when you decided to shake yours out.
Yes, that is correct
In the early stages of infection when bees can still fly they lose their sense of direction. They risk flying into other colonies and you are merely spreading disease.
I think a lot of us here would completely disagree. It’s a favourite social media tag line like “ save the bees”
